Chapter 43 – Cannon-Fodder Old Woman Fleeing Famine (Part 13)

Early the next morning, the Lin family set off again without even stopping for breakfast.

What had happened the night before had frightened them all badly. No one dared linger in that place, so they pushed themselves to move as fast as they could, afraid that they too would fall victim to disaster.

Seeing their alertness, Wang Daya was quite satisfied. Though she had the power to protect her family, if they ran into a large group of enemies, even she would struggle. It was always better to avoid danger when possible.

In truth, they were overly worried — the current timeline hadn't yet reached the period of chaos described in the original plot.

And as a poor, down-on-their-luck family, the Lin household wasn't even worth the attention of bandits. They were simply too destitute to be worth the effort. That's why the bandits had left them alone the night before.

That same night, two hours after the mountain bandits had left, Madam Wang brought her children out of hiding. She wanted to see if there was anything useful left — after all, she had money but no food or supplies.

Unfortunately, those bandits had cleaned the place out. Other than a damaged iron pot and the items still on the corpses, everything else had been looted.

So Madam Wang could only begin searching the bodies. Her two children, clever and perceptive, knew they needed to help their mother and tried their best to suppress their revulsion.

Looking at her obedient children, Madam Wang silently told herself she had to hold on. She worked quickly, rifling through each corpse for anything useful.

Some had silver tucked in their money pouches. Others still had half-eaten pancakes from the night before… She took everything.

Eventually, she came upon the body of Lord Wang, and familiar faces lying dead all around. Her heart wavered slightly at the sight.

But such sentimentality couldn't last long — she had more important things to do, like checking if Lord Wang still had the token medallion on him.

This token was no ordinary trinket. When they'd fled previously, they had stored most of their wealth in a nationwide merchant guild. This medallion was proof of ownership.

Fortunately, it was still there. Her efforts weren't in vain.

She stared at her husband's mutilated corpse. Once upon a time, she had been the eldest daughter of the Zhao family, and she had eloped with this man out of love. Even so, her brother had secretly given her silver to survive and told her to come home if she ever needed help.

But reality had been harsh. Most men, she realized, were fickle and heartless. After she bore him children and her looks faded, Lord Wang became obsessed with taking concubines.

Thinking of all this, the warmth in her eyes quickly faded again. Though this man had been disloyal, she couldn't just leave his body exposed in the wild.

Madam Wang, who had trained in martial arts in her youth, pulled out the dagger she always kept close and began digging a grave beside the road. Her two children helped her carry dirt.

No matter how rotten their father had been, the children still did not ignore his death. Instead, they helped their mother bury him.

Half an hour later, they had managed to dig a shallow grave about the depth of a man. Together, they rolled Lord Wang into it and closed his lifeless eyes.

Once they had buried him completely, Madam Wang took her children and left the scene of the massacre. Her plan was now to catch up to Wang Daya's group, and use her wealth and family background to ask for help.

Although she had once trained in martial arts, years of domestic life had dulled her skills. Another concern was that the nearest city was still two days away, and her brother Zhao Feng, a prefect in the Southern Tianfu Region, was even hundreds of li away.

At this point, Madam Wang had no choice but to seek help — and the only people nearby were Wang Daya and her family.

Back with Wang Daya, she had no idea someone was chasing after them, hoping to join them for protection. The only thing on her mind was to get away from the area where the bandits had been.

That day would go down in history, remembered by all the people of the Tai Kingdom — it was the day when Tartar forces attacked the border cities in the north, plunging the northern regions into chaos and displacement.

When news reached Lin Family Village, the villagers were thrown into panic and scattered in all directions.

It was Qian Lan's family who stepped up to organize a mass exodus from the village.

The reason she did this was simple — in this lifetime, the Tartar invasion came several days earlier than in the last. She was currently weak and needed to gather a group to act as stepping stones for her escape.

But the villagers of Lin Family Village were at a loss, and even the village chief was shaken by the heavy news. Still, they weren't about to listen to some young girl. Qian Lan's perfect plan wasn't going to succeed that easily.

Author's Note:Madam Wang's real name is Zhao Xuelian. Her elder brother Zhao Feng is the prefect of the Tianfu Province in the south.She has two children:

Wang Tianyu, her eldest son, age 9

Wang Tianxue, her youngest daughter, age 7