I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

After buying the grain, the Zhao family didn't have much money left. Hearing the news of the impending famine, the younger generation still wanted to stay in Wangli Village.

Old Zhao refuted them, saying: "If we stay in Wangli Village, there will be only a few scattered people. When people from other prefectures fleeing famine pass through here, they will simply occupy the houses, the grain, and kill and eat the people."

This wasn't meant to scare them; it was something Old Zhao's great-grandfather had told him personally. Back when the famine started, every family set off together with more than a dozen people. But by the time they settled in Wangli Village, almost every household had only one or two people left.

People kept dying along the way.

Old Zhao insisted on fleeing the famine. Granny Qian also knew that fleeing the famine was of great importance, so she gritted her teeth and took out all her silver. Old Zhao weighed it in his hand and silently went to the town to bring back a cart.

There were no animals pulling the cart, nor were there any carriages.

All their possessions were placed there, covered only with an oilcloth.

Old Zhao's family was large, so they had a lot to take. Sun Shi was reluctant to throw away this or that. When she left, she even used an axe to chop up the square table in the main room and the long benches that she couldn't take with her, and tied them together with firewood.

From a distance, the Zhao family's cart looked like a small mountain.

Old Zhao pulled from the front, Old Zhao pushed from behind, and several women lent a hand from time to time.

Apart from the seat where Cao Rouan was sitting, there wasn't a single empty seat on the bus.

Despite her throbbing legs, Zhao Huilan continued walking forward.

Looking ahead, she could see Zhao Ningning sitting comfortably in the car, with Zhao Lao Er handing her a water bag to drink.

Licking her dry lips, Zhao Huilan lowered her head.

She also wanted to drink water...

But the river had been dry for many days, and the family had been without water for a long time. The only water they had was bought by their third uncle from town.

There was also a water bag, which my sister-in-law brought back from home.

This water had nothing to do with her. Only at night, when she was really thirsty, would her grandmother give her a small sip to drink.

If only I could sit on an oxcart like Zhao Ningning and have water to drink...

Zhao Ningning sat on He's oxcart, completely unaware that she was being envied. After drinking her water and putting away her water bag, she told He and Zhou Jian about her revised ancient version of One Thousand and One Nights.

The group set off at Chenshi (7-9 AM) and traveled for two hours, until the sun rose at noon. The road was unbearably hot, so the village head led the group off the main road and stopped to rest in the woods beside it.

Everyone got off the carriage, and the horses were watered. Zhao Ningning's family had placed a wooden bucket with a sealable lid in the carriage. After the carriage stopped, Ningning's father opened the lid of the bucket, poured out some water, and gave it to the mule to drink.

He's family was feeding the cows water, and Zhou Jian was preparing lunch. Ning's mother told them not to clean up and that the two families should eat together.

Thinking that today was the first day of fleeing famine, He Shi did not refuse. After feeding her own cows, she washed her hands and went to help.

Zhao Ningning's family lit a small clay stove, on which sat a small iron pot that Ningning's father had someone make. The pot was deep with a round bottom, and it could be used for both stir-frying and making soup. It also conducted heat quickly and was very useful.

After setting the pot on the stove, Ning's mother went back to the carriage and, under cover of her presence, took out a handful of dried vegetables and a handful of dried meat from her storage space.

When the two kinds of dried goods are cooked together in a pot with a little salt, they become very delicious.

After the soup was cooked, it was set aside to cool. Ning's mother placed a frying pan on the clay stove and slowly heated the flatbread.

Mr. He watched with astonishment.

If she had more money, she would have liked to buy a small round-bottomed iron pot like Ningning's. A flat-bottomed pan would have been nice too, but ironware was too expensive. After buying the oxcart, she didn't have much money left, so she could only secretly look at it with envy.

The pancakes were heated up, and the six of them gathered together and sat under the tree to eat lunch.

With a sip of soup and a bite of flatbread, Zhao Ningning was extremely satisfied.

Fleeing from famine doesn't seem so terrible after all.

Zhao Ningning had just finished thinking about it at noon when, in the afternoon, the convoy started to fall into chaos.

Those at the back of the procession complained that the carriages in front were moving too fast.

The carriages at the front felt they were slowing down the group. If they hadn't been waiting for the people behind, they would have already reached the next town.

The two groups were hurling insults at each other from a distance. The procession was moving along, and there was no way to stop them or manage the situation. The village head could only hold back. When they found a place to rest at night, he gave the troublemakers a good scolding.

After he finished cursing, he went back and discussed with the village chief and clan elders how to proceed.

After spending the night away from home for a day, Zhao Ningning and her family of four felt somewhat uncomfortable.

