Unfortunately, even though she knew this, she could do nothing about it. Living in such a chaotic world, who could truly stay out of it?
The carriage swayed all night long, and at dawn the next day, several guards behind the carriage caught up, but one more person was killed and one was injured.
Yunyan got off the horse and asked the wounded to get on the carriage.
Jiang Muyu took the initiative to take care of the injured.
The wounded soldier was stabbed in the arms and abdomen, especially the wound on his hand, which was so deep that the bone was visible. Due to limited conditions at the time, he could only be hastily bandaged and had to wait until the next city to ask a doctor to examine him.
He had been in a coma and his body was hot. It must be that the wound was infected and inflamed. Jiang Muyu could only keep changing the handkerchiefs and putting them on his forehead to cool him down physically.
Fortunately, they arrived at a small town before dark.
Jiang Muyu looked at the two faded characters "Yingzhou" engraved above the city gate and subconsciously looked at Yunyan.
Yun Yan was riding on the horse, looking up at the tall city gate with a gloomy expression.
Returning to my hometown after many years, I couldn't help feeling a little melancholy because everything and everyone had changed.
Today's Yingzhou City looks very simple and old, with few shops on both sides of the streets and refugees everywhere, some leaning against the walls, and some sleeping directly on the ground.
It was nearly May, the weather was freezing cold, but they were lightly dressed, patched up, skinny and emaciated, with cloudy eyes filled with exhaustion from just trying to survive.
Jiang Muyu only felt sad, and deeply understood what it meant to "when a country prospers, the people suffer; when a country perishes, the people suffer."
For some people, just living is difficult enough.
They walked across most of the city before they finally found an inn where they could rest.
The inn is also very old, with two floors. The wooden floor is a bit rotten and creaks when you walk on it. In addition to the bed, table and chairs, there is only a small cabinet that can be considered furniture in the guest room.
Jiang Muyu sat on the bed and shook his legs, and the bed board made a sound.
No wonder the shopkeeper said with a bitter face that their conditions were difficult and asked for your understanding as soon as I entered the store.
This does seem to be a tough life, as even the cheapest inns in the capital are at least one or two times more luxurious than this one.
Yingzhou City borders Xuancang and the Western Regions, and is too close to the border. When the war broke out, the first city to suffer was Yingzhou. Now even the prefect of Yingzhou has been scared away, and the whole city has almost become a refugee camp. Even the bandits who enter the city cannot loot anything.
Jiang Muyu sighed, silently took out the dry steamed bun from his bag and took two bites.
Soon, Yunyan brought her a bowl of hot porridge.
In fact, it can't even be called porridge. It's a bowl of white water, and you can only see a few grains of rice when you scoop it up with a spoon. It's really the thinnest rice soup.
Yun Yan said helplessly, "Sir, this is the only rice left in the inn. We paid the shopkeeper ten taels of silver to buy it. There are only two bowls of rice in total. It is not enough for more than a dozen people."
"In a place like this, it's good to have something to eat." Jiang Muyu picked up the bowl, took a sip, and then took a bite of the dry steamed bun.
Seeing her looking so happy while eating these shabby things, Yunyan felt that she was just pretending and felt distressed. She thought: Your Majesty was born into a noble family, how could she have suffered such hardship?
However, what she didn't know was that Jiang Muyu was truly feeling fortunate in her heart.
She was thankful that she came to this world and lived a life of superiority instead of becoming one of the refugees.
If that were to happen, she wasn't sure if she would still be able to live such a prosperous life.
She couldn't help those people yet, but she wanted to do everything she could, at least to make the war end faster.
Therefore, she must meet Liang Qingchen alive.
Thinking of this, she chewed the steamed bun more skillfully.
Yunyan was stunned, thinking: Didn't the queen complain about this steamed bun because she got constipated after eating too much? Why is she chewing it so vigorously now?
After eating only 70% full, Jiang Muyu put away his food and asked about the condition of the injured soldier.
Yunyan said, "We have called a doctor to see him, and his injuries have been properly treated, but we are in a hurry, so we may not be able to let him rest."
"Let him ride in a carriage for the time being. It will be better if he can be a little more comfortable."
"Well, young master, you have been traveling for a whole day and night. You should rest early. Yingzhou is not peaceful. I am afraid you will not be able to sleep peacefully at night. You should sleep as much as you can now."
Jiang Muyu also understood this logic, and he listened very well and went to bed.
That night, some refugees broke into the inn to steal food. A dozen ragged men rushed in like robbers and went to the kitchen and warehouse.
The shopkeeper was probably used to this, so he said loudly and nonchalantly, "Be careful when you search, don't break the pots and pans."
The refugees were somewhat sensible. They looked for things very carefully, moving around tables, chairs and benches. In the end, they actually found a bag of dried radishes.
Although it was not a good thing, it was edible after all. Several people gathered together and grabbed a handful and stuffed it into their mouths. It was obvious that they had been too hungry for too long.
Jiang Muyu stood at the corner of the wooden stairs and watched. She had just been woken up and was still sleepy. She yawned lazily and called a guard, whispering a few words.
The guard then went upstairs, took down a small bag, and walked downstairs to throw it to the refugees.
One of them noticed a corner that looked like food sticking out of the bundle, so he rushed over immediately, opened it, and saw dozens of large steamed buns inside.
A group of people immediately surrounded them and started to rob them. A little boy came out from the crowd, holding half a steamed bun in his hand. His dark face had a pair of eyes that were surprisingly bright. He held the steamed bun in his arms, wrapped it in his tattered clothes, and ran out of the inn.
Jiang Muyu followed out of curiosity and saw from a distance that the little boy ran to the wall at the corner of the street, helped up a skinny woman curled up on the ground, and carefully tore the steamed bun into small pieces and stuffed them into the woman's mouth.
The woman just stared at him with her lifeless sunken eyes and didn't move.
Jiang Muyu approached and heard the boy's low voice: "Mom, please have a bite, have a bite..."
Jiang Muyu squatted down, put her hand under the woman's nose, and was stunned. She stared at the boy as he force-fed her, her little face full of stubbornness.
The woman's mouth was already filled with steamed buns, and her cracked lips were stained with many crumbs.
She held down the boy's hand that was continuing to stuff food into his mouth and said softly, "Stop feeding him. Your mother is dead."
"No, you're talking nonsense." The boy shook off her hand and continued to tear off the steamed bun and stuff it into the woman's mouth.
"Let her rest in peace. Perhaps she would rather you were alive."
The boy lowered his head, holding a piece of steamed bun in his hand, tears streaming down the back of his hand. After a while, he tore off a piece and stuffed it into the woman's mouth.
But this time it really couldn't be stuffed in. The woman's whole body was stiff and she had no saliva secretion. The dry steamed bun only filled her mouth.
Jiang Muyu didn't say anything else, stood up, turned around and left.
She knew that she couldn't wake up someone who was pretending to be asleep.