Chapter 32: The Precognitive dream reappears

Looking at Niuniu, Su’s mother couldn’t help but think of her own children. “Yinyin, do you think Xinyang and Xinguang would be treated like this?”

Su Baozhu replied, “Sister-in-law, Xinyang and Xinguang are boys. Even if their parents didn’t like them, they wouldn’t be treated like this, especially not by our third brother. He would watch over them.”

Mother Su nodded, feeling that made sense.

Su Yin didn’t agree, but she was smart enough not to say anything.

Grandma and grandpa, if they don’t love their parents, how much can they love their children? If those two little brats Xinyang and Xinguang hadn’t been in charge, I’d probably be even more unpopular than her.

Su Yin didn’t participate in their conversation and went to scoop water from the bucket in the cart.  Looking at the dwindling water, she had a headache.

After calculating the water I carried, I figured I could last for three or four days at most, mainly because animals use more water, but it is essential. Without the mule, we wouldn’t have been so relaxed.

Su Yin didn’t dare to scoop more, so she put the water into the pot and boiled it.

After it cooled down, she filled the water bags for each of the three of them.

Su Yin had considered this when preparing the water bags. She didn’t like sharing one with others, so she simply bought three, one for each person, which was clean and hygienic.

Su’s mother and Su Baozhu were twisting hemp rope and preparing to weave straw sandals.

Although Su Yin had bought them both new clothes and shoes, they didn’t wear them.

I thought they thought it was too eye-catching, but I didn’t expect these two people to be reluctant to wear something so nice.

Su Yin could only let them be. She deliberately sewed a few patches on her new clothes. They looked like patches but were actually pockets.

“Mom, sister-in-law, it’s very late, it’s time to go to bed.” She looked helplessly at the two who were working hard. They were both so tired, and yet they were so diligent, which made her look lazy.

Mother Su threw some mugwort into the fire. “You go to sleep first, and I’ll go to bed after finishing these in my hands.”

“Okay!” Su Yin agreed, and without any pretense, she fell asleep.

Under the scorching sun, several villagers blocked their path with shovels in hand.

“Go, go, go! We don’t have enough water in our village to give you.”

“Hurry up and leave!”

Everyone was sweating and focused on their journey. A group of people fleeing from famine appeared before them, and both parties were trying to pass by peacefully.

“Grandpa, when will we arrive in Yongqing County?”

“Come on, we’ll be there tomorrow.”

Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves echoed from afar, growing louder as it approached, with dust billowing in the wind.

“Run! The horse bandits are coming!”

The group scattered, panic ensued, and everyone fled in different directions.

The cavalry arrived in an instant. The men raised their sickles, swinging them fiercely at the crowd.

Bright red blood spurted out as lives were taken one after another.

Some people rushed forward, while others darted into the woods. The group of horse bandits pursued them, wielding knives and claiming lives and property without mercy.

Miserable screams and wails resounded throughout the sky…

“Yinyin, Yinyin.”

Someone pushed her arm, and Su Yin suddenly opened her eyes, a thin layer of cold sweat on her forehead.

Su Baozhu held her hand, concern evident in her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“It’s okay.” Su Yin wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. “I had a nightmare.”

Su Baozhu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing it was just a nightmare. “You were shaking, looking in pain, and sweating. You scared me to death.”

She asked worriedly, “Is it really okay?”

Su Yin nodded solemnly. “It’s really okay.”

“You must tell me if something’s wrong.”

“Well.”

Su Baozhu stood up. “Just sit down and rest, and leave the rest to us.”

She started to pack her luggage.

Su Yin did not refuse and continued to think about the dream she had last night.

I haven’t had any dreams since my last tiger hunt, let alone any precognitive dreams. Whether this dream is prophetic depends on whether the scenes I saw will come to pass.

She sorted through several scenes from her dream, constantly reviewing and consolidating them to avoid forgetting.

Su Yin walked to the back of the team and found Madam Xu.