The village arranged for someone to keep watch at night, but Ning's father was still worried about the mule. So he simply pulled out the wooden plank that had been installed at the bottom of the cart, placed it on the crossbar of the cart, and then leveled the slope of the cart so that people could sleep both inside and outside the cart.

Ning's father tied the mule directly to his own hand and told Ning's mother and the others to go back to the carriage to rest.

As usual, Zhao Ningning locked the carriage and then disappeared back into her spatial dimension.

Back in the familiar modern elevator lobby, Zhao Ningning opened the door to her home. Her bedding was neatly laid out in the entryway. Her mother was worried that sleeping on the floor would be bad for her spine, so she bought her a straw mat in town, which would at least keep her away from the cold floor.

Thinking about the outside world, Zhao Ningning pulled the covers over herself and closed her eyes.

Nothing happened overnight. When Zhao Ningning woke up the next day, she first went to the kitchen to pour out the soy milk that she had set the timer for the night before. After it had cooled down a bit, she took it out of the kitchen.

Ning's mother took a sip and praised, "Not bad, this kind of weather is perfect for drinking thin soy milk. I didn't drink much water yesterday, and my lips are practically chapped."

After drinking the soy milk, the group ate eggs and steamed buns in the carriage. After confirming that there was nothing wrong with each other, Ning's father sat in the front of the carriage and harnessed the mule.

Before long, the other families finished packing up. At dawn, just as the sun had barely risen above the horizon, the refugee group from Wangli Village continued their journey.

Zhao Ningning still found it somewhat novel after a day like this, just like when she went hiking with her parents during previous holidays.

After two days, Zhao Ningning began to wonder when this would finally end.

On the third day, Zhao Ningning started to give up.

Before setting off, Zhao Ningning tested whether the space would move with the carriage in her own yard. She later discovered that as long as she returned to the space on a moving object, she would return on the same object.

In other words, her space would move with the carriage.

Zhao Ningning, feeling utterly defeated, closed the carriage door and went back into her spatial dimension to think about lunch for her family.

Except for the first day when He Shi and Zhou Jian came over for dinner together, they insisted on eating separately for the next two days.

This made it easy for Zhao Ningning's family to cook for themselves privately. Even though lunchtime was tight, in the evenings when they rested, Ningning's mother would take out some food she had prepared earlier from her space, and Ningning's father would cook a pot of soup. Together with the steamed food and some still-warm steamed buns or flatbreads from her space, the family of four could easily have a simple dinner.

Zhao Ningning wanted to make something refreshing for her family. After traveling for the past few days, not only her father, but also her mother and brother, who were traveling by car, looked haggard. Zhao Ningning herself was also feeling a bit listless from the heat.

The food in the space is refreshed every day. Zhao Ningning opened the refrigerator, found a bag of noodles, and took out tomatoes, beef, garlic sprouts, etc. She washed her hands and started cooking while thinking about the cold noodles she had eaten when she was still in the modern world.

"Delicious!" Ning's father picked up a mouthful of cold noodles, slurped it into his mouth, chewed a few times, and then swallowed it whole, saying, "So comforting..."

Ning's mother praised, "Ningning, you're so great! How did you come up with the idea of ​​making cold noodles?"

"We ate at a farmhouse restaurant when we went hiking during the summer vacation, didn't we?" Zhao Ningning said. "I suddenly remembered it last night when I was going to bed, and I thought it would be perfect to make this since it's hot."

Zhao Qi also secretly gave his younger sister a thumbs up.

For the cold noodle sauce, Zhao Ningning didn't mix it directly with water, but instead used crushed ice. The sweet and sour sauce, mixed with crushed ice, was poured over the noodles. She then ate the noodles with slices of beef and tomato. The noodles were smooth, the beef was chewy, and the tomatoes were refreshing.

There's nothing more perfect for hot weather than this!

For several days in a row, Zhao Ningning prepared different kinds of extra meals for her family, and her parents gradually recovered.

On the fifth day of fleeing the famine, some members of the group fell ill from exhaustion.

Fortunately, the village's barefoot doctor also came to escape the famine. When the villagers called for him, he went over to take a look and said that he was exhausted, had eaten little, and had been exposed to the sun, which caused him to develop a high fever.

The doctor had brought some medicinal herbs with him when he fled the famine, and one of them happened to be for treating high fever. He took the medicine and brought it over. The villagers were very grateful and paid for it. They took it back and decocted it for the patient.

On the fifth day, only one person was sick, but on the sixth and seventh days, elderly people and children began to fall ill one after another.

Wang Licun's team had to slow down their pace.

The eighth night.

The village head sat by the fire, looking at the map again and again.

