Chapter 11 Refugees
It was late at night and everyone was asleep, snoring could be heard all around.
Li Zheng opened her eyes, put the sleeping Baoger into the space, and walked back on tiptoe.
Li Zheng looked at the corpses on the ground and felt scared. This was the first time she saw a dead person, and it was someone she knew. She saw Uncle Li Dafu from the village shouting for help with fear in his eyes, while Aunt Li next to him was holding her child tightly in her arms as if this could keep the child alive. These people were obviously the most innocent people, but they were the first to suffer.
Looking at the bodies on the ground, Li Zheng had some doubts. Some of the wounds were caused by knives, some by axes. And looking at the messy carts and scattered food, they couldn't be soldiers! The army wanted manpower and food, but why did they rob food and then kill people, even strong laborers? So they were most likely bandits! The more Li Zheng thought about it, the more likely it seemed. That would make the situation even worse. If they'd run into bandits, they'd have been dead, but if they'd run into the army, they might have had a chance of survival.
Thinking of this, she quickly turned back. After returning, Li Zheng listened to the snoring around her and pondered how to avoid the bandits. After all, although she had practiced martial arts, she could only protect herself now. With so many people in the village, she couldn't stand up to them with just two fists. However, she really didn't know the terrain or the situation here at all. This showed how isolated the information was. She decided to ask the village chief tomorrow.
The next morning, just as the sky was getting light, the village chief woke everyone up and said, "Okay, okay, get up, everyone, wake up quickly and eat something. We'll set off in a quarter of an hour."
Li Zheng also got up. Seeing that Bao Ge'er was still asleep, she didn't wake him up. She took a pancake and started eating. After finishing her meal, she looked at the villagers who were still eating. After thinking for a while, she pushed the cart towards the village chief. "Village chief, where should we go next?"
"Huh? It's Zheng girl." The village chief turned around and saw that it was Li Zheng. He was a little stunned. Thinking that it was thanks to this girl that every household still had food stored, he said, "Let's go.
"Leaving the forest, head south. The south has plenty of water and is a land of fish and rice, so I don't think the disaster will be too serious."
"Then how do we go south?"
"The only way to go south is through Taiyuan Prefecture. It will take about half a month to get there from Jingcheng. We have to go to Jincheng first and then keep going south. But I don't know where to go after we get to Taiyuan Prefecture. I'll have to ask people when the time comes. Okay, don't worry, Zheng girl. There are many people in our village. No one will dare to bully us if they see us." Seeing Zheng girl wearing men's clothes and painting her face black, she looked smart, so he said a few more words. "Okay, it's time to hurry."
"Hey, village chief."
At noon, when they had an hour's break, Li Zheng set up a pot and cooked two bowls of porridge, and cut a few slices of meat that she had pickled herself. Not only her, but many families in the village did the same. Adults could bear only dry food, but children could not. Moreover, they could not swallow dry food in such a hot day.
After dinner, everyone took a rest under the shade of the trees, otherwise they would not have the energy to continue their journey in the afternoon.
When it was almost evening, we finally walked out of the forest and saw the main road, so we stopped to rest and set off again tomorrow morning. When we finished cooking and were getting ready for bed, we saw Sister Lian making some straw ropes and rubbing straw sandals. "Sister Lian, are you rubbing your straw sandals? Let me help you."
"Okay, just help me twist the straw rope into a rope. I guess you don't know how to do the rest. Just watch me do it first and then you can learn. It's very simple. Our cloth shoes are comfortable to wear, but we still have to use straw sandals when we are on the road, otherwise these cloth shoes will be ruined." Sister Lian taught Li Zheng life knowledge enthusiastically. Sister Lian was really hardworking. Others were too tired to move, but Sister Lian was still thinking about twisting straw sandals. After a while, Sister Lotus and Sister Hui also came over with straw ropes, and it seemed that they were also preparing to make straw sandals. With the help of the three sisters-in-law, Li Zheng learned how to make straw sandals, and by the way, he also got two pairs of ready-made straw sandals. He thought that he would repay his sisters-in-law when he had the chance in the future.
The next morning, Li Zheng wore straw sandals over her cloth shoes and hurried on, thinking that her feet felt much more comfortable. As soon as she stepped onto the main road, she saw a group of refugees ahead of her. The two groups watched each other, not daring to move.
"Village Chief Li, it's me, from Wangjia Village next door." There was an old man in front wearing brown shorts, probably in his fifties, and he was walking with the support of a man in his thirties. He should be his son because he looked a lot like him.
"Village Chief Wang, you are also going to Jincheng along this road." The village chief also stepped forward to talk to them.
…
I don’t know how they negotiated, but the two villages went together.
On the fifth day, they encountered refugees from the north. They were gaunt, their faces sallow and thin, the skin clinging to their faces, their eyes wide, like mummies, and their clothes tattered. Like hungry wolves, they stared at the food and water in their carts, as if they were meat at their fingertips. Some pitiful women, clutching their children, knelt before them and cried, "Gentlemen, madam, please be merciful! My child hasn't eaten in three days. It's okay if I don't eat, but he's starving to death. Please, sirs and madams," then kowtowed.
An aunt took pity on her because her child was almost the same age as her own and gave her half a piece of bread. However, before the woman could even put the bread into her mouth, the refugees nearby surrounded her and started fighting over it. No one knew whose food ended up in her stomach.
"Village chief, we can't leave like this." Li Zheng was anxious. If they left like this, they would be the flesh in their eyes.
"Zheng girl is right." The village chief turned around and looked at everyone and said, "All the children in the village, get on the bus. Take out all the weapons on the bus. Those who have knives, take knives. Those who have sticks, take sticks. Anyone who tries to grab food, fight back. Also, I know we still have food. I feel sorry for those people and think it's okay to give them some. But if you give this and don't give that, what will happen to them? I don't need to tell you. If anyone lets me see anyone giving food to the refugees, don't blame me, the village chief, for kicking you out."
"Don't worry, village chief. We don't have much food. Who will give us food?"
"Yeah, who's so stupid!"
…
"Okay, now that we know, let's go." The villagers of Wangjia Village also agreed. After all, Wangjia Village did not store grain in advance, so the grain was not as much as that of Lijia Village.
The refugees looked at the people of the two villages, young and old, walking ferociously on both sides of the carts with kitchen knives, machetes, and sickles in their hands. They temporarily gave up the idea of robbing the food and followed silently behind with unclear eyes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
