But fortunately, Gu Rong didn’t think too much about it and just nodded, seemingly believing her words.
Gu Jiu took some cloth strips that the owner of the clothing shop had previously given them and wrapped them around her younger sister’s injured hand, tying it off neatly with a bow.
Then she solemnly instructed the two younger ones.
“Xiao Man, Chang Le, your second sister’s hand is injured. These next couple of days, let her do less work. Don’t play around with her either—it might affect her recovery. Understand?”
“Got it, Sister,” Gu Xiao Man and Gu Chang Le nodded in unison.
“I’m not that delicate. Sister, I can still work…” Gu Rong tried to protest, but under Gu Jiu’s steady gaze, she felt guilty and didn’t dare continue.
She moved slightly, and the wound split open again, oozing blood. Gu Jiu had no choice but to re-bandage it, wrapping it even more carefully this time.
After that, Gu Rong no longer dared to move recklessly and obediently stayed still.
Gu Jiu lifted the lid of the left iron pot. Inside was a pot of pigeon soup. Just as she was about to get a bowl, she heard footsteps approaching.
She had deliberately chosen a clearing far away from the main group—somewhere people normally wouldn’t pass by even when fetching water or gathering firewood.
Looking up, she saw it was Li Dazhao, carrying over the wood he had prepared for making a flat cart.
“Uncle Dazhao, you’ve worked hard! This bowl of soup is perfect for you to take back and share with your wife and kids,” Gu Jiu said briskly as she ladled out a bowl and handed it to him.
“Jiu Yatou, you’re too polite. I can’t take your pigeon soup. Your younger siblings don’t even have enough to drink,” Li Dazhao quickly waved his hands in refusal.
“Uncle Dazhao, you still have to help me make the cart later. If you don’t accept this soup, I’ll feel too guilty asking you for help.”
In the end, he couldn’t refuse her. Li Dazhao accepted the bowl, his eyes turning red with excitement.
“Thank you, Jiu Yatou!”
His wife and children hadn’t had meat in a long time. To him, this pigeon soup was already an extremely luxurious treat.
What Gu Jiu didn’t tell him was that there was half a pigeon hidden at the bottom of the bowl.
When Li Dazhao brought the soup back, his wife and children were overjoyed, and even nearby villagers drooled at the smell.
“Li Dazhao is really lucky. He just helped make a couple of wooden frames and those silly girls from the Gu family gave him a whole bowl of meat soup. What a waste—no idea how to manage resources!” Liu Guihua said sourly. Her family was eating only dried wild vegetable cakes, bland and tasteless, and seeing them enjoy meat soup made her jealous.
Li Dazhao immediately shot back, “I earn my keep with my skills. Jiu Yatou is generous, that’s why she gave me meat soup. If you’re not convinced, go make a wooden frame yourself and see if she rewards you the same way!”
Liu Guihua had no idea how to do carpentry and was instantly left speechless, only able to mutter curses under her breath at Gu Jiu.
The tent of the Luo Xiulan family was nearby. She was busy making coarse flour dumpling soup.
“Jiu Yatou gave me money a few days ago to thank me for making clothes and shoes for her siblings. That girl is genuinely kind—she never stints on those who help her!” she said.
Many people in the middle of the group heard this and couldn’t help but think that Gu Jiu was a righteous and decent girl.
Her mother-in-law, Madam Jiang, quickly told her to stop talking and focus on cooking instead.
……
On Gu Jiu’s side, the pigeon soup with rice became dinner for the four siblings. Although there was a cabbage added into the soup, Gu Jiu still felt that the younger ones hadn’t eaten enough meat.
Tomorrow she would have to find a way to get more meat. Today, while chopping wood with Li Dazhao, she hadn’t had the chance.
After finishing dinner quickly, Li Dazhao came over to help her build the flat cart. Even though it was dark and they were working by torchlight, the two of them worked surprisingly fast together.
In less than half an hour, the cart was finished.
The edges were still rough and unpolished, so one had to be careful or they could easily get scratched.
Before leaving, Gu Jiu still insisted on giving Li Dazhao one hundred copper coins. He refused, so she forced him to choose between money or grain. In the end, he reluctantly took the coins.
He planned to keep it for the children and return it when they reached the city. But if he had taken grain instead, the children might not even survive long enough to reach the city.
After dinner, Feng Liren gathered more than thirty strong young men from the village to assign night watch shifts.
Every night, two people would be on guard—one at the front of the group, one at the back.
Before he could finish assigning duties, a scream suddenly came from the east.
“There… there’s a ghost!”
Li Dazhao felt that the voice sounded familiar.
“It sounds like Li Fugui’s brother. Let’s go check it out!”