I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

"That won't do!" Jiang Hui said, "Who was it that, even as they were about to die, clung to their last breath and said, 'I don't want to die, I want revenge!'"

"But now, those thieves are dead." Tang Rui squatted down, hugging her two hard knees and crying, "My family is dead too, I... I don't want to live anymore..."

Jiang Hui couldn't comfort her because her family members had also died.

"Alright, stop crying." Jiang Hui pulled her up. "I saw it. Those people are good people. Let's follow behind their group, find a place to stay, and then separate from them at a distance."

"Nobody knows what happened to us."

Jiang Hui said, "You're my sister, and if I'm going to live, I'll live with you!"

"Jiang Hui..." Tang Rui cried twice more. When Jiang Hui pulled her out again, she did not resist and let her lead her away.

Jiang Hui knew that Tang Rui had been persuaded by her.

Outside the cave, Liu Yuzhen, who had been waiting nearby, approached and asked nervously, "Jiang Hui, are they really willing to let us go with them?"

Jiang Hui: "I asked them, and they said they were willing, but they had to find their own food. If they couldn't keep up with the group, they wouldn't wait for us."

She thought they would be willing to take her with them! Liu Yuzhen felt a little disappointed, but quickly cheered up again.

Miao Chunfang and Jiang Hui called out to the remaining few people several more times, but before leaving, seeing that they still refused to come, Miao Chunfang could only shake her head, sigh, and leave.

The group was leaving in half an hour, and time was of the essence. Jiang Hui quickly took a set of clothes from the thief and changed into them.

The stench made her frown, and she thought to herself that when she got to the river, she would definitely wash these clothes ten times!

They came out of the cave empty-handed. Jiang Hui changed her clothes and helped Tang Rui take out a set of clothes for her to change into as well.

Liu Yuzhen stood to one side, calling out hesitantly, "Jiang Hui..."

Jiang Hui looked at Liu Yuzhen, "Take it off yourself."

With a pout, Liu Yuzhen reluctantly stripped the thief of his clothes.

When it was time to change it, she complained about this and that.

Jiang Hui didn't have time to pay attention to her. She went to find a few more corpses that were still relatively clean. After Tang Rui changed her clothes, she and Tang Rui stripped them off together.

Wearing one set of clothes and carrying two more, I don't have to worry about clothes for now.

Jiang Hui picked out another top, put the two sets of clothes inside, tied the hem and collar tightly, and tied the sleeves together, and a simple bundle was ready.

Seeing that there were two black cotton quilts left by the thieves in the oilcloth shed, Jiang Hui asked the woman who had called them out. After receiving permission, Jiang Hui put the quilts away as well.

Although it's dirty, they have nothing now, so they have no right to complain!

Tang Rui stopped crying after leaving the cave, and she followed Jiang Hui's lead in doing everything she did.

Finally, Miao Chunfang brought over a piece of oilcloth, saying that since her family had brought a lot this time, she wanted to share one with the rest of them.

After expressing her gratitude, Jiang Hui carefully folded the oilcloth and put it away in a coat.

The thieves' weapons had been taken by the two teams. Jiang Hui searched and found a large knife broken in two under one of the thieves.

Now almost everyone in the team has two or three big swords, and nobody wants these broken ones.

Better than nothing, Jiang Hui picked up both pieces and carefully tore off a piece of cloth to wrap the blade.

Aside from the broadsword, they lacked everything else. Jiang Hui picked up whatever the two teams didn't want and collected it all as much as possible.

When she left, she was carrying several large bags on her back and a bunch of odds and ends.

After a period of rest and recuperation, the team set off again.

At the exact hour of Chen (7-9 AM), the group successfully passed through the pass and looked out over a vast expanse of flat land.

After reviewing the route, the village head carefully put away the map and said to the group, "After passing this checkpoint, it will be another five days' journey to Yikang County in Luchuan Prefecture!"

Before I knew it, almost a month had passed since I came down from the mountain.

It took them a month to reach Luchuan County.

Hearing the village head say this, everyone in the group was very happy.

Luchuan County! Luchuan County is very prosperous, and in good years, there has never been a disaster.

If there is any place in the Great Zhou Dynasty where people can still have hope of survival, it is undoubtedly Luchuan County.

Hope was within reach, and with two recent waves of food supplies, everyone in the team was highly motivated.

After walking for two days, I don't know if it's because of the terrain or because the season has changed, but the weather has started to get cold.

Ning's mother took out some thicker clothes and had the group put them on underneath.

Seeing that He Shi and Zhou Jian didn't have any warm clothes, Ning's mother found a set of her own and Ning's father's clothes and took them over.

