Zhou Yu and his group waited for a while, making sure that no one else would come out of the forest, then re-lit the fire to keep warm. Their feet were so frozen that they were almost numb.

Yang Xi thought she was strong enough, but she couldn’t help but have tears in her eyes. She felt so uncomfortable. Her feet were not warm after lying in the quilt for a while. It was only when Zhou Yu untied her cotton coat and covered her feet that they were warm.

Yang Xi didn’t refuse for the sake of the baby in her belly. She felt relieved and said, “I’m fine.”

Zhou Yu was not feeling well either. He was already extremely cold, and he held his wife’s cold feet in his arms. He made sure that her feet had warmed up before he put on dry cotton shoes for her.

Ye Shi also handed a bag of warm water to her daughter, and Zhou Xiaomei was so cold that her eyes were filled with tears.

Even the men couldn’t stand it, let alone the women. The group basically had no rest at night.

The group set off before daybreak, and only after daybreak could they clearly see the horse’s hoof prints.

Hunter Wang stopped to check and said, “This is a good horse from the grassland.”

Zhou Yu was surprised, “You can see that?”

Hunter Wang: “Yeah.”

Zhou Yu looked at Hunter Wang differently. This man was very secretive. It was not something that an ordinary hunter could understand about horses in this day and age.

Setting off again, Yang Xi looked at the sky. She was thinking about the second heavy snow. In her memory, the second heavy snow was so heavy that it almost caused a snowstorm.

Thanks to Hunter Wang, they didn’t encounter any danger later.

Unfortunately, no matter how fast they hurried, the second snow arrived and they were still halfway out of Xinzhou.

The group stayed in a mountain village. The second heavy snow lasted for a day and a night. The heavy snow blocked the mountain and completely covered up all traces of the Zhou family.

In the Zhou family’s house, Zhou Yu said, “Now that the snow has stopped, I’ll go out and see if we can make our way.”

Yang Xi looked at Zhou Yu’s cotton shoes and sighed, “Come back soon.”

“Good.”

Yang Xi waited for Zhou Yu to leave, then said to Zhou Xiaodi, “Go to the village and buy some rabbit skins.”

Brother Zhou took the copper coin and asked, “Do you want to buy some more chili peppers?”

Yang Xi thought for a moment and said, “If there are eggs, buy some.”

The mountain village was not big, with only a dozen households in total. Not many people knew how to hunt, and the people lived a very hard life. They didn’t get much money all year round, and they had to pay high taxes. No one in the family had a cotton-padded jacket, all of which were filled with straw.

Yang Xi had no hope of being able to buy eggs.

Brother Zhou came back soon, “I went there with Wu Da, and he also bought a hen.”

As he said this, Little Brother Zhou swallowed his saliva unconsciously. This little brat is eating me out of money. Little Brother Zhou is now the eater that he can eat the most.

Yang Xi was surprised to see there were twenty-four eggs, “So many eggs?”

Zhou Xiaodi said, “Sister-in-law, the villagers kept chickens in the house to make them lay eggs, but even then the chickens didn’t like to lay eggs. I went to every household to buy these.”

Yang Xi took out six eggs and said, “For lunch, fry some eggs and cabbage, and then steam some egg custard.”

Zhou Xiaodi grinned, “Okay.”

Yang Xi bought a total of six kneaded rabbit skins and prepared to make shoes. Even Ye Shi got up to help, which shows how terrible their feet were when they froze last time.

Zhou Yu and Wang the Hunter came back, but their faces were not good, Yang Xi asked, “What happened?”

Zhou Yu replied, “We walked a long way to check and saw a group of people on the mountain.”

Yang Xi stopped what she was doing and asked, “Traveling in the snow? And taking the small road?”

Zhou Yu, “I think they look like palace guards.”

Yang Xi confirmed, “You’re not mistaken?” Zhou Yu, “I’ve been observing for quite a while.”

