The old man gave each of the dozen or so orphans he had taken in a few taels of silver and some grain, and told them to go in groups of three or five. Those who could go back to their hometowns could go back, and those who could not go back could go to Tanzhou City.
Zhiwen and Zhiwang didn't care how the townspeople viewed them.
The rice and vegetables stored at home are still quite enough, so I don't have to worry about food or drink even if I don't go out. It's just that I feel a little uneasy.
The merchants who identified them as bandits had recently been trying to curry favor with them, hoping to buy more sweet potatoes and corn to resell elsewhere.
The people who had been clamoring to kill them recently received free porridge at the town entrance and praised them as great people.
Zhiwen and his companion couldn't understand why these people completely disregarded their past good deeds and wished to kill them as soon as possible, simply because they came from a bandit background.
But as long as I can't figure it out, that's all.
Upon learning that Zhixing, Zhiwu, and Wangjin were to be beheaded, Zhiwen and Zhiwang could no longer remain silent.
The four of them were picked up from various villages and brought back to the mountain stronghold by the eldest brother. Their childhood experiences were all similarly tragic, especially Zhixing, who suffered the most.
After being taken back to the mountain village, they finally got a hot meal.
However, just because they were taken back to the mountain stronghold, and just because they wanted to survive, Zhixing and the other two were sentenced to beheading, and the two of them were trapped in the town, unable to go in or out.
Zhiwen took a sip of herbal tea and asked blankly, "Xiaowang, do you think Xiaoxing and Xiaowu would be alright if we hadn't gone to the mountain stronghold with Elder Nian?"
Zhiwang chuckled, toying with the three-copper-coin teacup in his hand, and calmly said, "If we don't go to the mountain stronghold, we'll only die sooner and faster."
They might not even survive this harsh winter, and have long since starved or frozen to death in some unknown corner.
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