Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside
Chapter 46 - 046: Detour

Chapter 46: Chapter 046: Detour

Last night, Brothers Gu Damu and Gu Dalin took their turn on the night watch. Once Third Grandpa got up, he had Uncle Tian call them back and told them, "We still don’t know the situation in Yongtai Prefecture today, and whether we need to hurry on our way. You guys should get some sleep first, in case we have to rush, you’ll have the energy."

Brothers Gu Damu and Gu Dalin acknowledged and took the bamboo tube of water handed over by Gu Qingtian, each took a sip to moisten their throats, then walked into the cave and lay down on their family’s pile of dry grass to sleep.

After a while, Third Grandpa’s voice came from the entrance of the cave, asking them, "Have you seen Elder Qin and his grandsons? It’s already dawn, why haven’t they come up yet?"

Gu Jinli grew concerned upon hearing this, worried that the secret of the Qin family trio might be exposed.

Gu Damu’s reply was surprising: "Elder Qin and the others went to Yongtai Prefecture to gather information. They said they’ll return later and told us not to leave, to wait for them."

Gu Jinli was astonished. When did Elder Qin tell Gu Damu that they were going to Yongtai Prefecture, and with such a reasonable excuse?

Everyone was also surprised, and Third Grandpa asked Gu Damu, "When did Elder Qin tell you this?"

Gu Damu replied, "It was last night, before we went to sleep, when we encountered Elder Qin and his grandsons in the depression on the left."

There was a man-deep and two-meters-wide depression to the left of the cave, where the men went to relieve themselves, while the women went to the Dead Tree Forest on the right.

Now that Gu Damu had said this, everyone understood and didn’t inquire further, feeling very grateful to the Qin family trio. If it were them, they wouldn’t dare to go to Yongtai Prefecture to check things out; one mishap could cost lives.

Gu Jinli admired the Qin family trio’s actions. This excuse was perfect, and they had specifically told the night-watching brothers Gu Damu, which meant that even if the brothers didn’t see the three when they patrolled the slope during the night, they wouldn’t be suspicious, thinking they had gone to Yongtai Prefecture.

Old Mrs. Yan, after the great ordeal of the previous night, was terrified of losing another person from their group. Hearing that the Qin family trio had gone to Yongtai Prefecture to check the situation, she clasped her hands together and bowed to the eastern sky, praying, "May God bless and ensure that Brother Qin and his grandsons return safely."

Knowing that the Qin family did not show up to gather in the cave, Third Grandpa put the matter aside and said to Father Luo, "Tie Zhu, go to where we found water last night and bring back the jars."

Last night, they had found a dripping rock crevice in the mountains and filled half a jar with water. When they left, they placed a jar there to collect water, which should have gathered a fair amount overnight.

"I’m on it," Father Luo took a jar and a machete and left the cave.

After Father Luo left, Third Grandpa called on Gu Dashan, Uncle Tian, Gu Dafu, and Gu Dagui to go into the deep mountains again to forage.

They hadn’t found anything edible last night and had consumed quite a few beans; they’d have to diligently search for food to refill the ’holes’ they ate into their provisions.

As for Gu Qingtian, Gu Qingliang, and Gu Dexing, they remained in the cave without going out to forage.

Third Grandma was dissatisfied with this arrangement, but Third Grandpa said that in these unsettled times, he feared refugees might find this place and harm the women, so leaving these few young men here could be intimidating if strangers arrived, preventing them from acting rashly.

Luo Wu and Gu Jin’an still went on patrol below the slope.

Gu Jinli and the other young girls were tasked by Third Grandma to cut grass.

With the weather turning cold and lacking warm clothes, gathering some dry grass to make grass coats and shoes would provide some protection against the cold.

After a few rounds of cutting grass and several grass coats fashioned by the older women, the Qin family trio returned, all three wearing tired expressions.

Seeing them, Third Grandma hastily went up to inquire with Elder Qin, "Brother Qin, how is the situation in Yongtai Prefecture? Can we still go that way?"

