Just as they stepped out of the Li family courtyard, someone in the crowd shouted, “Village Chief, Uncle Ye, what are we supposed to do now?”
“I heard half the people in the neighboring village have fled—they headed for Ganbei Prefecture.”
“Village Chief, let’s flee too. Our rice bran is already gone.”
“Who knows if they’ll even let us in at Ganbei Prefecture? And how many dangers are there on the road? Can we even make it there alive?”
“We are subjects of Dayin. The court will surely make arrangements for us.”
…
The crowd buzzed with discussion.
“Uncle Ye, is Ganbei Prefecture a viable option?” The Village Chief looked at Ye Hong, pleading with this wise, well-traveled elder to show them a way forward.
Hearing this, everyone turned to look at Ye Hong.
“By convention, when a region suffers famine, the court sends relief grain. In these past few months, have you seen any grain come down from above?” Ye Hong asked him.
“No, we haven’t.” The Village Chief hung his head with a sigh. Indeed—if the high officials of Ganbei Prefecture cared whether they lived or died, why would the bark on roadside trees be nearly stripped bare by starving villagers without a single grain of relief arriving?
So what would be the point of uprooting the entire village and risking their lives to flee to Ganbei Prefecture? But if they didn’t flee, how were the nearly one hundred households and over six hundred souls supposed to survive?
“Ganbei Prefecture won’t help us—what about fleeing to the capital? We can’t just let our families starve. My poor grandson isn’t even a month old yet.” A woman began to weep.
“Uncle Ye, General Ye, please help us. How are we supposed to keep our families alive? This is going to be the death of us.”
“My family has even eaten through our stockpile of dried wild vegetables. How are we supposed to get by now?”
“Uncle Ye, you’re a capable man. Please help everyone. We truly have no way to survive.”
One person wailed, and the others joined in with their own laments and sighs.
Ye Xiaojin’s heart ached watching her grandfather bear all this on his ailing body.
“Go into the mountains.” A cool, clear voice cut through the sea of lamentation.
“Into the mountains?” The Village Chief’s wife, Auntie Li, hesitated. “The outer edges of the mountains have been picked clean by everyone—even the bark has been stripped and eaten. Deep in the mountains there are wild beasts. It’s too dangerous. A while back, Li Meng and a few others went deep in, and they came back wounded and crippled.”
Li Meng’s elderly mother, Granny Wang, quickly added, “For generations, no one has dared enter the deep forests. The old folks used to say there are snakes, insects, tigers, leopards, and mountain demons in the deep woods. My Li Meng only risked it because our pot was completely empty—and he ended up injuring his leg. He still walks with a limp. We absolutely cannot go back there.”
“The mountains feed those who live by them. Going in is worth a gamble.” Ye Xiaojin replied without hesitation to both of them, and to the crowd as well. “There’s danger in the mountains, yes, but it’s still better than starving to death. Ganbei Prefecture is no refuge, and other places aren’t likely to take us in either. How many unknown dangers lie on the road? Do we even have enough food to sustain us until we reach somewhere we can survive? Besides, if we organize properly, nothing may happen at all.”
“Everyone should consider it for yourselves. As for what you uncles and aunties just said to Grandfather—there’s no need to say such things again. Grandfather is advanced in years. Ask yourselves: has he helped everyone enough over the years? He has no obligation to do so. And I’m not insisting that everyone come into the mountains with us.”
She spoke the truth. Life had once forged her heart hard as iron, and her only remaining softness was reserved for her grandfather. If not for the fact that he couldn’t bear to abandon these people, she could easily have washed her hands of them all.
Another reason was that the five Points just rewarded by the System represented five days of her grandfather’s life.
Could it be that if she obtained more food and saved more people from starving to death, the System would reward more Points?
The Village Chief’s shout pulled her back to her thoughts. “I think Xiaojin’s proposal is a good one. In famine years, we’ve all heard of refugees starving to death on the road, being killed, or even exchanging children for food. Fleeing doesn’t guarantee survival either. Better to guard our own homes. Times are hard, and the wolves and tigers out there are no more merciful than the beasts in the mountains. I refuse to believe that our village’s six hundred-plus people, united as one, can’t overcome a few wild animals in the mountains.
Those willing to take a gamble in the mountains, come register with me. Those who aren’t willing won’t be forced. And those who want to leave the village to flee the famine, take care of yourselves.”
Some people had just been shamed by Ye Xiaojin’s words, and the Village Chief’s speech stirred their fighting spirit. Everyone knew well what Ye Hong had contributed to the village over the years. Rather than clinging to a sick, elderly man, better to stand on their own feet, pick up their tools, and fight the beasts in the mountains.
If that delicate Ye Xiaojin, once a young lady of an official family, dared to seek a way to survive in the mountains, could they do worse than a young girl?
Most people expressed their willingness to the Village Chief to take the gamble in the mountains, though some remained hesitant.
