The man's two sons, seeing him suddenly appear like neither human nor ghost, fell to the ground in a fright. They scrambled frantically towards the house, their hands, covered in frostbite, bleeding profusely.
"Mother, Mother... come quickly and see what's wrong with Father! Mother..."
In a corner of the house, a woman, clad in even more tattered and thin clothing, lay with her eyes closed in a pile of weeds. She had actually heard the commotion outside.
Throughout their escape, they had always been subjected to the man's beatings and scoldings. However, today she felt unwell and was too weak from hunger to get up.
Hearing her two sons' terrified cries, the woman slowly opened her eyes and struggled to sit up.
Not far from her, two dirty children were also sitting. They sat quietly in the corner, hugging their knees tightly, shrinking themselves into small balls to minimize their presence.
The exposed parts of their hands and feet were covered in purplish-red frostbite. Their faces were so dirty that it was impossible to tell if they were boys or girls, and their hair was matted into strands by the grime.
The two older sons crawled in and helped the woman out of the room. Outside, a crowd had already gathered around the man. However, they couldn't figure out what was happening to him and could only stand aside, pointing and talking about the man writhing on the ground.
Lu Yuzhi and his group, also fully geared up, walked over. Su Muqing's entire face was tightly wrapped, leaving only her eyes visible.
As she moved closer, she immediately realized that the man's trachea was likely blocked, preventing him from breathing.
It was understandable. The饼 (bing) was made of coarse grains, much drier and rougher than flour. The man had eaten too quickly and too greedily, and then suddenly started shouting and hitting people. It was difficult *not* to get choked.
If the Heimlich maneuver had been performed immediately, he could have been saved. However, considering the man's recent actions, Su Muqing did not offer the advice.
A person like him, who disregarded his family's lives, was merely wasting food and polluting the air. It would be better to let him choke to death, serving as a warning to others who were selfish, greedy, and black-hearted.
At this point, the other onlookers began to notice something amiss. They gathered together, discussing the situation, but still, no one stepped forward to help.
"Does he look like he's choking?"
"Of course he's choking. Of the family's entire ration, he ate seven or eight tenths by himself. His heart is truly black..."
"What's this? The two younger ones in his family aren't even his own children. Before entering the city, it was heard that grain distribution was based on headcount. So, he just grabbed two half-grown children from the roadside to pretend they were his."
"Yes! I know about that too. He took other people's headcount rations. Of the grain distributed yesterday, he didn't give a single bite to the two youngsters. If his eldest son hadn't taken pity and shared a bite with the younger ones, they would have starved to death. This Wu Laoda is truly wicked!"
After the woman was helped out, she collapsed onto the man, her hands constantly stroking his chest, seemingly trying to ease his breathing. She even leaned close to his ear and whispered softly, as if comforting him.
But Su Muqing saw clearly that beneath the woman's sorrowful expression was unhidden hatred. What she whispered in Wu Laoda's ear was not comfort.
"You wicked villain, today is your day of reckoning..."
Hearing her words, the man's pupils gradually dilated. He struggled a few more times and then slowly stopped breathing. Upon hearing that someone had died nearby, a few people approached from another direction and carried the man's body onto a stretcher. Later, it would be placed on a cart and dragged to the mass grave along with other corpses.
After the man was placed on the stretcher, his two sons stepped forward and asked them to wait. The two quickly stripped off the man's dirty outer clothes, revealing layers of slightly cleaner clothes underneath.
Most of these clothes belonged to the two of them. It was just that on the road, the man had said he was cold and forcibly taken his sons' clothes for himself.
The two worked quickly, removing his clothes one by one while they were still warm from his body. Once most of them were off, they put his dirty outer clothes back on him.
Life as fragile as grass, this was perhaps the most vivid description of a famine year. The man, who had been feasting a few minutes ago, now lay on the wooden plank with a bruised face.
Regarding the actions of his two sons, the surrounding people looked on with accustomed expressions. As long as they could live, they could do even more ruthless things than stripping clothes from the dead.
