Chapter 12

After a few sips of water, Ding Gui finally came back to life a bit. “Bao’er, you went into the space again. Do you have anything else to eat?”

Ding Xiaodie pulled out some QQ candy from her pocket and handed him two pieces. “Take it slow, better to have something than nothing.”

With a helpless expression, Ding Gui tossed them into his mouth.

“Dad, listen to me. I found a small building on the back street. There were no bodies inside, and none in the house next door either. Come back with me in a bit. I’ll inspect it myself, and when others ask, we’ll say you found it.”

After all, Ding Xiaodie was just a little kid. It already seemed unbelievable when she spoke up for Laifu earlier. If she claimed to have found these safe houses too, everyone would definitely start to question it.

Her behavior was far too different from the timid and fearful original host.

“Alright, we’ll do as you say!”

Ding Gui, of course, knew how brave his daughter really was. In their past life, she had been a criminal police officer, not without reason.

So the father and daughter followed the back street, checking house after house. They didn’t find any corpses in several houses—they were all livable.

One house did have a body in the inner room.

Ding Xiaodie went in to check. She pressed the woman’s belly with her small hand and examined her mouth…

“Aiyo, Bao’er.”

Standing outside the door, Ding Gui didn’t dare go in and shut his eyes tightly. “Can you not touch it? We’re not here to investigate a case.”

“Dad,”

Ding Xiaodie had a strange discovery. “This old lady didn’t die of starvation. She was poisoned.”

“What? Poisoned?”

“Yes. Her throat is burned, her lips are black, and her fingernails too—it’s clear she took strong poison before dying.”

“How can that be? Everyone’s been starving lately. Why would someone take poison?” Ding Gui scratched his head in confusion.

“She might’ve done it to avoid dragging her family down while escaping the famine.”

“…That’s so tragic.”

After sighing for a bit, the two took a piece of black charcoal from the kitchen stove and marked a cross on the door, then went back to the city gate to call others.

In the end, they arranged housing in more than a dozen homes. It was a small contribution to the village.

Next, Ding Gui went to find Laifu and the others, taking all the credit himself and recounting everything with great flair.

Laifu was impressed. “Brother Ding Gui, you’ve really surprised us!”

“Yeah, Ding Gui, who would’ve thought you were this brave?”

“Thanks, Brother Ding Gui.”

Ding Gui was a bit embarrassed. “Oh, it’s nothing. What matters most is getting the elderly, women, and children inside to rest. Staying in the sun any longer would be dangerous. I didn’t think too much at the time.”

Just like that, everyone in the village now had a place to stay. But since some houses had corpses in the neighboring rooms, Laifu reminded everyone that if they were scared, they could share houses. Living alone was fine too.

But one thing was certain—never enter a house with a charcoal X on the door.

Once they were settled, those who had grain could eat their own food. If they had extra, they were encouraged to help others. After all, “a rose given leaves fragrance in the giver’s hand.”

“Village Chief, how many days are we staying in Yangliu Town?” someone asked.

“There are corpses next door. We can’t stay here for long!”

Laifu raised his hand to calm them. “We’ll rest for no more than two days. Don’t worry.”

“Where are we heading next?”

“To the capital, of course. That’s where our emperor lives—there won’t be any disasters there. And since we are his subjects, he will surely help us. The key now is to preserve our strength and not waste energy.”

Since the village chief had spoken, everyone chose to believe him and returned to their assigned homes to rest.

Only Ding Xiaodie’s family of three knew that the village chief was once again selling them a dream.

Do they even know how far the capital is?

Even if it’s over 100 li away, the people from Aozi Village wouldn’t survive that journey.

Lacking water and food, dreaming of traveling that far was just that—a dream.

While Ding Xiaodie went to find her father, Wang Dafeng had gone upstairs and claimed a room for herself. She was now lying on the bedding with her eyes closed, fast asleep!

The old woman was no longer young. The past few days of rough living had left her utterly exhausted.

Only now was the household finally a bit peaceful.

Ding Gui said, “Let’s lie down and get some proper rest too.”

Their room only had one bed. Ding Gui let his wife and daughter sleep on it while he laid some rags on the floor for himself. At least it was wooden flooring—much better than sleeping in the muddy mountains.

And so, the family of three dozed off for more than two hours.

“Mom, what are you doing?”

Suddenly, Ding Gui bolted upright from the floor.

In a groggy haze, he had sensed someone approaching. When he opened his eyes, he was met with Wang Dafeng’s wrinkled face and her cloudy, slanted eyes.

Scared half to death, Ding Gui gasped for breath.

Wang Dafeng stared at him, not hiding her intentions. “I came to check if you’re hiding food. The three of you aren’t good people. What if you’re secretly eating behind my back?”

“Aiyo, other than that bit of rabbit meat we had in the morning, we haven’t eaten anything! Where would we even find food?” Ding Gui rubbed his temples, feeling like his soul had left his body. His head buzzed.

Woken by his shout, the mother and daughter blinked sleepily at them—speechless. This old lady was seriously sneaky.

Wang Dafeng wasn’t done. She pulled out a gourd bottle and waved it in the air. “What’s this?”

She sneered as the bottle sloshed with water.

Ding Xiaodie quickly reached under her pillow—where was her gourd?

Ugh! It was in the old lady’s hands.

Unbelievable. She, a proper policewoman, had been pickpocketed by an old woman without even realizing it. Unbelievable!

Ding Gui and Zhang Xiu were both shocked.

Since Wang Dafeng had her own gourd, they hadn’t shared any water with her on this journey. After all, the original host had never had the right to control water. Now that they suddenly had some, they were afraid she’d cause a fuss.

Seeing the three of them stunned, Wang Dafeng pressed on. “Where did this come from? Tell me! Are you hiding other things from me? You’re trying to starve me to death, aren’t you? Ding Gui, you unfilial son, say something!”

“Grandma, I found the gourd in the house next door. There is some water inside, but none of us have had the heart to drink it,” Ding Xiaodie tried to defuse the situation. “Don’t you have your own gourd too? Fine, I’ll pour all of mine into yours.”

She climbed off the bed and reached out. But Wang Dafeng eyed her suspiciously. “And why would you do that?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Ding Xiaodie’s little face was full of sincerity.

She took Wang Dafeng’s gourd and poured all her water into it—though it was less than half a bottle. She still had another full one.

Her only concern was that if Wang Dafeng made a scene and others found out they had water, it would be a big problem. Because anyone with half a brain would know that after so long without water in town, any hanging gourd would’ve long since evaporated. There’s no way there’d still be water in it.

This trick only worked on an old woman like her.