He waved his hand, "Go down and collect your resettlement food and help the government rebuild your homes."
"Thank you... thank you, Your Honor!" The old scholar excitedly led everyone in kneeling and kowtowing. Er Gou and Lao Li also kowtowed heavily.
Jiang Chan bowed to the others without saying a word. She glanced at the backs of the people being dragged away, her eyes cold and clear.
As the sun sets, a newly planned resettlement site for disaster victims is set up in Qinghe County.
Rows of simple but sturdy shacks are being built. The air is no longer filled with the despairing smell of mud, but with the aroma of wood and cooking smoke.
Several large pots were set up in the open space, and the steaming rice porridge emitted a long-lost aroma of grain. The disaster victims lined up, their faces no longer completely numb; although still exhausted, their eyes held a glimmer of life. They received their porridge, carefully held it, and walked aside to drink it silently.
Jiang Chan, Er Gou, Lao Li, Aunt Zhang, and Xiao Shitou stood on a slightly higher earthen slope at the edge of the resettlement site.
Looking at the bustling reconstruction scene in the distance, Old Li rubbed his hands together, a long-lost smile on his face. "Finally... finally there's some hope! I heard the new dike will be made with good stones and good wood! We won't have to worry anymore!"
Er Gou grinned and patted his chest, "That dog of a county magistrate and Qian Bapi are finally in jail! Their homes were ransacked, and the money was used to repair the dike. It's a way to vent the anger of the villagers who died unjustly!"
Aunt Zhang held Little Stone in her arms, gazing tenderly at the direction of the new shack being built in the distance. "We... can have a new home now."
Little Stone held half a multigrain pancake in his hand and nodded vigorously.
Jiang Chan looked at everything before her. The golden light of the setting sun shone on the busy crowd, on the newly dug foundation, and on the ruins being cleared at the breach in the distance.
There was no smile on her face. Her gaze swept calmly over the newly built shacks and the disaster victims receiving porridge, and finally turned to the distant direction of the capital.
"The dam can be repaired." Jiang Chan's voice was not loud, but it sounded particularly clear in the evening breeze. "The greed in people's hearts is not so easy to dig out. Those dragged down to take the blame today are nothing more than a few mudfish in the mud."
The smiles on Er Gou and Lao Li's faces froze as they stared at Jiang Chan in astonishment.
Aunt Zhang hugged Little Stone tightly.
“The cannibalistic world isn’t so easy to change.” Jiang Chan’s gaze returned to her companions, carrying a wisdom beyond her years. “Surviving, establishing a foothold, feeding more people, providing shelter from the rain… this is only the first step.”
She paused, her voice low yet powerful:
"Let everyone see the truth, let everyone know that we cannot be exploited, and let our blood and sweat no longer feed parasites... This road is still very long."
In the distance, at the edge of the resettlement site, several children ran around carefree, their innocent voices drifting in the evening breeze, singing that familiar nursery rhyme:
"...Where can the wronged souls seek justice? The sound of drums echoes throughout the capital..."
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