Chapter 96 : Where to go in the future?

“Hechuan hasn’t woken up all day?” Father Xiao asked while eating.

Mother Xiao shook her head, looking defeated.

“Yes, not even a twitch of his eyelids. And in our current situation, we can’t find a doctor. What if something really happens to him?” She looked like she was about to cry again.

Jiang Sui quickly tried to comfort her.

“Hechuan has his own fate. Nothing will happen to him. Maybe he’ll wake up tonight.”

After all, he had been hurt trying to protect her. Jiang Sui couldn’t help but feel indebted to Xiao Hechuan. If he didn’t recover, his entire life path might change.

“I hope so!” Mother Xiao took her hand and gently patted the back of it.

“Honestly, it’s all thanks to you. If you hadn’t pushed us to move here last night, our whole family might’ve been crushed under that mountain. You saved us, Suisui. You’re our family’s benefactor, our lucky star.”

If they had waited until morning to move like originally planned, the entire family might’ve been buried alive.

In truth, Jiang Sui had just stumbled on the danger by accident and acted on instinct. It was her alertness and anxious nature that saved thembut regardless, her actions ended up saving everyone.

“Yes, we all owe you.” Father Xiao agreed.

“Not long after you came in, your mother said she had a dream. In the dream, an old immortal told her that our Xiao family had a ‘lucky koi’ that could turn disaster into blessing. Your mother said it was you. I didn’t believe it at first, I thought she was overthinking it. But now it seems like she was right. Not a word of it was false!”

At this point, Father Xiao also fully believed that Jiang Sui was the family’s lucky star.

Jiang Sui felt a little awkward being described like that. To be honest, she even found herself a bit strange lately.

“We’re all family. No need for thanks. What we really need to think about now is where we go from here. Xianhe Village has been destroyed, and I doubt Baima Town or even Huaxi County fared much better. We can’t stay here. We need to find another path, somewhere new to settle.”

It was best to start discussing it now while there was still time. Staying here indefinitely wasn’t an option.

“Suisui, if you have any ideas, we’ll follow your lead,” Mother Xiao said. She now saw her as the family’s anchor.

Jiang Sui had already thought it through.

“Let’s head to Jeju Prefecture. We’ll assess things along the way, but I’m sure it wasn’t just our area hit by the earthquake. Soon, there’ll be waves of refugees heading to Jeju, looking for help from the government. We can’t wait around. Once things calm down in Xianhe Village and Hechuan wakes up, we must set off. We need to reach Jeju before the flood of refugees and settle down in the city!”

“But Jeju isn’t like Huaxi County it’s a big, wealthy prefecture where land is incredibly expensive. With what little we have now, how could we possibly afford to settle there?” Xiao Qin asked. He doubted their family’s means could support a move like that.

But he didn’t know that Jiang Sui still had a gold ingot tucked away. While most of the family was unaware, Xiao’s mother and Xiao Lanlan knew. With that gold, finding a place to live in Jeju wouldn’t be a problem.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about that. There’s always a way. And we still know how to make hot and sour noodles. It might be hard at first, but we won’t starve. That’s better than staying here, where we have nothing no house, no land. Who knows how long it will take the imperial court to send help? This is the only option we have now!”

“Besides, we’re guarding so much food sooner or later, someone will find out. If all those homeless, hungry people realize we have supplies, they’ll gang up on us. How could we possibly hold them off? In the face of life and death, people’s hearts can’t stand the test!”

Jiang Sui’s words were brutally honest, but deeply thought-provoking. Still, Father Xiao couldn’t bring himself to make a decision.

Then Mother Xiao leaned over and whispered something in his ear. No one else knew what she said, but Father Xiao’s eyes widened in surprise, and he turned to look at Jiang Sui with a long, meaningful gaze.

Most likely, she had told him about the gold ingot.

Jiang Sui returned his gaze with a firm nod, and after a moment of hesitation, Father Xiao finally nodded back in agreement.

“Alright, we’ll listen to Suisui. Once Hechuan wakes up and the situation stabilizes, we’ll head for Jeju Prefecture!”

Now that the path was decided, everything hinged on when Xiao Hechuan would wake up.

As night fell, the problem of where to sleep became pressing. They couldn’t just huddle in the open shed all night there wouldn’t be enough rest, and they’d all be drained the next day.

So Father Xiao took his sons and gathered whatever materials they could find usable wooden boards and bricks and built a makeshift shelter against the rain. They layered the ground with bricks, stacking two layers to keep the moisture out. At night, they laid worn-out cloths over the bricks, then spread out their bedding over that. It wasn’t ideal, but at least they had a place to lie down.

There was no time to worry about comfort. The men and women slept separately. Mother Xiao and the women stayed on the side near the stove, next to Xiao Hechuan’s cart. Goudan curled up beside him on the cart.

They also had to take turns keeping watch, in case the food they’d hidden in the ruins was discovered. It was well concealed, but caution was still necessary.

The outside was so damp that no one slept well, but at least it was better than sitting upright through the night.

They endured it until morning. When they got up, everyone felt sore, backs and waists aching. Father Xiao and the men were especially stiff, having spent the whole previous day digging through rubble and then sleeping on bricks.

The rain had finally stopped. The buckets outside were full of rainwater. Jiang Sui heated some to wipe Xiao Hechuan’s face and change his bandages.

Suddenly, Xiao Hechuan’s eyelids twitched. Jiang Sui was startled and quickly called for Mother Xiao to come over.

Then Xiao Hechuan’s face twisted with pain, as if he were trapped in a nightmare. His breathing became ragged and hurried.

Seeing this, Jiang Sui called out softly.

“Hechuan, Hechuan, wake up!”

It seemed like he heard her voice. His hand suddenly shot out and grabbed Jiang Sui’s wrist with startling force. She winced in pain, letting out a gasp. Then, in the next second, Xiao Hechuan opened his eyes and sprang upright with a jolt.

When he looked around, he saw his mother, sister, and second sister-in-law gathered around him, watching anxiously. His sudden movement startled them, and they instinctively stepped back.

He blinked, dazed, wondering if he was still dreaming. But then a sharp pain tore through his head, making him clutch it and groan.

“Hechuan, my son…what’s wrong? Does your head hurt badly?” Mother Xiao rushed to his side and asked in a soft, worried voice.