Chapter 34: We Are All Night Blind

Yan Lao Er finally understood why his older brother said that traveling at night was difficult.

He had just realized—he was night blind.

Not just him—the whole family, the entire village, in fact.

Back at home, it wasn’t too bad, but now that they were out traveling, everyone had basically become blind in the dark. They could only see the ground right in front of them.

The surroundings were pitch-black, with only the moonlight providing some illumination, making it nearly impossible to see what lay ahead.

The rustling sounds of the wind passing through the trees, followed by sudden black shadows flitting through the air, were enough to send chills down one’s spine.

The whole village had only four torches, spaced from front to back.

Even if they couldn’t see the road, at least they could follow the torchlight and not get lost.

They had been walking for two hours, following the direction set by his older brother, which wasn’t the usual route they took to town.

At first, it was all country paths, but just now, they had finally reached a relatively smooth dirt road—one of the official roads connecting various counties and provinces.

Yan Huaiwen ordered the group to stop for a rest—to feed the livestock, have some food, and resume their journey after a short break.

Upon hearing they only had a short time to rest, the whole group quickly sprang into action.

They helped the elderly stretch their legs, ate some food, drank water, and took turns dealing with personal matters.

They rushed to lay out bedding and mats on the carts.

A moment of carelessness, and a child in hand would suddenly disappear from sight, leaving the frantic parents shouting their names. When the kid was finally found, a couple of smacks landed on their bottom, followed by cries.

The chickens, startled, flapped their wings in panic. The donkeys added to the chaos, braying loudly.

It was a lively and chaotic scene of a village on the move.

—

“This cow of ours…” The more Yan Huaiwen walked, the more he felt something was off. Forget ox carts—he had even ridden horse-drawn carriages before—but he had never seen an ox as strong as this one.

Yan Lao Er immediately chimed in, his voice filled with righteous indignation. “You regret buying it for such a high price, don’t you! Brother, you need to take me with you when you buy things. You don’t know how to bargain at all. You wasted silver for nothing! If I had gone, I could have saved at least two taels of silver!”

“No, I mean, this ox is unusually strong,” Yan Huaiwen corrected.

Yan Lao Er waved a hand dismissively. “So what? Just like some people are naturally stronger, maybe our Sanbao is just an ox with exceptional strength.

Speaking of which, I should get some fodder for it.”

Yan Huaiwen thought for a moment and found the reasoning fair enough.

People varied in strength, so why wouldn’t oxen?

Yan Lao Er pretended to dutifully feed the ox. Sanbao ate whatever was given but didn’t fuss if it wasn’t.

At one point, Yan Lao Er accidentally overfed it, and—guess what?—Sanbao simply stopped eating!

See? Wasn’t this ox intelligent?

It had mastered the art of mindful eating.

—

“Big Brother, how much further do we have to go?” Yan Lao Er asked.

“The relay stations are spaced thirty miles apart. We should be close. Once we near the next station, we’ll settle down to rest,” Yan Huaiwen replied.

“Will they let us stay at the relay station?” Yan Lao Er asked, suddenly realizing something.

Yan Huaiwen looked at his naive younger brother and sighed. “Relay stations only accommodate government officials. We can’t go near them—we have to keep our distance.”

If this were a large-scale migration, it might not matter as much. But since they had left early, they would attract unwanted attention from patrolling officers.

More importantly, they had left their village to avoid paying grain taxes.

“It would be best if someone scouted ahead. Once they spot the relay station, they should come back and inform us so we can take a side path to avoid it before returning to the main road,” Yan Huaiwen suggested.

“…Are we afraid of officials?” Yan Lao Er finally caught on. Right! They were no longer lawful citizens. Avoiding taxes and not paying levies—this was exactly what his daughter had called being refugees.

“Then why are we even taking the main road? Let’s just use the side paths!” Yan Lao Er started feeling uneasy. Not only was survival going to be tough, but now they also had an identity problem.

“If we don’t use the main road, how will we navigate properly?” Yan Huaiwen’s expression darkened.

Yan Lao Er fell silent, realizing his mistake.

—

Meanwhile, Yan Yu sneaked over to her father’s side while her uncle and older brother were away.

“Dad, we don’t have a detailed map. I saw Big Uncle’s route chart—it only shows relay stations along the way. If we don’t follow them, we could get lost.”

“We also have to avoid the stations, which means taking detours. That’s a lot of wasted travel. Look at the people walking behind us—they’re exhausted.”

Yan Lao Er sighed. He felt bad for the villagers who were walking on foot.

“Hey, if you can get your hands on the route chart and show it to Sanbao, I bet things would be much easier. It should be able to track how far we’ve traveled and whether we’re heading in the right direction. That’s one of its basic functions.

Dad, we have to keep developing Sanbao’s abilities. Right now, it’s our biggest advantage.” Yan Yu whispered.

Yan Lao Er glanced around cautiously. “Daughter, we agreed—the village’s mules and donkeys stay as they are. We can’t swap them for smart ones. Imagine trying to butcher one for meat one day—our knives would probably bounce right off.”

“Of course! Those animals don’t even belong to us,” Yan Yu chuckled before continuing, “Dad, you need to take turns driving with Uncle and Big Brother. We won’t be traveling at night every day. In the future, let them drive during the day and rest at night. You should take the night shift. That way, we can get things done while others sleep.”

Yan Lao Er immediately understood. His daughter was referring to the midnight platform reset.

“Right! I can’t be the only one doing all the work.”

“Oh, and Dad—try to get a read on Uncle’s plans. The whole village is looking to him for guidance, but he doesn’t explain things clearly. The villagers have a hard time following his words. You need to step in and rephrase things in a way they can understand.”

Yan Lao Er nodded. “Exactly! Your uncle still has that scholar’s attitude. He speaks in half-finished sentences and doesn’t give people time to prepare. If no one asks, he doesn’t say anything.

We’re leading a whole group of people—we can’t just keep walking blindly. We need to plan how far we travel each day, when to rest, when to eat, who stands guard, how much food and water everyone has, and how long it will last.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll count how many elderly and children we have, how many are riding versus walking, and who looks weak and needs extra care.

If someone gets sick on the road…

Sigh! Leading a group is such a headache!”

Yan Yu groaned.

Yan Lao Er rubbed his temples too.

Their biggest survival threat wasn’t just hunger—it was disease.

Especially in an environment with no doctors and scarce medicine.

Their only doctor? Dr. Cui, a dropout from a medicine shop.

And the only medicine they had? Whatever he managed to bring along.