Chapter 50 - 51: Afraid

Chapter 50: Chapter 51: Afraid

Xiao Yunhai’s hands trembled with anger. He pointed at the officials standing below him. "Then tell me, what do we do now? Even if we send out every man we have, we might not be able to drive them out of the city. With so many people pouring in, do you really think you’ll be able to sleep soundly?"

Everyone fell silent. Nearly ten thousand refugees. If they weren’t removed from the city quickly, no one would know a moment’s peace.

"Your Excellency, we could ask Mr. Bai for help," Lu Tongzhi suggested. "After all, he’s the one who caused this mess. I’m sure Marquis Bai won’t just ignore it." Lu Tongzhi knew that Prefect Xiao was eager to curry favor with Marquis Wu’an; now he would see how the Prefect chose to act.

Xiao Yunhai gritted his teeth. "We will not speak of that for now. Immediately organize the guards to secure all the checkpoints. Don’t let them flee towards Shangjing.

Gather men to drive the refugees out. If you don’t have enough manpower, mobilize people from the various prefectural offices. Anyone without local household registration is to be cleared out."

Even though Bai Jinglie had caused this trouble, Xiao Yunhai didn’t want to use it as a way to ingratiate himself.

"But we’ll never have enough men. Many of them head straight for the main road north as soon as they enter the city. It will be very difficult to stop them," Lu Tongzheng said, forced to speak after being nudged by several of his colleagues.

Xiao Yunhai’s jaw clenched so hard his gums ached. He covered his mouth. "Then chase them on horseback! I refuse to believe their two legs can outrun four.

Stop making excuses! Get out there and chase them down!"

’If these refugees really make it to Shangjing,’ he thought, ’my career as Magistrate will be over.’

His superiors had repeatedly instructed him not to let these refugees spoil the Emperor’s mood. Before the Emperor’s grand wedding, not a single piece of bad news was to get out.

Seeing the officials still standing there dumbfounded, Xiao Yunhai barked, "What are you waiting for? Get to work!"

「...」

Ancient Wen Heng and Jin Qianqian had already crossed two mountains along the path and finally saw wisps of cooking smoke in the distance.

"The villages out here are really far apart," Jin Qianqian said. Staring at the patch of green in the distance, she had never found the color so lovely.

"That’s normal. I remember a classmate from our school whose hometown was also in a remote area. After the bus dropped him off, he still had to walk for several hours. By modern geographical standards, this isn’t even considered that remote."

Ancient Wen Heng spotted a relatively flat rock nearby. "Let’s rest here for a bit. It looks close, but we’ll be lucky if we can make it before nightfall."

Jin Qianqian rubbed her stomach. "After walking all this way, I’m starving. Senior, let’s get something to eat."

Ancient Wen Heng turned and stared at her without a word. In the end, Jin Qianqian was the first to break. "Wenheng, what do you want to eat?"

Though displeased, Ancient Wen Heng didn’t press the issue. "Anything is fine. We need to try our best to reach the village ahead before dark."

Remembering the harrowing experience from the previous night, Qianqian couldn’t be picky. She quickly took out a pre-packaged meal box. "Then let’s be quick about it."

"Finally, a proper meal," Ancient Wen Heng said with a satisfied burp. Although they had been sneaking snacks before, they only dared to have bland, easy-to-eat liquid foods. Aromatic rice like this was something they hadn’t even dared to dream of.

"If only I could have a nice, hot bath now, life would be perfect." With her stomach full, Jin Qianqian looked down at her grimy hands, her voice full of disgust.

Ancient Wen Heng glanced around to make sure no one was there. "Didn’t you say you could go inside? Why don’t you go in and try?"

Jin Qianqian’s eyes lit up. "I couldn’t bring you in with me before, but I want to try now."

If they could both enter the space, they would at least have an escape route if they encountered danger again in the future.

Jin Qianqian didn’t give him a chance to answer. She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him into the space, but after waiting for a long time, the two of them remained right where they were.

Jin Qianqian tried letting go of Ancient Wen Heng’s hand, and she suddenly vanished from before his eyes.

Seeing Jin Qianqian suddenly disappear, Ancient Wen Heng panicked. He clenched his fists, his eyes fixed on the spot where she had vanished.

「...」

Entering the long-unseen space, she found the main hall crammed with empty bottles. She had collected all of them during the chaos and hadn’t had a chance to organize them yet.

Jin Qianqian wasn’t used to such a messy environment. She pushed open the large red door, preparing to sort out the empty plastic bottles.

Suddenly, she noticed something slightly different about the green door next to it. The color seemed a bit deeper.

With a mix of curiosity and nervousness, Jin Qianqian grabbed the green door knocker and gave it a gentle push. The door, which had been sealed shut before, actually creaked open a crack.

A wave of joy and excitement washed over Jin Qianqian. Peeking through the crack, she saw plots of farmland laid out inside.

When she pushed the door all the way open, nine evenly divided plots of land were revealed before her. A quick visual estimate told her the area was quite large, probably three or four mu.

"Green represents planting, so does that mean this land can be used to grow things?" Jin Qianqian muttered to herself. Thinking about the other rooms, a sense of anticipation suddenly bloomed in her heart.

She squatted down and grabbed a handful of soil. It seemed naturally moist. It clumped together when squeezed but crumbled apart easily when she opened her hand. Combined with its deep, black color, even someone as ignorant about farming as her could tell the land was fertile.

’I think I collected some seeds before,’ Jin Qianqian thought, looking at all the land and already starting to plan what she would plant.

’I’ll start by trying some leafy vegetables with a short growth cycle.’ She thought of novels she had read where such things could be accomplished through meditation. She repeatedly gave the command in her mind, but the seeds in her palm remained completely still.

"Sigh, looks like I have to do it the old-fashioned way. No point in thinking about such unrealistic things." Being able to get this space was already a tremendous stroke of luck. ’Truly, it’s hard for people to ever be satisfied!’

But she didn’t know how to farm either. In the end, she put the seeds back, deciding to experiment after she had studied her books on planting.

Remembering that Ancient Wen Heng was still waiting outside, Jin Qianqian didn’t dare to linger. With a flash, she reappeared in her original spot.

She had barely found her footing when she was pulled into a tight bear hug, unable to break free no matter how much she struggled.

"Wenheng, let me go! You’re squeezing so tight I can barely breathe," Jin Qianqian said, feeling her breathing grow difficult.

Ancient Wen Heng kept his hands clamped firmly on her arms, looking her up and down. "Are you sure going in and out like that has no effect on you?"

In that instant when she disappeared, Ancient Wen Heng had felt his own heart turn hollow.

In that moment, he admitted to himself that he was a coward, terrified of being abandoned alone in this dynasty, terrified of losing his reason to live.