"Old Seventh, stop dawdling back there and hurry up to keep pace!" Mrs. Gu Li called out through gritted teeth when she saw the two of them falling behind.
Gu Wenheng couldn't quite bring himself to call Mrs. Gu Li "Mother" just yet, so he replied vaguely, "You go on ahead. We'll catch up in a bit."
Mrs. Gu Li shot a glance at Jin Qianqian and muttered, "Nothing but a bunch of troublemakers."
Gu Dashi sighed as well. "Their rations must be running out, and Old Seventh's wife has such a weak constitution. She's been the slowest one on this entire journey."
Mrs. Gu Li touched the cloth bag strapped to her body. Finally, gritting her teeth, she turned and walked back toward Gu Wenheng and his wife.
"Wife—" Gu Dashi started to speak, but Gu Yuanlei grabbed his arm. "Dad, let's go wait for Mom under the trees up ahead. The sun isn't as harsh over there."
"Sigh." Gu Dashi let out a breath. After a moment of hesitation, he followed Gu Yuanlei forward.
Jin Qianqian looked at Gu Wenheng. "Senior, I really can't walk anymore. My legs won't listen to me."
Gu Wenheng set down the belongings on his back. "Then I'll carry you. Even if we walk a little slower, we still have to keep going until it's time to rest."
"Carry? Carry what?" Mrs. Gu Li looked at Jin Qianqian with utter disgust. "Have you not thought about your own physical condition? With so much luggage already, how are you going to walk while carrying a full-grown person on your back?
"I must have owed you both in my past life. I'm this old, yet I still have to worry endlessly about you."
She carefully untied a small cloth bag from her waist and glanced back at the group ahead. Once she made sure her other daughters-in-law weren't looking, she tossed the bag right between the couple.
"This is the last time I'm going to help you. Whether you live or die from now on is up to you," Li Cuicui said, casting a reluctant glance at the small cloth bag. "You better ration this carefully. This is life-saving food."
Without waiting for a response, she turned and strode forward, not forgetting to urge them on. "Don't rest for too long. Our family is already at the very back of the group. If you fall behind any further, you'll really be left behind completely."
"Thank you," Gu Wenheng murmured. "I will repay you in the future."
Even though the two of them hadn't personally experienced the full harshness of the famine yet, they knew exactly how precious this small bag of rations was right now.
Gu Wenheng carefully opened the bag and looked at the few wild vegetable balls sitting quietly inside. These were a size smaller than the one he had left, but if they rationed them carefully, they could last for another few days.
"Eat one first! Otherwise, your body won't hold up." Gu Wenheng had never felt as powerless as he did at this moment. Since when did he, Gu Wenheng, ever have to weigh the pros and cons in his mind just for a single bite of food?
Jin Qianqian gritted her teeth and took one out. Before she could decide whether or not to tell Gu Wenheng about her pocket dimension, it was more important to keep herself alive.
As soon as she took a bite, Jin Qianqian nearly spat it right back out. It was incredibly bitter and astringent, and filled her mouth with sand and grit—yet, this very thing was their life-saving food.
Gu Wenheng reached out and rubbed her head, understanding exactly how she felt right now. "Just make do with it for now. When we rest later, your Senior will go look for other wild vegetables."
When he said this, Gu Wenheng actually felt very uncertain. According to the memories in his mind, there were fleeing refugees all along this route. The fields and mountains close to the main road had long been stripped bare time and time again by the people ahead of them. If he really wanted to find any food, he would have to search in more remote or distant mountainous areas.
Jin Qianqian struggled to swallow the wild vegetable ball in her hand. Forgetting her previous disgust, she grabbed the bamboo tube and chugged a large mouthful of water, finally feeling a bit better.
"I'll go look with you, Senior." Jin Qianqian wanted to use the opportunity of searching for food to find a way to secretly smuggle some things out of her dimension.
Gu Wenheng reached out and helped her stand up. "You need to change how you address me. Calling me 'Senior' sounds too out of place here."
Jin Qianqian tilted her head and looked at him. "Then should I call you Xiao Yu, or Da Yu?"
Gu Wenheng squeezed her hand as if to punish her. "'Husband' or 'Brother Heng.' Pick one."
Jin Qianqian reacted as if she had been electrocuted, feeling goosebumps erupt all over her body. "'Gu Wenheng' or 'Gu Yuan Yu'?"
"Have you ever seen anyone call their husband by their full name? If you really dare to address me like that, people will find it even stranger." Gu Wenheng pretended to support the frail Jin Qianqian, using the excuse to openly pull her close and lock her against his side. "Besides, I don't think there's anything wrong with us being husband and wife. Don't forget, in this place, we are the ones closest to each other.
"Furthermore, I haven't forgotten a certain someone's passionate confession from before. I've accepted all of it, and you can't back out now."
A flush of crimson actually appeared on Jin Qianqian's gaunt, sallow face. That might be true, but at the time, she had thought they were at the end of their lives. Why was her Senior still clinging to those words?
"You aren't really trying to back out, are you?" Seeing that the people ahead and behind them were quite a distance away, Gu Wenheng grew a bit bolder. "Are you trying to love me and leave me? I listened to your confession back then, and I responded to you. You can't just pretend it never happened."
Jin Qianqian snapped her head up to look at him, asking herself over and over in her mind, "Did that really happen? He responded to me?"
Gu Wenheng lowered his voice and said, "You little scatterbrain. The entire department probably knew about my feelings for you, but you were the only one hiding in your shell all day."
Confusion flashed in Jin Qianqian's eyes. Other than taking better care of her than anyone else, her Senior hadn't really done anything out of the ordinary, had he?
"Li Tian'ai and the others guarded you fiercely," Gu Wenheng explained. "They were terrified that I would hurt you again. They warned me more than once that I couldn't confess my feelings to you until I got my family's approval."
At this point, Gu Wenheng tilted his head up and looked at the sky. His family had probably received the news of his plane crash by now. As an unfilial son, he had disappointed them once again. Fortunately, his elders and older siblings could fulfill his filial duties in his stead. With the addition of a few little nieces and nephews, he believed his parents would be able to recover from their grief quickly. The outcome was already set in stone, so he could only comfort himself this way.
"So you specifically came over to take the same flight as me this time?" Jin Qianqian's face filled with bitterness. It seemed she was the one who had dragged her Senior down with her.
Her Senior was a godlike figure in the eyes of many. Not only did he excel academically and possess incredible good looks, but his family was also very wealthy. He originally had a bright future ahead of him, yet now, because of her, he had to endure these days of suffering.
How could Gu Wenheng not see through her thoughts? He grabbed her palm and gave it a firm squeeze, only to find the bone-thin touch a little abrasive against his hand.
"What are you thinking about? I already had a lot of things to handle back in the country, and there was only that one flight heading back that day. This was all arranged by fate; it has absolutely nothing to do with you."
This girl was always prone to overthinking and splitting hairs. If he didn't explain things clearly right now, who knew how guilty she would feel in the future.
However, Jin Qianqian had already made her own decision in her heart. Since the two of them were destined to be bound together, she couldn't keep her secrets hidden anymore.