A man
In the spring in Weizhou City, the sun finally has some warmth, but it cannot penetrate the years of coldness in the shabby rooms in the deep alleys.
In front of the makeshift porridge stall, there was a long queue. Men, women, old and young, all of them were pale and thin, with empty and eager eyes looking at the big pot that was emitting thin hot steam.
Ning Lingyao, wearing a slightly loose plain apron, stood under the shed, imitating the woman next to her, carefully using a wooden spoon to scoop the relatively thick porridge into the broken bowls that were held out to her.
Her movements were a little clumsy at first, and some of the porridge would occasionally spill, causing the housekeeper behind her to cough disapprovingly, fearing that she was wasting the precious food.
But she soon became serious, her little face tense, and she tried hard to make each spoonful as full as possible without spilling a single bit.
She saw the dry fingers taking the bowls of porridge, and saw the little bit of food at the bottom of the bowl being taken away as if it were a treasure. For some reason, she felt a little helpless.
Just then, a little girl about her age squeezed in front of the shed.
The girl's clothes were so tattered that the original color was almost unrecognizable. There were dark patches here and there. The cuffs and trouser legs were too short, revealing her bony wrists and ankles.
She was barefoot with a pair of black feet, timidly holding a rough pottery bowl with a chipped edge, looking up at Ning Lingyao, her eyes filled with fear and desire like a little animal.
Ning Lingyao subconsciously looked around, quickly scooped up a spoonful of porridge, secretly exerted force with her wrist, pressed the bottom of the spoon firmly, and poured nearly twice the amount of others into the girl's broken bowl steadily.
The girl's eyes lit up instantly. She looked into the bowl, then quickly raised her eyes to look at Ning Lingyao. Her lips trembled as if she wanted to say something. She hugged the bowl tightly, turned around, and quickly got out of the crowd, disappearing at the end of the alley.
Ning Lingyao looked at the direction where she disappeared, feeling a little relieved, but at the same time feeling as if something was holding her back, and she was vaguely worried.
We were busy until the sun was setting and the porridge stall closed.
Ning Lingyao rubbed her sore wrist and boarded the carriage back home accompanied by her maid. The carriage drove through the dilapidated streets, and outside the window was the street scene of people struggling to survive.
Suddenly, she called out urgently, "Stop the car!"
The driver reined in the horses, and Ning Lingyao leaned out and looked towards the corner of the street.
I saw the girl I had seen in the porridge stall in the afternoon, bending over and carefully picking through the rubble.
She picked up a dry branch and tied it together carefully, picked up half a broken brick and placed it at her feet, and even carefully collected some garbage.
Ning Lingyao picked up a plate of exquisite pastries on the small table in the car. Her sister had asked someone to prepare it for her because she was afraid she would be hungry.
She got out of the carriage and walked up to the girl.
The girl raised her head in surprise, and when she saw that it was Ning Lingyao, the fear in her eyes subsided a little, but she still subconsciously took half a step back.
"Here, eat it." Ning Lingyao handed over the pastry.
The girl stared at the plate of delicate white pastries with her eyes wide open. She hesitated for a long time before stretching out her dark little hand and carefully picking up a piece. However, she did not eat it immediately. Instead, she quickly put it in her arms, and then another piece, and another piece...
She looked at Ning Lingyao as she took it, afraid that she would disagree.
Until all the cakes were hidden in the arms of the worn-out clothes.
"Thank you, Miss." The girl's voice was as thin as a mosquito and she turned around to leave.
"Wait!" Ning Lingyao called her, looking at her bare feet stepping on the cold gravel. "Do you want to go home? My carriage will give you a ride."
The girl shook her head and waved her hands in panic.
Finally, at Ning Lingyao's insistence, the girl nervously followed him into the carriage. She huddled in the corner, trying not to touch anything inside the carriage, holding the cakes tightly in her arms.
Following the girl's vague instructions, the carriage traveled for a long time through the bumpy and winding alleys, and finally stopped in front of a low, crooked shack.
Rather than being a home, it is more like a shelter built with broken bricks and rotten wood.
Ning Lingyao followed the girl out of the car.
The light in the shack was dim, and an indescribable smell hit me in the face.
Hearing the noise, two smaller children crawled out from inside. They were also dressed in rags, and their big, skinny eyes stood out on their small faces. They looked at the brightly dressed Ning Lingyao with curiosity and fear.
A woman with a sallow complexion and a tired look came out of the shed, hunched over. Seeing the girl and the nobleman in the carriage behind her, she was suddenly at a loss and hurriedly wiped her hands with her sleeves: "Yaya is back? This lady..."
Yaya, the girl took out the slightly flattened pastries from her arms as if she was presenting a treasure and handed them to her mother and younger siblings. The children's eyes lit up instantly.
The woman first looked at Ning Lingyao, rubbing her hands awkwardly, as if trying to find something to entertain the distinguished guest.
