Chapter 66 Foraging for Food: People are lining up to get strawberries and lychees.
Sifang County.
The armies of Yuanxi County and Anling County clashed on the territory of Sifang County. After only two days of fighting, the army of Sifang County also rushed to the battlefield to fight against Anling County together with Yuanxi County.
In Changfeng and Lingqiu counties, which served as battlefields, the sounds of battle cries shook the heavens, and countless corpses lay scattered across the mountains.
The local people, those who were strong and able-bodied, had long since fled to other counties with their families, while the elderly, weak, women, and children who had no means of labor had no choice but to pack some belongings and hide in the mountains.
That night.
Pear Blossom squatted at the cave entrance, listening to the distant thunderous booms that had ceased. She thought to herself, "They must be done fighting now."
The little girl ran into the cave and said to the dozen or so villagers hiding inside, "They won't fight today. Let's go out and find something to eat."
Her grandmother, leaning weakly against the cave wall, heard her words and said anxiously, "Don't go! What if they start fighting again if you go out?"
An old man with a white beard nodded repeatedly, "Yes, they can even summon lightning to strike people. With your small frame, ten of you wouldn't be enough to withstand their strikes!"
Pear Blossom looked at them and said, "But we can't go without food, and we're out of water too."
After she said that, everyone in the cave, young and old, fell silent and only sighed.
Someone's stomach started growling.
A two- or three-year-old child whispered "hungry" in the arms of a young woman, who then turned her head away and wept.
A girl a little older than Li Hua stood up. "Let's go out and see if we can pick some wild fruit. If not, we can dig up some grass roots!"
A boy two years younger than Lihua gritted his teeth and said, "Even those who fight need to eat and rest! Sister Chuntao, Sister Lihua, let's go find them. We're small, so we can run fast and hide easily."
Chuntao nodded.
Pear Blossom said, "That's right, Grandma, you all hide well. Don't come out because your legs aren't good!"
The three children were adamant, and the adults couldn't persuade them otherwise.
They carefully pushed aside the vines and branches at the entrance of the hole, climbed out, and put the camouflage back.
Chuntao checked it over and said to her younger siblings, "Let's go."
Their county hasn't experienced a severe drought in the past two years, but it has still been affected by the drought, resulting in a 50% reduction in vegetation.
Fortunately, there was still food to eat and clean water to drink.
The autumn moonlight was slightly cool, and the three children shivered as they carefully made their way down the hillside.
There is a stream a little further away.
Beside the stream.
Due to the drought, the stream's water level is only a quarter of what it is during the rainy season.
The army's medicine boys and medics squatted by the stream washing bandages, with soldiers carrying broadswords and spears protecting them.
While washing her bandages, Zhou Xuan chatted with her junior classmates, "The sports meet should be over by now, right?"
The junior brother took the bandage handed to him by the junior sister and continued cleaning. He sighed softly, repeating for what seemed like the umpteenth time, "I came in second place in the men's long jump competition in Anling County."
The junior students silently looked up at Zhou Xuan.
Zhou Xuan: "..." I was wrong, I shouldn't have brought this up.
Because he had to go to war with the army, his junior brother couldn't participate in the finals. He started talking about it from the day he received the news, and he would talk about it all the time.
It's not that people can't understand him, but after listening to him talk for so long, they eventually want him to shut up.
Junior brother: "I wonder what the prize for the finals is."
Junior Brother: "The prizes bestowed by the goddess are all wonderful; they can be passed down as family heirlooms!"
Junior brother: "I can only participate tomorrow."
Junior brother: "By the way, will there still be a sports meet next year?"
At this moment, a soldier spoke up, "Our football team can't participate in the finals because we're away on a campaign. Yuanxi County and Sifang County are really going too far. We'll beat them so badly they'll have to run home in agony!"
Another soldier laughed and said, "Your Cuju team, I'm not saying this, but you're just relying on the fact that Cuju teams in various counties haven't started practicing yet."
"What do you mean? Don't we have any hope of winning?"
"Maybe this year, but next year..."
"So what if we can't participate this year, and we don't even make it to the finals next year?"
"...but they do have some confidence in their own people."
The young apprentice and the boy who was squatting by the stream all laughed.
They continued discussing what kind of prize the goddess might bestow.
Zhou Xuan kept working with her hands, "If possible, I want that penicillin!"
Her junior classmates looked at her.
Zhou Xuan asked, "Don't you want it? It's a miracle drug that can save lives."
