Chapter 49 - 50: Charging into the City

Chapter 49: Chapter 50: Charging into the City

"Looks like there really is water in the city. Those people are real pieces of work, only caring about their own pleasure and not whether us common folk live or die."

"What’s so surprising about that? They won’t even let us pass. They just want to trap us here to die. As long as we don’t cross this line, how would the Emperor ever know his people are suffering here?"

"So that’s their plan. They just want to starve us and let us die of thirst here."

"But didn’t they just send out some water? Maybe they’re not that bad!"

This remark immediately drew a barrage of criticism. "This little bit of water? It’s probably not even a mouthful for each person."

"We’ve been stuck here for so many days. Besides those few puddles we found before, have any of you ever seen this city gate open?"

"So we’re just going to wait here like fools?"

"And what if we don’t wait? Going back now is just another path to certain death.

If we hang on here, at least we can occasionally get a little water to survive on."

Ancient Wen Heng listened silently to the conversation ahead, a sense of powerlessness rising in his heart.

’His previous thoughts had been too naive. If the deep mountains were really so easy to traverse, these people wouldn’t have been stuck here for so long.’

At that moment, he suddenly understood why there were so many stories of forest outlaws and cases of officials forcing the people to rebel.

’If it weren’t for his many years of education, he would want to grit his teeth and rebel himself.’

Just as he had this thought, news came from the front of the line that the water had run out. The entire crowd erupted into chaos.

It was unclear who shouted it first, but a voice cried out, "Charge into the city! That’s our only way to survive!"

"Run!"

Spurred on by a few, everyone scrambled to run forward, each trying to get ahead of the others.

People in the back pushed and shoved, making it impossible to control the surge as the human tide flooded toward the city gate.

Ancient Wen Heng gripped Jin Qianqian’s hand tightly, forced to passively press forward with the flow of people.

The Government Officials guarding the gate saw that things were going wrong. They paid no mind to the servants sent by Young Master Bai and turned to shut the city gate.

But they were a step too slow. The refugees gave them no such chance, pouring through the city gate like a flood before taking to their heels and scattering in all directions.

Ancient Wen Heng certainly wouldn’t let this opportunity slip by. He led Jin Qianqian into a less crowded alley and quickly ducked out of sight.

"This is a dead end," Jin Qianqian said, her face taut with anxiety.

But Ancient Wen Heng was secretly pleased. "Quick, take out two of the brighter-colored sets of clothes we bought before. As long as we change out of these outfits, we won’t be such obvious targets."

Jin Qianqian casually picked out two sets of satin clothes. They had bought these out from a shop in the county town earlier, selecting them based on their sizes.

She handed him the robe and trousers, then turned her back to him.

Ancient Wen Heng faced the wall, quickly stripped off his grimy clothes, and put on the new ones.

"Your turn," Ancient Wen Heng said, balling up the dirty clothes and tossing them to the side, planning to burn them somewhere later.

Jin Qianqian knew this was no time to be modest. She quickly followed Ancient Wen Heng’s example and changed into her new clothes.

"What about our hair?" She cleaned her face with a wet wipe, but her matted hair was the biggest giveaway.

Ancient Wen Heng knew Jin Qianqian had some water, but there was no time to wash. He could only take the linen cloth that had been wrapped around the clothes and throw it over his hair. "You find one too, quickly. We need to find a place to lie low before those constables regroup."

Jin Qianqian wrapped her hair as she ran after him. "Aren’t there inns? Can we go to one?"

Ancient Wen Heng touched the Wen Die in his robe. "Putting aside whether we can even find an inn right now, with these Wen Die and official permits on us, no inn would dare take us in."

"Then where do we go?" By now, they had reached a main street. They could see people still running endlessly into the city, which was now in complete turmoil.

Ancient Wen Heng said, "Let’s head deeper in for now. It looks like we can’t stay in the city. We’ll go check out the nearby villages."

"But what about Mother and the others? They haven’t come in yet!" Jin Qianqian thought of Li Cuicui, who had stayed behind to look after Gu Dashishi and their luggage. She bit her lip and refused to take another step.

"We can’t worry about that now. We have to get ourselves settled first before we can bring them in." A flash of worry also crossed Ancient Wen Heng’s eyes. On this trip to get water, the ones left behind were Li Cuicui, an injured Gu Dashishi, and the children.

"But what if the city gate is closed by then? What will we do?" At that moment, Jin Qianqian even wanted to turn around and leave. ’With my space,’ she thought, ’I can always keep my family alive.’

But Ancient Wen Heng held her back firmly. "This isn’t the time to be emotional. We have to get settled first; that’s our best chance of survival.

If we just kept waiting outside the city with everyone else, it would have been a dead end for sure."

Jin Qianqian fell silent and quietly followed Ancient Wen Heng as they ran onward.

"Our whole family will survive," Ancient Wen Heng said to Jin Qianqian as they ran, as if trying to convince himself as well.

Although they were unfamiliar with the city, they had both observed it with binoculars from the mountaintop earlier, so they could naturally tell which way led to the paths toward the nearby villages.

Whenever they encountered someone on the road, the two would feign calmness and slow their pace, or find a hidden corner and wait for the person to pass before emerging.

Gradually, the crowds thinned and the roads narrowed. A sense of joy grew in their hearts, as this meant they were getting farther away.

"We just passed a village. Why didn’t we stop?" Jin Qianqian asked, a little curious. It was a good thing they had been walking every day for this entire period; otherwise, she wasn’t sure she could have kept up.

Ancient Wen Heng shook his head. "It’s too close to the Prefecture City. If we want a more peaceful future, we need to head somewhere more remote."

While they hurried on their way in silence, chaos had long since erupted both inside and outside the city.

In the Prefect’s Office, Xiao Yunhai was pointing at the Deputy and Assistant Magistrate in the main hall, cursing them out. "How do you people do your jobs? How could you let so many refugees break in?

The entire Prefecture City is crawling with refugees now! You tell me, how am I supposed to explain this to my superiors?"

Geng Tongpan looked aggrieved. "Your Excellency, it was Young Master Bai who suddenly had a fit of compassion and decided to give water and congee to the refugees outside. Who knew the preparations would be insufficient? The people charged in because they were desperate to live."

The thought of Bai Jinglie gave Xiao Yunhai a headache. The man just had to be the eldest son of Marquis Wu’an, the future Princely Heir. "And what about you lot? Are you all dead? What about the city guards? You couldn’t even hold back a bunch of refugees?"

"It wasn’t that we couldn’t hold them back," Lu Tongzhi said with a helpless expression. "The people from the Marquis Wu’an Mansion were outside at the time, and the city guards were trying to rescue them and get them into the city. That delay cost us the best opportunity. By the time we realized what was happening, the situation was already beyond anyone’s control."