Chapter 2: Fleeing

Everyone began to urgently pack their things, and Tian Mi started organizing her own belongings. She had a thick cloth bag that she had used since she was young.

When Tian Mi opened it, she found bottles and paper packets, all of which contained food. Some small jars held dried meat, while others contained candy. The candy of this era was pale yellow crystals. One jar contained pastries, while inside a paper packet was a large piece of boiled meat, along with two boiled eggs.

Oh my! If you’re not fat, who is? Had these things gone bad? Tian Mi wrinkled her nose. The meat did have a bit of a smell, but it was still edible. The rest were fine, so she stored them in her space and left behind the empty jars.

With this bag for cover, she could take some liberties.

Once everyone was packed, Tian Mi told them to go ahead; she followed them to the latrine and then hurriedly ran to the cave where they stored supplies to collect all the things they needed—grain, meat, vegetables, and cloth.

She was still a nimble fat girl, capable of creating a commotion as if a thousand soldiers were present.

What she didn’t know was that under those heaps of grain were piles of gold and silver.

Yesterday, everyone had wondered why there were only a few hundred taels of silver in the bandit hideout.

The quick sprint from earlier had exhausted her. She was strong but carrying all this weight was indeed tiring.

I need to lose weight; there’s no room for a fat person on the road to escape!

“Girl! Are you ready?” Tian Dabiao’s voice called from a distance.

“Coming! Dad!”

Tian Mi quickly ran over. At that moment, the dirt road suddenly trembled, and dust filled the air.

Tian Mi felt no barrier or strangeness towards these people. From the memories of her original self, aside from Uncle Xu’s family, everyone had treated her very well, especially her original father and Aunt Feng.

Of course, Tian Mi was willing to integrate into their group.

Recently, Bai Muchengg had been unlucky. The Prince Yu colluded with bandits, sending assassins to capture him and threaten his father. Just when he thought he was doomed, both the Prince’s men and the bandits were killed.

Just when he thought he was saved, a fat woman with an unclear face took advantage of him.

What a humiliating disgrace! It was simply a terrible humiliation!

After working so hard to maintain his integrity and striving in both civil and military affairs, how could he suffer such an insult due to a moment of carelessness?

He was furious!

When he woke up this morning, he still felt dizzy and sore, instinctively running out. Now that he was clear-headed, he was furious and wanted to kill them, return to the camp, and lead his troops up the mountain to wipe out that group of refugees.

Especially that fat woman—he wanted to chop her up and feed her to the dogs.

The more he thought about it, the more humiliating it became!

This mountain was a bit far from the road outside. Even with a cart, it took an hour to get out.

As they walked further out, the grass was all withered, and the ground was cracked and dry. Even if it rained, a light rain wouldn’t save this parched land.

Sigh! In the face of natural disasters, humans are like ants!

Some refugees were heading east, while most were going south. However, Tian Mi directed her father and the others to head southwest.

“Mi’er, why are we heading southwest? The people from our town are all going south, and your maternal family is going there too! We agreed before we set off that if we got separated, we would meet at the next city, which is Xingrong County. They would surely head there.”

Tian Mi also wanted to find her maternal family; they had treated her very well. However, she prioritized the safety of everyone.

“Dad, uncles and aunts, look at our supplies and then look at those refugees. Do you think you can take on dozens of them? Can you take on one hundred or two hundred? Can you take on five hundred? If we happen to run into a large group of refugees, it’s inevitable that we’ll be robbed in less than three days, and being killed isn’t out of the question!”

Tian Mi was right! At that time, they had nothing left but still dared to go kill bandits. Naturally, the other refugees, having nothing left, would come to rob them.

Everyone suddenly realized!

The problem was, they didn’t know the way southwest!

Tian Mi didn’t know the way either; the roads of this era were completely different from her previous life.

Uncle Chen

Yes! What should we do? Everyone has so much to carry that they can’t manage the mountain road, and the main road is too dangerous.

“Dad, uncles and aunts! We can’t carry so much on the mountain road, and the main road is too risky. Let’s think of a solution!”

Folks, it’s time to make a choice!

We have a long journey ahead, and there are many women and children. It’s not easy to keep everyone alive until we reach a safe place.

If we continue like this, people will really die; even the sunlight could take our lives.

Uncle Chen’s family, Uncle Cui’s family, and Uncle Liu’s family all looked at each other; they truly couldn’t bear to part with the food!

Everyone exchanged glances!

Finally, it was Uncle Liu who said, “Life is more important! We should use livestock to carry the grain and water, as much as we can. Let’s stick to the mountain road!”

Uncle Liu was the most educated among them; he was a student and worked in the accounting office of the escort agency.

The younger generation didn’t lack money for education, but influenced by these uncles, they had studied for a couple of years but found that martial skills were cooler, so they couldn’t focus on their studies.

Even Tian Mi could perform a few moves; although not impressive, her strength was undeniable.

Everyone knew this was the only way forward.

They could only tie the grain and water buckets to the livestock, securing as much as possible. In the end, all the water was tied up, but only part of the grain was secured. The remaining grain and the cart were left on the ground, and seeing the hard-earned food left behind made everyone silently distressed—food was life!

Tian Dabiao couldn’t bear it; he shouldered two bags and set off! Other strong men followed suit, carrying a bag each, while the women helped lead the livestock.

Tian Mi could only carry two large axes and also led a horse. She didn’t take any of the grain; for her, it was just a bit of stock, but for those on the road, it was lifesaving food. They were not far from the main road, so someone would likely notice soon.

A group of people moved along the mountain’s edge, heading south.

As for Tian Mi’s space, it was a large open area with a house. The room used to be empty but was now filled with her daily necessities arranged as she liked.

Unfortunately, her space couldn’t be used for planting because time was frozen inside. It was perfect for storage, so the outside was filled with various seedlings and farming tools she had prepared, while the back warehouse contained her stored grain, seeds, fruits, vegetables, and items collected from the bandit hideout.

What she liked most was the well on the other side of the house. According to her previous research, the well water was extraordinary; it could make your skin glow after washing, and drinking it could fill you up and strengthen your body.

The river behind was just ordinary water.

She had been a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, studying plant science, and was the youngest PhD in their research institute. She used the well water to brew medicine, and its efficacy was more than ten times that of ordinary medicine. She was overjoyed at the thought; with this well water, she could save countless lives and change the growth cycles of plants. She would become the greatest medical and botanical scientist.

Although it was bumpy sitting in the cart earlier, it wasn’t too tiring. Now, after walking for a while, Tian Mi was panting like a bull. The key was that as she walked, the ground shook, and the refugees across the way would likely notice them. Losing weight couldn’t wait!

Tian Mi took out her leather water pouch and took two big gulps. She needed to drink this water quickly to fill her space with well water.

The glaring sunlight made it hard for her to open her eyes.

Since Tian Dabiao and the uncles were all escorting, they had been living decently, just like every household had a leather water pouch. Tian Mi and Tian Dabiao each had one.

Tian Dabiao asked, “Girl, are you moving?”

“Dad, I’m moving; hurry up!”

Aunt Feng said, “Although Mi’er is fat, she has strength. Old Tian, you just keep moving; don’t worry.”

Aunt Feng caught up and asked, “Mi’er, do you really think that man wants to kill us just because you slept with him? That’s impossible! If he was in the bandit hideout, we were the ones who killed the bandits to keep him safe.”

Tian Mi recalled last night; she thought it was a dream and wasn’t too polite to him!

Oh no! I might not be able to survive!

“Aunt Feng, oh~~~”

Tian Mi made a pouty