The dignified Prefect of Ankang City, Lord Wu, was whipped to his knees by a minor henchman of the King of Jin.
Lord Wu said, "I really have nothing to do with them. I have always supported King Jin."
Even my wife is King Jin's distant cousin.
How could I possibly conspire with refugees to frame King Jin?
Upon learning that Prefect Wu's wife was related to their King Jin, the underling's attitude softened.
"So, which direction did you hear they were heading in?"
"They seem to be called Han Family Village, and they're heading east to Youzhou."
"Hmph! He still wants to go to Youzhou and seek refuge with Prince Rong!"
"I'm going to capture them all and send them to the battlefield."
After saying that, he ordered, "First squad, take ten men and ride at full speed to ambush on the road to Youzhou."
"Arrest everyone from Han Family Village!"
After the soldiers left,
He helped Prefect Wu up, saying, "Prefect Wu, look, all the able-bodied men we conscripted have escaped from your territory. You need to gather 200 men for me."
Prefect Wu cursed Jin Wang in his heart for being a heartless person.
With a broad smile, he nodded incessantly, "Yes, yes, yes, it will be delivered to you tomorrow."
Li Lanzhen and the others were unaware that Jin Wang's squad leader was a vengeful man who had already sent men to ambush them on the official road leading to Youzhou.
At this moment, they all gathered around the waterfall pool, drinking the sweet water to their hearts' content.
Everyone was saying they needed to take a good bath.
Since the severe drought in Hanjiacun Village lasted for several years, no one had been able to properly wash themselves, and they all started to stink.
The men of Hanjiacun said to let the women go wash first.
Han Shunde also directed the men to use straw mats to surround the pool.
They called the men up the mountain to chop firewood, hunt, and dig for wild vegetables.
Li Lanzhen directed the women in her household to set up three pots inside straw mats and start a fire to boil water.
He also reminded the women of Hanjiacun, "You all should boil water to wash yourselves, so you don't catch a cold. There's no medicine here, and headaches, fevers, and diarrhea can be troublesome."
Upon hearing this, the women of Hanjiacun Village realized it was true and began preparing to boil water.
Girls and boys under one year old were all thrown into basins of hot water and scrubbed clean by the women.
Looking at everyone's long hair, and seeing her own hair all matted together like felt, Li Lanzhen thought that it would be really troublesome without shampoo, but she didn't actually have any in her space.
Suddenly she remembered the labor protection product merchant she had exchanged supplies with, who had once given her a box of sulfur soap.
Sulfur soap is a great product; it can kill bacteria and treat eczema. In this hot weather, adults and children alike have developed a lot of heat rash on their backs, armpits, and necks.
So she took out a few bars of sulfur soap, cut them into three pieces with a cleaver, and shouted to everyone, "Women of Hanjia Village, I have some soap for washing hair here. Take it and share one bar among yourselves."
The women chuckled and said that this soap was quite precious, as it was used by the masters, ladies, and wives of wealthy families. They whispered among themselves that it must have been given to her by the young master of Jin Fulai.
Li Lanzhen ignored it and didn't explain. She let the women of Hanjiacun think whatever they wanted. But when she saw that they had given her a good excuse, she kept quiet.
She gave each of her several families a bar of soap; the women used it up, and then the men used it.
While taking a bath, she saw Tonghua, her mother Ye, and her youngest daughter. She didn't dare to scrub her eldest daughter-in-law's clothes too hard, because if she did, they would surely tear a hole in them.
Xue Nizi's clothes were a little better. Xue Laohu and Xue Bao made a living by hunting, and they would send her cloth when they had money.
Since they've already brought out the sulfur soap and found a good excuse, they might as well bring out a few pieces of coarse cloth clothing instead.
Perfect timing! We found a lot of maid and servant clothes in Madam Wu's small storeroom, so let's wear these.
More than an hour later, the women, girls and children finally came out from behind the straw curtain after they had washed up.
When the women of Hanjiacun saw that everyone in Li Lanzhen's family was wearing new clothes, they assumed that they must be the servants of young master Jin Fulai's mansion, and they said enviously.
"It must be the young master Jin Fulai who gave her the clothes worn by the servants in his mansion."
"I don't care if it's a servant's or whatever, as long as I have clothes to wear, that's fine. I don't even dare to scrub these clothes too hard, for fear of making a hole and exposing my skin."
Everyone laughed and joked, then, with a hint of envy, they walked back to their own thatched huts and began preparing lunch.
Li Lanzhen was also observing the people of Hanjiacun. Seeing that they were only envious and had no other thoughts, she felt relieved.
