The next morning, Lin Ru saw that Bai Chengye and the others all had dark circles under their eyes, clearly indicating that they hadn't slept well all night!
While Mrs. Xu and Mrs. Qiao were cooking in the kitchen, their legs felt a little unsteady!
When it was time to eat, everyone was silent and focused on eating, looking like they were starving!
Mrs. Bai was a little suspicious, wondering if her daughter had secretly given them some kind of medicine. She glanced at her daughter guiltily.
Lin Ru, on the other hand, calmly ate her meal!
Since we've decided to escape with them, we naturally need to improve their physical fitness!
This spiritual spring water is just the first step. Once their bodies have adapted to the nourishment of the spiritual spring water, we will add two health-strengthening pills to the water!
This way, she could reduce the risk of getting sick on the road. After finishing her meal, she took advantage of everyone's inattention and replaced all the water in the water tank with spiritual spring water!
As a result, everyone had stomach upsets for the next few days!
Even Bai Jian and Bai Qiang's family, who had just returned, were no exception!
Everyone had just finished eating when Bai Jian and Bai Qiang returned!
Their wives and children followed behind them!
As soon as he got back, Bai Jian went to the water vat and drank a big ladle of water!
"I'm so thirsty! The water at home is still the sweetest! Bai Qiang wanted to rush back overnight after hearing the news yesterday, but I stopped him!"
"By the way, where's my little sister?"
At this moment, Bai Wanrong, who had just finished washing the dishes, came out of the kitchen and couldn't help but cry again when she saw Bai Qiang!
Bai Qiang's eyes also welled up with tears, but he always kept to himself and maintained a one-meter distance from Bai Wanrong, never daring to cross that line!
Seeing this, Bai Jian curled his lip and muttered under his breath, "Old fogey!"
After they finished catching up, Bai Chengye called his sons in and told them what Lin Ru had said again!
And warned them not to go around spreading rumors!
Bai Yong and Bai Gan were shocked. Bai Qiang nodded in agreement, saying, "I think Ru'er makes a lot of sense! We should take precautions as soon as possible!"
Bai Chengye nodded!
"Alright, let's split up and go our separate ways!"
So everyone started purchasing items according to the list that Bai Chengye had made the night before!
Bai Chengye posted another notice in the village!
The gist of it is that everyone should stock up on food recently in order to prevent food prices from rising due to drought!
Everyone just laughed it off when they saw the notice, until some of them saw Bai Jian and his men return with two carts full of grain before they started to believe it!
When he got home that evening, he briefly explained it to his daughters-in-law.
Tell them to all send a message home through someone!
Everyone finished dinner with heavy thoughts, and when it was time to go to bed, they started lining up to use the toilet again!
I had diarrhea for four days straight before I started to feel better!
Only then did Lin Ru put the two health-enhancing pills into her drinking water!
The next morning, the Bai family noticed a significant change!
I feel like I have inexhaustible energy, and even my old ailments have improved a lot!
While Bai Chengye was pondering how to persuade the villagers to leave in advance, he received news at noon that day that the Marquis of Zhenxi was plotting a rebellion.
Meanwhile, the Prince of Luzhou and the Prince of Changzhou, who were closest to Mianzhou, reacted quickly and prepared to attack and annex Mianzhou!
That very night, Prince Shun ordered his men to massacre an entire county in Mianzhou!
Because this county is only two counties away from Rongnian County, the news was able to travel so quickly!
Lin Ru never expected this day to come so soon!
The incident happened so suddenly that everyone panicked!
A large crowd had gathered outside the Bai family's gate, all seeking Bai Chengye's help!
"Village chief, what should we do?"
"Are we really going to leave?"
"What about my land? My family has almost no food left! We're counting on this autumn's harvest!"
Bai Chengye and the others had already planned to go to Yuzhou, so when the day actually arrived, they weren't too panicked. He reassured everyone!
"Don't panic, everyone! Go home and pack your things right now! We'll set off for Chongqing in one hour!"
"As long as we can leave before the Prince of Shun attacks, we still have a glimmer of hope!"
Upon hearing this, some villagers hurriedly went back to pack their things, while others grumbled unhappily!
"I'm not leaving! I'm going to die here anyway! I'll starve to death on the way to Yuzhou! I might as well wait to die in the ancestral home!"
"Yes! My son was just born, but my mother is sick and can't get out of bed."
"What should we do?"
Bai Chengye roared, "Those who want to leave, pack your things now and come with me! If you want to die, don't come to our doorstep to die!"
After saying that, he went back to pack his things!
Lin Ruzhen hadn't expected to travel with so many people. Her brows furrowed. No wonder the old man had bought everything and showed no sign of leaving!
Bai Jian noticed Lin Ru's agitation and cautiously approached her, explaining how the entire village had donated money and supplies to help Bai Chengye raise funds for his scientific expedition.
Lin Ru said she didn't quite understand, but respected it!
No wonder she accumulated merit every day in modern times, but everyone said she was an extremely cold person!
She is very willing to help others as long as it does not harm her own interests! But if it harms her own interests, she will not do it no matter how much merit she is given!
Therefore, she could never become the kind of person in novels who sacrifices herself to save the world!
Forget it! Things have come to this point! She can't just abandon these people and leave alone!
That way, she might never be able to go back!
So all I could do was help pack!
An hour later, a group of people, about five hundred people, gathered at the village entrance!
Bai Chengye began taking a population count!
He discovered that thirty or forty people were missing!
They were mostly elderly people from the village!
Bai Chengye grabbed one of the men's sons and asked, "Where are your parents?"
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man wiped away his tears and choked back sobs, "They're all at Uncle Hu's house! They say they don't want to leave! No matter how I try to persuade them, it's no use!"
Upon hearing this, Bai Chengye immediately led his men over!
There were about twenty old men and women gathered at the entrance of the Hu family's house, staring blankly at the village entrance!
Upon seeing Bai Chengye and the others approaching, they immediately went inside and closed the door tightly!
Upon seeing this, Bai Chengye quickly ran forward and blocked the door!
"Uncles, what is Auntie doing?"
"You're leaving with us? Did your children say something? If they don't want to take you with them, I'll banish them from the village! This village doesn't need such unfilial people!"
The old man in the lead, Hu, quickly waved his hand!
"No! The children are all wonderful! It's just that we don't want to leave! We want to stay in Shili Village, guard our ancestral hall, and wait for you to come back!"
"Otherwise, once the war is over, you won't be able to find your way home!"
Everyone's eyes reddened upon hearing this!
Bai Chengye roared, "Nonsense! Isn't it just that you think you're old and useless! You're afraid of holding the kids back?"
"Bai Jian! Bring over those five carts I told you to buy!"
Bai Jian agreed and hurriedly went back to call Bai Yong and Bai Gan to pull the five carts over together!
Bai Chengye personally went over and forcibly carried Old Man Hu onto one of the carts!
"I, Bai Chengye, have been so fortunate all these years! I am so grateful for your care! I could never leave you all here to die!"
“You all sit on this cart, and I’ll arrange for the able-bodied men in the village to take turns pulling it! Everyone gets old eventually! If we’re going to leave, we’ll leave together!”
After Bai Chengye finished speaking, the twenty-odd old men all began to cover their faces and weep!
In truth, they also longed to live! It was just that when their son and daughter-in-law returned and saw the worry in their eyes, they realized that they were now seen as a burden by their parents.
Their children feel no guilt, which is why they say they don't want to leave!
The children of this group blushed upon seeing this scene and said that the villagers didn't need to worry about it; they would take turns pulling them along!
Bai Chengye glared at them irritably, then went to find other people!
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