Over time, Zhou realized that Xiao Bao's candied hawthorn crop had a stable yield, so she let them eat as many as they wanted.
Zhou Daya and the others were picking sweet potato leaves, leaving the bare sweet potato vines aside.
Yesterday, Chen Nong and his men secretly took the bare sweet potato vines and fed them to the donkeys, which infuriated Old Lady Liu.
The fourth brother went out and shouted, "Chen Family Shop is having a huge clearance sale! Three bundles of sugarcane roots for only one point, a pound of perilla for only 10 points, and a pound of amaranth for only 10 points!"
Upon hearing the news, those with points rushed to line up, while those without points also joined in the fun.
The next day, as dawn broke, Old Mrs. Zhao got up with her three granddaughters to do chores.
Their family hasn't joined the team yet, so they have to earn their own food, supplies, and drinks.
After following the group for so long, they have received two pottery jars, ten bamboo tubes, and a basket.
Their current food sources are water exchange and the sale of charcoal.
Every day, I get up early at the crack of dawn to start a fire and boil water.
Then they carried hot water to the team and called for help, exchanging one bamboo tube of hot water for one and a half bamboo tubes of cold water.
Early in the morning, only one or two families in the team will occasionally change the hot water.
Their biggest customer is still the Chen family, who need five bamboo tubes of hot water every day. They deliver these to the Chen family as soon as they get up.
The team doesn't allocate water to them; their family relies on exchanging water sources this way.
The food source was charcoal, which was a common commodity during the cold winter.
One pound of charcoal can be exchanged for five pieces of Smilax glabra or two bundles of hairy grass roots.
People would exchange what they needed, and the Chen family collected the most charcoal.
Although the Chen family would collect firewood to make charcoal, it wasn't enough.
They were a large group, each with a hand warmer, burning charcoal all day long, but it was simply not enough.
So their family has been buying charcoal for a long time, taking as much as they can get.
When we arrived at our lodging last night, it was already dark. The Zhao family hadn't collected much firewood; the only thing they could burn for charcoal was a dead tree stump.
After clearing away the extinguished fire and picking up the charcoal, which weighed only about two pounds, Old Mrs. Zhao sighed.
As soon as Zhou got up, she collected the hot water from the Zhao family and distributed it to everyone so that they could warm themselves up before getting to work.
The other people must boil their own hot water; they're not lazy people who don't know how to boil water.
After getting more water, Old Lady Zhao traded the charcoal for two bundles of sugarcane roots and five pieces of Smilax glabra. These would be enough to cook a pot of food for everyone, but they would not know where their next meal would come from.
Xiao Bao and the others gathered around a large cactus, cutting off pieces one by one and arranging them neatly.
The fifth brother, who was passing by, came over, picked up a small bamboo basket containing cacti, and left.
The fourth brother, who was passing by, saw this and scolded, "If you want a cactus, cut it yourself. Don't keep taking the kids' things!"
The fifth brother laughed and said, "Fourth brother, I'm still a child too."
"Go away, you're a grown man now," the fourth brother said disdainfully.
The person who planted the cactus returned in half an hour, and happily took a piece of cactus home.
Mrs. Zhou gave each of the children a bowl of perilla water, saying, "Come on, everyone drink a bowl."
The children's faces turned pale; they didn't like drinking perilla water.
The eldest son's wife said, "Drink up, I've made you sweet potato leaf soup with meat in it."
Chen Kai sipped his sweet potato leaf soup, enjoying the children's expressive faces.
At 9:00 AM, the group continued their journey.
The Chen family took a donkey cart out last night, and Xiao Bao and the others rode in it.
The team also brought out four donkey carts, all of which were used to haul goods.
The team also gained a few more handcarts. If the carpenters had enough tools, they would definitely have made a batch of handcarts.
"Hey, have you heard? Last night, the Peach Blossom Village Alliance had a fierce internal conflict in the middle of the night. They were really something else; they even burned down the village." The eldest daughter-in-law, having heard the news from somewhere, started gossiping among the women.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Kai turned to Bai Chuan and asked, "Bai Chuan, has the Peach Blossom Village Alliance really turned against each other?"
Shirakawa: "Yes, I just heard it from my grandfather."
Chen Nong asked excitedly, "So, are all the people in Peach Blossom Village dead?"
Shirakawa said regretfully, "There are still six people left. That evil village chief is still alive."
"What a pity!" Er Ya said.
Zhou Kai asked curiously, "How did they start fighting?"
Shirakawa: "I heard it was because of food and water. The supplies in their team were controlled and distributed by the people of Peach Blossom Village. A group of people were dissatisfied and set fire to the village in the middle of the night to steal food and water, and then a fight broke out."
Chen Nong asked curiously, "What happened to those six people from Peach Blossom Village in the end?"
Shirakawa: "I'm still in the team. I heard last night that they fought fiercely, many people died, and some people ran away."
Their team now has fewer than 500 people, and I've heard that some have been leaving the team one after another.
"Serves you right!" Er Ya said.
Along the way, all the villages they encountered had been completely wiped out, either filled with refugees or completely empty.
The drought and famine are getting worse, and the dead are everywhere, but the imperial court has not taken any action. Not to mention providing disaster relief and helping the people, it would be good to issue an official document to reassure everyone.
Those piles of corpses seemed to be telling the story of a war without gunfire.
The three village chiefs were a little worried that the situation would be the same in town, and then they wouldn't be able to get any supplies.
The group arrived in town, but the situation there was not much better than outside.
The desolate streets lacked their usual liveliness, with only emaciated people wandering the streets in search of food.
The surrounding shops had their doors wide open, but instead of goods, they displayed rotting corpses.
The town's wealthy residential areas still bear traces of the fire, with large areas of ruins. It's not hard to imagine that the raging fire must have burned for a very long time.
The crowd on the street stared at them as if they were flesh of flesh, their eyes glued to them, which was quite unsettling.
The patrolmen and guards raised their stone spears as a warning.
Sure enough, seeing that they outnumbered them and had weapons, they stopped approaching.
At this moment, a group of people carrying axes, machetes, sticks and other tools walked over, numbering about two hundred.
Upon seeing these people, the wandering crowd immediately scattered like birds and beasts.
The man in the lead said, "You want to buy supplies, right? We have everything usable in this town. You can trade with us if you want anything."
You can choose not to believe us. You can search anywhere in this town. Whatever you find is yours to keep. We won't stop you.
"Come back to us if you want to exchange anything."
After saying that, he turned and left with his men.
"Wait a minute!" Village Chief Bai said, "Let's find a place to talk."
Arriving at the gate of a dilapidated mansion, the man said, "If you want to bring people, weapons, and talk to us, come into this house."
If you want to talk privately, bring two people with you. I'll take you to the house across the street, while my men will remain outside.
This is a test and a hint; it depends on how sincere the other party is.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com