Chapter 80 The group ventured deeper into the area...
As the group ventured deeper into the area, the desolate streets finally began to show signs of "liveliness."
Several people with blank expressions gradually appeared on the side of the road. They were some distance apart, but their steps were tacitly heading in the same direction.
The group followed behind, occasionally a few probing gazes fell on them before quickly looking away.
The group of people, who seemed out of place, followed the flow of people to the vicinity of the soup kitchen set up by the Su family.
A faint aroma of rice wafted from the area where the crowd was gathered.
Several servants stood around the long line of people to prevent any disturbance.
The few ordinary people we encountered on the road walked to the end of the long queue, and a hint of light appeared on their numb expressions.
Looking at the seemingly endless queue, Xie Rongjing, who had only heard about the epidemic from Xie Zhuo, realized that the disaster in Luozhou County was far more serious than he had imagined.
The group walked towards the end of the procession. The servants guarding the procession focused their attention on them. Suddenly, one of the servants stepped out of the procession and stopped the group.
"Esteemed guests, this is a porridge stall set up by the Su family. It is a territory specially approved by the Prefect. If you would like some porridge, please line up at the back..." As he spoke, the servant's gaze fell on Su Yuanshuang's familiar face, and he swallowed the last word back down.
"Young...Young Master, why did you come in person? And who are these people?" The servant asked, his eyes wide with surprise.
"These two are my guests. They've come here to take a look. You can go about your business and don't worry about us." Su Yuanshuang didn't reveal the brothers' identities and sent them back to the group.
Nevertheless, the group had only walked a few steps forward when a man who appeared to be in charge came up to them. While greeting them, his gaze swept over the Xie brothers before leading them to the porridge stall.
Xie Rongjing looked at the line, which was much longer than he had expected, and hesitated before asking:
“Young Master Su, I have heard that there is a plague in Luozhou County, but I did not know that the famine is so severe.”
"Young Master Xie may not know this, but the epidemic that is spreading in the city is strange and unusual, and it is different from the several epidemics recorded in the classics."
Su Yuanshuang recalled what she knew, listing it off as if it were her own treasure:
"The epidemic that was spreading in the city often left those who were sick weak within a few days. Even the strongest people could only last a few more days."
Although this disease is not as contagious among humans as ordinary epidemics, its peculiarity lies in the fact that not only humans and livestock can contract it, but crops in the fields can also be infected.
"That's quite rare." Xie Rongjing was surprised by Su Yuanshuang's words, and then asked about the crops in the city:
"Judging by the season, harvest time is just around the corner. How are the crops around the county seat?"
Su Yuanshuang's face showed difficulty: "According to my father and the prefect, the crops in the fields near the city have been reduced to less than one-tenth. Due to the sudden natural disaster, this year will probably be difficult. That is why we set up soup kitchens."
"Hey, what are you doing?"
The loose but relatively orderly queue in front of the porridge stall suddenly became chaotic, and several servants stepped forward to pull the person who caused the trouble away.
In the scuffle, a small, thin figure was thrown out of the center of the chaos, his back about to hit the boiling porridge pot.
A hand reached out from the side and supported the person's back.
Xie Rongjing had just helped the person to their feet when his low, soft thanks were drowned out by boos from the crowd.
"Luckily, that kid didn't knock the pot over. We can't waste a whole pot of porridge inside."
Xie Baoqiong, who had been idly waiting on the sidelines looking for an opportunity to slip away, was just brought back to her senses by this sudden turn of events. She heard the words coming from the crowd and glanced down at the thin figure holding a broken bowl beside Xie Rongjing's legs. Her dirty face and thin body made it almost impossible to tell her age and gender.
Xie Baoqiong looked slightly saddened, finding humans quite strange, valuing the lives of their own kind more than a bowl of rice porridge.
He followed the sound and saw a man much larger than the little girl. The other men around him, all larger than the little girl, did not speak, but they all had the same expression on their faces.
Xie Baoqiong felt that Su Xiaochun was wrong when she came down the mountain; humans would not treat her any better just because she was of the same race.
The low-set figure beside Xie Rongjing's legs spoke again in a soft voice:
"I'm sorry, I offended you, sir." Holding the broken bowl, she carefully raised her face, her dark eyes appearing even larger against her thin, sunken cheeks.
"It's my turn now..."
After meeting the gazes of the others, her voice weakened again.
"What's your name?" Xie Rongjing reached out his hand, and the little girl in front of him flinched, but still held the bowl firmly in her hand.
Xie Rongjing paused for a moment, then gently brushed aside the tangled strands of hair covering her eyes.
Perhaps not sensing Xie Rongjing's malice, the little girl stopped fighting, her dark pupils reflecting Xie Rongjing's image:
"Erqiao, my name is Erqiao."
"Where are your family members?" Xie Rongjing scanned the crowd ahead. No one had come forward to claim Erqiao after she fell. Was it because they wanted to advance further in the chaotic queue, or...?
"My parents are dead, and my eldest sister is dead too." Erqiao said calmly, as if she were talking about someone else's family affairs.
Xie Rongjing looked at Erqiao's sunken cheeks with pity in his eyes.
Upon hearing this, Su Yuanshuang, who was standing to the side, instructed the steward beside her:
"Get her a bowl of porridge."
