An eight-year-old kid emptied his scumbag father's warehouse and followed his grandparents into

Saving money on such bad weather and travel is equivalent to giving up life.

Every family was aware of this. In order to prevent the elderly from suffering, Jing Yongjian and Jing Yongqiang both bought an ox cart. The two brothers Jing Changming and Jing Changdu used the little money they had borrowed from their families and gritted their teeth to spend five taels of silver to buy an underage donkey to pull the cart.

Although Chief Fang and the prisoners under County Magistrate Yan did not buy cattle and horses, they repaired and picked up carts and bought things to shelter from the wind and rain, so that they could go into battle lightly.

Jing Changsheng's family, led by Datou, also purchased an oxcart. Besides hauling tents, provisions, and other miscellaneous items, it also had room for the two younger sisters, though it wasn't too tight. Like a slacker, Jing Changsheng, taking advantage of his seniority, sat in the cart every day. Datou, the second, third, and fourth brothers either drove or joined in, or at worst, sat on the shaft. The two younger sisters, on the other hand, were tasked with cooking and collecting firewood, but never touched the cart.

It was late November when we reached Xiangtan. The journey was smooth and the pace was much faster. The place was no longer just covered with dead grass and trees, there was occasionally some greenery.

We thought the weather would be warmer the further south we went, but now it is so changeable that there is almost no day without rain. The rain in the south seems to be drizzling, but it is extremely bitingly cold. The closer to the mountains, sometimes the rain will be accompanied by thumb-sized hailstones that hit their heads, which is more uncomfortable than a snowy day.

Even with Jing Chunxi's medicine, the three seriously injured prisoners who were originally lying on the cart did not survive in the end. They died one after another from infection and repeated high fever, and could only be hastily buried on the road. One of them didn't even know where his hometown was. He died in a foreign land.

"Ahead is Baozhong Mountain. A guest who passed by today returned and said the road to the top of the mountain was completely frozen and impossible to walk on."

"It's raining so hard, and I don't know when it will stop. If it doesn't, are we going to keep waiting?"

"Then why don't you see if you can fly? If you insist on moving forward and can't go any further, you'll freeze to death if you stop in the wilderness."

We stayed at an inn called Xiangxiang at night, which is located in the Hengshan Mountains.

Jing Changning also borrowed a map from Scarface to study. He said that after crossing this mountain range and walking for a few days, they would reach Chenzhou County. Further ahead of Chenzhou was the border of Lingnan.

At this time, several officials had a dispute. Director Fang thought that they had wasted too much time on the road. If this continued, they might have to celebrate the New Year in Lingnan. The officials naturally didn't want that. They wanted to get home as soon as possible even if they had to celebrate the New Year on the way back.

He thought that the rainy weather in the south might continue, and the longer he stayed, the more time it would take to complete the task, so he insisted on moving forward.

However, Master Liu and County Magistrate Yan thought that it would not be too late for a few days. Everyone was very tired anyway, and some were even sick. They might as well take the opportunity to rest for two days and see what the weather would be like two days later before leaving. With enough rest, the prisoners would be able to walk faster.

Fang Zhushi was unwilling to do so, but he had to obey the majority and decided to stay in Xiangxiang for two days. The officials who followed him cursed and swore, extremely dissatisfied with the decision, but they could only complain, afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind, and did not dare to break away from the main group and move forward on their own.

"Mother, Mingxin and Mingrong came to invite us to go mushroom picking in the mountains. They heard from the maids in the kitchen that there are so many red mushrooms in the mountains in this weather that we can't pick them all."

Jing Chunxi slept in again. When he got up, Tang Shuang forced him to wipe his face with warm water. Then he heard his cousin Mingyue come in excitedly and tell Zhuang that they were going up the mountain.

"This weather..." Zhuang hesitated. Everyone in the family wore waterproof suede boots, but they were so expensive. It would be a shame to ruin them on the road, but there was nothing to be done about it. But wearing them up the mountain would be even worse.

Moreover, we were unfamiliar with the place and had no one from the village to guide us, so we didn't know if there was any danger on the mountain.

After spending a long time together, Jing Chunxi also knew that Jing Mingxin and Jing Mingrong were the two legitimate granddaughters of the old patriarch's family, one was thirteen years old and the other ten years old.

"Aunt, I want to go." This opportunity was so rare, and Jing Chunxi wanted to go out for a walk. Otherwise, he would probably be stuck in the bunk bed smelling the stinky feet for the next two days. It was really a post station in the mountains, and even if he paid more money, there was no other room to exchange.

Their family was relatively well taken care of. Scarface knew that there was not enough room, so he arranged for the whole family to sleep in the same large bunk bed as soon as they moved in.

But the remaining prisoners were mixed together. The families of Jing Yongqiang and Jing Yongjian were barely squeezed into one room; although the family of Jing Changming and Jing Changchang were extremely reluctant, they were also combined with the Datou family this time, and five or six prisoners from other teams also mixed in.

The old lady said: "It's too boring to stay at home. Let them go. Don't Dalang and his friends like to run outside all the time? Let them follow but don't run too far to avoid any danger.

If you can find something, pick it up. If you can’t find anything, come back. We don’t lack those few bites of food.”

The old lady saw that her granddaughter was eager to go out and refused to stay in bed even after hearing that she could go out. A rare light appeared in her eyes, and she could not bear to reject her interest. At most, she could let Dalang and others take care of her, and there was also Tangshuang following her.

Little Dumpling was sleeping soundly, but when he heard about the fun of mushroom picking, he jumped out of the quilt and said, "I want to go too! Qiaoqiao wants to go too!" He never forgot to bring his friends along wherever he went.

But as soon as her little head popped out, Aunt Zhao pushed it down and shouted at her: "No, don't even think about it. How old are you? How old are your brothers and sisters?"

The little girl rolled in the quilt and pretended to cry, but this time no one spoke for her or indulged her. Going up the mountain was different from playing on the roadside. Such a young child would be a burden, but no one could carry her.

Feeling embarrassed, the little girl angrily said, "If you don't let Qiaoqiao and I go, we'll go out and tread water."

Then she rolled around on the bed, babbling, holding her head and pretending to be in pain. She just wanted to go, so that she could run wild in the wild, pick red mushrooms, and maybe even wild fruits.

"You definitely can't go to the mountain. If you want to step on water, that's fine. But take off your shoes, socks, and clothes, and ask your aunt to change you into a pair of straw sandals. Then you can go out and play." Seeing that she was too noisy, Yin came over and slapped her on the butt a few times, but she didn't use any hard blows. She just wanted to scare her.

Such a young child might not be able to go up the mountain even if Aunt Zhao went with her to take care of him. Why should she suffer such hardship?

Qiaoqiao had gotten up early, dressed, and sat quietly on the edge of the bed, not making a fuss. These past two days, Lin had been teaching her to embroider handkerchiefs. She was so engrossed in the craft that she persisted even after getting a few holes in her hands. Unlike her younger sister, Xiaotuanzi, who was obsessed with embroidery and would run off to play after only a few stitches, never settling down.