Chapter 53 Arriving Outside the Pass
The officers and soldiers behind were shouting and urging everyone forward.
Only Wan Jinshu was left unattended, walking alone with a stick in his hand.
Before, because there was one family taking care of her, she wasn’t hungry or tired. But now it’s different. Zhao and Old Lady Wan’s family are together and help each other.
Zhao felt much more relaxed without the burden of Wan Jinshu.
Wan Jinshu was so hungry that his eyes were dizzy and he had no strength in his body. His back and buttocks were burning with pain.
The officers and soldiers kept urging him to walk faster from behind, and he felt more humiliated than ever before.
The group walked in the woods for a whole day and had only covered a dozen miles, but Li Zuo did not allow anyone to rest and asked everyone to continue on their journey with torches.
We finally got out of the forest at almost one o'clock. Maybe because of the hail in the forest yesterday, the animals all fled into the depths of the forest, and we didn't see even a pheasant along the way.
We got out of the forest safely.
With Li Zuo's desperate urge to speed up, the originally slow journey finally made great progress.
Finally, we arrived at Hangu Pass on this day. The change in climate after leaving Hangu Pass was visible to the naked eye.
The wind and sand blew towards us, and after walking for a few more days, all we could see was yellow earth.
It was almost the end of winter, and the wind was strong. They were heading northwest, which was against the wind. In addition to drinking the northwest wind, they also had to eat dirt every day.
Wan Laoer always joked, "We don't have to worry about going hungry this time. We can have enough to eat and drink every day."
There has been no rain outside the Great Wall for half a year, and this year's autumn harvest was a total failure, so many people fleeing famine from outside the Great Wall entered the Great Wall.
But not everyone can get in. Some people with connections can get a pass and enter the pass easily, but those without a pass find it harder than climbing to the sky to enter the pass.
Another way is to go through the woods and pass through the deep mountains and forests, but this approach is almost certain to lead to death.
Hangu Pass is in a dangerous position, with primitive forests everywhere. Ordinary people have little chance of getting out alone.
After a month of hellish travel, the team had been stretched into a long line.
Old Lady Wan's family and Zhao's mother and son were at the front. Their meals along the way were not bad. They had meat from time to time. As long as they bribed the officials, other officials would leave some for Old Lady Wan's family to enjoy. So Old Lady Wan's family looked much better than at the beginning.
A dozen people from the Wan family's branch walked in the middle, while the Liu family and Wan Jinshu walked at the end.
The team is clearly divided into several different levels.
Wan Die Lan was sometimes crazy and sometimes lucid along the way. In the words of Wan Ersao, Wan Die Lan's condition might have been caused by the squeezing of blood clots in her brain. When she was in the village before, she heard her father say that there was a bricklayer in the neighboring village who fell from the beam while working for someone else and became like Wan Die Lan. Later, the man fell into the river and drowned when his family was not paying attention.
Although Liu has separated Wan Jinshu and Zhao, she has not gained any benefits. Instead, Wan Jinshu is now cold to her.
When Wan Jinshu didn't know Liu before, he thought that this stepmother was gentle and considerate, and took good care of the younger generation. Now, after two months of getting along with her, and with the advice of Old Lady Wan, he finally slowly discovered Liu's true face.
Wan Jinshu now regrets his decision very much, but as a grown man he cannot bring himself to apologize to Zhao. The couple continues to be in a cold war. After Zhao moved out that time, she has never paid any attention to Wan Jinshu again and left him to fend for himself.
Now that we have left Hangu Pass, no one had expected that the conditions outside the pass would be so bad.
In the past, I had only heard that there were strong winds and sandstorms outside the Great Wall, but when I really lived here, I realized that it was not just the strong winds and sandstorms.
The sky here is always covered with a layer of gray dust. The sunlight shines through the thick clouds, becoming pale and weak. The wind rages, blowing up yellow sand all over the sky. The terrain is rugged, with exposed rocks and sharp gravel everywhere, and very little vegetation cover.
There was an indescribable feeling of heaviness in the air, as if even breathing had become difficult.
The living conditions in the villages we occasionally passed by were extremely simple.
The low houses are built of rough stones and wood, and the thatched roofs have been eroded by wind and rain over the years and appear to be crumbling.
As Old Mrs. Wan looked at the scenery along the way, her heart sank to the bottom.
There is no grass growing in the fields here. How can they grow food? Can they take root in such a place?
Old Mrs. Wan looked very worried. She hadn't spoken properly for several days, and every time she spoke she just sighed.
They have made a living by farming all their lives, and the fields are like their lives. Now what she thinks is "life" is so desolate, how can she not feel sad?
