So next, he will try his best to gain their trust. The two of them are variables in this world, so they must have their own strengths. Moreover, they are his daughters. With this relationship, as long as they can live well, he, as their father, will naturally not be bad off.
He doesn't want revenge now; he just wants his family to survive. He's been through so much—his daughter's death, his wife, his daughter-in-law, his grandson… they've all left him. He's just too tired.
If he could, he wouldn't want his grandson to become a high-ranking official; a peaceful life wouldn't be so bad.
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, the tribespeople had already fed the cattle hay and water, waiting for daylight to begin their journey. After all, it was a mountain path, and the older folks and children might have trouble walking.
After daybreak, Village Chief Lin counted the number of people and set off. These past few days, the villagers had eaten and drunk their fill every day and walked faster than usual. Some even climbed to the top of the mountain after noon, put their things down, and then ran down to carry the children.
Standing on the mountaintop, you can see the entire Anhe Prefecture, but it's quite far away, and even someone with excellent eyesight wouldn't be able to see inside the prefecture.
Although the mountaintop wasn't very flat, the path down was even steeper, so everyone decided to rest on the mountaintop tonight and descend the mountain tomorrow. There were no caves that night, so everyone could just go anywhere and go straight to sleep.
An Shuyi and Xia Hua could no longer eat anything else, and could only eat what Wu made. Fortunately, they had fried dough twists from yesterday, and they could just take one out to eat. Unfortunately, it was a bit dry and needed to be diluted with water.
Last night, when they were frying the dough, An Shuyi asked Xiao Wu to send some to An's father and the Liu family. That night, the sound of crunching and biting into the dough could be heard from where they were resting.
After descending from the mountaintop, a small path appeared, leading down to the main road. The path they were to take was the small one. Although the path was narrow, it was passable by horse-drawn carriages and oxcarts, though it was somewhat cramped. People could sit in both the horse-drawn carriages and the oxcarts, with the elderly and children sitting in the oxcarts.
The women followed, while the men, except for those driving oxcarts and mules, carried their belongings and followed behind. As they went further south, the weather became hotter, even though it was already September.
Now, not to mention children, even adults, except for the women who are still fully covered, all the other men are wearing a jacket and are fanning themselves vigorously with palm-leaf fans. The ground is like it's on fire, and even if you're wearing shoes, it's scalding hot to step on.
"Hang in there a little longer, everyone. We'll rest wherever there's shade ahead." After saying this, Village Chief Lin wiped the sweat from his brow. In this weather, not to mention people, even livestock were panting with heat.
bang*
"Ms. Zhang, what's wrong?" A man hurriedly helped the woman up from the ground, and several children also gathered around, "Mother, what's wrong?"
"Go quickly and call Doctor Liu to take a look," a man nearby said. "Quickly give Sister Zhang some water to drink and wipe her down with water; she must have heatstroke."
The clansmen watched with concern, wanting to rush forward to help Zhang, but were stopped by Doctor Liu who arrived. "You all move forward, don't huddle together." He then rubbed the medicine packet on Zhang's forehead and placed it under her nose, and Zhang woke up.
"Let her sit on the oxcart and rest over there first, then I'll take a look at her."
With the weather so hot and no shade available, being exposed to the sun could worsen her heatstroke.
An Shuyi, who was behind, naturally knew that Zhang had suffered from heatstroke. She couldn't help but sigh. Although they had water, they could only drink freely in the cave. On the way, they drank very little.
Once they found a shady spot, everyone anxiously asked if anyone in their family was feeling unwell. If so, they were told to let them know so that Dr. Liu could take a look.
While everyone was worried about their families and not paying attention to them, An Shuyi pulled Xia Hua aside and said, "Hua Hua, do you have any saltpeter for sale?"
"Shushu, do you want to make ice?" Xia Hua saw her nod. "Okay, let me see." She then hid behind An Shuyi and tapped the screen.
"Yes, I bought plenty of books, enough for you!"
An Shuyi nodded, "Thank you, Huahua." Then the two returned to the carriage and began making ice. She found two basins, put water in both basins, and then added saltpeter. Soon, the water in the basins could be seen changing.
However, it would take more than half an hour for the water to completely turn into ice, so they could only wait patiently. Although it was noon, the weather was too hot. Village Chief Lin did not let them rush on their way, planning to wait until it cooled down in the evening before continuing their journey, otherwise the elderly and children would get sick if they continued walking.
"Wood, come in here." After An Shuyi and the other person used saltpeter to melt water into ice in the carriage, they called over Village Chief Lin.
"Sisters, is there something you need?" Village Chief Lin stood outside the carriage. The carriage was blocked, so he couldn't see inside. He just felt a bit cooler, and looking around, there was no wind.
"Come on up!"
Upon hearing the sound, Village Chief Lin climbed onto the carriage and immediately felt a cool sensation. Looking at the basin of ice on the carriage, he went over and touched it, saying, "It's real, it's real..."
"What do you mean by real or fake?" Xia Hua glared at him. "I'm telling you, you're the village head, can't you be a little more responsible? Hurry up and take these ice cubes from the basins to the elders. Also, this is the business that will make money for Shu Shu and me in the future."
"We've brought this business forward for your sake. Although you don't have to pay any money, you'll have to pay for the water yourself. Go and tell the tribespeople that if they want ice, they should bring a basin of water, make ice, and take it back themselves. We can't have to pay for the water after we came up with the idea."
“Yes, yes, sister-in-law is right,” Village Chief Lin nodded. “Don’t worry, sisters-in-law, this ice is for the people of our tribe. They won’t say a word, they will only be grateful to you. I am also grateful to you two sisters-in-law.”
"If it weren't for you two sisters-in-law, we don't know how long we would have survived. If you need anything in the future, just give me your orders, and I will do my best to do it for you as long as it is within my power."
An Shuyi stopped him from saying anything more, "Alright, stop with the nice things, hurry up, or the ice will melt."
"Yes, I'll call someone right away." Village Chief Lin carried a basin of ice blocks directly to the villagers, showed them the ice blocks, and said that it was made by his two sisters-in-law. Everyone was very excited, and now they didn't have to worry about getting heatstroke.
Knowing that there were still some in his sister-in-law's carriage, they hurriedly came to get them, but Village Chief Lin did not allow them all to go, but instead arranged for a few people to go.
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