Divorced woman with child travels through time

As night fell in Wangjiazhuang, Wang Youtian looked at his dark-skinned and thin son with great heartache. He took four warm boiled eggs from the pot and stuffed them into his son's hand, saying, "Eat something to tide you over. Look how thin you are! Your employer must not be providing you with good food. I told you to quit your job last time, and I asked Uncle Youcai to put in a good word for you, to let you work at Chen's restaurant, but you didn't want to go. The food there is much better."

Looking at the few eggs in his hand and the leftover cabbage in the pot and plate, Wang Jinzhu felt a pang of sadness. He put the eggs aside and peeled them as he said, "I know. Give me a few more months. I'll go home at the end of the year, and next year I'll go to Chen's. I'll have learned enough and be ready to graduate soon. I can't give up halfway."

As he spoke, he stuffed the peeled egg directly into Wang Youtian's mouth. Wang Youtian hurriedly tried to stop him with his hand, "Hey, I don't want to eat it! You eat it!" But it was too late. His mouth had already touched the egg, and Wang Jinzhu kept stuffing it into his mouth without saying a word. He had no choice but to take it and eat it, but he couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth no matter what he did.

Wang Jinzhu continued peeling eggs, saying, "You eat yours, I still have some. We'll each have two. I look thin, but I'm actually quite strong. If you don't eat, I won't either."

"Alright..." Wang Youtian had no choice but to take the other peeled egg from his son's hand, feeling quite pleased with himself. Since his son became an apprentice, he had become much more sensible, though he was too thin. His son had always been stubborn, and he couldn't force him. The father and son depended on each other for survival. Fortunately, the in-laws still accepted the marriage. His son would be getting married at this time tomorrow. Wang Youtian was very gratified, feeling that his hardships had finally come to an end.

The father and son silently finished their eggs, then squeezed onto the bed, lying down fully clothed, with the kitchen knife close to their bodies. They dared not sleep, both straining their ears to listen to the sounds outside. Wang Youtian's house was in the middle of the village, surrounded by neighbors on both sides, so no officials stayed at his house.

The situation was different at Zhuan Tou's house. Zhuan Tou was taking care of his blind mother. He made a makeshift bed on the floor, tightened his grip on the kitchen knife, glanced at the nearly full room of soldiers around him, loosened his grip, and thought to himself, "With so many people, what am I afraid of?"

Zhuan Tou's family had originally migrated from elsewhere. Because their clan was also surnamed Wang, the people of Wangjia Village didn't object to them much. They were allowed to build a house on the edge of the village and buy a piece of abandoned farmland to live on. Therefore, Zhuan Tou's family was the furthest from Wangjia Village and the closest to the mountains. Basically, if bandits robbed them, they would be the first to be attacked, with nowhere to hide. Xu Tixia and other long-serving officials naturally knew this, so they specially arranged for many people to be sent to Zhuan Tou's house. Zhuan Tou's family consisted of only an old woman, and the house was spacious. With few people and little furniture, it was even easier to hide people. In a single-entrance courtyard, there were more than ten people squatting. Zhuan Tou wanted to go to the outhouse, but it was not convenient to go in and out, so he had to hold it in. After waiting for a long time, Zhuan Tou felt that he was about to fall asleep when he suddenly heard a soldier lying on the ground with his ear to his side exclaim, "They're here!"

The brick jolted, instantly becoming alert.

Deep in the Great Medicine Mountain, Li Xiangqian, the second-in-command of Yunlei Mountain, led a hundred or so men, along with Zhang Tianming, the third-in-command, and Liu Yizhi, the fourth-in-command, to rush towards Wangjiazhuang. The path was very narrow, only wide enough for one person and one horse to pass through. In addition, the grass was thick and the forest was dense, so the journey was very difficult.

"Damn it, if it weren't for the money, I wouldn't want to get involved in this mess. They don't even bother to fix the road properly." Chao Tianying cursed angrily, his ugly scars twitching.

"Second Brother, think about those five thousand taels of silver. After it's done, there'll be another five thousand, which adds up to ten thousand taels," Liu Yizhi gently advised. The one-armed tiger beside him didn't say a word; he was just older, but in reality, he always put Liu Yizhi first.

“Yi Zhi is right.” Chao Tianying was particularly susceptible to his words and lowered his voice. “It’s just that this road is too narrow and we’re moving too slowly. By the time we get there, it will be daylight, and it will be difficult to move around.”

“Brother, don’t panic. If you go another five miles, there’s a small path on the right. It’s not far down the main road. If you take the main road, it will take you to Wangjiazhuang in a little over an hour.” Liu Yizhi said confidently.

Chaotianying was overjoyed. "Yizhi, it's my blessing to have you." As he spoke, he couldn't help but pat his shoulder with his greasy hand, and as he pulled his hand back down, he pretended to accidentally touch his hand.

Liu Yizhi suppressed his nausea and pretended not to see it, even speaking softly and smilingly, "Brother, let's hurry up and get on our way..."

The one-armed tiger beside him glanced coldly at the Sky-Soaring Eagle, as if looking at a dead man...

"Alright, let's hurry..." Chaotianying secretly chuckled and cracked his whip, quickening his pace. This fourth brother is really handsome; he actually got close to him today, it must be because he behaved well. Look, Yizhi was happy to hear that he killed the eldest brother, and he even smiled at him. He has to work hard to steal more money and win Yizhi's favor...

Following Liu Yizhi's instructions, the group quickly crossed the small path, got onto the main road, and rushed towards Wangjiazhuang.

Upon seeing this, the three-man group panicked. "Brother Erniu, what do we do now?" They didn't have horses and couldn't keep up with the bandits.

Wang Erniu said coldly, "No rush, I guess where they're going. They'll probably take the main road and then detour through the back mountain, like the path we usually take to get to town."

Lü Xiong said, "We don't have horses and can't keep up. How are we going to notify the brothers in Wangjiazhuang?"

Wang Erniu laughed, "Your brother has a backup plan!" He took a few steps forward and, after confirming that the bandits had all gone onto the official road and could no longer see them, Wang Erniu climbed a big tree, took out a firecracker with a purple cloth strip tied to it from his backpack, lit it, and with a "biu" sound, a purple flame suddenly lit up the sky, like a shooting star streaking across the sky.

Wang Hanyang, who, like Wang Erniu, loved to hide in trees, immediately spotted them. He also fired a purple-marked rocket into the sky and notified Magistrate Ouyang and the others. Commander Xu quickly made adjustments, burying some of his men in the woods on both sides of the path.

Seeing that someone from Wangjiazhuang had responded, Wang Erniu said, "Alright, let's hurry on our way. After this is done, we should thank that young man who makes firecrackers properly. That young man has a bright future..." Wang Erniu said meaningfully, but he would still have to get his wife involved later.

Chao Tianying and his companions were blocked by Da Yao Mountain, unaware of this, and continued on their way. Soon they reached the entrance to the small path, and the group rode their horses onto the path, which was now two horses running side by side. Fortunately, the path was easy to travel and there were no weeds...

After the group had traveled more than halfway, Chaotianying suddenly became serious and waved his hand to stop the group. Liu Yizhi asked, "Brother, is something wrong?"

The eagle, always unconsciously gentle with him, explained softly, "When my brother and I go to help others, we're afraid of being ambushed. My brother said that if there are no birds chirping, it might be a trap." He then asked those around him, "Have you heard any birds chirping? Or seen any birds?"