"Ouch!" The carriage suddenly lurched forward, and Xingxing lurched forward, almost falling flat on her face. Luckily, Zhu Lin grabbed her in time and pulled her back.
Zhu Changge and Zhu Qingruo were in the same carriage as them, but they were both skilled in martial arts, so they only swayed for a moment before regaining their balance.
"What happened to Senior Brother?" Zhu Qingruo asked loudly.
"There's a group of refugees ahead, charging menacingly at our carriage, looking like they want to devour us alive." Because the road in this area is difficult to travel, the carriage became particularly bumpy after accelerating.
The carriage behind was driven by Zhu Yueran, with Zhu Chumo and Zhu Xichen sitting inside. The three of them remained calm and didn't utter a sound despite the bumpy ride.
The desperate group of refugees chased them for a full quarter of an hour before giving up. Perhaps they hadn't encountered anyone to fleece in a long time, and once they saw a fat sheep, they wouldn't let it go. If the horse-drawn cart hadn't been fast, it would have been a bullock cart or a donkey cart that was sure to be torn apart and eaten by the refugees.
They dared not stop on the road and kept going. They stopped at the entrance of a small village at dusk, but the group did not dare to enter the village rashly, for fear that there might be refugees lying in ambush.
If they encounter a large number of refugees, they might be able to escape, but they might lose their carriage, as traveling on foot would be too tiring.
Zhu Xichen jumped down from the carriage and said in a low voice, "I'll go into the village first to check things out. You all wait here."
Zhu Xichen quickly disappeared into the village and returned about two minutes later. Zhu Qiuyu looked at him, and the former shook his head. "This small village probably suffered a snow disaster at the end of last year. Many houses collapsed, and there are still dead people buried under the collapsed houses that haven't been dug out. No one lives in this village anymore; they must have all fled."
"Let's find a clean room to stay in for the night and leave tomorrow morning," Zhu Qiuyu said decisively.
The village wasn't big; before the refugees fled, there were probably only about two hundred people. Zhu Chumo frowned, looked around, and sniffed the air, saying, "The weather is still very cold, so the buried bodies haven't started to decompose yet. If it gets hot, this village will start to stink."
As he spoke, he walked to the carriage, took out a cloth bag containing medicinal powder to prevent the plague, and sprinkled the powder along the way.
"The water in the village well is undrinkable; you have to get water from somewhere else," Zhu Chumo reminded everyone.
The group walked directly to the end of the village. The houses at the end of the village were usually detached and some distance from the village. Fortunately, the houses at the end of this village had not collapsed, so they settled down there.
There was hardly anything left in the house; there wasn't even a table or chairs. They could only find some dry grass to put on the floor. Zhu Changge and Zhu Qingruo went to find water, while the others gathered firewood and did other tasks.
Xingxing wasn't idle either; she followed Zhu Lin to check the edge of the village. Xingxing didn't find anything unusual, but Zhu Lin had good hearing and seemed to have discovered something, so he followed the sound.
"I don't have any visual cues in my mind," Xingxing whispered to the boy after walking around for a while.
Zhu Lin glanced at her gently, nodded slightly, put his index finger to his lips and shushed her, signaling Xingxing to be quiet. Looking into Xingxing's curious eyes, the boy pointed to a collapsed house. The house had collapsed quite badly, with only one room and two walls still standing, supported by what appeared to be two pillars at the corners.
However, the gap in the corner is not big enough to hide an adult. Could there be a child underneath?
Zhu Lin stood near the two walls, listened quietly for a moment, then led Xingxing away a little, and then used his power to shake the soil pressing on the pillar away.
As the dust settled, a dirty little boy was seen huddled under the two pillars, covered in dust. He looked like a boy, very thin, and his clothes were tattered like a rag draped over his body.
"Why isn't he moving? Is he dead?" Xingxing clutched her chest, looking anxious.
Zhu Lin sensed it for a moment and shook his head. "There's still a breath, you're alive. Little brat, come out quickly, or I'll have to drag you out myself."
The little devil seemed not to have heard Zhu Lin's words and was still pretending to be dead, but Zhu Lin knew that the little devil was awake, but the little devil was very wary and guarded against them.
"Come out quickly! Don't hide there anymore. The snow has just melted, and the ground is very damp. You'll get sick if you stay cooped up. We're not bad people. We're just passing through and asking for the night. We'll leave tomorrow. Don't be afraid. We won't hurt you."
Xingxing was beautiful and lovely, with a soft and pleasant voice that gave people a sense of warmth and made them lower their guard. The child finally moved, his dark eyes looking at Xingxing pitifully.
The little princess's big, bright eyes met the little devil's gaze, and she gave him a bright smile. Her little teeth were white and cute. Xingxing waved to him again, "Come out, don't be afraid. Are you hungry? I have some pastries here, you can have them."
Perhaps it was the allure of Xingxing's smile that made the little rascal finally stand up. But perhaps he was too hungry, because his body swayed uncontrollably after he stood up, and the dirty little boy instinctively grabbed the pillar next to him for support.
"Huh?" Xingxing blinked, making sure she wasn't mistaken. This dirty kid wasn't wearing shoes or pants, just a tattered shirt that reached his knees.
Zhu Lin frowned slightly, covered Xingxing's eyes, and turned her around to avoid looking. He said, "Bring him the clothes he used before. He's not dressed properly and could easily freeze to death in this weather."
The clothes I used before were those drab and ugly cloth clothes I wore when I was disguised. I never thought they would come in handy now.
After turning around, Xingxing didn't look back, but said crisply, "Wait here, okay? Brother Lin and I will go back and get some clothes for you to wear."
Zhu Lin said, "We'll go first, and you follow behind." He didn't want to make an extra trip and was too lazy to serve him.
Watching the white-clad boy and the exquisitely beautiful little girl walk forward, the dirty doll hesitated for a moment, then gritted its teeth and followed.
When Zhu Lin and Xingxing led the Dirty Doll back to the end of the village, Zhu Qiuyu and the others also returned. Upon seeing the Dirty Doll, they all raised their eyebrows, surprised that there were still people alive.
Zhu Lin took the clothes and threw them over, gesturing for the dirty doll to put them on and not go bare-legged. The dirty doll's eyes lit up when it saw the clothes, and it reached out to pick them up and put them on, but someone else took them first.
Zhu Qingruo stared at the other person, rubbed her nose angrily, and said, "It's too dirty, let's wash it first."
Everyone loves cleanliness, but they can't stand the strange smell on this dirty child.
"It's so cold, where is he supposed to wash? He might freeze to death before he's even properly cleaned," Zhu Changge said with amusement.
There was a wooden bucket on the carriage. Erfu insisted on having a wooden bucket on the carriage, saying that it would be convenient to carry water on the road. So even though Fu Ge and his friends were not there at this time, a wooden bucket was left on the carriage.
"I'll go fetch a bucket of water. There's an iron pot on the carriage, so I'll boil some water for him to wash with." Zhu Qingruo shrugged helplessly and resignedly went to fetch the water.
So they lit two fires, one to cook meat porridge in an earthenware pot and the other to boil water in an iron pot. They added a lot of firewood, so the water heated up quickly. The little dirty child took a bath and changed into clean clothes next door.
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