He held it up and beckoned Zhao Ningning, who had come along, to sit in their car. Zhao Ningning quickly climbed in and watched He change her clothes and come out.

Ning's mother and He's mother are similar in build, so the clothes fit them perfectly.

But Zhou Jian couldn't. The clothes Ning's father wore were a bit too long for him. He gestured and told him to take them off, then used a needle and thread to roll up the cuffs and trouser legs and sew them up.

When I put it on, it fit perfectly.

It was bitterly cold in the early morning and evening, so Jiang Hui put on another set of the clothes she had picked up, and only then did she feel warm.

Tang Rui and Liu Yuzhen followed suit; the bloodstains on their clothes dried and left an unpleasant smell.

Liu Yuzhen felt extremely disgusted, but she had no choice; she had no clean clothes to wear, so she had to wear this.

Everyone was trying to come up with a solution.

Someone got some grain sacks from the thieves, dusted off the extra sacks, cut three slits in them with a knife, and put them on top, turning the sacks into vests.

Some people, like Jiang Hui, even stripped off the clothes of thieves, regardless of how dirty they were, as long as they could wear them to keep warm.

Some people even brought their own clothes and wore everything they could find.

Those who have absolutely nothing can take advantage of their rest time to gather a few handfuls of grass from the ground and stuff them into their clothes. The grass rustles as they walk, but it can also ward off some of the cold.

Whether it's a placebo effect or actually effective, only they themselves probably know.

On the third day, the group finally found a river.

Wang Xiufeng went over to check and found that the river water was clear and there were animal footprints nearby, indicating that the river water was drinkable.

The group had almost finished drinking their water, so the village head nodded and asked Jiang Song, "Brother Jiang, would you like to rest here?"

"Yes!" Jiang Song said, "We've been out for so many days, let's rest here early today."

The two teams stopped by the river, and Zhao Ningning's family parked their car.

Upstream is where everyone draws water, so Ning's father led the mule directly downstream to drink.

Further back, the two groups of people were washing up.

After the mule had drunk its fill, Ning's father led it back to feed it.

Ning's mother had already prepared dinner. It had been cold lately, so she lit a small stove outside and cooked a pot of mixed grain porridge on it.

The porridge was very thin, and when Mrs. He saw it, she thought that her family was reluctant to eat it. Mrs. He tried to persuade her, but Ning's mother just laughed it off.

After the porridge was ready, they brought it into the carriage. Once the door was closed, the cold wind outside was blocked, and Ning's mother took out the flatbread from her storage space.

All the dishes I made in the space before have been eaten, and these pancakes are ones I made during my recent trips to town.

The vegetables were all gone, but there was still chili sauce, fermented bean curd, pickled vegetables, and ham sausage left.

Each person picked out their favorite fillings and put them into their pancakes. While eating, Zhao Ningning asked, "When will this famine end?"

"I always feel that since the famine started, the days have passed both quickly and slowly."

Ning's father swallowed the biscuit in his mouth and said, "After passing Luchuan County, we still need to go further to reach Qingzhou. Once we reach Qingzhou, we should be in our final destination."

"Don't worry, it will all end eventually." Ning's mother sighed inwardly, thinking of the novels: floods, earthquakes, epidemics, cold disasters, and after the cold disasters, the heroine and hero lived happily ever after.

Judging by the dates, the disaster would have ended around the time they arrived in Qingzhou.

After the four finished their meal, Zhao Ningning and Zhao Qi returned to their space, while Ningning's parents slept in the car.

A short while later, Zhao Ningning came out of the space and handed a package to Ning's mother.

"What is this?" Ning's mother touched it; it was still a little warm.

"It's an ice curling ring from before," Zhao Ningning said. "I put charcoal inside it, and it became a thermos!"

The thermos was wrapped in two layers of clothing, and it felt light and not hot to the touch. Ning's mother smiled and said, "Ningning is so clever."

"That's not a difficult thing," Zhao Ningning shook her head. "You'll be sleeping in the car. It's okay in the summer, but in the winter the carriage is thin and doesn't keep you warm. You'll need a thermos at night."

"Tomorrow, my brother and I will renovate the inside of the carriage."

After saying that, Zhao Ningning tugged at her mother's hand before returning to her spatial dimension.

Zhao Qi was brushing the crawling mat by the sink.

When it comes to heat insulation and warmth, a crawling mat is the best choice. It's just a pity that there's only one mat available, so you can only place it underneath to keep warm and prevent cold air from creeping up your back when you sleep at night.

Zhao Ningning stroked her chin. "If the playmat works, will takeout bags work too?"

Zhao Qi put down the brush in his hand. "It's all based on the same principle!"

Thinking of this, Zhao Ningning left her spatial dimension and asked her mother for the pile of "garbage" that she had stored there.

