668 Despair, do as much as you can

Xuan Shaoqi had seen the tragic scenes of thousands and tens of thousands of deaths, but none of them were as shocking as what he saw today...

These people who fought desperately with the officers and soldiers for white porridge and steamed buns did not die, but their appearance was more terrifying than the dead. They had numb expressions and there was nothing in their eyes except despair.

Death is not scary, what is scary is waiting for death. This is the situation of these people now. They are waiting, waiting to be starved to death.

These officers and soldiers smashed the soup kitchen and prevented the victims from receiving the life-saving food, thus destroying their hope of survival. They had no other choice but to die.

The heavy snow blocked the roads, mountains, and rivers. They had no other way to survive except relying on charity from others, but the government blocked their only road.

They just want to live, even if they have to lick the porridge on the ground like a dog, they want to live.

They just want to survive, is that wrong?

"We just want to live, to survive, is there anything wrong with that?" A white-haired old man was pulled out of the chaotic crowd by Xuan Shaoqi.

The old man was skinny and bony, like a ghost, hunched over. The sadness in his eyes made Feng Qingchen's heart ache. The old man was about the same age as her grandfather. She couldn't imagine her grandfather becoming like this. What would she do?

Maybe I'll go crazy.

Did these people want to force the people to revolt? She chose not to revolt, so that they could not find fault.

Feng Qingchen took a deep breath, calmed down the anger in her heart, and took out a token from her arms: "Tong Jue, take this token to find Prince Zhai and ask him to send troops to deal with the situation here. After finding Prince Zhai, go to Prince Su's mansion immediately and ask to see Prince Su. Tell him about the situation here. Under the feet of the emperor, these officers and soldiers are lawless. What about other places? What about the victims in other places? Do they still want to live?" These people challenged her limit of tolerance. Even if she was cold-hearted, she couldn't bear it anymore.

She understood the purpose of these soldiers' brutal looting. They smashed the porridge and steamed buns and refused to leave because they wanted to arouse the anger of the people. Once the people made trouble, they would have a reason, a legitimate reason, to arrest everyone present and put them in jail.

No matter whether you are right or wrong, as long as you have a conflict with the soldiers, you will become wrong. If it was in the past, she might have made a scene, but now...

She has suffered so much loss. If she falls again, she will be a pig.

After Tong Jue left, Feng Qingchen said to the few people around him who looked relatively strong, "You guys, rush in and bring out the injured. Remember, don't fight with the soldiers. If they hit you, hide. If you can't hide, just endure it."

It sounds cowardly to say such things, but if you think about the consequences you will understand that if a soldier beats an officer, even if the officer is unreasonable, you are also guilty.

"Miss Feng, we listen to you." These men were so angry that they lost their minds. If Feng Qingchen had not been there, they would have definitely fought to the death with these officers and soldiers.

Such trust is a pressure for Feng Qingchen, and she cannot let down these people's trust.

"Go and tell them that they will not starve to death. Even if God doesn't let them live, the person who gives out porridge will definitely let them live. That person... although he doesn't have the ability to fight against God, he has the people in his heart."

These words, spoken at this time, are particularly meaningful.

"Who is the person who gave us porridge? Isn't it Miss Feng?" asked a woman and a child behind him.

"No, I don't have that ability yet. Okay... let's not talk about this for now. Hurry up and help save people. There will be porridge and steamed buns." Feng Qingchen directed the people behind him to carry the injured person to the side and perform simple hemostasis and bandaging.

"Can we help too?" The ragged woman and the skinny child looked at Feng Qingchen one by one, as if they didn't believe they could help.

People in the government said that people like them could only beg for food, they were good-for-nothings and only wasted the government's food, they were useless yet the government had to spend money to feed them, they should have died long ago and should be thankful to have a mouthful of hot porridge to drink.

They always thought they were useless, but it turns out they can still help.

"Of course, God helps those who help themselves. We can definitely survive the snowstorm, and everything will be fine after it's over." Feng Qingchen's voice seemed to have a magical power, making everyone present believe that her words were the truth.

As long as they can survive this snowstorm, they won't be afraid anymore.

The soldiers were divided into two groups, and those who still had the strength rushed to the battlefield and carried out the wounded. When they stepped into the battle circle and stepped on the white porridge and steamed buns, their hearts were bleeding, and they clenched their fists, trying their best to restrain their urge to kill.

"Stop beating us, stop beating us, gentlemen, please let us go. We don't want to drink porridge or eat steamed buns."

"Please stop hitting me. Please stop hitting me."

A group of men swarmed forward and threw themselves at the feet of the officers and soldiers. They did not fight with them, but only blocked them to make it easier for others to rescue the wounded.

The women and children responded by carrying the people in. With the help of several doctors and medicine boys from the Yun family, they helped bandage the wounds and comfort the injured.

With unity, we can overcome the difficulties together.

The chaotic situation was gradually brought under control. The officers had not expected that these people would not cause trouble, and they were at a loss as to what to do.

