After an unknown amount of time, Wang dàrén lost his patience and left. Zhou Yu finally appeared in Yang Xi’s sight. At this time, Zhou Yu was very thin. His thick cotton coat was gone, and even the boots on his feet were replaced with patched cloth shoes.
He brought back a shabby ox cart with a thatched shed on top to keep out the wind and snow.
Yang Xi saw that Zhou Yu had pawned his cotton coat and boots.
Because they were being watched, they could not touch any of the silver they had on them, and all the money they used had to have a source.
There must not be any sign of any arrangement, and the suddenness of the incident must be perfectly staged to make the enemy let down their guard.
Ziheng was already crying, “Dad, are you cold?”
Zhou Yu wore two thin cotton coats at the time for the convenience of pawning. Now he still has one thin cotton coat on. Although it was cold, he could still stand it. “Dad is fine.”
While speaking, Zhou Yu took out some rope and a few wooden boards from the wagon bed.
Yang Xi walked over and noticed something unusual on the wooden board. There were long iron nails on it. “Do you want to pull the coffin?”
As she said this, she reached out and touched Zhou Yu’s clothes, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that there was still a thin cotton coat.
Zhou Yu whispered back, “Well, this snow helped us.”
This also explains why he came back so late. It took time to find the nails.
Yang Xi looked at the increasingly strong snowstorm, this was an opportunity, “It’s still early now, let’s leave the city today.”
Her husband was not injured today. Xu dàrén would not let it go. She was afraid that he would want to wipe out the whole family in the capital. For safety reasons, they couldn’t stay in the capital.
Zhou Yu, “Well, we must leave the city today.”
Yang Xi was quick-witted, “Let’s go out of the city and hide among the refugees.”
Leaving the city did not mean safety. On the contrary, the Zhou family would be in greater danger. There were wolves in front and tigers behind, and they could not move forward or backward.
Seeing the soldiers staring at them from a distance, Zhou Yu moved his hands faster, “Yeah.”
After the couple finished chatting, Zhou Yu called his younger brother to help tie the ropes to make sure the coffin would not slip off the wooden boards. He tried pushing it again. The freshly fallen snow still required pushing hard, but having a cart in front to press the snow could save some effort.
Yang Xi was afraid that Ziheng would catch a cold again, so she put her son in the wagon bed, where there was a worn but clean quilt. Finally, a smile appeared on her face.
Yang Xi supported her mother again, “Mom, you and Ziheng can sit on the cart.”
Ye shook her head. She didn’t want her son to suffer. “I can just walk.”
Zhou Yu said, “Mom, please go up and help press the cart. Make sure the snow is pressed more firmly so that we can push the coffin.”
When Ye Shi heard this, she said, “Let Xier sit on it. She is still pregnant.”
Yang Xi was in better health than her mother-in-law. “Mom, the child and I are fine, don’t worry.”
Zhou Yu helped his mother onto the cart without hesitation because his mother was in very poor health.
Zhou Xiaodi and Zhou Xiaomei were pushing the coffin from the back, while Zhou Yu was pulling a cart in the front. The coffin was connected to the cart with a rope. The cart was pulling the coffin, and it was much easier for Zhou Xiaodi and Zhou Yu to push it.
Yang Xi was pregnant, and Zhou Yu felt sorry for his wife and was afraid that something might happen again, so in the end Yang Xi followed the cart.
The officers and soldiers were somewhat dumbfounded. It turned out that this was actually possible? The officers and soldiers who were watching looked at each other and thought that those who could pass the imperial examination must have a good brain.
Yang Xi knew someone had followed them without looking back, and whispered, “We need to get rid of the people following us, so we should find an inn and pretend to stay there.”
Zhou Yu thought the same thing. “I still have fifty coins left from the money I pawned.”
Yang Xi said with concern, “Do you always wear thin cotton clothes?”
Zhou Yu lowered his voice, “I have plans.”
Yang Xi asked, “When did you arrange it?”
The Zhou family had been targeted last night, but she didn’t dare to make any move, let alone Zhou Yu, the eldest son of the Zhou family!
Zhou Yu, “I arranged it yesterday during the day.”
He came back earlier than his wife. He came back when he took the carriage to the palace gate to pick up his father. No one was targeting him at that time.
Unfortunately, there was not enough time and he was almost at the palace gate. Apart from the silver notes used for bribery, he had less than ten taels of silver available, otherwise, he could have made more arrangements.
(End of this chapter)

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