flstandardbreds Chapter 117 No Night in Town
Chapter 117 No Night in Town
Mu Tou pursed his lips and looked at the gatekeepers, secretly swearing in his heart that he must pass the exam.
The people in the city were bustling about, and it seemed that they were not affected too much.
According to his memory, Su He came to the door of a security agency. There were four big words on the door: Mighty Security Agency.
"Village leader, tell everyone to go shopping quickly and be back within half an hour. We have to travel overnight."
Wang Zhun nodded, and followed Shunzi with the village purchasing team as originally planned, and the other two villages quickly followed.
"anyone there?"
Su He led Mu Tou into the escort agency.
"Someone, miss, are you escorting a caravan or sending a letter?"
A strong man in blue clothes came out from the door in response.
"I need someone to lead the way to Su'an County. Can your escort agency take me there?"
The man's name was Zheng Da. He smiled confidently when he heard Su He's words. "Yes, I can answer it. How many people are there in the young lady's family?"
"Seven hundred."
Zheng Da's face froze, and he suspected that he had heard it wrong.
"How many?"
"My entire family is moving to Su'an County. Don't worry, we are not fleeing famine. We have the formal procedures. It's just that my family has never traveled far, and now that the weather is getting colder, we want to get there quickly."
Zheng Da hesitated a little, "Miss, it's not that we don't mind this, but there are too many people and it's difficult for us to manage them."
“Is the road difficult to walk on?”
"That's not the case. It's just that in addition to leading the way, we also need to protect everyone's safety. There are only 30 people in our escort agency who can move around now. It's too difficult to protect more than 700 people."
Su He nodded in understanding, "It's okay, you are responsible for leading the way. If you can help if you encounter danger, I can't blame you. Name a price, I want at least 20 people to participate."
"Miss, for a journey of one month, we charge two hundred taels. Since there are too many of you, we have to increase the price, at least four hundred taels."
Su He felt a little sad, but she also knew that they were risking their lives. It was not that expensive to go back and forth for two months in such cold weather for twenty people.
"Okay, give me 200 taels first, and I'll give you the rest when I get back."
Su He thought of the look in the eyes of the gatekeeper at the city gate and just wanted to leave quickly.
Zheng Da took the money very readily and went into the house immediately to distribute the money and select people.
The two agreed to wait at the south gate of the city, and Su He left.
Mu Tou followed his sister, and he was more heartbroken about the four hundred taels of silver than Su He.
"Sister, why is it that our family has to pay for everyone's escape?"
Su He touched her little head, "Mu Tou, these people will all be our clansmen in the future. If you want to take the imperial examination, you must have your own relatives behind you. Our father's clan is too unbearable. If someone attacks you in the future, these people behind you will all stand up for you. Sister doesn't ask for much, as long as there are people here who know how to be grateful. Look at the village chief of Sanshi Village, their family is worthy of us doing this. That Su Yuwen, he passed the examination last year. Didn't you pass the first round? Ask more people for advice on the road in the future."
Mu Tou looked at the tribesmen on the opposite side who were still despised by passers-by even after putting on the best clothes, and nodded heavily.
"I know, sister."
Half an hour later, everyone came back one after another.
After waiting for another ten minutes, Su He called everyone to set off.
"Village chief, let's go and count the number of people at the city gate."
Su He took the lead and left with the wood, and the teams behind followed one by one.
Su Bingyi from Sanshi Village was very angry. Many of his fellow villagers were missing, at least thirty people did not come back.
The situation of Village Chief Xu of Dahe Village was not much better. Everyone followed the team in front silently.
"Sister, many people didn't make it. Uncle Shunzi said that some of them just stayed in the big bunk bed because it was too cold and they couldn't leave the city at night."
"It's okay. We only keep those who are willing to go. There's no need to force them."
We have done our best by bringing them to Jinyang City.
The group of people walked out of the city gate in silence, and this time, no one made trouble for them.
Zheng Da had been waiting with his men for a long time. They had two carts and two horse-drawn carriages. It could be said that their equipment was much better than that of these peasants.
Su He greeted the other party, "Sorry for the wait, Chief Zheng, what are the arrangements for next? We will follow your instructions. In addition, your people need to be divided into several teams. I am afraid that the team behind will fall behind, so please check the back."
