There were chicken, duck, fish and meat on the table, but the taste was... hard to describe. However, compared to the past, the food was still good.
Miguel received Liu Feiyang's permission to sit down at the table to eat. Without any pretense, he thanked her and sat down, introducing the dishes in front of him: "The stewed chicken is my wife's specialty. Master and Madam, please try it. It's delicious."
Liu Feiyang picked up a chicken leg for Ke Xin. As soon as she took a bite, the fishy smell of the chicken made her feel nauseous. Ke Xin smiled and nodded: "Not bad, eat more!"
Liu Feiyang picked up a piece of food with chopsticks and put it in his mouth. As soon as he took a bite, he turned his head to look at his wife, blinking his eyes again and again. How dare you say that this food is delicious?
"By the way, where are the two women you mentioned fleeing famine? Let me see them!"
Miguel, who was eating happily, was startled when he heard the two women being called. His hand holding the chopsticks became nervous: "Young Madam, these two women are very good and work hard. If they were allowed to take the children away... I'm afraid..."
Ke Xin laughed: "When did I tell them to leave? I just wanted to take a look at them and ask some questions!"
Seeing that the young lady was not going to drive them away, Miguel shouted towards the kitchen: "Sister Hu, Sister Wang, come here, the young lady wants to see you!"
This shout almost scared Jiang Kexin out of her wits. The sound was so loud that it could have blown the roof off. A moment later, two people wearing clean, coarse linen clothes came and stood stiffly beside the dining table, with their heads down and staring at their toes.
Ke Xin looked at the two women's faces. They were fair and clean and looked to be in their early thirties. Ke Xin had her hair tied up in a bun with a peach wood hairpin.
"Mrs. Hu, Mrs. Wang?"
"Hey, my husband's family's last name is Hu, so everyone calls me Sister Hu!"
"My...my husband's surname is Wang, and we are neighbors with Mrs. Hu."
The different paths of two people.
Ke Xin recognized that the slightly taller one was Mrs. Hu and the shorter one was Mrs. Wang. Neither of them had names, and both used their husband's family surnames, which was common in ancient times.
"Did you come here to escape the famine?"
The two raised their heads and nodded frantically, "Yes, yes, we fled here last September because our hometown hadn't rained since the year before last, and there was no snow during the winter. The following year, there was very little water. By May, there was no water at all, so we had no choice but to flee."
Liu Feiyang and Jiang Kexin were stunned for a moment and looked at each other: "Is there a drought?"
He shook his head: "I haven't heard of it!"
When did the Daliang Kingdom suffer from a drought? If there really was a drought, their Liu family would definitely get wind of it.
Ke Xin frowned and looked at Mrs. Hu and Mrs. Wang. Her voice became calmer. "It's a serious crime to mislead people, especially with this kind of news. Think carefully before you speak!"
The two men's eyes turned red after hearing this. Sister Hu hurriedly defended herself, "Madam, I really didn't lie to you, but... I'm from the neighboring Jin Kingdom, not Daliang."
When these words were spoken, not only Liu Feiyang and Ke Xin were stunned, but even Miguel was confused.
He stood up suddenly and scolded sternly, "Didn't you say you were from Zengcun Town?"
Mrs. Hu and Mrs. Wang nodded repeatedly: "Yes, Zengcun Town is a remote town in the Jin Kingdom, but it is very close to Hehua County in the Daliang Kingdom. The living habits in our town are the same as those in Hehua County."
MiG: ...
Liu Feiyang had heard of this place. It was said that this place was very chaotic. People from the Jin Kingdom came in and out of Hehua County to sell things, and people from Hehua County also went to the Jin Kingdom to buy and sell. Later, after the previous emperor governed, Hehua County no longer allowed people from the Jin Kingdom to enter or leave, and people from the Daliang Kingdom were also unable to go to the Jin Kingdom. This has been going on for two years.
"If I remember correctly, people from both countries were no longer allowed to travel between the two countries two years ago. How did you two end up here with your children?"
Mrs. Hu and Mrs. Wang looked at each other, tugging at the corners of their clothes awkwardly, and it was obvious that they didn't want to say anything.
Ke Xin looked at them and comforted them, "If you keep hiding this, I'll turn you in. I can't say whether the officials will label you as spies, but at least they'll send you back. If you tell me and it's true, I'll deal with it more harshly!"
When the two heard this, they fell to their knees with pale faces, tears streaming down their faces, and spoke intermittently.
"There's a mountain in our town that's connected to the mountains of Daliang. When we were fleeing famine, we originally wanted to go to the capital of the Jin Kingdom, but there were too many people going there. We encountered the plague right after we left town, and many people died."
Mrs. Hu recalled that time, tears welling up in her eyes. She wiped them away as she continued, "My husband was a hunter. He said that if we continued, we would either die of thirst or starvation, or contract an epidemic. Rather than die that way, we might as well risk our lives. Just crossing this mountain range would bring down the Daliang Kingdom."
Mrs. Wang picked up her story and continued, "We went into the mountains for a while without food or water, but deep in the mountains, we found water, as well as some game and mountain products. The whole village barely managed to make ends meet, but there were large wild animals in the mountains... We encountered tigers, bison, and wild boars, but at that time, the whole village worked together to hunt them. Some people were killed by tigers, and some died from injuries without treatment. Some died from being pierced by wild boar tusks, or kicked to death..."
"A lot of people died in the village, leaving only about twenty of us. But the smell of blood quickly attracted wolves... The men in the village lured the wolves away for their children, and they never returned..."
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