She turned around and went into the shed. After groping for a long time, she took out a relatively complete and clean pottery bowl and walked to a simple stove in the corner made of a few stones.
There was a faint flame in the stove, and a black clay pot was placed on it. In it was a vegetable soup with almost no oil. The soup was bland and even the salt seemed to be skimped out.
The woman carefully scooped half a bowl of vegetable soup from the pottery pot, held it in both hands, and handed it to Ning Lingyao with a bit of trepidation: "Miss, there's nothing we can offer you at home. Please drink some hot water to warm yourself up..."
Ning Lingyao looked at the bowl of soup with a few rotten vegetable leaves floating in it, then looked at the woman's hands full of cracks, and the three children behind her who were staring at the pastries but dared not move, and said nothing.
"Although life was difficult before, we were still able to grit our teeth and get by," the woman put down the bowl awkwardly when she saw Ning Lingyao didn't take it, her voice filled with numbness as if she had accepted her fate.
"But once the city was breached, everything was gone. The bandits looted a few places, and those who managed to survive took whatever food they could exchange for grain, and ransacked everything. In Weizhou City right now, nine out of ten families like ours probably can't even scrape together a tael of silver. Being able to drink a mouthful of hot soup like this is a blessing from heaven..."
Yaya broke off the dead branches she had picked up and carefully added them to the dying fire, as if that little bit of extra heat was the greatest contribution she could make to this family.
Ning Lingyao couldn't stay there any longer.
She stuffed the valuables she had on her into the woman's pocket, and amidst her repeated expressions of gratitude and refusal, she fled away.
In the carriage on the way back home, she said nothing, just stared blankly at the street scene passing by quickly outside the window.
The carriage drove into the Governor's Mansion. Ning Lingyao jumped off the carriage and went straight to find her sister.
The lights in the study were brightly on. Ning Lingyi was discussing something with Nong Zishi, Su Qingfan and others. There were piles of documents on the desk.
Ning Lingyao stood quietly by the door and did not disturb him immediately.
She watched her sister busy at work and the papers that concerned the lives of thousands of people. For the first time, she vaguely felt the heavy burden her sister was carrying on her shoulders.
It was not until Ning Lingyi put down her pen temporarily and rubbed her brows to take a break that Ning Lingyao walked in quietly.
"Sister." She called softly.
Ning Lingyi raised her head and saw her sister, a gentle smile on her face: "Yaoyao is back? Are you tired from helping out at the porridge stall today?"
Ning Lingyao shook her head.
She walked to her sister's side, was silent for a moment, and then said softly: "Sister, I don't need to take a carriage when I go out in the future. I can just let a guard follow me."
"That carriage may have a more urgent use. Sister, please send it to where it should be used."
Ning Lingyi was slightly startled and looked at her sister in surprise.
Ning Lingyao lowered her head, her voice choked. She tried hard to organize her words, to explain what she had seen and heard today, to make her feelings clear, to say that she seemed to understand a little bit why her sister was always so busy, why she always frowned, why she looked so tired but couldn't stop.
But thousands of words were stuck in my chest, and in the end they just turned into hot tears, which flowed out of my eyes without warning and slid down my cheeks.
She didn't know why she was crying, but she felt so uncomfortable in her heart, for the girl named Yaya, for the bowl of vegetable soup without oil or salt, for the people in the city who were struggling to survive, and for her exhausted sister in front of her.
"Sister, I..." She burst into tears.
Ning Lingyi understood instantly.
She put down her pen, stood up, and gently held her sister in her arms. She did not ask what happened, but just patted her sister's back gently, letting her tears soak her clothes.
Feeling the slight trembling of her sister in her arms, Ning Lingyi felt an indescribable sadness in her heart, which was then covered by a deep sense of relief.
Her Yaoyao finally saw and felt it.
The dust of this troubled world is so heavy in the eyes of a child.
"Okay, I understand," she whispered. "I'll make arrangements for the carriage."
"Yaoyao has grown up, really grown up."
*
At the same time, thousands of miles away on the vast ocean, the night was as dark as ink, and the salty sea breeze was blowing the sails.
A fleet of more than a dozen large ships was breaking through the dark waves and sailing towards the north with difficulty.
This is a transport fleet jointly formed by the Jing family and Su Qingfan's subordinates. The ships are loaded with important supplies such as food, medicinal materials, cloth, etc., which are used to maintain the lifeline of the fragile alliance.
On the largest cargo ship, there were people from the Jing family and a manager whom Su Qingfan relied on very much. The two of them looked at the dark sea ahead with solemn expressions and no sign of sleepiness.
"This is a job that really puts your head on your belt."
The shopkeeper of the Jing family sighed and lowered his voice.
"Although we've taken care of the checkpoints along the way, who knows what we might encounter at sea? The imperial navy... Sigh."
Steward Su frowned, "The boss has issued a death order. This batch of supplies is related to the overall situation on the front line and to His Highness's plan. It must be delivered no matter what. Even if someone demands a bribe, as long as it's not excessive, spending money will avoid disaster."
