Chapter 10 Jin An
The journey ahead was so difficult that Jin Sui had no time to think about the beggars.
The area within a hundred miles around Luo City seemed to have been washed by a flood. The silt in the mountain streams was as deep as a person, and it was impossible to travel on the official road.
Every step you take feels like you are wading through a pool of mud.
When Grandpa Ling first saw the hard labor of carrying mud to clear the road, he asked Jinsui to quickly grab some mud to make his clothes dirty.
In fact, the two people's clothes were dirty enough, but they still stood out too much compared to these hard labors.
When Grandpa Ling saw that there were women and children among the hard laborers, he was so anxious that blisters appeared on his mouth, and he tried every means to take a look.
The thought that my daughter-in-law and grandson might also be doing the hard work, digging the mud with difficulty, and if they were slow, they would be whipped by the officials.
Grandpa Ling felt very distressed because he had no clothes to wear and only ate wheat bran.
The "divine strategy" that Jin Sui was carrying had been used as a crutch by Grandpa Ling. She placed the certificate of conversion on her chest, ready to take it out and show it to the officers at any time.
On the way, we encountered several police officers who came up to us with fierce eyes, obviously preparing to capture able-bodied men to dig mud.
Fortunately, people in this era still respect Buddhism and Taoism. If they meet a good-natured Grandpa Ling, they will say a lot of auspicious words. If they meet a bad-natured Grandpa Ling, they will give him a few dimes.
After much difficulty, they finally reached the gate of Luo City, but the gate had already been closed, and civilians were strictly prohibited from entering or leaving.
Grandpa Ling tried every means to get into the city, but Jin Sui reminded him:
"If my mother and brother are really in Los Angeles, they must be doing hard labor, not necessarily in the city."
The two men focused on inquiring about the prisoners who came from Chang'an. They inquired for two full days and gave a veteran official several meals and a tael of silver before they were able to get some information.
"The group that came from Chang'an were originally exiled to Yandi. It just so happened that Luocheng needed people, so they transferred here."
"These prisoners are digging mud and cleaning up everywhere during the day, so they are hard to find. Wait until dark and look for them in the camp outside the city. They are all stationed there, and maybe you can find them."
The two men immediately went to the camp again. The soldiers did not allow people to approach the camp. Seeing the messy refugee camp, the two men squatted nearby for a day and a night, but did not see any prisoners.
I just realized that the camp where the prisoners were was even worse than the refugee camp! It was even harder to get in, and the soldiers were watching very closely.
Grandpa Ling, an old hand, used his experience and originally wanted to find the team that was transporting night-blooming incense to sneak in. However, it turned out that there was no need to dump night-blooming in this camp, as people just defecated and urinated anywhere in the wild.
Jinsui was shocked when he heard this. He thought that after a major disaster there would be a major epidemic, and the local government seemed to have no epidemic prevention strategy at all.
No, they have. They have isolated the main urban area, and they don't want to care about these refugees and prisoners at all.
Finally, the two of them mixed into the team transporting goods, split up and inquired around the camp.
After another two busy days, I still didn't get any news.
One can't help but wonder, could it be that Ling's mother Jiang and his younger brother Ling Jin'an did not go to Luocheng, but went to Yan?
It was not until they saw the raging fire and black smoke rising from the wilderness that the officials led their men to water the ground with quicklime. All the people who died in Luocheng were collectively cremated in this way.
A chilling thought arises.
Perhaps, Jiang and Ling Jinan are gone, just like the original owners, who died quietly.
Jinsui didn't dare to tell her grandfather about this guess, but seeing Grandpa Ling's expression that looked ten years older in an instant, Jinsui knew that her grandfather thought the same as she did.
She could only comfort him: "We haven't searched all over yet, so mother and brother must still be alive."
When Grandpa Ling was trying to sneak into the team responsible for carrying and burning corpses, Jin Sui thought of a place he hadn't found yet:
"Grandpa, there is still a patient area we haven't found."
Grandpa Ling seemed to have seen a ray of light in the darkness, and hurried to inquire where the patient was placed.
