Archives: FS

Gu Zhang nodded: “It’s much closer over there, but I heard there’s flooding there. It’s hard to live with this drought and flood.”

The old man waved his hand: “Don’t be afraid of floods during summer. If it’s flooded during winter, the water will have receded long ago.”

He thought to himself while thinking: “It seems that we can’t go to Xishan County, we have to go to Hanzhong County.”

Gu Fei couldn’t help but think that there were no detailed records in the history textbooks. She didn’t know how serious the floods in the south were. If the water rose in Hanzhong County, there would be many victims.

Often when a dynasty was about to perish, it may be at the end of its tether, which was accompanied by natural and man-made disasters.

However, Gu Fei did not advise the old man not to go to Hanzhong County. Each of his family carried baggage, and there was no food left. It was impossible to go to Donghai County.

Hanzhong County borders Xiqin County, which is not too far away. There may be a way to survive if you go that way.

Just as she was thinking about it, Gu Fei saw a large cluster of wilting purslane growing in the field not far from the official road, and she felt happy.

Although the food at home was sufficient, they also brought some dried vegetables and pickled vegetables, but who would let go of fresh and edible wild vegetables?

If they don’t eat vegetables for a few days, they won’t be able to poop.

She ran over, but before she got close, she saw a boy who was faster than her. He ran up to her in a few steps, quickly pulled out the purslane, and threw it into the basket on his back.

Gu Fei stopped, looked at it for a while, turned around, and walked away silently.

This boy and the old man belong to the same family. They may survive on these wild vegetables. Her family still have food to eat.

Uncle Ma looked at it from a distance. There were still a lot of purslanes. Gu Fei wanted to pull them out, but she turned around midway and refused to fight with the boy.

This girl was kind-hearted.

Such a kind little girl, was she a spy?

Uncle Ma doesn’t think so.

After walking for almost an hour, Uncle Ma asked everyone to stop.

Gu Fei took a sip of water from her water bag tied with red thread. She saw Huzi was wilting, so she hurriedly walked over and said: “Auntie, you and Huzi get in the carriage and have a rest.”

Mrs. Li said hesitantly: “This, this is not good, I just rested for a short time. There are so many people in your family, everyone has to take turns to rest.”

“Besides, you’re not completely healed from your injuries. Just go and rest yourself. I can still walk.”

Gu Fei couldn’t help but help her to go to her mule carriage, opened the curtain, and let Mrs. Li get on the cart.

When Huzi got in the car, Gu Fei secretly stuffed a piece of modern beef jerky produced by space into his hand and whispered: “Eat it quietly by yourself, don’t tell Bao’er.”

Huzi grasped the beef jerky tightly and nodded nervously.

When Xiao Cao got out of the car, Gu Fei stuffed candy into her mouth and secretly handed one to Li Chunhua.

Then she asked Lanzhi to open her mouth and gave her one to eat.

Gu Fei thought she was doing it secretly, but she didn’t expect that she couldn’t hide it from Uncle Ma who had been staring at her.

Uncle Ma squinted his eyes. This girl was so mysterious when she gave someone candy. Alas, a little girl is a little girl and a piece of candy is worth that much for her.

Just as he was thinking about it, Bao’er ran over and looked at Gu Fei stretching out his hand: “I walked today, please give me candy.”

Gu Fei hated this boy more and more. He even robbed her of smoked rabbit meat yesterday. She said harshly: “No more. The candy is very expensive. I gave you the remaining one yesterday.”

Lanzhi next to her quickly shut her mouth. Xiao Cao was even more exaggerated, stretching out her little hand to cover her mouth tightly.

Ugh, poor Xiao Cao, she didn’t know there was a saying, that there are no three hundred taels of silver buried here.

 

*There are no 300 taels silvers buried here – doing something to hide a secret but ending up revealing it.

Gu Fei suddenly remembered that the troops marched in the past. No wonder they all wore leggings.

She should have thought of this earlier.

Xiao Cao said in a sweet voice beside her: “Grandmother, tie it up for me too.”

Mrs. Chen smiled and said: “You don’t walk a few steps, so you don’t need to be tied up.”

Li Chunhua and Lanzhi were also tied to each other. Lanzhi looked at her legs. She didn’t expect that one day she would go out dressed in such a weird way.

There was nothing she could do, her legs were so painful that she couldn’t lift them.

