Every Sip and Every Peck

After passing through the West Market, Zhang Xuezhou quickly left the city in the evening.

By this time, some peddlers who had done well had already begun to leave Chang'an City and return home; it wasn't early yet.

Zhang Xuezhou was in a great hurry, but the area he was heading to was a slum, where there were few roads for horse-drawn carriages to travel, and it was inconvenient to fly around in broad daylight.

He swung his legs so fast that he was panting heavily.

If he hadn't used the Heavenly Robe to change the clothes of the Imperial Scholar at the Golden Horse Gate, his hurried appearance would have inevitably drawn questioning.

It was almost dark when Zhang Xuezhou finally arrived at the thatched hut where Wei Shao'er had previously stayed.

Wei Shao'er's thatched hut was in poor condition, with most of the thatch on the roof gone. Zhang Xuezhou felt a chill in his heart, sensing that this location had likely been abandoned.

"Whoever has seen Xu Yuan, the one who teaches farming, will get ten and a half taels of silver from me!"

Zhang Xuezhou shouted and used the simplest and most direct method to find the person.

No sooner had he finished speaking than two little boys, about seven or eight years old, emerged from a nearby thatched hut.

"I know!"

Give me the money, and I'll lead the way!

The little brats were chattering.

While it was rest time for city dwellers, the poor and farmers outside the city had not yet returned home; only these children were squatting in their houses.

After the two little brats called out a few times, several other round-headed children poked their heads out and surrounded them.

"You, you, you, you... and you too, come and lead the way. There are ten and a half taels in total, one for each of you!"

The children outside the city were not the well-behaved children that people usually thought they were. Perhaps because they had been exposed to so much, these children even fought and competed for tasks.

Seeing the children start to physically assault each other, forcing the weaker children to retreat, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but shout out.

"Whoever performs well and leads the way accurately will get an extra tael and a half; those who dawdle won't get any!"

He repeatedly rebuked them.

Who was Zhang Xuezhou? With just a slight release of his cultivator's aura, he had intimidated these unruly children into behaving obediently, none of them daring to look him in the eye.

"Get running, everyone!"

Once the order was given, the children started running wildly, leading him through the slums.

"Lu Yazi~"

Several shouts came from afar, and the little brats didn't dare to stop.

Only when they were out of breath and some children were too tired to keep up did these unruly kids start to cry.

For these children, let alone ten and a half taels of silver, even one and a half taels of silver is a resource they have to fight for and grab.

Looking at these young children, Zhang Xuezhou felt as if he were seeing the even more brutal competition among adults in the slums, and the people of Zhang Household Village were inevitably suffering from the effects of this vicious competition.

This weighed heavily on his mind, leaving him unsure of what would happen in the coming months.

After passing dilapidated houses and crossing fields, Zhang Xuezhou finally saw a child pointing ahead, panting and shouting.

"My dad said that Mr. Xu, who teaches people how to farm, and Mr. Xu, that kind man, often work in that field!"

Where are they?

"They're probably still farming!"

"Maybe they went up the mountain!"

He brought back a lot of grass to eat!

"So miserable!"

"Some people have sensitive teeth too!"

"Many of them have no flavor either!"

He even made people pick tree leaves to boil in water and eat them!

Many young children complained.

The wild vegetables that Xu Ji and Xu Yuan picked must have tasted really bad, even though it made the children from the slums complain about how bad they were.

However, none of the children mentioned eating dead people, which proves that the wild vegetables picked by Xu Yuan and others were non-toxic or only slightly toxic, and could be eaten to fill their stomachs.

Zhang Xuezhou suddenly remembered that Xu Yuan had spent half a year traveling from Sichuan to Chang'an City, filling his stomach with wild fruits and grasses along the way.

This put his mind at ease.

Zhang Xuezhou could only be thankful that he had the guidance of the agricultural sect cultivators; otherwise, the people of Zhang Household Village would have suffered greatly in such a place, and many might have starved to the point of illness or even died.

He had considered many things, but his physical limitations prevented Zhang Xuezhou from attending to everything.

When it comes to survival, even the slightest negligence can be fatal.

