Any thoughts of testing those people had to be put aside.
In the afternoon, she and Dongfang Xu left the group.
Cheng Xiaoxiao knew it was impossible to reach in such a short ti, but decided to reduce so distance first, and wait for the system’s response as she walked.
Dongfang Xu led Cheng Xiaoxiao on a swift gallop, and two hours later, they left the territory of Yan State.
As the evening glow descended, they arrived at Liu’an County.
Due to King Qi’s defeat, Liu’an County, adjacent to the lookout city of Yan State, had been evacuated by its people fearing the repercussions, leaving only an abandoned city.
There were still so people in the county, mostly the elderly or disabled individuals.
This group, due to physical reasons, couldn’t undertake long journeys and could only stay here hoping for the unlikely event that Great Xia wouldn’t invade here, hoping for a slim chance of survival.
So they remained behind closed doors, anxiously awaiting fate’s arrangent.
Cheng Xiaoxiao and Dongfang Xu found an uninhabited courtyard, took a short rest, ate sothing to replenish their strength.
As Cheng Xiaoxiao was carefully chewing the at pancake that Erya and Dalan had cooked at noon,
a clear little girl’s voice from the neighboring yard reached Cheng Xiaoxiao’s ears, making her pause her hand holding the at pancake,
"Granny! Granny! You eat another, Nannan isn’t hungry, Nannan is already full."
"Silly Nannan, how can one stead bun fill you up? Be good, eat more so you can grow taller quickly," the kind old lady coaxed softly.
"Granny! Nannan really isn’t hungry anymore. I’m saving this for you." She said, handing the coarse grain stead bun to the granny’s mouth.
The old lady sighed!
Her Nannan was so sensible, but what could be done?
Instead of escaping with the eldest uncle’s family, she stayed behind to accompany a blind old woman to face eventual death. It was just sheer misfortune.
This thought made the old lady unable to stop her tears from flowing.
A little girl of five or six, with wide and round eyes, earnestly said, "Granny! Granny! Nannan won’t go with the eldest uncle, the cousins bully Nannan. Here, Nannan has Granny to protect . If I go with them, the eldest aunt will surely torture to death."
The naive words of the granddaughter pierced the old lady’s heart, reminding her of the fate of her beloved granddaughter, Tiantian, which was heartbreakingly sad.
But she was blind and old, unable to do any work, and after her husband passed away, the eldest son’s family beca more dismissive toward her. The daughter-in-law cursed her, calling her an old hag feeding off others.
If not for the pressure of filial piety, and the eldest son fearing public gossip, she might’ve been abandoned sowhere to perish alone by the daughter-in-law.
Hence, she couldn’t help the two poor granddaughters, allowing the eldest son’s family to bully them. Until the fourth granddaughter was tornted to death did she wake up, but it was too late. If she had stirred things up earlier, maybe the granddaughter wouldn’t have died unjustly.
Regretful tears fell swiftly, covering the old woman’s shriveled face with guilt and rage.
Little Xiao Nannan rembered her sister’s dying words to escape from this household, otherwise she would end up tornted to death like her sister. Xiao Nannan stayed to escape from the eldest uncle’s family.
Little Xiao Nannan wiped her granny’s tears, "Nannan stays here to take care of you. You can’t see, what would you do if Nannan left?"
The elderly woman sitting on the stone bench pulled her little granddaughter close, and couldn’t help but cry harder. The thought of the little granddaughter staying here with her waiting to die was truly unbearable.
This was too cruel!
How could she face her husband and the third son’s couple in the afterlife?
The furious old lady self-reproachfully beat her chest, "It’s all because of this useless old woman dragging Nannan down."
"Granny is the best, Granny don’t be afraid." The little girl clumsily comforted the elderly woman.
Suddenly, there was a loud banging on the door, startling both grandmother and granddaughter.
The old lady wiped her tears, knowing that recently there were quite a few looters. As long as they couldn’t find food, they would leave on their own.
She quickly made her little granddaughter hide in the corner of the yard behind a haystack, then tremblingly replied, "Who, who’s outside..."
Before she could finish speaking, the people outside, not hearing any response from inside, impatiently kicked open the door rushing straight in.
Looking at the n who rushed in—they were a few burly fellows.
They wore tattered clothes, evidently refugees escaping, looking for scraps here.
Knowing that only so elderly, weak, won, and children remained in the town, the n acted recklessly, robbing without restraint.
They began searching the house, throwing all items on the ground, trampling them randomly.
The old lady, hearing the sounds of smashing, anxiously yelled, "What are you doing? What are you doing? We have no food left here, there’s no food."
Sure enough, after the burly n searched the house for a while, they found no food or valuables, and anger quickly rose, "Damn it, such a big place, not even a mouthful of food, you’re trying to fool ."
He spoke, pushing the old lady to the ground, and stepped on her chest, viciously threatening, "Old hag, where’s the food hidden? Quickly hand it over, or I’ll kill you."
Hiding behind the haystack, Nannan saw her granny pushed down, stepped on the chest and coughing blood, she scread in fright!
Though she quickly covered her mouth, the sound was still heard by a sharp-eared short man.
The man uncovered the haystack, pulling out the little Nannan, "Boss, there’s a little one hidden here."
A foul stench ca from behind, the disgusting sll almost made Nannan vomit her last al. She waved her limbs, struggling fiercely.
Seeing her not behaving, the man simply held her tight, restricting her limbs, coldly threatening, "This little brat’s strength isn’t bad, must be well-fed. I’ve been craving at for a long ti."
He said, bringing his nose closer to the little girl’s neck to sll, "Slls good. Gonna slaughter you later for at; little kiddos like you, bones are crunchy, break easily—a real treat."
Enjoying the view of the little girl’s pale face, the man laughed heartily.
Ha ha ha!
"Old woman, hand over the food now, or we’ll stew your granddaughter."
The elderly woman scread desperately, "No, no, let go of my granddaughter, release her, whatever you want? Right, food, take it, near the kitchen stove there’s a little oven, beneath it there’s so food, you can have it, just let go of my granddaughter."
Upon hearing the man’s words, the old woman was terrified, losing all reasoning over that little stash of food.
Upon hearing there’s stored food, the brawny boss signaled the little brother to investigate, the little brother imdiately turned and went into the kitchen, finding a hidden lid under the small oven, indeed.
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