I heard that all the sick, whether they had fever, chills, diarrhea or dysentery, were placed in caves, and the government hardly cared about them, leaving them to die on their own.
That place has been called a ghost cave by the refugees. Anyone can go there, but they are allowed to enter but not leave.
This time, Grandpa Ling told Jinsui seriously not to go in and to wait outside.
Jinsui still replied that she would go wherever grandpa went.
There was a flash of emotion in Grandpa Ling's eyes that she couldn't understand. In addition to pity, there was also a hint of respect.
Until this point, she didn't realize anything was wrong, and even thought that she looked quite similar to the original owner.
Jinsui got the masks and alcohol from the laboratory in advance and wanted to make up a lie, but Grandpa Ling didn't even ask where these things came from.
She also carried energy bars, potatoes, tomatoes, medicines and clean water with her in case she found Jiang within an hour and was unable to get her medicines and food.
The grandparents and grandchildren walked with difficulty in the mountains. Fortunately, the mountains near Luocheng were not high and the cave was not difficult to find.
What made the two men look solemn was that they saw several corpses along the way, all of whom died in extremely tragic ways.
In this era, in the face of natural disasters, human beings are as small as ants.
Due to the inaction of the government, the lives of the lower-class people are really worthless.
Before we reached the cave, Grandpa Ling started calling "Jin'an" and "Aqing".
He asked Jinsui to shout as well. Jinsui moved her mouth and called out "mother" and "Xiao An".
The valley seemed like a dead place, with sad responses coming from time to time, and people coming out from caves or trees, but none of them was Jiang.
It was not until the two of them found the deepest cave that Grandpa Ling's voice became hoarse. He shouted once, and suddenly there was a "clang" sound.
They saw a stone rolling down from the mountain. They looked up along the traces of the stone and saw a dirty eight-year-old boy standing at the entrance of a cave.
The boy must have heard the noise and thought it was a bad guy, so he wanted to use the stone to protect himself. But when he saw the appearance of the person coming, he couldn't help but drop the stone from his hand.
"grandfather!"
The boy suddenly ran down from the height, shouting even more like the Calabash Brothers than the original owner, and suddenly threw himself into Grandpa Ling’s arms.
If Jin Sui hadn't supported Grandpa Ling in advance, the two of them would have definitely fallen to the ground due to inertia.
Grandpa Ling burst into tears instantly, and the old man and the child hugged each other and cried bitterly. The miserable feeling made anyone who heard it cry.
Jin Sui knew how difficult it was for Grandpa Ling to find his grandson, not to mention that he was almost beaten to death by bandits.
Even later when he was traveling with Jinsui, they had to sleep in the open air, cross mountains and rivers, and Grandpa Ling still had old injuries.
Watching the grandparents and grandchildren finally reunited, both Jinsui herself and the obsession of the original owner that remained in her body felt warm.
My eyes are filled with warmth. All the hardships along the way are worth it at this moment!
At this moment, many people heard the noise and came over to watch, stretching out their hands to ask for food and water like a group of doomsday zombies.
Jin Sui hurriedly helped up the grandfather who was holding Jin An and crying: "Someone is coming, let's go back to the cave first."
Looking at the crowd getting closer and closer, Jinsui guarded her bag tightly, and she didn't dare to give up even a single piece of cake.
If you dare to take out food in a place like this, these people will go crazy and lose control in grabbing it.
Jinan hurriedly took Grandpa's hand and said, "There are only Mom and I in this cave. Grandpa and this brother, come in quickly."
Even in a critical situation, Jin Sui couldn't help but complain: "What do you mean by 'this brother'? I'm your sister!"
Jin'an looked at her from head to toe with an incredulous look, and then looked at Grandpa Ling inquiringly.
Grandpa Ling said hurriedly, "You two siblings haven't seen each other for three years, and you were dressed like this, so Xiao An didn't recognize you at first."
Of course, Jinsui didn't bother with the child. She stroked her brother's messy hair and said, "You've suffered a lot, right? It's okay. Grandpa and sister will be there for you in the future."
(End of this chapter)
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