Elder Qin wiped his face to compose himself a bit, then shook his head and said, "It’s not good. The outskirts of Yongtai Prefecture are garrisoned by Peng Changyong’s soldiers, who round up anyone they see and bring them into the prefecture—not for relief, but to rob and murder them."

Hearing this, the faces of Third Grandma and the other women paled considerably, "This... People are still being murdered? Beasts!"

Mrs. Chen was most concerned about her own life and death. She hurriedly asked Elder Qin, "So what do we do now? How much longer do we have to hide here? There’s absolutely nothing to eat in these mountains, and if we hide too long and run out of food, we’re doomed."

During the conversation, Third Grandpa and the others also returned and asked about the situation in Yongtai Prefecture upon seeing the three members of the Qin family.

After Elder Qin repeated the situation, he concluded, "We don’t have to hide in the mountains; we can go down. Don’t take the official roads; instead, bypass Yongtai Prefecture through the plains, then get onto the expressway. Follow the expressway, pass through Central State Six Prefectures, and we can reach places like Jianghuai. That place is only a river away from Jiangnan, and the drought shouldn’t be as severe there."

After a pause, Elder Qin continued, "If the drought is still severe when we get to places like Jianghuai, we will cross the river to the heartland of Jiangnan."

Elder Qin’s words seemed to give everyone the backbone they were looking for. How could he speak of this route with such clarity if he hadn’t traveled it himself?

After hearing Elder Qin’s words, Third Grandpa felt much lighter, "Brother Qin has seen much and knows a lot. We’ll listen to you."

Elder Qin laughed and said, "We are all fleeing the famine together; no one is listening to anyone in particular. When we encounter a problem, we’ll figure it out together."

Once it was decided to bypass Yongtai Prefecture and head south, Third Grandpa asked Gu Dashan and Uncle Tian to take the jars and continue going to the gap in the rocks to collect water, as much as they could.

At night, everyone gathered again to finalize the exact route and discussed how to deal with any encountered issues along the way. The discussion continued until the beginning of the Hai hour before everyone went to sleep.

The next day at dawn, everyone got up, roasted the beans, distributed a handful to each person, and gave some grass coats to the younger children to keep out the cold. Then the group began descending the mountain and heading outside of it.

Midway down the mountain, they encountered some disaster victims coming down from other peaks—apparently many victims, like them, were hiding in the mountains.

No one paid any attention to the others, just guarding their belongings, keeping some distance as they walked.

After descending the mountain, Elder Qin led several families across the dry riverbed they had encountered upon arrival, walking towards the plains in front.

Witnessing this, some of the disaster victims looked towards Yongtai Prefecture, hesitated, but then caught up, calling out, "Fellow villagers ahead, wait a moment. Where are you heading?"

The families did not speak, fearing that these disaster victims following them might be malicious.

However, Elder Qin slowed down and, upon being questioned again by those victims, turned around and replied, "The garrison army of Yongtai Prefecture is killing the innocent for their own gain, so that place is impassable. We are traversing this plain to take a detour southward."

After saying this, Elder Qin no longer paid attention to them, only explaining to Third Grandpa, "They are all unfortunate people; I couldn’t bear to let them walk into death. Brother Gu, I hope you don’t mind."

Third Grandpa shook his head, "Brother Qin, no need to explain; we all understand... Alas, God is truly grinding us down."

The disaster victims, having heard Elder Qin’s explanation, hurried back to inform people they knew, and soon, quite a few followed behind them.

Among the disaster victims were many clever ones who knew going south was better than heading east, having experienced the massacre by the Yongtai Prefecture soldiers, the number of victims heading south grew.

When Gu Jinli and the others bypassed Yongtai Prefecture and took the expressway, they saw even more disaster victims on both sides of the expressway—groups stretched for over a hundred miles, their numbers no less than when she had first awoke.

Seeing so many disaster victims heading south, Elder Qin breathed a sigh of relief. Only if there were many disaster victims would the government office not scrutinize their registrations too closely, and their identities wouldn’t be exposed.