If she ever discovers any inappropriate thoughts, she thinks she'll have to be very careful with her actions from now on.
At this time, the men returned one after another, and sure enough, they caught more than a dozen pheasants and rabbits, and also dug up a lot of fresh wild vegetables.
The children were the happiest. Hanjiacun had been suffering from drought for several years, and they rarely ate meat; even getting enough to eat was a problem.
Now, at the sight of fresh wild vegetables, pheasants, and rabbits, their mouths water, and they happily jump and shout around their fathers or brothers.
The women took over these tasks, leaving the men to help with the washing.
The man took the sulfur soap and wondered where this rare substance came from.
They laughed and said that they had enjoyed themselves, and that Lanzhen had given them the experience.
At this moment, Han Shunde walked over to Li Lanzhen and said, "In-law, my father said that we should all eat together tonight because it's hard to divide the pheasants and rabbits we hunted."
Li Lanzhen said, "Okay, let's eat together then."
Li Lanzhen thought to herself that she had found so much grain in the prefect's warehouse yesterday, and it would be against her conscience to keep it all for herself. So she thought of sharing some of the grain with the people of Hanjiacun and each family in Dongjiazhuang.
It's not advisable to eat alone while fleeing famine.
For lunch today, she didn't ask anyone to contribute any food, but only to bring out some wild vegetables.
Thinking of this, she said to Han Shunde, "My dear in-law, I found a lot of grain in the prefectural government's kitchen."
After we brought it back on horseback, we put it in our own cart. I'll have Han Mingjiang and Han Minghai carry it over in a bit, and you can distribute it to everyone. I'll provide the food for lunch today.”
Han Shunde looked at Li Lanzhen with admiration, thinking to himself, "This old woman from Hanjiacun, who used to be so greedy and always trying to take advantage of others, has really changed a lot on the road to escape famine. She's even more magnanimous than a man now." He nodded gratefully and said, "Then thank you very much, in-law."
A short while later, Han Mingjiang and Han Minghai carried the grain sacks and placed them on the ground.
Xuebao and Li Xishui also carried over a bag, while Zhang Songshu and Zhang Deshui, the grandfathers, carried over another bag.
The other two bags of potatoes and sweet potatoes were smuggled in from the space by Li Lanzhen.
She wanted the people of Hanjia Village to gradually realize that potatoes and sweet potatoes existed in this era, it was just that the people of Hanjia Village hadn't encountered them yet.
Soon after, two bags of potatoes and sweet potatoes were brought over.
The five bags of grain were placed in the middle, and everyone happily gathered around them, chattering and laughing, occasionally looking at Li Lanzhen with admiring and grateful eyes.
Han Shunde stood in the middle and said, "Everyone, bring a bag or basin from home. When we distribute the grain, remember the kindness of Lanzhen and her sister-in-law. If it weren't for her finding the grain in the prefect's kitchen, we wouldn't have received any grain today."
Everyone laughed and said, "Thank you, Aunt Lanzhen." "Thank you, Sister-in-law Lanzhen." "Thank you, Sister-in-law Lanzhen." "Thank you, Grandma Lanzhen."
Li Lanzhen, enjoying everyone's praise, waved her hand and said, "The village chief just said that we'll have lunch together today. Everyone should gather their pots in this field, some to gather firewood, some to start a fire. If there are more women, we'll make pancakes. We'll boil the pheasants and rabbits into a soup with potatoes, sweet potatoes, and wild vegetables. That way, we'll have vegetables, meat, and soup to eat with the pancakes and have a good meal."
Adults and children alike happily exclaimed, "Great! Great! We're eating meat!"
The three bags of grain had already been mixed with wild wheat bran in Lanzhou; she dared not take out the white rice directly and distribute it to everyone.
So what was taken out was a mixture of dark flour, cornmeal, and wheat bran.
Even so, everyone's hands trembled as they clutched their portions of noodles tightly, carefully making their way home, afraid that they might lose their balance and spill a little bit of the noodles, which would break their hearts.
The grain they brought home was carefully packed into cloth bags and then placed in a sheltered place from the wind and rain.
Each family didn't receive many potatoes and sweet potatoes, but everyone cherished them and carefully carried them home.
Then the men went to bathe in the pool below the waterfall, while the women and children happily began to prepare lunch.
Half an hour later, the rich aroma of meat and wheat wafted through the forest on the mountaintop.
The men quickened their pace, rapidly scrubbing off the years' worth of grime that had accumulated on their bodies.
The children hurriedly rubbed themselves clean and then emerged from the water. Ji pulled her shoes and went to gather around the pot. Even if they couldn't eat it now, they could at least smell it.
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