Chapter 1290 The Daughter Abandoned During Escape (2)
Pu Qirui and his soldiers traveled for two days day and night before reaching Qing'an City. His superior, General Ouyang, originally wanted to send troops to resist the enemy, but it was too late. The massacre had already ended. When he and his men arrived in Qing'an City, they saw only devastation and the corpses of their compatriots everywhere.
Everyone was filled with grief and indignation, but the enemy had already fled away, so they had no choice but to stay and clean up the battlefield and bury the dead people of Qing'an City.
During this period they collected many corpses but did not see a single living person. They thought that all the people in the city had been killed. However, they did not expect to see Chang Shichu here, a little girl who looked only thirteen or fourteen years old, dragging her injured body, silently dealing with the corpses of the people.
"Since you are injured, go back and rest. We will take care of the bodies of the remaining compatriots." Pu Qirui softened his voice and spoke to Chang Shichu, as if he was afraid that she would be scared by him.
Chang Shichu shook his head and said, "No, my injury is not a problem. With more people helping us, we can handle more bodies. If bodies are exposed for too long, it is easy to breed diseases. It is better to finish it as soon as possible."
After hearing her words, Pu Qirui stopped persuading her, after all, what she said made sense.
Pu Qirui asked her about the situation in the city, and then he wasted no time and was busy collecting the bodies. During this sad time, no one wanted to talk or chat. They just silently lifted the bodies of their compatriots, cremated them, collected the ashes, and dug graves...
Several days later, some of the people who had gotten the news and luckily escaped from Qing'an City before the massacre saw that they were no longer in danger, and began to return with their families. They had no money to settle down in other places, so they might as well come back.
When they saw the corpses of their compatriots all over the ground, they were filled with grief and hatred, but they also endured the pain and helped to pick up the bodies.
After more than half a month, the streets of Qing'an City were finally clean again, but the black bloodstains that had seeped into the soil still left marks, and it was unknown how long it would take for them to completely disappear.
Too many people died in Qing'an City, and too few returned, so the whole city felt empty. However, the people were extremely tenacious. As long as they were given a little hope, they would be able to take root and grow on their own. Therefore, as time went by, the shadow of the massacre slowly dissipated, and people who migrated from other places gradually filled this once empty city.
Seeing that the lives of the people in Qing'an City were gradually returning to normal, Pu Qirui planned to leave with the soldiers. He found Chang Shichu and asked if she needed help finding her family.
When Chang Shichu heard his question, her eyes were a little indescribable. She wished she would never have anything to do with those "family members" again, so how could she want to look for them?
So she shook her head firmly and refused, saying, "Thank you for your kindness, General Pu, but I don't need your help in finding my family."
"You don't have to worry about bothering me. As for finding people, I just need to contact some people and see if there are any merchants with the surname Chang moving in. It won't take up much of my time and energy. Just think of it as my thanks to you for collecting the bodies of the dead people. You don't have to feel psychologically burdened." Pu Qirui thought that Chang Shichu refused because he didn't want to trouble him.
How could Chang Shichu not see that he had misunderstood? Because she explained very frankly: "I don't want to look for them, not because it is difficult to find them, but because I no longer consider them as my family. Before the enemy came, they abandoned me when I was fleeing and left me here alone. If I hadn't been smart and covered myself with other people's bodies, I would have died on the day of the massacre. I have already returned a life to the Chang family, and now this life I have saved belongs completely to me."
When Pu Qirui heard her words, he was so shocked that he didn't know what to say. After a while, he said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I didn't know there was any inside story. Since you don't want to look for your relatives, then don't look for them. But you are still young now, can you live by yourself?"
Chang Shichu said: "Yes, I have survived well for the past half month. I have also done a lot of things. You don't have to worry about me."
Pu Qirui looked at her pale face due to her injuries and hesitated to make a suggestion: "Why don't you leave with us? We also have many female soldiers, doctors and nurses in our army. You can join the army or learn how to treat the wounded from doctors and nurses."
"No, I just experienced a massacre and don't want to go through war again." Chang Shichu still refused him.
Pu Qirui had no choice but to leave all the silver dollars he had on him, saying: "I leave this money to you. I don't think the Chang family will leave you any money. This money can at least keep you going for a while."
Chang Shichu was silent for a while. This time she did not refuse him again. She accepted the silver dollars and said, "Thank you, General Pu. I will return the money to you later."
She knew that this man was cold on the outside but warm on the inside. He just couldn't bear to see her alone and penniless. If she didn't accept it, he would be very worried, so she didn't reject his kindness this time.
Sure enough, when Pu Qirui saw that Chang Shichu was willing to accept the money he gave, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid that Chang Shichu was too stubborn and would not accept his money.
Chang Shichu was the first living person he saw when he entered the corpse-strewn city of Qing'an. When he saw her, she was collecting the bodies of her compatriots, trying her best to let them retain their final dignity. This made him have a good impression of Chang Shichu and thought she was a kind and tenacious girl, so he wanted to help her.
"If you have any difficulties, you can write to me." Pu Qirui took a pen and wrote down his mailing address to Chang Shichu. "I will help you in any way I can, but I often have to go to war, so I may not be able to see your letter in time."
"Thank you, General Pu." Chang Shichu accepted the note he gave him.
After meeting Chang Shichu, Pu Qirui quickly left Qing'an City with his soldiers.
The empty houses in Qing'an City began to be occupied gradually. Those houses no longer had owners. The owners had either fled with their families or died in the enemy's massacre. Therefore, whoever occupied the house first could live there.
As for whether those who fled would come back to reclaim their houses in the future? This was not a question that needed to be considered now. In this era of chaos and extremely inconvenient transportation, fleeing did not mean being away from danger. It was unknown how many of the original owners of those houses would reach their destinations alive. Even if they did, it was unknown how many would want to return to Qing'an City.
Even if they really come back, everything in Qing'an City was rebuilt by later generations. Who will recognize your land deeds and house deeds?
(End of this chapter)
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