Chapter 40 - 040 On the Road

Gu Jinli has a limit of three days; she can only wait up to three days, since her life is at stake and there is no reason to risk herself waiting for others.

Gu Dafu didn’t want to leave. He looked at the nearby graves and said, "There are still surviving villagers in the village, they will definitely come back, let’s wait a bit longer."

"What waiting nonsense!" Mrs. Chen got angry, pointing to the distance and shouting, "Uncle, just look up yourself, how many people are left at the foot of this mountain? The living disaster victims are almost gone, what are we waiting for? If you want to wait, wait by yourself, but we are not waiting anymore."

After saying this, she turned to Third Grandpa and added, "Right, Uncle?"

Mrs. Chen was clever, directly pulling Third Grandpa in, evidently trying to isolate Gu Dafu alone.

Gu Dagui also disagreed with Gu Dafu continuing to wait to death, persuading, "Big brother, let’s go. If the villagers were going to come back, they would have done so already. If they haven’t returned in three days, they must have left."

How terrifying was that night, how many of the surviving villagers would dare to come back?

Gu Dafu didn’t speak; he felt that it was Village Chief Gu who had caused the deaths of the villagers, and as the successor of the village chief, he needed to stay and wait for the villagers.

Seeing that Gu Dafu didn’t respond, Mrs. Chen became so anxious that she stamped her feet, pulled Gu Dexing and Gu Yumei over, and yelled at Gu Dafu: "Uncle, you have to think about Brother Xing and Sister Mei, do you really want them to starve or die of thirst here with you? If they were to die, how could you face your elder sister-in-law?"

Gu Dafu’s wife was also killed that night.

Gu Dexing and Gu Yumei broke free from Mrs. Chen’s pull and stepped aside; they neither wanted nor dared to force Gu Dafu to make a decision.

Mrs. Chen glared at them: "You two heartless, I’m doing this for your own good. Do you really want to stay here with your father and keep company with the dead?"

Upon hearing the word ’dead,’ Gu Dexing and Gu Yumei glanced at the graves in Gu Family Village and shivered.

Seeing their reaction, Mrs. Chen snorted coldly, knowing they were afraid – they should push Gu Dafu along with her.

Third Grandpa glanced at Gu Dafu and advised, "Dafu, let’s not wait any longer, let’s go. We still have more than thirty lives here; we can’t all be lost here."

"Uncle..." In the end, Gu Dafu looked up, his eyes filled with tears as he looked at Third Grandpa.

Third Grandpa said, "Let’s go, enough people from the village have died, we can’t let any more from our group die."

Hearing this, Gu Dafu stayed silent for a moment as he looked at the few families resting nearby, finally nodding and agreeing, "Let’s go!"

The families, hearing Gu Dafu’s words, all breathed a sigh of relief.

Mrs. Chen, with a smile overflowing her face, started packing her things. She wanted to take some food but was stopped by Third Grandma, "Mrs. Chen, just take care of your two children, we three families will handle these things."

The food and water belonged to their three families, and the salt was especially Xiao Yu’s alone. That they were willing to share these supplies was already more than generous; Mrs. Chen dreaming of taking them for her own was unimaginable.

Gu Jinli watched Mrs. Chen’s every move but kept silent.

Three days ago, she had quietly prepared a small bag of food for each family member, tied to their bodies.

That bag of coarse salt had been carried on her back all along, she only took a little each day and gave it to Third Grandma to distribute to everyone, to replenish salt.

Escaping famine was not easy; she could only do her best to keep her family alive.

She had told Luo Family and Third Grandpa’s Family about this, advising them to also tie a small bag of food to themselves, just in case.

Mrs. Chen, hearing Third Grandma’s words, showed no embarrassment on her face. She circled around Third Grandma while thinking of how to steal some food.

After deciding to leave, Gu Dafu took out the household registration papers, land deeds, and silver coins he had found on the bodies of the villagers, and worriedly said, "Third Uncle, what should we do with these things? These are all essential for settling down. What if we take them and some villagers come back looking for them?"

Mrs. Chen, who was greedy, had already been eyeing those land deeds and silver coins. She hurriedly said, "Naturally, we should keep them with us. Uncle, you are a man, not meticulous enough. Let me take care of these things."

As she spoke, she rushed to snatch the land deeds and silver coins from Gu Dafu’s hands, but was held back by Gu Dagui.

Gu Dagui wish he could slap her, "Have you gone mad with greed for money? That’s money from the dead, aren’t you afraid those deceased villagers will come seeking you at night?"

Mrs. Chen, who was afraid of ghosts, turned pale and dared not think about those land deeds and silver coins anymore.

Third Grandpa thought for a moment and then said, "Let’s bury them one by one in front of the tomb mound."

It has always been a custom for living people to bury items in front of their ancestors’ tombs, and the villagers knew about it. As long as they saw small mounds of dirt in front of the tombs, they knew something was buried inside and would dig it up to look.

After hearing this, Gu Dafu agreed, and together with Father Luo, Gu Dashan, Uncle Tian, and the brothers Gu Damu and Gu Dalin, they wrapped up each household’s registration papers, land deeds, and silver coins, then dug a row of small pits in front of the tombs to bury them, creating little mounds of earth.

Depending on the order of each household in the village, they gathered small stones in matching numbers around the small mounds to distinguish them, preventing the returning villagers from taking each other’s belongings.

Third Grandpa gathered everyone and finally bowed to the buried villagers’ tombs. After standing up, he said to everyone, "Let’s go."

Hearing these words, everyone felt heavy and anxious. The road ahead was long, and they didn’t know what they would encounter.

Gu Jinli tied up his bundle, took a dagger and stick, and clutching the hands of Gu Jinxiu and Mrs. Cui, followed behind Gu Dashan, who was carrying Brother Cheng. Led by the Luo Family father and son and Qin Laosan, they headed towards Yongtai Prefecture.

Elder Qin said, "Once we reach Yongtai Prefecture, we can follow the expressway southward."

The Great Chu Dynasty had four major expressways intersecting north, south, east, and west, with their junction point at Yongtai Prefecture. Only upon reaching Yongtai Prefecture could they switch paths to head south.

Ancient travel was inconvenient, and among this group, only Elder Qin and Father Luo had traveled far. Compared to Father Luo, Elder Qin was more familiar with these routes, so they had no choice but to trust what Elder Qin said.

"With thanks to you, Elder Brother," said Third Grandpa gratefully.

Elder Qin smiled and said, "No need for thanks, we support each other."

Along the way, they encountered many small groups of disaster victims, many of whom were familiar faces, likely survivors from that night.

But after that night’s events, the disaster victims were like skittish birds, avoiding initiating contact even with familiar faces and only focusing on traveling with those close to them.

Third Grandpa and his group also feared that these disaster victims might act rashly. Upon encountering acquaintances, they simply nodded and did not stop to chat; everyone was cautious and kept to themselves.

After four days of heading towards Yongtai Prefecture, they were fortunate to find a half-dry mountain spring, saving them from dying of thirst.

As they were about to enter the vicinity of Yongtai Prefecture, they suddenly saw a large crowd of panic-stricken disaster victims running back, some of them stained with blood.

Gu Jinli felt a chill and knew something was terribly wrong; he immediately said to everyone, "Let’s find a place to hide, do not enter Yongtai Prefecture yet!"

Elder Qin’s expression darkened, and he quickly said, "Something must have happened in Yongtai Prefecture, everyone, hide quickly."

He then said to Qin San Lang, "San Lang, catch a disaster victim and ask what exactly happened?"