Chapter 38 - 038 Argument

"Going south?" Third Grandpa frowned deeply, took the letter that Gu Jinli handed over, and called Gu Jin’an: "Good Brother An, take a look."

Third Grandpa knew few characters, he didn’t understand what was written, so Gu Jin’an pointed at the letters on the paper, explaining word by word. After Gu Jin’an was finished, Third Grandpa frowned even more.

Gu Dafu also frowned and said, "Why head south? Our Gu Family Village ancestors were from Yangji Prefecture in the east, and this migration is to return to our ancestral land. If we go south, we will move further away from our ancestral land."

Before the village began the migration, his father had discussed with the villagers about returning to Yangji Prefecture, and the villagers had agreed, so they had been moving eastward.

"Besides, all the disaster victims are heading east, only we would head south, wouldn’t that separate us from everyone el?? What if something happens?" Gu Dafu is a rather rigid man, after experiencing the massacre of half of the villagers, he has become more conservative, simply following the route set by Village Chief Gu.

And after several months of fleeing the disaster, he had grown accustomed to the other refugees, suddenly splitting from them would make him anxious.

Mrs. Chen also did not want to go south, upon hearing Gu Dafu’s words, she nudged Gu Dagui with her elbow, seeing that Gu Dagui did not respond to her, she bluntly said herself, "Third Uncle, we can’t go south, I’ve heard that the Southern people are hostile to newcomers, if we go there, we will definitely be bullied by them to death."

Gu Dagui rebuked, "What do you know, woman? Shut up. Southern people are hostile, aren’t the people in Yangji Prefecture also hostile? No matter where we go, if it’s away from our hometown, we will be bullied."

Mrs. Chen heard Gu Dagui’s words, pursed her lips, and said no more.

Third Grandpa looked at Gu Jinli and asked, "Xiao Yu, tell us, why did the Young Master of Qi Mansion want us to head south?"

Then looking at the several families present, especially the brothers Gu Dafu and Gu Dagui, he said, "The Young Master of Qi Mansion is a scholar, he’s insightful. If he left this letter for Xiao Yu, it shows he sincerely wants to alert us."

Third Grandpa said this to protect Gu Jinli. After all, she was just a ten-year-old child, and it was better not to involve her in some matters.

The adults nodded, addressing Gu Jinli, "Xiao Yu, tell us, why did the Young Master of Qi Mansion remind us to go south?"

Gu Jinli said, "It’s too cold in the east, I heard that in Yangji Prefecture, snow begins to fall in autumn, and at the coldest times, everything is covered in ice, which can freeze a person to death. It’s early autumn now, if we continue east, we will freeze before even reaching Yangji Prefecture."

The adults were startled upon hearing this. Father Luo, who had traveled extensively, knew about the cold in the east, and said, "Xiao Yu is right, it really does snow in autumn in some eastern places, extremely cold."

Elder Qin also said, "When I was young, I visited Yangji Prefecture a few times, it really is cold there. Once winter comes, it’s freezing cold, and the common people seldom dare to go outside, they all stay inside to survive the winter."

He looked at the clothes of the families and told Third Grandpa, "Brother Gu, we don’t have clothes to keep out the cold. If we head east, we will freeze before reaching Yangji Prefecture."

Upon hearing Elder Qin’s words, the families turned pale with fear.

Third Grandma looked at the clothes everyone was wearing, and said fearfully, "Then we really can’t go to Yangji Prefecture, we would freeze to death on the way."

Mrs. Chen looked at the clothes worn by her family of four, thinking about possibly freezing to death if they headed east, also got scared and dared not say anything more.

Gu Dafu also began to hesitate.

Gu Jinli took the opportunity to say: "Not only is it cold in the east, but there are also many disaster victims. Disaster victims from the Seven Prefectures of Northwest keep moving eastward, consuming all the edible things. Before we even reach Yongtai Prefecture, the only food we could find on the road would be leaves and roots. If we continue eastward, what will we eat? We would either freeze or starve to death."

Yongtai Prefecture is the boundary between the Northwest and the Northeast. Once past Yongtai Prefecture, you enter the territory of the Northeast, and three months further east lies Yangji Prefecture.

Elder Qin seemed very reluctant to go east. Picking up on Gu Jinli’s words, he said, "Where there are many disaster victims, trouble is likely to arise. When everyone gets desperately hungry, those victims will start to loot for food. The group of Evil Men a few days ago, most of them were refugees escaping the famine, driven to such extremes by hunger that they picked up hoes and shovels to kill and loot."

Elder Qin paused for a moment and continued, "Those Evil Men are also heading east, just ahead of us. If we continue east, we might run into them."

Everyone was still terrified by the Evil Men from a few days ago; hearing Elder Qin’s words, they were frightened out of their wits.

Mrs. Chen was the first to speak: "Then why should we go to the east? Let’s not go, it’s too dangerous. Let’s go south instead." Even the Southern people who bully strangers wouldn’t be like those Evil Men, wielding hoes to kill.

Qin Er Lang, after hearing Elder Qin’s words, anxiously glanced at him, wanting to say something but held back.

Gu Jinli continued: "There’s nothing wrong with heading south; it’s warm there, and it’s said that there is plenty of rain, rarely any drought. Once we go to the south, we will live well, at least we won’t have to worry about drinking water."

Father Luo nodded in agreement: "The south is indeed warmer than the north, and there’s plenty of rainwater. I heard that people there don’t grow sorghum or wheat, but rice that requires flooding the fields with water."

"Fields flooded with water?!" Mrs. Chen was amazed. In the Northwest, there is a scarcity of water, and crops are usually grown in dry land; she had lived half her life and never heard that one could fill fields with water to grow crops.

"So what are we waiting for? Let’s go to the south," Mrs. Chen said upon hearing about the abundant water and lack of drought in the south, envious to the point of wanting to move south immediately.

Third Grandpa looked at Gu Dafu, asking, "Da Fu, what do you say? East or south?"

The chance of freezing or starving to death in the east was too high, half of Gu Family Village’s residents had already died, they couldn’t afford more deaths. Gu Dafu hesitated for a moment, then gritting his teeth and with tears, he said, "Let’s go south."

Once they make a name for themselves in the south, they would return to their ancestral land in Yangji Prefecture, fulfilling his father’s wish.

Third Grandpa then asked Gu Dashan and Father Luo for their opinions, seeing that they both agreed, he said, "In that case, let’s go south, but this decision was made collectively by our families and has nothing to do with Xiao Yu. If life in the south turns out poorly, none of you can blame Xiao Yu."

Gu Dafu, as the son of Village Chief Gu and already considering himself the village chief of Gu Family Village, was the first to respond: "Uncle, rest assured, we won’t blame Xiao Yu."

Pleased, Third Grandpa nodded, exchanged a few words with the families, arranged who would keep watch at night, then spread some wild grass on the ground and began to rest.

In the middle of the night, Gu Jinli and Luo Huiniang got up to relieve themselves, and while walking through the dry grass, they faintly heard an argument.

"We agreed to go to Yangji Prefecture to find Uncle Liu Shi, why are we heading south? We have no connections in the south, what’s the use of going there?!" This was Qin Er Lang’s voice, filled with anger and resentment.

"Second Brother, Grandfather is right. We don’t know the situation at Uncle Liu’s, it’s risky to go there rashly. It’s better to first settle in the south, then send a message to Uncle Liu."

"Shut up, I am not your second brother," Qin Er Lang almost roared: "Your family members aren’t the ones who died, of course, you aren’t in a hurry for revenge!"

"Er Lang, shut up," this was Elder Qin’s stern voice.