"Ayu, what's wrong?"
Qi Nuan looked at Jiang Yu watching their departing figures and asked in confusion.
"It's not safe in the temple anymore, let's go."
Jiang Yu picked up Qi Nuan and rushed towards the temple.
On their way back, they saw many officials arresting young boys and girls.
"Sir, I beg you, my daughter is really not a rebel, please release her... She's my only daughter."
The woman on the ground clung tightly to the constable's leg, pleading.
The constable kicked the man away impatiently.
"Whether she is a member of the rebels is for the adults to judge. If you continue to obstruct official business, be careful we won't be polite."
"Mother...Mother...Are you alright?" the girl being pulled cried out, looking at the woman on the ground with a worried expression.
Watching her daughter being taken away, the woman could only wail helplessly, "My daughter... my daughter..."
Jiang Yu led Qi Nuan out from the shadows.
"Auntie, why are they arresting my sister?"
Qi Nuan helped the woman up.
Seeing little Qi Nuan, the woman couldn't help but think of her own daughter, and tears streamed down her face. She was unable to recover for a long time.
An older woman next to her picked up the package from the ground and took over the conversation.
"Alas! The Emperor has issued an edict to arrest boys and girls aged ten to thirteen, saying that these people are close friends. We don't understand what children who are only teenagers can do."
The older woman looked at the stunned woman and sighed, "She's pitiful too. A widow raising a daughter alone, and now that her daughter has been taken away, she doesn't know how she'll survive."
He continued, "It's tough. This year's tax revenue has increased from 50% to 60% compared to last year. And now this has happened again. This world is tough."
She helped the woman up and saw that Jiang Yu looked to be only twelve or thirteen years old. She kindly said, "Young man, you shouldn't go out for a while. Or find a place to hide and come out after this storm has passed."
They usually send children of that age out to hide. The woman had intended to take her daughter into the mountains, but they were caught red-handed by the officials.
"Ayu, let's go quickly." Jiang Yu is exactly twelve years old this year, and Qi Nuan remembered that there was indeed such a thing in the book.
The current emperor's throne can be said to have been a lucky break. The other princes fought for power, but they all died young. In the end, the throne had to fall to a prince who was confined to the cold palace.
He was also a man without ambition, only interested in indulging in pleasure. He would either demote or exile any minister who tried to advise him.
There was a trusted eunuch by the emperor's side who was vindictive and often opposed by court officials.
He then devised a vicious plan to take revenge on others.
Don't you look down on me, a rootless person? Well then, even if you have roots, I'll still call you rootless.
So he bribed officials in the Imperial Observatory.
It is said that celestial phenomena are in turmoil, the Purple Star is shifting eastward, a new emperor star is appearing, and the heavens will change rulers.
The Emperor Star appears in the North, still young; it can be cut into its belly.
The emperor firmly believed this, and even if he didn't, he would rather kill three thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free. Thus, the operation to search for and kill young men and women officially began.
Although the court officials scoffed at this absurd statement, they were helpless. Some even thought of their own children and secretly began searching for children from poor families to replace their own.
A three-foot layer of ice doesn't form in a single day, and widespread chaos isn't caused by a single event.
The chaos in this country was foreshadowed long ago.
"It's not safe here, you should leave!" the bearded man said, looking at the children in the temple with some concern.
Jiang Yu didn't speak, but then Dao Wang Er said, "There is a mountain called Qingcheng Mountain, more than 300 miles east of the city. There is an abandoned Taoist temple inside. We can stay there for now and see how things go."
Wang Er is sixteen years old this year. Over the years, he has been taking care of the children in the temple, and he has long regarded these children as his own younger brothers and sisters.
Besides Jiang Yu, who is twelve years old this year, there are five other children in the temple who are between ten and thirteen years old.
Qi Nuan also agreed that they should hide in the mountains first. It's alright now; the government will check information when arresting children, and there are reasonable people who disregard the orders issued by the imperial court. But things will get crazier and crazier in the future.
This was also a harbinger of famine. People lived in fear, and no one was able to farm with peace of mind. Food prices would become increasingly expensive in the future.
Qi Nuan thought they should probably start gathering food.
Jiang Yu nodded at Wang Er and said to the bearded man, "And what about you?"
"What? Big Beard, aren't you coming with us?"
"I've been away from home for a long time, it's time to go back and visit." The bearded man's tone was somewhat melancholy; he had never spoken of his family in all these years.
They all thought he was a single person.
"This is the money you've given me over the years. I've converted it into silver, so you can keep it." He took a box out of the Buddha statue and handed it to Jiang Yu.
He said, "They are all good kids. I hope you can take better care of them for the sake of our years together. They can also be a help to you."
"Big Beard, Ayu will. Ayu is a good kid too."
Qi Nuan felt a little sad, but she also disliked the bearded man's constant assumption that A Yu was not a good person, and she couldn't help but say.
The bearded man smiled and patted Qi Nuan's head.
Misfortune may be a blessing in disguise! A blessing may be a misfortune in disguise!
Whether it's a blessing or a curse, who can say for sure? He summoned Wang Er.
"From now on, you must listen to A-Yu and not do anything to betray him. He will take good care of you."
The bearded man has developed some affection for them after all these years, and I just hope they can all be well.
The children looked very reluctant, but they didn't say anything. Having begged for a living since they were young, they knew very well what they could and couldn't do.
After the bearded man left, Jiang Yu told Xiao San to take the other children to Qingcheng Mountain first.
Xiao San is thirteen years old this year. She is quick-witted, adaptable, and acts very appropriately.
Several children, aged between ten and thirteen, made some simple disguises and handed over all the money they had saved to Wang Er. Wang Er kept a record of it and planned to distribute it to the children when they arrived at Qingcheng Mountain.
There were quite a few of them, and their luggage made them too conspicuous.
Jiang Yu, along with Qi Nuan and Wang Er, bought a carriage, took the things that were still usable in the temple, and then went to the city to buy grain.
They've saved a lot of money over the years, and with what the bearded man gave them, it's more than enough.
“Ah Yu”.
Qi Nuan called Jiang Yu aside.
"Let's exchange all our money for food. It can be stored in our space and won't spoil."
Jiang Yu nodded and instructed Wang Er to drive the carriage, stopping at each shop to make purchases separately.
Wang Er was always by their side, so Qi Nuan couldn't operate the space and had to give up. Although they knew Wang Er was a good person, people's hearts are unpredictable, and they didn't plan to tell anyone that Qi Nuan had a space.
At night, the bearded man looked at the star-filled sky. The Purple Star was dim, the Greedy Wolf Star was strong, and there was a double star accompanying the moon. The Imperial Observatory was not without ability.
The world is about to descend into chaos.
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