Fuzi sat on the bed, his back to Suozi, after Suozi spoke.
He missed his brother. Whatever his brother said, he believed.
His mother, whom he missed, didn't believe him and had lost him. His sister didn't believe him either, saying he was a child who didn't understand anything. He couldn't have the delicious chicken soup, and no one bought him the steamed buns he loved to eat...
The more Fuzi thought about it, the more wronged he felt. The aroma of chicken soup playfully tickled his nose, "Waaah~~ aah~~ I want my brother, brother~~ Waaah~"
Suozi held his forehead. It was happening again.
Ever since he brought Fuzi back yesterday afternoon, the child had been insisting on bringing those people with triangular eyes from outside the city in. If refused, he would go on a hunger strike, then cry and shout for his brother.
He thought about leaving for the base camp quickly to make Fuzi give up the idea. But Qian Duo insisted on buying medicinal herbs in Anshun Prefecture, and the old man they picked up also needed rest.
What important things were there to buy in Anshun Prefecture?
"Cry, cry, cry, all you do is cry. If you cry again, I'll sell you," Zhao Rui burst into Fuzi's room, her face still groggy from waking up.
After a bumpy journey, they finally found a decent place to rest. Before they could even have two good nights of sleep, this younger brother wouldn't stop crying. It was infuriating.
Fuzi sensed his sister's displeasure and paused, crying even louder. Suozi quickly put down the chicken soup and held the child in his arms. If he continued to cry like this, it would be problematic.
"Zhao Rui, if you're unwilling to stay, go find an inn yourself. Your brother hasn't eaten or drunk and is crying like this, aren't you worried?"
"What am I worried about? My mother has been busy in the kitchen since he came back and hasn't paid any attention to me. What more do you want?"
"He's not some speechless toddler. Will he cry himself to death?"
Suozi, hugging Fuzi, spun around in anger. He regretted not leaving this person halfway. What kind of person was this!
Too lazy to bicker with Zhao Rui, Suozi carried Fuzi out of the room and sent his subordinates to the yamen to ask if the Salt Guard could bring in some refugees. If so, how many could they bring.
Suozi was reluctant to spend money to bring people into the city.
While Suozi was reluctant to spend money, Granny Qin outside the city was reluctant to part with grain.
"You quack, you take his pulse, say he's fine, and then want two pounds of grain? Why don't you go rob someone?"
"I won't speak with a woman like you. Young man, if you hadn't said you'd pay with grain as a consultation fee, I wouldn't have made this trip," said the neatly dressed elder, facing Qin Mu.
Before Qin Mu could reply, Grandma Qin directly interjected, "Pah, my granddaughter has a fever, an abnormal fever. You say she's fine. What are you if not a quack?"
"You, you ignorant woman," the old doctor turned, his finger angrily pointing at Grandma Qin.
"That young girl has an externalized fever due to heat. Once the heat is expelled, her body will naturally recover. I've never seen someone wish for their family member to be sick."
"Evil? Where is any evil? If there were evil, I, an old woman, would have seen it. You're just a quack," Grandma Qin put a hand on her hip and pointed at the elder with the other, her eyes wide, her neck stretched out, as if ready to strike if he said anything more.
The old doctor, having practiced medicine for many years and seen all sorts of people, had cultivated a great deal of patience. He rarely got angry. However, this old woman seemed like a medicinal catalyst. Being called a quack three times directly infuriated the elder, making him reel back.
"Unreasonable, rude, impossible to communicate with."
Seeing the chaos, Old Man Hou had his eldest son give three pounds of cornmeal to the old doctor, explaining that Grandma Qin's concern for her granddaughter had led to her rudeness and hoping for his understanding.
After receiving the grain, the old doctor didn't want to linger. He offered a polite farewell and left. As he departed, he glanced at Qin Mu and shook his head.
That look and gesture were something Qin Mu would never forget.
Later, Qin Lin and Qin Sen also brought people to examine Qin Junyao. It wasn't that they didn't have medicinal herbs to make decoctions, but they didn't know the cause.
One, out of fear of Qin Lin, didn't dare to ask for a consultation fee. The other, before coming, had agreed with Qin Sen that if he couldn't find any illness, there would be no fee.
This made Qin Father, who was guarding Qin Junyao, feel even worse. In the past, living in the village, farming with his head down and eating with his head up, he didn't think his mother's managing the household was a bad thing.
Now, he couldn't even touch the grain his daughter had found, making him feel a sense of defeat he had never experienced before.
These past few days were the closest she had been to Junyao. Or rather, the closest he had been to her among the three children.
She would ask him about farming, she would care if he was tired from farming, she would...
"Jun Yao? Jun Yao, you're awake. Do you want some water? Mother cooked some dry rice, eat some. Jun Yao~~" Qin Mother saw Qin Junyao awake and started crying again, chanting her daughter's name. She was truly terrified.
During their escape, Qin Mother had seen many people who hadn't survived. She was so afraid that her daughter, who had gotten better, would perish at the city gates.
Qin Junyao opened her eyes and looked around blankly, not knowing what had happened. In the space, she was excitedly pulling radishes and twisting cabbage, completely unaware that the people outside were terrified because of her.
Qin Erniu pushed aside Qin Da Niu in front of him, leaning forward, his large face almost touching Qin Junyao's, "Big sister, how are you?"
Qin Junyao's face was filled with confusion. How was she?
"Jun Yao, do you feel uncomfortable?" Qin San Shu added.
Qin Junyao shook her head, thinking that not only did she not feel uncomfortable, but she felt refreshed, her back didn't ache, her waist wasn't sore, and her legs felt energetic.
Seeing that the people surrounding her seemed disbelieving, she simply got up and jumped in place twice, stretching her arms and legs to show that she was doing very well.
"That quack was right after all. But what is this heat evil?" Grandma Qin muttered softly, seeing Qin Junyao leaping and bouncing.
After a moment of thought, her eyes lit up. She stepped forward, grabbed her granddaughter's wrist, and pulled Qin Junyao away from the crowd.
"Yao Yao, tell Grandma the truth, did the Bodhisattva guide you again?"
"Yes, it must be. I can tell from your eyes."
"Tsk, I understand, Grandma understands. Grandma won't ask anymore. Yao Yao is fine. Everyone eat first. After eating, we'll go inquire about entering the city."
Qin Junyao blinked her eyes, watching Grandma Qin's retreating back. She hadn't said anything, but what did Grandma understand?
During the meal, Qin Junyao learned from Qin Er Niu about her symptoms when she had a fever and was unconscious, and what had happened. As she ate the millet dry rice, her heart felt a pang of sourness.
Qin Mother, thinking her eldest daughter was beyond saving, had taken it upon herself to steam all the millet into dry rice, and not only that, but she also boiled purslane soup and made cornmeal cakes.
She thought that even if her daughter died, she should be a well-fed ghost. She used up more than half of their grain and all their water. If it weren't for Qin Junyao's guarantee that she could find grain and water, Qin Mother would have been beaten to death by Grandma Qin for this.
Hou's wife was a bit resentful because Qin Mother had used so much grain. But she also knew that if it weren't for Qin Junyao, they would have run out of water long ago. Seeing her own children licking the rice grains from the bottom of the bowl, she suppressed all her anger.
The ones to blame weren't people, but this man-eating era.
After eating, the women sat together, grinding soybeans with a small millstone. The men had gone out to continue gathering information and to find things to build a few small tents that could accommodate people.
Qin Junyao didn't rush to figure out how to take out the ripe vegetables from her space. Instead, she leaned against the wheel of the donkey cart, thinking about the patterns of change in the space.