Zheng Da brought 20 guys in total, including him as the 21st. There were many customers this time, so he called several old guys.
"No problem. I'll just have eight people go to the end of the team. I'll lead the way, and the others will go back and forth in the middle."
"Zheng Er, take someone to count the people in person, and come back to me after you have counted them clearly."
The official road was wide, and Su He's cart was moving forward at the same pace as Zheng Da's carriage.
"There is a small village about an hour away. We sometimes stay there for the night, but with so many of you, I don't know if there will be enough space."
Zheng Da was also a little uncertain, "We have to be careful when staying overnight in a small village. We'd better pay attention to the elderly, women and children."
Su He nodded. She realized that she would have to arrange someone to keep watch every day from now on.
"Captain Zheng, do you think our group can get there within a month? It snowed at this time last year. This year, due to the drought, it's not that cold yet, but I'm afraid it will snow on the road."
Zheng Da understood what Su He meant. He was worried that they would catch a cold while sleeping outdoors in the wilderness. Now everyone was on their way, and getting sick would not be fun.
"In that case, let's save the time for eating and try to hurry. I'm familiar with this road, and I'll try to arrange the time well."
Zheng Da is a cautious person and doesn't want to say too much.
Su He nodded, not minding that Zheng Da didn't agree immediately.
In ancient times, if we talk about ordinary people who have seen the world, the people in the escort agency can be counted as one of them. Su He thought about Yunhe, where he would go in the future, and cheered up to absorb some knowledge. Zheng Da was not stingy either and spoke very clearly.
Everyone here was on their way. The Su family from Sanshi Village was rummaging through other people's homes. The first place they went to was the village chief's house. They were all very happy when they touched the blue bricks in the house and stepped on the clean floor. He Chunliu, the eldest daughter-in-law of Su Bingzhong, rolled her eyes and came up with a good idea.
"Mom and Dad, the village chief is not coming back anyway, so why don't we move and live in the village chief's house? It doesn't matter if I live there or not, but it's time for mom and dad to enjoy their life. We can celebrate the New Year in the blue brick and tile house, too."
Su Bingzhong had already been sitting on the kang, his face full of smiles as he listened to his eldest daughter-in-law's words. Wang Cuicui's eyes lit up, and she kept praising her favorite daughter-in-law.
"After all, Chunliu is the eldest daughter-in-law. I would say that this daughter-in-law was not chosen wrongly. As the head of the family, Chunliu's words also make some sense. What do you think?"
Su Bingzhong was of course willing. "Well, since Chunliu is so filial, we old people should cooperate. Chunliu, ask everyone in the family to move the things. Dacheng's mother, hurry up and heat up the kang. I'm freezing cold just sitting there."
He Chunliu agreed loudly with a smile on his face, cursing in his heart that this old man couldn't even wait for a day.
He Chunliu didn't want to work. She was thinking of going to other houses to see if there were any treasures that the village chief couldn't take away.
"Dad, I thought you and mom must be tired, so I'll go make some steamed buns for you to eat. You'll be warm after eating. Or let the second child go if we want to move. I just don't know if the second child is free."
He Chunliu looked at Su Decai who was leaning on the kang in a daze, and felt contempt for him. He thought he was a coward who couldn't even keep his own wife.
When Su Bingzhong heard his eldest daughter-in-law mention the second son, his smile disappeared immediately. "What can happen to him? He is a complete idiot who can feed the whole family with just one person. Su Decai, didn't you hear what your sister-in-law said? Go back and move your luggage."
Wang Cuicui's smile disappeared when Su Decai was mentioned, but after all, he was her own son, so she was better than Su Bingzhong. "Let's call the eldest and the third son to help. With more people, it will be faster to move things. Let's just pack up some things today. After we finish eating steamed buns, we need to move things from other houses. I see that the Niba family next door is already moving things home, so we should hurry as well."
He Chunliu got angry when she heard about Niba's family. That family had stolen a lot of her new cotton, and she still remembered this grudge.
Soon, several families started to scramble for the food. The people who stayed behind in Sanshi Village were even more tired than Su He and the others, as they were still rummaging through other people's cellars in the middle of the night.
Anything that could be used, including a few pounds of sweet potatoes or a wooden table that could not be taken away, was brought home.
These people were very happy looking at the spoils on the ground, but they didn't know that they were the same in the eyes of others.