Limping along, Madam Li hurried toward the village chief’s group.
The refugee column did not stop because of her endless troublemaking.
Everyone wanted to leave the mountains as soon as possible.
Using every bit of strength she had left, Madam Li finally caught up with the chief.
“Village Chief! Slow down! I need to talk to you!”
Leaning heavily on a stick she had picked up somewhere, she stood there panting and called out weakly.
The village chief turned around and saw it was Madam Li.
Immediately, a look of annoyance crossed his face.
She had been difficult to deal with even when she was young.
Now that she was old, she was no better.
Over the years she had stirred up countless conflicts between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law throughout the village.
The chief merely snorted and pretended not to hear her before continuing forward.
Madam Li nearly fainted from anger.
Facing his retreating back, she cried out dramatically,
“Village Chief! I don’t have many days left to live!
“Please take pity on this lonely old woman!
“Is the clan going to help me or not?”
The chief hadn’t witnessed her earlier argument with Song Qingsong.
He knew nothing about her demand that the clan provide for her in her old age.
At first he was confused.
But after thinking for a moment, he guessed she was once again talking about her sons.
The previous night, Song Hongsheng had already told him everything about her sons’ attempt to kidnap Lu Yao’s children.
The chief had been shocked by how depraved they were.
Trying to eat children—what kind of monsters were they?
As a result, he had little sympathy left for Madam Li.
Meanwhile, Madam Li still had no idea that her sons had become wolf food.
She assumed they had simply abandoned her and run away.
Inwardly, she cursed them for being unfilial, never imagining a worse fate.
Determined, she quickened her pace and finally caught up with the chief’s family.
Immediately, she launched into another round of crying and wailing.
Her tears seemed endless.
Then she finally revealed what she really wanted.
“Village Chief!
“I’m all alone now.
“I spent my whole life bearing children and working for the Song family.
“Even if I have no merit, surely I have some labor to my name!
“My sons are gone now.
“Isn’t it only right for the clan to take care of me?
“Village Chief, you must uphold justice!”
Walking nearby happened to be Song Qingsong’s family.
The moment Qingsong’s mother heard this, she immediately cut in.
“Li Erni, you’ve brought all of this upon yourself.”
Madam Li’s original name was Song Erni.
The younger generation didn’t know it, but people her age certainly did.
Hearing her full name spoken publicly caused her face to burn with embarrassment.
Unfortunately, Qingsong’s mother couldn’t care less.
If the clan really agreed to support a useless old woman, everyone else’s burden would increase.
And they weren’t fools.
She continued without mercy:
“When your husband was alive, he earned plenty of money through his woodworking skills.
“After he died, he left a good amount behind for you and your sons.
“If you had managed your household properly, that money would’ve been enough to feed all of you and even find wives for your boys.
“Who in the village lived more comfortably than your family back then?
“When the rest of us were struggling and came to borrow money in emergencies, what did you say?
“You claimed you were broke.
“But the very next day we saw you returning from town carrying piles of food and supplies.
“Now your precious sons won’t support you anymore, so you want to cling to the rest of us?
“What kind of logic is that?
“Do we look like suckers to you?”
Everyone around remained silent.
Madam Li didn’t argue back.
After all, every word was true.
But admitting the facts didn’t mean she intended to give up.
Instead, she simply ignored Qingsong’s mother and continued pestering the chief.
The village chief felt his head beginning to ache.
On one hand, the old woman was indeed pitiful.
On the other hand, he couldn’t make such a decision alone.
Everyone’s food supplies were already limited.
No one knew how long it would take to cross the mountains.
No one knew when they would reach safety.
Every grain of food mattered.
After a long pause, he finally said,
“Madam Li, go back for now.
“I’ll discuss it with the others and let you know later.”
By now, Madam Li was dizzy with hunger.
She truly had no strength left.
“Village Chief…”
She licked her dry lips.
“Could you at least give me something to eat first?
“I haven’t eaten in two meals.
“I really can’t keep walking.
“I still have luggage to carry and…”
Seeing how miserable she looked, the chief sighed.
