Chapter 188 - Give Them Some Porridge

Chapter 188: Give Them Some Porridge

Li Chengru was still slouching in the carriage. His eyes blazed with fury. He wanted to go to the front line. He wished to join an army and was anxious to do something for people. But he could do nothing by himself! He was such a dashing man who shouldn’t have joined the refugees. People in the capital would laugh at him pitilessly if they knew this.

Hearing Fengsheng’s words, he leaned over the window and looked around. Were they a family? An old man, children and middle-aged men and women were eating buns and drinking water. Their stark carriages were made of unpainted wood and cloth canopies. They were neither winter-hardy nor water-proof, especially if there was a rainstorm. He tutted.

What poor guys! Can they hold on for half a month this way?

Finally, his eyes fell on Ye Xiaoxian. Leaning against a carriage, she was chewing a bun in a graceful manner. She looked surprisingly different from many refugees, whose eyes were normally perplexed. He couldn’t find any hint of panic in her. Despite her petite figure, she looked strong-minded, fearless and confident. She seemed undefeatable, however tough the future might be. For her, steamed buns and unboiled water meant nothing more than another way of living.

He was shocked by her hidden power. He had felt the same hope and strength from the soft figure taking care for him that night. But he drew the curtain immediately, stopping himself from seeing her. The longer his eyes remained on her, the softer his heart would become. It was as if the ice inside him was slowly melting.

…

In this era, cities were often far apart from each other. People in one city had to cross many mountains, villages or towns to reach another city. The villages along the escape route had become almost empty. People had joined those fleeing after learning of the news. Only the elderly, the infirm and the physically-challenged remained behind.

When it got dark, Ye Xiaoxian and her family finally reached a village that was bustling with people and ablaze with light. But as they moved closer, they found it was the refugees, “camping” on a vacant lot. Though it was called camping, there were no tents at all. Each family just sat around a campfire to get warm and bake something for dinner.

It was too dark for them to continue their journey, so Ye Xiaoxian suggested taking a rest here. There was no objection. Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu had been exhausted after pulling the carts for a whole day. The only thing they wanted to do was to sleep on the grass right away, but Ye Xiaoxian and Li Hongmei stopped them before they rolled out two mats on the ground. Then, Ye Xiaoxian asked the children to collect some firewood nearby. However, all the firewood there had already been collected by other people. They needed to walk farther.

As she was hesitating, she heard someone crying, “Little Ye! Little Ye!”

Turning around, she saw Liu Qianqian and her family sitting around a blazing campfire. There were not many villages in this area. The next one might be far away, so they just stopped here for a night.

Liu Qianqian asked, “Why are you so late? We’ve been here for over two hours.”

Ye Xiaoxian replied with a smile, “You’re too fast with carriages. We have to pull the carts.”

“But you still caught up with us! As long as we go the same way, we’ll meet up sooner or later.” Liu Qianqian was optimistic.

But Ye Xiaoxian gave a wry smile and said, “Yes. But there’s no firewood around here now. It’ll be cold in the evening without firewood.”

Liu Qianqian said instantly, “You can go southwest. There are two empty houses, and with any luck, you can find firewood there. That’s where we got ours.”

Hearing that, she decided to go there with Xiao Baofeng and Xiao Baocheng in the darkness.

The village was extremely quiet with only one or two windows illuminated. They moved stealthily, afraid to break the silence. In theory, people could take a rest in these empty houses whose owners had left, but no one did so. They were worried that the houses were ominous or had been filled with rat poison. Although the owners had gone, they entertained the hope of coming back here one day. To protect their houses from rats and intruders, they might have sprinkled poison in every corner. For this same reason, Li Hongmei had also covered Ye Xiaoxian’s yard and house with liquid manure. Ye Xiaoxian hoped the owners could forgive them for fetching some firewood from there.

