The Princess of the Substitute Bride Strikes Back

In the past few days, the number of refugees on the road has increased significantly. Some are riding in carriages loaded with goods, some are ragged and carrying bags on their backs. Most people are heading in the opposite direction of them, simply because everyone believes that the safest place is under the emperor's feet, and the emperor will certainly not abandon the people. But who can guess the emperor's mind!

At noon, everyone rested under the trees by the roadside. Due to the hot weather, most people did not make a fire to cook.

Considering their wives and children, the Wang family cooked some hot porridge, while the eldest family sat in the carriage, enjoying countless delicious foods in the coolness of ice!

"Mom, these are the last wild vegetables we have." Liu had been cooking for the second house for two days in a row, but even if the women and children had small appetites, no one could have a full meal, and there were only a few wild vegetables left.

"Let's do it! Let's have our last meal at noon today, and then we'll think of a solution tonight."

While Cai was answering, Liu's eyes were fixed on the horses tied to the tree. One horse was listless due to an injury in its front leg, and it could barely stand with its eyes slightly closed, as if it would fall down at any time. Although the other horse was not injured, it had been pulling the cart for two days without a drop of water, and had reached its limit.

"I have done all that, but where can we find food in this famine? All the refugees passing through here are skinny as sticks."

Liu put the last bit of wild vegetables into the pot, unaware of Cai's naked gaze, and was still worrying about dinner.

"Mom, look at that little girl, she has been looking at me." Mu Yuanzhang suddenly grabbed the corner of Liu's clothes and motioned her to look across the road.

The group of people seemed to be refugees from the surrounding villages. As the sun was high in the sky, they were resting on the side of the road. There were about ten of them, probably a big family. One of them was a dirty little girl who was staring at Mu Yuanzhang. To be exact, she was staring at the wild vegetable soup in his hand.

"Zhang'er, ignore her and eat quickly." Liu pulled Mu Yuanzhang to sit down and quickened the pace of drinking the wild vegetable soup. There were only a few wild vegetables left and they had finished the soup in a blink of an eye, but their stomach was still empty. But there was nothing they could do. They couldn't just steal the food from the officials!

……

"Grandma, I'm going to set up the tent. We can take a rest at noon." After finishing his meal, Mu Yiheng planned to set up the tent.

After lunch every day, Fu Yunxi would take out the curtains and brackets from the space. Mu Yiheng would be responsible for setting them up, Liu Yue would be responsible for feeding the horses, and Fu Yunxi would put the pots and pans into the space. Everything was in order.

"Second brother, look! What's that black thing in the distance?" Mu Yiheng had just come out of the carriage and was standing on the shaft preparing to get off, but suddenly he saw a dark mass in the distance. He couldn't see clearly what it was, but the black shadow was rushing towards the team at a very fast speed.

"Oh no, it's a swarm of rats!"

"There are so many rats! Hurry! Everyone, hide to the side!"

Mu Yibai and Fu Yunxi reacted quickly. The dark mass was actually a swarm of rats, stretching out in an endless stream. Tens of thousands of rats were running towards them. This might be an unprecedented mass migration of rats.

"Run to the sides of the road! Run!"

"Don't be in a daze, run!"

After hearing Mu Yibai and Fu Yunxi's shouts, everyone started to take action.

Mu Yibai was the first to calm down. He sat on the shaft of the carriage with Mu Yiheng, turned the carriage around, and drove towards the open space beside the road.

The two horses cooperated very well and ran in the direction where the two people pulled the reins.

Since Fu Yunxi had made shock-absorbing arrangements for the carriage in advance, the carriage would not shake violently while running.

Fu Yunxi protected Lin, Luo protected Jiang, while Aunt Jiang and Liu Yue held the two little girls, Jiaojiao and Lin Xue.

The people from the big house took the lead and ran away.

When the others saw the surging dark brown waves approaching, they also shouted and fled to the sides of the road. Some were still picking up dry food on the ground, some were sitting on carts, and some were just running away with their children in their arms!

"Get in the car quickly, stop picking up things, hurry up!" Yunhuo was also calling out to his brothers in Chifeng Village. Although he had never seen a swarm of rats crossing the street, he had heard about how terrifying it was.

When large swarms of rats migrate, no grass will grow wherever they pass, all plants will be trampled, and all animals will be eaten.

With such a large swarm of rats, saving lives is the top priority.

"Yan'er, please come in quickly and everyone sit down."

Wang Ling didn't care about anything else. He asked his wife to carry the child and get on the carriage. Old Mrs. Wang and Old Man Wang were also in the carriage. He accelerated the horse and made it run.

The rest of the Zhu family sat on carts nearby and fled with the main force.

The Chen family, the Ruan family, and the officers and soldiers were the same. Whether they were running or riding on carts, they were all running for their lives!

Cai pulled the horses desperately. Although the two horses were exhausted and on the verge of falling, Cai still did not give up.

"Put Zhang'er on the cart and pull the horse along. Don't dawdle!"

Cai tried hard to pull one horse while ordering Liu to pull the other.

"Mom, saving your life is the most important thing now. Why are you pulling the horses? They can't run any more and they can't even run as fast as us."

Liu really didn't understand her mother-in-law's thoughts. Could it be that the deaths of her father-in-law and husband were too much of a blow to her?

"Just pull it when I tell you to, don't be so long-winded, hurry up!"

Cai didn't have time to explain to her. This was their food rations for the next few days and they absolutely could not give up.

The fourth and fifth concubines had already agreed to run away, and the other concubines also fled on their own. No one paid attention to Cai's actions.

Mu Xianya also ran with the crowd, with no intention of waiting for Cai.

The swarm of rats came as fast as a raging tide, knocking down pedestrians wherever they passed. After falling to the ground, they never got up again and were all submerged by the swarm of rats!

Those fleeing civilians also fled in all directions, each going their own way. They tried to take away whatever supplies they could, and had to discard those that they could not take away. After all, at this moment, material possessions were far less important than life.

Cai was quite resolute. He was able to summon great strength in times of crisis and successfully escaped from the official road by pulling his horse.

But Liu was unable to pull the carriage, so she had to give up and picked up Mu Yuanzhang and ran away first. The horse abandoned by Liu was knocked down and drowned by the black swarm of rats. When the rats left, only a broken skeleton was left.