The Mei family had no idea when they had entered the Chen family’s line of sight. At that moment, they were overjoyed by the valuable items they had scavenged from several Xirong soldiers.
“Ah! If I had known tonight would happen, I would have found a way to exchange for some kind of Space earlier!”
Mei Qian never imagined that one day she could rummage through a corpse’s belongings without batting an eye.
Muttering to herself, she tossed conspicuous gold and silver jewelry into a bag and discreetly tucked away some gold and silver fragments into her pockets while no one was around.
Her movements were even more seamless than those of characters she had seen in movies and TV shows doing similar “work.”
Afterward, Mei Qian found two sacks of grain on a horse not far from the body. It wasn’t much—just over ten catties.
She opened them to check and was relieved to find only the outside of the bags stained with blood; the inside was untouched.
These two sacks alone would be enough to feed their family for “two months”!
“Little sister, what did you find?”
Just then, Mei Qian heard Mei Shitou’s voice. Looking up, she saw her brother carrying a horse leg that was still dripping blood onto the ground.
Besides the horse leg, he also had two sharp curved knives tucked into his belt.
During the earlier fight, Mei Shitou had realized the importance of having a proper weapon.
While others wielded large blades, if his uncle hadn’t snatched a curved knife from a dead Xirong soldier and given it to him, he would likely have been injured later.
So this time, while searching for meat, he also grabbed any weapons he came across.
“Wow! Grain!”
Before Mei Qian could answer, Mei Shitou had already spotted what she was holding.
“I didn’t see any grain when I was searching earlier.”
Although he was carrying a horse leg, Mei Shitou still wished he could find long-lasting food like Mei Qian had.
“Maybe some fell off during the chaos of the battle.”
Mei Shitou and Mei Qian didn’t dwell on such details. After scouring the nearby area, the siblings decided not to search further ahead.
With the fighting over, the refugees who had fled earlier were beginning to gather again, and the retainers of the wealthy families were also regrouping.
Mei Qian thought it best not to draw too much attention.
When Mei Qian and Mei Shitou returned, only Madam Jiang, who was pregnant, and their father, who was guarding the family’s belongings, remained at their spot.
Grandma Mei and their aunt had also mustered the courage to search the surrounding area.
They returned shortly after Mei Qian and Mei Shitou. Seeing that everyone had left empty-handed but returned laden with bundles, the family exchanged glances. Though no one spoke, their joy was palpable.
Especially Grandma Mei, whose eyes nearly glazed over at the sight of the small pouch Mei Qian handed her, filled with gold and silver jewelry. Her gaze toward Mei Qian shifted repeatedly.
How had she never noticed her granddaughter’s resourcefulness before?
Though profiting from the dead might seem immoral, who could have imagined that after being chased and scattered by Xirong soldiers, they would one day be scavenging from their very hands?
This windfall from the dead felt entirely justified.
Fortunately, Mei Qian and the others didn’t get greedy. Once the retainers who had pursued the wild hunting party returned, everyone began clearing the battlefield.
Mei Qian had her eye on the horse meat, but the estate guards weren’t blind either. The Mei family watched helplessly as those dead horses were dragged away by the guards.
Hoping to gather some information, Mei Erhu approached the recently returned Steward Chen and offered to help.
Perhaps it was Mei Qian’s perspective, but she noticed that Steward Chen’s expression became much friendlier upon seeing her father, a stark contrast to the cold demeanor he had shown them earlier.
“What are you spacing out for?”
Over here, Grandma Mei was directing the family to repack the grain they had found, even setting aside some as a reward for their hardworking pack animal—Little Gray Donkey.
Seeing Mei Qian standing not far away in a daze, Grandma Mei couldn’t help but call out to her.
“Coming.”
Mei Qian turned around, glanced around to see everyone still busy, and cleared her throat before saying:
“Grandma, earlier I found a bag of unfamiliar food hidden on one of the Xirong dogs. It was tucked away in a pretty concealed spot, so I think it must be something good.”
After lowering her voice to say this, she saw her grandmother’s eyes light up.
Oh my, she suddenly realized that despite the whole family going out to search for things, none of them had been as successful as Mei Qian alone.
Forget about the gold, silver, and grain from earlier—now there was something new?
“What kind of good thing?”
“It looks like fruit, and it smells pretty fragrant.”
Seizing the opportunity, Mei Qian took out the milk fruit.
The family gathered around, craning their necks to look, but none of them could figure out what this pitch-black fruit, about the size of a grown man’s fist, was.
