Chapter 29 29. Inquiry

When night fell, the city gate was still tightly closed, and even the bailiff who had stuck his head out to explain something had disappeared.

Gu Wenheng settled Jin Qianqian down and took advantage of the cover of night to go out for a walk.

Jin Qianqian looked at him coming back dejected and guessed everyone's choice.

"What should we do now? Keep following, or separate?"

Gu Wenheng gritted his teeth and said, "There are still a few days left. I will try my best to convince them."

At the same time, he made the worst-case scenario plan in his mind, thinking that if things really didn't work out, he would give all the silver notes he had obtained from exchanging for the mirror to Li Cuicui.

But after all, this thing was brought by Jin Qianqian, so he had to get her approval first, which made him feel a little embarrassed. "If they don't go with us, I want to leave some assets for the old man, what do you think?"

"It's up to you to decide. Anyway, that thing is of no use to us right now. You see, we can't use it even if we want to.

Besides, I'm not such a stingy person. At most, we can go to the pawnshop a few more times and get everything we want. "When Jin Qianqian thought about how she could get all that wealth in exchange for two mirrors, she waved her hand generously.

There was not a drop of water in the county town, and the entire team did not dare to stay for long. They supported each other and moved forward.

Without water, the truly cruel side was revealed. Along the way, one could always see corpses randomly placed on the roadside. Some were not even covered and were placed directly in the open air. The whole road could always smell the pungent stench of decay.

Jin Qianqian was sad and upset at first, but gradually became numb.

On the latter part of the journey, they secretly put in some purified water several times without anyone's knowledge, risking the terrible consequence of being suspected by everyone. They were afraid of the water being lost, so they even left the purified water buckets there.

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Jin Qianqian walked in the team in fear. They had suffered several attacks in these days. Now they had to hurry on their journey and be on guard all around.

Gu Wenheng was also holding the fine steel machete that Jin Qianqian had found for him, but he was hesitant about going out alone.

Relying on family and fellow villagers, they all live in fear.

If he and Jin Qianqian leave the team, they will probably be the meat on the board and will be slaughtered at will.

Jin Qianqian obviously thought of this as well, and she didn't mention changing the route at all these days.

"We don't want anything else. Just take out the water in your hands and give us half, and we will let you pass through." This is the nth wave of people they have met who have said what they think are very compassionate words.

Gu Wenheng and the others who were guarding outside all showed their weapons. Even the women and the elderly who were gathered in the middle were staring at them closely.

The leading man swallowed secretly. This team of several hundred people seemed a bit tricky. The main thing was that if they couldn't get water, they would be the first to fall down today.

The leading man gritted his teeth and said, "We all have this life anyway, so if you're smart, give us half of the water. This way it's good for both of us."

He Caogen turned over the bamboo tubes hanging on his body and said, "How about we balance them out? If there is still water in your bamboo tubes, give half to us?"

Looking at the bamboo tubes that had become dry and white, the road blockers that were originally aggressive became more subdued. They gave up the middle road in disappointment. This was the nth wave of refugees that were poorer than them. The days were getting more and more desperate.

The danger was resolved and the team slowly moved forward. Gu Wenheng suddenly stopped when he passed by the leaders.

"Brothers, this official road goes directly to Shangjing and south. Don't you want to go to the south?"

Zhao Da looked up at him in surprise, "You're going south?"

Gu Wenheng looked at the team that was gradually moving away, and Jin Qianqian who was looking back frequently.

Gu Wenheng shook his head. "I heard that there is a water town in the south. Is there another way out there?"

Zhao Da sneered, "I advise you not to have that idea. Several big families in the south have already set up many checkpoints on the road, just to prevent these refugees from rushing over.

If it weren’t for the fact that our elders in the family find it hard to leave their homeland, we wouldn’t be risking our lives here.”

"What about the rest of the journey? Can we find water?"

Zhao Da looked him up and down and said, "Everyone holds this idea in mind and moves forward without hesitation.

Can we find water? We don’t know, but we advise you not to hold out too much hope. I heard that the drought in several provinces is getting worse than the last.”

"Sorry to bother you, brother." Gu Wenheng cupped his hands and quickly chased after the woman who kept looking over here.

"Brother Zhao, do you believe that they really have no water?" A skinny boy stared ahead thoughtfully.

Zhao Da, "What does it matter if there is water or not? There are hundreds of them, and they all have knives in their hands. Can we defeat them?"

"Brother Zhao is really thinking ahead, otherwise we would have to die here today." Who wants to die if they can live? If they die, what will happen to the elderly and children at home?

“…”

Jin Qianqian was also having a headache. She looked at Gu Wenheng who had just caught up with her, and her companions who were looking at her curiously, "Why did you stop just now?"

"I'm just asking to see if there is any water ahead?" Just as Gu Wenheng said this, several sneers were heard beside him. Is this Gu Laoqi stupid? If people knew there was a water source, would they still rob people here?

Suddenly, no one was interested in staring at them. Instead, they would rather take a look at the roadside to see if there were any fallen grass heads.

"What's going on?" Jin Qianqian didn't believe that her senior would be so stupid.

Gu Wenheng lowered his voice and said, "It's probably impossible to go south. It is said that a checkpoint has been set up there to prevent these refugees from pouring over there.

I’m afraid it will become more difficult as we go further.”

"When we take a break, let's try to get some more water. I see many people have run out of water." Jin Qianqian really couldn't bear to see familiar people approaching a dead end.

"It's a bit unreasonable that it's always us who discovered it." The water barrel that was released last time is still hidden in the ox cart in front. It has been treated as a sacred object.

Jin Qianqian tried her best to ignore the pungent smell coming from the roadside, and her body and mind fell into despair, "Goodbye, the time traveler is either a princess or a peasant girl, how come she has become a refugee in my place?

There are many kinds of refugees, but we are the most miserable kind. It doesn’t seem like we have saved our lives. I think we think our lives are not miserable enough.”

Just as Gu Wenheng was about to persuade her, Jin Qianqian changed her attitude again, with an excited look on her face, "Do you think this is a test for us? When this calamity is over, wealth and glory will be waiting for us ahead?"

A woman's heart is as deep as a needle in the sea, and ancient Chinese literature always tells stories in her mind. How should I respond to this?

(End of this chapter)