The steward, as expected, took a new bowl and handed a bowl full of porridge to Erqiao.
The faint aroma of rice became increasingly enticing as the bowl of porridge drew near, filling her nostrils. Erqiao's gaze followed the bowl intently until the steward told her to take it. Only then did she pick up the bowl as if it were a precious treasure, ignoring the heat, and bury her head to wolf down the porridge.
Just then, several servants subdued the troublemakers and brought them over.
Hearing the noise, Erqiao paused in her porridge-drinking motion. Before anyone could react, she nimbly hid behind Xie Rongjing.
The face, sticky with rice water, lifted up and unexpectedly met Xie Baoqiong's gaze, whose figure was mostly blocked by Xie Rongjing.
Xie Baoqiong calmly shifted her gaze to the two people being brought over.
The two men, held captive by four servants, were not obedient. Seeing the thick, sticky porridge in Erqiao's hands behind Xie Rongjing, they became even more excited, their greed undisguised. They naturally gave orders:
"Little girl, you can't eat that much by yourself, quickly give us the porridge."
Erqiao shrank back, but seeing that Xie Rongjing's figure, which was half-occupied by Xie Baoqiong, couldn't block her, she simply turned her back and quickly swallowed the porridge in the bowl, thinking that once it was in her stomach, no one could take it away from her.
"Behave yourself!" the servant holding the man shouted, then looked up at Su Yuanshuang with a fawning expression.
"Young Master, what should we do with these two?"
Su Yuanshuang and Xie Rongjing were both intelligent people, and they roughly understood what had happened from the words spoken by the man who was being held on the ground.
Su Yuanshuang's expression remained unchanged as she inquired about Xie Rongjing's thoughts:
"In your opinion, Young Master Xie, what is the best course of action for these two individuals?"
Overlooking the many bright gazes cast upon him from the long queue, Xie Rongjing parted his thin lips slightly:
"Why don't we find out what happened first?" He turned to the side and beckoned to Erqiao, who had stopped drinking her porridge.
"Erqiao, come here, tell me what happened?"
Erqiao nervously glanced at the two people being escorted, and after confirming that they were unable to move, she took small steps forward, holding the bowl:
“I was in line, and those two people behind me snatched the porridge that the porridge vendor gave me. They even said they were my uncles and offered to hold my bowl for me. I don’t know them.”
"What nonsense are you spouting, you little brat? Don't you even recognize me?" The man who had spoken first couldn't help but curse.
The servant glanced at his young master's expression and the nobleman beside him, then picked up a rag used for wiping the table and stuffed it into the man's mouth.
Seeing that his companion had been silenced, another person quickly chimed in, "Yes, Erqiao, how can you say you don't know your uncle? We're from the same village."
Erqiao seemed startled, gripping the bowl with both hands and backing away.
“The porridge distribution is supposed to be one bowl per person, and Erqiao can hold the bowl herself, so she doesn’t need your help.”
Seeing the two men's aggressive demeanor, Su Yuanshuang couldn't help but let out a soft sneer.
Having understood the whole story, Xie Rongjing said, "Young Master Su, let's proceed according to the usual rules."
"Throw them out," Su Yuanshuang commanded without hesitation.
“Our Su family is distributing porridge and doing good deeds. If anyone causes trouble here, it means they do not want to accept our Su family’s kindness. If you do not want to accept our kindness, then do not come here to receive porridge.”
This served as a warning to others, and the previously chaotic and noisy long queues quieted down considerably. People lined up again in several columns to receive their porridge.
"I didn't expect to witness such a mess here. Please excuse my rudeness," Su Yuanshuang said with an embarrassed smile.
"It's not something Young Master Su could have foreseen," Xie Rongjing said politely. "It's just that this happened when we still have surplus grain. If there's no solution to the epidemic, the situation will likely become even more chaotic."
I hope everything goes well for Dad.
Xie Rongjing snapped out of his thoughts and grabbed the person who was trying to slip away, saying, "There are too many people, don't run around."
Xie Baoqiong obediently stood beside Xie Rongjing, sniffed, and spoke with a blatant attempt to conceal her true intentions:
"Brother, I didn't run away."
Xie Rongjing lifted his eyelids, about to say a few more words, when Erqiao's voice of thanks came:
"Thank you, gentlemen."
Erqiao poured the remaining half bowl of porridge given to her by the steward into her broken bowl, put the new bowl back on the table, and said goodbye to the others.
Xie Rongjing turned to the side, handed her a small oil paper package, and said a few words to someone. Erqiao responded and her slender figure disappeared into the crowd in a few moments.
Xie Baoqiong paid no attention to what the two were saying; his gaze was fixed on the oil paper package that Erqiao had hidden until Erqiao disappeared.
It wasn't until Xie Rongjing and Su Yuanshuang's voices of farewell reached his ears:
“Young Master Su, it’s getting late, my brother and I will not stay any longer.”
Su Yuanshuang wanted to stay longer, but couldn't find any excuse, so she could only watch the two walk away.
Xie Baoqiong snapped out of her daze, caught up with Xie Rongjing, tugged at his sleeve, and spoke with an unprecedentedly aggrieved tone:
"Brother, it's mine."
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