Chapter 239: The Refugee Journey Ends, Everyone Settles in Liyuan Village

Once their physical strength had recovered, their spirits were very high.

It must be said, the night sky now is truly bright; in his past life, Jerry lived in the city, where the night sky was always a hazy gray, and he would only occasionally see a few stars—it is completely incomparable to the scene of the star-filled sky now.

The night wind was a bit chilly, blowing against their faces, making people unable to help but shiver. A few people wearing thin clothing lit torches; although the torches only emitted a faint glow, they appeared exceptionally bright in such a night.

After walking for several hours, a sense of hunger welled up in the hearts of many, but tonight was different from the past.

In the past, when traveling at night, those who couldn't resist the hunger would take out their meager dry rations and gnaw on a bite.

Tonight, throughout the entire traveling group, a scent of grilled fish had been drifting about.

Perhaps everyone had not eaten meat for too long; the aroma of the grilled fish made many people swallow their saliva several times.

Smelling the aroma of the grilled fish, many people could no longer hold back, and one after another, they took out their own grilled fish, eating as they walked in this dim night.

Jerry, however, did not eat; he did not know why, but after eating two meals of grilled fish during the day, he felt his physical strength was exceptionally abundant, and after walking for several hours, he was not tired at all, nor did he feel any hunger.

Actually, even if he were truly hungry, Jerry felt he would not eat fish in the Darkness; these grilled fish were only golden-brown on the outside, but the inside was still delicate fish meat, and if he were to get a fish bone stuck in his throat, out here in the wilderness without even any vinegar, that would be very uncomfortable.

Perhaps because everyone had eaten well today, the speed of the march tonight was very fast; the elderly leader said that the distance covered today was twice that of usual.

The next day, at about seven o'clock, a village appeared ahead.

Upon seeing the village, everyone was very happy and wanted to go into the village to rest and reorganize.

The elderly leader spoke up at this time: everyone could go into the village to rest, but do not affect the villagers' normal lives; we are refugees, but the lives of the people in the village are not easy either, so we will rest for a little while, drink some water, and then leave, do not disturb the normal life of the village.

The elderly man's words still carried much authority; after all, everyone had been listening to this elderly man along the way, and they had no objections.

The fifty-three-person refugee group had not yet reached the entrance of the village when the people in the village discovered them and notified the village chief; the village chief had long been standing at the village entrance waiting.

A crowd of villagers stood behind the village chief holding hoes, sickles, and the like, to cheer him on.

There was no help for it, this era is just like this; they were also afraid of these refugees. It had happened before that refugees were let into the village, and the refugees stole and robbed things in the village, so every village was very cautious when dealing with refugees.

The elderly leader told everyone not to act rashly; he walked to the front of the village alone, took a look, and confirmed that the old man at the very front should be the village chief, so he walked up to the village chief and began to converse with him.

Very quickly, the elderly leader returned and told everyone that the village chief of this village would arrange for people to bring them water, and everyone should rest on the spot outside the village, and after drinking the water, they would continue on their way.

The village chief of this village told the elderly man that there were still three li to go before reaching Beijing, and if they walked a bit faster, they would arrive by noon.

Therefore, he wanted everyone to rest well, and if there was any food left, they should eat it; once they reached Beijing, there would be people to arrange for them, the refugees, and at the very least, having food to eat would not be a problem.

Hearing what the elderly man said, everyone was very happy; some people sat directly on the ground, opened their bundles, took out their grilled fish, and began to eat.

Jerry ran to the side and picked up some firewood; the old man also took an old-fashioned fire-starter from his pocket, blew on it a few times, sparks flew, and very quickly the firewood was lit.

The elderly leader, the old man, the pig-butcher uncle, and Jerry—the four of them—gathered around the fire, took out the fish they had grilled yesterday, and heated them up before eating.

Other people also learned to do the same, lighting fires and beginning to grill fish.

Not long after, the village chief came over with some people, and four young men behind him carried two large vats of water over.

After arriving, the village chief was a bit surprised; he had seen many refugees, but this was the first time he had seen refugees collectively grilling fish to eat.

The people in the village had not eaten meat for a long time; compared to this group of refugees, they looked more like refugees themselves.

