After transmigrating, he supported his family by working at a garbage dump.

In the dead of winter, amidst raging winds and snow, in a dilapidated thatched hut, a sallow-faced, emaciated woman held her youngest child in her arms, and tightened a thin, tattered quilt around another child.

The group huddled together in a corner against the wall, embracing each other for warmth in the faint firelight flickering in the wind.

Through the drafty window, the woman looked out anxiously; there was no sign of anyone outside the dilapidated fence gate.

Three-year-old Xu Zhuzhu huddled in Zhang He's arms. The biting wind made her shiver uncontrollably, and the acid in her stomach kept churning. Xu Zhuzhu burrowed into Zhang He's arms in discomfort.

The frigid weather made Xu Zhuzhu curse the ancient heavens hundreds of times.

Noticing this, Zhang He hugged Xu Zhuzhu tightly.

"Good girl, Zhuzhu, it won't be cold when your daddy comes back."

Five-year-old Xu An poked his head out from under the covers and asked Zhang He, "Mommy, when will Daddy come back? I'm so hungry..."

The family hadn't eaten for three days, and now they were not only cold but also extremely hungry.

Looking out the window at the bleak, snowy landscape, Zhang He could only comfort her, "It'll be over soon, it'll be over soon! Just bear with it a little longer."

Xu Zhuzhu was also hungry. She could only drink hot water to fill her stomach. She was a child and was now too weak to speak. She was in a daze.

Looking at the two children in her arms, Zhang He felt a pang of sorrow. If the Tartars hadn't taken advantage of the winter to march south, they wouldn't have been forced to flee south, enduring a life of hardship and displacement. They had run out of food and their savings, leaving them with only this tattered quilt and a few ragged clothes.

After a long and bumpy journey, they finally arrived at this village. According to her husband, he has a distant cousin here who might be able to help them out. However, it was late and snowing, so they found a place to stay temporarily.

Just then, the fence gate outside the yard creaked open.

Holding a flickering torch, Xu Wenjie pushed open the door that was barely standing. In the firelight, his ears were red from the cold, and his hands and feet moved slowly and stiffly, clearly indicating that he had been frostbitten.

"Father!" Xu An's head, which had been hidden under the covers, peeked out again.

Xu Wenjie walked quickly to the fire, brushed the snowflakes off his clothes, and then asked his wife and children with concern:

"He Niang! Are you alright?"

Zhang He shook her head: "It's freezing cold, and everyone's staying indoors. What could possibly happen?"

Seeing that the mother and her two daughters were in good condition, Xu Wenjie was relieved and quickly took out two coarse grain steamed buns from his pocket.

"These are two steamed buns that I begged from the village head. You and the children should eat them quickly!"

Zhang He asked in confusion, "During the day, I didn't think the village head's family was wealthy, so why are they being so kind?"

I took the steamed bun, but it was frozen solid and I couldn't bite into it. I could only put it in the pot and stew it with snow water.

“No wonder he’s the village head; he’s kind and popular,” Xu Wenjie chimed in.

Zhang He nodded, and taking this opportunity, she asked Xu Wenjie how he was doing.

Xu Wenjie hesitated for a moment, then sighed and said helplessly, "...My cousin's family has long since fallen on hard times. They even sold their ancestral home, and now there are no descendants to be found. They've been lost to us for ages..."

"How could that be? Perhaps they were too far away and the village head couldn't hear clearly, or he got confused?"

Zhang He covered her mouth in surprise, still asking in disbelief.

Xu Wenjie flipped the steamed bun over, but it hadn't softened yet. The firelight was being flickered by the wind, and its momentum had weakened. So he added two more pieces of firewood.

"The Liang family of Tingzhou, that's right. They used to be a famous landlord in this area, but a few years ago, for some reason, they suddenly went bankrupt."

Xu Wenjie lowered his head, his eyes dark and unsettled, and Zhang He knew that her husband must be feeling terrible.

The Xu family had a prosperous history. They were once famous local gentry in Dingning County, Qingzhou Prefecture in the north. Although they did not enter officialdom, they produced many scholars and literati. Xiu Huai, one of the three disciples of the Crown Prince's tutor in the previous dynasty, was born into the Xu family of Dingning.

However, the Xu family has fallen into decline, the collateral branches have scattered, and there is no one left in the clan. Xu Wenjie, as the only bloodline of the direct line, can only make a living by selling calligraphy and paintings and writing documents. He is poor and destitute, and even though he has a wealth of knowledge, he has nowhere to use it.

