Chapter 4: Fleeing Famine and Pressing On
Granny Gu had been saying this for three days, and each time Gu Jin’an heard it, he was so angry that his eyes turned red with rage. Today, filled with hatred, he couldn’t hold back anymore and said, "Granny, we hand over all the food we find every day to the family, and you don’t give us our rations. What are we supposed to repay with?"
Granny Gu let out a cold laugh: "That’s your problem. In any case, the food you find every day must be handed over. That’s the rule set by the village chief."
The Gu Family Village had fled together from the famine, to survive, the village chief and several clan elders discussed, during the escape, each household must send out at least two adult males to search for food daily. The food found must not be hoarded privately; it has to be turned over to the family, and then a portion of it must be given to the village. When there’s really no food left, the village will distribute the food to each household.
If anyone dares to hoard food secretly and does not turn it in, once discovered, they will be expelled from the migrating group and can no longer follow the village.
On the escape route, there are displaced people everywhere, who in extreme hunger would do anything. If a family walks alone, they wouldn’t make it ten miles before everything gets robbed.
Leaving these words behind, Granny Gu, supported by her two daughters-in-law, left.
Gu Jinli’s eyes narrowed as she watched Granny Gu’s upright back. Not providing rations, and not allowing the hoarding of food, she was trying to starve their family to death.
No, she must find the household registration as quickly as possible and lead her family away from the Old Gu Family.
Great Chu had strict household registration management. To leave the Old Gu Family, they first had to obtain the household registration hidden by Granny Gu. Without it, their family would be considered vagrants.
Vagrants were different from disaster victims; the government would settle disaster victims, but would trade vagrants!
People without a household registration could be traded at will in Great Chu.
Bang bang bang bang!
A series of clangs from a gong echoed from near a boulder nearby, the resting place of the Village Chief Gu’s family.
"Those from Gu Family Village, all of Gu Family Village, get up and gather, it’s time to hit the road!" Gu Dafu, the eldest son of the village chief’s family, shouted loudly again and again.
Hearing the sound, people from nearby Gu Family Village got up, rolled up their straw mats, shouldered their knapsacks, tied their grain bags, slung their pots and water containers, supported the elderly, and led the children, running towards the resting place of the village chief’s family to gather. Once the headcount was finished, they would set off and continue heading east to escape the famine.
The disaster victims from other villages also began to beat gongs and summon people to get up and prepare to set off.
Gu Jinli looked around, the scene she saw was shocking. All the disaster victims at the foot of the mountain were on the move, carrying things and leading people, flowing like a current toward their respective villages’ gathering spots.
Looking out, there were densely packed people, the scale comparable to an army assembling.
Gu Jinli gripped Gu Jincheng’s hand tightly. On this escape route, their family must be constantly vigilant. With so many disaster victims, if they weren’t careful, the family could very well perish on the way.
"Xiao Yu, your wound hasn’t fully healed. Let father carry Brother Cheng, and you hold your mother’s hand tightly, don’t let go," Gu Dashan heard the sound of the gong, quickly rolled up the family’s straw mat and carried it on his back, then tied the water-filled bamboo tube to his waist and took Brother Cheng into his arms, instructing Gu Jinli.
Mrs. Cui was already holding tightly to her two daughters’ hands, her face showing lingering fear as she said, "Follow mom, don’t let go on the road, don’t respond to anyone who calls you, and if there’s danger, shout for help, shout loudly."
Gu Jin’an covered the rear, protecting the three women of the family in between while tying a cloth bag which contained the leftover leaves from last night’s meal which would be their lunch today; at the same time, he said to Gu Jinli, "Xiao Yu, if you feel unwell, tell Big Brother, don’t just soldier on."
Gu Jinli nodded, only managing to reply with a "okay" before being pushed forward by the people behind.
By the time they arrived at the village chief’s family’s resting place, the majority of the people from Gu Family Village had already arrived.
The people from Old Gu Family were there too. Upon seeing their family of six, Granny Gu snorted with displeasure, her face wrinkles quivering with the snort.
Little Sister Gu followed with a sneer.
Beside her, Gu Dagu gave them a glance, opened her mouth, and spat out a word of contempt.