That’s not all, when the old lady left the room, Gu Fei pulled Lanzhi over, took out a box of shadow powder that she had used in her previous life, and applied it all over Lanzhi’s face.

Lanzhi first thought that Gu Fei was putting makeup on herself, but when she saw her dark self in the bronze mirror, she was shocked: “Why are you putting makeup on me like this?”

Gu Fei pinched her face and said, “You are too good-looking. It’s not safe on the road. What if we encounter officers, soldiers, or bandits and snatch you away?”

“I didn’t think of this yesterday.”

Upon hearing this, Lanzhi nodded quickly, wishing that Gu Fei could apply more to her.

Coming out of the room, Ms. Chen and Li Chunhua also started to make breakfast. Breakfast consisted of wild vegetables and white rice porridge, plus pickles and cornmeal pancakes.

After dinner, Mrs. Chen asked Gu Erlang to fetch two buckets of water, stir them, put them in a large pot to boil, and then fill all the water bladders.

The operations of every household were similar.

Since their uncle has a small family, he only bought a bucket of water, boiled it, poured it into a jar sealed it, and gave the rest to the mules to drink.

At about midnight, the mule was brought out and harnessed. Uncle Ma shouted: “Let’s go. Let’s go faster today and try to get to Fuyuan Town to rest in the evening.”

Not long after setting I felt that there were slightly more people on the official road than yesterday.

Gu Zhang saw a group of more than ten people walking in rags and carrying bags, old and young, both men and women. They looked like a family, so he went over to find an old man and asked: “Old man, Where are you going?”

The old man shook his head and said: “I don’t know, it doesn’t matter where I go.”

“There are only three acres of land at home, but there is no harvest in the spring, and there is a drought now. We haven’t harvested a grain of grain this year. We have been without food for half a year, and we have no way to survive at home. Maybe we can survive outside.”

Gu Zhang sighed, and the old man asked: “Where are you going?”

Gu Zhang said: “Go to the south. There is no drought in the south. The counties in the north are suffering from severe drought. Our families don’t have enough water to survive.”

The old man was stunned: “How many counties are suffering from drought? So where does this end?”

“I also thought that it would be better to go to Xishan County. My family still has a few laborers, and I can make a living by working as a long-term laborer.”

Gu Zhang shook his head: “It’s been a drought, so Xishan County is probably not as good as ours. In our, Xiqin County, we have had a good county governor in recent years. They have reduced and exempted a lot of excessive taxes and water conservancy projects. Every family can live a good life.”

“While in Xishan County, there are a lot of coal mountains, so the output from the fields is less. I’m afraid it will be even harder.”

The old man’s face showed confusion. There was no way to survive in Xishan County, so what should they do?

“Then which south side are you going to?”

Gu Zhang replied: “We’ll go southeast to Donghai County.”

The old man shook his head: “Isn’t it closer to Hanzhong County? It’s also in the south. There’s a big river there, so there won’t be droughts. I went there when I was young.”

 

Xing’er retracted her hand nonchalantly and looked around. The straw was almost laid out. She couldn’t snatch it from others.

Xing’er turned around with empty hands. Mrs. Qian asked her, “Where is the straw you are holding?”

“No more.” Xing’er shook her head.

Mrs. Qian slapped Xing’er on the face: “You’re a useless girl, you can’t even do such a job, what’s the use of you?”

Xing’er covered her face and ran out crying.

She was a fourteen or fifteen years old girl. She was a thin-skinned girl. She felt embarrassed when so many people were looking at her.

When Shanzi saw Xing’er running out, he hesitated for a moment, put down the straw in his hand, and walked out. Aunt Huang said: “Shanzi, what are you doing? Hurry and help your mother spread the mattress.”

Shanzi responded with a dull sound, turned around, took the mattress, and spread it on the kang.

Aunt Huang’s eyes flashed.

It was not like she didn’t notice her son’s little thoughts.

But she despises Xing’er.

Xing’er can’t compare with Gu Fei in any way, let alone a troublemaker like Mrs. Qian.

Gu Fei was her ideal daughter-in-law candidate. Although she was a bit squeamish, she could make money, which was better than anything else.

Aunt Huang felt that her family’s conditions were pretty good.

Although her husband was hit and killed by a carriage in the city last year, the owner of the carriage was kind enough and compensated their family with twenty taels of silver. Her family had a strong foundation, a small population, and low expenses. Over the years, she saved dozens of taels of silver.

