Rebirth of an Old Farmer: Escape from Famine with Children and Grandchildren

She felt that she absolutely could not stay here any longer.

If we stay here and wait until the food is completely exhausted, people's worst nature will be completely exposed, and the consequences will be unimaginable.

She was unwilling to risk the lives of her entire family.

Seeing her mother's serious expression, Xue Nizi asked cautiously, "Mom, we didn't do anything too strenuous today. How about we skip dinner? A meal saved is a meal saved."

Bai Xiuqin said firmly, "How can that be? We must eat dinner, and eat a full one. We still have a lot of work to do tomorrow. How can we have the energy to work without a good meal?"

Two large iron pots were filled with thin paste.

Of course, the three families of Zhang Deshui, Xue Laohu and Zhu Yousheng added some dried vegetables as seasoning to their porridge.

This way, not only will the food taste a little better, but more importantly, they will feel embarrassed to keep eating other people's food.

After all, Bai Xiuqin is a widow and has children to raise at home. It is not appropriate to always let others spend money.

Late at night, there was a sudden smell of burning. Somehow, flames started coming out of Bai Xiuqin's shed, and the fire started spreading from where she slept.

Bai Xiuqin immediately sensed the danger, quickly sat up from the bed, and immediately shouted loudly: "Fire! Fire!"

Her shout quickly woke up the other villagers living nearby. Everyone quickly got up to check the situation and found that half of the straw hut was engulfed in billowing smoke and flames.

Faced with this sudden fire, Bai Xiuqin immediately began to pack important items that could be carried with her, and urged her family and others to escape as quickly as possible, because the shed was now filled with thick smoke that was difficult to breathe.

After careful observation, she found that a hole had been dug in the place where the grain was stored, and from the dragging marks left on the ground, it could be seen that a thief had taken the opportunity to take some things away.

However, there was no time to consider so many details at this time. Even if the stolen items were some worthless gadgets or farm tools, we had to wait until the fire was over before making any plans.

However, even in the rain, the rain only slightly slowed the spread of the fire; the flammable dry grass was still very easy to ignite.

Soon after Bai Xiuqin's residence caught fire, the houses of several nearby households, such as Goudan and butcher Su Dazhong, also began to catch fire one after another, and soon the fire spread like wildfire.

In a panic, Su Mingjiang shouted to the snow leopard to help lead the livestock out (they had previously built simple sheds to provide shelter for mules and donkeys, fearing that the livestock would get wet and sick in the rain). At the same time, each household was racing against time to rescue their own property.

In less than half an hour, all the temporary residences in Sujia Village were reduced to ashes in the raging fire.

The villagers could only stand shivering in the heavy rain, holding tightly to the few belongings they had rescued. Many women and children couldn't help crying, complaining about their unfair fate. Not only did they have to endure hunger and thirst, but they also had to suffer such misfortune on the way to escape.

Amidst this chaotic scene, Su Yanyan jumped out again and loudly questioned, "I think this fire must have been caused by Bai Xiuqin's family's carelessness! She must have forgotten to completely extinguish the sparks in the stove while making dinner yesterday, which led to such a serious situation! She should bear the corresponding responsibility for our losses!"

The people around who didn't know the truth all looked at Bai Xiuqin strangely.

Some people had curiosity written all over their faces, while others were filled with doubts, as if they were all wondering what the woman in front of them was up to.

Bai Xiuqin laughed secretly in her heart, but on the surface she pretended to be very serious and said, "Are you blind? You really think we started the fire ourselves. I thought it was you and that troublemaker who did it."

As soon as she said this, a whisper broke out in the crowd, and everyone was discussing who this "mysterious" arsonist was.

She looked around and said, "Something's missing from our house now," she paused for a moment, emphasizing, "and the person who stole it must be the guy who set the fire. I've marked our belongings. Anyone who takes anything from our house will have their hands turn purple. Come on, don't hide, show me your hands."

Bai Xiuqin's eyes quickly swept through the crowd and inadvertently discovered two grown men quietly hiding their hands behind their backs. This made her roughly understand the whole story.

She also noticed that Su Dongyue was unusually active, running here and there, sometimes whispering secret words to one family, and sometimes running to another family and whispering something. All these behaviors made Bai Xiuqin more wary of her.

"Tell me again why you set fire to our house?"

Bai Xiuqin raised her voice and shouted, "If you continue to wander around with us in the future, I will never allow this to happen. Let's just stay out of each other's way."

She added, "When daybreak arrives, our family will build a makeshift bridge to cross the floodwaters ahead and continue on our way east. I will never take unreliable people like you with me."

These words made many people who had originally planned to follow them to escape feel a chill in their hearts.

As expected, after waiting for a while, two sturdy men came out of the crowd carrying things. They carefully placed the items in front of Lin Dan, then bowed their heads and apologized, saying, "I'm so sorry. It was all because of our impulsiveness that we did this. I heard from that little girl named Su Dongyue that your family has a large store of refined white flour and high-quality rice. We were confused for a moment and wanted to take some back to fill our own stomachs. We have elderly parents who need to be taken care of, and young children who are crying for food..."

Upon hearing this, the elderly people who were watching nearby immediately came forward in anger to scold the two daring little thieves, severely criticizing how unethical their despicable behavior was; then they quickly turned to face Bai Xiuqin, repeatedly apologizing and begging her to be magnanimous and forgive these two misguided juniors.

Faced with this situation, Bai Xiuqin did not respond immediately. Instead, she fixed her gaze on Gu Yuli in the distance, and then loudly questioned in an unquestionable tone: "Gu Yuli, come here immediately! Were you the one who secretly instigated others to do these shameful things?"

The sudden accusation made Su Dongyue shudder.