Yang Xi frowned. The princes were not allowed to leave their fiefdoms without an imperial edict. Leaving their fiefdoms was a serious crime. She had no memory of any news of the princes entering the capital. It made sense when she thought about it. In ancient times in their previous life, they were so busy taking care of themselves in the suburbs of the capital and did not pay attention to the capital.

For the common people, what they cared about was whether they could have enough to eat. Who would inquire about the situation in the capital? This also cut off their source of information.

Zhou Yu pointed out, “Taking the small road is a big plan. The team we met last time should be the advanced team.”

Yang Xi thought so too. “After all, once you leave Xinzhou, you will reach the fiefdom of King Jiang.”

When talking about the princes, we have to talk about the descendants of the royal family. The princes were inseparable from their fiefdoms and had no real power. They could only eat, drink, and have fun. They had many wives and concubines, and therefore many children. It was said that half of the cour’s income was spent paying the royal family’s salary!

Ninety percent of the land in the country was in the hands of the rich and powerful, and the princes occupied 50% of this ninety percent. Counting the hidden fields, etc., one could imagine how hard it was for the people.

The people had no land, yet had to pay ever-increasing taxes. They had no way to make a living, and the imperial court forced them to rebel.

Zhou Yu recalled, “Dad never mentioned Prince Jiang.”

Yang Xi didn’t understand King Jiang anymore. “We’d better leave as soon as possible. Can we leave tomorrow?”

Zhou Yu said: “With the help of this team, we can set off tomorrow.”

Yang Xi smiled more, “Good luck.”

After lunch, the head of the family they were staying with came over. The old man was very timid. Zhou Yu and his group could no longer be described as refugees. They had donkeys and sleds, and most of them were men. When they entered the village, the people were so scared that they didn’t dare to open the door.

Zhou Yu asked, “Is there something wrong, old man?”

The old man shrank his neck again, not daring to look around. “My second grandson is seventeen years old. He is strong and very capable. He can be taken away for only five taels of silver.”

Yang Xi, “.”

You were here to sell your grandson?

Zhou Yu was also stunned, then frowned, “We don’t need a servant.”

The old man’s eyes were gloomy. He did not go to the Wu family. He could see that the Wu family was just a farming family. He did not want to sell his grandson, but he really could not make ends meet.

Yang Xi waited until the old man left before she realized, “There is no girl in this house.”

Zhou Xiaodi said: “Sister-in-law, there are not many girls in the whole village.”

Yang Xi felt uncomfortable. It was impossible that all the babies born were boys. Girls either died at birth or were sold.

Zhou Yu noticed that Third Yang went out, and after a while, the sound of fighting was heard outside the house.

Yang Xi and Zhou Yu looked at each other, and then they stood up and saw Third Yang fighting with a teenager. It couldn’t be said to be a fight, as Third Yang was unilaterally beating the teenager.

When the young man fell to the ground from exhaustion, Third Yang took out five silver coins from his pocket and handed them to him, “It’s agreed.”

When the boy saw the silver coins, his eyes lit up. He stretched out his cracked hands to take the coins, then quickly returned to the house.

Zhou Yu didn’t ask Third Yang about his plan. He had a good night’s rest and prepared to set off in the morning.

Yang Xi sat on the sled and brought her son over. She didn’t see Third Yang, “Where is Third Yang?”

Zhou Yu snorted, “He is coming.”

When Yang Xi looked, she saw the young man from yesterday following Third Yang. Her guess was confirmed at this moment.

Third Yang grinned, “Sister-in-law, I will take care of his meals.”

Yang Xi looked at the reserved boy, whose face was covered in bruises. Third Yang had tested the boy yesterday and had not held back. “Ok.”

Wu Shan saw the situation on the side, frowned slightly, and then relaxed.

Zhou Yu’s eyes were deep, and Third Yang avoided looking away unnaturally, then he said, “Let’s go.”

(End of this chapter)

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