Just as dawn was breaking, the fishing village began to stir.
A few brave women walked in a group toward the rocky beach, clutching their own battered wooden basins. They walked very slowly, stopping every few steps to look around. Only after confirming there was no sound from those strange tents did they continue forward.
The one leading the way was none other than the woman who had held her child and spoken with Pei Du yesterday. Her name was Xu Sanniang.
Today, she was not holding her child, but she had tucked the last few wild soap pods from her home into her shirt.
On the rocky beach, several bonfires were still burning.
The Zhenbei Army had already fully awakened.
A few soldiers were cooking porridge, their movements quick and efficient.
The aroma of rice drifted over with the sea breeze. Xu Sanniang and the other women swallowed hard, instinctively quickening their pace.
Feng Chunya was squatting by the shore, washing her face.
Hearing a sound, she looked up and saw several women standing timidly a short distance away, holding wooden basins.
She shook the water from her hands.
Then she stood up and called out in a clear, bright voice, “Aunties, you're all here! I'll have some men bring you the dirty clothes.”
With that, she shouted toward the camp.
“Xiao Wu!”
Before long, two soldiers ran over carrying a bundle of clothes and set them on the ground. Most of the clothes were made of cotton and were relatively clean, save for some sweat stains and mud spots.
“I will have to trouble you ladies with these,” Feng Chunya said, pointing at the clothes. “Just wash out the stains. There is no need to scrub too hard; it would be a pity to ruin them. Bring them back in three days to exchange for a bag of rice. As promised, we won't shortchange you.”
Hearing this, Xu Sanniang almost burst into tears again. She quickly lowered her head and squatted down to pick up a bundle of clothes.
The other women also stepped forward, each gathering a pile of clothes. Their movements were incredibly gentle and cautious, as if they were holding precious treasures rather than dirty laundry.
Xu Sanniang gathered her courage and asked, “General Feng, if we wash these clothes and bring them back to you tomorrow, could you give us some more dirty clothes?”
At a rough estimate, there were at least ten thousand soldiers in the Zhenbei Army. There was no way they only had this much dirty laundry.
She figured this female general surnamed Feng was showing them consideration by only giving them a small portion of the laundry.
She felt deeply touched, but also anxious.
More than consideration, everyone wanted to earn as much grain as possible. The Zhenbei Army would leave sooner or later, and once they were gone, the women would no longer have a way to exchange laundry for food.
“Even if you finish washing these clothes in a single day, I will still pay you for three days' worth of work. Once you are done washing, just come find me here to get more.”
Feng Chunya answered readily. Her gaze swept over the women's hands, which were covered in chilblains, and she added, “The weather is cold and the water is freezing. If you want to heat up water to wash the clothes but don't have enough firewood, we have chopped plenty here. Just come and take what you need.”
The women froze in place.
In all their decades of life, this was the first time anyone had ever shown concern for their hands freezing while doing laundry, let alone offered them firewood.
It took a long moment before the women thanked Feng Chunya, then turned and left the camp clutching the clothes.
...
Wuling City was not far from the fishing village.
Concealed from sight, Yun Shu held the little fox in her arms as she walked a few miles south along the coastline, passing through a stretch of barren rice fields.
Before long, she spotted a dusty, grey city wall. It stood about twenty or thirty feet high, cracked in multiple places, with withered weeds sprouting from the fissures.
At the city gates, five or six soldiers stood in a sparse group. Their armor was dilapidated, their spearheads rusted, and their faces entirely numb.
Occasionally, people would enter the city.
The guards would lazily stop them, pluck a few vegetable leaves or half a flatbread from their baskets, and wave them through.
Yun Shu walked right past them.
Not a single person noticed her.
Once inside, the street scenes were even more desolate than outside.
The main street was reasonably wide, but most of the shops on either side were closed, their doors hanging askew and a thick layer of dust accumulated beneath the eaves.
In the few shops that remained open, the shopkeepers napped behind their counters, with coarse salt and old fabric sparsely displayed on the shelves at ridiculously high prices.
Yun Shu walked at a leisurely pace. Nestled in her arms, the little fox couldn't help but complain, “Host, this Wuling City is too rundown. Any random village in the north is better than this.”
“In recent years, the southern cities have been plagued by constant warfare and a complete lack of order. Coupled with one natural disaster after another, the commoners cannot grow crops, and merchants have no grain to purchase. Naturally, food prices will only keep rising, creating a vicious cycle.”
Her gaze swept across a street corner.
A child was curled up there, about seven or eight years old, as thin as a withered branch. The child's clothes were shredded into rags, exposing ribs that were starkly visible beneath the skin.
Curled into a tight ball with knees hugged to his chest, his head was buried extremely low, looking as though he had either fallen asleep or drawn his last breath.
Yun Shu squatted down and checked his breathing.
His breath was incredibly faint, but he was still alive.
“Host, he passed out from starvation,” the little fox said. “I just scanned him. He hasn't eaten any proper food for at least five days. His stomach contains nothing but tree bark and grass roots.”
“Give me a steamed bun.”
Yun Shu tore the still-warm steamed bun into small pieces and placed them by the child's mouth.
The child's eyelashes fluttered, and he unconsciously opened his mouth to take in a small piece, swallowing it slowly.
Only after feeding the rest of the bun to the child did she stand up and continue forward.
The deeper she went into the city, the more dismal the sights became.
Tattered beggars could be seen everywhere along the streets, holding broken bowls and pleading weakly, “Have mercy, give me a bite to eat, please, I beg of you...”
“Host, I looked it up. The governor of Wuling City was actually a good official. Sadly, the good die young. A while ago, a rogue army breached the city. They didn't just seize the city's granary—they slaughtered the governor's entire family of seventy-two!”
The little fox grew increasingly furious as it spoke. “This rogue army leader, Chen Chao, is an absolute scoundrel! After taking Wuling City, not only did he have no intention of governing the city and helping the people, but he even allowed his soldiers to burn, kill, loot, and oppress the commoners!”
“Just yesterday, he abused a young boy to death. When the parents went to demand justice, he actually had them beaten to death as well!”
It gritted its teeth in secret. “Host, you must not let this scum off the hook. You have to send him to hell!”
In the past, its mind had been entirely occupied with pursuing the male leads. Even though it had visited this world many times, it had never paid any attention to the commoners living at the very bottom of society.
It was only after binding with Yun Shu that it realized how painfully these lower-class commoners lived during these troubled times.
If it were in their shoes, it would rather die than live a life where hope could never be seen.
“In times of chaos, without the constraints of the law, humans easily regress into beasts devoid of humanity.”
Yun Shu's expression remained unreadable. “Tongzi, go notify Xiao Lan. The plan is being moved forward.”
The little fox nodded and dashed out of the city.
Meanwhile, Yun Shu lightly tapped her toes, using Trailing Flowing Clouds to fly directly onto the highest building in the city.
Immediately after, she took out the Dream-Entering Bell.
As the bell chimed, countless white papers fluttered down from the sky.
Rate on N.U.