Everyone certainly wanted to, but given their current conditions, they couldn't produce penicillin.
A junior female student said, "If penicillin doesn't work, we can try allicin."
The others were either puzzled or deep in thought, asking, "Is it possible?"
My junior colleague had studied medical books, and she said firmly, "I don't know, but if we don't try, it will never work."
She remembered a saying: "Failure is the mother of success!"
Her siblings were encouraged by her, and they all felt that they should give it a try when they had time.
Failure is okay, but if we succeed, think of how many people we could save!
Zhou Xuan couldn't help but look forward to the future.
"Who!" a soldier suddenly shouted.
Zhou Xuan and the others were startled. They instinctively hugged the cleaned bandages and looked in the direction of the sound.
The soldier pointed his spear forward at the bushes beside him, his voice full of threat, "Come out! Or my spear won't have eyes!"
Another soldier gripped his broadsword tightly, staring coldly at the bushes.
The three children were trembling.
Pear Blossom bit her lip, suddenly stood up, and walked forward.
Chun Tao instinctively reached out to pull her, but Li Hua turned her head and glared at her fiercely: Stay put!
She felt she was prepared to die, but in Zhou Xuan's eyes, she was just a ragged, emaciated child, filthy all over, and it was impossible to tell whether she was a boy or a girl.
Both soldiers were surprised; it was just a child.
Seeing the child trembling all over, Zhou Xuan asked, "Where are you from? Why aren't you home so late?"
Pear Blossom looked pitiful and stammered, "I...I'm from nearby...I...I...I was so hungry, I came out to find something to eat."
She looked at Zhou Xuan with a pleading expression, "Sister, please don't kill me, I'll leave right away."
A soldier walked over and, to Pear Blossom's terrified gaze, asked her, "Are you a boy or a girl?"
Pear Blossom: "Girl...girl."
The soldier sang and landed on the ground behind Pear Blossom.
Pear Blossom: "..." She was almost scared to tears.
"It's alright, it's alright." The young woman who had just spoken to her walked over to her and smiled gently. "Let me check if you have anything on you."
Pear Blossom: "?"
Zhou Xuan checked her over to make sure she wasn't carrying anything dangerous, and said to the soldiers, "It's nothing, she's probably just a kid who got lost nearby."
"Gurgle, gurgle," Pear Blossom's stomach growled.
Zhou Xuan tilted her head to look at her, and thinking of how she had just touched her hand and found it full of bones, she couldn't help but feel pity. She said softly, "Little sister, I didn't bring any food with me. Wait here, I'll go back and get you a pizza."
Pear Blossom's eyes widened; she could hardly believe her ears.
Zhou Xuan said, "But you have to help me wash the bandages. Do you know how to do laundry?"
Pear Blossom nodded quickly, "I will, I will."
Zhou Xuan told her junior brothers and sisters, then packed the cleaned bandages into two bamboo baskets. Together with one of her junior brothers, they carried the baskets and prepared to return to the military camp.
"Sister!" Pear Blossom called out to Zhou Xuan, mustering her courage. Although she didn't know what "pizza" was, she knew that "one slice" certainly wouldn't be enough for everyone in the cave. Her face flushed red as she looked at Zhou Xuan. "My...my family, my grandparents, they...they haven't had anything to eat for days either..."
She spoke softer and softer, and finally lowered her head.
"I understand, you can wash the bandage for me."
Zhou Xuan's voice reached my ears, as beautiful as heavenly music.
Pear Blossom suddenly looked up, staring at her in disbelief.
Zhou Xuan smiled at her, "This is the goddess's blessing, we should thank the goddess!"
Pear Blossom was stunned. A goddess?
Zhou Xuan and her junior brother carried the cleaned bandages back to the military camp and put them back in their medical tent.
He then put the remaining bandages he hadn't finished carrying into his backpack and took them to the stream to wash.
Zhou Xuan said to her junior, "I'm going to get some pizza and hamburgers. Wait for me."
The junior brother nodded.
Zhou Xuan was walking towards the large tent where food was stored when she saw soldiers lining up on the way.
Puzzled, she pulled aside a soldier to ask what was going on, and the soldier happily replied, "The goddess gave us lychees and strawberries!"
Zhou Xuan: "!!!"
She opened her mouth, "Are lychees available at this time of year?"
The soldier exclaimed, "This was a gift from the goddess!"
