Locust plague? Severe drought? The county magistrate fled?
No problem.
Shen Huaiyuan, a former county instructor, started from the hardest possible place, leading his entire family with a box of medical books and a map:
His four-year-old daughter had an asthma attack, and they were short on medicine? The old escort Zhao had a home remedy ready: “My blood is the medicine!”
The grain merchant and his men ran off halfway there? Let them run. When they came back, three men were missing, and they knelt down begging to rejoin the group!
They were stopped at a ferry and charged a toll? His wife, Chen Sujun, pulled out a handful of salt. It worked better than gold and gave the corrupt official a taste of his own medicine!
Bandits occupied the granary and blocked their way? They split into two groups, took Liubao Fort by strategy, and rescued more than thirty people along the way!
An epidemic broke out and people began to lose heart? Shen Huaiyuan established the rules with a single sentence: “We live together, or we die together.” With everyone backing him, even the troublemakers didn't dare to make a move!
A blizzard cut them off from help, and his nine-year-old son walked alone through the snow for two hours to bring back reinforcements. There were no good-for-nothings in the Shen family!
At the final hurdle, the quarantine camp declared his daughter had consumption and must be isolated. Shen Huaiyuan sold his ancestral map, pulled every string he could, and snatched his daughter back from death's door!
From beginning to end, in a refugee group of more than a hundred, anyone who tried to cause trouble paid for it, and anyone who fell behind regretted it.
Food? Earned through brains. People's hearts? Protected with fists. A way to survive? They carved it out themselves!
The day they reached Lu'an Prefecture, the whole group received land and settled down. Shen Zhao opened a private school, Chen Wang delivered grain to repay his debt, and Old Zhao became the chief instructor at an escort agency.
Shen Huaiyuan redrew the map.
His wife said, “It's better than the original.”
He replied, “Every road we've traveled is drawn in my heart.”
So what if it was a famine year? The Shen family had never relied on the weather for their livelihood.
Even Heaven had to make way for them.
