Su Xiao woke up and saw it was morning. Mu Wei was not on the bed probably outside. She covered the kids properly and went outside. Bai Ling was still sleeping and neither Mu Wei or the other men were in sight. They had properly gone to meet Lu Dan to discuss their route. Feeling hungry she entered the kitchen to cook.
She looked at the available ingredients and decided to prepare pork rib stew. She chopped the ribs into smaller pieces and blanched it and then put it on fire. She heat the oil before adding the ribs and browning it on both sides. She then seasoned it with scallions and garlic, then the broth and vegetable before allowing it to simmer.
As she cooked, the aroma of slow-cooked pork wafted in the air with the ginger and scallions. As the stew cooked, the tender meat fell off releasing a bursting aroma of savory flavor making anyone who smelled it gulp endlessly. Bai Ling was woken by the smell and she entered the kitchen.
"Good morning, madam"
"Good morning, Sister Bai"
Bai Ling went closer to the pot while complimenting "Madam, it smells so delicious"
Su Xiao smiles and urged her to go freshen up. Bai Ling left to wake the kids to bathe and brush their teeth. After they were done, the sat around the table while Bai Ling served the dishes to everyone. Taking advantage of sister Bai's absence she took out steamed rice and served in the plates as a side dish. Bai Ling not noticing anything wrong carried the food to the dining area.
Su Xiao told them to eat as she went to take her own bathe. As she entered the bathhouse she flashed into the space and took a relaxing bath and brushed her teeth, then changed her clothes and joined them at the table. As they ate happily, the men came back looking somber. Not asking any questions, she served them their food and everyone at quietly.
Bai Ling cleared the plates and went to wash it in the kitchen. Su Xiao followed Mu Wei into the room to discuss. She gave the children some pastries and cajoled them to stay outside and not go outside the house. As they entered, Mu Wei began talking,
"He refused!"
Su Xiao was not surprised that he would refuse as it was within her expectations. She kept quiet before asking, "what's the plan now?"
"We follow the route"
Mu Wei replied without hesitation and she nodded. They now needed a plan and a convincing reason to make the head of ballifs agree to go. Su Xiao stood up and went to find the children who were playing in the courtyard. She joined the fun and their laughter rang in the house putting a smile on Mu Wei's face as he calculated their escape route.
From their current location to Shi forest was approximately 300km away. They would journey in two days time and arrive at the back of the mountain connecting Shi forest and the Eastern Kun road which leads to the Yue city directly. According to his observation, if they moved faster they would directly avoid the Chi official road which would also be flooded and enter the Shi forest.
Their was a cavy on the mountain which had a higher slope and wouldn't affect the people even if the flood managed to reach the Shi forest. They could camp there and continue their journey, and then arrive at the Eastern Kun road safely. He folded the map and called the men inside to discuss the situation. After discussing for an hour, they reached a conclusion and then left to meet Lu Dan.
They had to prepare every supplies and hoard every thing edible before three days. If it rained on the third day, then...
The wore somber looks on their faces as they reached the ballifs quarters and requested to meet Lu Dan. Lu Dan took them into the room to discuss and shut the door. No one knew what they talked about but could hear Lu Dan refusing to believe.
"Impossible"
That was the shout they heard from him before everything went silent again. The next minute the door re-opened and Mu Wei left with the brothers and Shi Dong. After the left, Lu Dan came out looking pale listless. One of the ballifs summoned courage and asked him" Boss, what happened?"
"We need to prepare!"
He went back inside after saying that sentence leaving the confused men outside. Back at home, the gathered in the room discussed the next step of their plan.
"Lu Dan has agreed to go with us. Next is gathering every valuable things especially food and water for this journey".
Everyone nodded to show their agreement to the plan. Mu Wei looked at their faces before continuing.
"I will take you three hunting to get animals for meat"
Su Xiao agreed with his reasoning. She reminded them to bring other things back. "We need water and more barrels. You guys fetch all the bamboo trees you can find as well as wild vegetables to make water barrels".
They agreed. It was a common knowledge to hoard more water than food. Su Xiao continued " I will make the barrels and hoard as much rain water as we can, which will be boiled once we reach a cramping area"
After the task was divided, everyone got to work. Mu Wei with the other men went their way into the mountains. Su Xiao asked Bai Ling to make more straw sandals for the everyone while she prepared more dry rations for the journey. She took out the ingredients and started preparing more flat bread and scallions bread too. She made batch after batch as she couldn't tell how long they would stay in the Shi forest.
She also made more mantou and Baozi with different fillings which was more satisfying. She cross checked to avoid forgetting anything before making lunch for everyone. Lunch was dumplings with vegetables and meat filling. Just as she served the food, she heard the voice of Bai Ling from outside and deduced they were back.
Perfect timing..
The aroma was already making their mouth water from afar. Their eyes were glowing as they thought of eating dumplings. They hastened their steps properly arranged the two wild boars they hunted along five rabbits ten pheasant. Shi Dong was carrying a basket of wild vegetables and some ginger on his back. They dropped everything and immediately dashed to the room.
Mu Wei shook his head at their childish nature. He scooped water with the ladle and washed his hands and face before going in. On the table was a steaming bowl of dumplings looking tantalizing. It was finely folded and stuffed with meat and vegetables. A cup of chamomile tea was placed beside it and chopsticks. Everyone was waiting for him to arrive so they could dive in.
He took his seat and everyone dug in. The first tasted the vegetables filling and was hooked before tasting the meat filling. Su Xiao smiled seeing everyone enjoying the dumplings. She picked some more and put in the kids plate and they thanked her.
"Thank you mother!"
"You eat too"
They imitated her actions and fed her too. Everyone enjoyed their dinner ate more meat dumplings than vegetables. After clearing the plate, the each had a cup of tea leaning on the chair and listening to the rain outside.