Zhou Xuan stood on tiptoe and glanced at the endless queue. She thought to herself, "I'd better go wash my bandages first. By the time we all come back after washing our bandages, we shouldn't have to wait in line anymore!"
Zhou Xuan: "..."
She was drooling with longing for lychees.
Lychees, a fruit that you usually only see in books.
And strawberries, the book says they are very sweet fruits!
She jogged all the way to the large tent where the food was stored.
In addition to noodles for breakfast, five dishes and a soup for lunch and dinner, the goddess also provides steamed buns, mantou, pancakes, fried chicken, hamburgers, pizzas, etc., so that the soldiers can eat something after mealtime.
Zhou Xuan told the centurion in charge of guarding her that she wanted some food.
The centurion thought for a moment, "Most of the children around here have probably gone into the mountains with their families, right?"
Zhou Xuan was stunned.
The centurion sighed, "Alas, it's all the common people who suffer."
He packed several slices of fruit pizza and meat pizza, along with about ten steamed buns, and handed them to Zhou Xuan.
The centurion sighed, "It's only because we have the blessing of the goddess that we have food to spare for others."
Zhou Xuan took it and nodded vigorously, "Yes, yes, thank goodness for the goddess!"
The centurion brought out a bottle of orange juice. "Give this to them too," he said. "When you get back, go see Strategist Fang and talk to him. Maybe when we go back, we can take all the civilians who are willing to come with us with us."
Zhou Xuan suddenly realized: "Oh right! I forgot!"
Beside the stream.
Chuntao and the little boy squatted in the grass, motionless.
Pear Blossom and some unfamiliar older brothers and sisters squatted by the stream washing bandages, listening to their idle chatter as she washed them.
……Can't understand.
But she sensed that these people weren't bad people.
It's strange. Didn't Grandma and Third Grandpa say that there are many bad people in the army? Could it be that I've run into someone who isn't so bad?
The lady just said she'd get me some food. Will she really bring it?
Who is the goddess she is talking about?
Could she be the goddess I heard about who would give everyone food?
But didn't the village chief say it was a scam and that everyone shouldn't believe it?
As Lihua washed the bandages, her mind was filled with all sorts of random thoughts.
Until Zhou Juan and her junior brother returned carrying dirty bandages.
The junior sister cried out in anguish, "I knew Senior Sister Zhou would bring more bandages over!"
Zhou Juan smiled and said, "If we wash a little more today, we can use a little more tomorrow."
She glanced at everyone mysteriously and said, "When we went back just now, we saw everyone lining up to get lychees and strawberries."
Everyone: "!!!"
They stared at Zhou Juan in shock.
Zhou Juan encouraged everyone, "Hurry up and wash, then we'll go back and line up."
The junior brother suddenly shouted, "Long live the Goddess!"
A junior female student chimed in, "Long live the Goddess! I love the Goddess!"
"The goddess is so kind, she actually gave us such expensive fruit!"
"I never thought I would be able to eat lychees in my lifetime."
"...That's an exaggeration."
"Lychee is a bit of an exaggeration, but strawberry is no exaggeration! Those are strawberries!"
Pear Blossom looked at Zhou Juan hesitantly, unsure how to begin.
But then she saw Zhou Juan walking towards her. She took two cloth bags out of her basket and handed them to her, saying, "These are full of food. Take them home and eat them."
She then took out a large bottle of orange water. "This is orange juice."
Pear Blossom was dumbfounded.
The little girl's eyes suddenly reddened, "This..."
Zhou Juan smiled and said, "These are all gifts from the goddess. We thank the goddess."
In the bushes, the little boy instinctively tried to peek out, but Chun Tao pulled him back forcefully.
They waited until Pear Blossom came towards them with two bags of food and a bottle of orange juice, and then walked in front of them.
Pear Blossom didn't stop walking; she just turned her head to look at them and imitated a sparrow's chirp twice.
Chuntao responded with a frog croak.
Pear Blossom continued walking forward.
Chuntao gestured to the little boy, and the two of them quietly left one after the other.
They met up ahead.
Pear Blossom put the orange juice into the little boy's arms, and she and Chun Tao each opened a bag of food.
Fragrant pancakes, fluffy white steamed buns.
The three of them were drooling.
“They’re such good people!” Chuntao said. “Let’s hurry back. They haven’t seen us return for a while, so they might come out looking for us.”
Pear Blossom clenched the cloth bag tightly. "Great! Everyone finally has something to eat!"
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Author's note: This is today's update, I've finally caught up!
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