Instinctively, everyone turned their gaze to Grandma Mei. Under their collective stare, her face darkened: “Why are you looking at me? I don’t know what it is either. Xirong fruit probably looks just like Xirong dogs—all ugly.”
Mei Qian: “…”
She felt sorry for the milk fruit, giving it such an “inglorious” origin story_(:3」∠)_
“Never mind whether it’s ugly or not, Grandma, how about we try some? It’s not a good time to start a fire and cook now. This group could set off at any moment, and who knows how long we’ll have to walk this time without a bite of food or a sip of water.”
Mei Qian licked her dry, cracked lips. Even though she wasn’t hungry after the meal earlier, her cravings were starting to act up.
Xiao Mei had said the milk fruit was delicious.
Han Shi’s eyes lit up at the suggestion, but she didn’t dare reach for it, instead staring at Grandma Mei, waiting for her mother-in-law’s decision.
“Don’t rush. Since it’s fruit, we can eat it later on the road when we’re thirsty or hungry. What’s the point of eating it now?”
Grandma Mei still wanted to reject the idea of eating the fruit immediately.
“But Grandma, if we eat something during the day on the road that no one around us recognizes, won’t people ask questions? Our actions tonight weren’t exactly honorable.”
“Then we’ll eat it tomorrow night!”
In the end, despite her cravings, Mei Qian didn’t get to eat the milk fruit that night.
···
“My young master heard that you helped kill the Xirong soldiers who charged into the Chen family’s area and is very grateful to you.”
Mei Erhu had followed Steward Chen and his group to dig a deep pit on the spot, helping to dump all the Xirong soldiers’ bodies into it and bury them.
After the uncle and nephew had helped with the task, Steward Chen pulled Mei Erhu aside and said these words.
“Hey, Steward Chen, it’s us who should be grateful. In that situation, if we hadn’t killed them, it would have been our family members who died.
Besides, you’ve seen our family’s situation.”
“If it weren’t for your last-minute decision to let my mother, wife, and daughter in, our family would likely have been doomed as well.”
Mei Erhu spoke with great humility. If it hadn’t been for the Chen family’s guards opening a small gap at the last moment to allow his family to take refuge, even with his and Mei Shitou’s skills, they couldn’t have protected everyone.
Just as his mother had said, following the wealthy and influential families could indeed avoid many risks.
However, the prerequisite was that they were willing to offer protection.
Having survived the ordeal, Mei Erhu felt no resentment in his heart.
In these times, he had no right to show arrogance.
He only hoped to continue building good relations, making their presence known, so that if such a situation arose again in the future, their family could continue to be protected.
Seeing Mei Erhu’s humble attitude, Chen San’s goodwill toward him kept rising. At the same time, he said:
“Brother Mei, you’re too polite. If the Xirong soldiers had charged into our convoy, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Although our Chen family isn’t the one in charge of this convoy, we can still protect one or two households. Brother Mei, would you be willing to travel with our Chen family?”
Traveling together here didn’t mean the Mei family would trail behind like the other refugees, eating dust. Instead, they would truly travel alongside the Chen family’s convoy, under their protection at all times.
Who would have thought that Mei Erhu had once envied some humble families who could travel with the wealthy convoys? He never expected such good fortune would fall upon them.
When Mei Erhu returned home and announced that they could travel with the Chen family’s convoy, everyone in the Lao Mei Family felt as if joy had fallen from the sky.
“Did they not mention any conditions?”
Grandma Mei remained rational. Mei Qian also stepped forward, adding for her grandmother, “Could it be that they value Father and Elder Brother’s skills and want to recruit them?”
“The Chen steward didn’t say it outright, but I think if they really take us along, and something like this happens again, we should indeed lend a hand and not refuse, right?”
“That’s true.” Grandma Mei nodded, mentally preparing for such a situation. However, she still felt uneasy and asked another question, “Tell me exactly what you and Steward Chen San discussed.”
Grandma Mei feared her son’s wooden head might have missed some useful information.
As it turned out, after Mei Erhu finished recounting, Grandma Mei indeed noticed something.
“So, those traveling together aren’t of one mind either. Listen to how his words were laced with barbs~”
Grandma Mei clicked her tongue. She immediately sensed that the steward, while inviting their family to travel together, had subtly criticized some other family.
Hearing this, Mei Qian’s eyes flickered, feeling a hint of interest in the Chen family’s grievances…