"I heard the city fell a couple of days ago." The man said, still shaken. Luckily, he managed to escape with his wife and children.
"So fast? Doesn't Xincheng have a military officer?" Lin Yinan asked, puzzled.
The man lowered his voice and said, "The officers of the military corps received the news and fled the city with their families and two hundred men early on."
Lin Yinan knew that Xincheng officials were incompetent for not opening the city gates to receive refugees, but he didn't expect them to be this incompetent. When the Hu people attacked, they not only refused to fight, but also abandoned the city and fled.
With Xincheng fallen, will Jiancheng still be safe?
Lin Yinan felt it was unlikely to work out.
On the way back, Li Shulan was preparing the calming medicine that Dr. Lin had prescribed for the children.
That night, Lin Yinan was awakened by a piercing scream in her ear.
"Don't kill my eldest brother! Second brother! Second brother! No..."
Lu Changqing was traumatized in the evening and had a nightmare.
Li Shulan also woke up and sat up to hug him.
"Mother, let me do it."
Lin Yinan hugged him and whispered in his ear, "Changqing, don't be afraid! I'm your sister Anan. I'm here. I've already chased the bad guys away."
Gradually, Lu Changqing calmed down, stopped talking nonsense, and his breathing became long and even.
"Poor child, having to go through all this at such a young age," Li Shulan said with a sorrowful expression.
Even in his sleep, Lin Yi'an began to feel uneasy. He reached out and grabbed wildly in the air, while his legs struggled incessantly.
"Father! Father! Where are you? Don't catch me."
Li Shulan's tears instantly welled up, and she quickly hugged Lin Yi'an.
Her voice was gentle as she soothed, "An'er, it's your mother! My darling, don't be afraid, your mother and sister are here."
A mother and son are of one heart; Lin Yi'an kept snuggling into Li Shulan's arms and gradually calmed down.
Li Shulan hugged her son and soon fell asleep as well.
Lin Yinan couldn't help but recall that a few years before the apocalypse, she also had a dream every day that her parents rushed into a horde of zombies to save her.
She woke up with sweat and tears streaming down her face. She didn't know when it had happened, but she hadn't had that kind of dream again.
As dawn broke, the village chief banged a gong to wake everyone up.
The villagers were in a low mood, so the village chief gave them a timely pep talk.
"Everyone, cheer up! We'll be in Sword City this afternoon."
Lin Yinan practiced the sword techniques the original owner had learned in an open space in the distance, and also cut two large bundles of grass to carry back.
With so many refugees ahead, she feared even the grass would be eaten up.
The villagers avoided her when they saw her; her ruthless killing yesterday was still quite frightening.
Some women, whether they knew her or not, greeted her warmly and proactively.
"Anan, you're practicing your sword so early?"
"I wish my son were that diligent."
They used to look down on a girl, saying she was always fighting and killing, but when the refugees came, Old Mrs. Zhao's house didn't lose a single wild vegetable.
After breakfast, before the sun came up, the people of Linjia Village hurriedly set off.
The family of three following behind kept close behind, afraid of falling behind.
The further they went, the more refugees they encountered on the road. The forests became sparse, and the grass on the ground was trampled, turning yellow and withering.
As the mountain path descended, the official road at the foot of the mountain became clearly visible.
The official road was full of refugees, some driving cattle, some riding mule carts, and some horse-drawn carriages, all loaded with belongings and supplies. Adults and children carried bundles and baskets on their shoulders, struggling to move forward.
Lin Yinan could tell that these refugees had come from various places to gather here.
If you want to escape south, Sword City is the only place you can pass through.
Before descending the mountain, the village chief found a place for everyone to rest for half an hour.
During the rest period, the village elders who had experienced the famine reminded the young men, women, and children not to be soft-hearted, and even more so not to chat with others, lest they bring trouble upon themselves.
In the afterglow of the setting sun, Lin Yinan saw the towering Sword City ahead, its gates wide open, with no refugees lingering around.
All the refugees were holding a piece of paper and queuing to enter the city, where Sword City was receiving them.
A commotion arose in the crowd, and everyone craned their necks to look ahead. It turned out that someone had relatives in Sword City and was reuniting with their loved ones.
Lin Yinan took the opportunity to step forward and inquire. He learned that people could now enter Jiancheng with their household registration. Those without household registration would be questioned and could not stay in the city. They had to leave immediately. If needed, they could stay overnight at a designated place, but they would have to pay a fee.
Li Shulan spoke of her eldest son, who was still in Jiancheng.
"I wonder if your brother knows we're here. With so many people, what if we miss each other?"
Lin Yinan comforted him, "Once we get into the city, I'll go and find out. Sword City Academy is so famous, it should be easy to find out about it."
As the mother and daughter were talking, a commotion came from the villagers ahead, and then a figure quickly passed through the crowd and ran towards them.
The person who arrived knelt down with a thud, weeping bitterly, and said, "Grandma, Madam, Miss, you've finally come!"
In the original owner's memories, this person was Lin Fu, the pageboy of his older brother Lin Yiheng.
Lin Fu lifted his sleeve, his face streaked with snot and tears, and continued, "Young Master and the scholars of the clan have been waiting for you at the city gate every day, and we have finally been able to welcome you."
As if he had thought of something, he stood up, turned around and ran forward.
"Young master is still ahead, I'll go and call him right away."
After saying that, he ran back like the wind, shouting as he ran, "Young Master! Madam, Miss and Young Master are here!"
Before long, Lin Fu brought a handsome but haggard young man dressed in a blue robe to the group.
He is the original owner's older brother - Lin Yiheng.
Seeing his mother and sister with Grandma Zhao and his uncle, Lin Yiheng felt relieved.
"Grandma, Uncle, Aunt."
After greeting his elders, Lin Yiheng knelt down before Li Shulan. "Mother, your son has finally come to see you. Hearing of the massacre in Pingcheng, I was restless day and night. I originally wanted to go to Xincheng to wait for you. However, before I could pack my luggage, I heard that Xincheng had also been captured by the Hu people. I discussed it with the students of the clan school, and we decided to wait for you in Jiancheng. Now, your son has finally come to see you."
"You've heard about what happened at your father's hospital, haven't you?" Li Shulan sobbed uncontrollably.
Lin Yiheng's face was filled with grief and indignation, his eyes were red, and he choked out, "The news of Pingcheng has already spread."
"Good boy, get up quickly!" Grandma Zhao helped him up and patted his hand. "Your father is gone, your family is counting on you now."
Little Lin Yi'an squeezed through the crowd and threw herself into Lin Yiheng's arms, "Brother, I missed you so much!"
"An'er! You're still alive?" Lin Yiheng reached out and hugged him, both surprised and delighted.
Lin Yi'an buried her head in his chest and said in a muffled voice, "It was my sister who saved me. My sister also saved Lin Yongzhi, Lin Daoqin and Lin Changsheng, oh, and Lu Changqing."
Lin Yiheng looked at his younger sister, who was carrying a bow and arrow, dressed in clean and neat black clothes, with a fair complexion and a murderous aura.
A sudden pang of pain shot through my heart. What price would my sister have to pay to rescue my brother from the clutches of those ravenous barbarians?
Lin Yinan noticed his gaze, turned around and forced a smile at him.
Lin Yiheng secretly wiped away her tears, feeling even more heartbroken that her once innocent and lively younger sister had forgotten how to smile.
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