The next day, during the Hongxiuzhao's ten-day rest period,
before dawn, Qingchen led Qingjie out of Jincheng.
As soon as they stepped out of the city gate, a stench of decay assaulted their senses.
Outside, on the wasteland, a dozen enormous iron pots sat around a campfire.
The porridge inside was bubbling and steaming, rising in plumes of white vapor.
Three hundred soldiers, armed with long spears, patrolled nearby, maintaining order.
The line for porridge had already stretched into a long queue, but no one spoke; only intermittent coughs and panting could be heard.
"The porridge is here!"
A shout broke the deathly silence.
The soldiers began distributing the porridge to the refugees using long-handled wooden ladles.
Each ladle barely covered the bottom of the bowl, just enough to keep them alive.
The refugees who received the porridge were overjoyed, immediately shielding their broken bowls with their bodies and wolfing it down.
At the edge of the clearing, many refugees collapsed in the mud, their eyes blankly staring at the large cauldrons, too exhausted even to crawl towards them.
Clearly, they wouldn't survive.
"That's strange, Second Brother, these refugees aren't causing trouble at all. Are they so disciplined?"
"Big Brother, it's because they're hungry. They don't have much strength left, even if they wanted to, they couldn't."
Qingjie followed closely behind Qingchen. "Big Brother, look over here. That brother and sister's thatched hut is over there, not too far from the military camp."
Qingchen nodded slightly. His second brother was becoming increasingly efficient.
He didn't look any further and followed Qingjie quickly along the edge of the clearing.
They hadn't gone far when a quarrel broke out from beside a low thatched hut ahead.
A woman with a dirty face but a rather well-proportioned figure was seen fighting with a burly man over a broken bowl.
There was a little bit of porridge in the bowl.
"Give me back my porridge, it's mine!" The woman's voice trembled, but she still gripped the rim of the bowl tightly, refusing to let go.
"Heh heh! What do you mean 'your'? That's what I saved up! You thieving woman, you're clearly trying to steal my porridge!" The burly man didn't fight back forcefully, just chuckled lewdly.
Qingjie's eyes narrowed, and he leaned close to Qingchen, saying, "Brother, this woman has a mole on her chin, and she's wearing a gray cloth shirt, it all matches up."
Qingchen didn't respond, but his pace suddenly quickened, heading straight for the thatched hut.
Hearing footsteps and seeing someone approaching in the distance, the burly man, instead of showing any restraint, roared viciously:
"Damn it, where did these two bastards come from? Get the hell away from me!"
Qing Chen stopped five steps away from him, scoffing, "Who the hell do you think you are, daring to mess with me?"
The burly man's head exploded at these words. "You fucking want to die! I think you're tired of living!"
Before he finished speaking, his palm came slashing towards Qing Chen's face.
Judging from his stance, he vaguely possessed some rudimentary martial arts skills.
Qing Chen was prepared. Without dodging or evading, his right palm shot out instantly, striking first and precisely seizing the burly man's wrist.
Then, his five fingers twisted with the force of an iron clamp!
"Crack!"
With a crisp sound, the burly man's wrist dislocated on the spot.
He let out a bloodcurdling scream, and cold sweat poured down his forehead.
However, the burly man didn't beg for mercy. Instead, his ferocity was astonishing. Despite the pain in his wrist, he suddenly raised his left leg and viciously kicked towards Qing Chen's groin!
A groin kick!
Qing Chen coldly snorted, dodging the kick with his side, and his left palm followed up like a knife, slashing down on the outside of the man's knee!
"Crack!"
Another muffled thud, and the burly man's left leg twisted into an unnatural angle.
He could no longer stand, his body crashing to the ground, letting out a piercing scream as he rolled and struggled, unable to rise again.
The woman beside him was already deathly pale with fright.
She hadn't expected this cold-faced young man to be so ruthless and skilled, crippling a burly man in just a few moves.
She had personally witnessed this man fight off two refugees and steal their porridge.
Qing Chen glanced expressionlessly at the burly man on the ground, then turned to the several stunned refugees beside him, casually pointing at three of them:
"You, you, and you, throw this thing away."
The men quickly and obsequiously agreed, lifting the burly man and hurrying away, knowing they'd get another meal.
After doing all this, Qing Chen turned to the woman.
"Thank you... thank you so much for your righteous help, brother," the woman said, but a wary glint remained in her eyes.
Qing Chen chuckled and waved his hand: "It's nothing, just a small favor."
Seeing his expression soften, the woman's tension eased somewhat.
As the two were talking, a series of heavy footsteps suddenly approached from afar.
The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw a limping boy, struggling to walk towards them.
The boy was about sixteen years old, dressed in tattered clothes.
His left cheek was swollen high, his right eye was bruised, and his lip was cracked, still dripping with dried blood.
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.
The woman's eyes widened instantly, fixed on the boy, filled with heartache.
She opened her mouth, but couldn't speak for a moment.
"Little brother!" Finally, the woman cried out, staggering forward.
Not long ago, they were a wealthy family, but now they had fallen to this state.
The boy forced a smile, his voice hoarse: "Sister, I'm fine... I just... I wasn't careful walking and tripped."
But his eyes flickered as he spoke, instinctively avoiding his sister's gaze.
Qingchen stood to the side, keenly catching the hatred in the boy's eyes.
He knew the time was right.
So he stepped forward at the opportune moment, his voice firm: "This injury is definitely not from a fall. The sharp edges are clearly from punches, kicks, or something hard. It's obvious he was beaten."
Hearing the voice, the boy noticed Qingchen's presence, his whole body tensing instantly.
He warily sized up the cold-faced young man before him, his lips pressed together in silence.
The woman hurriedly wiped away her tears, pulling the boy along, saying, "Young man, quickly thank this benefactor!
If it weren't for him today, driving away that thug who kept harassing me, we'd probably be starving again."
Hearing this, the boy's tense body relaxed slightly, but the wariness in his eyes remained.
Caught off guard by Qingchen's words, the limping boy could no longer suppress his anger, gritting his teeth and roaring:
"It was a thug! He saw I was alone and injured, so he blocked my way, trying to steal the money I had collected to pay my dues today!"
"I tried my best to protect him, but... but I couldn't beat him! He stole all the money! Not a single penny was left!"
Veins bulged on his forehead, and his eyes were bloodshot. "Tonight... tonight the Double Eagle Gang will come to collect the money from me. What am I supposed to give them?
They'll kill me! Sister, they'll kill me!"
Finally, despair fil