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Early the next morning, Yingbao did another acupuncture treatment for Chen Sanyou and fed him a bowl of medicinal soup. Seeing that he had regained consciousness and was even able to sit up and show his gratitude, she was relieved and made a note in her account book.

When she returned to the village, she planned to give this account book to his three sons, asking them to reimburse the cost of the medicine.

As for now, Yingbao mentioned the payment for the medicine to Chen Yin, who assured her that it would undoubtedly be repaid in the future.

However, by noon, another group of refugees arrived in Jiang Village. Half of them knew Jiang Sanlang, and it seemed as if they had come to seek refuge under his wing.

Jiang Sanlang and his brothers were helpless, but these were their fellow villagers, also displaced from crisis, and they couldn’t just ignore them.

Luckily, the refugees brought their own food, enough for a few days.

But before they had finished discussing how to accommodate them, another large group of refugees had arrived.

This time, most of them were from Dongchen Village, among whom were three generations of women – Mrs. Wen and her twin daughters, Wen Tian and Wen Jiao, as well as two maids.

They went straight to Jiang Sanlang upon reaching the village, and the sight of the large group of people crying and huddling on the ground was truly pitiful.

With the influx of more than a hundred refugees, panic set in among the villagers of Jiang Village. The twenty-some households found the village head, also the Clan Leader, and unanimously requested the expulsion of the Jiang family and the refugees from the village.

The Clan Leader was in a predicament, but since the village could not accommodate that many people, he had to gently suggest to the elder Jiang that they leave.

Given that the Clan Leader had spoken, and there were dozens of villagers behind him staring at them fiercely, the Jiang family had no choice but to silently pack their belongings and prepare to leave.

For Jiang Dage, it was unbearable to let his brother go; his eyes were tearing and his nose running.

Jiang Jiu suggested: “Dad, why don’t we let them go to the East Mountain? There’s water there and a bamboo forest. Aren’t we supposed to cut bamboo arrows? It would be more convenient for them to stay there and work.”

Jiang Dage’s eyes brightened at the idea, and he immediately prepared to take his brother’s family to the East Mountain.

But the villagers of Jiang Village were still unhappy and desperately tried to stop them from going to the East Mountain. “They must leave the village. They are not allowed to go to the East Mountain!”

Jiang Dage was furious; he grabbed a kitchen knife, rushed out, and shouted, “I own the fields on the East Mountain. There are dozens of acres of woodland. What is it to you if I want to let them stay there?

Pointing to the Jiang Clan Leader, he said, “Don’t burn your bridges. My family has given you so much cottonseed. All of that was brought by my nephew. Now my brothers are in trouble, and you turn your back on us? It’s disgraceful!”

The Clan Leader was ridiculed by this elderly man; his face turned red with chagrin, but he didn’t dare to retaliate. Finally, he grudgingly agreed to let Jiang Sanlang’s family go to the East Mountain woodland.

Jiang’s wife Lin was reluctant to go. She told Xiu Zhenniang, “Sister-in-law, we’re different from those other refugees. We should speak to the Clan Leader and ask to stay in the village. We can pay whatever lodging fee they want.”

While packing her things, Xiu Zhenniang replied, “If you want to say something, you go ahead. I and Shushu will definitely go with the Jiang family.”

Lin was not pleased and complained, “It’s only a matter of speaking. You’ve been in the Jiang family for a day or two; you’re familiar with them. I just arrived, I can’t put it into words.”

Xiu Zhenniang glanced at her, ignoring her complaints, and asked, “Weren’t you going to the county town? Why did you come back? And where is the gold you took, and your two horse carts?”

Looking embarrassed, Lin turned her face and muttered, “We encountered bandits on the road and had to turn back. But those bandits were relentless in their chase, so I had to have the maid throw all the valuable items including the gold, so we could escape. Our carriage wheel broke in halfway, so we had to walk. Later on, we ran into the villagers from Chen Village and decided to follow them.”

“Oh, what about the horses?” Xiu Zhenniang asked, “Did you lose both horses as well?”

“Yesterday night, someone stole the horses.”

Lin was too embarrassed to say that the two coachmen had actually stolen the horses and disappeared in the chaos.

The horses were all carrying food and some other valuables along with their identification documents for travel.

Xiu Zhenniang looked at her sister-in-law expressionlessly and continued to pack up her things: “So now you have lost everything but still want to live in Jiang village. Have you ever thought about how you will pay for your lodging and meals?”

Lin wanted to say, ‘Isn’t that what you are here for?’, but pride prevented her from doing so.

“I still have a bracelet, which should be enough to cover the expenses.”

If worst comes to worst, there are two zodiac gold medals in her daughters’ collars, which should support them for a while.

Xiu Zhenniang paid her no attention and wrapped up her and her daughter’s belongings into two bundles.

The nanny came in and whispered, “Madam, if you are leaving now, let me take care of any last packing.”

“Everything’s packed.” Xiu Zhenniang pointed to the two large bundles on the kang bed, “I’d like Nanny to carry one, and I’ll carry the other.”

The nanny put a bundle on her back, tried it, and picked up the other one, “These are not heavy; I can carry them both.”

Xiu Zhenniang didn’t say anything and walked out the door.

“Sister-in-law!” Lin was furious and quickly followed her out, “Are you trying to abandon us?”

Xiu Zhenniang, without turning her head, replied: “Whether I abandon you or not, we are both in dire straits. It’s better that we each look after ourselves.” She didn’t want anything to do with this sister-in-law of hers.

Instead of heeding her advice not to go to the county seat, she went anyway and took Jin Er with her. As a result, not only did she lose goods worth more than two hundred taels of silver, she lost all her money and valuables as well.

And now she wanted to depend on Xiu Zhenniang for their living, all six of them, three masters and three servants, and she acted as if it were the most reasonable thing. What a wishful thinking!

“You…” Lin got flustered and dropped her restraint. She ran up and grabbed Xiu Zhenniang’s arm, “Alright, let’s go together.”

The villagers obviously didn’t welcome them, and Lin was actually afraid to stay alone. When she saw her sister-in-law leaving, it was only natural for her to follow.

The flight a few days ago had scared the wits out of Lin. Now, meeting Xiu Zhenniang was like grabbing a lifeline in the rapids. She wouldn’t let go for anything.

A large group of refugees climbed up East Mountain. Jiang Sanlang led a group of young men to cut bamboo for. Old man Jiang stripped bamboo to make bows and arrows with a group of others.

Jiang Jiu took some money to the village to buy a lot of ropes for his uncle, brought a couple of large iron pots, and had his aunts cook for themselves.

Spring Girl exchanged the rice and wheat her family had brought for rice flour with Jiang Jiu. They made pancakes with the iron pot and boiled porridge with the other pot for their own family.

As for others, she couldn’t care less, because her family didn’t have much grain either.

Of course, they couldn’t neglect her little daughter’s two female teachers. They must give what they ought to.

The villagers of Chen Village, who had followed Jiang Sanlang to East Mountain, were quite content. Everyone was enthusiastically cutting bamboo and setting up bamboo sheds.

They were so familiar with this work that they quickly built bamboo sheds for their families that could shelter them from wind and rain.

They all settled in. The women even started collecting firewood spontaneously and piled it up next to the bamboo sheds.

The villagers who had lost their food did not complain either. The women took their children to look for edible wild vegetables and ground skins on the mountain.

Since it had rained a few days ago, there were especially many ground skins on the mountain. In no time, they found half a basketful to take back.

If they boiled some hemp leaves with ground skins, it could barely fill their stomachs.