Zhao Ningning picks up trash every few days, cleaning up every building in their community. The most common type of trash is takeout food.

Picking out the trash with insulated bags, Zhao Ningning took out all the leftovers and drinks inside. She was glad that she had been stingy and hadn't wanted the system to recycle the trash directly.

After separating the bags, Zhao Qi washed them with water, cut them open one by one, and laid them out to dry.

After hanging them up to dry, the two children went to sleep.

Outside.

As soon as they arrived at the river, Jiang Hui immediately took out the two sets of clothes to wash.

She washed, and Tang Rui washed too.

Liu Yuzhen found the water too cold and hesitated for a while before soaking the clothes in the water, rinsing them a few times, and rubbing off the bloodstains slightly before taking them out.

After carefully washing and cleaning the clothes, Jiang Hui asked Tang Rui to help her hold one end, and the two of them pulled in opposite directions to wring out the water from the clothes.

Tang Rui took the clothes and went to the woods by the river to collect firewood.

Upon encountering a straight tree branch, Jiang Hui used her broken knife to chop it off piece by piece, dragged it back, and used it to build a frame around their resting place.

After hanging the clothes up to dry, Jiang Hui asked Tang Rui to watch over them while she went to find firewood.

After gathering a pile of firewood, Tang Rui volunteered to go find wild vegetables.

It was still early, so Jiang Hui told her not to go too far and to sit by the fire to rest and dry her clothes.

Tang Rui confidently ventured into the woods, but there were hardly any wild vegetables there!

After searching around, she finally saw someone digging something on a small slope behind the woods. Tang Rui followed and brought some back with her.

"Purslane!" Jiang Hui exclaimed with delight, "You actually found purslane!"

Tang Rui raised her head. "Hmph, when I went out you said, 'Come back if you can't find it,' and 'Don't go too far.'"

It's all thanks to her finding food!

Jiang Hui hugged her, "Tell me where it is, and we'll look for more!"

"It's over there in the woods," Tang Rui pointed to the location.

Jiang Hui glanced at the woods, then at Liu Yuzhen sitting on the ground, and asked, "Liu Yuzhen, how about you watch our clothes for us? We'll share some wild vegetables with you when we get back?"

"No!" Liu Yuzhen quickly got up from the ground. "I thought you were going to take me with you!"

Liu Yuzhen: "I don't want to stay here, I want to go too!"

Helpless, Jiang Hui could only ask Tang Rui to watch the things while she and Liu Yuzhen went together.

When she left, Jiang Hui unpacked a package and took the coat that was used to wrap the contents.

When we arrived at Xiaopo, quite a few people were already digging there.

Jiang Hui stood in the far corner, searching carefully.

The purslane has only just sprouted, and there are already many weeds on this slope.

She searched carefully, and when she found one, she pulled it out by the roots and carefully put it in the coat she had brought to wrap things.

Purslane was hard to find, so while she was digging for purslane, she also pulled up a lot of edible grass.

Before long, Jiang Hui's package was bulging. She greeted Liu Yuzhen and took the package back.

Liu Yuzhen, clutching a handful of purslane, sat down on the ground in a fit of rage.

We all came together! Why did Jiang Hui take a whole bagful and leave?

After she calmed down, she started digging again, albeit hesitantly.

If we don't dig her up, she won't have anything to eat.

After Jiang Hui returned, she taught Tang Rui what the other edible grasses looked like, and the two of them took turns digging them up.

As night fell, Jiang Hui touched her clothes, which were already half-dry from the heat. After thinking for a moment, she took out a large bunch of purslane from her package.

They didn't have any pots, so they had to borrow one.

Jiang Hui found the nearest family; their fire on the ground had just gone out, and they looked like they had already finished eating.

The woman sitting on the hood of the car was leaning against the door and talking to the people inside.

"Auntie," Jiang Hui called out, "I'd like to borrow your pot to use the purslane."

At someone's call, Ms. He, who was sitting on the hood of the car, turned around and saw the girl following behind the group. She asked, "What's wrong?"

Jiang Hui smiled and held up the purslane in her hand. "I'd like to borrow your pot with this purslane."

When Mrs. He saw the purslane in her hand, she pushed it away, saying, "I don't want your purslane."

Jiang Hui felt a pang of disappointment, but she still smiled outwardly, "Okay, then I'll ask again..."

"Why would I need purslane for a pot!" Mrs. He went into the carriage, took the pot out, and asked, "Do you have a stove?"

Jiang Hui shook her head blankly, and He Shi went to the car and took the stove out again.

Seeing that Jiang Hui had nowhere to hold anything, He Shi took the purslane from her hand.