She felt that her family in the village was worse than the village chief’s family, but she was a close match with Gu Laoer’s family.

As soon as the mattress was spread out, Aunt Huang fell asleep.

She was so tired today that she started snoring when she lay down.

Seeing his mother snoring loudly, Zhansi quickly got up and ran outside. After searching around, he found Xing’er under the root of the loess wall.

Hearing the movement behind her, Xing’er looked back and wiped away her tears: “What are you doing here?”

Shanzi stammered for a long time, unable to utter a single word. Suddenly he remembered something and took out a cooked egg from his arms: “Here, it’s for you to eat.”

Xing’er stared at the egg and swallowed unconsciously. She turned her back proudly: “I don’t want it, you can eat it yourself.”

Shanzi couldn’t help but take Xing’er’s hand and put the egg into her hand: “It’s windy outside. After you eat, go inside as soon as possible.”

After saying that, Shanzi ran away quickly.

As he ran, his mind was buzzing with thoughts. He held her hand, he just held her hand!

He couldn’t tell what he felt like, but his heart felt like it was about to jump out.

Xing’er held the egg in her hand. The egg was hot and had Shanzi’s body temperature.

Xing’er blushed. Just as she was about to put the egg into her arms, she suddenly thought of Bao’er. Her face darkened, and she quickly peeled the egg and stuffed it into her mouth.

It smells and tastes so good!

When she woke up early in the morning, Gu Fei didn’t feel it at first. After walking a few steps, she felt as if a lead weight was tied to her calf. It was sore and painful, and she still couldn’t move.

When Mrs. Chen saw her like this, she slapped herself on the head and said: “Look at me, I’ve forgotten all this.”

She pulled out two pieces of cloth, pulled Gu Fei to sit down, picked up the cloth strips, and tied them to her legs.

Gu Fei asked curiously: “Mom, why are you tying your legs?”

While tying them up, Mrs. Chen said: “I don’t know why my legs don’t hurt when I walk a long distance after tying them up. Anyway, this is the knowledge the elders have passed down.”

 

Gu Fei stretched out her hand to calm Mrs. Chen down and whispered: “Mom, don’t be angry. If that kid comes later, ask my brothers to pick up the bowls and not let him grab them.”

Mrs. Chen was amused by Gu Fei’s words and shook her head: “No child from another family is like him.”

Isn’t it? Huzi was about the same age as Bao’er. But he sat there and ate buckwheat paste in a well-behaved manner. He doesn’t run around at all.

This Baoer was spoiled by Mrs. Qian.

After dinner, Mrs. Chen asked Gu Erlang and Gu Sanlang of the Gu family to fetch water to boil. After the water boiled, she asked the two of them to take Gu Fei to the inn room and bath her.

The old lady was jealous and couldn’t help but murmur: “This girl is so rich and expensive. She does not have water to drink, but she also has water to take a bath. This cost 100 cents per bucket!”

Mrs. Chen added firewood and said calmly: “After all, it’s the money Xiao Fei earned herself. She can spend it how she wants.”

The old lady was speechless.

She definitely can’t go back to her eldest son’s family now. Mrs. Qian doesn’t welcome her. At least, she can stay with her second son’s family all the way.

That’s it, she will just turn a blind eye.

The old lady persuaded herself and closed her mouth tightly.

The injury on Gu Fei’s back had scabbed over. She took out the shampoo and shower gel and took a quick bath. The dirty water that her second brother and the others carried out was all black, and Gu Fei didn’t even notice it.

After taking a bath, Lanzhi wiped Gu Fei’s hair, while Mrs. Chen and Li Chunhua set up the bed on the ground.

Fortunately, the ground was covered with wood, so it wasn’t too cold or damp, so they could sleep there.

After Gu Fei took a bath, she sat on the bed made by Mrs. Chen on the floor. She looked at the soles of her feet and shouted: “Mom, I have blisters on my feet.”

Mrs. Chen hurried over and held Gu Fei’s feet: “Oh, my daughter has suffered a lot. Just wait, I will prick you with a needle. You won’t be able to walk unless you prick it.”

At this time, Lanzhi also said, aggrieved: “I have it on my feet too.”

Mrs. Chen sighed: “I’ll pick it up for you soon.”

