Chapter 270: Just Pretend They’re Still Alive

Gu Fei’s mouth twitched. ’Ms. Qian is too cheap to even light a lamp. What is everyone doing, just sitting around foolishly in the dark?’

A moment later, Gu Zhong lit a lamp and brought it into the main hall. Everyone found a place to sit down.

The Old Madam came out of her room as well.

Xing’er hurried over to knock on the door of the side room. "Sister, Brother-in-law, Second Uncle and the others are here to see you! Wake up!"

After traveling thousands of miles, Taotao and Fugui had finally arrived home. Having eaten, bathed, and finally been able to relax, the two had fallen asleep in their room.

Hearing Xing’er’s call, Taotao quickly got up. She hastily tidied her hair and helped Fugui out of the room.

When Gu Zhang saw them, he pointed to the meat and brown sugar eggs on the table. "This is a little something your Second Aunt managed to find at home for you and Fugui to build up your strength."

Taotao quickly replied, "Thank you, Second Uncle and Second Aunt, for being so thoughtful."

Just as the atmosphere grew lively, Little Uncle entered, followed closely by Boss Zhang carrying a rice bowl. Boss Zhang had just returned, and hearing that Taotao had found them, he’d come over to take a look.

Aunt Liu could wait no longer. She asked impatiently, "Taotao, when did you leave home? Did you see my brother and his wife?"

Taotao waved her hand. "I didn’t see them, but I heard some news."

Aunt Liu asked anxiously, "What did you hear?"

Taotao sighed. "This is just hearsay, so I don’t know if it’s true."

"They say your brother... he managed to get some grain somewhere, but when he got to the banks of the Great River, he was beaten to death and the grain was stolen. No one collected his body."

Aunt Liu was stunned silent for a long moment, then tears slowly began to fall. He was her only brother, and now he was gone.

The village chief patted his wife’s back, his own heart heavy.

After crying for a while, Aunt Liu asked, "And my nephews?"

Taotao shook her head. "I don’t know. I didn’t see them."

Fugui, who was leaning weakly against a chair, spoke up. "Auntie, don’t ask. What’s the point? It’s better for you to just pretend they’re all still alive, just somewhere you can’t see them. It will be easier on your heart that way."

"Taotao and I left with my mother and our two children on the fifteenth of the first month."

"Even after spring began, there wasn’t a single drop of rain, so we couldn’t plant any crops."

"Besides, we had to leave. There was absolutely no food left at home. It wasn’t just us—every single household had run out of food."

"People had already dug up all the grass roots around the village."

"Chen Dahu, from our village, still had some grain. But a gang from the nearby villages came and robbed him. His wife and son were beaten to death, so he and his daughter fled the famine with us."

Fugui gasped for breath. "The surrounding counties are deserted. Every family has fled the famine."

"On the road, we ate anything we could. Snakes, bugs, rats, ants... you were lucky if you could find even that."

"A family was considered fortunate if even half of them survived."

"The thing we saw most on the journey... was dead people!"

He paused, his expression numb. "My mother... my two children... they’re all gone. If Taotao and I weren’t young, we wouldn’t have survived it either."

"By the time we reached Huainan County, we were too exhausted to walk another step. At least there was no drought there, so we could beg for food."

"But then we remembered my parents-in-law had mentioned Ping’an City, so we struggled on until we got here."

"Thankfully, it seems fate wasn’t done with us. We only arrived here yesterday, and we’ve already found family today."

As Fugui finished his story, Taotao wept quietly beside him.