As Fengsheng stoked the fire, Xiao Baofeng came up to them with two bowls of porridge. He said, “Hi! My mom asked me to send you some porridge. Thank you for the firewood!”
Wishing to warm his stomach up, Fengsheng took the bowls with gratitude and said, “Thank you! Are you Xiao Baofeng?”
“Yes! But how do you know?” Xiao Baofeng asked.
Fengsheng felt too embarrassed to tell him that he had pried into the information about his family, so he replied with a smile, “I heard from the people in Qinghe county. They said you are a promising boy.”
“Thank you,” Xiao Baofeng flushed a bit.
Fengsheng handed a bowl of porridge to Li Chengru, but he didn’t take it immediately. Instead, he stared at it with suspicion. As a pampered prince, he had been picky about food and had never shared his bowl with others. But in front of him now was nothing more than an ordinary pottery bowl which was black all over without any floral patters. He suspected that it was not very clean.
Xiao Baofeng was waiting for them. He wanted to get the bowls back after they finished the porridge. Noticing Li Chengru’s frown, Xiao Baofeng soon understood what he was worried about. He explained immediately, “It’s clean. We’ve washed it well.”
Li Chengru asked, “Who washed it?”
“Sister Ye. It was taken from our house.”
Hearing that, Li Chengru finally took the bowl and tasted the porridge little by little.
The food instantly warmed him up and swept away his exhaustion. It was an unprecedented comfort, as if he had just taken a relaxing bath. He then handed the empty bowl to Xiao Baofeng who then took it back to his campsite.
Ye Xiaoxian had asked Wong Mudan and Chen Ju to get some water in advance. She gathered the bowls together and washed them carefully. Only then did Li Chengru believe the bowl was clean.
The evening wore on. Some refugees joined the camping as the early comers became sleepy. Gradually, the place quieted down until nothing more was heard. Every family had taken all their assets with them. Therefore, there would always be a family member guarding their possessions while the others were asleep. Most families were well-disciplined since they still had enough food. Although no one dared to steal things blatantly, it was always necessary to take precautions.
Havong once worked as constables, Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu had experience on night watch. One of them was responsible for guarding before midnight and the other would take over after that. The two men thus shouldered the responsibility to protect the family’s property.
Ye Xiaoxian, Li Hongmei and Xiao Baocheng slept on the same mat and shared a quilt. Fortunately, the night was not too cold, so they could have a sound sleep, but Ye Xiaoxian was unable to get to sleep at first while due to the thundering snoring of Li Hongmei and Old Mr. Xiao. Only after a moment of tossing and turning did she finally get to sleep.
On the other side, Li Chengru was also growing tired. Their carriage was big enough for them to stretch out comfortably inside and a quilt could protect them from the cold.
After they doused the flame, Li Chengru had a look around him. The place was packed with campfires and sleeping figures, which reminded him of the fires of war and the miserable corpses on the battlefield. He shivered involuntarily.
…
The next morning, the Xiao family hurried on with their journey. They became slightly listless and low-spirited. Evidently, their pace was slowing down. Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu, especially, had to exert a great deal of energy to move the carts. The amount of time they needed to rest increased, as did the frequency of their breaks. Now, they were forced to stop and drink water every two hours.
That evening, Ye Xiaoxian could still catch up with Liu Qianqian. However, they never met again after that.
Li Chengru and Fengsheng also disappeared from Ye Xiaoxian’s world. She felt somewhat sad.
“Such is a disaster,” she thought. “It will change everything around you, including who you meet and what you eat.”
Fortunately, she still had her family. Although they sometimes quarreled, they were the most reliable people in the face of danger. Putting aside all their old petty differences, they shared a common goal to settle down earlier.
On the fifth day, they arrived at the foot of a mountain. Ye Xiaoxian knew little about the ancient road network, but Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu could figure out which rivers, mountains or towns lay on their route north.
Standing in front of them now was Wuyang Mountain, beyond which was Zhengwu county. The places that then followed were Beihui city and then the capital. The mountain roads were narrow, but an endless stream of carriages and carts had bent the weeds on both sides. Flanked by trees, the mountain roads were quiet with the occasional twitter of wildlife, but Ye Xiaoxian was suspicious of this apparent peace.
Although they hadn’t passed any villages these past days, the roads had been open enough for them to see everything clearly at a glance. However, they were now surrounded by countless trees.
She was alert to the potential dangers that could be lurking behind the trees. Cautious about robberies, she knew that they must beat the robbers back with all tools they could use. However old they were, the last thing they wanted to do was to be cowards. Even if their enemies were refugees, they still had to fight mercilessly. Food meant everything in these crucial times, as one was unlikely to survive without it.
They should also feel no sympathy for other refugees. With limited resources, one could not afford to show his or her generosity. There were always refugees dying on this tough journey, and only seven or eight out of every ten people might survive. Ye Xiaoxian hoped that her family could all remain safe.
Restless, she stopped the carriages and woke up those sleeping. Then, she gave everyone a tool, such as a shovel or a stick, in case they encountered any difficulties.
Affected by her mood, the others also got nervous. As one-time constables, Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu were on high alert, knowing the high crime rate in such a wild and complicated place.
After full preparation, Ye Xiaoxian got them moving on their journey again.
Though panicked, Li Hongmei knew it was necessary to be brave and tried to encourage Wong Mudan and Chen Ju. “Sisters, you have great strength. Not many women could heave four buckets of water at a time. We must fight against robbers and protect our food and carriages, or our journey might end here!”
The two scared women tried to compose themselves and said, “You’re right! No matter who they might be, we’ll beat the crap out of them!”
Just then, Wong Mudan was holding a bucket, Chen Ju a spatula and Baoxue a rolling pin. It became increasingly isolated as they moved deeper into the towering woods which blocked the sky from their view.
A moment later, Ye Xiaoxian’s hunch came true. When they turned a corner, a gang of people popped out and stopped in front of the carriages. There were eight ragged men who appeared to be refugees. Ye Xiaoxian sighed with relief that they were not confronting bandits. In theory, such desperate robbers would say something like “Pay up or die!”, after they had rushed out.
However, they didn’t get a chance. Ye Xiaoxian shouted first, “Go! Beat them! Protect our belongings!”
The three women, Baofeng and Baoyang jumped down from the carriages at once and swung their “weapons” wildly. Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu, who had learned some martial arts, were born tough, and once showed their “talents” in punishing prisoners. Each of them could handle three or four robbers at a time.
The women also exerted their full strength. As Ye Xiaoxian had said, they would die if they couldn’t defeat the robbers or lost their food. It was a matter of survival. Therefore, these shrews cast aside their fear and fought all out against the male enemies one-to-one.
As young as Baoyang and Baofeng were, they had the advantage in nimbleness. Through perfect cooperation, they could deal with an opponent.
It proved to be an exhausting battle, but they won in the end. The robbers were shocked at their defeat. Those they confronted were four women, a group of kids, an old man and only two strong men, but they were totally discouraged by these people’s unthinkable ferocity.
After handling the threat, the family didn’t dare to stay there much longer. They raced onwards through the forest until they saw the blue sky and bright sunlight. Only then could Ye Xiaoxian heave a deep sigh of relief, and she then felt her arms and legs had become terribly limp. The other women also felt so scared after the event that their hands shook involuntarily while holding bowls of water.
Only Old Mr. Xiao was in the mood to yell noisily, “I told you we should stay in our village! It’s lucky that they were just a few weak refugees. What if we meet some real bandits? We’re rooted in our homeland. If we die out here, our ancestors won’t let our souls go back again!”
However, no one answered him.
…