Gu Dagu’s family followed their maternal family to escape the famine. Unwilling to eat their own grain, they were always consuming their maternal family’s store. On the day when Gu Xiaoyu was beaten, she overheard the head of the household inquiring about the news, and listened to Little Sister Gu’s exaggerated words about how Gu Dashan resented their married daughters for eating the maternal family’s grain, hating Gu Dashan’s family to death. It was her who told Granny Gu this morning that Gu Xiaoyu had not died and was awake, inciting Granny Gu to go and beat Gu Jin’an.
Uncle Gu Er and Elder Gu stood in front of the Gu Family’s women, turned back to glance at Gu Jinli, and with a cold face lectured, "Framing your own uncle, disrespecting your grandparents and elders, so vicious at such a young age, you bring shame upon our family."
Uncle Gu Er, already looking down upon Gu Dashan, despised Gu Xiaoyu even more after hearing from Mrs. Gu that Gu Xiaoyu wanted him to find food.
Him, go find food?
He was a scholar, a prestigious student, taking on work meant for desperate refugees – how unseemly!
Gu Jinli really wanted to slap his face. It was exactly because of Granny Gu and these people that the Old Gu Family was brought shame.
Gu Dashan and Mrs. Cui were already accustomed to this, just tightly holding onto their children, ignoring Uncle Gu Er’s words as if they heard nothing.
Elder Gu listened intently to the situation here, and seeing that Gu Dashan’s family did not retort, he remained silent.
Village Chief Gu was in his fifties, with a stern face, two deep lines running down to his chin, and a scrawny figure dressed in patched cotton clothes. He waited until all the people of Gu Family Village had gathered, and then had his eldest son call the roll.
A quarter of an hour later, the roll was finished.
The village chief cleared his throat and repeated the same speech he made every day before setting off: "Escaping the famine is difficult, we must support each other, watch over our own children, take care of our own elderly. Grain, water, and salt are critical for survival, and must never be lost! There are many refugees fleeing the famine, villagers must not start trouble, and should not add to the village’s burdens. Stick together on the road, the lead party won’t wait, let’s move out!"
Following the village chief’s command to move out, more than two hundred people from Gu Family Village began to move, going down the mountain to the official road, then following the official road to the east.
Ahead of Gu Family Village, many refugees were already hurrying along; behind Gu Family Village, even more refugees surged onto the official road, all with families in tow, supporting the old and carrying the young, forming an endless, mighty procession.
Gu Jinli looked ahead and behind, her heart grew heavier. She gripped onto Mrs. Cui and Gu Jinxiu tightly, following hurriedly behind Gu Dashan.
Most of the refugees were on foot, some were in carts, mostly hand-pulled flatbed carts, belonging to the better-off families from different villages.
Along the road, there were also occasional horse-drawn carriages—those of wealthy families from the Prefecture. They always passed in groups of several, with a large group of stick and sword-carrying servants running alongside the carriages. Even though the refugees knew these were houses of wealth and that inside the carriages there was food and water, they did not dare to rob them.
The journey went on for the whole day, from the dim light of dawn until around four in the afternoon, when one could see that if they kept walking, people would start fainting. Finally, some refugees stopped to rest.
Seeing the refugees ahead stop, Village Chief Gu had his eldest son sound the wooden clapper, signaling everyone to stop and rest.
Clack clack clack clack!
"Those from Gu Family Village, rest in place. Everyone, use this time to look for food and water, prepare what you’ll eat for tomorrow, get a good rest. We gather and set off at the crack of dawn tomorrow!"
Hearing this, the refugees from Gu Family Village felt as if they heard the sound of heaven. All were so tired that they collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air with big breaths.
In her previous life, Gu Jinli was a military doctor who often carried out missions in the wilderness, but this body was just ten years old and now severely starved. After walking the whole day on foot, she too was exhausted and sat down on the ground.
Gu Dashan and Gu Jin’an, however, had no time to rest. They took off the straw mats, bamboo tubes, and a half-bag of leaves on their backs and handed them to Mrs. Cui, saying, "There’s still a few sips of water in the bamboo tube, save it - drink sparingly. If you’re hungry, chew on a few leaves to stave off the hunger. Brother An and I are going to look for food; once we find something to eat, we’ll finally have a full meal."