The village chief strolled over after finishing his meal and, seeing Old Wang's state, simply sat down on the empty ground next to him. "What's wrong?"

"At this rate, we'll be several days late in reaching the prefectural city."

"So what if it's late? We're with the villagers, we can't just abandon them," the village chief said. "It would take the fastest walkers fifteen days, we've covered half the distance so far, that's not slow."

After all, half of the team didn't use animals to pull the carts; they relied solely on manpower and their own two feet.

The village head was worried. He folded the map and put it away, then stood up and said, "This is the only way."

Wang Licun's team planned to go to Lingbei Prefecture to see what the situation was like there.

But after walking for seven or eight days, all we saw along the way were dried-up riverbeds and withered, yellow vegetation.

There was no greenery on either side of the road, and the village head was very worried about the situation in Lingbei Prefecture.

On the ninth day, the people of Wangli Village continued their journey.

The exertion of the past week has left me with swollen legs and blisters all over my feet.

Many people have made it this far through sheer willpower.

They encountered no water source along the way. The water bags and bamboo tubes that the refugees brought with them when they left the village were empty, and some households had even been without water for a day.

If they can't find a water source soon, they probably won't be able to continue their journey.

The village head's family drove their horse-drawn carriage at the head of the procession. After thinking for a moment, the village head instructed his eldest son to take advantage of the midday and evening breaks to ride around and look for any water sources nearby.

Upon reaching a mountain range, the group stopped to rest.

The village head's eldest son, Wang Xiufeng, and the village chief's second son, Li Si, each rode their horses deeper into the woods, while the rest of the people rested where they were.

Taking advantage of the break, Zhao Ningning slipped back into the carriage and went back to her space to get the soy milk.

Make the soy milk a little thinner, add some sugar, and it will taste sweet. I put it in the refrigerator to chill this morning, so it's perfect to drink now.

Zhao Ningning set up the table and poured a bowl for each of her family members. Ning's mother picked up the bowl and took a sip; the refreshing coolness instantly washed away the morning's heat.

"That's really good!" Ning's mother praised, holding the icy cold bowl. She first took out a roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) from her space and ate it, then drank the soy milk sip by sip with the roujiamo.

After she finished eating, Ning's father and Zhao Qi took turns eating. Ning's mother put the pancakes on the small table and sat down with Zhao Ningning at the door of the cart.

A wave of heat hit us.

The steam made Zhao Ningning's nasal passages dry. Rubbing her nose, she asked, "Mom, how much further do we have to go?"

"Someone asked the village head yesterday and said that at this pace, it will arrive in another seven or eight days."

Seven or eight days?

Zhao Ningning pinched her nose and said with a wry smile, "My dad and I... Dad could have gotten there in just five days."

Five days was delayed by half a day due to some incident; otherwise, following a caravan familiar with the route would have been faster.

While chatting with Ning's mother, Zhao Ningning saw a group of people slowly approaching Wangli Village in the distance.

—Did they catch up with the fleeing caravan?

Zhao Ningning squinted and looked closely. With her good eyesight, she could see that the group of people were relatively clean and were moving towards them step by step with long, drawn-out steps.

From afar, the village head saw them banging gongs to alert the villagers.

By the time they got closer, the men on the outer perimeter had already packed up their belongings. They had already eaten while resting, and now only the straw mats on the ground remained.

When they fled the famine, they brought their farm tools with them. Those who had farm tools carried hoes and sickles, while those who didn't picked out a thick stick from the firewood pile.

Everyone watched the uninvited guest warily.

Seemingly sensing their wariness, a middle-aged man stepped out from the fleeing group to allay their concerns. He approached alone, cupped his hands in greeting from a distance, and said, "I am the village head of Xicheng Village in Jiayang County. I have no intention of offending you, but I would like to inquire whether there is a water source nearby."

The village head of Wangli Village stepped forward and shouted loudly from afar, "We are only staying here and do not know if there is a water source nearby."

With a look of disappointment on his face, the man bowed towards Wangli Village and returned to his group.

There was no water here, so their team didn't even rest at noon and continued on their way.

Once they could no longer see them, the people of Wangli Village relaxed and put away their farm tools and firewood.

The village head frowned as he watched them leave.

On the ninth day of their escape from famine, a group of refugees this size had already appeared. It's likely that other groups will follow. If they encounter easy-going groups like today, that's fine, but if they encounter those with ulterior motives, the villagers of Wangli Village are in danger.

After discussing it, the village headman decided to wait until the evening when everyone was resting and then notify each household to send one man to take turns guarding the team.

Before he could figure out how to tell the villagers, he heard horses neighing in the distance. The village head looked up and saw that the two children who had gone to find water were returning.