Heavenly Blessed Baby: Fleeing Famine, Busy to Prosper!-Chapter 131: This Weather Could Freeze You to Death
In the darkness, ten or so flickering points of light appeared from afar.
The distance between the light points wasn’t far, and their movement was slow.
"Uncle Qi, let’s go welcome them!"
The eldest daughter-in-law of the Zhou Family came to find Qi Zheng, her face full of urgency.
The daughters-in-law at home also looked at him, so Qi Zheng nodded: "Those who are grandmothers, stay to watch the grandchildren. Ercai, you five stay as well. Fourth daughter-in-law, take your sisters-in-law and welcome them, take a couple more torches."
Following Qi Zheng’s instructions, everyone got busy.
Even those who couldn’t go out to welcome didn’t stay idle.
They helped with ropes, helped light torches.
Soon, Yi Meng led seven people towards the distant points of light.
Each of them had a torch in their hand, not only providing light for themselves but also marking their positions.
The wind grew stronger, causing the flames on the torches to flicker violently.
However, the eight of them did not hesitate, moving at a jog.
With Yi Meng leading the way, others from the group also sent out a few people, holding torches, heading towards the distance.
Finally, Yi Meng saw the faces under the torches opposite her.
Among the ten or so torches, there were only two or three unfamiliar faces; the rest were from their group.
"Brother Jin!"
Yi Meng called out loudly, soon hearing a response.
Qi Quanjin shouted: "Wife, don’t come over, we’re coming to you!"
Even though they were only about ten meters apart, Qi Quanjin was unwilling to let his wife walk the extra distance.
However, Yi Meng and the others couldn’t possibly stop there. They hurried over and helped support the tall pile of firewood.
Qi Erlang was only fourteen this year, carrying dry firewood almost twice his height, bending his back completely.
Wang Daya, worried, quickly went up and insisted Qi Erlang put down the pile of firewood, transferring it to her shoulders.
With the help of their own wives, Qi Quanjin and the men had more energy, even increasing their walking speed considerably.
But this made it tough for those following without torches to light the way.
Noticing this, Qi Quanjin instructed everyone to slow down.
"Brother Jin?"
Yi Meng looked at Qi Quanjin in surprise, not understanding why they were slowing down in the cold.
Qi Quanjin chuckled and nodded towards the back: "Those behind us are reluctant to light their torches, relying on ours to get back. They walk slower, and without light, a fall could scatter all the hard-earned firewood."
Upon hearing this, Yi Meng turned around and indeed saw others struggling to follow.
The firewood on their backs wasn’t actually much, but these people looked barely fed and lacking any strength, so Yi Meng said no more.
They were different; on the way, they had chicken feathers and rabbit fur for extra warmth in their coats. A short walk wouldn’t hurt them.
Finally returning to the group, everyone came up to help.
All the gathered firewood was piled together in a high stack, offering a sense of security.
Qi Zheng frowned and said, "With all this firewood, how will we bring it into the city tomorrow?"
"Father, we’ll bring what we can; what can’t be brought can be left. It’s alright."
Qi Quanjin smiled, wiping the sweat from his face.
There really was a lot of firewood. Walking back even with the cold wind, everyone was sweating.
Yi Meng quickly called out: "You’ve sweated, quickly warm by the fire, don’t catch a chill."
"Alright!"
Qi Quanjin always listened to his wife, quickly sitting by the fire to dry off.
The organizing was left to others. Those who gathered firewood just sat to rest, drank some warm water to warm up, and ate afterwards.
With new firewood added, the other fires burned brighter than before.
Near midnight, people by the city wall gradually fell asleep.
Though cold, even with the fires, tomorrow’s entry into the city was hope for them all.
Some saw no hope, with the city entry and residency costs being too high for many to afford.
But as long as there was life, it meant hope.
The night wind grew stronger.
The wagon covers flapped loudly, and Qi Ercai quickly had people cover them with sacks of chestnuts to prevent damage from the wind.
The wind was still strong, with no snow, but the temperature kept dropping.
They could no longer worry about waste; those watching the fire and staying awake quickly added wood to the fire.
Qi Ercai blew on his frozen face, rubbed it, and called the night watchers to light two more fires.
Their group was among the better ones, sheltered from the wind by the wagons and boards, with more fires raising the temperature, but even so, people woke from the cold.
"We can’t go on like this!"
Qi Zheng tugged the edge of his rabbit fur hat lower and called to Qi Ercai: "Set up the pot, boil water."
He paused, glanced at Yin Cheng in the distance: "Mr. Yin, do you have any ginger left?"
"I do, I’ll have Erlang get it."
Yin Cheng, also awakened by the cold, tugged his quilt tighter around him.
Qi Erlang, exhaling cold air, found a parcel of dried yellow ginger in the herb basket.
The yellow ginger, sliced and dried, was quickly added to the pot to make ginger water.
"This weather could freeze someone to death!"
Mr. Zhou sniffled, his voice muffled.
Mr. Sun agreed: "Yes, a windbreak would help, but without a shelter, even with hats, the scalp feels cold."
Mr. Wang, too cold to sit still, stood up to pace, occasionally glancing towards the other fires and sighing: "Those people don’t even have a windbreak, tonight won’t be easy for them!"
His words prompted everyone to look over.
Those people wrapped in unknown blankets or clothes, shielding from the wind, some lacking adequate protection used baskets with branches to block the wind.
"Don’t know if it’ll snow tonight; if it snows heavily, these fires might be smothered."
Qi Zheng sighed as well.
Yi Meng, busy making ginger water, glanced towards the others, feeling uneasy.
On such a cold night, she wondered if those in thin clothes might freeze to death.
Just then, Yi Meng heard Qi Dalang ask Qi Zheng: "Grandpa, should we share some of the ginger water we’re about to make with them?"
