Chapter 12: Which Official Is This Unlucky One?

“Can we get in?” Bafang asked.

Xi Bei raised her hand and knocked Bafang on the head. “If the gate won’t even open, how are we supposed to get in?”

Meng Changqing stepped out of the carriage and looked at the crowd blocking the city gate; there were at least sixty or seventy people. “Captain Yang,” she called out to the man following behind the carriage.

Yang Zheng spurred his horse forward. “Young Master Meng.”

“Take a few men, travel light, and ride quickly to check the situation at the east and west city gates.”

“Yes!”

Yang Zheng tightened his reins and turned around, selecting five cavalrymen from the twenty-nine men to gallop toward the two gates.

“Young Master,” Bafang leaned in close to Meng Changqing and asked in a low voice, “Did you bring any food? I’m hungry.”

Meng Changqing told him to go into the carriage to eat some flatbread, while she stepped down to walk around.

Chu Mufeng and Xi Bei also dismounted and followed on either side of Meng Changqing.

Meng Changqing looked at the group of refugees from a distance. “With so many refugees gathered here, there must be a disaster somewhere, yet I heard no reports of disaster in Liangzhou while I was at the palace.”

Chu Mufeng speculated, “Perhaps the local officials didn’t report it, and the Prefect of Liangzhou is unaware.”

Xi Bei shook her head. “Liangzhou is different from other places. It is located on the border; it is common for the common people to be displaced by war.”

Watching the group of people who looked like walking corpses, they were dressed in rags, following one after another, either waiting or continuing to walk elsewhere.

Meng Changqing said, “Master, let’s go over and ask about the situation.”

“Better not,” Xi Bei didn’t move. “No one can guarantee what they might do.”

Meng Changqing was a good listener. She stood in front of her horse and watched the situation at the city gate from afar.

The large brown horse snorted at Meng Changqing’s head, baring its large lips as it tried to nibble on her hair. Meng Changqing quickly dodged.

By the time Bafang finished his flatbread, Yang Zheng, who had gone toward the east gate, returned. “Young Master Meng, the east gate is also blocked. There are even more disaster victims there than here.”

At that moment, the cavalrymen who had gone to the west gate also returned. “Young Master Meng, the west gate is open, but as I was returning, I saw refugees heading toward it. I fear it will be closed before long.”

Meng Changqing immediately jumped onto the carriage. “Hurry to the west gate.”

There was no road along the city wall, and while the horses were agile enough to pass, there were places where the carriage truly could not get through.

Fortunately, there were many people; where the carriage could not pass, the soldiers simply lifted the carriage over.

By the time Meng Changqing’s party arrived at the west gate, two or three refugees were already trying to enter the city but were being blocked.

Xi Bei stepped forward and presented the travel permit, and the guards immediately let them in.

Once inside the gate, Meng Changqing climbed out of the carriage and bowed to Chu Mufeng. “Lord Bai, please take Captain Yang and the others to the post house first. I will stay behind to inquire about the situation.”

“Take care of yourself.” Chu Mufeng left with the thirty men.

Meng Changqing turned back to the city gate and approached a man and a woman who had been stopped by the guards.

The pair were skin and bones, their faces blue and purple from the cold, their lips and cheeks cracked in many places, and their hands were frozen beyond recognition.

“Where are you from? How did you end up like this?”

“Young Master, we are from Liangzhou. We truly have nothing left to eat, so we’ve been begging all the way here.” The man knelt before Meng Changqing. “I beg you, Young Master, spare us a bite to eat.”

The woman beside him also knelt, kowtowing repeatedly to Meng Changqing.

The guards blocked them, preventing them from getting close to Meng Changqing. “Don’t bother with these people. They are all from Beishan County. They are used to begging. Even the Prefect can’t do anything about them. He has sent them back to their original homes several times, but they run back after only a few days.

If you get entangled with them, you won’t be able to shake them off.”

Meng Changqing’s features instantly scrunched up. “Beishan County?”

A young gate guard said, “The Young Master is not a local, so I suppose you haven’t heard of that place.”

Another laughed, “Even among locals, few know of Beishan County. We’ve always called that place Wild Ditch; it was only renamed Beishan County a month ago.”

The young guard said, “They call it a county, but it doesn’t even have a county magistrate.”

The other added, “Having no magistrate is nothing strange; the strange thing is that the whole county is made up of beggars. I heard from those above that they are going to send a magistrate from the capital. I don’t know which official will be so unlucky.”

Bafang stepped forward to steady Meng Changqing. “Young Master, stay strong!”

Meng Changqing: “I can’t stay strong. I’m going to lose my mind.”

The young guard said again, “Young Master, you should head back quickly.”

Meng Changqing’s gaze fell on the people kowtowing outside.

These refugees were actually the common people under her own administration!

A child had been squatting behind the woman the whole time; Meng Changqing had noticed it earlier.

The child was wrapped in a tattered cotton-padded jacket that couldn’t cover their lower legs, and the skin exposed to the air had frozen to a black-purple color.

Looking at them like this, it was impossible to tell if the child was a boy or a girl, or to guess their age. They were just squatting on the ground, seemingly eating something.

“Is that your child? What are they eating?” Meng Changqing asked.

The woman looked back, seemingly only just realizing a child was following her. “She is not my child.”

Having fallen to this state, even the adults had nothing to eat. As a child without parents to protect them, where would they get food?

“Master,” Meng Changqing turned and whispered to Xi Bei, “Please help me bring the child in.”

Xi Bei accepted the order and went out. The man and woman’s kowtowing grew slower, but they still hoped Meng Changqing would give them a bite to eat.

Meng Changqing had her moments of soft-heartedness. She turned and spent thirty copper coins to buy some dry rations from the guards, giving them all to the man and woman.

Seeing more refugees gathering in the distance, she said, “If you don’t want it to be snatched, go hide somewhere else to eat.” After saying this, she turned and left, returning to the carriage.

Seeing more and more refugees, the guards decisively closed the city gate.

By the side of the road, Xi Bei placed the child into the carriage, hissing in pain as she did so. “This kid is eating mud. I tried to throw it away, and they even bit me.”

Meng Changqing leaned forward and asked, “What is your name? How did you get here? Are your parents still alive?”

No matter what Meng Changqing asked, the child showed no reaction, only unconsciously gnawing on the mud.

“We’ll talk when we get to the post house.” Meng Changqing pulled the child into the carriage and wanted to find a piece of flatbread for them, but the bread had long since been eaten by Bafang, not even a crumb left.

The carriage moved slowly, and inside, Meng Changqing and the child each occupied a corner.

Meng Changqing found the child to be a handful. Why did she get so impulsive and bring someone back?

Could it be her father’s bloodline acting up, making her want to bring home every child she sees?

The child gnawed on the mud, and bits of dirt fell all over the carriage.

Finally arriving at the post house, Meng Changqing didn’t wait for the carriage to stop completely before jumping out. “Master, bring the child down. Find something for them to eat first.”

Meng Changqing was now eager to complain to Lady Wen about the Emperor.

But Lady Wen and Xiao Dai were busy settling in the thirty people Chu Mufeng had brought back and were not in the main hall; only Laicai was waiting for her.

“Young Master, Doctor Hu is not leaving!”

“Good! Have Doctor Hu come and take a look at this child. I’m going to find Mother.”