The few young men carrying water behind the village chief had long since smelled the aroma of the grilled fish and were unconsciously swallowing their saliva on the side.

The village chief walked up to the elderly leader and said, "Old man, the water has been brought to you, but are you really refugees? You eat so well!"

"Old Village Chief Zhao, don't misunderstand; we really are refugees. We've been fleeing the whole way, and our dry rations were almost eaten up long ago. Heaven opened its eyes; when we rested yesterday, there was a river nearby, and the fish in the river were very plump. The younger lads were greedy and all went into the river to catch fish; what we are eating today was all caught yesterday."

The elderly leader was afraid the village would misunderstand, so he hurriedly explained it to them.

The village chief was a bit surprised to hear that their fish were caught in the river; catching fish in a river is no small feat.

The few young men behind the village chief put down the water vats and quietly said a few words to the village chief.

The village chief spoke to the elderly man again: "Old man, our village is called Liyuan Village; in the past, pears were grown here, but after the wars, the pear trees were destroyed, and everyone switched to farming. There is also a river behind our village with plenty of fish, but no one in our village knows how to catch fish. Since there are people in your group who know how to catch fish, could you teach us? The grain in our village is also scarce, and we live from hand to mouth."

After the village chief finished speaking, the elderly man looked at Jerry; Jerry understood the elderly man's meaning, as the technique for catching fish was indeed something he had introduced.

Jerry spoke directly: "Village Chief, the technique for catching fish in the group was taught by me. I can teach you, but you must allow us to catch some fish to eat as well. Although we will arrive by noon, we don't know when we will be able to eat once we reach Beijing, so we need to prepare some more rations."

Hearing Jerry say this, the village chief agreed immediately and promised that the fish they caught would be theirs, as long as they taught the people in the village how to catch fish.

Jerry shouted in the group, and twenty-six young men stood up instantly; hearing that they were going to catch fish in a moment, every one of them was very excited.

After everyone finished drinking water, the village chief gathered all the young men from the village.

At the same time, another person came, the captain of the village's production brigade; he had originally been arranging agricultural tasks for everyone today, but upon hearing the village chief say that the visiting refugees knew how to catch fish and were going to teach the people in the village, he came over to take a look.

The group soon arrived at the riverside; the fish-spearing sticks from yesterday were still in their hands. These sticks had performed great service yesterday, and no one was willing to throw them away; they could even be used as walking sticks when traveling at night.

Some people's sticks had become blunt, so they found the pig-butcher uncle to sharpen them again.

Then Jerry and the other twenty-six young men found a place where the water was relatively shallow, looked at the direction of the river, and Jerry stood in the first position, with the others lined up behind him in order.

The village chief and the people in the village did not understand what Jerry and the others were going to do; they just saw them stand motionless after entering the water.

After waiting for a while, before the village chief could even ask, Jerry thrust and flicked, and a fish appeared above the water.

Many people on the shore were not seeing Jerry spear fish for the first time, but they still clapped and cheered.

Jerry took the fish off and threw it onto the shore; the people on the shore already knew what to do—those who were to pick up firewood did so, those who were to light the fire did so, and as soon as the fish hit the shore, a portion of the people began to clean the fish, and the cleaned fish were handed directly to those grilling the fish, a complete assembly-line operation.

Slowly, more and more fish were speared; the young men in the village finally could not hold back, and after speaking with the village chief, they went to find sticks.

This time, everyone was clearly much more familiar with spearing fish than yesterday, and the speed of spearing fish was also faster than yesterday.

Some people even thought that even if they reached Beijing, if things were not arranged well, they would just find a river nearby to live by, and if there was no grain, they would just eat fish every day.

Twenty-seven people, each spearing four fish, would be 108 fish; with fifty-three people in the group, if everyone had two, there would even be two left over.

The water here was slightly deeper than yesterday's, and since it was close to the village, there was some shade from trees and some water grass by the river, so there were many more fish here than there.

Before spearing the fish, Jerry gave instructions: each person should spear four fish and then stop; if those who hadn't eaten their fill at breakfast could spear a few more to eat, otherwise, if there were too many, they wouldn't be able to finish them, and since the weather was hot, the fish would easily spoil if left out during the day.

