Chapter 115: Peace And Comfort
Anle County, which had been slaughtered and burned, was marked everywhere with tragic traces. However, it was somewhat stronger than Pei Qinghe had expected.
There were no bones on the streets, clearly the survivors had been continuously clearing and burying corpses. However, too many people had died in Anle County, and the rotten stench of corpses lingered inescapably.
“Everyone stop.” Pei Qinghe pulled the reins tight and raised her voice in instruction: “There are still living people in the city. For now, don’t do anything to avoid scaring them.”
Pei Yan and the others dismounted one after another in response, sitting calmly on the empty street, eating dry biscuits and drinking water.
The few small figures who had darted by earlier hid in the shadows, watching from afar while swallowing their saliva.
“Their biscuits smell so good!” a scrawny child said softly.
“I’m so hungry, I want to eat too.” The one who chimed in was a child with messy hair.
“There’s nothing left in Anle County, not even bad people want to come. What are they here for?” The leading boy wasn’t very old either, only about twelve or thirteen, his face smeared with mud and ash, making his features unrecognizable: “Everyone don’t rush, watch a bit more.”
Pei Qinghe had excellent hearing and soon caught the whispers of children coming from the corner.
She picked up a bag of dry biscuits and walked over.
The several starving children watched wide-eyed as Pei Qinghe approached; they wanted to flee, but whether due to legs weakened by hunger or some other reason, none of them moved.
Pei Qinghe did not get close; she stopped more than ten meters away, placed the cotton cloth bag of dry biscuits on the ground, then turned and returned to her original spot.
The scrawny child and the messy-haired child swallowed their saliva repeatedly.
The mud-and-ash boy gritted his teeth: “Never mind, even if I die, I have to eat my fill before hitting the road.” He darted out like a wild dog, snatched the bag viciously, and after opening it, his eyes nearly glowed. He gave one dry biscuit to each child, took one last for himself, and bit down hard.
He ate that bite too hastily; the mud-and-ash boy was choked, barely catching his breath. It took great effort to swallow it down. The other children weren’t much better, all devouring theirs wolfishly, eating with extreme greed.
Pei Yan clucked her tongue: “Cousin Sister Qinghe, look at them—they haven’t eaten in who knows how long.”
Pei Qinghe hummed in acknowledgment, thought for a moment, and said: “How much dry rations do you all have left? Take them all out.”
The group had prepared beforehand, with bulging grain bags on their horses. At Pei Qinghe’s order, everyone untied all their grain bags and placed them together.
After carefully checking, Pei Qinghe set aside rations for over a hundred people for the return trip, leaving the remaining more than ten bags of dry biscuits, totaling about two hundred.
Pei Qinghe picked up a few, and had Pei Yan carry the remaining ten, still placing them in the previous spot.
“There are still plenty of dry biscuits here.” Pei Qinghe’s voice clearly reached the ears of the children: “Go call over all the people still alive in the city. Give one dry biscuit to each person.”
The children looked at each other, whispering in discussion: “What do we do?”
“Should we go call people?”
“Of course we should!” The mud-and-ash boy was decisive: “Anyone willing to give us dry biscuits must be good people.”
Even if they were bad people, they couldn’t afford to care now.
The young and strong men and women in Anle County had all been captured, the elderly, weak, and children massacred, and some burned or starved to death. Those who luckily survived hiding in cellars had eaten the last of the stored grain in the cellars and were nearly starved to death.
As long as there was a bite to eat, to them, that was the greatest benefactor under heaven.
The several children ran off, and after a moment, people began arriving one after another.
There were white-haired elderly, raggedly dressed children, and occasionally sallow-faced, emaciated women; almost no adult men were seen.
They took one dry biscuit from the bag, knelt and kowtowed three times, then tremblingly put it in their mouths. They ate while crying.
Pei Qinghe, accustomed to gathering refugees, drew her long saber and pointed at one woman who had taken extra dry biscuits: “Each person is only allowed one.”
That woman burst into tears like a spring, knelt and kowtowed repeatedly: “I still have a child, she’s only three years old, I didn’t dare let her come out. Please, Lady Chief, let me take a dry biscuit for her. As long as you can save my child’s life, Lady Chief, I’ll do anything you ask.”
Pei Qinghe did not easily trust anyone’s words and said indifferently: “Gu Lian, take people and go with her to fetch the child.”
Gu Lian acknowledged, drew her long saber, her face grim, the knife scar on her face making her look especially fierce.
That woman shuddered, continued kowtowing: “There’s also my husband at home. His leg was chopped off, he’s lying on the bed and can’t move.”
Pei Yan grew annoyed listening and spat: “Who else is at home? Dare lie again and we’ll take the dry biscuit back.”
The woman stuffed the dry biscuit into her bosom, crying: “Spare us, Lady Chief, there’s also a blind old woman at home.”
Pei Qinghe stopped the angry Pei Yan with a look and said indifferently: “No matter the time, always stay calm and clear-headed. Whatever the real situation is, we’ll know once we go see.”
Gu Lian took ten people and went; the woman stumbled ahead leading the way. After about two incense sticks’ time, Gu Lian returned, bringing five people back.
Besides that woman full of lies, there was one child, one blind old woman, the legless man carried over, and additionally, one delicate-looking young girl.
“This is my little aunt, she’s only fourteen.” The woman cried and kowtowed again: “That day the Xiongnu people came, our family of five hid in the cellar and escaped the disaster. These days, bad people have frequently come to Anle County, and several young women still alive have been captured.”
“I really didn’t dare let her show her face.”
Pei Qinghe said no more, signaling Gu Lian to give them biscuits. The dry, hard mixed-grain biscuits were undoubtedly a delicacy to people starved for days, quickly silencing the crowd’s crying.
Gradually, more and more people came out.
Two hundred dry biscuits were not enough.
Pei Qinghe took out some of the reserved rations.
After the dry biscuits were distributed, they waited another hour to confirm no one else was coming; Pei Qinghe personally counted heads. A total of four hundred twenty-three people, among them over sixty elderly, children making up the majority, over eighty young women, and more than ten men.
Pei Qinghe said: “I am Pei Qinghe, Clan Leader of the Pei Clan. It takes three or four days’ walk from Anle County to Pei Family Village. At Pei Family Village, there are fields to farm, houses to live in, and enough to eat.”
“Those willing to come with me, let’s go now. Those who want to stay, do as you please.”
The reputation of Pei Family Village was truly resounding.
Even ordinary common people had heard of Sixth Sister Pei’s name.
Even those who hadn’t, the common people of Anle County with no way to survive, were willing to follow for a chance at survival; all knelt down.
There were also those unwilling to go.
That family of five shrank back and stayed.
