Qin Junyao saw Qin Erniu leave and no longer worried about exposing more; survival was paramount.
She still needed to think about what to exchange and which group of people could provide goods.
Qin Sen was the first to approach Qin Junyao. "Niece, give your uncle a straight answer, how much of this sweet potato do you have?"
Ever since he ate the roasted corn yesterday, he had started calling Qin Junyao "Niece" instead of by her name.
Qin Junyao pursed her lips, remaining silent.
How should she answer?
If she said too much, where would she put the goods? If she said too little, she wouldn't be able to exchange for anything.
"Alright, still not stupid. From now on, if anyone asks and you don't want to answer, just don't."
Qin Junyao was speechless.
"We need to be very careful when exchanging things to enter the mountains. The first priority is a donkey."
"I'll handle the exchanges for the sweet potatoes. You just listen. If you think it's okay, we'll arrange a place to trade. If you don't have that many, give me a signal, and we'll exchange for something else."
Qin Junyao, whom Qin Sen had called not stupid, rolled her eyes inwardly, but her expression remained unchanged as she asked Qin Sen, "Third Uncle, I saw some people who wanted to trade horses for grain."
"Donkeys are more useful than horses in the mountains. After donkeys, we need baskets, then knives, salt, flint, and medicine."
Qin Sen looked at the setting sun. "Let's go. If we get a donkey, it will be your dowry."
Qin Junyao was speechless again. Who would want a donkey as a dowry?
Under the afterglow of the sun, Qin Junyao, along with Qin Lin, Qin Sen, Qin Erniu, and the Hou brothers Jing and Ming, walked into the crowd.
Exchanging items turned out to be easier than the Qin and Hou families had expected. Two skinny donkeys only cost twenty sweet potatoes. Apart from knives, everything else was successfully exchanged at very low prices.
This made Qin Sen wonder. The families trading seemed eager for immediately edible grain, willing to exchange anything for it.
For example, even a skinny donkey had meat when slaughtered. Ten sweet potatoes was too cheap.
After the trading in the bush where they had roasted corn, the two Hou brothers voluntarily went to gather information.
Qin Sen and Qin Mu brothers organized the exchanged items, while Qin Erniu kept watch around.
Qin Junyao placed her left hand under a donkey's mouth to let it drink water, her thoughts focused on her Third Uncle, Qin Sen.
An eighteen-year-old youth, with all his limbs and a sharp mind, how could he be willing to beg in the city? Was it solely because of his poor health?
Qin Junyao knew this was not the time to think about it, but the experience of trading today made her unable to help but wonder. Could Qin Sen's demeanor and speech truly be learned from begging?
Qin Sen was strange, and the Qin family was strange.
And the Hou family, they didn't seem very curious about her.
If someone with something unexpected appeared beside her, she would also be curious.
Could the Bodhisattva's enlightenment truly have such a great power?
All signs did not align with the original owner's memory.
"Niece, this donkey seems to like you quite a bit. Let's go, we're going back," Qin Sen came over to lead the donkey, interrupting Qin Junyao's thoughts.
She looked towards the last bit of light in the sky and suddenly noticed that Qin Sen had a pair of beautiful phoenix eyes.
Then she looked at his face.
Forget it. In the original owner's memory, this Third Uncle had always appeared as a beggar, and now fleeing was even more disheveled than a beggar's attire.
When Qin Junyao and the other three returned to the donkey cart, the Hou Jing brothers had not yet returned.
The two families had not finished packing their belongings.
People who lived their lives were reluctant to throw anything away. Now that they were entering the mountains, deciding what to keep and what to discard was causing the women of the Hou family great distress.
"Uncle Hou, there are baskets here. My niece's dowry donkey can also carry quite a lot. We have fewer things, so you can pack more," Qin Sen called out to Old Man Hou, pointing to the baskets on the donkey.
Qin Junyao lowered her head and glanced sideways at Qin Sen.
She had to divide her attention to keep the donkey from biting her hand while feeding it sweet potato vines.
