Chapter 60 Howling
Everyone was watching the group of people coming at them with great vigilance, as they were unsure of their intentions. Those who had children quickly pulled them behind them, and those who were timid hid themselves in inconspicuous places.
Rong Yanhui looked at his sister Yao and asked: What is going on?
Lu Yao thought about it carefully and suddenly realized that with such a large-scale rainstorm, many people must have been affected. She silently replied with two words: flood.
Rong Yanhui was horrified. If this was really the case, then wouldn't it be...
"It's okay," Lu Yao squeezed his hand. "Relief will be here soon."
The current emperor has been on the throne for only a year, but he is very different from the previous emperors. He really wants to make the people of Dayong live a good life.
Although he has only been in power for a year, he has already controlled most of the court. Compared with before, the court has changed a lot. At least, no one dares to tamper with the disaster relief. I believe that the people affected by the disaster will be properly resettled soon.
But before that, everyone's senses were still stuck in the impression of being hungry, leaving their homes, having their families broken up, and being in dire straits. So, when they saw them eating, they ran over in a hurry, hoping to meet some kind-hearted people to give them some alms.
"Sir, we have no ill intentions."
"My dear gentlemen, please be kind and give us something to eat."
"We haven't eaten in several days. Please give us something to eat."
“…”
Among them, some are truly suffering and starving, some are preparing for their future livelihoods in advance, and some have ulterior motives and are muddying the waters.
Lu Yao sighed, carried the child onto the carriage, and asked her brother to accompany them.
Lu Mingxiu also knew that safety was the most important thing in the current situation, so he followed his younger sister's instructions and took the three children on his carriage, while Mo Zhu sat on the shaft to guard it.
Lin Hongyang looked at the ragged group of people without letting down his guard: "Where are you from? What are you doing?"
"Sir, we are villagers from nearby. Because of the rain, our homes were flooded, so we had to go up the mountain to take shelter from the rain." A man who looked to be in his forties stood up and replied timidly.
Lin Hongyang raised his eyebrows: "Go up the mountain to avoid the rain?"
"Yes, sir, we haven't eaten for several days. Please have mercy on us, the penniless and homeless poor people." The man knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly.
Led by him, the others also knelt down and begged them for some food.
Lin Hongyang glanced at these people and then looked at Lu Yao.
Lu Yao replied, "There's still some food in the car, which should be enough to make some porridge."
Lin Hongyang nodded and let her go, and arranged for some people to take turns to eat and guard.
Those people couldn't help swallowing their saliva when they saw them eating white rice and meat. When they heard that they were going to make porridge for them, they wanted to say no need to bother, and they didn't mind the rest of the food at all.
These people seem easy to talk to. Can they make some small requests?
but,
They didn't dare say much. After expressing their gratitude, they said they could help.
Lu Yao naturally wouldn't let them get close to her "work" position, so she exchanged a few polite words with them... She was wondering what she would do if these people were too honest and simple, but unexpectedly, those people were also polite.
Lu Yao breathed a sigh of relief, but she still felt something was wrong.
"Sister Yao, what's wrong?" Rong Yan asked worriedly when he saw Lu Yao's pensive look.
Lu Yao leaned closer to him and whispered, "Don't you think these people are a little strange?"
strangeness?
Rong Yanhui thought carefully and frowned slightly: "Will we be in danger?"
Lu Yao gave him a reassuring look: "General Lin should have discovered something."
"No matter what happens, you must protect yourself." Rong Yanhui instructed seriously.
"Don't worry, I'll see how things unfold," Lu Yao soothed.
Lu Yao and Rong Yanhui were busy in front of the stove. In fact, they didn't make anything complicated. They were just preparing to cook a pot of wild vegetable porridge. They did have food, but they couldn't take out too much or too good food at once.
Greed is the essence of greed. Many times, even when doing good things, we must pay attention to the methods and ways, and we cannot have no bottom line. Otherwise, ByteDance will be pushed into a dilemma in the end.
Especially, facing a group of people whose morale is unknown...
While waiting, these refugees scattered in groups of three or four, some sat and chatted, some closed their eyes to rest and save energy, and some went to talk to the exiles.
Lin Hongyang originally wanted to ask his subordinates to stop them from contacting the prisoners, but finally gave up the idea. Instead, he asked everyone to cheer up, keep an eye on those people, and not let them do anything.
Among these refugees were elderly women, strong women, sickly teenagers, and honest men...
Lu Yao watched as someone came to talk to Old Lady Wang. At first, Old Lady Wang was reserved, but she was soon coaxed into laughing. The more they talked, the more they got along. In the end, Old Lady Wang even shook the other person's hand, and it was obvious that she got along very well with those people.