Hearing Jerry say they would easily spoil, everyone agreed at first, but when they actually started spearing fish, it was just like harvesting grain in the fields, filled with joy, and the more they speared, the happier they became.

Some people had speared enough for four fish, but seeing that the person next to them hadn't, they said they would help spear fish; there were too many fish here, making people reluctant to stop.

In the end, it was Jerry who called for a stop, and they reluctantly went ashore. They walked slowly toward the riverbank; some people even looked back, and some hoped that when they returned to the shore, they might encounter a passing fish and spear one more.

They had had their fill of fun spearing, but the people on the shore didn't have time to clean them; after they went ashore, Jerry let them help clean the fish.

After Jerry and the others went ashore, the people in the village also prepared their tools; they had seen Jerry's fish-spearing method very clearly—it was just standing still, waiting for the fish to swim over, and then spearing them at the right moment.

At the village chief's command, the young men of the village went down into the river with shouts.

With over twenty more people cleaning the fish, the speed increased several times over; once all the fish were cleaned, all that remained was to roast them.

Jerry counted them: two hundred and thirty-seven fish. This was only because Jerry had called out early; otherwise, they would have speared even more.

Jerry spoke up directly, saying that those who hadn't eaten their fill before should eat as they pleased until they were full, and then everyone would divide the rest of the fish.

Some people had long been unable to wait; the moment Jerry spoke, they didn't care if it was hot or not, grabbing them to eat and devouring them in large mouthfuls.

This scene was seen by the village chief and the village brigade leader, and they couldn't help but smack their lips at the sight.

Seeing this, Jerry took two roasted fish, handed them over, and thanked them at the same time.

The village chief and the brigade leader squatted to one side and began to eat the fish, but the village chief was quietly talking to the brigade leader.

"Brigade leader, I see that this group of people is not simple; they are all good hands at work, and their division of labor is very clear. Just based on their skill at spearing fish, in our village, they wouldn't starve even if they didn't farm. Anyway, they are going to Beijing to flee the famine; once they reach Beijing, wouldn't this skill of theirs at spearing fish be wasted?"

The brigade leader had known the village chief for a long time, and as soon as the village chief said this, he understood the village chief's meaning.

"Village chief, why don't we discuss it with them and have them settle in our village? Right now, everything here is collective farming, and our village just happens to have a lot of land. If they want to farm, we'll give it to them; if they don't want to farm, they can turn in fish, and we can exchange it all for work points for them."

"That works. Brigade leader, eat quickly, and once you're done, go find them to discuss it."

After speaking, the two of them squatted on the ground and started eating the fish; it was truly delicious.

The young men of the village were spearing fish in the water with great enthusiasm, but they were only lucky enough to spear three or four; most of the fish swam away. Compared to Jerry and his group, they were simply too weak.

Although they speared few, being able to spear fish at all did not dampen their enthusiasm for it in the slightest.

As for Jerry's side, it was just those who hadn't eaten their fill in the morning who ate a bit more; the others ate very little. The freshly roasted fish was very fragrant, and several people would share one.

After everyone had finished eating, Jerry distributed three fish to each person, and thirteen fish remained.

Jerry gave the remaining thirteen fish directly to the village chief. After the village chief took the fish, he was very happy, and his attitude was especially good, completely unlike the morning when he had been guarding against Jerry and the others.

The village chief could see that among this group, the old man was the leader, and most of the time they listened to his arrangements, but the fair-skinned boy in the group also held a high status.

Thirteen fish, given away just like that—the village chief also looked at the expressions of the others at this time, and none of them had any objections. In this era, food was life; thirteen fish was not a small number. Even if taken to the black market in the city to sell, it could fetch twenty or thirty yuan.

Afterwards, the village chief and the brigade leader went together to find the leading old man and Jerry to explain their intentions.

However, the leading old man and Jerry did not reply to them, but wanted to hear everyone's opinions.

Jerry called everyone together and told them about the situation in Beijing, though the situation in Beijing was what the village chief had told Jerry, and it had not been verified.

