In ancient times, I just wanted to be a salted fish

The victims were assigned to various towns and villages for resettlement. Some victims who had the means did not want to go to the countryside and bought houses and land in the city or the suburbs. Pingyang Prefecture had regained its former prosperity. There seemed to be more people in the prefecture than before, and the streets were more lively.

At noon on August 22, Mrs. Chen and her group were exhausted, driving their ox carts and horse carriages outside the city waiting for inspection to enter the city. Wang Biaotou took out everyone's household registration pass and showed it to the soldiers guarding the city gate for inspection, and explained that he was not a refugee, but came to seek refuge with a relative, and the person he sought refuge with was Chen Guchuan of Zhenpin Pavilion.

When the officers and soldiers heard that it was the famous Mr. Chen Si, they let him go.

Old Mrs. Chen was sweating, thinking she was not allowed to enter the city.

Two ox carts, three horse carriages, Old Lady Chen's family of four, and Wang Biaotou's family of more than ten people, all rushed towards Zhenpin Pavilion in a mighty procession.

Chen Ruotong was also worried these days, afraid that they would encounter danger on the road, or that there would be a riot among the refugees, which would affect them. She estimated that they should arrive in the next two days, so she stood under the willow tree next to Zhenpin Pavilion and looked towards the south street. Because the business in the store was relatively good these two days, the north gate had been opened, and the team of shopkeeper He could come into the city to shop. Zhang Yishun was receiving shopkeeper He in the store, so Chen Ruotong took a break from her busy schedule to watch the convoy outside.

She saw the oxcart, the horsecart, and the dusty people in the carts from afar, and immediately guessed that they were people from her hometown. So she ran over immediately. She saw Old Lady Chen sitting in front of the oxcart, looking at her with tears in her eyes, so she jumped on the oxcart and hugged Old Lady Chen: "Thank God, you finally arrived safely, grandma, I was so worried!"

Old Mrs. Chen patted Chen Ruotong on the back and said with a sob, "My grandson misses me so much. Let's go home and talk about it!"

Chen Ruotong took everyone to the Chen residence, drove the oxcart and horse carriage to the stable in the west courtyard, and unloaded everyone's packages. Then, she immediately asked Qi Si to drive the carriage to Baiweilou to order three tables of banquets to welcome everyone. Old Chen was so excited to see Old Lady Chen that he couldn't speak. Chen Jianshu and Zhang looked at the big house and didn't know what to say. Chen Dahai was so excited that he kept wiping tears.

After everyone showered and changed their clothes, they went to the dining hall to eat. Everyone had basically been eating dry food along the way, so how could they have such a sumptuous meal? So everyone didn't care about their image and started eating.

Old man Chen looked at Chen Jianshu and Chen Dahai eating voraciously, and felt sad: How hungry must they be? My wife, eldest son, and eldest grandson are all tanned and thin, just like refugees fleeing from war! He couldn't eat anymore.

Chen Ruotong also felt uncomfortable watching this. Her stepfather had suffered a lot along the way. Her stepmother, who usually loved beauty, had her face tanned two degrees and no longer paid attention to her eating manners.

After dinner, everyone drank tea in the main hall and talked about what happened along the way.

Old lady Chen was tired and didn't stay in the main hall with everyone. Chen Ruotong helped Old lady Chen to her room to sleep, and Old lady Chen fell asleep in seconds when she lay on the bed. She told Chunhua to stay with the old lady, and then went to the main hall to chat with everyone.

Chen Jianshu and Wang Biaotou, one tells the story vividly and the other adds timely comments. The story is quite thrilling.

It turned out that when Old Lady Chen and her two companions drove two ox carts into Qingyang Prefecture, the gates of Qingyang Prefecture were closed and no more victims were allowed to enter. If they had left half an hour later, they would not have been able to come. The victims who entered the city had no food or drink and could only steal and rob, causing riots. Old Lady Chen and her four companions hid in the courtyard of Wang Biaotou's escort agency, not daring to move. They stayed in the escort agency for three days and three nights before they heard that the riot was quelled and many people had died. Then, the government expelled the refugees in the city to the north, so they followed the refugees out of the north city and ran towards Anyang Prefecture.

To get to Anyang Prefecture, one must pass through Hengjiang River. They encountered difficulties when crossing the river. There were no cargo ships, so they could not cross the river. So they delayed for another day. When a cargo ship appeared, the boatman slaughtered them and asked for a total of 200 taels for both the people and the car. There was no choice but to pay the money to cross the river. However, crossing the river was not safe, and they encountered robbers on the road. Thanks to Wang Biaotou and his men who knew kung fu, they protected everyone, but some food was robbed by the robbers. Fortunately, the silver and money were carried close to them and were not robbed. However, Chen Ruotong's package of clothes and jewelry was robbed. Da Huang was particularly brave. He chased after him, bit the robber, and took the package back. Fortunately, it was not robbed, otherwise Mrs. Chen would be heartbroken, because these were her eldest granddaughter's favorite jewelry and clothes!

Later, they arrived safely at Anyang Prefecture. At first, they were not allowed to enter Anyang Prefecture, so they waited outside the city for two days. Finally, they heard that Anyang Prefecture had begun to resettle the victims, so they entered the city. They stopped and walked along the way, and finally arrived at Pingyang Prefecture. Chen Ruotong heard it as a story, but only those who experienced it personally knew how thrilling it was and how close they were to losing their lives.

Zhang relived the thrilling experience and cried quietly. Alas! This crying cheap mother, Chen Ruotong quietly pulled her sleeve and called her out of the house.

"Mom, don't cry. Xiao Si will show you our big house. It's much better than the house in my hometown, right?"

Zhang looked at the peach trees around the courtyard, which had already borne fruit and were growing very lushly. There were stone tables and stone benches under the trees, and flowers blooming on both sides of the corridor, exuding fragrance. She was delighted again, and went into every room to visit, and then went to every room in the backyard, even the kitchen, the woodshed, and the west side yard, and smiled from ear to ear. She held Chen Ruotong's hand and said, "Little Si'er, you are blessed. Our big house is really magnificent. Will I live here in the future?"

"Yes, mother, our family will live here and will not go back to our hometown. Tomorrow I will take everyone to buy clothes, and then show you our Zhenpin Pavilion and Huicui Building. There are so many jewelry in Huicui Building. We can take whatever you like, okay?"

Zhang smiled and nodded, saying, "Thanks to Xiao Si, mother is happy. I will enjoy my life here and won't go back!"

"When the time comes, let's go to the farm together. The big house there is better than ours. I'm sure you will like it!"

At this time, Old Mrs. Chen woke up and strolled to the backyard. Looking at the big house, she kept saying, "Great, great, great! I am old now, and I can finally enjoy the blessing of my grandchildren! Now that the family is finally reunited, it's great!"

Because the house had limited rooms, Wang Biaotou and his family had to live in the farm. So Old Man Chen and Chen Jianshu led Wang Biaotou to the farm.

Before coming to Pingyang City, the family had discussed and said that Chen Jianshu had four sons and one daughter, and the youngest daughter was already married. Chen Ruotong was their grandson - Chen Sichuan, also known as Chen Guchuan. Among the outsiders, only Wang Biaotou knew about this, and he would only keep it secret and would not say a word. Therefore, Chen Ruotong lived in Pingyang City as a man.