The dead were dead, but the living had to find ways to continue surviving.
The several idlers who had been chatting and laughing with Wu Laoda were now watching from the side, eating the饼 in their hands, showing no trace of the camaraderie they had shared just moments ago.
After his two sons had removed the man's clothes, the two men carrying the stretcher prepared to leave. One of them saw Tong Lesheng and quickly put down the stretcher to greet him.
"Sect Leader Tianji, Steward Tong, why are you here in South City today? Wasn't the refugee allocation in West City still being handled?"
This person was formerly from the Blood Robe Sect and naturally recognized the two. He was now a minor steward at the South City resettlement point. In the past, Tong Lesheng would notify them in advance when he was going to a resettlement point.
Then, they would gather the village chiefs or leaders for meetings and allocations. Therefore, seeing the two in South City at this moment made the minor steward somewhat surprised.
Seeing the steward so respectful towards the group, the onlookers stopped eating their饼, carefully tucked them into their sleeves, and stood aside to observe them.
There was a young man, an old man with a white beard, and two people standing beside them.
These two people were dressed too strangely, with only their eyes exposed. Moreover, they were too clean, clearly not refugees.
"Who are these people?"
"Who knows! Didn't you see how respectful the steward was towards them? They must be locals."
"Why would locals come to our resettlement point? And dressed so strangely..."
At this moment, an uncle, who was dressed slightly more neatly, stepped forward, cupped his hands towards the group, and asked cautiously, "Little Steward Chen, may I ask who these people are?"
The one called Little Steward Chen first returned the salute and then pointed to Tong Lesheng and the others, introducing them to the crowd. "This is Steward Tong, who is in charge of refugee allocation. Where you will settle in the future is decided by him. And this is an elder from our Huaxia City, Tianji Old Man. As for the other two...?"
Little Steward Chen scratched his head, looking at the two heavily wrapped individuals with suspicion.
Tong Lesheng stepped forward and addressed everyone. "This is our Huaxia City's City Lord - Su Muqing, and this is the Vice City Lord - Lu Yuzhi. They have come specifically to see how you are doing at the resettlement point."
Upon hearing that Su Muqing had returned, Little Steward Chen was greatly surprised. "What did you say? They are the City... City Lord... City Lord and the others have returned?"
Su Muqing took out a token from her sleeve. It was given to her by Tianji Old Man when she succeeded as City Lord.
Little Steward Chen immediately clasped his hands, knelt on one knee, and saluted. "Chen Ji'an of the Justice Sect, greetings to the City Lord and Vice City Lord."
"Rise!"
After Chen Ji'an stood up, he shouted loudly to the surrounding onlookers. "Why aren't you all hurrying over to pay your respects to the City Lord?"
At these words, all the onlookers, who had been watching the spectacle, rushed towards them. Su Muqing wanted to say that such formalities were unnecessary.
However, Lu Yuzhi grabbed her hand, shook his head, and then quietly whispered in her ear. "I know you're not accustomed to kneeling before others, nor to others kneeling before you. But because you are now the City Lord, you must learn to get used to all of this."
"Everyone is born human, so everyone is equal. Why must others kneel? Since we are building Huaxia City, let us reform these feudal customs from the very beginning. Isn't that good?"
Su Muqing's thoughts were quite simple. After all, she had only lived one life in modern times, so when analyzing and judging a matter, she would use fixed thinking.
Just as she wanted to build Huaxia City to be like modern times, even if it couldn't develop as well as modern times, at least some of the bad ideas could be reformed.
"That's good, but is it really that simple? Why would those people listen to you and change customs that have existed for a long time? You must know that life is equal, but status is not. They are not truly kneeling to us now, but to power and fear. It's just that because this power is in our hands, they fear us. And it is precisely because the power we hold instills fear in them that we can make those people listen to us and act according to our instructions."
Su Muqing frowned, constantly replaying Lu Yuzhi's words in her mind. Her experience was still too limited, and her words and actions were driven by her feelings, lacking maturity.
