Chapter 12: Victory Reunion

Uncle Xu Er had been taking care of their grandmother, letting her sit in the cart. The five horses looked pitiful, so thin they couldn’t even match a donkey. Sigh! The group headed down a small path.

Tian Mi had two uncles, the eldest uncle had two sons and two daughters, both daughters were married. The eldest cousin, Chen Huai’an, married Wang and had a six-year-old son.

The second cousin, Chen Yanche, married Liu and had a pair of five-year-old twin daughters.

The second uncle had two sons and one daughter; the third cousin, Chen Jiancheng, married Yu last year but had not yet had children.

The younger cousin, Chen Zechen, was one year younger than Tian Mi, and the younger female cousin was Chen Miaomiao, who was thirteen years old.

This family, the old and the young, had endured a lot on this journey! The children were already lacking in spirit.

Uncle Xu Er had two sons and one daughter; the eldest son, Xu Yunfei, was twenty years old, the second son, Xu Yunpeng, was the same age as Tian Mi, and the youngest daughter was Xu Feiyan.

Xu Yunpeng was quite mischievous as a child, and the original owner often scolded him. Once, he climbed a tree to show off how high he could go to the original owner and Xu Feiyan. The original owner, being simple-minded, kicked the tree, causing it to shake. He fell from the tree, but fortunately, the original owner reacted quickly and caught him; otherwise, he might not have survived. The three of them had played together since childhood, forming a deeper bond than others, but as they grew older, they had to avoid each other due to the differences between boys and girls.

The two uncles from their grandmother’s side opened a pharmacy in the county and spent more time living there. Several cousins and younger cousins learned the trade at the pharmacy from a young age. Only the women stayed in town. The original owner and her two elder female cousins often went to the mountains to gather herbs for fun, but both had married. One married into a wealthy family in the county, where the well was particularly deep, and they didn’t need to flee. The other married in town and left with her in-laws to escape south.

Their group was not small; the able-bodied men were all armed. Tian Mi and Xu Feiyan led the way, but the disaster victims were too numerous, making it difficult to move quickly.

In the crowd, someone whispered, and soon, excitedly ran toward the village with a wooden bucket.

Uncle Xu Er saw this and said, “Did they find water?”

Tian Mi replied, “Uncle Xu Er, let’s go meet up with Dad! There’s water there.”

This made Uncle Xu Er suppress his impulse to rush over and grab water.

Sure enough, they saw people drawing water along the way. When someone tried to steal it, they were told that there was plenty in the well over there, which stopped the theft. However, they still saw people getting into fights over water, causing them to curse in pain.

But gradually, more and more people had water.

Tian Mi felt a sense of relief.

They regrouped just as the sun was about to set, marking a victorious reunion.

Upon seeing each other, both sides were extremely excited, filled with joy! However, Tian Dabiao and his group quickly learned that Old Master Xu had passed away, and they immediately burst into tears, not just Tian Dabiao, but also Uncle Cui and his family.

Those listening felt a deep sorrow, silently wiping their tears. Old Master Xu had lived a life of integrity and kindness, and many had benefited from his generosity, especially Tian Dabiao.

Uncle Xu Er’s family busily comforted everyone, though they themselves felt the pain. Xu Yunfei had been serious about his studies since childhood. He and Xu Yunzhou were personally taught by Old Master Xu. Three years ago, Xu Yunzhou passed the scholar exam, but Xu Yunfei fell ill and missed the test. He had always wanted his grandfather to see him succeed, but he hadn’t had the chance before he passed away.

Every time he thought of this, he felt heartbroken. While comforting everyone, he cried uncontrollably.

Aunt Feng consoled Aunt Feng and Aunt Yu and others.

Uncle Xu Er said, “Everyone, don’t be sad. Father hoped we could live safely. Let’s think about what to do next!”

The crowd continued to sob uncontrollably!

Liu Bo had no choice but to change the subject and said, “The most disaster victims are heading south, and there are quite a few in the east as well. Why don’t we head southwest? First, it will be safer on the way, and second, the King of Jin will eventually come; both the south and east are battlegrounds, while the southwest is relatively safer.”

Their current location was roughly equivalent to a spot in Henan from their past lives, and heading southwest would likely land them somewhere in Hubei!

Uncle Xu Er nodded and said, “This idea is feasible, but we can’t stray too far; after all, once peace returns, our descendants still need to have good prospects.”

Everyone nodded. The southwest direction was familiar to Uncle Meng, who said, “We should still stick to this official road heading south. It’s about fifty miles until we reach a road leading southwest; the road over there isn’t very good.”

Uncle Xu Er said, “It’s difficult, but with fewer people, it will definitely be much safer.”

So everyone decided to head southwest.

Aunt Feng had prepared lunch by steaming buns, bringing them out for everyone to eat first. She also called over a few sisters-in-law to continue cooking some meat porridge and steaming more buns.

Tian Mi went to feed Uncle Xu Er’s five horses, which were thinner than donkeys, giving them hay and water, which was, of course, spiritual spring water. The horses were so excited they neighed loudly, looking quite pitiful.

Uncle Xu Er and the others had run out of water since yesterday, and now they finally had some to drink, cherishing it greatly. They still had some food; Uncle Xu had brought most of the grain, silver, and servants, leaving behind only a small amount of food and no servants at all.

They decided to travel at night since it was too hot during the day. After eating and resting for two hours, everyone set off again on the official road heading south!

Tian Dabiao had swapped out a few of the thin horses, using their livestock to pull the cart. All the grain carried by the livestock was piled onto the cart and secured. He felt that these animals were quite good; although they were allowed to eat hay, he hadn’t been generous with water, yet they were still full of spirit and strength.

Now, the little ones could ride in the cart instead of being carried by adults.

Tonight, the moonlight was even weaker than last night, but the road on the official path was much better. Previously, it was Tian Dabiao and Tian Mi leading the way, but now Xu Feiyan had joined them. She borrowed a large knife from Aunt Feng and swaggered alongside Tian Mi, trying to imitate her, looking like a standard ruffian, which made Aunt Bai roll her eyes and want to hit her.

Xu Feiyan was engaged to someone from their town; they had headed south, and now they were going southwest. This engagement might just be off.

As they were on the road escaping, whatever! Sigh!

Uncle Xu Er asked Tian Dabiao while walking, “Brother Dabiao, where did you get so much grain and weapons?”

Tian Dabiao replied, “We robbed a bandit den and took them.”

If they weren’t afraid that the man their daughter was sleeping with would come after them, they would have stayed behind to become bandits themselves.

Uncle Xu Er was shocked, knowing that Brother Dabiao was formidable, but he didn’t realize he was this capable. While others were being robbed by bandits, he could rob bandits instead.

The road on the official path was good, but there were indeed many people. There were also many people sleeping by the roadside around campfires, but there were even more who were traveling at night.

Xu Feiyan was excited to hear that Tian Dabiao and the others had gone to rob a bandit den. Had she missed out on some good action?

With starry eyes, Xu Feiyan looked at Tian Mi and asked, “Sister Tian Mi, what’s a bandit den like? How many bandits did you kill?”

Tian Mi replied, “Bandit dens are all like that; they’re either caves or just a few shabby houses. There’s quite a bit of food, but unfortunately, we couldn’t take it all.”

The people inside were quite good-looking, though.

Previously, the journey had been quiet, but now, as they walked, everyone was chatting, asking about things after their separation. With more children around, it was noisy, and they could still talk and laugh.