As he was speaking, the lookout on the mast suddenly gave a hurried shout: "There are ships ahead! They are official ships! Several of them! They are flying the navy flag!"
There was a sudden commotion in the fleet.
Soon, five warships flying the flag of the Southern Dynasty Navy approached in a fan-shaped formation, blocking their way. Torches lit up on the enemy ships, illuminating the figures of officers and soldiers on the deck and the cold muzzles of their guns.
A small boat was lowered from the official ship, and a man who looked like a military officer boarded the cargo ship, looking arrogantly at the fleet.
"In compliance with the imperial decree, we are investigating smuggling! What are you transporting? Where are you heading?" the military officer shouted sternly, his eyes greedily scanning the side of the cargo ship with its deep draft.
Shopkeeper Jing hurried forward, his usual businessman's smile plastered on his face, and he expertly thrust a heavy bag of silver into his hand. "Thank you for your hard work, General! Thank you for your hard work, General! We are a legitimate merchant ship, transporting some ordinary goods to the north to sell to supplement our family income. We don't carry any contraband. I hope you can give me some favors..."
The military officer weighed his money bag and curled his lips, as if he thought it was too little. Just as he was about to extort more money, he saw a signal suddenly appear from the opposite flagship.
The military officer's face changed slightly, and he immediately put the money bag into his arms, but did not order them to pass. Instead, he quickly retreated to the boat and quickly returned to the official ship.
"Something's wrong!" Manager Su's heart sank. "They don't want money!"
Before he finished speaking, a dazzling flame suddenly burst out from the muzzle of the cannon on the side of the opposite official ship!
"boom!"
With a loud bang, a column of water exploded next to the leading cargo ship!
"They don't want money! They want to burn the ship!" Shopkeeper Jing was horrified and said in a shrill voice, "Quick! Turn the rudder! Disperse!"
But it was too late.
The official ship was obviously well prepared. Cannons roared one after another, aiming at the cargo ships. Solid shells whizzed through the wooden boards, followed by kerosene bombs, which exploded violently and instantly ignited the supplies on the ship!
Food, cloth, medicinal materials...
The fire, the source of survival that the soldiers and civilians on the front lines had been looking forward to, spread rapidly with the help of the wind. The entire ship soon turned into a huge torch, burning fiercely and illuminating half of the night sky red!
The crew members cried and jumped into the sea to survive.
"It's over, it's all over..." The old shopkeeper of the Jing family slumped on the deck, tears streaming down his face. "Damn it! This is going to end our future!"
Manager Su looked at his comrades who were struggling in the flames, and at the grain ship that was full of hope but turned into flames. He was so angry that he was shaking all over!
That's a life-saving thing!
That’s enough food for more than a dozen ships!
It was burned to ashes on the sea by these people!
No matter how much sweat you put into the ground, not a single grain of food will grow. Thousands and tens of thousands of people have to toil day and night for dozens or even hundreds of days before even a little bit of food grows! And it's destroyed just like that?
Fuck your mother, your father is dead and your ancestors are all bastards!
"Manager Jing! Take the remaining people with you, as many as you can go!"
Without waiting for a response, he led his men towards a small boat tied to the stern of the ship.
"Manager Su! What are you going to do?!" Shopkeeper Jing was horrified.
Manager Su ignored it.
He jumped onto the boat, slashed the rope with a knife, and then frantically opened several barrels of kerosene that were originally prepared on the boat and poured them on his own boat. He also desperately salvaged several bags of gunpowder tightly wrapped in oilcloth from the wreckage of the sinking ship.
Then, he grabbed the oars and rowed with all his strength towards the nearest ship that was loading cannons!
The sea breeze howled and flames shot up into the sky, illuminating his oil-spattered face.
The people on the official ship discovered the small boat and shot arrows at it like raindrops. Manager Su was hit by an arrow on the shoulder, but he seemed not to feel it and rowed even faster.
The distance was rapidly closing, and the people on the official ship seemed to realize something. They screamed in fear and tried to turn the guns around.
It's too late.
At the moment when the boat was about to hit the side of the official ship, Manager Su threw down the oars and raised a burning torch, and the flames illuminated his eyes.
"You bastard official! You traitor! I'll fuck your ancestors for eighteen generations! Let's go to hell together!"
After cursing, he threw the torch at the boat covered with kerosene.
“Boom!”
With a deafening bang, the gunpowder on the small boat exploded, and a huge fireball rose into the sky, like an angry blood-red lotus, engulfing the stern of the official ship and those officers and soldiers who could not be called human beings.
The official ship tilted violently, flames shot up into the sky, and it fell into the boundless ocean along with Manager Su.
After a long, long time, the sea returned to calm, with only surging waves and occasional seagulls.
The world has lost an unknown little person.
A nameless man is buried at the bottom of the sea.
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