After Jerry analyzed it, he told everyone that those with a specialized skill or those who had relatives could continue to Beijing, but if they were just ordinary laborers, living in the village was better than Beijing.

Jerry stated his own opinion and told everyone else to choose for themselves.

Soon everyone had made their own decisions. Jerry had spoken very clearly, and they weren't stupid; they were very clear about what they truly needed: just a small plot of land, enough to eat their fill, and if they had the conditions, find a wife—a wife, children, and a warm bed—and they would be very satisfied.

Why had they fled the famine before? There was nothing to eat back home, and they had no specialized skills, so they thought Beijing was wealthy and they could do odd jobs and manual labor to get enough to eat.

Now Jerry had taught them how to spear fish, and this village also had a river, so they wouldn't lack for food.

If they speared more fish in their spare time, they could exchange them for work points and buy some grain. When winter came, even if the river froze, they would still have grain as a guarantee.

After everyone decided, only five people prepared to continue to Beijing.

Jerry, the old man, the leading old man, the uncle who was a pig butcher, and another uncle who looked to be in his forties.

The five of them exchanged a few words and got to know each other.

The old man's name was Wang Tiezhu. His son had joined the army, and his daughter-in-law, who was home alone, had run off with someone else over a bit of grain, leaving behind him, at sixty-one, and his thirteen-year-old grandson.

This time, fleeing the famine to Beijing was because his son had previously instructed him that if he wanted to find him, he should go to Beijing to find a retired comrade-in-arms of his, and this comrade would help him make contact.

It was just unexpected that his grandson had fallen seriously ill while fleeing the famine and had passed away after only a few days.

He blamed himself deeply, but he had to tell his son about this matter. He had failed to take good care of his grandson, and he had let his son down. He had also made up his mind: after telling his son, if his son didn't forgive him, he would just find a place to let himself wither away.

The leading old man had relatives in Beijing and would go there once or twice every two years, so he was the only one who knew the way.

The leading old man was named Huang Erzhuang. He was the second child in his family and was sixty-seven years old this year. He was a solitary old man who had read books and had been a teacher in his village, in a similar situation to Jerry's father in this world.

Originally, he could still eat his fill back home, but after the drought began last year, the grain became less and less. By this year, everyone was out of grain, so where would there be time for children to study?

Therefore, his grain supply was cut off, and being old, he couldn't do heavy labor, so he could only go to Beijing to seek refuge with his older brother.

The pig butcher was actually of the same clan as Jerry in this world; his name was Li Dazhuang, and he was twenty-six years old this year. If not for him saying he was twenty-six, judging by his appearance, Jerry thought he looked like he was in his thirties. He had a family-inherited skill for butchering pigs.

Now there was no grain left, let alone raising pigs. Because of his butchering skills, his family's situation had been passable, but now, where was there a pig for him to slaughter?

Even if he stayed in this village, there were no pigs for him to slaughter in the village. It would be better to go to Beijing; Beijing was wealthy and had a slaughterhouse, and by relying on his butchering skills, it would be easy for him to support himself.

The last uncle was a carpenter named Zhao Liu, thirty-four years old this year. His wife had passed away from illness years ago, his family was not wealthy, and he had never remarried, nor did he have children.

In this day and age, when people couldn't even eat their fill, where would there be carpentry work for him to do? He wasn't good at farming either; he had learned to be a carpenter when he was young precisely because he didn't want to farm, having apprenticed at ten years old.

He had a junior fellow apprentice in Beijing who had wanted him to go over and work together years ago, but he hadn't been willing to leave his homeland, so he hadn't agreed.

His junior fellow apprentice had told him that there were many wealthy families in Beijing and that carpentry work was easy to find. Plus, with these hard times, he had finally made up his mind, which was why he was fleeing the famine toward Beijing.

Jerry understood the situations of the four of them; going to Beijing was indeed better than staying in the village. Jerry also stated his own situation.

Just as he began to speak, Jerry hesitated.

Soon Jerry understood: since he had occupied Li Aiguo's body, then from now on, he would live on with the dying wishes of Li Aiguo and his father.

After thinking it through, he spoke and told everyone that his name was Li Aiguo. From the moment he said these words, Jerry truly accepted this identity.

(End of chapter)