In the years of famine, the knife in my mother's hand is not bad either

Shen Qian looked up at the woman who came over to ask for water and shook her head to refuse.

The woman became anxious when she saw this:

"No, Wang Shenshi!"

"You gave water to the first few people who came to get it, why don't you give it to me?"

"Although we don't communicate much in the village, we've never argued before, right? Why are you targeting an old woman like me?"

Facing the woman's aggressiveness.

Shen Qian frowned.

Especially her stimulating words immediately attracted the attention of all the tribesmen around her.

"You want the reason, right, Ergou's mother?" Shen Qian saw that she took the initiative to provoke the dispute and did not intend to back down. Otherwise, the tribe members would think that she was a soft persimmon, and anyone could come and bully her, right?

"Yes!" Ergou's mother nodded heavily, without showing any fear in her demeanor.

"Okay, then let me tell you why I gave them water but not you!" Shen Qian nodded, not intending to give her any face at all:

"First, there are the Wang Xingwang and Wang Yuanbao families. Since their migration, they have been rationing their water. Even if they choke, they dare not waste a single sip. This is witnessed by everyone in the tribe."

"Secondly, neither of them has ever come to me to ask for water!"

“That’s why I give them water!”

"As for Wang Yan, his father is an elder in the clan, but he gave up his seat on the ox cart to the younger children. During the several days of migration south, he never rode in the ox cart once. Wang Yan carried his father on his back several times when he was almost left behind. If he needs water the second time, I have enough money, so I will give it to him!"

That’s where the conversation ends.

Shen Qian paused and glanced at Ergou's mother.

His eyes were full of contempt and disdain:

"As for you, your Ergou asked me for water five days ago, and again from my little daughter Xiaoqi three days ago. And yesterday, you came in person to ask for it. I gave you a full bottle of water each time. Is there anyone in our clan who has asked for water more often than you?"

The question came from the depths of their souls, causing the villagers who had stopped to rest in the village to point fingers at Ergou's mother:

"I say, Ergou's mother, one should not be greedy!"

"This waterwheel belongs to Wang Shenshi. If she's willing to give you the water, it's a favor. If she's not willing, it's hers. Why do you ask her to give it to you?"

"Four times in five days? How do you take water for baths? My family has nine people, and we haven't asked Wang Shenshi for water once. Your family has only four people, so why do you need water five times?"

"That's right! I saw this old woman using water to wash her one-month-old grandson's butt last night!"

"..."

When Ergou's mother mentioned the matter of her washing the buttocks of her one-month-old grandson, she suddenly panicked!

He hurriedly explained:

"No! I didn't!"

"How could I waste precious water to wash my child's butt!"

"Stop quibbling. Wang Yan and my husband saw it yesterday, but the villagers didn't want to say anything about you. Today you happened to be making trouble, so let Wang Yan be a witness!" The woman who pointed out that Ergou's mother used precious water to wash the child's buttocks suddenly jumped out and exposed Ergou's mother.

For a moment, Ergou's mother lowered her head.

Like a defeated hen.

He walked back to his place dejectedly, holding the water jar.

Shen Qian looked at everyone in the village and reminded:

"The water in the waterwheel is also empty."

"I may need to keep it for my own use later, so I can't support everyone for now. I hope you can understand!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone expressed their understanding.

After another quarter of an hour of adjustment, more than a thousand people in Wangjia Village set out on the journey south again.

Daliang's northern border is vast, and it has only traveled one-fifteenth of the route before migrating south across the river. There is still a long way to go.

Moreover, Shen Qian knew that now that the northern border had been breached, and coupled with the fact that there was no grain tax to be paid during the autumn harvest, a large number of refugees would pour out from the counties.

After several days of traveling, Shen Qian didn't pretend and sat down directly on the waterwheel of her own ox cart.

After all, empty barrels can be stacked up, and you can take a nap and rest in the large space left by the empty barrels, which will give you more energy when encountering emergencies.

After walking for a while, Xiao Qi also climbed behind the waterwheel, looked at his mother and whispered:

"Mom!"

"Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother seem to be talking about selling water?"

"Huh?" Shen Qian was stunned when she heard Xiao Qi's report!

Compared to her previous life, my little daughter’s temperament is not clear, but she really talks a lot!

Especially to herself, even though every time she opened her mouth she complained to the fourth, fifth, and sixth brothers...

"I saw my fifth brother secretly fill a can of water and hide it in the bed of the bullock cart in front of us, covering it with clothes."

"I guess he wants to trade at night." Seeing his mother's response, Xiao Qi quickly told her what he saw.

"I understand." Shen Qian responded lightly.

A barely perceptible smile appeared on Xiaoqi's face as he lowered his head.

Another three hours of travel.

In September, a light white mist rises in the air.

Before they knew it, the entire large team was enveloped in this light white mist.

By the time everyone noticed, the fog had become thicker.

In the previous life, the migration to the south did pass through here.

But by then everyone was numb from the dead and exhaustion.

In this life, because of the early migration, everyone has made sufficient preparations, so their state of mind is very different from the previous life when they were forced to flee famine.

"The fog is getting thicker. Could it be a ghost?"

"Don't talk nonsense! One or two people encountering a ghost is understandable, but what kind of ghost could possibly cause us to encounter more than a thousand people in our village?"

"But this fog is getting thicker and thicker. It sticks to my body and makes me feel damp."

"Village Chief, do you know what this is?"

During the conversation, the villagers turned their attention to the village chief.

But the village chief shook his head repeatedly:

"I do not know either."

"I just opened my mouth and licked my lips, and they felt a little salty."

"Have we arrived at the salt lake?" Suddenly, a woman's voice sounded. Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and found that it was Wang Shenshi!

"I heard a rumor in town when I was a kid."

"On the border of Beiyun County, there is a huge salt lake. The salt inside is inedible, the water is not drinkable, and it is covered by fog all year round in summer."

"Perhaps the place we are walking towards now is the salt lake?"

As soon as she finished speaking, there were exclamations from everyone!

Of course, this rumor was just an introduction.

She passed by here in her previous life and heard it from the refugees over there after she left here.

"Salt Lake? I seem to have heard of it!"

"It's really amazing, but I've also heard that when you go deep into the salt lake, the fog is so thick that you can't see anything beyond five meters, and it seems like you'll get lost?" Another villager stood up and brought up the idea.

As soon as he said this, Shen Qian knew that he had really heard the rumors about the salt lake!

But it was this sentence that made the already noisy crowd even more chaotic!