Afu glanced at Song Chi and asked cautiously, "Young Master, should we wait here?"
Song Chi didn't know how to describe his feelings. He hoped that He Jiuniang would be safe, but now that he realized he had no chance to help, he felt somewhat disappointed.
Faced with Afu's question, he himself hesitated. After all, the dinner party next door was not over yet, and who knew if there was really no danger?
Whether she was sulking at herself or at Afu, she plopped down on the stool and said, "Let's order."
Ah Fu never expected that coming out with the young master would result in a good meal, and he happily went to find the waiter to order.
He Jiuniang had finished chatting and had a peaceful meal before returning to the inn. Thinking about the letter she had sent that morning, she felt speechless. She should have waited a little longer before sending it out together.
Nevertheless, she wrote another letter and gave it to Song Chi the next day, asking him to find someone to deliver it. This time, the letter was about collaborating with Cheng Xuewei.
Song Chi didn't look well, and he had dark circles under his eyes. He Jiu Niang thought he had stayed up late studying last night, and said, "Dr. Song, your health is important!"
Unexpectedly, Song Chi's expression turned even uglier.
Hearing this, Afu covered his mouth and chuckled secretly.
Last night, he and the young master originally planned to eat and wait, but who knew that they were having a great time, with laughter coming from time to time. Later, they started calling each other sisters. The speed at which this happened was simply amazing.
His young master was so jealous that he ordered a pot of wine from the waiter and drank it like there was no tomorrow. He got drunk and refused to leave, hugging a pillar in the restaurant and crying and cursing the pillar for being heartless!
Fortunately, Doctor He and Madam Cheng had already left by then, otherwise the young master of his family would have been utterly humiliated.
Recalling everything that happened last night, Song Chi's expression worsened. He took the letter, turned around, and left without saying a word to He Jiu Niang.
He Jiuniang was a little confused, but she didn't think too much about it and quickly got back to work.
Lu Baichuan went to Anzhou and visited all the places that sheltered refugees, but still found no trace of the Lu family.
He refused to believe in superstition and traveled all the way from Anzhou back to Changzhou.
I returned to my hometown of Changzhou.
He had come back specifically to tidy up his yard before, but after such a long time, it was covered in dust again.
This time, however, he didn't bother to clean it up.
Standing once more beneath the pillar with the inscription, Lu Baichuan murmured, "Father, Mother, if you're not in Anzhou, where could you be?"
He never imagined his family would go to Jingzhou, because Jingzhou only accepts the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled. He knew his family well; as long as they had a breath left, they would never separate. Therefore, Jingzhou would not be their final destination.
The capital, Jinzhou, also did not take in any refugees. Under the emperor's nose, they dared not allow too many refugees to disrupt the order.
As for other state governments, there is no record of them accepting refugees, and it would be very difficult for ordinary people to sneak in.
The entire Lu family, young and old, are either dead or suffering in some difficult place.
Thinking of these possibilities, Lu Baichuan couldn't help but clench his fists.
It had rained when Prince Chen came to provide disaster relief before, and the disaster in Changzhou had been resolved. Now, as spring has just begun, everything is sprouting new buds, unlike when he returned last time, when all he could see was a withered and yellow landscape.
Many refugees who fled but could not survive returned to the land where they had lived for so many years to continue making a living.
However, the Lu family village was completely wiped out; not a single person returned.
Just then, two carriages passed by outside, carrying a family from the next village. Seeing that the gate of this courtyard was open, they assumed there were still survivors in Lu Family Village and came in to join the fun. However, they saw a person dressed in black standing in the courtyard with a long sword hanging at his waist, and another person standing under a pillar in a daze not far away. The old man who led the way in was startled and hurriedly apologized: "Wrong place, wrong place, I'm so sorry!"
Lu Baichuan glanced at Lou Chong, then said, "Uncle, please wait!"
The old man's family was a wealthy household in the next village. When the drought struck, he had even wealthier relatives in the county town, so he went to stay with them.
Natural disasters and man-made calamities always affect the poor the most. For some wealthy families, the damage is not too great. As long as they have money, they can buy water. This family was lucky. They did not flee with the crowd and the whole family is still alive and well.
The old man turned around, smiling obsequiously, and asked, "Sir, is there anything I can help you with?"
Lu Baichuan was wearing a mask, so his face couldn't be seen, but he knew he wasn't an ordinary person, so his smile had a hint of ingratiation.
Having barely escaped a year of disaster, I can't afford to offend the wrong people on my way home and bring trouble upon myself.
"Sir, do you know this family? Do you know where they went?"
Lu Baichuan didn't want to reveal his identity, so he could only treat himself as an outsider.
“How could we possibly know them? I just heard that everyone in Lujia Village died on their way to escape famine. When I saw this house with the door open, I thought someone was still alive and wanted to come in to check. I didn’t expect to cause such a disturbance…”
"What did you say?"
Before he could finish speaking, Lu Baichuan interrupted him, asking urgently, "Are all the people in Lu Family Village dead?"
"Yes! We found out when the government was collecting the bodies. The people of Lujia Village really suffered. They encountered bandits on the way to Liujia Town and were all killed. The bodies were piled up. By the time the officials arrived, they were all just bones. They only found out that the people were from Lujia Village by finding identification tags on some of the bodies."
The old man spoke with great conviction. His family had heard a lot about this when they were in the county town, and they were more than once glad that they hadn't fled the famine, otherwise they might have ended up with the Lu family.
Lu Baichuan stood there in disbelief, his entire family had been killed by bandits.
They didn't even reach Changzhou Prefecture; they died on a village road outside Liujia Town.
is that so?
No, impossible!
He grabbed the old man's sleeve and said, "How can you be sure that the Lu family is really all dead? Maybe some of them are still alive?"
"Yes, but the chances are slim! There's such a huge pile of corpses, mostly men's. The women and children were captured by the bandits and ended up in the hands of those bloodthirsty demons. Do you think they have any chance of survival? Sigh!"
At this moment, the old man's son rushed forward and said, "If you don't believe me, you can go and see for yourself in that bandit's den. It's in the mountains to the east. Later, we heard that another group of bandits went to that den, killed all the original bandits, and robbed them of their food and money. The government couldn't do anything about it. We heard this from others."
Lou Chong stepped forward and pulled Lu Baichuan back to his senses. Lu Baichuan then bowed and apologized, "I'm sorry, I was in a fit of anger and offended you."
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