The old lady was lying on the bed and muttered: “You’re so delicate.” She turned over, and oh, her whole body hurt.

There was a bright blister on Gu Fei’s foot. Mrs. Chen found a needle, heated it on the flame of the candle, and popped Gu Fei’s blister with a quick movement.

Gu Fei turned around and saw her grandmother sleeping facing the other side, so she quickly took the ointment from the space and applied it to her.

The blisters on Lanzhi’s feet also popped. Gu Fei applied medicine to her and threw two cloth towels to her: “Wrap them around to prevent the ointment from being rubbed off.”

“It will be more comfortable to walk tomorrow if you wrap it up.”

The open room downstairs was noisy at this time.

This open room was a house with two rooms connected, with a row of earthen kangs built along the windows, and some straw piled randomly on the kangs.

Except for Gu Fei, who asked for a room, the rest of the family in their group stayed there.

Mrs. Qian ordered Xing’er to grab more straws so that their bed would be thicker warmer, and less rigid.

Xing’er saw that the land she occupied was already covered with a lot of straw, but Mrs. Qian was still urging her: “Hurry up and bring more straw.”

Xing’er hesitated and went to the end of the kang. There were a lot of them against the wall.

When Xing’er walked over there, just as she was about to pick up a handful of straw, her aunt’s granddaughter Juhua looked at her with a raised eyebrow: “What are you doing? We will use them!”

 

Gu Fei took out a small chair from the carriage for the old lady to sit on, and Mrs. Chen quickly picked up the food for the old lady.

The old lady was holding the bowl and hesitated: “How about I bring all my rations over here?”

Mrs. Chen smiled heartily: “Hey, mother, please stop talking about this. This was all bought with the money Xiao Fei gave me. You are her grandmother, shouldn’t she feed you?”

The old lady understood the meaning of the words. A few days ago, she said that Gu Fei was a white-eyed wolf and unfilial. Mrs. Chen reminded her that she was currently relying on Gu Fei for support.

The old lady sighed. She was old, could not work, and had no money. She had to rely on her children to support her. No one was willing to listen to her.

She usually likes to talk about filial piety, just to tease the younger generation.

But this girl Gu Fei, obviously she can’t handle her.

Sigh, forget it, having something to eat is better than anything else.

While eating, Gu Fei suddenly said: “Dad, do we need to buy another mule and carriage? Just to pull people. It’s not good for everyone to take turns to rest. I think Third Aunt will collapse after walking for two days.” ”

Mrs. Li has always been in poor health. Before giving birth to Huzi, she lost a fully-formed baby boy. After a few years, she struggled to give birth to Huzi, and her health became even worse.

Gu Rong was next to them, holding a bowl. He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t. He just looked at Gu Fei gratefully.

Mrs. Li lowered her head and secretly wiped away her tears.

Gu Zhang nodded: “Then buy another one, but who will drive?”

Now the men in the family and their eldest uncle all take turns driving. Sitting in this carriage for a whole day will make everyone’s body tired and fall apart. It would be more comfortable to get out and walk around.

The eldest uncle happened to come over with a bowl: “My eldest grandson can drive, and wife and two daughters-in-law can also do it. We use mules to carry things in and out of the mountains. Everyone can take turns.”

Gu Zhang laughed and said: “That’s good. Then we can buy a mule and a carriage when we get to the market town tomorrow.”

Uncle Ma ate rice soaked in broth and nodded: “Tomorrow we will pass through Fuyuan Town on the road. It’s a big town and there are mules and carriages.”

At this time, Bao’er ran over with a white-flour steamed bun. When he saw the small half bowl of smoked rabbit meat on the wooden board, he reached out to grab it and stuffed it into his mouth.

Mrs. Chen frowned, wanting to say something but finding it difficult to say.

Gu Fei looked at Bao’er’s dark hands. She glared at Bao’er and said, “Bao’er, what do you want to eat, you can just tell me, and I’ll pick it up for you. Your hands are dirty, so the food will also get dirty. No one will be able to eat it.”

Bao’er didn’t care about her. While chewing, he reached into the bowl grabbed a big handful, and ran away quickly.

Gu Fei was so angry that she just ate a piece, and now there was only the bottom of the bowl left.

Gu Rong could see it clearly from the side and turned to Mrs. Qian and said: “Don’t your family also eat white flour? Why are you willing to give it to Bao’er but reluctant to give it to mother?”

