CHAPTER 368: CHAPTER 336: TAKING YOU TO BEIJING

At first light, Song Erlang left the Wen Family’s disaster shelter with his wife and children.

Second Lang’s wife held Song Duobao, while Song Erlang carried a burlap sack containing two old quilts that Father Wen had given them before they left.

Song Er Ya hugged a cloth bag filled with dry food.

Outside the shelter, the cold wind raged, biting to the bone. If it weren’t the hour for gruel at the government office, no one would want to venture out.

This year, the snow is colder than ever.

This winter is bitterer than ever.

Second Lang’s wife took a deep breath of cold air and looked around. The shelters were filled with disaster victims, some sitting or lying and others with gloomy faces or seeming to have given up on life.

But at least there’s some place to stay.

Pulling her gaze back, realizing they didn’t even know where to sleep at night, tears welled up in Second Lang’s wife’s eyes.

She heard Song Erlang’s voice asking her where they planned to go.

"I don’t know." Second Lang’s wife pursed her frostbitten lips, held her child tightly, breathed, and said, "Let’s just go and see where we end up."

The animals on the mountain had already fled, and even if they went up, there wouldn’t be anything to hunt.

She wanted to shamelessly rely on her husband’s younger brother in Beijing, but after the disaster, everything was covered with snow, and there were no carriages or horses to go to the capital. Even if there were, the dry food wouldn’t last them until they reached the capital.

A tremendous sense of crisis and fear surged in her heart, and Second Lang’s wife showed an unprecedented despair.

The family of four faced the cold wind, treading on the freshly laid snow from the night, and wandered forward aimlessly.

Passing by a shelter with no one inside, Second Lang’s wife looked hopeful. Just then, some government officials passed by, and she grabbed one to ask if her family could stay.

The official truthfully said a family had just died inside and been carried away. If she didn’t mind the ominousness, she could stay.

Ominousness? Who could guarantee that beneath the seemingly pure, flawless snow wasn’t the corpse of a disaster victim?

With no other options, Second Lang’s wife ignored all that and told Song Erlang to go inside first and lay out the bedding. Song Duobao was so cold he couldn’t even cry, and she didn’t dare think about what would happen if he got any colder.

Song Erlang called Er Ya, and father and daughter soon laid the old quilts given by Father Wen on a stack of straw.

Second Lang’s wife couldn’t care less. She sat down and opened her clothes to nurse Song Duobao.

With one arm holding her son, she blew warm air on her hand and then reached down to warm his icy hands.

The originally weak Song Duobao slowly regained strength under his mother’s persistence.

After days of thin porridge and dry food, Second Lang’s wife’s breast milk wasn’t plentiful, only enough to half-fill the baby, leaving him hungry and starting to whimper and then burst into tears.

Er Ya found the sound ear-piercing, grumbling incessantly, "You should have sent me to Beijing earlier. You refused to, and look at how things are now; the house is gone, the fish pond is gone, and even Sanyang is missing. It’s all over from here on!"

"Shut up!" Second Lang’s wife retorted sharply, "Even if you went to Beijing, what could you do? Fly to heaven?"

Er Ya was defiant, still harboring resentment over Da Ya leaving her on her own to go to the capital, "Uncle’s family has money, doesn’t it? If I’d gone to the capital earlier, I’d have sent you money and good things regularly, and it wouldn’t be like now, with the whole family drinking cold wind together!"

Song Erlang’s face changed subtly at this. He quickly signaled Er Ya to stop talking.

Er Ya was not one to catch signals. She only knew not being able to go to the capital was a thorn in her heart that burned her with anger every time it was brought up. Now, once her mouth started, it couldn’t be stopped, and she launched into a stream of grievances.

She cursed Da Ya for being pretentious and cheap, knowing full well she didn’t want to go yet ending up being the one who ran the fastest, leaving at first light on a carriage.

She accused her parents of raising an ungrateful child; Da Ya went to Beijing and didn’t send any benefits home. She blamed her parents for their poor judgment, insistent that if she had gone, she’d have emptied Uncle’s treasury for her family.

Er Ya, uneducated, often used inaccurate words to express herself, adding random adjectives to people.

For example, she said Da Ya recognized a thief as a father.

Song Erlang saw his wife’s face darken and sternly yelled at Er Ya, "What nonsense are you spouting?!"

"How am I talking nonsense? These are the facts!" Er Ya shouted even louder.

Second Lang’s wife closed her eyes; she had been in a fight last night and hadn’t slept in the latter half of the night, lacking energy now yet unable to conceal her internal anger.

"Why wasn’t it you that disappeared on the night of the earthquake, but it was my poor Sanyang?"

Looking at her second daughter, whose ambitions were as high as the sky, Second Lang’s wife deliberately raised her voice. But as soon as the words fell, she seemed drained of all strength, her arms holding Song Duobao weakened, nearly dropping the child.

