Chapter 31
Not a Compassionate Person
Those burly men realized their companions had carried away a lot of food and did not continue to fight.
“Retreat!”
The menacing burly man retreated like a tide.
Li Da wanted to give chase, but looking at his dead and injured colleagues on the ground, he could only grit his teeth and give up. “These dog thieves, I’ll catch them all and fry them sooner or later.”
Su Ying didn’t chase after them. She worried about the old and the young and feared they would become robbery targets.
Su Ying saw that only one bag was left in the official’s storage for food ration. It was not enough, even if there were only a quarter of the people. She planned to put her bags into her interspace when no one was paying attention to avoid people fighting over them.
“Boss, what should we do? There’s only this much left.” A bailiff looked at the remaining bag of food and cried.
More than 20 bailiffs had been killed or injured, and their food had been robbed. It was tough.
Li Da’s face darkened. “Let’s wait for Wang Hu to come back and see what Yunshui City has to say.” He could only pin his hopes on the Yunshui City officials. If they did not help him, he had no other way. Even if he reported to the Imperial Court, it would take at least eight to ten days for a response, and all would be starved to death by then.
Su Ying returned to her group of people, and Mama Zhao nervously went up to ask: “Madam, are you injured?”
Su Ying shook her head. Those people couldn’t injure her, except the hall was too crowded for her to use full strength.
“I’m fine. Mama Zhao, don’t worry. We might not be able to stay here for long. The rations have been robbed. These prisoners will definitely cause trouble when there is nothing to eat. We have to be careful and act according to the situation.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
After daybreak, Wang Hu, who had gone to Yunshui City, returned with bad news.
He saw the official in Yunshui, but the official said they had already resupplied and had nothing else to give them. He asked them to find a way on their own.
“Boss, what should we do? We can’t just wait here. The prisoners won’t listen to us.” There weren’t many bailiffs, to begin with, and now that a few had died. If the prisoners really wanted to rebel, the bailiffs were no match for them at all.
The most important thing now was where to find food and survive these few days.
In the next two days, Li Da boiled the remaining dry food into porridge in a large pot and distributed a little to everyone. However, after that little bit, there was nothing left.
In those two days, the rain had not been heavy. This morning, the sky was clear. Li Da wanted to set off for the dock of River Wu because the subordinate he sent to Yunshui City yesterday returned and said there was a boat there.
As long as they could cross the river, they could survive.
“Get up, get up, get up. Get ready and hurry on with our journey.” Li Da waved his whip and shouted at the prisoners.
Su Ying and the rest had already packed their things.
The prisoners had not had enough food previously and were even more hungry in the past two days. How could they have any strength now?
Those lying on the ground were whipped. Some could get up, but some could never get up.
“Sir, please stop hitting us. We really can’t stand up… If you continue, you’re going to kill us.”
An old woman in tattered clothes knelt on the ground and begged the bailiff. However, the bailiff kicked her away and whipped a young man on the floor.
Xiao Jin glanced at the old woman, a dark light flashing in his eyes. “Jiang Yang, bring the mother and son over.”
Jiang Yang walked up to the bailiff and grabbed the whip from his hand. The bailiff looked up in anger. “Are you looking for death?”
Jiang Yang’s face was cold. “He hasn’t eaten for so many days, and his body can’t stand the wind and rain. He won’t be able to get up even if you beat him to death. If you anger the rest of the people this way, you won’t have a good ending.”
The bailiff knew that he was right. He glared at him coldly before he stopped and went to the back.
The old lady knelt in front of Jiang Yang and kowtowed gratefully. “Thank you. Thank you.”
Jiang Yang squatted down to check the man’s condition and found his body frighteningly hot. He had a fever, but he didn’t know what had caused it.
Su Ying was a little surprised that Xiao Jin had saved them. He wasn’t easily merciful.
Xiao Jin’s brows did not move, and he only said indifferently: “Didn’t you want to form a team? These people have received your kindness. Even if they don’t follow you wholeheartedly, they will still have some scruples.”
Su Yu felt that Xiao Jin wasn’t telling the truth, but he wasn’t stupid enough to let someone dangerous follow them. So, when Jiang Yang carried the young man over, she went to check on him.
The young man seemed only to have external injuries caused by the bailiff’s whip. His fever was probably caused by a cold and being drenched in the rain for too long.
Su Ying took out some medicine from her bag and passed it to the old lady. “This medicine can treat your son’s illness. If you trust us, let him take it.”
Jiang Yang had saved her son, and now Su Ying was giving them medicine. The old lady trusted them. They were already in such a state. What more harm could come to them?
“Thank you, Madam. Thank you very much.” The old woman then took the broken bowl Bai Shuang handed her and let the young man drink the water and medicine inside.
Because the young man was already unconscious from the fever, Su Ying could only let him in the carriage. Xiao Jin watched him in the carriage so that nothing would happen.
Before they left, the old lady thanked them profusely. Su Ying could tell that she was genuinely grateful.
After leaving the temple, Li Da led the team toward the mountains, probably to see if they could find food.
On the way, there were refugees everywhere. When the refugees saw so many people coming from the direction of Yunshui City, their hopeful eyes gradually darkened.
They were going to Yunshui City to escape from ruin, but these people were going in the opposite direction. Did this mean that Yunshui City would not give them a chance to survive?
Some of the people who had doubts stopped and watched them. For a moment, they didn’t know whether to continue forward or what to do.
When Su Ying and the others reached the foot of the mountain, they realized that there were refugees on all slopes. They were searching the mountain inch by inch, looking for food. All the edible wild vegetables were gone.
Li Da’s heart sank. It seemed that it would be extremely tough for them to find food in the mountains.
However, it was about to turn dark, so they could only find a place to rest first.
“You guys, pick some people to follow me to the mountains and see if we can find something to eat.” At this time, he was about to starve to death, and he couldn’t care less if the prisoners would escape.
“Yes.”
Su Ying pulled the carriage to a big tree and tied it up. As soon as she walked over, she could clearly feel countless eyes on her, and her grip on the reins tightened.