"Isn't it strange?" Rong Yanhui leaned close to her ear and asked in a low voice.
Lu Yao nodded. According to Old Lady Wang's personality, even if she had fallen to this point, she might not necessarily look down on people from the countryside, especially those who were refugees fleeing from disasters.
But unexpectedly, that person changed his previous arrogance and looked down on others, and chatted with those people enthusiastically, which made people shocked and sigh.
Lu Yao quickly prepared the wild vegetable porridge and shouted "Dinner is ready". These people immediately gathered around from all directions.
The huge crowd of people made Lu Yao feel as if she was surrounded by zombies.
She shook her head in amusement and told everyone not to crowd, but to line up properly and come one by one so that everyone could have one.
They swarmed around the pot, and when they saw what was inside, they were all a little disappointed.
“This is too plain.”
Seeing everyone eating meat with big mouthfuls, I thought they could have some too, but I didn't expect these people to be so stingy. Not to mention taking a bite or two to taste the flavor, there wasn't even a speck of meat to be seen.
"What's wrong, everyone? Aren't you all hungry?" Lu Yao looked at the crowd that suddenly stopped, puzzled. "This is a day's ration for our group. The general is kind enough to share it with everyone."
"Yeah, everyone's had a hard time lately, and we have very limited food every day," Rong Yan replied. "No one can predict natural disasters or man-made calamities. We all just have to make do. The most important thing is to survive."
"How have you been these past few days?" Lu Yao asked, recounting her own experiences. "We've been hiding in a cave for the past two or three days. We've eaten everything we could, relying on the rain to fill our stomachs. The feeling of hunger is unbearable. If the rain doesn't stop, we'll probably starve to death."
At this point, she paused and sighed, "I've heard before that exile is harsh and difficult. They say it doesn't hurt unless the knife cuts you. At the time, I didn't feel anything. Now that I've experienced it myself, I know it's more than just hardship. You could die at any moment."
Rong Yanhui patted his wife's shoulder at the right time and said, "It's all my fault."
"What are you talking about? We're a family." Lu Yao glanced at him, then looked at the refugees curiously. "Is the situation serious over there? How did you escape? Let me tell you, we were chased by the flash flood for a long time. If we had just been a little bit, we would have died in the flash flood."
The refugees were stunned by what Lu Yao and Rong Yan said in reply, and for a moment they didn't know how to respond appropriately.
"Hey, look at me, I was so busy talking that I forgot about the important things." Lu Yao slapped her forehead and looked at everyone apologetically, "Come on, hurry up and prepare the food so you can eat earlier."
She stirred the wild vegetable porridge in the pot with a large spoon. "We just dug these wild vegetables. We were planning to eat them tonight. Don't be fooled by the appearance of this clear soup. It's actually very thick. I also added salt to season it. It will definitely taste good."
When everyone heard this, they began to look forward to it.
They usually don't add too much salt when cooking, but they actually put salt in porridge. Isn't that too generous?
Everyone stopped complaining and started waiting with their bowls to get their meals.
While serving food, Lu Yao chatted with everyone: "A lot of things were lost in the flood. Otherwise, we would have more. Now, we are also trying to find a way to solve the problem of three meals a day while walking."
"It turns out that we ordinary people are not the only ones suffering this much."
"The rainstorm was so strong and sudden that our village was submerged in the blink of an eye. If it weren't for my eldest brother leading us to higher ground in advance, we would have been..."
"Even though I have nothing, at least I'm still alive. As long as there are people, there's still hope."
"We originally wanted to go down the mountain to try our luck, but unexpectedly, we actually met such kind people like you."
“…”
Perhaps Lu Yao's words resonated with them, and they also talked about their own experiences.
"Looking back on these past few days, I don't know how I got through it."
"Because we were in such a hurry to escape, we barely took anything with us. We couldn't even get a sip of hot water."
"We're worried about plague after the rain. Even if the rain stops, we dare not go down the mountain. If we can't smell the fragrance from far away, we'll probably still hide in the mountains."
"So what are your plans for the future?" Lu Yao asked, and before they could answer, she continued, "Don't think we have meat to eat. Actually, we have no other choice. That's why these soldiers have to go hunting in the mountains to supplement their income."
"I see those people are wearing shackles. Are you all going to the place of exile?" The middle-aged man who spoke first suddenly asked.
Lu Yao smiled and didn't hide anything. "Of course," she said, "Because many of them are seriously imprisoned, that's why we sent a loyal and brave general who has fought on the battlefield and killed enemies to lead the charge. His subordinates are also brave generals who have seen gods."
