Su Cuiping watched the crowd ahead, her heart feeling as if scratched by a cat, a tingling itch. She exchanged a glance with Su Muqing. "Shall we go take a look up ahead?"
Su Muqing was also a little curious and nodded in agreement. The two informed Su Mingyong.
Su Mingyong told them not to wander off and to stay with Wang shi. He was afraid the two girls couldn't handle seeing severed limbs and body parts.
After the two nodded and promised, they walked towards the front.
However, when they reached the front, Wang shi had already gone to the very front to find Su Minghui. This was exactly what the two of them wanted.
When they got to the very front and saw the situation, they realized that Su Mingyong's description had been a beautified version of the truth. Su Muqing quickly raised a hand to block the little milk bun's eyes.
The people being handled in front of them were the rioters. Their hands and feet were not broken by being beaten, but rather severed at the shoulders and thighs with weapons, cutting off their legs and feet cleanly.
Severed limbs were scattered everywhere on the ground, along with bloodstains that almost dyed the road red. Under the afterglow of the setting sun, the color was still so dazzling.
Su Minghui led his men, dragging the rioters who were blocking the road to the side. Those people clutched their wounds, rolling on the ground. Screams rose one after another, sounding mournful and eerie!
Su Cuiping was so scared her face turned ashen. Suddenly! Su Muqing stumbled. She felt a strong force pull her away, her legs swinging wildly as she was dragged. The little milk bun thought his sister was playing with him and giggled happily.
By the time Su Muqing reacted, they were already by the side of the road in a dry ditch. Su Cuiping had squatted on the ground and was vomiting profusely.
"Hiss~" Su Muqing felt as if her arm was about to be dislocated. She raised it and saw that her wrist was scraped raw, with blood seeping out. It stung fiercely.
Su Muqing ran to Su Minghui's ox cart and asked Su Mingyong's third aunt for a small bowl of water, then took it to Su Cuiping to rinse her mouth.
Su Cuiping vomited for a while, and when she had nothing left to vomit, she slowly stood up. Seeing the bloody marks on Su Muqing's arm where she had grabbed it, she felt very guilty. She quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I was just scared. Is your arm okay?"
Su Muqing knew she hadn't done it on purpose and didn't blame her. "It's fine, I'm okay now. How about you? Are you alright? Feeling any better?"
Su Cuiping shook her head, rinsed her mouth with the water, and then drank the rest. She closed her eyes and tugged at Su Muqing's sleeve. "I'll just keep my eyes closed, and as long as I don't see, it'll be fine. When I see it, my legs feel weak and I can't walk. You'll have to hold me. I can't see the way!"
"I'm really impressed with you. All show and no go!" Su Muqing pulled her, returned to her family's ox cart, and put the bowl down.
Su Cuiping was the type to forget her pain once she was better. As soon as she felt a little better, she started clamoring to push forward. "Let's go, let's go, I'm not going to vomit anymore, so I'm not afraid! Muqing, why aren't you scared at all? I remember you used to be very afraid of these things..."
"Me? I don't know either. Maybe it's because I've died once, so I don't feel like there's anything to be afraid of!" Su Muqing, being a medical student, had seen real corpses. Although seeing too much blood made her a little uncomfortable, it didn't make her unable to walk.
Su Cuiping said enviously, "I can't believe dying once can change someone so much. Hearing you say that, I even want to..."
Before Su Cuiping could finish her sentence, Su Muqing reached out and covered her mouth. "Just shut up! If your family hears you say that, they'll definitely blame me to death."
The commotion between the two finally attracted Wang shi's attention. Her face showed obvious anger when she saw the two girls pushing forward. Just as she was about to go and deal with the disobedient girls,
Suddenly, a woman's crying voice reached their ears, drawing everyone's attention.
Su Muqing also looked up and saw that a little further ahead, three ox carts had stopped. A woman and two elderly people stood by the middle ox cart, never leaving its side.
Several men stood in the middle, their knives still dripping blood. Their legs were now tightly held by several women.
On the ground in front of them, several women were kneeling. It was unclear if they were family members of the rioters or people captured by them.
Su Muqing blinked. Those people? Weren't they the strange people she encountered outside the dilapidated temple? So it was them who dealt with the rioters who robbed travelers?
One of the women, while holding a man's leg, cried out, "Sir, sir, please take us with you! We were truly just captured by them. We really haven't done anything wrong. And the things they robbed, they hid them in the woods over there. I can take you to get them. Please, take us with you! If that's still not acceptable, then I'll give you this daughter." As the woman spoke, she pulled out a young girl kneeling behind her.
"Sir, look. She's very healthy. She's only 13 years old and has already started her menstrual cycle, so she'll surely bear children well. If you don't like her, you can just treat her as a servant girl. Please, just take us with you. Otherwise, as a widow with children, we won't survive on the road... Wuwuwuwuwu..." As the woman spoke, she finally clamped her hands and feet around the man's leg and burst into loud sobs.
The young girl, pushed forward, stumbled and fell. Her face was deathly pale, her clothes disheveled, and she hugged her legs, shrinking away fearfully.
As the young girl was pushed forward, Su Muqing subconsciously glanced over. Her pupils contracted! She keenly saw, on the dirty pants between the young girl's legs, some blackened bloodstains!
"Woman, release your hand quickly. We are all refugees fleeing the drought, and it's inconvenient for us to take you with us. You should go and ask other travelers." The man whose leg was being held by the woman had a cold and stern expression. His tone was also indifferent with a hint of formality. There was no fear or panic from having just chopped off someone's limbs, nor any pity for the woman's crying.
This further confirmed Su Muqing's earlier speculation. This group of people was definitely not true refugees.
The woman cried and pleaded for a while longer, but no matter how hard she cried, the man's expression did not soften in the slightest.
Finally, the woman saw that the woman guarding the ox cart, who looked like she was with them, walked over. The woman gauged the blood-stained knife in one of the men's hands with her hand, the threat in her eyes evident.
The woman remembered the terrifying scene of the rioters being dismembered just moments ago. Frightened, she quickly released her hold on the man's calf, scrambled up, wiped the tears from her face casually, and went to pull her three daughters, who were clinging to the legs of the other men, down. She then turned and ran towards the队伍 on the side of Houxi Village.
The other kneeling women also quickly stood up and followed behind them, afraid that if they ran too slowly, the good families would be taken by others first.
Only the little girl who had offered to be given away was left by the roadside, trembling uncontrollably, her face filled with helplessness and fear.
After all the women had run off, Xu Fu and the others quickly cleared the road and prepared to set off again. Unexpectedly, Zhou shi seemed to see the young master frown, so the group had to rest in place for a while.