As evening approached, the intense heat subsided considerably. The villagers began preparing to move on.
The old man in the space was still unconscious; it had been almost a full day. Su Muqing worried if he would die in her space if he continued to sleep without eating or drinking.
Su Muqing brought the old man and the infant out of the space and placed them by the roadside. She had the third brother carry them back to the inn. After arranging a spot for the elder, she fed the baby girl a bowl of milk and handed her over to the women from yesterday, asking them to look after her well. She also gave her a name, Pan An, with An An as her nickname.
Madam Wang, seeing that she had brought back two more people, didn't scold her as she had before. Now, Young Mistress Qing was a disciple of an immortal. The old immortal had told her to do more good deeds and accumulate merit so she could cultivate immortal arts sooner.
The people of Houxi Village repeated the cycle of traveling and resting each day. Although they had no fixed abode, their faces no longer showed the initial despair. Instead, they wore smiles of contentment.
Since the village split, their lives had improved by more than ten times. The water sources they found were not only sufficient for the villagers to drink and eat but also allowed them to bathe occasionally, freeing them from their previous dirty state.
Furthermore, those who went out to search for supplies almost always returned laden with goods, especially the eldest daughter of the Su family. The villagers had all heard that she had an old immortal as her master and had learned many immortal techniques. At first, they didn't believe it. Now, she was universally recognized as the lucky star of Houxi Village.
Later, she joined the people searching for supplies and went into the mountains, ostensibly to play. Unexpectedly, she first found a water source, then stumbled upon a freshly killed wild boar, and finally discovered fresh vegetables.
Before, they hadn't considered green vegetables to be particularly precious. However, since the drought began, they hadn't eaten any green vegetables for nearly a year.
Moreover, whenever Su Muqing joined the search for supplies, the harvest was exceptionally abundant. Only then did the villagers believe that the eldest daughter of the Su family now truly possessed great fortune. Gradually, the villagers began to regard her as their lucky star.
With their circumstances improving, they regained hope for life. In any case, life in Houxi Village was getting better and better. What should have been a grueling escape, like shedding several layers of skin, had now become more like a long village excursion. It was practically an ancient version of the Houxi Village summer camp.
In contrast, the newly established Qianhe Village was in an utterly miserable state.
Not long after the people of Houxi Village left the post station, the people of Qianhe Village, carrying their belongings on their backs and shoulders, also embarked on their own escape journey.
They had too few ox carts, so everyone had to rely on their own two feet for the journey, not to mention the heavy baggage each person carried.
In the group of over sixty people, children cried, elders cried, and women cried and cursed. Several families had already fought three times within less than two kilometers, creating utter chaos.
Old Madam Chen muttered continuously, but she had become much quieter. She no longer cursed her daughter-in-law and granddaughter at the slightest provocation.
Although the group was noisy and prone to arguments, no one spoke of splitting up. However, water and supplies were each family's responsibility to find, and no one could take advantage of another.
Sun rose and set, they traveled and rested. Twenty days passed. By early July, the people of Houxi Village had entered Anping County.
Throughout their journey, not a single drop of rain had fallen. The people of Anping County attributed their misfortune to the refugees. Whether they passed through villages or county towns, the local populace would drive away refugees as if they were carrying the plague.
On July thirteenth, they exited Anping County. The large group rested in the suburbs, on the border with Guang'an Prefecture.
After the third brother and his men had set up the tents and awnings, Su Muqing slipped into the space to take a bath. The weather was dreadful; it was already sweltering hot early in the morning.
The cold poison in Lu Yuzhi's body had been completely suppressed by the spiritual spring water. Apart from his hair turning silvery-white, he appeared no different from a normal person.
Although he had lost all his internal energy, his martial arts techniques remained. Moreover, as the strange energy within his body continued to split into more and more strands, his strength also grew.
However, the twenty strands of awakened abilities that had split off caused a daily internal conflict. During the most agonizing times, Lu Yuzhi felt as if his internal organs were being torn apart. After the period of pain, his strength would increase by another point.
"Qing girl~ Qing girl, are you done?" As Su Muqing finished washing her hair, she heard someone calling her from outside the tent.
She wrapped her hair and then stood up to pull open the tent. She saw Grandpa Bai and Lu Yuzhi, among others, standing not far away, smiling at her.
Su Muqing: "What's wrong? Is there something?"
"Qing girl, could you get me a few more bottles of that beer? I haven't had any for two days." Grandpa Bai tugged at her sleeve pitifully, acting like a child despite his advanced age.
Su Muqing pulled her sleeve back and said ruthlessly, "Grandpa Bai, I've told you many times. Your uric acid is too high now, you can't drink beer anymore, it will cause gout… Big Brother Lu, you're not here for beer, are you?"
"No, Sister Muqing, we're planning to go to the mountain over there with the young master to see if we can find any prey. We came to ask if you wanted to go with us. If we can catch prey, we'll have a barbecue this afternoon!" The third brother said somewhat sheepishly, glancing repeatedly at Su Cuiping beside him.
Su Cuiping clapped her hands excitedly in agreement. "Okay! Okay! Let's go together then! Maybe we can find another big wild boar like last time."
Su Muqing: Where are there so many wild boars to find in the mountains? And a wild boar weighing over a thousand catties at that! That was exchanged for supplies with Chen Yuan, and she had simply thrown it onto the mountain for appearances.
However, since they didn't mind the trouble of barbecuing, she decided to let them have their way. Anyway, there were plenty of small game left from the previous trade with Chen Yuan.
Grandpa Bai, seeing them about to leave, quickly grabbed Su Muqing again. "Girl, when can I drink beer again?"
"We'll talk about it after the next check-up and when your numbers go down," Su Muqing replied. Seeing his dejected expression, she ran back into the tent and brought out a durian for him.
This old man was the same old man who had been in Chen Dahe's darkroom. After she brought him out of the space, he slept for three more days before waking up.
However, after he woke up, he had lost his memory. He claimed to remember nothing when asked. Su Muqing, seeing his white hair and white beard, called him Grandpa Bai.
This old man had a bad temper and was proud. Sometimes he was as willful as a child, and he was particularly gluttonous. Now, carrying the durian Su Muqing had given him, he happily went off to eat it in solitude.
The group took the little milk package to Madam Wang and also informed Su Minghui and the others that they were going to the mountains to hunt.
"Go ahead, remember to be safe! And come back early!" Madam Wang, holding the baby, called out to them from behind.
This time, Lu Yuzhi was accompanied by his five guards: the second, third, fifth, seventh, and tenth brothers. The second and sixth brothers, who had been responsible for covering their retreat, had also rejoined the group. Five people were left to protect everyone else.
On Su Muqing's side, besides Su Cuiping and Lin Rongrong, there was also Su Cuilan, the fifteen-year-old granddaughter of the third grandmother.
The group consisted of ten people in total. The fourth brother drove the carriage to the foot of the back mountain and watched them embark on their journey into the mountains with envy. He couldn't help but feel unlucky that it was his turn to be on duty today. Otherwise, he could have joined them for the hunt.