Mrs. Qian held a bowl of dark mixed grains in her hand and snorted, “Bao’er is in poor health and needs to be taken care of. I am willing to feed him. Can you take care of it?”

Mrs. Chen couldn’t help it at this time: “Sister-in-law, take care of your Bao’er. Each family eats from their rations. Our family also divided our food. But Bao’er just grabs them as soon as he comes over. How do you want us to eat?”

Mrs. Qian was angry: “Second Sister-in-law, what are you saying? How much can Bao’er eat as a child? Besides, Bao’er is also your nephew. What’s wrong with your nephew eating something from you? You say a lot of things, but you’re just being stingy.”

Mrs. Chen’s chest moved up and down in anger. While Gu Zhang frowned: “Forget it, let’s eat.”

 

The Aunt took the steamed bun and smiled: “Xiao Fei girl has a conscience.”

Gu Fei ran away with a red face.

Exchanging steamed buns for rabbit meat, did she go too far?

Hmm, didn’t she also bring them soup? It wasn’t too bad.

Mrs. Chen sent several children from her family, and each household sent meat soup.

Then she placed the pickles, broth, half a bowl of smoked rabbit meat, and fried wild vegetables on a wooden board propped up with a bench from the inn, and invited everyone to eat.

Li Chunhua filled bowl after bowl of rice and handed it to everyone. Uncle Ma took a bowl of rice and said with a smile: “This life is not bad. It would be even better if I have a wine at this time.”

Gu Fei’s eyes lit up, and she remembered that there was wine in her space. Just as she was about to go get it, Mrs. Chen suddenly gave her a wink. Gu Fei felt a shiver in her heart, yes, this Uncle Ma was an outsider after all, so she still had to be careful.

The family was about to eat when they heard Mrs. Qian’s voice over there, “Mom, second brother-in-law has started eating over there. You should hurry over.”

The old lady opened her mouth and looked at Mrs. Qian, speechless for a moment.

When she was helping Mrs. Qian to cook just now, Mrs. Qian didn’t say anything. After the meal was ready, she couldn’t wait to drive her away.

She didn’t know that Mrs. Qian just wanted to save food rations to eat at home.

Gu Rong family used to eat with Mrs. Qian’s family. Gu Rong sneered when he heard this: “First Sister-in-law, isn’t my mother with your family? My second brother and I give you 100 catties of grain and 1 tael of silver every year. Why can’t mother eat at your house anymore?”

The person he hated the most in this family was his first sister-in-law, no one else.

Mrs. Qian smiled awkwardly: “Isn’t it because my family only has coarse grains? I’m afraid my mother will be wronged. After all, what your second brother eats is white rice!”

Gu Rong sneered: “Second sister-in-law’s broth was fed to the dog!”

Mrs. Qian’s face flushed: “Third Brother-in-law, what do you mean by this?”

“It’s not too complicated. Everyone understands it, don’t treat others as fools!” Gu Rong filled a bowl with cornmeal batter while minding his own business.

Mrs. Qian was furious: “Old Third Brother-in-law, if you don’t explain it clearly to me today, I–”

Before she could finish his words, she was interrupted by a scolding from Gu Zhong: “Stop arguing and eat! You have been arguing all day long. Look at which woman is like you!”

Mrs. Qian was shouted at twice and embarrassed twice in public today. She finally couldn’t help it, she grabbed Gu Zhong and started fighting: “You useless man, you can’t make money and support your family. You can’t feed us white rice, you only know how to fight with me!”

Gu Zhong fought back and cursed: “You shrew, I am so unlucky for marrying you!”

The old lady’s face was ashen. No mother would be happy watching her daughter-in-law beat her son.

She cursed loudly, “Mrs. Qian, you are a prodigal, you have rebelled against me, and you dare to beat your man!”

It was only then that Mrs. Qian suddenly realized that this was not in their own house, but in public, with dozens of pairs of eyes staring at her!

She covered her face and started to cry.

Xing’er stood nearby and lowered her head as low as possible. Her mother was embarrassed again!

Mrs. Chen quickly touched Gu Fei at this time. Gu Fei raised her voice and said, “Grandmother, it’s time to eat. If you don’t come, the food will be cold.”

Gu Zhang also signaled to Gu Sanlang with his eyes. Gu Sanlang put down his rice bowl and walked over to help the old lady.