Turning to his wife, he said,
“Give her one of our flatbreads.”
Reluctantly, the chief’s wife pulled out a coarse flatbread made from mixed grains and wild vegetables and handed it over.
Through sheer shameless persistence, Madam Li had managed to secure herself a meal.
She snatched the bread and immediately stuffed huge bites into her mouth.
The bread was hard as stone.
She nearly choked.
Her eyes rolled back from the effort.
Even so, she refused to spit it out.
Unable to swallow, she bent down, scooped up a handful of snow, and shoved it into her mouth.
Using the melted snow as water, she finally forced the bread down her throat.
The chief didn’t spare her another glance.
He simply led his family onward.
Lu Yao, walking near the rear of the column, saw none of Madam Li’s dramatic performance.
Even if she had, she wouldn’t have cared.
At this point, the refugees had already been trudging through snow for an entire hour.
Many children were reaching the limits of their endurance.
The snowfall had also made the forest far more dangerous.
Snow concealed holes, pits, and uneven ground.
Someone had to scout ahead.
Song Hongsheng led the patrol team through the column, announcing a short rest break.
The moment people heard they could stop, they practically collapsed.
Some families brushed snow aside to create cleaner resting spots.
Others simply sat directly in the snow.
Song Hongsheng made his way toward Lu Yao.
He still worried that the northern raiders might somehow follow them.
The weather offered little protection.
Everything was covered in white.
There was nowhere to hide.
When the group stopped, Lu Yao stopped as well.
The children had fallen asleep inside their cart.
She didn’t wake them.
They deserved a little extra rest.
Instead, she wrapped strips of cloth around the vine handles of the cart to make them easier on the hands.
By the time Song Hongsheng arrived, she was still working.
“Sister-in-law, how’s the cart working out?”
Lu Yao handed him the handle.
“Try it yourself.”
Taking hold, he gave it a firm pull.
Since there were three children inside, he expected considerable weight.
To his surprise, the cart shot forward effortlessly.
The sudden movement nearly woke the sleeping children.
He quickly stopped and stared in amazement.
“Sister-in-law, this is incredible!
“Can you teach everyone how to make these?
“It would speed up travel tremendously.
“Even if people don’t transport children, they could use them for luggage.
“It would make life so much easier.”
For Lu Yao, it wasn’t a difficult request.
“Of course.
“But I’ll only teach a few people.
“Anyone else who wants to learn can learn from them.”
“That’s fair.”
Song Hongsheng nodded.
“I know you don’t like dealing with crowds.
“I’ll bring a few members of the patrol over later.”
Only then did he remember why he’d come in the first place.
“Sister-in-law…”
He hesitated.
“Do you think those raiders might still catch up to us?
“With weather like this, we have nowhere to hide if they do.”
Lu Yao replied calmly,
“You don’t need to worry about pursuers anymore.
“This snowfall came at exactly the right time.
“It erased our tracks.
“Even if they enter the mountains, they’ll lose their sense of direction and eventually give up.
“The snow has effectively cut off any pursuit.”
Song Hongsheng visibly relaxed.
The tension he’d been carrying finally eased.
That alone would make future patrols much easier.
Then Lu Yao asked,
“Can I ask something?
“What’s our final destination?
“And what route are we taking?”
Song Hongsheng answered honestly.
“Our destination is Wanning Prefecture in the southeast.
“They say it’s a land of abundance—rivers, rice fields, and prosperous people.
“To get there from Liangxi Prefecture, we’ll first have to pass through Rongping Prefecture.
“Then we’ll need to cross the Ningping River before reaching Wanning.”
Lu Yao silently calculated the distance.
Over a thousand kilometers.
For villagers dragging children, elderly family members, and whatever possessions they had left, it would take months.
Food alone would become a massive problem.
Still, she kept her thoughts to herself.
She had food.
There was no need to volunteer advice to people she barely knew.
Apart from Song Hongsheng, she didn’t understand the others well enough to trust them.
And Lu Yao had no intention of burdening herself with additional responsibilities.
Just as the two were talking, a commotion suddenly broke out from the direction of Xiaoyang Village.