The man swallowed and said, "Looks really impressive!"
"That's right," Lu Yao said without hesitation, "Don't underestimate them because they're easy to talk to. In reality, facing an enemy with ill intentions, they can instantly transform into warriors capable of fighting a hundred enemies at once. Just think about how fierce those barbarians are. Their stature alone is at least one or two heads taller than ours." She gestured with her hand to illustrate the difference between them. "Even such tough guys were beaten so hard by the general and his men that they dared not attack us. If it were any other scoundrels, they could easily dispatch them in a matter of seconds."
"Is this so powerful?" The man's eyes were a little evasive. "I really can't tell."
Lu Yao chuckled, "That's called a true man who doesn't show his true colors. A truly capable person would never boast about how great he is."
“…Yes, that’s right.”
The man stopped talking to Lu Yao and the others. He winked at the people around him and walked aside with the bowl.
Some things need further consideration.
On the other side, Lin Hongyang looked at Captain Wu and asked, "How long has it been since you last practiced?"
Captain Wu was puzzled. What kind of training did the general mean? They were carrying out a mission now, wasn't it just a special exercise?
Seeing that he hadn't turned around yet, Lin Hongyang said nothing more, "Have a fight with Captain Zhang to see if your kung fu has declined."
"Definitely not!" Captain Wu smiled triumphantly at Captain Zhang, "I'll definitely knock him down."
Captain Zhang was not to be outdone: "I am a defeated general, and today is no exception."
"Then give it a try!"
"Then give it a try!"
The two of them had a disagreement and immediately took out their weapons and started fighting amidst everyone's cheers.
These two were both young and energetic men. Both were captains and had many brothers who believed in them. Naturally, they were both capable, and when they really fought, they were evenly matched and the fight was extremely fierce.
The refugees here were drinking wild vegetable porridge. When they heard that the officers and soldiers were having fun, they were very curious and came over to watch the fun.
Watching their fight, I couldn't help but be amazed. Are these people so cruel?
Rong Yanhui smiled and explained, "That's just the beginning. It's just some idle fun. I stopped at the right time and didn't take it seriously."
This isn't real yet?
What would it be like if you really got serious?
Several of the refugees looked at each other, and saw fear and...retreat in each other's eyes.
After drinking the porridge, Captain Wu and Captain Zhang were still fighting fiercely. The refugees did not stay any longer. They thanked the officers and soldiers and said they wanted to go back home without any delay.
Lin Hongyang naturally did not try to persuade him to stay, but instead said, "The flood is over now. It would be better for you to go back and take a look earlier. Don't take the wrong road and miss the arrangements made by the court."
The last sentence almost directly tells them to be honest and not to try to do anything crooked.
Those people smiled innocently, saying that they were all honest farmers and would definitely listen to the official, but their pace of leaving was getting faster and faster.
Captain Wu and Captain Zhang stopped only when the man had walked away and could no longer be seen.
The two of them realized during the fight that the general would never let them do anything meaningless. He suddenly asked them to do this, which must be to deter certain people with bad intentions.
As for who those people are, it goes without saying.
"General, are you just going to let them go like this?"
"What else?" Lin Hongyang glanced at Captain Wu, "Everyone should rest quickly and set off early."
After saying that, he walked over to Lu Yao and Rong Yanhui and praised the couple, "You are very perceptive and your reactions are very clever."
Rong Yanhui smiled modestly: "General Lin is the mastermind, and we are just cooperating."
They dare not take credit for it.
"How did you find out what was wrong with those people?" Lin Hongyang was quite interested in this.
"Real farmers care most about the harvest from the fields." They are farmers who have been in Yunshan Village for four years.
The rain stopped the night before yesterday. Normal people would have rushed back to check the situation early yesterday morning, not overnight.
Besides, it is impossible to find no food at all at this time of year.
It is already abnormal for these people to be hungry in the mountains all the time.
Lin Hongyang smiled and said nothing more. He became more and more curious about the couple.
The journey was severely delayed during those rainy days, and they had to walk a little further every day to catch up as quickly as possible.
In order to hurry on their journey, they didn't take much rest and just packed up and set off directly.
Everyone knows this truth, so no one dares to complain even if they are extremely tired.
When they finally arrived at the resting place, everyone almost lay down on the spot.
Fortunately, dinner is ready and I can go to rest after dinner.
Old Mrs. Wang had accumulated too many complaints along the way, but the majesty of military service was there, so even if she was dissatisfied, she didn't dare to curse.
Just as she brought her good son and grandson into the hall and ordered a lot of delicious food to reward everyone and replenish their nutrition, and when she was paying, she suddenly stopped moving and then let out a miserable cry.
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