Cheng Hao smiled and didn't dwell on the topic. Instead, he first asked Li Datou to go back and fetch ten catties of grain, five catties of white flour and five catties of rice, which were considered rare items.
The old village chief and the other men couldn't help but swallow upon hearing this.
They didn't even know what it tasted like.
Then.
The old village chief also sent others to get everything at once, saying, "We won't come next time, and we'll try not to come again. Not to mention encountering enemy soldiers, but even if we encounter ruffians, we won't be able to escape. You should take everything at once!"
The other villagers went when they heard this, leaving only one person who wanted to stay with the old village chief. He was politely declined and then followed everyone to find their belongings.
Relocating was like changing residences, and some miscellaneous items had to be replenished.
There were always some things missing.
So they had to come back to search.
Everyone responded with complicated feelings and then went back to their homes to search.
Cheng Fengtai felt quite troubled, afraid that people would discover they had searched their home. His face was already flushed with shame, and he kept wondering if he had messed things up.
Cheng Hao and Su Miaomiao were calm, acting as if nothing had happened. They even heard that they were really going to hide in this vicinity and looked around, then pondered, feeling that life was truly unbearable.
Su Miaomiao looked around and then said, "Hiding here may not be safe. If enemy soldiers kill their way here, they won't leave without digging up the whole place. The cruelty of these people is evident. Fengcheng has already been massacred. Can you escape from here? It's just like a cat playing with a mouse. If you are discovered then, you don't know what the consequences will be."
It was only a few steps away from Fengcheng, and the risk factor was indeed very high.
The old village chief shook his head helplessly and said, "Who would want to leave their homeland if not forced? To abandon one's home and land is to lose one's roots. What is the meaning of being alive? We don't know the situation outside."
He asked where on earth could they find a good place to settle down?
The only valuable things farmers had were the small plots of land and ancestral houses left by their ancestors. If they abandoned all of that, they would truly starve to death outside in the future.
Su Miaomiao said, "With hands and feet, how can one starve to death? You still have salt and other things, which is much better than our lack of necessities. If you stay, and the enemy soldiers occupy this place later, when your supplies run out, you will have to come out to find food. What then?"
That would be truly surrounded, and it would be too late by then.
The old village chief was well aware of this logic, but facing the prospect of wandering, an uncertain future, and recalling that eleven years ago, some people had fled. The man who was willing to exchange first was from elsewhere and had come here to marry into the family, truly grateful to his in-laws.
But fleeing to other places was truly a bitter undertaking. Thinking of that outsider, who left his homeland and could never return, was heartbreaking. Moreover, he was considered lucky, having found a good village and good in-laws. Many more had died on the road.
The old village chief felt that it was better to die in one's homeland than on the road. At least, he would be with his deceased loved ones, which was considered worthwhile.
But he couldn't help but feel a sense of unwillingness. Were they really going to wait for death as a whole village?
Cheng Hao's suggestion was to retreat first and see what happened. They could return if everything was safe. Of course, it was just a suggestion.
The old village chief fell into deep thought, and the struggle and entanglement within him were imaginable.
The young couple didn't bother him any further.