Reborn as a Happy Wife in a Rural Family
Chapter 150: Adding Frost to the Snow

Chapter 150: Chapter 150: Adding Frost to the Snow

The Young Miss took all their furniture.

The Young Miss is more of a bandit than actual bandits.

But these items were all made of fine materials, each piece exceptionally valuable.

Besides, no one in Dean Lin’s family was a good person.

They deserved it.

Wuqing’s eyes darted around, and a smirk touched her lips. In the future, they’d definitely need to involve the Young Miss in their operations.

"Young Miss, should we cook more food to store?" After looking around, Wuqing went to the medicinal field and asked Gu Qingli, who was gathering herbs.

Gu Qingli looked up at her and nodded. It would indeed be a good idea to cook some extra food to keep on hand for when they were hungry.

This sudden incident, for instance, had caught everyone completely off guard.

It made her so hungry she felt miserable.

She was already petite, and hunger made her feel even smaller.

It was strange. She had been here for a year and would be seventeen next year, yet she was still under 1.6 meters tall. Standing before Xiao Yunjing, who was over 1.8 meters tall, she truly felt short.

Every time they kissed, she had to stand on her tiptoes while Xiao Yunjing bent down.

It was so much effort.

As she thought of Xiao Yunjing, she wondered if the border regions had also been affected by the disaster. Once the rain stopped and they could leave, she would have to send him a carrier pigeon.

Gu Qingli carried the herbs to the Pharmacy and processed them all into disinfectant solution and Detoxification Pills.

The entire village absolutely had to be disinfected.

「Three days later」

The rain finally stopped, but once it did, the weather turned bitterly cold, and snow began to fall.

This plunged the commoners into even deeper misery.

Gu Qingli gazed at the falling snow and sighed. Heaven truly wasn’t giving the common people a way to survive.

"Young Miss, are we still going over there?"

"We’re not going anymore," Gu Qingli shook her head. "The snowfall has its pros and cons. The good thing is that the drop in temperature will prevent the buried bodies from decomposing. As long as they are excavated and handled properly, a plague won’t spread."

"The bad thing is that the people could have been building houses. With this snow, how can any construction happen? Without shelter, they’re all exposed to the freezing elements. The direness of the situation is predictable."

"Wuqing, call Yun No. 20 and the others. We’re going to Qiyang County."

They had originally planned to build houses, but now it was impossible.

"Alright."

Wuqing nodded and made a peculiar hand gesture in the air. Yun No. 20 and Yun No. 18 appeared. Yun No. 20 was holding her medicine box.

Gu Qingli took the medicine box, opened it, and handed two large bottles of pills to Yun No. 20. "Yun No. 20, make a trip to the Village Chief and give him these pills. Tell him they can be taken for any illness. Also, inform him that we are going to the Qiyang county seat and might bring back some grain."

She estimated their food supplies wouldn’t last more than a few days, and any food dug out from the rubble would be inedible.

Even if the government provided relief, who knew when that would be?

"Yes, Ma’am." Yun No. 20 took the medicine bottles and vanished in a flash.

Only then did Gu Qingli take out a carrier pigeon, attach the letter she had written to Xiao Yunjing to its leg, and release the white pigeon.

「About half an incense stick’s burning time later」

Yun No. 20 returned, bringing a child with him—it was Daniu.

The child was thinly clad, shivering uncontrollably from the cold, and staggered behind Yun No. 20.

Gu Qingli frowned. "Daniu, why did you follow us?" Was this child planning to go with them?

They would be traveling on foot, as carriages couldn’t navigate these roads. Besides, the journey was long, and who knew what dangers they might encounter?

"S-Sister Erni... Sister... I... I want to... to go with you," Daniu stammered, shivering so hard his teeth chattered. His small, frost-reddened face was full of pleading, looking utterly pitiful.

Seeing his state, Gu Qingli’s heart softened. "Does your grandfather know?" she asked.

Daniu nodded.

Gu Qingli looked towards Yun No. 20.

Yun No. 20 said, "Ma’am, the Village Chief agreed. He said Daniu has no one to look after him, and he can’t manage it himself."

Gu Qingli sighed. What a poor child. "Alright then," she said. "Yun No. 20, carry him on your back. Let’s go immediately."

Yun No. 20 nodded and squatted down. Daniu bowed gratefully to Gu Qingli, his small frame making a deep obeisance. He choked out, "Thank you, Sister Erni. I’ll try my best not to cause you any trouble."

With that, he climbed onto Yun No. 20’s back and buried his head against him.

Gu Qingli felt a pang in her heart. This child was so smart and sensible. She stepped forward, ruffled his small head, and said to the others, "Let’s go."

Yun No. 18 carried the medicine box in front, Yun No. 20 followed with Daniu, and Wuqing supported Gu Qingli.

The group headed out of the village.

The original road leading directly to the town was now blocked by landslides from the mountains, making passage extremely difficult.

Fortunately, Gu Qingli and Wuqing were wearing boots from her previous life, so they weren’t worried about mud and water seeping into their shoes.

Yun No. 20’s and Yun No. 18’s shoes, however, SQUELCHED with every step, full of water.

Neither of them seemed to feel the cold at all, making Gu Qingli envious once more. It truly was beneficial to possess internal energy; if their clothes got wet, they could dry them with it, and if the path was treacherous, they could easily leap over obstacles.

"Young Miss, look, that’s our greenhouse," Wuqing said, pointing to the collapsed remnants of the structure.

"Yes, what a pity," Gu Qingli lamented. "We put so much effort into building it, only for it to be destroyed overnight. If I had known, I wouldn’t have bothered."

Gu Qingli’s heart ached not only for the destroyed greenhouse; the thought of over sixteen acres of cultivated land, now buried and washed away, brought her even deeper anguish.

Throughout their journey, sighs of lament were frequent. The scenes they witnessed were truly too tragic to behold. With every such sight, Gu Qingli’s heart grew colder, her sorrow deepening.

The crops in the fields had been beaten into the mud by the rain. Even when spring arrived next year, these wheat seedlings would not grow.

Trees were toppled and snapped everywhere, not a single house remained intact. Wherever they passed, there was only devastation.

As they passed through the town, they saw people still digging through the rubble.

Fortunately, the road to the County Town was mostly unblocked, though many sections had collapsed.

A few scattered people were on the road to the County Town, their faces etched with such despair and sorrow it was heart-wrenching to behold.

They encountered a mother and child; Yun No. 18 helped carry the young child, and the woman followed them.

Slowly, their group began to grow.

Whenever they encountered injured or sick people, Gu Qingli would treat them.

In less than two hours, their group had expanded to over twenty people.

Consequently, their pace slowed considerably.

"Young Miss, at this rate, I’m afraid we won’t even reach Qiyang County in three days," Wuqing said worriedly.

"Didn’t you see the carrier pigeon I sent earlier?"

"No." The Young Miss had sent it so stealthily; how could she possibly have seen it?

"Don’t worry. I’ve already sent a carrier pigeon to Wuyou, asking her to send some carriages and oxcarts to pick us up. I also asked her to bring a cartload of grain back to the village."

She had only sent the carrier pigeon after seeing how large their group had become.

She had also received a return message from Wuyou. Wuyou reported that the disaster in Qiyang County was not as severe as in their area, though it was still serious. Following Gu Qingli’s instructions, they had begun distributing aid whenever large numbers of refugees appeared. They had also started purchasing any law-abiding citizens forced to sell themselves; they had already purchased two hundred people.