After resting for about half an hour, the village chief asked Han Shunde to come and ask Li Lanzhen which direction they should go now.
Li Lanzhen drank the porridge and drifted off to sleep. When she woke up, she was still thinking about the problem and was about to ask Han Mingjiang to call Xue Laohu and Zhang Deshui over to discuss how to leave when she saw Han Deshun arrive.
"Sister-in-law, my dad sent me to ask what our next step should be."
“I was just about to go and discuss this with my two in-laws. You go back and have the village chief gather the heads of each household. Second brother, you go and call your father-in-law and Uncle Zhang and the others. We’ll go to the village chief’s place to discuss this.”
After saying that, they went together to find the village chief.
Li Lanzhen understood very well that she and her family still had to flee the famine with the villagers. When fleeing the famine, someone had to speak up and manage things, otherwise, with too many people talking at once, disagreements would arise and things would get delayed.
There are many people in the village, so the village chief is the one who manages things. Everyone has been listening to the village chief for so many years, and he is used to it. Moreover, the village chief is fair in his dealings.
Upon seeing the village chief, Li Lanzhen greeted him with a smile, "Village chief, have you rested well? We've come over to discuss our next steps with you."
The village chief smiled, still very happy that Li Lanzhen had come to discuss things with him. "You can handle things from now on. I won't interfere anymore. When I get old, I'll go with you to escape famine. Wherever you go, I'll take my whole family with me."
Li Lanzhen laughed heartily, "Village Chief, that won't do. We've been listening to you for over ten years. You have to lead us to escape the famine and find a place with mountains, water, and fertile fields. We'll live there and start a new life."
Those who arrived heard Li Lanzhen's words, and their anxiety, uncertainty, and helplessness immediately subsided.
They all chuckled and told the village chief to continue leading everyone on their escape from famine.
"That's right, village chief, you have to continue being the village chief. Even if we've found a good place to live, you still have to be the village chief."
"Yes, yes, we will all listen to the village chief."
Everyone chattered and laughed. Since leaving their hometown and fleeing famine, they had encountered many unpleasant things, and their hearts had never been at peace. Now, they felt that their hearts had finally settled down.
Aunt Huaihua from the village chief's family laughed and invited them to sit down.
The village chief looked at Li Lanzhen, who nodded and said with a firm look in her eyes, "Village chief, you can say whatever you want. We'll all listen to you."
After looking around and seeing that everyone had arrived, the village chief spoke up, "Since everyone still wants me to be the village chief, I will continue to lead you all to escape the famine and find a good place to live, just like the one Yanshan family mentioned."
Seeing everyone's reaction, he continued, "Now, our group includes people from Hanjiacun, the two in-law families from Yanshan, Minghai's parents and his younger brother's family. What I want to say is that no matter which village we come from, once we've come together, we should help each other and not exclude people from other villages or their families."
As soon as the village chief finished speaking, everyone agreed that it was a given and that they should unite to escape the famine.
"Alright, now that everyone has expressed their opinions, Minghai, why don't you share your thoughts?"
Li Lanzhen was not used to being called "Yanshan's daughter" or "Minghai's mother" by everyone. Now that she was asked to speak, she decided to start by addressing the issue of how she was addressed.
“Alright, the village chief told me to speak, so I will. Before we fled the famine, we met Jin Fulai, the young master of the family. He told me that if we wanted to flee the famine, we should go to the east and find a mountain to hide in for a few years. But I am just a woman, and I don’t know where the east is or how to get there. If anyone knows, please tell me. Also, from now on, please just call me by my name, it will be more convenient.”
The village chief glanced at her and said to everyone, "Lanzhen just said to go east. Youzhou in the east is the fiefdom of Prince Rong. It is said that Prince Rong is very approachable and treats the people in his fiefdom very well, encouraging them to cultivate wasteland."
Han Deshun also said, "Yes, my father is right. When I was the manager of Fucheng Restaurant, I often heard about Prince Rong, and they were all praising him."
