Chapter 960 A Calamity Descends

Jiang Fenghua's face turned solemn. Many villages had been almost completely destroyed by the flood. Mudslides had also rolled down the mountains and broken the roads. The seedlings that had just been planted in the fields were all destroyed. They cried out that if no one was left in their homes, they would have nothing left.

They had seen many pitiful people along the way and had helped those they could. Now that they had encountered another one, there was no reason not to help.

Seeing the restless refugees waiting in the dilapidated temple, Xiao Yu leaned closer to the carriage window and whispered, "I know the Third Miss pities them. There are more and more refugees here. We can only help them by waiting for the imperial court to distribute grain. We don't have much grain left in our carriage."

He meant that they couldn't give them any more; they only had enough food for three days.

They brought guards, who carried knives, so the refugees dared not rush forward to rob them. The situation here seemed even worse, and in such circumstances, it was even more important not to expose the grain, otherwise it would be too late if a looting broke out.

Jiang Fenghua had already gotten off the carriage. The sky was overcast, a light drizzle was falling, and the ground was covered in mud. She asked the old woman, "Where are you from?"

The old woman said, "We are all from Meizi Village. Our whole village was flooded, and many people couldn't escape and died."

Hearing this, Jiang Fenghua felt a pang of sadness. "What are you all doing here? Why didn't you go to the local government office to collect your food? The imperial court has already sent an imperial envoy to the disaster-stricken area to provide relief. The emperor will not let any citizen of the Great Zhou go hungry or cold. You must believe that the imperial court will save you."

The old woman held her grandson, tears streaming down her face. "We are all waiting for our families. I am waiting for my son and daughter-in-law, and my husband. They haven't escaped yet."

Jiang Fenghua then realized that it wasn't that they didn't want to go to the yamen, but that their family members hadn't escaped. She asked, "How long have you been waiting?"

“We have been waiting for our relatives who did not escape for ten days. Everyone who could escape has escaped and gone to save their lives.”

The old woman already knew the answer in her heart: those who hadn't escaped were most likely dead, but they had no choice. What if someone was still alive? So they waited.

“The whole village was flooded, and so much time has passed, how could anyone still be alive?” Xiao Shang said coldly.

Hearing this, the old woman's tears flowed even more fiercely. This was the kind of thing she feared most. Her son and daughter-in-law were still young, and they had only been married for a few years when they encountered a natural disaster. They had even knelt on the ground for several days, praying to God not to send any more disasters.

The grandson in her arms was so hungry that he didn't even have the strength to cry. If he didn't get any more food, he probably wouldn't survive.

"Aoxue, please take the child to the car and have Miss Gongsun examine him!" Jiang Fenghua said in a deep voice. She couldn't bear to watch him die. Besides, there was no way for them to leave now. The area within ten miles was affected by mudslides, and there was no road at all.

Aoxue walked up to the old woman, who held her tightly, afraid to let go. She was afraid that if her grandson left her sight, he would disappear. She said, "Just give him something to eat."

“We have a doctor in our car. Your grandson seems to be sick. If he doesn’t get treatment soon, he might die at any time,” Ao Xue said.

The old woman cried out urgently, "Tiger! Please, please save my Tiger!"

Aoxue carried the child to the carriage. Gongsun Lan took the child's pulse and fed him a pill. The child regained consciousness. They gave the child water and a steamed bun, which the child wolfed down.

Outside the carriage, the people in the dilapidated temple watched as Hu'er was carried onto the carriage. They all knelt down in front of the carriage, pleading, "Please have mercy and give us some food! Save my child, save us!"

Seeing the people approaching, Xiao Yu quickly stepped in front of Jiang Fenghua, saying, "Third Miss, please get in the carriage first!"

Jiang Fenghua gestured for him to step back. The people in front of her looked disheveled and helpless. If no one helped them, they would only wait to die.

She said, "Send someone to the nearest government office to find out what's going on. It's been ten days since the flash flood in Meizi Village. Investigate whether the government knows about this and whether they have distributed any food to them."

Xiao Yu frowned. With such a severe mudslide and landslide here, other villages and towns nearby must also be suffering. If the granaries were flooded, it would be even worse. There would be a lot of things to deal with after the disaster.

He sent someone and found another person to lead the way, but that person was unwilling to lead the way and insisted on waiting there for his family. Xiao Yu said that only by finding the yamen and having the government send people to deal with them could they hope to find their relatives, so that person went.

Xiao Shang looked displeased and muttered, "How could Jiang Fenghua be so stupid? She's just wasting her time trying to save these people."

He needed to find a way to make Jiang Fenghua face reality. If she could find the way to be reborn in the ancient Yinchuan Kingdom, she could change the fate of these people.

He called Xing Yun over and whispered a few words in his ear. Xing Yun asked, "Master, is this really necessary?"

"Go do it!" A sly glint flashed in Xiao Shang's eyes. If he didn't push Jiang Fenghua a little, she would never know what was truly important.

At this moment, Jiang Fenghua and Gongsun Lan were treating the injured civilians. Although she did not know medicine, she was quite quick and efficient in helping them.

The refugees in the dilapidated temple were a small number; many more people outside Meizi Village were affected by the disaster. They heard from somewhere that a doctor had come to the dilapidated temple, so they all rushed there.

Soon, rumors began to circulate that the natural disaster was caused by a harbinger of misfortune, and that finding and eliminating the harbinger would avert the catastrophe.

The people are on the verge of collapse. They believe whatever is said from the outside world, thinking that all their suffering is caused by a jinx. They even want to find out who the jinx is and where it is.

Just then, the crowd suddenly became lively, with everyone discussing, "Have you heard? What we're suffering from isn't a natural disaster, but a man-made one."

"It is said that the person who brings disaster has a special mark on their body, which is the disaster brought by that person."

"It must be that calamity star that angered the mountain god. The mountain god was so angry that he flooded our village, killed our relatives, and destroyed our crops. That calamity star is trying to kill us!"

A chorus of voices rose from the crowd: “Legend has it that the jinx has a mark between his eyebrows, a bloodthirsty red one.”

Jiang Fenghua had thick bangs that covered the mark between her eyebrows and half of her cheek. In addition, she had covered the mark between her eyebrows with rouge and powder before leaving the palace, so it was not very noticeable.

At that moment, she was about to bandage the leg wound of a woman who had suffered a serious injury. The woman's leg was badly injured, and she suddenly cried out, "It hurts, it hurts so much!"

Jiang Fenghua said, "Bear with it. If the splint isn't properly secured, your leg won't heal properly."

"Thank you, young lady," the woman said gratefully. She had been away from the village for many days and had been living in a dilapidated temple because she could not walk. Her legs were swollen so badly that she could not move them, and she thought she would die here.

"No need to thank me. Take good care of yourself. The Emperor will send someone to rescue you." Unbeknownst to Jiang Fenghua, the floral mark between her eyebrows was gradually becoming visible.