The other bandits were frightened when they saw Gu Qingshan's arrow pointed at them. They suddenly wondered if they had made a mistake. Although this family only had one guard, he seemed more intimidating than the previous group of guards!
A thin layer of sweat appeared on my palms, and my hands were slippery as I gripped the weapon!
"Are you also refugees? Why are your wives and children nowhere to be seen?" Qin San Niang asked, frowning.
The person who spoke was a woman dressed in linen clothes, but she was wearing cloth shoes, whereas they were all wearing straw sandals.
The leader of the men stepped forward and said, "We are refugees from the north. Our wives and children are starving to death! Otherwise, why would we be robbing people?"
When the man saw the children at the back of the carriage, he felt uneasy. His own child was probably about the same age. Thinking of his own child, he said coldly, "Don't blame us! As long as you hand over the grain, we won't hurt you!"
These are not real bandits, and the man leading them doesn't seem like a vicious criminal either.
Qin Sanniang's mind raced for a moment. "We are also refugees, orphans and widows traveling together. Why are you making things difficult for us? Although we now have a carriage, our food supplies are running out. We need to hurry ahead to replenish our supplies."
The men behind hesitated for a moment, then one of them, who was young and short, walked up to the leader and said, "Brother, why don't we let them pass? They are refugees too."
"What about your mother? What about your brother?" The leader knew what was going on. If, as the woman said, there was no food, then killing the horse and mule would be enough for his family to eat all the way to the south! He couldn't miss this opportunity, otherwise he didn't know if he would have the strength to rob again by tomorrow!
"Here's a bag of coarse grain cakes, our only rations. We can share half with you if you agree. If not, my knife isn't just for show!"
As she spoke, Qin San Niang exuded a chilling aura.
She had resources and didn't want to commit too much killing. Most importantly, these people weren't so bad that they had to be killed, which is why she said so much!
Ugh, so tiring! I guess I'm just destined to be a workaholic!
Hearing her say that, it was unclear whether she was intimidated by the sudden imposing aura emanating from Qin San Niang, or afraid of the cleaver in her hand.
After a brief standoff, the leading man walked over and took the coarse grain cakes from the bundle. After thinking for a moment, he took out half of them and put them in his clothes, then tossed the rest to Qin San Niang.
"It was my fault. We are all farmers. We would not do such a despicable thing if we were not really driven to desperation. If we meet again, we will definitely repay your great kindness!" After the man finished speaking, he turned and left. The remaining men put away their weapons and quickly followed him away.
He handed the remaining coarse grain cakes to Liu, who put them away without saying anything.
Wu Chunhua felt a little sorry for the empty flatbreads; there wasn't much grain left in the back carriage. However, considering it was Qin Sanniang's idea, she didn't say anything. After all, if they were really surrounded, the women and children would be in danger to some extent, and if the bandits saw the grain in the back, the consequences would be even more unimaginable.
Thinking about it this way, I feel that Qin San Niang really achieved great things with little effort, and she has great wisdom!
Gu Qingshan adjusted the front of the car and continued forward.
There is a small town sixty miles ahead called Huozhou City! Qin Sanniang planned to go there to make purchases, so she prepared to hurry on her way and try to reach Huozhou by the afternoon of the next day.
Nothing unexpected happened on the way to Huozhou, and Liu could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Auntie, are we going into the city tonight?" Fatty gripped the reins, forcing the carriage to stop by the roadside. The city walls of Huozhou were different from the previous cities, but Fatty couldn't explain how.
Not only had the number of guards at the city gate doubled, but the guards on the city walls also stood ramrod straight, wielding long halberds. The defenses of Huo Prefecture were extremely tight!
"Yes, we're going into town tonight." With a bed to sleep in, Qin San Niang had no intention of sleeping outdoors.
The sun hadn't set yet, so everyone quickly washed themselves in the water by the moat outside the city, smoothing out the wrinkles in their clothes, before driving their carriages into the city.
Unexpectedly, the entry into the city did not go smoothly. According to the soldiers guarding the city, the quota for entering the city today had been exceeded, and the city guard said that no more people could be allowed to enter.
"Then can we go in tomorrow?" Qin San Niang asked. "My family is out of food, and we need to go in to buy some."
The soldiers guarding the city glanced at the group, thinking that these people were somewhat well-off, judging by their mule carts and horse-drawn carriages. They patiently explained that the city gates would open the next morning, and that government officials would set up soup kitchens to distribute porridge. They could also ask the group to come and get some. Of course, if they didn't want to participate, they could consider going into the city to buy porridge, but prices were high; grain was already eighty coins per pound!
Qin San Niang quickly expressed her gratitude and said they would come again tomorrow morning!
It took Liu and Wu Chunhua a long time to recover from the shock of hearing the words "eighty coins." Good heavens, what kind of world is this? Normally, even the most expensive white flour only costs twelve coins a pound, but now even coarse grains are eighty coins a pound?! No wonder those refugees are starving to death. Even if they reach Huozhou City, they might not have the money to buy food; they simply can't afford it!
Qin San Niang and her group turned back from the city gate. By this time, the number of refugees at the city gate had visibly increased, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that there were layers upon layers of them. For a moment, they were in a state where they couldn't get out or in. Fortunately, Gu Qingshan kept shouting, "Excuse me! Excuse me!" and they managed to break free.
The refugees' faces lit up with long-lost smiles. Many children happily jumped around the adults. Everyone knew that the government would distribute porridge tomorrow, but what did the porridge taste like? They had long forgotten! There were no more adults scolding or children crying. There were some sobs, but they were tears of joy!
Liu and the others were also moved, praising the officials of Huozhou City for being so kind! Providing porridge to the refugees was a great act of kindness! No other city did this; they truly deserved their thumbs up!
Qin San Niang was pondering. If, as the city guards said, prices in the city were indeed extremely high, then why would the government organize a porridge distribution? Something was fishy about this. She was by nature cautious; anything unusual was bound to be suspicious, and it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Third Sister, is something wrong?" Wu Chunhua was the first to notice her unusual behavior.
Gu Qingshan also felt that something was amiss, but he believed that such a large number of people would create chaos and lead to potential dangers.
Last time in Guocheng, he had already bought a lot of grain, enough for him and his daughter to eat. However, Qin San Niang often made them eat together, so Gu Qingshan had to give Liu Shi the difference in their rations. Even so, he still felt he had gotten a good deal, since his family ate coarse grains, while they often ate white flour buns, not to mention milk powder and the like!
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