Seeing that Gu Youfu still wanted to argue further, Gu Jiu—who was anxious to get home and pack—finally couldn’t hold back.
“Old Master Gu, you really have a thick face. A few days ago you almost sold off a child, and today you’re trying to forcefully take a girl from another village. Are you trying to ruin the reputation of Shangxi Village?”
Gu Jiu successfully drew everyone’s attention. The villagers in line immediately turned their criticism toward Gu Youfu.
“Old Gu, if you want to act like a beast, don’t drag the whole village down with you!”
Gu Youfu couldn’t take the humiliation. He glared viciously at Gu Jiu.
“Gu Jiu, you little wretch! I’m your grandfather—how dare you talk back to me in public? You really are an ungrateful white-eyed wolf!”
Gu Jiu sneered. “Old fool, I’ve already cut ties with the Gu family. What kind of grandfather are you to me now?”
A couple of elderly villagers tried to speak up for Gu Youfu.
“Jiu girl, gratitude for raising you is greater than heaven. Even if you’ve separated, you still carry the Gu family’s blood. You can’t be so heartless,” said Old Master Zheng, pointing at her with a pipe.
“If I were heartless,” Gu Jiu replied coldly, “then last night when your Gu family came to my house to steal, I should’ve tied you all up and sent you straight to the authorities.”
The crowd immediately recalled seeing the Gu family earlier that morning—many of them injured. Could it be they were hurt last night while trying to steal from Gu Jiu?
Seeing the situation turning against them, Old Man Gu’s second son quickly tried to frame her instead.
“We were family before. We just went to visit her. She didn’t welcome us, and now she’s slandering her own family. At such a young age she’s already disrespectful and vicious—she’s truly dangerous!”
“If you were just visiting, why go in the middle of the night?” Gu Jiu shot back. “And my house had traps set for thieves. If you were making normal noise, would you have ended up injured by them?”
Her sharp questions left Old Gu’s second son speechless.
At this point, everyone clearly understood the truth: the Old Gu family had tried to steal in the night and got badly injured by Gu Jiu instead.
“I heard the eldest Gu and his wife are still lying in bed half-dead, and Old Madam Gu can’t even walk, which is why they didn’t come today,” Luo Xiulan whispered loudly to those beside her. Her voice, however, carried across the entire crowd.
Old Master Gu shot her a furious glare. Too embarrassed to stay, he dragged his son away.
After they left, Luo Xiulan felt a bit uneasy—but she still thought she was telling the truth and spat on the ground.
“They’ve already split up, yet they still bully those kids. The Old Gu family is truly disgraceful!”
Seeing the troublemakers gone, Village Head Feng ordered the queue to continue.
Gu Jiu finished registering and hurried home.
On the way back, she slipped into her spatial spring space.
She checked the rice fields first. The seeds she had planted earlier had already sprouted and grown noticeably. At this rate, they would be ready for harvest in just a few days.
The environment inside the space accelerated crop growth—anything planted would survive and thrive.
In the vegetable patch, cucumbers, chilies, and eggplants were already climbing and flowering. Pumpkin vines had also started blooming. Scallions, garlic shoots, and fast-growing greens like water spinach were ready to harvest.
Seeing her homegrown vegetables mature filled her with a quiet sense of satisfaction.
She picked two handfuls of scallions and garlic shoots, plus a bundle of water spinach, then returned home.
Gu Rong was waiting in the courtyard.
“Sis, you’re back! Did you go dig wild vegetables again?”
Now Gu Rong assumed anything her sister brought back came from the mountains.
“Yeah,” Gu Jiu replied casually. “Probably just sprouted yesterday, and I happened to find them today.”
She handed the vegetables to her sister and went inside to pack.
“Rong’er, Xiao Man, we’re leaving the village. We probably won’t come back. The village head will likely have us set out with the main group soon.”
“Sis, are we leaving to escape those barbarians coming to attack?” Gu Rong asked, more understanding than her younger sister.
“Yes. Rather than sitting here waiting for death, we should leave and find another way to survive.”
Gu Jiu first packed the twenty jin of rice and flour into sacks, sealing them and placing them at the bottom of her basket. She covered them with newly bought quilts for concealment.
The remaining household items—pots and bowls—were quickly gathered together with her sisters.
That night they cooked water spinach stir-fry, pumpkin porridge, and reheated leftover green pepper shredded pork. The four of them ate until full.
At dusk, Feng Daguan rang a gong door to door, announcing that at dawn the next day everyone must gather at the village entrance with their belongings.
The sound of the gong shattered the usual nighttime calm.
Villagers rushed to pack and notify relatives nearby. The whole village was noisy and chaotic; no one would sleep that night.
Gu Jiu also didn’t rest. She lit the fire again and brought out several jin of white flour, kneading dough with her sister to steam buns and dumplings.
Gu Xiao Man fell asleep against the wall from exhaustion, and even the youngest child, Gu Changle, had his usual early bedtime and was out instantly.
They made twenty steamed buns and twenty cabbage-filled buns, then started preparing scallion flower rolls.
“Sis, are these for the journey? Shouldn’t this last a month?” Gu Rong counted.
“I’ll still make twenty flower rolls. These rations will only last us two or three days. And we can’t just eat dry food—we still need meat and vegetables.”
Gu Jiu calculated carefully. With three meals a day and growing children, their food would be used up very quickly.
Gu Rong, however, thought differently. To her, having even one bun a day during escape would already be enough.
“Sis, I don’t eat much. I can save some food.”
Gu Jiu shook her head. “You’re still growing. You can’t go hungry. I’ll make sure you all eat enough.”
“Okay, I’ll listen to you,” Gu Rong said obediently.
She trusted her sister completely. Ever since they split from the family, they had been eating white rice every day—something she had never even dared to imagine before.
They worked until late into the night before finishing all the dry rations. After packing everything, they finally lay down to sleep together.
Before sleeping, Gu Jiu even gave Gu Rong a cup of spring water, worried she would be too exhausted the next day.