After giving the instructions, An Shuyi asked her eldest and second eldest sons to also keep watch that night. Although there were clansmen keeping watch, she was still a little worried. After making the arrangements, she told Wu Shi not to call her when she was cooking, and then went back to the carriage to sleep.
That day really exhausted her. She must have been even more tired than Huahua. She was only responsible for pouring water, and Huahua carried the water upstairs. Although she carried some water later, she didn't carry as much as Huahua.
When she stopped to rest, she saw Xia Hua enter the carriage, presumably also to rest. However, in order not to wake up hungry at night, she ate two steamed buns before lying down to sleep.
As for Xiao Liu and Xiao Qi, she had already given them instructions. After they finished eating, they had to come to the carriage. Even if they didn't want to sleep, they had to stay in the carriage and couldn't run around. She had originally wanted Xiao Wu to come too, but the child refused no matter what.
When she woke up again, it was already late at night. Hearing the shouts of her tribesmen outside, she grabbed a baseball bat and rushed out. Sure enough, it was those refugees. Xia Hua was even faster than her and had already run to the refugees, waving her big knife. Some of them were even slashed and bleeding.
Judging from Xia Hua's fierce movements, you could tell she was in a bad mood. Of course, anyone would be unhappy to be woken up so late, especially someone with Xia Hua's fiery temper. It was already merciful of her not to kill those refugees.
But the next second, Xia Hua slit the throats of some refugees. Well, Xia Hua, with her fiery temper, had no mercy. Seeing the few remaining refugees, she rushed forward as well, and soon those refugees were knocked to the ground again, some even turning into corpses.
It wasn't just Xia Hua who slaughtered refugees; there were also ruthless individuals among her own clansmen.
"Wood, send some people to throw these people and the corpses far away, so they don't scare the children." After saying that, he hurriedly went back to sleep, while Xia Hua had already run back to the carriage to sleep before any of the refugees could even stand up.
When An Shuyi woke up, the carriage was already moving. She lifted the curtain and looked outside. It was already bright daylight, and the sun was high in the sky. It seemed that Village Chief Lin had sent the people on their way before dawn.
"Mom, you're awake!" Xiao Liu's voice rang out from the side, while Xiao Qi and her two grandsons were still fast asleep, undisturbed by the noise outside.
"You're awake, Xiao Liu. Why don't you sleep a little longer?" Isn't this kid too diligent? He's only seven years old, yet he never sleeps in late and gets up early every day to wash up and read.
When there is no water, he doesn't need to wash up. The first thing he does is read. He also reads for a while before going to bed at night. Sometimes he even asks Xiaoqi to read to him, even if Xiaoqi refuses.
"Mother, I've had enough sleep, I don't need to sleep any more. But you're so tired every day, you should sleep a little longer." Unfortunately, he's still young, and his mother is so tired every day, he can't help her share the burden.
“Our sixth son is so sensible!” An Shuyi said, patting his head.
With this water, they can travel a little further. Having experienced not even having a sip of water, the people are now even more afraid to use water. Except when cooking, they only drink a small sip to moisten their throats.
It was the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month. If the weather wasn't dry, it might be very cold. Although it wasn't as hot as it had been two months ago, there was no sign of rain, and the sun was still high in the sky.
As they traveled further south, they could see green on the distant mountains, but those were all trees; similarly, there wasn't a single blade of grass on the ground.
During her lunch break, An Shuyi said to Village Chief Lin, "Wood, tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Let everyone rest for a day. Although we have nothing left to eat, it would be good for the people to have a day off."
They had been fleeing famine for more than half a year. After tomorrow's Lunar New Year's Eve, it would be a year without a single drop of rain. However, she believed that as long as they were given three more months, they would be able to reach Jinnan City in the south, which would be their final destination.
Although the original owner had never been anywhere before, she longed to see the world. In her memories and the books she had read, Jinnan City was famous for its brocade and was the richest city in the south. Of course, she couldn't possibly settle her clan in Jinnan City.
After all, there were so many of them. If they were all settled in Jinnan City, not to mention the cost, even the governor wouldn't agree. She was already quite satisfied as long as they could settle down in the villages around Jinnan City.
Village Chief Lin nodded, "Okay, sister-in-law, when we rest tonight, I'll find a nice place for us to celebrate New Year's Eve tomorrow."
When they rested in the evening, Village Chief Lin told the villagers about it, and everyone was very happy. Besides being able to celebrate the New Year, they also didn't have to travel anymore, and everyone could get a good rest.
That night, everyone was able to get a good rest, and even when they fell asleep, they were smiling.
The next morning, everyone got up and did nothing but sit together and talk. It was the same during previous Chinese New Year celebrations, except that they were busy talking at the same time. But now it was different. There was no need to be busy, and the food was just something casually prepared.
Although they still had water and food, they had not yet settled down, and no one dared to squander it so lavishly, for fear that if they did so, they would have no food or water to eat later.
Of course, An Shuyi and Xia Hua weren't chatting. Although the tribespeople didn't have much food and water, they had what they could. They couldn't give away the better stuff, but they could have the less desirable stuff. So, the two decided to give each tribesperson a white flour bun today.
Last night, when they were resting, they chose a place far away from their clansmen. When they got up this morning, the third and fourth brothers were in charge of starting the fire, the eldest and second brothers, and Li Nan were in charge of kneading the dough, Zhao, Wu and Song were in charge of steaming, and An Shuyi and Xia Hua were in charge of putting the steamed buns into buckets.
Although Zhao, Wu, and Song did not understand why their mother-in-law was doing this, they could not muster any thoughts of resistance. Moreover, their mother-in-law would not let them go hungry, so in the end they had no choice but to obediently do as she said, since they could eat anyway.
Although it was necessary to steam more than two hundred steamed buns, it wasn't a lot. During dinner that evening, An Shuyi called Village Chief Lin over and asked him to take the eldest son, the second son, and Li Nan to deliver the steamed buns to the villagers.
Looking at the buckets of steaming buns, Village Chief Lin's eyes reddened. "Sisters-in-law, I... I thank you on behalf of my people!"
He knew that both of his sisters-in-law were people of their word, and since the steamed buns had already been made, he couldn't refuse them. If he refused again, it would only make his sisters-in-law angry.
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