Chapter 296 Disaster Victims
Because they were carrying a large amount of rice and the flood caused river embankments to burst in many places, Huo Xifei and his group chose to travel by land.
When the flood first started, Emperor Wen of Qi issued an order to send the stored grain in the national treasury to various places. Therefore, this time, Huo Xifei and his party only brought rice, grain and medicinal materials from Yuan Ziyu's manor.
For this reason, when Huo Xifei received the imperial edict, he specifically told Emperor Wen of Qi about Yuan Ziyu's donation of grain and medicine, which made Emperor Wen of Qi have a much better impression of Yuan Ziyu. He also praised Yuan Qifeng in public during the morning court session, which made a group of officials envy Yuan Qifeng and regret that they did not have such a caring daughter.
"Brother Xi, why do I feel that the further south we go, the worse the flood becomes?" Yuan Ziyu was still dressed as a man, riding a horse side by side with Huo Xifei.
Along the way, Yuan Ziyu watched all kinds of thrilling scenes, and even though he had prepared himself mentally, he was still shocked.
The situation of the disaster victims was indeed more miserable than she had imagined. Before coming here, the disaster victims she met were short of food and clothing, but at least they had something to fill their stomachs. But these disaster victims in front of her looked like they had not eaten for a long time.
This flood was far more severe than she had imagined.
"Yes!" Huo Xifei sighed. "At least the capital is located in the north. Even with the continuous heavy rain, there is still time to breathe. The disaster is not too serious. The south is not so lucky. It rains a lot in the south and there are many rivers. The heavy rain is even more continuous day by day, causing the river banks to burst, villages to be flooded, and many people to be killed and injured. In addition, not only the harvest in the fields was destroyed, but most of the food stored in every household was also washed away by the flood. This is even worse!"
Yuan Ziyu sighed upon hearing this, turned around and looked at the refugees who were stumbling forward, their faces pale and their bodies emaciated from hunger, and felt very uncomfortable in his heart.
"Twelve!" This time, the one who came out with Yuan Ziyu was still Huo Twelve.
"Second Young Master!" Huo Twelve was also dressed as a man. When he heard Yuan Ziyu calling him, he hurriedly rode his horse forward.
Yuan Ziyou instructed, "Take some people with you and go distribute the dry food we bought earlier to those people!"
Walking all the way down from the capital, Yuan Ziyu would buy a lot of dry food in every town he arrived at. If he met disaster victims along the way, he would distribute the dry food to them, so that at least he could give the victims some hope of survival.
"Yes!" Huo Twelve responded quickly.
"Pingshan, you come too!" Huo Xifei reminded.
There were many victims, and it took nearly an hour to distribute the dry food. After receiving the dry food, the victims kowtowed to Huo Xifei and Yuan Ziyu to express their gratitude.
"Ah! Please, please, don't steal our dry food, this is all we have!" Yuan Ziyu and his group were about to set off again when they heard a shrill cry of pleading in the distance.
"Get out of here!" A savage voice, weak but still fierce, said, "I'm giving you these rations because I think highly of you. Don't be so shameless. If you anger me, I'll make you suffer the consequences. You'll never have to suffer from hunger again!"
"Please, please, the child is still young and needs to eat something. Can you take half or leave half for us?" the woman begged bitterly.
"You're dreaming. I'll leave you nothing. It's all my fault!" The cruel voice sounded again, followed by a woman's scream of "Ah" and the crying of a child.
"Mother, mother!"
"You are a bad guy. Why did you steal our dry food and kick my mother? I will beat you to death!"
…
Yuan Ziyu glanced at Huo Xifei, then turned his horse's head and headed towards the direction where the sound came from.
"Second Young Master!" Huo Twelve hurriedly followed upon seeing this.
Huo Xifei said to Pingshan, "You guard here!" and followed Yuan Ziyu over!
"Stop!" When Yuan Ziyu arrived, he saw a bearded man about to kick a little boy of seven or eight years old, so he shouted hurriedly.
The bearded man didn't listen and kicked out anyway. Yuan Ziyou was furious and pulled out the whip from his waist, and whipped the man away.
"Ouch!" The bearded man, whipped, fell on his back and shouted angrily, "Which son of a bitch dared to hit me? Are you tired of living?"
Huo Twelve stepped forward and kicked him again: "Open your dog eyes and see who is tired of living."
The man heard the wrong voice and quickly looked up. What a shocking sight! A layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead. "Oh, it's you gentlemen. I'm blind and have offended you. Please treat me like a fart, okay?"
As he said this, he stood up and kowtowed repeatedly!
What a joke! This is the noble man who just distributed dry food to him. How dare he cause trouble for him?
Yuan Ziyou ignored the bearded man, dismounted, and walked over to the woman who had been kicked down. He helped her up and asked, "Are you okay?"
"This...this young master!" The woman was helped up by Yuan Ziyu and hurriedly stepped back: "My clothes are dirty, please don't dirty yours!"
Yuan Ziyou then remembered that she was a woman disguised as a man, and it was a little inappropriate for her to help a young woman in such a manner, so she just asked, "Were you hurt just now?"
"Thank you for your concern, sir!" The woman didn't dare to look up, and only replied, "I'm fine!"
Yuan Ziyou sighed, took out a medicine bottle, and handed it to the woman: "This pill is quite useful for injuries caused by falls. Take it to ease the pain. After all, you still have two children to take care of!"
After hearing Yuan Ziyou's words, the woman looked up at her, then glanced at Huo Xifei beside Yuan Ziyou, her eyes full of gratitude: "This little woman thanks the two gentlemen."
Yuan Ziyu looked at the two children next to him. One boy was no more than seven or eight years old, and the other girl, who was timidly hugging the woman's thigh, looked no more than four or five years old.
"Are these two your children?" Yuan Ziyu asked.
"Sir, it's my child!" the woman said hurriedly.
Seeing that there was no one else around the mother and her child, Yuan Ziyou asked again, "Where is the child's father?"
"The child's father..." When the woman mentioned the child's father, tears welled up in her eyes. "The child's father was washed away by the flood in order to save us three children!"
It’s like this!
Yuan Ziyu sighed. Who knows how many families like this there are in this flood.
"Twelve!" Yuan Ziyou ordered, "Go get some more dry food!"
"Yes!" Huo Twelve responded and left.
"Where are you planning to go?" Yuan Ziyu asked the woman.
The woman said, "Sir, I plan to take my child to the capital. I heard that the situation there is better. No matter what, it should be better than it is now!"
(End of this chapter)
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