“Dad, why don’t we ask around and see if anyone wants to buy some of this livestock and the carts? As long as we get a reasonable price, we can sell them off. We only need enough for our own use,” Shen Shuli suggested.
“Sure. That’s a good idea.”
“By the way, dear, we got so much meat this time. Should we send some to your family?” Su Yunhai asked his wife.
Shen Yuehua smiled and shook her head.
“No need to make a special trip. We’ll be meeting up with them tomorrow anyway. We can give it to them then. That’ll save everyone the trouble.”
“Alright. We’ll do as you say.”
The family of three was still discussing their plans for the journey when they saw Su Dalin’s family walking over.
“Third Brother, what brings you here?” Su Yunhai asked.
Su Dalin wore his usual honest, simple smile. He squatted down beside Su Yunhai and said, “Second Brother, our whole family came to help you.”
“Our parents have always been like this. They’re never going to change at their age, so don’t take it personally.”
Su Dalin’s position in the Su family was only slightly better than Su Yunhai’s.
Before Su Yunhai and his wife transmigrated into this world, Su Dahai’s branch had been the family’s old workhorse, while Su Dalin’s branch had been the younger workhorse.
The two branches were hardly any different.
After Su Yunhai and his wife arrived, they had constantly resisted the old couple. By now, the second branch was completely beyond the old couple’s control.
That left the third branch as the family’s new workhorse—the one constantly being squeezed dry.
Whenever the old couple demanded something from Su Yunhai, they would always drag Su Dalin into it as well.
In the end, the good stuff always went to the eldest branch.
The third branch had long since grown accustomed to being the family’s biggest sucker.
Su Yunhai had noticed all of this. He had secretly tried talking some sense into his third brother several times, but Su Dalin simply could not stand up for himself. Eventually, Su Yunhai stopped bothering.
He also knew why the third branch could never hold their own.
They had no ability to make money. All they knew was how to honestly work the fields. With no money in their pockets, they could never straighten their backs and could only continue being exploited.
“Alright. Once we’re done, I’ll give you some meat. Just look at how skinny your whole family has become.” Su Yunhai patted his third brother on the shoulder.
“Thank you, Second Brother.”
Su Dalin had never intended to ask for anything in return. He simply felt that his second brother had always treated him well.
He could not become an ungrateful person and pretend not to see his brother in need. His conscience would not allow it.
“Second Brother…” Su Dalin looked at Su Yunhai, hesitating several times before finally speaking.
“If you have something to say, just say it. Stop beating around the bush.” Su Yunhai could not stand watching him hesitate and urged him on.
“Y-You… are you really going to leave the old Su family behind and flee the famine?”
Su Yunhai looked at him in surprise.
“What? Are our parents still unwilling to come with me?”
The village had already been targeted by the mountain bandits, yet they still were not planning to leave as quickly as possible.
Were they really not afraid of dying?
He genuinely could not understand what these people were thinking.
“Before the horse bandits came, Dad and Mom said they definitely weren’t leaving. They even tried to find ways to stop you from going. Now… I don’t know if they’ve changed their minds.”
Just thinking about what had happened with the horse bandits today still made Su Dalin shudder.
He did not dare stay here any longer.
But he was also worried that his parents would refuse to leave—and would not allow him to leave either.
He did not dare go against their wishes and earn himself a reputation for being unfilial.
“Second Brother, if our parents refuse to leave… c-can I go with you?”
Su Dalin finally managed to ask the question he had been wanting to ask most.
“Of course. Have you finally come to your senses?”
Su Yunhai looked at his third brother in surprise.
“Yes. Before today, I might still have hesitated. But after what happened today, I’m genuinely scared.”
“Alright. I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning. Just follow us.”
“But our household registration documents are still with our parents. Can we really leave?”
A strange smile appeared on Su Yunhai’s face.
He pulled the household registration documents from inside his clothes and showed them to his brother.
“When I went to register my daughter’s household registration this time, I took the documents from them. While I was at it, I also separated our branch and your third branch from the family registry. So don’t worry. Just come with us tomorrow.”
“Originally, I thought that even if you decided not to leave with us, separating your branch from the family would at least give you some freedom. This is the last thing I can do for you as your second brother.”
Su Dalin had never expected his second brother to go this far for their family.
His eyes instantly reddened.
Su Dalin’s wife, Lin Xiuxiu, and their daughters, Su Manye and Su Mandi, had been standing nearby listening to everything.
At this moment, all of them covered their faces and began sobbing.
It was obvious just how oppressed this family had been all these years.
Lin Xiuxiu hurriedly wiped her face, grabbed both daughters, and knelt down before Su Yunhai.
“Second Brother, thank you for taking such good care of us. We’ll work like oxen and horses for you for the rest of our lives to repay you!”
As she spoke, she pressed her daughters’ heads down and began knocking them against the ground.
Su Yunhai had not expected his sister-in-law to be this intense. She had actually dropped to her knees and started kowtowing!
His fat body immediately bounced up and slid several steps away like a ball.
“Hey, hey, hey! We can talk things out! Are you trying to shorten my lifespan? This doesn’t look like repaying a favor—it looks like taking revenge!”
Su Yunhai hurriedly shouted.
Seeing his wife and daughters kneeling, Su Dalin finally reacted and dropped to his knees as well.
Hearing what his second brother said, he quickly pulled his wife back up.
“Second Brother, we didn’t mean it that way. How about we just let my daughter kowtow a few times? Otherwise, we’ll feel guilty.”
“Kowtow for what? You’re already here. Don’t let anyone see this and make a joke out of you. Get up, quickly.”
Su Chang’an and his two brothers soon brought over a large number of villagers to help.
The spacious threshing ground quickly filled with people and became bustling with activity.
Su Yunhai brought out all the salt the family had openly stored at home and also exchanged meat with villagers for a large quantity of salt.
These were all supplies they had acquired openly. He did not use any of the salt stored in Shen Shuli’s space.
The villagers who came to help were mostly people who had not received much from the spoils, which was why they had time to lend a hand.
While they were working, Su Yunhai also asked around to see if anyone was interested in buying some of his livestock and carts.
He offered them at twenty percent below market price.
Several relatively wealthy families immediately rushed to buy them.
They were all going to flee the famine with the Su family tomorrow, but they had too many belongings at home and could not possibly carry much of it themselves.
Having livestock to pull carts would make things much easier.
In less than half an hour, Su Yunhai had sold almost everything.
He kept only four mules and four of the sturdiest handcarts.
He kept the mules because they were much faster than oxen, more enduring than donkeys, and better at hauling loads than horses. They also had a greater advantage when traveling along mountain roads.
Although mules could even cost more than horses and could not reproduce, those drawbacks did not matter to the Su family at all.
They were not short of money, nor did they need the mules to breed.
All they needed was for these mules to help them survive the long journey of fleeing the famine.
They also sold more than 500 jin of meat along the way.
The sales brought in 333 taels of silver, along with more than 300 jin of grain.
Su Yunhai immediately handed all the silver and grain over to Shen Shuli for safekeeping.
Keeping everything with her was the safest option, and it did not burden him either.
To Su Yunhai, his daughter was simply the most useful helper a father could ask for.
With so many people working together, all the meat was processed in just half a day.
Su Yunhai was very generous and prepared generous gifts for everyone who had helped.
They even left themselves half a day to let each family hurry home, pack their belongings, and get a good night’s rest before fleeing the famine.
When they returned to the Su family home, the entire family, who had been in such a good mood moments earlier, suddenly had dark expressions on their faces.