Chapter 157
Chapter 157
“What’s going on? Why does it look like some of the lamb is missing?”
The kitchen workers stared at the large chunks missing from the whole roast lamb. The head cook flew into a rage.
“Who stole the meat?!”
Jiang Yunsui could not understand him, but the furious roar made her short legs pump even faster.
Should she go find Ji Yan’an and the others now?
As she considered it, Jiang Yunsui spotted slaves being driven into a sheep pen.
She closed her eyes. “Can’t see them, can’t see them…”
It was not as if she could save them now.
She only knew how to escape by herself. She had no strength to fight, much less rescue anyone.
She was about to leave when her overly sharp ears caught their conversation anyway.
“Centurion Lin, do you think the Ji Family Army still remembers us?”
Even his voice carried endless exhaustion.
“I don’t think I can hold on much longer. The Ji Family Army… I can’t go back anymore.”
“Don’t say things like that.”
Another voice spoke, worn by hardship.
“I heard some news. The Young Master of the Ji Family has come. He won the defense of Qiusha City.”
“Really? That’s… that’s wonderful.”
“Centurion Lin, I miss my parents so much. I miss my…”
“Shuanzi, hold on a little longer…”
Jiang Yunsui clutched the small wooden tag Xiao Xing had given her, bit down on her little teeth, and reluctantly shuffled toward the pen.
“Here. This is for you.”
To Centurion Lin, Jiang Yunsui appeared out of thin air.
For one hair-raising instant, it was practically like seeing a ghost.
If Centurion Lin had not been too exhausted to move, he would have punched her square in the face.
Jiang Yunsui saw them staring at her in wide-eyed silence and scratched her head in confusion.
She had no idea how terrifying her sudden appearance had been.
She shoved a cooked sweet potato into Centurion Lin’s hands.
“Hurry and eat.”
The aroma of food filled their noses. They were so hungry their eyes almost glowed, so hungry they could have eaten grass. Whatever reservations they had vanished.
Centurion Lin swallowed hard. With trembling hands, he broke the sweet potato into pieces and, suppressing his own hunger, gave them to his brothers first.
Then they devoured the food like starving wolves.
Even Jiang Yunsui was a little frightened by the way they ate.
After some thought, she tossed them two more sweet potatoes.
Centurion Lin glanced at her. “Thank you.”
Then he divided the potatoes and continued eating.
As he ate, his eyes reddened. His lips were so badly chapped that they had split and bled.
This was the largest meal they had eaten since their capture.
Every day, they received only a little barley gruel so thin they could almost see their reflections in it.
It did not fill even a third of their stomachs, yet that was all they got for the entire day.
When hunger struck afterward, they could only catch bugs from the ground or eat grass.
They were not even allowed to eat the fodder in the sheep pen. Anyone caught stealing it would be beaten to death.
It did not matter who this little girl was, where she came from, or whether there was something wrong with the food.
The moment they saw it, they had been too hungry to care about anything else. They could see only something to eat.
Jiang Yunsui looked into her pouch. There was still some lamb left, so she might as well give them that, too.
Worst case, she would steal more next time. No, wait. Taking things from the enemy could not be called stealing.
It was tactics!
Once their hunger had eased, every eye turned toward Jiang Yunsui.
Little Mushroom was squatting on the ground in a daze. When she noticed and looked up into all those unblinking eyes, she was so startled her mushroom cap nearly shrank in.
Too bad she did not have one right now.
She quietly edged backward and watched them warily.
Her bright black eyes seemed to say several words.
What do you want?
It felt like they wanted to eat this Mushroom!
“You…”
“Someone’s coming.”
Centurion Lin instantly yanked Jiang Yunsui toward him. The men hid her with practiced coordination, then sprawled across the haystacks and pretended to be desperately weak with hunger.
It was a patrol.
From their conversation, Centurion Lin picked up some news.
A thief had broken into King Huxie’s treasure vault and stolen from it.
Centurion Lin had been imprisoned here for almost two years. All that time, he had secretly studied the language of the Barbarians. By now, he understood most of what they said, though he had never revealed it.
That was how he could quietly learn scraps of news about Mobei from their conversations.
Once the patrol left, everyone sighed in relief.
Then they pulled Jiang Yunsui back out.
Jiang Yunsui had nothing to say to that.
“Thank you, little one,” Centurion Lin said hoarsely. “But were you captured by the Barbarians? How did you get here?”
And how did she have so much food?
Everything about this was far too strange.
Jiang Yunsui nodded. “They can’t see me.”
Surrounded by so many strangers, Little Mushroom had become timid again.
She lowered her head, looking nervous and frightened, and spoke in a tiny voice.
“I-I heard you talking about the Ji Family Army.”
“Ji Yan’an is my master.”
Centurion Lin’s eyes widened. “Ji Yan’an is… the Young Master?!”
Jiang Yunsui nodded.
“Then how were you captured? Where is the Young Master?”
The others stared at Jiang Yunsui with burning eyes.
She fiddled with her fingers. “Not here. I’m the only one who got caught.”
“But they’ll definitely come save me.”
Her little face grew worried. “There aren’t many of us, though. Ji Yan’an was chased onto the grasslands by assassins.”
Centurion Lin immediately grew anxious.
The Young Master could not be allowed to come to harm.
“No. We can’t sit here waiting to die. If the Young Master and his men really come, we should coordinate with them from inside.”
“But we never get enough to eat, and we don’t have weapons. How can we help them from inside?”
Centurion Lin deflated at once.
It was true. Without food they had no strength, and without weapons they would be marching to their deaths.
Jiang Yunsui’s voice suddenly cut in.
“I can steal – no, bring you food.”
She brimmed with confidence. “They definitely won’t see me.”
“And I know where they keep their weapons. I’ll bring you knives.”
Centurion Lin sighed and patted her head.
“If you can escape, leave this place as soon as possible.”
“If you meet the Young Master, tell him he doesn’t need to save us. He should take care of himself and defend Mobei. That matters more than we do.”
The others opened their mouths but ultimately said nothing.
He was right. They were not worth risking the Young Master’s life.
Defending Mobei mattered more than anything.
Seeing that none of them believed her, Jiang Yunsui puffed out her cheeks.
She would show them exactly how amazing she was!
At first, Jiang Yunsui had not planned to help these people.
But they were soldiers from Ji Yan’an’s family.
If they had strength and weapons, did that mean they could fight their way out?
“I’m leaving now.”
Jiang Yunsui glanced at her empty pouch and decided to search for more food while it was still night.
Food was super important right now.
Mm. She had to bring them weapons, too.