After a while, the trio found the houses. However, the places were so gloomily quiet that the kids dared not go in, afraid that some imagined ghosts would pop out. Ye Xiaoxian was also frightened, but she needed firewood desperately. Therefore, she summoned the nerve to push open the door of one of the houses. As she merely touched it, however, the door swung open automatically. The kids were scared and began crying. Ye Xiaoxian also let out an involuntary scream.

When they were about to escape, someone asked from inside, “Mrs. Ye?”

Fengsheng?

Ye Xiaoxian, about to leave, stopped in her tracks.

Why is he here?

She looked over her shoulder and saw Fengsheng’s handsome face bathed in moonlight.

Holding a pile of wood, he asked, “Do you want firewood? You can take mine.”

As he handed the firewood to her, Xiao Baofeng came up to take it. If they went easy on the wood, this was enough for them to burn throughout the night.

Ye Xiaoxian expressed her gratitude to him before she left. She knew a martial-arts student’s vision at night was above average, just like Xiao Baoshan’s. Therefore, she wasn’t worried that Fengsheng would confront any danger in the darkness.

…

When they went back to the village entrance, the other family members were lying limp on the mats or on the grass. Old Mr. Xiao, in particular, was complaining loudly about his hunger and exhaustion. He claimed that if he had known how hard the journey would be, he would rather have waited to die in his hometown.

Xiao Tieshu tried to comfort this chattering old man at first, but soon he got tired and gave up. Exhausted, Wong Mudan and Chen Ju directly turned a deaf ear to his whining. Although the two women looked aggressive in their hometown, they were now totally obedient to Ye Xiaoxian, the only calm and brainy person here.

When Ye Xiaoxian got back, she asked them to make a fire and boil some water got from a nearby river. Then, she took out some buns, two for each person. After whittling a dozen sticks, she strung the buns together and brushed some oil on them. She gave each person a bunch and let them bake the buns over the fire.

Miraculously, exhaustion faded away from their faces. Especially the children. Although they felt tired after the long journey, they were well protected by the adults. Now they could even have a picnic, which made them more than excited.

When another campfire was burning, Ye Xiaoxian let Wong and Chen set up a pot. Then, she put some rice in the water and began cooking porridge. When they were baking the buns, the others were all attracted by the delicious smells. Some of them were eating solid food and some having porridge, but none had tried baked buns. The appetizing buns drew everyone’s attention.

Li Chengru’s eyes were also fixed on the buns. Fengsheng had prepared lots of solid food for him, including baked cakes and steamed buns, but nothing more. He had just finished two chewy and cold cakes which barely qualified as “food” in his opinion.

After Fengsheng lit the fire, Li Chengru also tried to bake a bun. However, it was immediately burnt, though he didn’t know why. He then realized that Ye Xiaoxian had brushed some oil on the buns. But unfortunately, he didn’t have any oil. He threw away the miserable food sullenly and turned his attention to Ye Xiaoxian’s porridge.

When the water boiled away, the alluring smell of rice wafted up from the pot. But Ye Xiaoxian insisted that they should wait until the porridge became creamy.

Li Chengru also wanted to taste some, but they didn’t bring a pot. He couldn’t help blaming Fengsheng for his carelessness. If only they had brought a pot, not just solid food!

…

When Ye Xiaoxian ladled out the porridge for everyone, Li Hongmei nudged her and whispered, “Little Ye, Li Chengru has been watching us.”

Ye Xiaoxian looked in the direction she pointed and met Li Chengru’s eyes. More specifically, he was staring at the porridge in her bowl. She could understand this. The journey made everyone tired and thirsty, so nothing could be better than enjoying some warm porridge at this moment. Old Mr. Xiao had proved this point. He had been clamoring for fried rice and fried potatoes, but now he was watching the porridge quietly and expectantly.

She said, “Mom, the firewood was given to us by Fengsheng. What about letting Baofeng send two bowls of porridge to them? After all, we have enough to eat.”

Li Hongmei thought for a while before she agreed. “Okay. The journey is tough for everyone. Perhaps after tonight, we won’t have a chance to meet again. We may as well leave them a good impression.”

…