While the two were speaking softly, more and more people had come and were kneeling on the ground, kowtowing to them.
"Thank you, City Lord, for taking us in... Your humble subject and his family, and for giving us a mouthful of food."
"Yes, yes... We, your humble subjects, thank the City Lord for not letting my family starve or freeze to death..."
"Thank you, sir, your humble subject thanks the City Lord, a just and benevolent official!"
"You lords are truly good people! You are all living bodhisattvas..."
Looking at the vast crowd kneeling before them, men, women, and children of all ages, kowtowing and expressing their gratitude, Su Muqing wanted to say something, but opened her mouth and didn't know what to say.
Lu Yuzhi saw her lowering her gaze, seemingly lost in thought, and remaining silent for a long time. He then gave Tong Lesheng a look behind him.
Receiving Lu Yuzhi's signal, the latter quickly walked to the front. After mentally rehearsing a brief speech, he spoke loudly to the kneeling crowd.
"Citizens, the food you have eaten these past two days was found by the City Lord and others through great effort and hardship. Therefore, you must remember Huaxia City's grace in saving your lives. I know this world is difficult, and everyone wants to survive. But if you are selfish and greedy like Wu Laoda, your retribution will likely come faster. I hope you will help each other in the future. As long as we overcome this difficult time together, you will be able to live good lives in peace."
"Thank you, City Lord..."
"Thank you, City Lord..."
...
Hearing the unanimous thanks from the citizens, Su Muqing felt a little guilty. She felt she hadn't done anything great. Even the food she gave them was the cheapest from the spatial marketplace.
Seeing them continuously kowtowing and thanking her, with the air that they wouldn't rise until the City Lord spoke, Su Muqing had no choice but to say.
"The weather is cold, everyone please rise. Steward Tong has already told everyone that as long as we overcome this difficult period, life will get better and better. Therefore, I hope everyone will work together to improve our lives and build Huaxia City even better!"
After Su Muqing finished speaking, she and Lu Yuzhi, along with the others, returned to the small wooden house they had been in before. If she continued to stand there, she might delay those people from eating.
"Everyone, no need to kneel anymore, hurry up and go eat!" Tong Lesheng called out again to the kneeling citizens before quickly running back into the small wooden house.
Back in the small wooden house, they sat together to discuss matters. Regarding the situation they had just observed, Su Muqing was actually not very satisfied.
She knew that even if Tong Lesheng was a good judge of character, he couldn't possibly oversee so many people. However, the occurrence of impersonation and claiming others' food within the resettlement point made Su Muqing very displeased.
"Send someone to verify if Wu Laoda's other two children are his biological children and if they voluntarily followed this family. Also, investigate further to see how many people were temporarily taken in to pretend to be family members."
"Yes, this subordinate will investigate immediately."
"How many resettlement points are there in total in Mucang County and Huaxia City?"
"Replying to the City Lord, Mucang County has a total of seven resettlement points, and Huaxia City seems to have nine..."
Tong Lesheng had been here for several months. After gratuitously acquiring Mucang County, he was primarily responsible for the resettlement of refugees in Mucang County. Therefore, he wasn't very clear about whether Huaxia City had added any new resettlement points later.
Tianji Old Man stroked his beard and said, "More than nine! Huaxia City now has seventeen resettlement points. The largest one is next to the urban area, accommodating over seventeen thousand people. The rest have at least over ten thousand people each. When you left, you left enough cement. Fortunately, they were worried that the cement would not dry well in lower temperatures, so they decided to repair the factory buildings simultaneously. Otherwise, with so many people arriving later, it might not have been possible to house them all."
Su Muqing thought Huaxia City only had a few resettlement points, but she didn't expect there to be over a dozen. "How many registered people are there in Huaxia City now?"
Tianji Old Man recalled and said, "Elder Xu mentioned it once before. Excluding those in Mucang County, there are about 190,000 people."
Su Muqing did some calculations. Huaxia City had 190,000 people, and with Mucang County, it would be around 200,000 people. Fortunately, there was a lot of land here, and the population density was low.