Chapter 41 Omens
"You...you, you rebellious and unfilial daughter, you..."
"Mother!"
Li Wangming quickly jumped off the carriage to help his grandmother, who was unsteady on her feet and almost fell, while Li Shiyue didn't even flinch.
Li's mother walked over from behind and slapped Li Shiyue twice on the back. She frowned and glared at Li Shiyue reproachfully before quickly going to help Li's grandmother.
“Mother, Shiyue is still young, and we have been able to rely on her to lead the way all the way. Shitou is all about growing taller but not smarter. Wangming has been studying for many years and his hands are for holding a pen. How could he do such rough work?”
While carefully helping Grandma Li sit down, Li's mother also pointed out Li Shiyue's "mistakes".
But listen to what Li's mother said; she wasn't really blaming Li Shiyue at all.
Li's mother's words emphasized Li Shiyue's role in the family during their escape from famine.
What Li's mother meant was that even for the sake of saving her life, Li's grandmother shouldn't act spoiled and put on airs in front of Li Shiyue.
Grandma Li was actually a little scared at this moment.
You should know that Li Shiyue is truly capable of killing!
Moreover, Li Shiyue has indeed killed more than one person along the way!
The reason why Grandma Li dared to nag Li Wangming was simply because Li Wangming was a filial son.
Furthermore, filial piety is highly valued these days. If a family in the surrounding area has an unfilial son, everyone will want to beat him up.
Being filial to one's parents and elders is the face of a person's life.
If someone is deemed unfilial by their parents or elders, it's tantamount to being socially dead. In today's society, being an "unfilial son" makes it very difficult for them to survive.
Therefore, everyone has no choice but to be filial to their parents and elders.
However, if she really encountered an "unfilial son" like Li's father, why didn't Li's grandmother call Li's father a "rebellious person" like she did when she talked about Li Shiyue?
Sigh, isn't that easy to understand?
It's nothing more than bullying the weak and fearing the strong, and favoring sons over daughters.
Normally, Li Shiyue wouldn't be so aggressive, but what kind of situation is this?
This is truly a time when we have to fight for our lives to escape even more than we have in the past month or so!
The situation was dire. If things got really bad, Li Shiyue genuinely believed that he should just pack a bag of food, grab his weapons, and run.
Even now, Grandma Li is still wasting time nagging and insisting on keeping those heavy cabinets and vegetable jars.
Isn't Grandmother Li simply taking advantage of her seniority, unlike Li's father who is selfish and self-serving, and respected by everyone from Li's mother to Li Shiyue, to deliberately make things difficult for people?
Therefore, how could Li Shiyue possibly tolerate it any longer?
After what happened to Li Shiyue's family, everyone in the surrounding Li Family Village pretended to be busy, but in reality, they were all listening intently.
Li Wangming was truly on the verge of tears. On one side was his loving mother, and on the other was his niece, with whom he had grown up like a brother and sister. He once again felt a deep resentment towards his own uselessness.
"Mother, don't be angry. We're trying to escape. How can we carry all those things with us?"
Mother, human life is the most important thing. If someone is gone, no matter how much we have, it's useless.
Grandma Li looked at her youngest son's red, tearful eyes, and his repeated calls of "Mother" pained her deeply.
Li Shiyue didn't bother to look at her grandmother and the others, and simply turned her head to pull Shitou to continue picking up the grain sacks.
It was past midnight, and the people of Lijia Village had finally finished packing up. Most of the villagers, because of Li Shiyue's words and what had happened in Li Shiyue's family, had reluctantly abandoned a lot of heavy and bulky items, and followed Li Shiyue's example, prioritizing food and water and survival.
Thus, traveling light and simply, Lijia Village left the prefectural city overnight.
This run lasted five days and six nights. Apart from necessary stops to eat and drink, the people of Lijia Village only rested for one or two hours each day.
In other words, donkeys are resilient; despite such hardship, they stubbornly survive.
However, the further north the villagers went, the more they discovered that the drought in the north was not as severe as it was in their area. Along their journey, they found three water sources, unlike in the past when they couldn't find water and their lips were so dry they were peeling.
However, quite a bit of the grain had indeed been consumed, and nearly half of the space on the Li family's donkey cart was now empty.
When they fled from outside the prefectural city, they had left behind a lot of things. Later, when they reached a certain county town, Ma Zi and Mo Zi, who had been sent by Li Shiyang to scout ahead, discovered the soldiers who were arresting people!
This time it's not the Youzhou army; judging from the flags, they should be the imperial guards from the capital of the Great Long Dynasty.
Therefore, under the circumstances of the emergency, Li Shiyue suggested that some items be thrown away again. Now, on the cart pulled by the donkey, besides the grain and two water buckets, there were only some clothes and cooking utensils for each person. All other miscellaneous items had been thrown away.
The second time she threw things down, Grandma Li's face fell, but she didn't yell or shout about not being allowed to throw this or that anymore.
It's unclear whether Li Shiyue's "rebellious" behavior silenced her or Li Wangming begged her not to criticize Li Shiyue anymore.
However, Li Shiyue wouldn't care even if her grandmother kept nagging.
Looking at the pond beside the lush green meadow, Li Shiyue felt extremely anxious and worried.
"The drought in the north is not severe, so the people should be able to get through it."
But along the way, many soldiers have been conscripting people for military service, and the gates of even small county towns are heavily guarded. If we reach Dengzhou, will we really be able to reach the Andong Protectorate safely?
Before Li Shiyue could figure it out, someone came to call her. It turned out that Li Shiyang was calling everyone over to discuss whether they should go into the next small county town to buy supplies.
"After passing this county, it should take another five days to reach Dengzhou."
Therefore, this is our last stop in a city before heading to Dengzhou.
The salt I bought in the prefectural city last time was enough to last me. This time, I went to the county town mainly to find out some news and see how things were going in the prefectural city.
Furthermore, I noticed that many families have members who are ill, and the medicine packets we bought in the prefectural city last time probably won't be enough. Also, I don't know if those medicine packets are even suitable for the symptoms.
Therefore, I think it would be best to go to a clinic and buy more medicine to keep on hand.
Li Shiyang's words were all reasonable, and naturally no one dared to refute them.
Furthermore, the people of Lijia Village had become accustomed to obeying Li Shiyang's orders along the way, and judging from the results, following Li Shiyang's advice had indeed helped them escape disaster.
Therefore, naturally no one objected to his words.
Therefore, Li Shiyang said that this time he would take the same group of people who went to the prefectural city last time to the county town, and everyone naturally nodded in agreement.
Because she had to get up early to go to the county town the next day, Li Shiyue went to bed early. She had now developed the habit of falling asleep within three breaths as soon as she closed her eyes, which allowed her to quickly recover her energy and strength, and to keep herself ready to fight back at any time.
But she had only closed her eyes for a short while when a muffled voice woke her up.
As Li Shiyue sat up, she looked up and saw her father and grandmother arguing.
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