Zhang Xuezhou's motives for associating with Xu Yuan and Xu Ji were primarily to obtain the secret manual of the Corpse-Slaying School. He believed that once Rong Tianding acquired the Corpse Jiao Canon, Rong would lose his usefulness. Now, receiving help from Xu Ji and Xu Yuan, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

"Master Xu!"

"Xu is such a good person!"

"A wealthy gentleman is looking for you!"

"He's an official!"

"The officials are so imposing, I'm scared just looking at them! Come out here right now!"

"We're going home with our reward money!"

Just as Zhang Xuezhou thought the shouts of the children were unlikely to have much effect, an old man carrying firewood on his back actually appeared in the distance, waving repeatedly.

"Xu Ji?"

Zhang Xuezhou squinted and peered at the old man before he could make out his general appearance.

Finding Xu Ji meant he had found the stronghold of the Zhang Household Village family. Zhang Xuezhou patted his pocket and then gave each person a reward of two and a half taels of silver.

This made a bunch of weak and helpless little kids overjoyed.

Exhausted, Zhang Xuezhou wasn't worried about the children fighting over money, especially since there were many of them, and there were also adults chasing after them, fearing that their children might be abducted.

Zhang Xuezhou leaped and drifted across the vast fields, riding the wind and waves.

"Mr. Xu, it's been a long time!"

"Lord Dongfang is finally back!"

Zhang Xuezhou greeted him, and Xu Ji, who had just rubbed his eyes and clearly seen Zhang Xuezhou's face, narrowed his eyes slightly.

Having witnessed Zhang Xuezhou's abilities, he swallowed back all his sarcastic remarks.

These past few months have been incredibly difficult for Xu Ji and Xu Yuan.

Let alone hundreds of people, even hundreds of pigs or cows would be a very difficult task to herd to graze.

Using the money saved by Xu Yuan and others, and by searching for wild animals, vegetables, and fishing every day, Xu Ji and the others survived for more than three months.

If Xu Yuan hadn't insisted, Xu Ji might have really led these people to another place to seek survival.

As autumn and winter approach, non-toxic wild vegetables become harder to find, wild animals fly south or migrate, and the fish in the river have a fishy smell that is difficult to swallow. The cold weather also inevitably increases the risks of fishing.

Various factors led Xu Ji to consider changing areas, while Xu Yuan insisted on waiting for someone else.

Xu Ji leans towards practicality, while Xu Yuan gambles based on his beliefs.

Now that time has come, Xu Ji has to admit that Xu Yuan indeed trusted Zhang Xuezhou too much, and finally, he has waited for Zhang Xuezhou and the others to return.

"Thank you, Mr. Xu, for saving the lives of the people in our village!"

Zhang Xuezhou took the firewood from Xu Ji's back. He reached out and grasped Xu Ji's right hand, realizing that Xu Ji was also frail and old.

The fact that the person is old and suffers from illness, yet still has to work here, perhaps reflects the dire straits of their lives.

"Wait a little while, until it's completely dark, they should be back from picking them!"

Xu Ji pointed to the sky; the grayish-white sky, still with a hint of light, represented the time the people of Zhang Household Village needed to gain.

The tasks involved chopping firewood, digging up wild grass, cultivating the land, arguing with others over water resources, hunting small animals, and fishing. These tasks led to a well-organized division of labor among the many people, while also making the most of every spare bit of physical energy and time.

Zhang Xuezhou nodded, and as he continued walking, he began to enter the territory inhabited by the Zhang Household Village people.

This is a newly reclaimed area marked with various scarecrows, with simple channels, some houses built of weeds and wood, and brambles laid around it to prevent people from trespassing. There are also some piles of weeds covered with wood ash that are being burned to repel mosquitoes.

In just over three months, the people of Zhang Household Village have rebuilt the basic structure of a village.

But these were also extremely long three months, with everyone struggling with hunger and constant labor, not knowing what tomorrow would bring.

"The Zhouzi is back!"

Xu Ji piled up firewood, lit the fire, and the crackling sound of the burning fire was incessant.

The firelight illuminated the two people's faces, becoming the only light in the area.

As Zhang Xuezhou reached out to take Xu Ji's pulse to see if he could use the Supreme Purity True Technique to heal his body, he heard a hoarse voice shouting from afar, which made him quickly stand up.

In the darkness of the night, the figures were not yet visible.

But Zhang Xuezhou heard Zhang Zhong recognize his voice.