Zhou Yu’s face darkened until he saw that the snake head was gone, and then his face looked better. “Where did you find it?”

Brother Zhou weighed the snake in his hand. It was quite fat. “I found it when I was collecting firewood. It almost scared my sister to tears.”

Yang Xi looked at her little sister with a stiff expression. She was a little scared of such a long snake.

Zhou Yu took the snake and said, “We are in mourning and cannot eat meat. I will take this to thank the Wu family.”

Yang Xi said: “The Wu family won’t want it for nothing.”

Just as she said, Zhou Yu brought back some pickled vegetables and five eggs.

Zhou Yu said, “Brother Wu’s family is having a hard time.”

This was the first time he entered the thatched hut of the Wu family. There were twelve people in the Wu family, four sons and two daughters. The eldest son and the second son were already married, and there was one living child in each family. On the way to escape, not only did the elderly die, but also one child in each family died of illness.

Yang Xi felt a bit hungry when she saw the eggs. Since she was pregnant, she often felt hungry, and her gaze lingered on the eggs for a while.

Zhou Yu felt sad, “I’ll boil some eggs, you and mom can each have one.”

Yang Xi refused, “Just give it to mom, I don’t need it.”

Ye Shi felt sorry for her pregnant daughter-in-law and said, “Make it into soup, and let’s all of us drink a bowl.”

As a mother, she also felt sorry for her other children.

Zhou Yu instructed his younger brother to bring back some snow. His mother and wife at home were in great need of nutrition. He sighed to himself, thinking meat was out of the question, so he needed to find a way to get more eggs.

At noon, everyone drank a bowl of wild vegetable and egg soup, which warmed the body in the cold winter.

Yang Xi secretly drew a picture of a sled and waited for Zhou Yu to remember it. She was unable to help and fell asleep in her arms while hugging her son.

There were currently three quilts in total: Yang Xi shared one with her son, Ye Shi shared one with Zhou Xiaomei, and Zhou Yu and Zhou Xiaodi shared one.

Zhou Xiaodi and Zhou Yu were on guard at night. When Yang Xi woke up, Wu Shan had already returned with the exchanged food.

Zhou Yu was sorting things out with his younger brother. Yang Xi asked, “When did the Wu family come down the mountain?”

Zhou Yu, “It’s the second half of the night. The refugees are short of food now. Brother Wu is afraid of being targeted.”

“The Wu family is cautious.”

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Most of the food they received in exchange was coarse grains, as well as some radishes and cabbages.

Yang Xi was happy to see this, “As long as I have food, I don’t have to worry.”

Zhou Yu said: “Wait a few days and buy some back.”

Yang Xi, “Okay.”

In the following two days, the Wu family helped bring back a lot of information to the Zhou family, especially through Wu’s several sons. Only Wu Shan could enter the town, while his sons sold firewood in nearby villages.

Once, a few brothers were selling firewood and met someone who was asking about the Zhou family. After secretly asking, they found out that all the nearby villages had been investigated in the past two days.

The Zhou family no longer dared to go down the mountain. The only comfort was that, after two days of rest, Ye Shi had recovered enough to get out of bed and move around.

Wu Shan did not go into the city to do odd jobs that day. He squatted beside the sled and asked, “Brother, are you leaving soon?”

Zhou Yu did not hide it, “Well, brother also knows that our enemies are investigating us. This place is not safe. Our enemies will find us sooner or later.”

Now, thinking that they had fled toward their ancestral home after leaving the capital, their pursuers must have chased them for several days without finding them. They would soon realize this and turn back to search, with a particular focus on the refugee areas.

Wu Shan held a branch in his mouth as a pipe, helped pass the wooden board, and did not say anything else.

Yang Xi looked at Wu Shan a few more times. In her eyes, Wu Shan was not only a successful person but also a visionary.

After a long while, Wu Shan finally spat out the broken branch in his mouth and said, “Tomorrow I will bring a few boys to make a sled.”

Zhou Yu, “Okay.”

Wu Shan stood up and patted the snow off his trouser legs, “I’m going back first.”

(End of this chapter)

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