Yang the hunter finally decided to turn back.
He couldn't bear to leave his small mountain cabin, nor his deceased relatives.
Jiang Pan and the old village chief couldn't keep him, so they gave him a few wolf pelts and some grain.
"Uncle Yang, please take these things."
Yang the hunter refused, "You've already given me money, how can I accept these things from you? Besides, your own food isn't plentiful."
Jiang Pan said, "Uncle Yang, the dangers of this journey are evident to all. You risked your life to bring us here, and this kindness cannot be repaid with mere material possessions. This is a token of appreciation from everyone in our small village. Please, you must accept it."
Unable to refuse, Yang the hunter accepted. "Then I shall accept with a thick skin. Alright, let's part ways here. I wish you a safe journey and take care."
Jiang Pan and the old village chief replied, "You take care as well."
Yang the hunter, carrying the gifts they gave him, turned and strode back towards the abandoned official road.
Soon, his figure was obscured by the surrounding vegetation.
Many people from the small village couldn't help but cry.
Having spent nearly half a month together and gone through life and death, they had all developed feelings for each other.
Yang the hunter also felt a pang in his heart. He actually wished he could go to Jiangnan with the villagers. But ultimately, he couldn't let go. Moreover, as someone who lived by hunting, his livelihood wasn't greatly affected by location.
Going to Jiangnan would merely be a change of hunting grounds, but his relatives' graves would be left uncared for.
Yang the hunter, suppressing his reluctance, traveled for half a day. When it was time to eat, he stopped to prepare a fire to boil water and eat something.
When he opened the dry food bag given to him by Jiang Pan and reached inside, he felt a cloth bundle containing something hard.
He quickly took it out and saw it was a rather unkempt-looking money pouch.
Upon opening it, he found over ten taels of silver, scattered pieces.
He instinctively thought Jiang Pan had accidentally put it in by mistake. But upon closer inspection, he saw a note inside the pouch. Taking it out, he read four characters: "For Grandpa Yang."
Yang the hunter's eyes welled up. He understood that this money pouch was from that little girl, Jiang Wan, who had deliberately tucked it in for him.
Where did Jiang Wan get the silver?
It was, of course, from controlling rats with her special ability and stealing it from Jiang Lao Er's home.
At that time, Zhou Shi had exposed the villagers' hiding place while searching for this money pouch.
Jiang Wan had no particular attachment to wealth, and in this era, there was nowhere for her to spend it. Instead, it had brought her considerable trouble.
She had nowhere to hide it!
The items at home dwindled, and she had to rack her brain to hide this small amount of silver.
Since her family was no longer lacking money, she decided to do a good deed and give the silver to Yang the hunter. Although the amount wasn't large, it would allow Yang the hunter to improve his living conditions.
Yang the hunter was so moved that tears streamed down his face. He felt that although the little chubby girl could be fierce in her actions, her heart was exceptionally kind. Little did he know that the little chubby girl only felt she had solved a problem and was quite pleased with herself.
After bidding farewell to Yang the hunter, the villagers from the small mountain village hurried towards the distant town.
As the saying goes, "Looking at a mountain and running a horse to death," although the town was within sight, it still took them over a day to reach it.
"The city gate tower is built so grandly."
Standing beneath the city gate, the crowd looked up at the high city walls, unable to contain their astonishment.
Their ancestors had lived in the small mountain village their entire lives, and the farthest they had ever been was the county town. The Tongzhou Prefecture City they had visited before had already amazed them once. Although this town was not as large as Tongzhou Prefecture City, its grandeur was no less, indicating that this place was quite prosperous.
Due to the recent heavy rain that had washed out the official road, there weren't many fleeing famine teams. The more than three hundred people from the small village standing at the city gate were particularly conspicuous.
None of them had travel permits, making it impossible to enter the city.
Jiang Pan found a place for the villagers to rest. He then arranged for a horse-drawn carriage and gathered all the wolf pelts that had been distributed among the villagers, intending to sell them in the city. Chen Yuezhi and the others would accompany him.
After all, they had finally reached a prefecture city, and they needed to go in to see if there was anything they could resupply.
Madam Cheng brought out her jewelry box. "I'll go with you."
Chen Yuezhi glanced at the box. "What is this?"
Madam Cheng smiled. "I intend to pawn these items to exchange them for silver and buy a carriage."
She didn't have much cash on hand, and she had already decided to give that silver to the small mountain village. To buy a carriage, she had to resort to this method.
Chen Yuezhi felt a bit embarrassed. "You should keep these things. We haven't reached the point of desperation yet. There's no need for this."
Madam Cheng smiled. "But I cannot be a person who breaks their promise. Let's go, Sister-in-law Jiang. I've been to this town a few times and have some knowledge of the city's situation. I can guide you."
Thus, the entire Jiang family, along with Madam Cheng and her son, and a few villagers, paid the fees and entered the city gate.
One travel permit could allow one additional person to enter the city. The Jiang family had seven travel permits, and with Madam Cheng and her son's two, they brought a total of nine villagers.
Liu Shi had a travel permit, so she also brought her daughter into the city.
The impact of the drought here was relatively small, and the lives of the common people were relatively stable. The shops on the streets were open, and business was doing well.
However, Chen Yuezhi inquired and found that the prices of all goods had increased significantly, only slightly cheaper than in Tongzhou.
Madam Cheng saw her frowning and comforted her, "The situation in Jiangnan is much better. At least the grain prices there haven't fluctuated much."
Hearing this, Chen Yuezhi finally breathed a sigh of relief. "My biggest worry is that after traveling thousands of miles, we'll find that there's still no way for us to survive there."
Madam Cheng patted her hand. "It won't happen. Heaven never closes all doors. The people of the small mountain village are kind souls. Heaven will not let good people be driven to a dead end."
Jiang Wan had no interest in the adults' conversation. Her eyes shining, she sat on Jiang Pan's shoulder, looking around at the prosperous city.
In her previous life, she had never seen what a normal city looked like.
In the apocalypse, morality had collapsed, laws had become mere decorations, and the places where humans lived were incredibly chaotic. While the places inhabited by ability users were slightly better, those where ordinary civilians lived were like hell.
The city before her, though still shrouded in the shadows of war and drought, had normal order, and the people's faces were filled with hope.
Such a peaceful environment made her feel joyful from the bottom of her heart.
Madam Cheng was indeed familiar with this town. Under her guidance, they soon arrived at a fur shop.
Jiang Pan walked into the shop and asked, "Shopkeeper, do you buy wolf pelts?"
The shopkeeper didn't even look up, continuing to record accounts as he asked, "Yes, of course, I buy them. How many do you have?"
Jiang Pan glanced around the shop and casually replied, "Over two hundred and thirty."
"How many?"
The shopkeeper was startled, and the brush in his hand fell onto the ledger, leaving a large black smudge.