Ye Xiaojin knew it wasn’t easy to get everyone to make up their minds all at once, so she didn’t push them. She only said, “This afternoon, I’ll go into the mountains first to scout the situation. When I come back, we’ll discuss it at length. I, Ye Xiaojin, declare here and now: anyone willing to trust me and follow the Village Chief’s arrangements—as long as I have dry food to eat, I won’t let you drink thin gruel. Grandfather, don’t you agree?”
Ye Hong nodded. “What Xiaobao says is what I have in mind. The harder the times, the more we should unite and support one another. Alright, everyone, go home and think it over.”
Having been surrounded and standing for so long, he was already exhausted and had no strength left to say more.
Seeing this, Ye Xiaojin quickly stepped forward and, together with Lao Zhuang, supported Ye Hong on either side as they headed home. On the way, Ye Hong said, “Don’t hold it against them. The current situation has them rattled. They’ve been pushed to this by the heavens and the times.”
“I’ll listen to you, Grandfather. From now on, you don’t need to worry about any of this. I’m here. All you need to do is take good care of yourself and strive to live to a hundred.”
“Alright, I’ll listen to you.” Ye Hong felt comforted. His granddaughter’s performance just now had pleased him. Perhaps she really could lead everyone out of this desperate situation.
“Back then, when my father died in battle and our clan bullied us—a widow and an orphan—my mother carried me, just three years old, all the way to Shuiwan Village. It was the people here who took us in and gave us relief, allowing us to survive and live many peaceful years. In my heart, this place is my true home.”
Ye Xiaojin knew her grandfather was explaining to her why he was so willing to help the villagers.
Everyone had obsessions they couldn’t let go of.
Thinking of her grandfather in her previous life, he too had often spoken fondly of his hometown. But after he died, when the police found his clan members and asked them to take him back for burial, they refused. As a result, his ashes remained stored at the funeral home for years after his death, until she returned to the country and forcibly had him buried in his homeland. Whenever she thought of this, she hated herself for not having returned sooner.
“What Grandfather wishes to protect, your granddaughter will protect in your stead from now on.”
“You did your best, that’s what matters. Don’t push yourself too hard—Grandfather would worry.”
Hearing the exchange between grandfather and granddaughter, Lao Zhuang, standing nearby, opened his mouth several times as if to speak but held back.
Ye Hong knew what he wanted to say, so he turned to Ye Xiaojin and said, “It’s getting late. Head into the mountains now. Take the dagger from my room with you, and come back early. Don’t put yourself in danger.”
Ye Xiaojin nodded and hurried away. There truly wasn’t much time left—it was already noon. She needed to be home before dark, or her grandfather would worry.
“Master, how could you let the young miss go into the mountains alone? It’s far too dangerous.” The moment Ye Xiaojin left, Lao Zhuang spoke up urgently.
The master usually protected the young miss like the apple of his eye, yet now he was letting her go into the mountains by herself. The young miss rarely even left the courtyard, let alone ever set foot in the mountains. Thinking this way, he grew so anxious that he wished he could rush out right then and stop her.
Seeing his agitation, Ye Hong didn’t answer directly but asked instead, “Have you noticed any difference in Xiaobao compared to before?”
“Difference?” Lao Zhuang stared blankly at Ye Hong. After a long pause, his remaining eye shifted thoughtfully.
Yes—the young miss was indeed different from before. The old young miss wouldn’t have concerned herself with the Li family’s affairs, wouldn’t have stepped forward when everyone was at a loss dealing with the master, and certainly didn’t have the vigor and spirit she had now.
Back in the year of the Ye family tragedy, when the young miss woke up in the mountain cave, the first thing she saw was the entire estate drenched in blood and the bodies of her kin scattered everywhere. Stricken with terror, she had fallen ill with Soul-Departure Syndrome.
Most of the time, she was listless and confused. On the rare occasions when she had some energy, she became a different person—irritable, unable to control her temper, even ordering the master around.
She was absolutely nothing like the young miss they had seen today.
Ye Hong knew the man was single-minded and genuinely doted on Ye Xiaojin, so he didn’t press him further. After returning home and resting for a moment to catch his breath, he carefully recounted everything that had happened over the past two days and the changes in Xiaobao. When Lao Zhuang finished listening, his eyes bulged as wide as brass bells. It took him a long moment before he managed to speak. “Master, this… could this be the good karma that Taoist priest spoke of that day?”
Yes—good karma.
Back then, when he returned triumphant from battle, he found his granddaughter reduced to a dazed, simple-minded state from fright. To protect her reputation, he used his own poor health as an excuse and consulted every renowned physician in the capital, but none could offer a cure.
Until one day, a Taoist priest in a yellow robe came to his door and told him that he had happened to find one of the young miss’s souls and had come to return it.
Indeed, after the priest performed his ritual, the granddaughter was no longer simple-minded—but she was also not as lively as she once had been. The priest counted on his fingers and determined that another soul was still missing.
He begged the priest to save his granddaughter’s life, and the priest instructed him to do good deeds and forge good karma.