Just as the Jiang family prepared themselves for battle, the mounted soldiers suddenly rode straight past them and galloped down the dirt path beside the main road.
Jiang Kun frowned. The soldiers were probably after them.
The officers must have grown suspicious of the chaos at the city gate and assumed the family would immediately flee along a side road.
Fortunately, they had not taken that route earlier. Otherwise, they would already have run into the pursuers. It seemed they could only continue blending in with the refugees for now.
After drinking over half a bag of water, the weak woman finally looked much better.
Along the journey, she had given the little food she had entirely to her child. Severe malnutrition and exhaustion had caused her collapse.
Once she regained some strength, she again pulled her son up and thanked the Jiang family repeatedly.
Meanwhile, Jiang Kun learned through conversation with the old man that the refugees were all heading west.
The western lands were vast, fertile, rich in rainfall, and free from war. If they could reach there, they might survive.
Jiang Kun was secretly alarmed. The nearest western province was still nearly three thousand li away.
The roads were plagued by refugees and bandits alike. Could this starving group truly make it that far?
Besides, although the west still appeared peaceful for now, it was merely the calm before the storm.
Emperor Yan had long coveted Western Liang’s iron mines and had already been secretly gathering troops. Before long, war would spread there too…
The refugee caravan continued along the official road. After crossing a barren hill, it was already noon.
The group arrived beside a nearly dried-up ravine, and those in front finally stopped.
“We’ll rest here for half an hour. Before nightfall, we must reach Niu Family Village.”
The speaker was a middle-aged man with a gaunt frame but unusually sharp eyes.
As soon as he finished speaking, the others rushed toward the ditch to drink water.
Although the drought here was not as severe as in the south, if rain did not come soon, even the rivers would dry up.
Jiang Kun glanced toward the flatbed cart beside the man. Three bulging burlap sacks were piled atop it.
Could there be food inside?
Sure enough, one of the sacks was dragged down, and people began distributing food to the refugees.
Everyone except the Jiang family received a palm-sized bran cake.
The stuff was coarse and rough, like swallowing blades when eaten, but it filled the stomach well.
“Hey, newcomers…”
The middle-aged man distributing food suddenly approached the Jiang family.
“You’ve got food on your carts, don’t you?” he asked bluntly as he eyed their wagons.
Jiang Qingshu looked into the man’s unreadable eyes and felt instinctively uncomfortable.
“We still have some left, but not much,” Jiang Kun answered honestly.
“Relax. We’re not bandits. We won’t rob your food.”
Despite the man’s words, Jiang Kun’s years of judging character told him he sensed no goodwill whatsoever.
“May I ask what you mean?”
“I’m telling you this: if you want to join us, then hand over all your food and carts for unified distribution. Only by working together can everyone avoid starving to death.”
Jiang Kun remained calm in the face of the man’s righteous speech.
“I’m afraid we cannot agree. We don’t intend to go west. Once we pass this stretch of road, we’ll each go our separate ways.”
After hearing that, the man’s expression grew even more complicated.
“Is that so? Then suit yourselves…”
The moment the man left, Sun Yuluo spoke up.
“Weren’t we planning to continue with them for a while? Why did you—”
Jiang Kun narrowed his eyes coldly.
“That man is definitely no good. We must be cautious.”
“But he’s giving food to the refugees. He should be a good person,” Jiang Luoyou pouted in confusion.
“What do you know? Just listen to your father,” Sun Yuluo snapped.
Jiang Luoyou stuck out her tongue and wrapped herself around Jiang Qingshu’s arm.
Jiang Qingshu suddenly seemed thoughtful.
“Father, I heard that man mention Niu Family Village earlier. What kind of place is it?”
“We’re going there to meet up with other people…”
A childish voice suddenly spoke behind the Jiang family.
Turning around, Jiang Qingshu recognized the little boy they had helped earlier—Shuanzi.
“You mean there are more people waiting to head west together?” Jiang Kun asked with a frown.
“I don’t know. Uncle Qiu said there are people there with plenty of food waiting for us.”
“Yes, you should come with us too,” the old man added as he walked over. “Once we meet up with them, none of us will go hungry anymore.”
Jiang Kun looked at the hopeful expressions on their faces, his own growing increasingly conflicted.
After a moment of hesitation, he still decided to leave the group.
Jiang Qingshu rolled her eyes thoughtfully and lowered her voice.
“Father, if we’re leaving, then we should do it now. That troop earlier may return at any moment once they fail to find anyone.”
She knew Prince Li had inherited Emperor Yan’s suspicious nature.
As soon as someone reported the situation here, he would surely suspect they were hiding among the most obvious group—the refugees.
“Mhm.”
Father and daughter quickly agreed and decided to depart immediately.
Before long, the family led their horses and wagons away, vanishing from the refugees’ sight.
To avoid encountering pursuers, they removed the wooden boards from the carts, loaded their belongings onto the horses, and entered the forest beside the main road.
Just as Jiang Qingshu had predicted, only about fifteen minutes after they left, a large force of soldiers arrived from the city. They surrounded all the refugees and inspected them one by one.
Jiang Yifeng stood atop a tree branch with folded arms, watching the soldiers crack their whips and gallop away along the road. Only then did he leap lightly back through the treetops to report.
Learning that their whereabouts had been exposed, everyone looked troubled.
“Where do we go now?” Sun Yuluo asked Jiang Kun.
“The most dangerous place is the safest place. We’ll go to Niu Family Village.”
Night fell, and the temperature dropped sharply.
After several more hours of hardship, the refugees finally arrived at Niu Family Village.
The stone archway at the village entrance had mostly collapsed. It was an abandoned village.
Just as unease spread through the crowd, a warm orange glow suddenly flickered within the village.
Shuanzi excitedly grabbed his mother’s frail arm.
“Mother, we finally won’t go hungry anymore!”
The refugees were overjoyed and rushed toward the firelight.
After enduring hunger and cold all this way, hope had finally appeared.
Yet no one noticed the sinister glint that flashed briefly through Qiu Tian’s eyes.
When the refugees reached the firelit clearing, they saw more than ten burly men already waiting there with torches.
“The food! Where’s the food?” several starving refugees asked impatiently.
The scar-faced leader suddenly revealed a wicked grin.
“Aren’t you all food yourselves? Hahaha…”
The moment he finished speaking, his men immediately surrounded the refugees.
Only then did everyone realize something was wrong—but it was already too late.
“Uncle Qiu, save us!” Shuanzi cried out toward Qiu Tian.
The refugees had trusted Qiu Tian not only because he had guided them along the way, but also because he possessed impressive martial skills.
Yet when they turned to him for help, they discovered he was smiling.
“Qiu Tian, well done. This batch of ‘vegetable people’ should sell for a good price…”
The crowd felt as though struck by lightning.
They were all in this together!
Very quickly, the starving refugees were subdued by the dozen strong men.
The scar-faced leader ordered the refugees separated according to their “value.”
The children were locked up together. The women and men were separated as well. Finally came the least valuable of all—the elderly.
Shuanzi and his mother refused to be separated no matter what. Their heart-wrenching screams pierced the night.
Growing impatient during the struggle, one trafficker suddenly drew his blade and stabbed toward the mother and son.