The road wound on endlessly, strewn with rocks everywhere, and the horse carriage gradually slowed down.
The road was becoming harder and harder to travel. Earlier, they had been on the official highway connecting cities, which had been fairly smooth and straight.
The people inside the carriage were jolted back and forth from the bumps. Lin Zhiyue glanced at the sky. It was noon now, the hottest time of the day.
The curtain and window coverings had long since been hung up, yet the inside of the carriage was still unbearably stuffy and hot.
Lin Zhiyue poked her head outside, but there was not even the slightest breeze.
She looked at her father, who had a rag wrapped around his head as he leaned against the carriage frame, clutching another piece of cloth in his hand to wipe away sweat from time to time.
Beside him, Pei Guang also had a cloth draped over his head. At first he had refused, but after enduring the heat for over two hours, he had silently chosen a piece of cloth that was less flashy.
The sun was simply too brutal.
“Guard Pei, if there’s a convenient place ahead, let’s rest for a bit. At this rate, someone’s going to get heatstroke.”
She also wondered how her eldest uncle and eldest cousin were doing behind them.
“Another two li ahead, there’s a village,” Pei Guang replied without turning his head.
Lin Zhiyue crawled back into the carriage and searched out the water pouch.
Lin Zhixing and Lin Zhili were both drenched in sweat but still sleeping soundly.
Madam Li wiped the sweat off her daughter and son from time to time.
“Grandpa, Grandma, you both need to drink more water.”
They had only eaten a little in the morning, and the dry rations on the carriage were already gone. At the very least, they could not stop drinking water too.
Seeing this, Madam Li quickly took out wooden bowls from the storage compartment behind them.
“I’m not thirsty. Yueyue can drink it,” Old Madam Lin waved her hand.
“Grandma, why are you acting up again? We’re not short on water now. There’s enough for everyone.”
Lin Zhiyue sighed helplessly. These past few days, everyone only drank when she personally took the water out for them.
At other times, even Lin Zhili had never once complained about being thirsty. Perhaps what had happened before had left a shadow in everyone’s hearts, making them instinctively want to save as much water as possible.
“Yueyue, how much water do we still have?” Old Master Lin asked.
“Grandpa, stop worrying about it. We have enough water. I still have a big water bag—there’s a whole lot left!” Lin Zhiyue answered vaguely.
“Anyway, I’m super thirsty now. If Grandpa and Grandma won’t drink, then I won’t drink either. I’ll just die of thirst.”
Lin Zhiyue immediately started acting shamelessly.
“Bah, bah, bah! What nonsense are you saying? Pour Grandma some water,” Old Madam Lin scolded.
“Right away!” Lin Zhiyue replied cheerfully as she started pouring water.
Listening to the conversation inside the carriage, Lin Yan smiled and shook his head.
He pulled out a water pouch from his chest and gulped down a large mouthful. The water inside was pure spirit spring water, specially prepared for him by his daughter.
Beside him, Pei Guang also took out his own water pouch and drank from it. This was the water he had brought himself.
Drink all you want, he thought. If he really ran out of water, surely little Miss Lin wouldn’t just watch him die of thirst.
Soon, a fork in the road appeared ahead, barely wide enough for a single carriage to pass through.
They followed the path for about another quarter of an hour before scattered houses began appearing in sight.
Lin Yan instantly perked up and straightened his back. After passing a few isolated homes, the houses ahead became more concentrated.
Under a withered tree at the entrance of the village sat an elderly man, staring blankly at the dried-up creek nearby.
Hearing the sound of the carriage, the old man slowly turned his head. His cloudy eyes narrowed slightly. Even when the carriage stopped in front of him, he remained silent.
“Whoa.” Pei Guang halted the carriage. Looking at the sparsely populated village, he seemed to realize something. He quickly got down and walked over to the old man.
“Old sir, is Da Biao still in the village?”
The old man looked at the unfamiliar burly man before him and shook his head.
“He left. They all left.”
Pei Guang was stunned.
Da Biao had been a hunter. Previously, while helping his master search the mountains for medicinal herbs, Pei Guang had happened to save Da Biao from a pack of wolves.
He had originally planned to stay at Da Biao’s house tonight and finally get a good night’s rest.
What were they supposed to do now?
