After hearing everything, Liu Ye felt deeply sympathetic toward Bai Zilin. Having parents like that was truly a lifetime’s worth of terrible luck.
“It’s okay, Brother Bai. If your parents won’t take you with them, then I will. It’ll be good to have company on the road. Brother Bai, I’ve hidden your family’s handcart. When the time comes, I’ll push you with it. I don’t really have anything to prepare. I’ve already hidden some supplies, and we’ll just take them and leave together.”
Bai Zilin nodded with mixed emotions. He had known all along that the silly girl would never abandon him.
“Alright. It’s a deal then. From now on, Brother Bai is in your hands.”
Liu Ye nodded happily.
“Okay! Then I’m going back to sleep. Brother Bai, be careful when you go to the outhouse. Don’t fall in…”
The corner of Bai Zilin’s mouth twitched.
You little brat. Can’t you wish me something good for once?
Liu Ye came quietly and left quietly. Returning to the dilapidated courtyard next door, she rearranged the firewood and lay down on top of it to sleep.
Supporting himself with his strong arms and a pair of wooden crutches, Bai Zilin lifted his feet off the ground and slowly moved from his room toward the backyard latrine. After taking care of nature’s call, he made his way to the kitchen. With great effort, he pushed aside a cupboard, revealing a rat hole in the floor. From inside, he pulled out a money pouch.
Opening it, he found copper coins and small pieces of silver—six taels in total. This was the money he had secretly saved over the years.
It seemed he had been right to keep a backup plan.
Tucking the pouch into his clothes, he painstakingly dragged the cupboard back into place before returning to his room to sleep.
The next morning, Liu Ye was once again awakened by loud shouting.
Furious, she wiped her face, climbed up from the ground, and scrambled onto the neighboring wall to see what was happening.
What’s Brother Bai’s mother yelling about so early in the morning now?
“Husband, look! The well’s gone dry! What are we going to do? In two days we’re supposed to head south with the village chief. We can’t survive without water! Hurry and grab the buckets. Let’s go get water in the mountains. There might still be some left now. If we’re too late, there won’t be any!”
As soon as Uncle Bai heard this, he panicked.
“You useless woman! If you knew that, why didn’t you move faster? Go get the buckets! Didn’t we have two buckets? Why is there only one left? Hurry up and find the other one!”
Madam Bai searched inside and outside the house but couldn’t find the missing bucket. She even checked Bai Zimei’s room. Finally, her gaze landed on Bai Zilin’s room.
“Husband… could the other bucket be in Zilin’s room? Why don’t you go look? I’m afraid he might have… might have already starved to death. I’m scared.”
Perched atop the wall, Liu Ye looked at her with utter contempt.
You heartless monster. Now you know how to be afraid?
Uncle Bai cursed her for being useless and forced himself to push open Bai Zilin’s door.
Since there was only one room, he immediately spotted the bucket under the kang bed. He also saw Bai Zilin lying motionless on top of it, covered by a tattered quilt, eyes closed. It was impossible to tell whether he was dead or merely unconscious from hunger.
Uncle Bai cautiously approached and craned his neck to inspect him.
“Zilin? Bai Zilin? Your father came to see you. Wake up. Can you hear me? Zilin? Zilin…”
Secretly delighted, he thought:
I’ve called him so many times and he hasn’t moved. Maybe the little beast is really dead.
He stretched out a finger to check Bai Zilin’s breathing. A moment later, he withdrew his hand with a dark expression.
The little bastard wasn’t dead after all.
But he looked close to it—more breaths going out than coming in.
“Hmph!”
With a cold snort, Uncle Bai grabbed the bucket and left the room, making sure to kick the door shut behind him.
“Let’s go get water. That little bastard isn’t dead yet. You’re not allowed to give him any more water!”
Carrying the other bucket, Madam Bai hurried after him.
“But I didn’t give him any water…”
Uncle Bai immediately roared:
“If you didn’t, then why was the bucket in his room? You stupid woman! If you dare talk back again, I’ll beat you to death!”
Madam Bai shrank her neck in fear and instantly fell silent.
Liu Ye shook her head in disbelief.
This was truly eye-opening.
Parents as terrible as these were probably one of a kind.
Climbing down from the wall, she sat beneath it. The weather was too hot, and she had no intention of going into the mountains today.
With a wave of her hand, she took a cucumber out of her space and began crunching away at it.
Inside the room, Bai Zilin opened his sharp eyes and threw off the quilt.
It was unbearably hot.
He sat up against the wall, rested for a moment, then crawled to the end of the kang bed. Finding a piece of ragged cloth, he bundled up the few clothes he owned and hid them inside the bedding.
Now even his family’s well had dried up. The wells belonging to other villagers would surely dry up as well.
At this rate, Village Chief Zhao wouldn’t even be able to wait another three days before organizing the migration south.
The Zhao family owned the village’s only ox cart. Everyone else would have to walk. Most households had wooden handcarts, but they could only carry goods, not people.
The silly girl had said she hid his family’s handcart and planned to use it for him later. But if his father saw it, wouldn’t he immediately take it back?
And even if his injuries healed someday, it would still be a problem.
As long as he remained a member of the Bai family, he’d spend the rest of his life working like an ox and horse to support those three lazy freeloaders.
His heart had already been completely broken by them.
He no longer wanted his old life.
For once, he wanted to live for himself.
He wanted to live for the silly girl who had always cared for him.
He needed to think of a way to make his father sever ties with him voluntarily, just like what had happened with the Liu family.
Then an idea suddenly came to him.
That’s it. I’ll use that method.
Meanwhile, the Bai couple arrived in the mountains to fetch water.
To their surprise, many other villagers had the same idea.
The couple immediately quickened their pace and rushed deeper into the mountains. Seeing them run, the other villagers also broke into a run.
A large crowd surged forward.
But when they finally reached the stream, everyone froze.
Not a single drop of water remained.
Even the muddy puddles had dried up completely.
“Oh no! This is bad! The water’s completely gone! My well isn’t producing a single drop anymore! What are we supposed to do? Let’s hurry back and ask the village chief to lead us south. Otherwise, the entire village will die!”
“That’s right! Sister-in-law Zhang is absolutely right! Let’s go find the village chief!”
The Bai couple joined the crowd heading to Village Chief Zhao’s house.
Everyone spoke at once, urging him to lead them south immediately.
Village Chief Zhao raised his hand.
“Everyone, calm down and listen. Even if we’re going south, we can’t just leave at a moment’s notice. We need to prepare first.”
“Those of you without food need to buy grain immediately. You also need water skins and other necessities for the journey.”
“Have all of you prepared those things?”
The villagers fell silent.
Obviously not.
“Then I’ll give you two days to get ready. Three days from now, we’ll depart first thing in the morning. Is everyone clear on that?”
“Clear!”
The villagers quickly scattered back to their homes to prepare.
Those without handcarts immediately started building them. Since the carts were made entirely of wood—including the wheels—they were actually quite simple to construct.
The Bai couple hurried home.
The moment they stepped into the courtyard, they saw Bai Zilin lying prone in the yard.
Bai Zimei was standing in her doorway, stretching her neck to peek outside.
The husband and wife exchanged bewildered looks.
What was going on?
How had he crawled out of his room?