"Yes, I hunt and sell my game. I've been to the prefectural city and several surrounding counties, and I've heard about Prince Rong. It's the same story the village chief told me."
"Village chief, can we not go to Youzhou? It's too far, and our food and water won't last that long," said a dark-skinned, thin man.
Immediately, someone chimed in, "That's right, village chief, our family's food supplies won't last long enough for you to travel such a long distance."
For a moment, everyone fell silent.
Han Mingjiang shouted in a loud voice, "We're not going there. Where are we going? The young master of Jin Fulai told my mother that there must be a reason. There must be some reason behind their wealthy family's actions. Anyway, we, my father-in-law's family, my brother's father-in-law's family, and my maternal grandmother's family are going to Youzhou."
Gou Dan immediately shouted, "My grandma and I also fled the famine with Grandma Lanzhen."
Although he was small, he could see very clearly that everyone was focused on Li Lanzhen along the way, and the weapons Li Lanzhen used were incredibly powerful.
However, Uncle Han Mingjiang said it was a splinter. Okay, I'm just a kid, a splinter is a splinter, what does it matter?
When Han Mingxiang saw that everyone was hesitant and unsure of what to do, he said, "If we want to go to Youzhou, we need to go through Linshui County and then return for a while to reach the official road leading to Youzhou. If we go directly from Hanjiacun, we won't have to take such a long detour."
Xue Laohu also said, "Yes, it's also possible to avoid the detour, but you have to go through Linshui County and then into the mountains. Once you cross the mountains, you'll reach the official road leading to Youzhou. This way, you can save half the journey."
Someone said, "Village chief, let's go to Linshui County to buy some grain and water, and then head east."
Butcher Han Dazhong said anxiously, "Can we bypass Linshui County? Old Lady Wu's brother is in the county government office. I'm afraid it will be dangerous for us if we go there."
"Why should we be afraid of him? We haven't done anything wrong."
"That's right, our family came out in a hurry and we're almost out of food."
"Even if you go to Linshui County, you won't be able to buy grain. There's nothing decent grain left in the grain shops. It's all old rice mixed with sand, and grain with a lot of bran and little bean flour. Even that costs one tael of silver per pound."
"That's right, the imperial court doesn't care about the lives of us common people, so we have no choice but to flee. We don't even know if we can find a place with water and fields to live in. Sigh."
The people of Hanjiacun were talking amongst themselves, expressing their dissatisfaction, resentment, and confusion about fleeing the famine.
Li Lanzhen was also confused. The road ahead was long and arduous. There was no food or water, and they had to walk the whole way. It was going to be very difficult.
Fortunately, she still had the system. Thinking of the system, Li Lanzhen realized that one thing after another was happening. She hadn't checked the mall for two days and wondered if there had been any changes.
Thinking of this, she summoned the system, "System, how's the matter I told you about last time, about reporting it to your system headquarters? Any results yet?"
After a while, she still hadn't heard the system's voice. Just as she was about to tease the system, she heard the village chief's concluding remarks: "Let's go to Linshui County and see if we can buy any grain at the grain shops. We can also try to find out some information. Now, everyone go home, pack your bags, and let's go."
Everyone returned to their families with heavy hearts, relaying what the village chief had said. Fortunately, no one caused a disturbance; they all agreed that it was better to flee the famine with the village chief.
And so, the people of Hanjiacun continued their journey toward Linshui County.
Behind them were many other people fleeing famine. Some were entire villages fleeing together, some were in small groups, and some were alone, like this one, a spy for the King of Jin.
He had been secretly observing Li Lanzhen, and as a result, he saw the reddish-brown wooden splinters that Li Lanzhen and her two sons, Han Mingjiang and Han Minghai, were holding.
At the time, he didn't believe it and thought Li Lanzhen was playing tricks. However, after following them for a while, he didn't find anything special. He thought he would follow them to Linshui County first. At worst, he could capture one of the men to report to King Jin, so that he wouldn't be killed for failing to complete his mission.
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