She also had to grumble in her heart, "Dowry donkey, dowry donkey. I'll raise this donkey well, and then I'll give it to you as a dowry."
Grandma Qin put her hands on her hips and came to look at the donkey.
It was dark, so she could only see the donkey's size by the firelight. When she touched it, its bones protruded from its thinness.
"Yaoyao, don't play with the donkey here. Let your mother tie up your trouser legs and sleeves for you, and go to bed early. We'll leave at dawn tomorrow."
"What is this donkey chewing? Dirt?"
Qin Junyao forcefully pulled the sweet potato vine from the donkey's mouth and put it back into her space. "I just gave it some dry grass. Grandma, you should rest early too."
Grandma Qin stood with her hands on her hips, watching people pack their things again, and said with feigned profundity, "The reason I stay up late is something you don't understand."
After she saw Qin Junyao walk away, Grandma Qin's face revealed a ferocious expression.
She shouldn't have been greedy for food last night; her stomach felt uncomfortably bloated from eating too much.
Qin Junyao left to find her mother, to see if there was anything that couldn't be taken with them that she could secretly put into her space.
"Junyao, you're back. Come quickly, I saved some porridge for you and Xiao Sen. You cooked it when you went out. Where is your Third Uncle?" Qin Mu was sewing at the entrance of the tent by the firelight.
Qin Junyao examined the item in her mother's hand closely. This must be a sock.
"Third Uncle is helping over there. What are you doing?" Qin Junyao squatted down and took out some millet porridge from the bowl left by her mother.
"Making foot coverings. We need to wear proper shoes when entering the mountains, and tie up the trouser legs and sleeves tightly, otherwise, blood-sucking insects will crawl onto us."
"There's porridge made by Mom over there. After you eat, put them on first, and Mom will help you tie the straps," Qin Mu said, scratching her head with the needle.
Qin Junyao nodded, quickly ate a bowl of porridge, and then stopped. Her stomach was bloated from eating too much at night.
Qin Mu, seeing her daughter eat so little, said with concern, "Eat a bit more. Your Second Aunt saved some for you and your Second Uncle's family, and your Third Uncle ate little."
Qin Junyao waved her hand. "This is enough. Mother, is there anything we can't take?"
"We don't have anything that can't be taken. The two baskets aren't even full. Sigh~~"
There seemed to be a story behind Qin Mu's sigh.
Qin Junyao wanted to ask more, but then Qin Xiaoyu ran over. "Mother, Mother, Grandma is asking if you've finished. Grandma says we're leaving soon."
"Leaving soon? Grandma said that?" Qin Junyao stood up and asked Qin Xiaoyu.
"Uncle Hou Da and Uncle Hou Er are back. After they talked with our Grandma and Grandpa Hou, Grandma told me to come find you."
"Mother, can I have some more millet porridge?" The porridge she drank tonight was served by Grandma Qin, and she only ate half a bowl.
"You can go get another bowl yourself. Junyao, you keep an eye on Xiaoyu, and I'll go ask," Qin Mu put down the foot covering in her hands on a nearby stone and got up to leave.
"I'll go. You finish making the foot coverings first."
"No need for anyone to go. Eldest Sister-in-law, finish what you're doing with this last one. We'll talk about the rest in the mountains. Let's set off early."
"Xiaoyu, get yourself another bowl," Qin Sen said, striding over to Qin Xiaoyu and taking the bowl of porridge she had just filled into his own hand.
Qin Junyao turned around and asked Qin Sen again, "Third Uncle, what's going on?"
Holding the bowl, Qin Sen took a sip of porridge. "Some people are gathering at the city gate, planning to rush into the city when the gate opens tomorrow morning. It's better for us to leave early."
Qin Sen's words made Qin Junyao recall that there were indeed people packing their belongings when they were trading this evening. It seemed they had known the news in advance.
She hadn't paid attention then, but it seemed those people were also preparing to leave. "Then why didn't we get the news earlier?"
Qin Sen gestured towards the donkey cart with his hand holding the bowl. "Perhaps the person who wanted to involve us scared them away, Grandma."