Mrs. Xu’s mother-in-law was holding little Niuniu, who was still sleeping, and the redness on her tender face had faded.

“Sister, has Niuniu’s fever gone down?” Su Yin asked.

“It has gone down.” With a smile, Madam Xu scooped a full bowl of porridge from the pot. “You haven’t eaten yet.”

Su Yin glanced at the bowl. The porridge was quite thin compared to what she was used to at home, with some wild vegetable leaves floating in it.

It wasn’t that Madam Xu was stingy. When she scooped the porridge, she had already put all the rice grains in the pot into her own bowl, leaving only clear soup and wild vegetables for herself.

“No, I’ve already eaten. This is for Niuniu. She is sick and needs to eat better.”

“Yinyin, thank you, aunt. Without you, our Niuniu would have been…” Madam Xu couldn’t help but wipe away tears.

“I have a bond with Niuniu. I’m just relieved that she is fine. You should go and take care of things first.”

After finishing their morning meal, while the sun was still not too strong and the weather was cool, they needed to move quickly.

Waiting until noon and the afternoon would make traveling uncomfortable, requiring frequent rests to avoid exhausting both people and animals.

“No!” The voice of Su’s aunt came from behind.

Su Yin turned back and saw a woman with an unhappy expression.

The woman was Zhang, the aunt of her eldest cousin’s mother-in-law’s family. She had been kicked out by her husband’s family and was living with her natal family.

The eldest cousin’s father-in-law doted on her, and although she was domineering in the family, being the elder meant the younger ones couldn’t speak up, which made them feel very aggrieved.

“It’s just a mouthful of water. How can you be so stingy? When we get to a place with water, I’ll get you a bucket,” Mrs. Zhang said, appearing angry and dissatisfied after being challenged by Su’s aunt.

“It’s just a sip of water. Just bear with it. Why are you so angry?” the aunt retorted angrily.

“It’s unreasonable.”

Mrs. Zhang rolled up her sleeves and walked away.

Su Yin approached her aunt and asked curiously, “Aunt, what’s going on?”

“I met a shameless person,” Su’s aunt said, her frustration evident.

Su Yin understood that her aunt was not a stingy person, so there had to be a reason for her refusal to give water. “Aunt, I still have some water over there. You can use that.”

The eldest aunt shook her head. “No, I still have some here. It’s not that I don’t want to give it, I just can’t stand it. The Zhang family brought more water than we did before.

They have plenty, but Mrs. Zhang keeps wasting it, using clean water to wash her face and hands.”

“Old man Zhang is heartless too, letting his sister act like this without caring about the situation his family is in. After my daughter marries into their family, we’ll tell them everything about them.”

“People who are kicked out by their husband’s family shouldn’t dare to show off to their natal family, especially in front of the younger generation.

The head of the Zhang family isn’t an unscrupulous mother-in-law. If I had known there was such a terrible situation in that family, I would not have married your eldest cousin to her.”

Su Yin quickly chimed in to comfort her aunt. “It’s rare for my cousin-in-law to be kind to my sister.”

The eldest aunt seemed a little satisfied and replied, “The Zhang family is pretty good at least in that regard.”

Su Yin then approached Yang Lizheng to learn more. He informed her that many people’s water supplies were running low.

“There was plenty of water brought along, but we haven’t come across a place to replenish it in the past two days. The weather is hot, and we’re on the road every day, so naturally, we use more water than usual.

If the whole family continues to consume like this, no matter how much water they have, they won’t be able to withstand the suffering.”

“Third Grandma, I remember there is a village ahead. We may be able to go there to replenish some water,” Su Yin suggested.

“Su Yatou, how do you know there is a village ahead?” Yang Dashu asked curiously.

“I heard something from a drugstore shopkeeper. He told me a lot of stories, and one of them was about this area.

I don’t know if it’s true, but if the shopkeeper didn’t lie to me, there should be a village ahead called Luo Village.”