The village's Junior Officer could not subdue some of the troublemakers in the village. They would only be afraid of him if he threatened them with the genealogy book. Hence, the Chief had to be the one to watch over them.
Moreover, he was worried about his wife. She was always going against An Jiuyue, but he did not know why.
"Alright then…"
The Junior Officer thought for a moment, then nodded.
With that, all the people were split into two groups. The men grumbled and complained as they headed up the mountain.
…
When An Jiuyue returned home, the two little children had already washed the vegetables.
They had also cooked some porridge and were waiting for their mother to return home and stir-fry the vegetables so that they could eat.
"Mother, where have you been? It's already getting dark."
Zheng'er hurriedly asked when he saw his mother. She had been gone since dawn, and it was already dusk. They had been waiting worriedly for very long.
"There's a flood at the foot of the mountain. I went to rescue people."
An Jiuyue did not intend to hide the truth from them.
"Flood?" Rong'er blinked.
They were still young and did not understand what a flood meant, so they weren't too worried.
"Yes."
An Jiuyue replied and caressed their faces.
"Are you hungry? I will cook two dishes for you."
She began cooking hurriedly. She wanted to make sure that her two little ones ate their fill first before making plans for the others that were coming to her house to seek refuge.
"I'll light a fire for you," Rong'er immediately said.
"Okay."
An Jiuyue responded.
…
After she and her children had dinner, she rushed them back to their room before carrying a stove with burning charcoal downstairs.
There was a small straw shed next to the big tree. It was sheltered from the rain and was built by her father. There was another stove and a large pot inside the straw shed.
That was the pot her father used to remove the fur from his prey after he returned from hunting. It was indeed a very large pot.
She took out some rice from her space, washed it, and poured it into the big pot. She also poured some water. After transferring the burning charcoal to the stove underneath the pot, she started cooking porridge.
She had just started cooking when she heard footsteps in the rain.
"Jiuyue, it's already so late. Why are you still downstairs? Where are Zheng'er and Rong'er?" the village's Junior Officer asked awkwardly when he saw An Jiuyue starting a fire in the straw shed.
After all, the young woman had already rescued them before, and so many of them were seeking refuge at her place and disturbing her. It was a little inappropriate.
However, they had no other choice. If everyone had gone to the cave instead, they would have starved and froze to their deaths.
"They're upstairs. I'm cooking some porridge for everyone. There's not much rice in the house so I've only got enough to make some porridge. I hope everyone doesn't mind."
"No, no, we don't mind. Even just having a sip would be enough. How can we… Jiuyue, we're so sorry to trouble you," Aunt Ju said with a smile.
She was shivering from the cold, but she had no choice.
It was early spring, and they had been immersed in water. Their clothes were all wet, so it was natural that everyone was cold. But even if they were cold, it was still better than being swept away by the flood.
"Aunt Ju, I just brought some firewood down. Some of you can separate the firewood into a few piles and light a fire. Let's dry your clothes first," An Jiuyue suggested. She scanned the people that were coming and noticed they many were women and children.