"What do you think the Gu Family was thinking? They’re already down and out, yet they still have to create a hierarchy. Look at the other night, Gu Kaiyuan’s two brothers were shivering, hiding on the side, while Gu Kaiyuan was incredibly brave and even helped us a lot," Gu Baoshu chimed in to help, slowly making the fire strong.

"This Third Master Gu must have been trained. If he had a weapon at that time, he could probably have taken out a few of those people in black," Gu Baoshu said admiringly. Gu Kaiyuan even helped him out back then, or else he might have gotten injured.

Liu Pingkang sat aside, smiling without saying a word. He had a good understanding of Gu Kaiyuan’s skills, even better than his own.

Last night, he also thought of giving the other party a knife, but it was not in accordance with the rules, and he was also afraid that the Gu Family was staging a show.

But if there’s a next time, he might show some trust.

"I wonder if this Third Master Gu can come back with a hunt, so we can have a feast."

Last time, Gu Kaiyuan gave them two wild rabbits. They were skinned and roasted, and although everyone only got a small piece, the taste was unforgettable.

...

Gu Baijiang has suffered quite a bit these past few days, but he still managed to spend some silver to get some medicine. Now there are scabs on his face, which look quite terrifying.

Gu Anliang’s fever didn’t go down later. Liu Yun begged and finally bought some fever-reducing medicine, which kept him safe.

Gu Baijiang was also particularly irritable because of his face, and the Gu Family tried to avoid him as much as possible.

"There’s nothing today," Xu Huizhen said, looking at the flattened sack of grain, unable to help but hold her stomach.

Last night they cooked a pot of watery porridge, but today they couldn’t even have porridge.

"Why are these buns so hard and stale?" Gu Kaiping brought back the family’s rations with a gloomy expression.

Things were getting worse day by day, did they still have hope to survive?

"How is this edible?" Gu Kaichen opened the sack and took a look. The overwhelming sour stench made him cover his nose, "This is no different from what we got in the big prison. I used to think they were decent, but I didn’t expect them to be just as rotten."

"What? The buns have gone stale?" This was the family’s ration for the day. Xu Huizhen hurried over and took the sack.

"What’s going on?" It wasn’t just the Gu Family making a fuss; other families started shouting too.

Liu Pingkang cracked a whip on the open space, and everyone quieted down. Only then did he say, "What’s all the noise about? We’ve been on the road for days. Rotten grain is normal.

If you want to eat, eat it. If not, throw it away. No one is forcing you."

"But you can’t give us spoiled food. Without food, where will we get the strength to move on?"

"Then figure it out yourself. In the end, this is all we have. Take it or leave it," Liu Pingkang wasn’t about to spoil them. "We don’t have any other rations, and we’re eating the same stuff you are.

We’re not feeling wronged, and you are?

Sit tight and don’t make us angry."

As he finished speaking, with the added intimidation of the whip in his hand, the noise died down.

"These damned bastards," Xu Huizhen didn’t dare shout, blankly staring at the sack.

Not only were they exhausted these days, but they also weren’t eating well, and she felt like she had lost a lot of weight.

"Dad, what should we do?" Gu Kaiping asked Gu Baijiang. Family matters had always been decided by their father, and now the family’s hopes rested on him.

"Go find your third brother; ask him to send some grain over first.

Say that it’s my asking, that I’ll borrow from him and repay him once we reach the post station."

The Gu Family Brothers were delighted, their father had finally come around and decided to ask the third brother for help.

"I’ll head over right away," Gu Kaiping said, turning to leave.

"I’ll help too," Gu Kaichen quickly followed.

Gu Baijiang’s gaze flickered. Kai Yuan had drifted apart from their family, but he wouldn’t let it go his way.

He hadn’t lashed out earlier because he didn’t want others to see them as a joke.

But now that their family was out of grain, if Kai Yuan didn’t help, that would truly be unfilial.

As a father, he needed to teach that unfilial son a lesson.

"Why isn’t the third brother here? Could he be hiding, knowing we’re coming?" Gu Kaichen stared at the ox cart behind Bai Suihe as if trying to see through the curtains.

"Our grain ran out, so my husband went to the back mountain to see if he could find something to eat." Bai Suihe could guess the purpose of their visit; just yesterday, someone ran out of food, guessing the Gu Family was the same.

"You don’t have any grain either?" Gu Kaiping looked displeased. He hadn’t even spoken yet, and Ms. Bai didn’t give him a chance.

"Indeed, there’s no supply along the way, and how much can a little ox cart carry?" Bai Suihe looked troubled. "For the sake of the child in my belly, my husband is trying hard. The mountains are dangerous, can you two brothers help him out?"

Gu Kaichen, "We don’t have that ability. Since the third brother isn’t here, just remind him to come visit us when he returns.

If he can hunt or find food, remember to send some to us too."

This shameless suggestion opened Bai Suihe’s eyes once more—were they so shameless now?

Gu Kaiping still had some sense of pride, speaking more tactfully, "My second brother and I are scholarly and frail, not as strong as our third brother, so we won’t take on the trouble.

But we’re out of grain too, and if the third brother finds anything, please send some to the parents."

Bai Suihe, "I forgot that big brother and second brother aren’t as physically capable as my husband, I thought big brother and second brother would sacrifice for their family. Do forget my words."

Gu Kaiping and Gu Kaichen frowned. Was Ms. Bai always this foolish?

Was she truly bad at speaking or trying to provoke them?

But they couldn’t stand to stay any longer, said nothing more, and walked away.

"The Gu Family is something. When there’s no food, find a solution themselves, why come to us? What can we do?" Dongmei felt annoyed, she never realized earlier that the Gu Family could be so shameless, or perhaps she underestimated them before.

"Enough, say no more," Chunxiang also looked down on the old Gu Family folks, "Let’s look around and see if there are any wild vegetables nearby."

Who knows if they’ll be able to buy grain tomorrow, so it’s best to prepare for the worst.

If they could gather some wild vegetables and add them to the noodles, at least they could have a bit more to eat.

Bai Suihe, "Do you know how to identify wild vegetables?"

Dongmei covered her mouth and laughed, "Miss, you forget we grew up in the village before entering the manor, we’ve dug plenty of wild vegetables."