Everyone brought their military tents, and after dividing the space, they camped around their plots.
The accompanying family members pitched their tents near the soldiers of their respective Military Offices, and since there were family members tagging along, the soldiers had to give up some tents for the families to live in.
Where there were many accompanying family members, both the soldiersâ and the familiesâ tents were crowded with people.
The most crowded place was the family tent on Mrs. Kuangâs side.
There were too many accompanying family members, and during the cold weather, even after digging a pit for fire in the tent, the ground still froze, and laying down grass mats and quilts still couldnât fend off the cold. The chill from the ground kept coming up.
"Company Commanderâs Wife, this wonât do. The children and elderly were already severely chilled on the road. If they sleep one more night like this, theyâll certainly fall ill," Zhang Erminâs wife, pulling along a child, said to Mrs. Kuang: "Youâre the Company Commanderâs Wife, you need to find a way. You canât let people freeze to death."
Qiaoziâs wife also brought a few soldiersâ wives over to complain: "Madam, you have to find a way. You canât let the children and elderly sleep in this place, itâs no different from directly sleeping on the snow, they could freeze to death!"
Mrs. Kuang wanted to curse, but it was her responsibility as the Company Commanderâs Wife, so she was busy managing: "Sanjin, Sijin, Wujin, Liujin, quickly take the younger children from our side to squeeze in over at the Xie Family, Gu Family, and Lu Family. They have horses and mule carts. Seeing your young age, they canât refuse, hurry over, and bring your quilts."
Then she said to Dajin and Erjin: "Take the older children and elderly from our side to the Ding Family. The Ding guy is quite wealthy and loves to be generous, brought many soldiers, many tents, and even brought the housekeeper, with horse carts. Go squeeze in with them. Donât mind their expressions, just say nice things and stay on their carts without leaving."
"Alright, weâre on our way!" The Niu familyâs Jin kids, trained by Mrs. Kuang, responded swiftly, promptly taking the children and elderly, bundled with quilts, to various family campsites.
Ms. Xie Ji saw them coming again to take advantage and was furious, rushing out to block them: "Get lost, though our horse and mule carts are numerous, theyâre all occupied, thereâs no extra space for you to live!"
She further criticized: "When making dry food, you all already came to us to take oil, salt, and flour, and now you want to snatch our horse and mule carts? Do you think weâre fools? Letting you take advantage without end! Iâm telling you, I wonât let anyone take advantage again!"
Having said this, she burst into tears, scaring Niu Sijin and Niu Liu Jin, who instantly forgot all the nice words they had thought of.
Ms. Xieâs words had a hidden meaning; she was angry that Ding Ge had touched her hand and was upset that Company Commander Xie wasnât attentive enough to comfort her.
Just then, Company Commander Xie arrived, saw Ms. Xie screaming and cursing like mad, and his brows furrowed tightly, telling the housekeeper: "Uncle Xie, reallocate our people, separate them by gender, let them squeeze together, and settle these kids. On the road, just let them stay with us."
Ms. Xie Ji was enraged, shouting: "Xie Cheng, what do you mean? I told you not to let them stay, yet youâre taking them in, canât you see theyâre here to take advantage?!"
"Shut up!" Company Commander Xie raised a torch, walked over with a sullen face, and Niu Sijin, being Company Commander Niuâs son, couldnât be cursed by Ms. Xie like that. Wasnât this embarrassing Company Commander Niu? Was she trying to create enemies for him?
Company Commander Xie instructed Manager Xie: "Take the kids down and settle them well, donât let them suffer."
"Yes." Manager Xie knew they were going to argue again and quickly took Niu Sijin and the others away.
Niu Sijin and the others hurriedly thanked him: "Thank you so much, Company Commander and Lady Xie, sorry for the trouble."
They didnât want to come either, but the family was too poor, to afford a cart made of wood.
"Hurry up and follow me." Manager Xie urged them, hurry up and leave, if theyâre late, madam would go crazy.
Sure enough, Ms. Xie Ji shouted: "Thank you for what? Who wants to take you in, hurry up and get back!"
"You get into the cart!" Company Commander Xie yelled back, walking over with a grim face, pulled Ms. Xie Ji away, and shoved her back to the cart.
With a bang, Ms. Xie Ji was tossed into the cart, immediately crying out: "Xie Cheng, how dare you hit me, Iâll fight you!"
Saying this, she charged forward, scratching wildly at Company Commander Xieâs face.
Company Commander Xie originally tried to dodge, but Ms. Xie Ji was too fierce, and not doing anything every day, her nails had grown long, scratching Company Commander Xieâs face into bloody streaks.
Company Commander Xie had no choice but to fling Ms. Xie Ji away with one throw.
With a bang, Ms. Xie Ji slammed against the cart wall again.
Ms. Xie Ji went even crazier, aggressively lunging forward to bite Company Commander Xie: "You Xie person, Iâll fight you to the death!"
With a slap, Company Commander Xie gave Ms. Xie Ji a slap, stunning her, tears rolling down as she cried incessantly: "You hit me, you really hit me, wah wah wah..."
Company Commander Xie was also stunned, quickly going to comfort Ms. Xie Ji: "I didnât mean it, donât cry, okay?"
This comfort didnât help, as Ms. Xie Ji cried even harder, cursing: "Xie Cheng, you ungrateful thing, I risked danger coming to the Northwest with you, yet you hit me, are you even human!"
Upon hearing this, Company Commander Xie had no mind to comfort her: "I know you donât want to come suffer with me, but I already said you donât need to come, you can stay back and take care of Zhuzhu, itâs you who insisted on coming."
Company Commander Xie knew the Northwest was dangerous, though he wished Ms. Xie Ji to accompany him, he feared he couldnât ensure her safety and initially asked her to stay home to take care of their daughter, Xie Yaohu.
But Ms. Xie Ji ultimately declared she wanted to accompany him to the Northwest.
Honestly, he was extremely happy at the time, but soon realized Ms. Xie Ji didnât want to follow him to the Northwest at all, being reluctant to pack, refusing to care for the family members of accompanying soldiers, and often causing trouble, giving him a hard time.
"You think I wanted to come!" Ms. Xie Ji shouted: "If not for Grandfather saying he wanted to give you a concubine to bear a son, I wouldnât have come!"
Upon hearing this, Company Commander Xieâs face turned terrifyingly dark, chuckled sarcastically: "So thatâs it..."
Indeed, this woman was never aligned with him, unwilling to endure hardship with him.
"Since you donât want to, Iâll have someone send you back." Company Commander Xie spoke these words to Ms. Xie Ji after a moment of silence.
Ms. Xie Ji was stunned, then cried again: "Xie Cheng, youâre doing this on purpose arenât you? Iâve already said, if I go back, Grandfather will give you a concubine to bear a son, youâre still asking me to go back, do you want concubines so much?!"
Company Commander Xie felt a headache, was this woman out of her mind? When did he ever say he wanted to take a concubine?
"Are you going back or not?" Company Commander Xie asked her once more.
Ms. Xie Ji shouted: "Iâm not going back! Wanting to send me back so you can find a pretty widow in the Northwest, dream on!"
Company Commander Xie was confused: "Who again have you been listening to, thinking Iâll go find widows after reaching the Northwest?"
Whether it was him who was ill or her, how was it that they couldnât speak sensibly to each other?