Are all the people in this big family, young and old, going to just live on the wind as the second son said?
They set up camp under a rock at night. As soon as they were settled, little Fubao walked unsteadily to the side of Grandma Wan with his short legs and wearing tiger-head shoes.
This month, little Fubao has learned to walk, but he is still not very stable and can't walk far, so he needs someone to help him.
Little Fubao took small steps slowly, like a little duck that had just learned to walk. She was wearing a new cotton-padded jacket made for her by Mrs. Wan Er. The goose yellow cotton-padded jacket and cotton pants made her look very cute. She was really loved by everyone.
She called to Old Lady Wan in a baby voice: "Grandma - Fubao - Grandma -"
As soon as Grandma Wan sat down cross-legged, she heard her sweetheart calling her. She quickly looked over and saw little Fubao stretching his short arms, puckering his little mouth, trying hard to keep from falling. Grandma Wan was so scared that she quickly got up from the ground. Even though her legs and feet were still a little sore, she didn't care and ran towards little Fubao like a gust of wind.
"My dear, why are you here? Where is your mother?"
On the road, little Fubao was always carried on the back of Wan Ersao and Wan Laoer in turns. Now little Fubao has a special mount, which is the backpack.
Wan Laoer specially cleared out a backpack, put a mattress in it, put little Fubao in it, wrapped little Fubao up with the mattress, and tied a scarf on little Fubao's head. Little Fubao looked like a little country girl.
Little Fubao was picked up by Grandma Wan, and he quickly hugged Grandma Wan's neck and said with a smile: "Fubao - miss - grandma -"
"Oh, my darling, do you miss grandma? Can you sleep with grandma tonight?" Grandma Wan asked with a smile, holding little Fubao and sitting back on her bag.
Little Fubao nodded quickly, looked at Grandma Wan with his big, bright eyes and said, "Okay - Grandma - wake up -"
Old Mrs. Wan smiled, and the depression in her heart seemed to have dissipated a lot. Then she thought it through. Wasn’t it a bit too early for her to start worrying about things that might happen before they even got there?
Maybe things would change after she got there? Didn't she still have Xiao Fubao? She believed that their family's fate would definitely be better than those exiles.
With little Fubao's interruption, Old Mrs. Wan's frown, which had been on her face for several days, finally relaxed and she felt better.
The other members of the Wan family found it interesting to see that little Fubao could make Old Mrs. Wan happy with just a few words.
Old Lady Wan was in a good mood. She waved her hand and said, "The weather is getting colder. Tonight, take out the cotton-padded clothes we made and put them on. You can't leave the clothes alone and let them freeze. People have everything. You must not get sick at this critical moment. If you get sick, you will die. We are about to reach the destination. Everyone must hold on at this time."
The whole family was so happy. Although they wanted to wear thick clothes, they thought that they would sweat all over once they started walking. When they rested at night, they had bedding and it wasn't very cold.
But after leaving the border, the temperature at night was much lower than inside the border. It was dry and cold at night, and even rolling up with a quilt could wake you up from the cold.
Now that I have a new cotton-padded jacket, I won’t feel cold when I sleep at night.
Wan Ersao also made new cotton-padded clothes for Zhao and her son, but Zhao felt embarrassed to wear them when she saw that Old Mrs. Wan and her family didn't have any.
Now Grandma Wan waved her hand and everyone put on their clothes, and then Mrs. Zhao put on new cotton-padded clothes for the children.
Wan Yirou touched the goose yellow fabric on her body. As soon as she put on the fluffy new cotton coat, her thin body immediately felt warm.
Wan Yirou whispered to Zhao: "Mother, Grandma Wan's family is so kind. When Rou'er grows up, she must thank Grandma Wan's family."
Zhao touched her daughter's head with satisfaction. Fortunately, her hair did not grow crooked. People who know how to be grateful will always be respected.
Old Mrs. Wan was wearing new clothes, and the clothes that were originally made for Wan Jinshu were given to Zhao early in the morning.
However, Zhao did not give it to Wan Jinshu, but directly covered herself with it as a quilt.
Liu was always paying attention to the movements of Old Lady Wan and others. She wanted to avenge herself for being turned into a pig's head. It was not only her own revenge, but also her daughter's. Along the way, Wan Dielan was tied up with ropes and driven forward like livestock. Liu was heartbroken and she secretly blamed all this on Old Lady Wan's family.
But she hadn't found any opportunity along the way, but this time she finally found one.
Everyone in the Wan family wore new clothes, but the officials didn’t have new clothes, so why could Old Lady Wan’s family wear new clothes?
Liu stood on tiptoe and ran to Li Zuo to provoke him without any hesitation.
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