Even though she leaned against the wood posts used for the shelter, it was clear she was barely able to sit upright, a result of her frail body.

Er Ya looked at her mother, seeing her mother’s cracked, peeling lips, deep-set eyes, disheveled hair, and the faint traces of blood at the roots, remnants of hair pulled out during yesterday’s fight with Mrs. Wu.

Er Ya couldn’t imagine that someone who appeared so helpless and pitiful could say something so sharp and malicious, "So you really wished for me to disappear, that you wanted me dead?"

Before Second Lang’s wife could speak, she turned her head to ask Song Erlang, "Dad, you think so too, don’t you?"

This journey was spent in breathless, relentless haste, everyone was exhausted. Even though Song Erlang didn’t express much throughout, it didn’t mean he had no thoughts about Sanyang’s disappearance.

Already feeling troubled, he was further challenged by his daughter’s aggressive questioning. He furrowed his brows tightly, "Girl, you are becoming increasingly unreasonable. How can you speak to your parents like this?"

Er Ya’s eyes reddened, and finally, tears fell, "I guess I was right. Since none of you want me, you see me as a burden, then I’ll act according to your wishes!"

Having spoken, she turned and ran outside.

Second Lang’s wife was too exhausted to argue with her, only instructing Song Erlang, "Go stop her; don’t let that little rascal do anything rash."

Song Erlang chased outside, but there was no sign of anyone. The outside was a vast white, and the cold wind stung the cheeks. Occasionally, a few people moved about, all with sleeves gathered, heads tucked.

The sky was overcast, seemingly foretelling an unavoidable blizzard that night.

Song Erlang peeked into each shelter, asking people about Er Ya’s whereabouts, but no one had seen where the little girl had gone.

——

The New Year was approaching.

Within the Great Chu Dynasty’s thirteen provinces, forty-eight prefectures, and two hundred thirty counties, except for Baocheng Prefecture and its four counties, stricken by an earthquake and now suffering from hunger and cold, the rest of the regions were bidding farewell to the old year and welcoming the new.

It was as if the tragedies and gloom of this land were isolated from the world.

...

Wei Qian found Er Ya after the New Year; the little girl had fainted in the snow, barely clinging to life.

The group stopped and struggled to find dry wood to light a fire, warming her.

The long-lost warmth gradually revived Er Ya from the chill.

The Hidden Guard handed her a rice cake.

Having starved for days, surviving only with snow and bark, Er Ya eagerly grabbed the rice cake and devoured it without even asking who they were, her neck stretched thin.

Someone next to her handed a water pouch.

Er Ya took it again, gulping down more than half.

With food and drink and warmth from the fire, she gradually regained awareness and started to size up her saviors.

There were five of them, all dressed in dark black tight outfits with matching silver-edged cloaks.

The leading man was sturdy and tall, his face cold, eyes dark and ominous, his whole demeanor saying "danger, keep away."

Er Ya had never seen such people, and she became anxious, her hands pawing the snow to push herself back, watching them warily, "Who, who are you, what do you want?"

Wei Qian sat on a stone mound, holding the hilt of a long sword planted in the snow, his gaze at the girl as gentle as possible so not to scare her, "Miss Song Er Ya, don’t be nervous. We were arranged by Mr. Song to take you and your parents to Beijing."

"Mr. Song?"

Er Ya was unfamiliar with the title.

"If your identity is correct, then Mr. Song should be your third uncle," Wei Qian said.

Upon hearing the words "third uncle," Er Ya’s tense face relaxed, yet she hesitated, looking uncertainly at Wei Qian, "Are you really my third uncle’s people?"

Wei Qian didn’t answer directly, only asking, "Where are your parents?"

Er Ya pursed her lips, suddenly lowered her head, rested her chin on her knees, and murmured, "They don’t want me anymore, that’s why I ran away."

...

Following Er Ya’s direction, Wei Qian smoothly found Second Lang’s wife.

Seeing Er Ya hiding behind the man dressed in black, Second Lang’s wife felt relieved yet couldn’t help but frown, questioning harshly, "All these days, where have you been hiding?"

Song Erlang had suffered much looking for her in these days.

Initially feeling guilty, Er Ya’s face turned cold as she heard her mother’s attitude, turning her head away, "Anyway, you don’t want me anymore; why do you care where I go?"

Second Lang’s wife was enraged, placed Song Duobao down, stood up, about to slap her.

Wei Qian promptly grasped Second Lang’s wife’s wrist, "This is not a place to linger. Anything you want to say, let’s wait until we arrive at the capital!"

"What?" Second Lang’s wife was somewhat stunned.

Wei Qian released her and succinctly outlined the situation.

Second Lang’s wife didn’t listen to anything else; she only remembered one thing: Third Son arranged for people to fetch them, and their family would soon escape hardship, no longer fearing freezing or starving.