Zhang Shi and Xu Yue returned with their two children.
“Mother, next time you go out, you must call me or Dad. It would be safer if we stayed together,” Xu Jin said to Zhang Shi and the others, his face flushed and stammering under Lin Ya’s gesture.
“Alright, I understand,” Zhang Shi replied. She was not a child who didn’t understand anything; her heart raced whenever she noticed some individuals casting strange glances.
They encountered many people along the way, including acquaintances, but they usually maintained a polite distance from each other.
Xu Father unexpectedly met an old classmate, and they jovially chatted while resting. When it was time to depart, they exchanged farewells.
Even though both families were headed in the same direction, they did not choose to travel together.
On the eighth day, after consuming a lot of dry rations, the two children began to feel the effects.
In the afternoon, the sky was still bright, and Lin Ya had already found a campsite in advance. Taking advantage of the large group moving forward, with few people behind, he planned to prepare a better meal for the evening.
Xu Jin skillfully gathered firewood in the woods, dug a pit in the ground to place the wood in, and surrounded it with stones to create a simple stove.
Lin Ya brought down an iron pot, a stewing pot, lard, a piece of dried fish, rice, and pickled vegetables from the carriage.
Zhang Shi and Xu Yue helped out, cooking rice in a clay pot. The dried fish was cut into pieces and stewed with the pickles. There was no need for added salt; it was a bit strong in flavor but just right for serving with rice.
The two children sat aside, their mouths watering.
Lin Ya secretly added a little water to the clay pot every day as it remained covered, now nearly half full, and since it was opaque, others had not noticed.
Xu Yue remarked to Zhang Shi that the pot looked small, but she hadn’t expected it to hold so much.
Lin Ya could only pretend not to hear.
After dinner, the group sat contentedly at a distance from the fire to digest their food.
“In two more days, we should reach the capital,” Xu Father sighed, thinking about the current road full of refugees and shaking his head.
“Dad, the capital has granaries for emergencies; it should be much better than the county. There are so many wealthy households in the city; they will likely distribute porridge as an act of kindness. Moreover, the Tianyan Prefecture is suffering from a severe drought, so this matter will surely reach the government,” Xu Jin said.
She suddenly sneezed, quickly folding her hands and mumbling, “I didn’t say anything…”
“Go to bed early… We have more traveling to do tomorrow.”
“Let’s sleep.”
On the ninth day, less than half an hour after setting off, a sudden rumbling sound was heard ahead.
“Go—”
Lin Ya frowned and looked ahead; as the sound drew closer, the mule stopped by the roadside, refusing to move.
“… What is that sound?” The others in the carriage leaned out. Xu Jin climbed out of the vehicle to sit beside Lin Ya.
Everyone’s faces grew serious until they saw the incoming figures.
“It’s the officials—”
There were around several hundred people, all armored with swords at their waists. The few in the front rode horses, dressed differently—they were evidently leaders.
Behind them were several grain carts, presumably loaded with food for their journey.
When they saw Lin Ya’s group, they ignored them and passed by directly.
After they left, the mule finally moved.
“I’ve never seen so many soldiers before; they have much more presence than the soldiers in the county,” Xu Jin took a deep breath, her eyes filled with excitement.
“That was almost terrifying…”
“They must be going to our Liu’an County…”
On the tenth day, in the evening, Lin Ya and the others finally stepped into the capital’s territory.
As they passed a nearby village, they found all the doors tightly shut and eerie silence, as if no one was home.
Lin Ya followed the others with carts to set up a campfire outside the village, as usual, retreating inside the mule cart to eat their dry rations.
Some of the more curious individuals gazed toward the village and, under the cover of darkness, snuck inside. After trying and failing to get any response from knocking on doors, they directly climbed over the walls into the yards.
They initially sought food but found nothing inside. Reluctantly, they checked house after house and unexpectedly discovered several decomposing corpses with white hair.
One person screamed in fright and fled from the door.
Upon hearing this, others became uneasy and distanced themselves from the village, as if fearing they would attract misfortune.
Lin Ya listened thoughtfully to their conversation and suddenly realized that it was likely a result of the government’s decree for people to beg for food, which would explain why the entire village had disappeared.
While they had encountered many villages along the route, he had mostly kept away from the major group and hadn’t entered any of them, so he didn’t know whether other villages had any residents.
After resting overnight, early the next morning, Lin Ya drove the mule cart straight toward the city gate. Others gradually woke and followed him.
At the city gate stood a group of soldiers guarding it, and the gates were tightly closed, preventing entry. Many people gathered around the sides of the gate, looking at something. Xu Jin managed to squeeze in and her face suddenly turned pale.
It turned out that notices were posted on either side of the city gate, and a person was standing on each side reading the notices aloud.
The notices stated that the city gate would open daily from the seventh to the eleventh hour, with soldiers leading people into the city. Disturbing residents, lingering, or trading was prohibited.
Refugees from Tianyan Prefecture could only beg for food in Qingzhou or Nanyang Prefecture. Violators would be executed on the spot.
Xu Jin returned to the mule cart in despair.
Others quickly inquired what happened, including Xu Father and Zhang Shi, even the two children gazed at him with hopeful eyes.
Xu Jin’s throat tightened; how could he respond?
They had originally planned to enter the capital to replenish some food and water, but now they couldn’t buy food and would need to set out immediately for other prefectures, almost a thousand miles away. With the little food they had left, how could they sustain themselves for one or two months?
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