Chapter 35 (1/2)
Chapter 35: I want to give the refugees a home
Lou Zigui knitted his brows as he saw Ning Xiaoyao leading a little girl by one hand while carrying a little boy with the other ”You want to take them away?”
Ning Xiaoyao was spitting with anger ”Can't I? If I can't help everyone, can't I help a little girl?”
The little girl ducked behind Ning Xiaoyao, afraid to look at Lou Zigui Ning Xiaoyao took the girl's hand and walked forward, saying, ”Don't fear, it's my house Can't I decide who lives in it?”
Lou Zigui stood up, his expression soees in the world, so as the use of saving this brother and sister pair? Ning Xiaoyao walked a few steps before having the girl carry her brother to wait for her by the street She ran back herself
”You have other business?” Lou Zigui asked
Ning Xiaoyao slapped herself on the forehead ”Their grandfather's body is still in the alleyway” She'd alotten This wasn't the apocalypse where one abandoned corpses if one couldn't take care of theht?
Lou Zigui hastily reached out to pull Ning Xiaoyao back ”Don't look”
But Ning Xiaoyao already saw the situation inside the alleyway She hadn't left for a few minutes before the old e pot was already sitting atop a pile of wood, while a fewXiaoyao stared blankly there, before turning to look at the other alley A fire was already burning beneath a pot there, and a tiny hand hung over its edge The crying woht by the fire, a broken bowl in her hands Lou Zigui had planned to cover Ning Xiaoyao's eyes, but after some hesitation, he drew her into his arms instead
”Don't look,” he said in a low voice ”Don't look at them”
Eating the bodies of their own kind Ning Xiaoyao's eyes dropped Should she rejoice over the fact that they hadn't started killing humans for food yet? In the apocalypse, there were no other options Both agriculture and soilless culture gave pitiful crop yields Much of the lands had been seized by the zo crops But as the cause of famine in this world?
Lou Zigui half carried Ning Xiaoyao as he walked forward He wanted Ning Xiaoyao to see the hardshi+ps of the refugees, but he never ui half-carrying Ning Xiaoyao past her and picked up her little brother, as sucking on his thu Xiaoyao heard the girl's footsteps and lightly pushed Lou Zigui's hand aside She wanted to say so words, but found that her brain had short-circuited The words wouldn't come
”Grandpa was eaten by theirl rubbed her eyes as she spoke
Ning Xiaoyao's hand subconsciously tightened around Lou Zigui's
”You knew?” Lou Zigui asked
The little girl nodded ”Those who die are eaten Grandpa was like this too”
Ning Xiaoyao further tightened her grip on Lou Zigui, who could only lift his hand and pull her into his arirl
”She ran aith another irl looked at Lou Zigui, then at Ning Xiaoyao ”Sir, I really arows up, he can work for sir as well”
This girl as atshe elve Undoubtedly, she feared that they'd think she was too young and weak to work Ning Xiaoyao's eyes reddened before she walked over to hug the girl ”What's your name?”
”Erya 1,” the little girl said her own naet her little brother, added on, ”My little brother's call Xiaoqiu 2”
Ning Xiaoyao wrapped Xiaoqiu into her arms and bumped foreheads with Erya ”I'm Xiaoyao From now on, just follow me”
Only then did Erya knew for sure she and Xiaoqiu could live She knelt on the ground and koed to Ning Xiaoyao Many people watched thens of envy This was Erya and her brother's good fortune, their fate in life You couldn't get things like this just through envy How could Ning Xiaoyao let Erya bow to her? She pulled the girl upright and took her hand as she walked forward
The stench of blood filled the air Ning Xiaoyao could alui walked behind Ning Xiaoyao and watched as she raised a hand to rub her eyes He suddenly regretted bringing her along this path Protecting the fa the lands were all irl like her to see the hardshi+ps of the people? Did he want this girl to shoulder a task that had left so many men at their wits' end?
Ning Xiaoyao walked and walked until she suddenly stopped to turn around with a serious expression ”Did the Northern Hu bring calamity to those people?”
Lou Zigui shook his head The Northern Hu were an outside threat, but the refugees were part of internal conflicts
”Then tellXiaoyao, ”Why don't they have homes anymore?”
Lou Zigui raised a hand to wipe away the da softly, ”Because of natural disasters, because ofis beyond a cure”
Ning Xiaoyao couldn't understand the deeper reasonings behind Lou Zigui's words, but she did understand one thing There were about two hundred thousand refugees in this country Three generations' of eht, it was flood If there weren't locust plagues, then there were earthquakes and epidemics The commoners suffered these disasters and lost their ho them Thus, everyone had no choice but to leave their ho The dynasty had to fight wars, send disaster relief, provide for the immense members of its imperial clan and those scholarly-ranked literati who didn't need to pay taxes Thus, the dynasty placed even more pressure on the commoners who lived in lands untouched by disasters
”This is aXiaoyao ”Farmers labor for a year, but their crops don't even make up half of the taxes they need to pay Deficits lead to severe punishment, where the offenders are captured and placed into forced labor They'd be forced to leave their wives and children and break the family apart, so of course they'd chose to flee instead”
Ning Xiaoyao felt like dying What kind of crappy place was this?!
The scent ofXiaoyao away Ning Xiaoyao's nose was far keener than Lou Zigui's, so she'd caught whiff of theXiaoyao said, ”Though I don't know if it'll work, I'll do my best”