Wow, this rough-around-the-edges pregnant wife is something else, she's incredibly ruthless!

The boy noticed Meng Tong's confusion, and after thinking for a moment, he finally revealed some inside information that he knew.

It turns out that half a month ago, a massive wave of refugees began to flee north from the south.

Since the beginning of the year, the temperature in the Great Wei Kingdom has been rising again and again without a single drop of rain. The land is parched and cracked, and crops simply cannot grow. The people have no choice but to go up the mountain to dig for wild vegetables and eat tree bark, but this is not a long-term solution.

I heard that the drought in the southernmost part of the country has reached a point where it is no longer habitable, and many people have no choice but to flee north to escape the famine.

At first, it was just a small group of refugees, but about half a month ago, a large-scale exodus began.

Laoshan Town is located beside the official road leading north, and Pingkou Village is the only way to enter Laoshan Town.

This is like a giant gourd, and Pingkou Village is the mouth of the gourd. Once the refugees come in from Pingkou Village, the people inside have no choice but to go into the deep mountains. But everyone knows how dangerous the deep mountains are.

The best course of action now is to leave before the refugees arrive.

This is why the wealthy people in the town began to leave one after another. Of course, another reason is that Laoshan Town also began to experience drought.

It's like waiting until you can't survive anymore before leaving. You might as well leave now and find a better place in the north.

Meng Tong hadn't expected it to be for this reason. She smiled at the boy and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

The boy shook his head. His sunken eyes were exceptionally bright and clear, possessing a strong vitality that touched Meng Tong. She looked at the little girl in his arms and asked, "Is this your sister?"

"Ah."

"What's up with her?"

As he spoke, Meng Tong looked at the little girl wrapped in tattered clothes in the boy's arms.

He was thin and small, with a pale face, covered in sweat and tiny red spots. If you pulled up any arm and lifted the sleeve, you could see many small red spots on it.

This is clearly because the hot weather caused sweating, which irritated the skin and caused eczema.

Looking at her, who was wrapped up tightly, Meng Tong felt dizzy.

She'd either die from the heat or be suffocated by her brother.

People don't get cold just because they're sick!

Taking a deep breath, Meng Tong said, "Take off all the things wrapped around her, go back and wipe her body with warm water, keep her body dry and she'll get better slowly."

"This is not contagious..."

The boy asked cautiously.

He was wrapped up so tightly because he was afraid people would find out what infectious disease it was, but fortunately it wasn't.

A glint flashed in the boy's eyes, and then he took off the tattered clothes wrapped around the little girl.

The little girl, who looked as if she had just been pulled out of the water, had a comfortable expression on her face, and her eyes were full of gratitude as she looked at Meng Tong.

The boy carried his younger sister home, and Meng Tong also returned to Lu Chuan and his two children.

Lu He and Lu Yan had already fallen asleep in Lu Chuan's arms. Their little faces, which had been resting for several days, were now much rosier, but their foreheads were covered in sweat due to the hot weather.

Lu Chuan was fanning them with the leaves in his hand.

Putting everything else aside, this father is quite competent.

Seeing Meng Tong walk over, Lu Chuan looked up and said, "Wife, you've worked hard."

Then he patted the shady spot beside him.

Although it was a shady spot, the wind blowing in was still unbearably hot.

It seems this drought is really serious.

However, Meng Tong considered it all a piece of cake, as she had experienced things several times more difficult than this.

Sitting down next to Lu Chuan, Meng Tong picked up a leaf from the ground and slowly fanned herself. Looking at the increasingly deserted street, Meng Tong turned to Lu Chuan and asked, "If the villagers were to flee famine in the future, would you go with them?"

Lu Chuan didn't understand why Meng Tong suddenly asked such a question, but he replied without hesitation, "As long as my wife is here, I am here."

He meant that wherever Meng Tong went, he would go too.

That's good; she's satisfied with the result.

Ever since he learned that refugees were heading north to escape famine, Meng Tong knew that the same day was not far off for the village.

Driven by herd mentality and wishful thinking, they will definitely follow suit and head north.

On the contrary, Meng Tong did not want to go along.

The journey of fleeing famine is not easy; one must not only consider food along the way but also be constantly vigilant about personal safety.

It's a miracle she made it to her destination alive; someone like her, who must have been a bad person in her past life, is bound to encounter a lot of unpleasant things.

She might as well not go!

With such a large mountain behind him, Meng Tong refused to believe that he couldn't support the four of them—no, the five.

Furthermore, if things improve in the future, she can go down the mountain and take over the entire town. Then she won't have to dream of being a landlord anymore; it will become a reality.

The more Meng Tong thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. However, the most important thing now was to heal Lu Chuan's leg.

Waking up the sleeping Lu He and Lu Yan, Meng Tong looked at Lu Chuan and said, "I once accidentally learned of a prescription for treating legs, which I heard was very effective. But this shop is closed now. Why don't I go back and go up the mountain to find the medicine for you to try?"

Lu Chuan nodded in agreement without hesitation, his eyes filled with trust in Meng Tong.

Hmm... being a little silly is good.

She didn't even need to bother finding a reason.

……

Pingkou Village.

The peace and tranquility of the past are gone, and every household is in a state of extreme tension.

This morning, they were attacked by a group of refugees.

What kind of people were they?

Being slovenly was considered a good thing; they were like ravenous wolves from the mountains, devoid of any kindness in their eyes, wielding machetes indiscriminately regardless of age or gender. Even after killing, their faces revealed a mixture of craving and a twisted sense of satisfaction.

Meng family.

Mencius' mother was terrified. Gone was her usual arrogance. Looking at her eldest son, who had been slashed by the refugees, she cried as if her own mother had died.

"My son! How could you be so miserable? How could those heartless bastards do such a thing!"

"I will definitely skin them alive..."

Hearing Meng's mother's wailing, Meng's eldest brother, who was already annoyed, became even more furious. He glared at Meng's mother and then turned to his wife, who looked like a quail.

"You damned woman, won't you come and help me? So you can go out and have fun now that your husband's dead, huh?!"

"I, I didn't."

"You're all right, you heartless woman, you want to be promiscuous..."

"Mother, stop hitting my sister-in-law." The second son of the Meng family, who had been silent all along, spoke up. His fierce eyes were filled with impatience as he said, "Instead of wasting time, we should hurry up and find a way to raise the twenty taels of silver to leave the village. That way, we can catch up with the other villagers. Otherwise, if our family tries to escape the famine, we won't even make it a mile before we're all gone."

"But where are we going to get this money? Most of the villagers have left, and we don't have any money either..."

Suddenly, a person flashed through Meng's mother's mind: her daughter Meng Dani, whom she had sold into Duanshan Village.

I heard that her mentally challenged husband is a good hunter, so he must have saved up a lot of money over the years.