Chapter 180
Chapter 180
“Good. That wretched girl was only worth this much grain anyway.”
The woman glanced around warily. “The third son’s family didn’t find out, did they?”
“Don’t worry. I carried her off while they were all out looking for food. When they return and discover the girl missing, we’ll simply say we know nothing.”
“Hide this grain carefully. We absolutely cannot let them find it.”
“Are we really doing the right thing? Those men eat people.”
The woman pinched him hard. “Don’t tell me you’re going soft now. She’s only a one-year-old girl. Could she possibly survive on this road? You could say we did a good deed by ending her suffering early.”
At first, Jiang Yunsui listened in confusion. Her mind worked slowly, but eventually she understood the gist of it.
Little Mushroom became furious.
They had traded someone else’s child for grain!
Worse, the buyers ate people. How were they any different from the Barbarians?
Cheeks puffed with anger, Jiang Yunsui decided to investigate first.
She remembered the direction the man had come from and ran that way.
Her short legs moved at top speed. After roughly ten minutes, she spotted a dozen men hidden in a secluded place some distance behind the refugees.
Few of the displaced people Jiang Yunsui had seen were strong. Most were sallow and gaunt from hunger.
These men, however, had healthy color in their faces, and several carried weapons.
“Big Brother, this child hardly has any meat on her. She’s all skin and bones.”
“Wait a little longer. When the others can no longer survive, they’ll naturally trade their children and women for grain.”
“We’re running low on grain too.”
“Then we’ll rob someone. We have a much better life than those refugees and weapons in our hands. Taking a little grain will be child’s play.”
“That’s true. Hahaha…”
Jiang Yunsui crept closer and looked around. The men were preparing to cook.
Then she saw a scrawny baby tossed carelessly into a basket.
The baby did not move. Jiang Yunsui could not tell whether she was dead.
Little Mushroom felt a tightness in her chest. Puffing her cheeks, she reached out to touch the infant.
Hmm? She was alive, but seemed to have fainted from hunger.
Before the men noticed, Jiang Yunsui scooped up the baby and ran.
By the time they had set up the pot and one approached with a knife to fetch the child, the basket was empty.
“Big Brother, bad news! The child is gone!”
“What?!”
Meanwhile, Jiang Yunsui ran all the way back without stopping, the baby in her arms.
“Ji Yan’an! Ji Yan’an…”
At the familiar cry, Ji Yan’an’s expression did not change in the slightest.
“Ji Yan’an, look! I found a child and brought her back.”
Panting, she ran up to him with the baby.
This time she had been running with a load, so she was more tired than usual. The child looked scrawny but still had some weight to her.
Ji Yan’an fell silent.
“Oh, Little Ancestor!” Nanshu cried. “Where did you steal someone’s baby from?”
“Stealing beehives, taking bird eggs, and digging up mouse nests wasn’t enough? Now you’ve brought home a person!”
Jiang Yunsui shoved the baby into his arms.
“Bad Nanshu! I didn’t steal her.”
The little girl huffed.
“I rescued her.”
Fat Chef leaned closer. “Why isn’t the child moving? She isn’t dead, is she?”
Shen Qingzhu examined her. “She’s alive. She fainted from hunger.”
Fat Chef sighed. “I’ll dissolve some milk tablets for her. Since we’ve encountered her, we should at least give her something to eat.”
They had met all manner of refugees along the road, each with a tragedy of their own. It was not that the party felt no pity, but anyone with experience knew they must never distribute supplies openly.
Otherwise, the refugees would swarm them all at once, and even an armed party would struggle to withstand the crowd.
Jiang Yunsui finally managed to explain what had happened.
When everyone heard that men were deliberately eating people, disgust flashed through their eyes.
Most of the current refugees had been displaced by human calamity. Food could still be found in the forests along the road. It might be difficult, but this was not a drought that left nothing edible anywhere.
If Jiang Yunsui’s account was true, those men were entirely capable of traveling together and hunting in the woods.
Yet they had chosen to eat people, specifically children.
Having lived in Mobei, the group already hated and despised the Barbarians’ practice of cannibalism. These men were no different from them.
Ji Yan’an ordered, “Ji Yi, take several men and deal with them.”
People like that did not deserve to live.
“Yes!”
“Then what do we do with this child?”
Jiang Yunsui stood on tiptoe to look at the baby, who had awakened at the smell of food and was eating desperately.
She was tiny, thin, and dark-skinned, with scarcely any flesh on her body.
Jiang Yunsui took the child’s hand and compared it to her own arm.
“She’s so little.”
Nanshu said, “Do you think everyone can be raised as plump as you?”
Fat Chef declared proudly, “That’s all thanks to me!”
Ji Yan’an looked over.
Fat Chef hastily corrected himself. “It’s all thanks to the Young Master!”
Ji Yan’an said, “Her family is still alive. Simply return her to them.”
That was right. From what Jiang Yunsui had overheard, the child’s family was still among the refugees.
Song Jin’s eyes shifted, and a malicious smile spread across his face.
“I’ll return the child.”
Once the little girl had eaten her fill, she looked around blankly with huge eyes, seemingly unaware of what had happened.
Song Jin took her and prepared to leave. Jiang Yunsui immediately hurried after him on her short legs.
“I’m going too!”
Song Jin did not stop her.
“Wait for me. I’m coming too,” Nanshu called.
Fat Chef chuckled. “I’ll come watch the fun.”
Knowing Song Jin and his love of stirring up trouble, he was certain to cause a scene.
Nanmo looked at the Young Master.
Ji Yan’an remained expressionless before finally waving a hand. “Push me over there.”
Nanmo immediately followed with the wheelchair, moving so fast that Ji Yan’an felt himself pressed back into the seat.
“Slow down!”
“Oh. Sit securely, Young Master,” Nanmo replied.
“The road is rough. Why don’t I carry both you and the chair?”
After a speechless pause, Ji Yan’an asked, “Do you think I am not conspicuous enough already?”
“Then I’ll keep pushing you.”
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes lit up when she saw Ji Yan’an coming too.
“Ji Yan’an, let me sit in your chair for a while.”
She was tired from running. Being pushed along like that would be so comfortable!
Ji Yan’an asked, “Would you like my position as master too?”
Jiang Yunsui clasped her little hands and answered shyly, “Oh, that would be too embarrassing.”
Ji Yan’an sneered inwardly. She truly wanted it!
“Copy three pages of calligraphy before tonight.”
Jiang Yunsui stared at him in horror.
How could he fight so unfairly?
The group soon reached the refugees traveling with the stolen child’s parents.
By then, her family had nearly gone mad searching for her.
“Who took my Niuniu? Please, give my Niuniu back! She’s only one year old!”