“Old sir, could we borrow a place at your home to rest for a while?” Lin Yan stepped forward and asked.
The old man looked at the old and young members of the group climbing down from the carriage.
“My house can’t fit all of you. Go to the village chief’s house instead. It’s more spacious.”
As he spoke, the old man shakily rose to his feet and began leading the way.
“Old brother, when did the villagers leave?” Old Master Lin walked beside the elder and casually helped support his arm.
“Sigh… the last group left a few days ago. The village chief took some people away the earliest. Recently, refugees kept drifting into the village. At first they begged for food, but later, seeing there were fewer and fewer villagers left, they started robbing people. Gradually, everyone left.”
“We’re old now. We can’t walk anymore. No point causing trouble for the younger folk,” the old man sighed.
At the front, Old Master Lin chatted with the elder, occasionally asking about the situation.
Meanwhile, behind them, Lin Zhiyue carefully observed the village. Most of the houses stood completely empty.
And empty truly meant empty—there was nothing left inside.
When they reached the center of the village, the old man pushed open the gate to one of the courtyards.
The courtyard was fairly spacious, but a glance inside revealed utter chaos. It looked as though the place had been ransacked.
“You can stay here. This belonged to my nephew’s family. There are only a few rooms left, and nothing inside.”
After speaking, the old man turned and walked toward the neighboring house, clearly indicating that he lived next door.
Lin Yan opened the courtyard gate while Pei Guang and Lin Dian parked the horse carriage and mule cart inside.
“Where are we?” Lin Zhili mumbled sleepily as he climbed down from the carriage. Seeing nobody paying attention to him, he followed Lin Zhiyue into the house.
“Wow, this place really got robbed!” Lin Zhili exclaimed.
Aside from a square table in the middle of the room and several crooked stools lying around, not even a scrap of cloth or a needle could be found.
If not for the drought, even the tables and stools probably would have been burned as firewood.
Lin Yan and the others inspected several rooms. Anything usable or portable had long since been taken away.
Fortunately, the beds were still there, and the kitchen stove remained intact. They could still cook over a fire.
Lin Zhiyue thought about the bag of rice they had.
Rice alone, but no vegetables.
Were they really just going to eat plain rice?
“Dad, let’s go take a look around.” Lin Zhiyue tugged at her father.
“Take a look at what? Hey, be careful.”
Seeing the father and daughter already walking out the door, Old Madam Lin had no time to stop them and could only call after them with a warning.
“Wait for me! I want to go too!” Lin Zhili had just started after them when—
“Where do you think you’re going? Stay put.” Madam Li grabbed him by the collar.
Next door—
“Old Sun, what kind of people did you bring into the village?” another old man with a crippled leg asked.
“Travelers passing through.”
“Aren’t you afraid they’ll turn out like those refugees from before?”
“What’s even left in this village worth stealing? They’ve got their own horse carriage and mule cart. What could they possibly rob from you?”
Old Sun impatiently cut him off.
“Old man, we’re just living one day at a time now. Why bother worrying about all that?” an elderly woman beside him slowly advised her husband.
Outside, Lin Yan and his daughter slowly passed house after house. Every door stood open, and each place had been turned upside down.
“Dad, we only have rice and no vegetables. Should I take some vegetables out from home?” Lin Zhiyue asked hesitantly.
“Having plain rice to eat is already pretty good.” Lin Yan clearly did not approve of his daughter taking things out.
No matter how careless Pei Guang was, if his daughter kept producing unfamiliar items one after another, he would eventually become suspicious. Lin Yan did not dare gamble on that.
“Second Brother Lin, little Miss Lin!”
At that moment, Pei Guang’s voice came from behind them.
“I’ve been to the mountains around here before. I’ll go take a look and see if I can hunt some game.”
“Sure! Guard Pei, we’ll cook the rice and wait for you to come back,” Lin Zhiyue said happily.
Back in modern times, Lin Zhiyue had never craved meat much. She could eat it or not eat it—it made little difference to her.
The refrigerator at home had mostly been stocked with vegetables and convenient semi-prepared foods, along with snacks and fruit.
Before, meat had always been readily available, but even if she went one or two weeks without eating any, she had never missed it.
Now, just thinking about meat made her mouth water uncontrollably.
The difference between having food available and not having it at all was truly enormous.