Chapter 17: Recruiting Soldiers

The Xu family has returned. Although Ye and Xu Yunzhao, as well as Zhou Rongrong, were all sensible and ignored them, they still had the ability to pitch in and gather firewood and such.

But Xu Shichang, on the other hand, acted as if he were above everyone else, which made everyone unhappy.

The ones who found him the most displeasing were Uncle Meng’s family. They had witnessed him force Xu Shirong’s family to take away the majority of their belongings, along with all the servants, and now he returned acting like a lord. Who gave him the right?

When he got up only after the meal was ready and had Er Niu fetch water for him, Uncle Meng could no longer hold back.

“Xu Dage, you have nothing to do with us. We have no obligation to take care of you. Shirong is now a member of our family; we are two separate families now. How do you plan to account for your expenses here?”

Xu Shichang’s face turned red with anger upon hearing this. These people were from their escort agency, and now they dared to speak to him like this. It was infuriating.

Xu Yunzhao also felt embarrassed; his father’s actions had indeed gone too far.

He quickly said, “Uncle Meng, I know that food and water are life now. Whatever we offer in exchange is taking advantage of you, but we have no choice. My father’s banknotes are still with us; we will definitely repay everyone. Please, for grandpa’s sake, sell us some supplies. We will remember everyone’s kindness.”

Xu Shirong and Tian Dabiao remained silent. They were disappointed in Xu Shichang but couldn’t just stand by and watch him get into trouble. They could only see how Xu Shichang would respond.

Xu Shichang was furious when he heard Xu Yunzhao say they would buy with silver; this was the last of his family’s assets.

However, he had no choice; under the roof, one had to bow their head.

Tian Mi noticed that they had already said so much and wondered why they weren’t continuing. She didn’t want Xu Shichang to benefit.

“Since you are offering silver, how much should the six of you pay?”

Xu Yunzhao didn’t expect Tian Mi to interject. Seeing the once delicate and lovely girl turn into a big fat bear, he didn’t dare to look any longer and said, “The six of us…”

Xu Shichang interrupted them, saying, “No money, no life! I will give Shirong the contracts for those two; I can no longer support them. As for my family, how much has my father helped you? If you send us to a safe place this time, we will clear our grievances.”

Everyone walked away in silence, going to eat!

Xu Da and Xu Shirong breathed a sigh of relief; they could finally follow Er Ye.

What a disgrace! Everyone was willing to repay Xu Shirong for a lifetime but didn’t want to pay any attention to him for a day.

Xu Yunzhao’s face turned red with shame; his father truly had no kindness like grandpa. A son shouldn’t speak ill of his father.

He could only eat quietly without saying a word.

After the meal, as dawn approached, they packed their things and prepared to set off!

Today, they would head toward the fork in the road to the southwest. Not long after they started down the road, they understood why everyone was reluctant to come this way; the road was indeed difficult to traverse. Women and children in the car preferred to get out and walk, as the jolting nearly broke their backs.

The pace slowed down even more!

Meanwhile, Mo Chen was quite upset after being teased by Tian Mi. He vowed to catch her and cut her into pieces. At the same time, he realized that this fat woman was not simple; she had immense strength and was quite agile for her size. He could no longer underestimate her.

But now he couldn’t pursue her; while roasting horse meat and eating, he was frustrated about having suffered another setback.

They each said that the next time they meet, they want to enjoy a beautiful night together, while the other said they want to be torn to pieces.

Even the God of Marriage didn’t know whom to listen to!

Tian Mi was also trembling, but she had found a hiding place here after searching for a while, because there were more mountains than on the other side.

There were people heading southwest, but they were all small groups, which was relatively safer.

Tian Dabiao asked everyone to stop and rest for a meal, planning to set off again after the sun went down in the afternoon.

After three months of a difficult journey, Tian Mi and her group finally arrived at a place with lush trees. She no longer had to walk while thinking of ways to release the water in the space. Clearly, there was no drought here; the small river by the roadside had water in it. Everyone cheered, as they were finally about to end their days of roughing it outdoors. They prepared to head to the county town to seek refuge with the authorities.

However, they had not gone far when they saw a group of people running frantically. Xu Ershu quickly caught one man and asked, “Brother, what happened? How do we get to the county town from here?”

The big man replied, “Still going to the county town? Right now, the King of is recruiting soldiers, capturing strong men everywhere. If you go, you’ll be conscripted!”

After saying this, the man was about to run off, “I heard they’re coming to the village to recruit, so you all better run!”

This left everyone in a headache! They had just reached a place where they could survive and were now faced with conscription. Xu Ershu thought for a moment and said, “The urgent thing is to hide in the mountains for a while and then discuss what to do!” Everyone nodded and walked toward the mountain path. The mountain path was not easy to traverse, especially for the carts. Xu Ershu decisively decided to abandon the carts. With their supplies greatly reduced, they could only carry what they could. Regardless of age or gender, everyone took the mountain path. This was a matter of life and death for Xu Shichang’s family; they had relied on the carts throughout their escape. After climbing one mountain, Xu Shichang sat down on the ground and cried out.

“I can’t go on! I can’t walk anymore! Second brother, you all go ahead. Our family consists of scholars; if we’re conscripted, we’ll only be assigned to clerical positions. Maybe we can still find a future!”

Xu Yunzhao, however, thought differently and said, “Father, the King of Yu is ruthless; we probably won’t achieve anything!…”

Before he could finish, Xu Shichang interrupted him, saying, “So you want us to go into the mountains and live like wild people?”

He pointed at Xu Yunzhao and scolded, “Have you ever been into the mountains? Aren’t you afraid of being bitten by snakes or eaten by wolves? Besides, do you think you can hold a significant position if you go to the King of Yu? Just a minor clerical role; how much impact could that have on you?”

Xu Yunzhao was left speechless after being scolded.

In the end, Xu Shichang decided to take his family into the county town. Xu Ershu did not stop him; since the day they divided the family, he had not interfered in his affairs. He gave him twenty taels of silver and ten jin of rice, along with a pot, leaving the rest to them.

Xu Shichang was thick-skinned enough to take Xu Shirong with him. Xu Ershu looked at Xu Shirong, who was already twenty-one. It was evident that he did not want to follow Xu Shichang, but he was also worried about their family if no one accompanied them.

He could only harden his heart and give Xu Shirong to him, saying, “Take care of Xu Shirong!” Xu Shichang nodded, saying it was no problem.

Later, he secretly gave Xu Shirong five taels of silver for protection, telling him to look after himself. Xu Shirong reluctantly followed Xu Shichang.

Tian Mi had changed a lot in these months; she had lost weight and looked like she weighed only around one hundred seventy pounds. Her love handles were gone, leaving only a flat stomach. Her chin had slimmed down too, but she felt fatigued all day, wanting to sleep, and her overall energy was low.

Her grandmother, two aunts, and Aunt Feng were all worried about her, urging her to eat more and lose weight slowly, warning her not to lose weight too quickly as it could harm her health.

The mountains here weren’t particularly tall, but they stretched on for dozens of miles. Since they didn’t dare venture too far, they temporarily settled in a hollow near the outer mountains to observe the situation. It was far enough from the village to avoid detection and safe for now.

Tian Mi said, “If you men go out, you might get caught for forced conscription if you run into the recruiters. I’ll go and check out the situation instead!”

In truth, only she could safely handle this task. The others trusted her completely and told her to eat, drink, and rest well before heading out. There was no rush. They had thought their days of sleeping rough were over, but it seemed they had been too optimistic.