What should they do now? They have been ordered by their superiors to force these disaster victims to cause trouble and force them to fight against the government officials. But now these disaster victims are not taking action. What should they do?

Rush in and fight?

This is a good idea.

The officers looked at each other, gritted their teeth, picked up their weapons and rushed into the free clinic.

"Xuan Shaoqi, stop them." If it was just a guess before, Feng Qingchen could be sure now that these officers and soldiers were clearly here to cause trouble and to force the victims to take action.

The more this is the case, the more they cannot move, because once they move, they will be convicted.

"Okay." Xuan Shaoqi was a smart man. If he didn't understand the abnormal behavior of the official, he would be an idiot. However... he couldn't hold on for long without killing the other party.

The other side has more people and more power, and he cannot be ruthless.

"Hit them with snow. You... anyone who has time, go grab some snow and throw it at the officers and soldiers. Don't let them rush in." Feng Qingchen was also anxious. This was the city gate. Logically, Zhai Dongming should be here soon, but he was afraid that Tong Jue couldn't find Zhai Dongming. Without Zhai Dongming, the other officers would definitely not get involved in such matters.

"Okay, everyone, listen to Miss Feng. Use snow to smash these sons of bitches to death."

It's just that there are too many people. The number of victims is no less than that of the officials. These officials have destroyed their hopes. The victims wish they could eat the flesh and drink the blood of these officials.

Feng Qingchen said to use snow to hit them, so they used snow to hit these people to death. It was snowing heavily and they couldn't find anything to eat, but there was no shortage of snow. They could get a handful just by lowering their heads.

Crash...crash.

Snowflakes were flying all over the sky. The victims used all their strength to smash the soft snowflakes like stones.

The officers were knocked dizzy and screamed "Ouch!" The dense snow formed a waterfall, blocking the officers and soldiers outside. The victims took turns, with the people behind grabbing the snow and the people in front throwing it. They cursed while throwing it, and they started to cry...

They didn't want to conflict with the officials, they didn't want to fight the officials, they were forced into a situation with no other options, they really had no other options at all, even if they had some options, they wouldn't dare to fight the officials.

Feng Qingchen stood aside and said nothing. She felt sad, really sad.

She saw with her own eyes what it meant to be forced by the government to rebel, what it meant to be cornered, what it meant to be pushed into a desperate situation, what it meant to be hopeless...

How many people in this world are still living in such dire straits?

"Don't be sad, they are lucky to meet you." Xuan Shaoqi didn't know how to comfort Feng Qingchen. In such a situation, any words of comfort seemed pale and powerless.

"It's unfortunate for them to meet me." Tears welled up in Feng Qingchen's eyes, but they didn't fall.

Xuan Shaoqi didn't know that the disaster relief was her idea. If it weren't for today's disaster relief, these victims wouldn't have encountered such a situation and wouldn't have been forced by the officials to the point where they had no way out.

Xuan Shaoqi's eyes flashed with a gleam of light, and then he returned to calmness: "If you hadn't been transported to them, they wouldn't have survived for a few days. It was you who saved them."

Regardless of his purpose, Feng Qingchen was indeed providing disaster relief, so that those who were about to starve to death could have something to eat and not wait for death numbly.

He had seen the porridge the government gave to the victims. The so-called porridge was not even as thick as rice soup. Some of it even smelled bad and was completely inedible. Instead of drinking that kind of stuff, it would be better to eat a few mouthfuls of snow, which would be more comfortable.

Feng Qingchen was silent. Xuan Shaoqi was right. No matter what the Ninth Prince did, he did make sure that the victims had enough to eat. In this era of food shortage, it was not easy for the Ninth Prince to do this.

Even if it was just to gain political capital, the Ninth Prince spent a huge amount of money. He really wanted to help these disaster victims survive the snowstorm, otherwise he would just need to give out porridge and there would be no need to prepare a steamed bun.

She was thinking too much. She clearly told herself to be cold-hearted in the face of natural disasters and the people affected by the disaster, but when she saw their miserable plight, she forgot who she was.

Even if she felt sorry for the victims, what could she do? How capable was she? She could save ten or a hundred people, but could she help tens or even hundreds of thousands of victims?

She couldn't, so... she had no right to interfere in the Ninth Prince's disaster relief work, and there was no need to blame herself. She had done her best.

"I've been thinking too much." After figuring it out, Feng Qingchen calmed down. He turned around and joined the operation to treat the wounded, treating the wounds of those who were more seriously injured.

She just needs to do her job well and leave the world's affairs to the men. She believes that life will get better day by day.

The medical treatment was going on in an orderly manner inside the house, but outside the house it was a different world. When Zhai Dongming led his troops to the scene, he did not see the bloody scene he had expected. Instead, he saw soldiers from the Governor's Mansion whose way was blocked by the snow, and one by one they were hit by the snow and cried for their parents.

This is fun!

Zhai Dongming sneered and gestured to the people behind him...