With the items stored in her space, Jing Yin secretly opened the bottle to take a look.
The porcelain bottle was clearly not small, yet there were only three antidote pills inside. They didn’t even occupy a third of the bottle.
“……”
(System, you’re so stingy~)
System: “……”
ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ Heh~
“This venomous snake is pretty big.”
Jing Da came over carrying the snake’s headless body.
This was quite a substantial amount of meat. Whether it was venomous or not, as long as the head was removed, it was fine. The more poisonous the snake, the more delicious its broth would be, after all.
“I’ll process it right now.”
The weather was hot, so fresh meat would spoil easily. It would be better to skin it and dry it into jerky.
Jing Da didn’t waste any time and immediately began skinning the snake.
Meanwhile, Jing Yin removed the venom sac from the snake’s head, placed it in an empty bamboo tube, and put it into her space.
Once the sun wasn’t quite as intense, the family set off again.
Along the way, Jing Yin secretly took three pieces of jerky out of her space. There were still eight pieces left from the previous check-in reward, so even after taking out three, she still had five remaining.
She gave two pieces to Grandma Jing to keep, while she cut the remaining piece into chunks and occasionally fed one to Tangyuan.
Grandma Jing only glanced at her before looking away, pretending she hadn’t seen anything.
The Old Jing family could still eat and drink their fill while fleeing from the famine, and they owed much of that to the Fox Immortal’s protection.
Why would she fight with the Fox Immortal over a little food?
“Here, have this as a snack.”
Jing Yin tossed a piece of jerky into her own mouth, then handed a finger-sized piece to Erdan.
Erdan timidly glanced at Grandma Jing.
Grandma Jing was just about to scold him when Jing Yin swiftly stuffed a piece into her mouth.
“Grandma, you eat some too.”
Well, well.
Little Silver had learned how to shut her mouth.
Still, this jerky was really delicious when chewed slowly.
It was already in her mouth. She couldn’t exactly spit it out, could she?
Jing Yin then distributed a little to everyone else as well.
“Wife, keep this for yourself.”
Jing Da looked around, then secretly stuffed his piece of jerky into Zhao Xiao’e’s hand.
Zhao Xiao’e smiled shyly and shrank back slightly, pushing the jerky back toward him.
Jing Yin happened to see their interaction and immediately looked disgusted.
What was this sour, lovey-dovey atmosphere?
“Someone’s ahead.”
Jing Zhao stared into the distance and spoke cautiously.
Grandma Jing hurriedly hid all the food and made everyone put on an extremely hungry expression.
They were already so thin and emaciated that even without pretending, no one would believe they had any food on them.
☸
“Third Miss, I’ll go look for some food and water nearby first. If anything happens, call out loudly. I’ll come back immediately.”
Yin Wudao frowned and cautiously reminded her.
The woman inside the carriage was wearing a plain green robe. Her face was unadorned, yet she looked elegant and refined.
At this moment, however, her complexion seemed to have lost all its color, making her unusually pale. Her eyes were empty and dull.
Seeing her like this, Yin Wudao could only turn to the maid beside her and remind her once again.
“Take good care of the young master and young miss. I’ll be back shortly.”
“Yes. Please rest assured, Guard Yin. This servant will take good care of the young master and young miss.”
After receiving the maid’s assurance, Yin Wudao cautiously surveyed the surroundings before turning and leaving.
“Dongxue… Do you think I really did something wrong?”
Watching Yin Wudao’s departing figure, the woman suddenly reddened around the eyes.
She seemed to be talking to herself, confusion filling her gaze.
“Third Miss, you didn’t do anything wrong. No one blames you.”
Dongxue’s voice was hoarse as well. She rubbed her sore eyes and comforted the woman.
The Third Miss was good in every way, but she was simply too soft-hearted and kind.
Normally, that wouldn’t have been a problem.
But now…
“If it weren’t for me, my younger brother wouldn’t still be unconscious. It’s all my fault. Sob…”
The woman covered her face and sobbed quietly, unable to let go of the knot in her heart.