If we go back three generations, who wouldn't know the Xu family of Dingning? But now, who still remembers their thatched cottages and tiled houses?

Her father was a scholar in his forties who had only one daughter. He admired Xu Wenjie's talent and, on his deathbed, only asked for two boxes of old books left by the Xu family before betrothing her to Xu Wenjie, along with a substantial dowry...

Due to her family's poverty, Xu Wenjie was still only a student in her early twenties. After she married into the family, their lives improved, and Xu Wenjie began to aspire to take the imperial examinations. However, just after passing the preliminary examination, her mother-in-law passed away, and she had to wait another three years to participate in the provincial examination. Coincidentally, just three years later, the Tartars invaded from the south again...

Her husband had no choice but to take her south to seek refuge with a cousin, but now, the Liang family has also vanished without a trace...

Zhang He looked at Xu Wenjie's gloomy face. Although she knew her husband was upset, she still had to ask, "Shall we still go?"

Xu Zhuzhu shifted in her arms, and Xu An, who was huddled under the covers peeking out at the steamed buns in the pot, was also there. Both children were so thin they looked unrecognizable, and Zhang He was filled with worry.

Although the two children were not spoiled, they had not experienced anything. After such a big incident, the journey was bumpy, and even a slight headache or fever could be fatal. Let alone children, even adults would be lucky to survive. Zhang He was very careful during the escape, keeping a close eye on the two children and not daring to let anything happen to them.

Xu Wenjie knew Zhang He's worries, and he also felt sorry for the children, but the number of people heading south along the way did not decrease, but rather increased.

A few days ago, he secretly inquired with the people in the government office and heard that the Tartars had already captured Qingzhou Prefecture, and the next target was Shanxi Prefecture, which was west of Qingzhou. The current prime minister even advised the emperor to move the capital south...

Although the emperor did not agree, he still sent the crown prince to lead the expedition in hopes of driving the Tartars back.

This was the news they heard a month ago when they first arrived in Xutong Prefecture. Now they were in Tingzhou County of Xutong Prefecture, in a small village near the official road to the south.

The people who were fleeing together continued to walk south, but those who were heading towards Tingzhou stopped.

"Let's wait until this snow stops! The steamed buns are ready, quickly feed them to the two children!"

Xu Wenjie took out two bowls from his bundle and served one bowl to each of the two children.

Zhang He gently shook her little daughter in her arms: "Zhuzhu, good girl, get up and eat."

Xu Zhuzhu opened her eyes in a daze and smelled a sweet wheat aroma.

Zhang He held a bowl in one hand and had her arm around Xu Zhuzhu with the other.

Xu Wenjie placed another bowl in Xu An's hands: "Be careful, it's hot."

"Thank you, Father." Xu An had seen many things on the way. Although he was only five years old, he was already quite sensible. He took the bowl and peered into the pot. He hesitated and asked, "Father, please eat with me. I can't eat this much."

Xu Zhuzhu also peeked into the pot and saw that there wasn't much batter left, so the two adults naturally wouldn't have enough to eat.

Although his older brother was young, he had inherited his father's intelligence and had always been very clever.

Looking at his sensible eldest son, Xu Wenjie felt a surge of warmth in his heart. He gently patted Xu An's head and softly comforted him:

"Father has saved some, you all eat first."

Xu An knew his father was lying. He only drank half a bowl before putting it down, quickly curling up under the covers, only sticking his head out, and saying that he couldn't drink anymore, that he was too tired and wanted to sleep.

Xu Zhuzhu knew her parents were lying. The two children had eaten half a pot of porridge and were still not full, let alone the two adults.

She only regretted that she had been starving for several days, and her survival instinct made it impossible for her to refuse this hot and simple meal, so she could only try to eat as little as possible.

Seeing that Xu Zhuzhu in her arms was too weak to open her mouth, Zhang He coaxed, "Zhuzhu, eat some more! You'll have the energy to play with your brother if you're full!"

Xu Zhuzhu shook her head. If it were a three-year-old child, she would definitely want to eat until her stomach was full, but she was not exactly three years old.

She tripped and fell at work, hitting the back of her head on the sharp corner of the office table. She fainted amidst the chaos and noise of her colleagues.

When she woke up, she found herself being supported by an old woman who kept patting her bottom.

Xu Zhuzhu blushed and cried out, but what came out was the sound of a baby crying.

She was stunned.