…
Seeing the man blocking their path, everyone in the Jing family stopped cautiously.
The man in front of them was dressed entirely in black, with a sword hanging from his waist.
He was clearly no ordinary person.
“Sorry to disturb you all. My name is Yin Da, and I mean no harm. I’m simply terribly thirsty. May I ask if there is a water source nearby?”
Yin Wudao hadn’t gone far before he spotted this family, all of them thin and emaciated.
He had originally intended to pass them by, but he happened to notice that their mouths looked moist.
They didn’t seem to be lacking water.
That meant they had likely passed through an area where there was a water source.
Jing Da remained silent for a moment.
Looking at the other man’s appearance, he finally raised his hand and pointed in one direction.
The man already seemed fairly certain that they had found water.
If Jing Da didn’t explain clearly, what if the man came back and tried to take their water?
The other man was tall and strong. He clearly wasn’t an ordinary person, and they might not be able to defeat him.
“If you’re walking, it should take about half a day. There’s a rocky hill ahead where you should be able to find a water source.”
“Thank you. Please accept this small token of appreciation.”
Yin Wudao took a piece of silver from his robes.
It weighed roughly two taels.
Jing Da’s eyes lit up at the sight of the silver.
Although silver wasn’t very useful while they were on the road, once they reached a new prefecture and settled down, they would need money for all sorts of things.
“This… How could we accept this?”
Jing Da rubbed his hands together.
He could get two taels of silver just for answering a question?
That was a pretty good deal.
Even so, Jing Da still accepted the silver and handed it to Grandma Jing.
The man before him had such an upright appearance that he clearly wasn’t a bad person.
“By the way, judging from the direction you’re heading, are you going to Yanghua Prefecture?”
Before leaving, Yin Wudao asked one more question.
The drought in Ningtian Prefecture had been extremely severe this time.
Many of the common people had fled toward Kaitai Prefecture, since Kaitai Prefecture bordered Ningtian Prefecture.
Yanghua Prefecture, however, was much farther away.
With people already lacking food and clothing along the way, ordinary people really wouldn’t have the determination to make such a journey.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Jing Da had no intention of continuing the conversation.
The more they said, the more information they would reveal.
“As far as I know, I’m afraid this route won’t work. You would be better off changing directions.”
As he said this, Yin Wudao’s expression grew cold.
So many people in Ningtian Prefecture had already starved to death because of the famine.
Yet instead of releasing grain, the prefect had ordered people to block several roads along the way, strictly prohibiting refugees from moving about.
At the same time, he had colluded with the prefect of Kaitai Prefecture to conceal all sorts of information.
The person in the imperial capital probably didn’t even know that people in Ningtian Prefecture were dying of starvation in large numbers!
They had completely blocked the people’s final path to survival!
“What?!”
Jing Da’s eyes widened.
Grandma Jing hurriedly urged him in a low voice to ask what was going on.
“Young brother, what do you mean? We’ve already traveled such a long way. Surely you can’t mean there’s no way for us to survive at all? Are they trying to send us all to our deaths?”
Jing Da slapped his thigh with a sorrowful expression.
Yin Wudao frowned slightly.
“I can’t say for certain. Perhaps there’s still a chance if you take a smaller road. That’s all I can tell you.”
“Young brother, young brother, look at us. We’ve come all this way with empty stomachs. If we turn back now, I’m afraid we won’t even make it back alive. Please, take pity on us and point us toward a way forward…”
Grandma Jing hurriedly stumbled after him and dropped to her knees with a thud.
She cried and wiped her tears, putting on a thoroughly pitiful act.
“Young brother, here, have some water.”
At this moment, Jing Da took out a bamboo tube to curry favor with him.
There was still a little less than half a tube of water inside.
Looking at the clear water in the bamboo tube, Yin Wudao licked his cracked lips.
After hesitating for a moment, he finally took the bamboo tube.
In the end, he sighed and told them about a small road.