Nine out of ten gamblers lose; I've run into a jerk!

Chapter 185 Turbulent Times in the Martial World

At the border between Xuan and Qi, along the long and desolate official road, a sparse procession of refugees gradually emerged.

They were dressed in rags and wore tattered straw sandals. Fortunately, the dead of winter had passed and the chill of early spring was still bearable; otherwise, many more corpses would have fallen along the way.

Two thin boys, leaning on wooden sticks, struggled to move forward, their steps growing heavier and heavier.

"Mingzhu, can you still walk?"

Ye Mingzhu tried to grit her teeth and bear it, but her legs felt like they were filled with lead and she couldn't lift them.

"Let's take a break first."

Zhen E helped Ye Mingzhu move to the side of the official road. They stopped to rest without a second thought and sat down without any regard for appearances. The days of fleeing had long since made him forget the demeanor of a nobleman. If he hadn't been worried about being trampled, he wouldn't have bothered to move to the side of the road.

Ye Mingzhu sat by the roadside, panting, watching the refugees pass by them indifferently. Her eyes were empty as she dragged her hunched body forward numbly, not knowing where she was headed, like an ant driven by fate.

When they took shelter from the rainstorm in the cave, Zhen E's wounds were treated simply while he was unconscious, but he dared not seek medical treatment for his dislocated arm. It was only after Zhen E woke up that he bit down on a wooden stick to set the bone himself.

It takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone, but they had no time or means to delay. Ye Mingzhu had run away from home thinking of the vast world ahead, so she hadn't prepared much food.

While they were worried about pursuers, they discovered that many refugees had appeared on the mountain. Only then did they realize that war had broken out in Cangzhou again. They had no time to feel sad and decided to blend into the group of refugees to avoid being seen by the pursuers.

At first, I felt that their demeanor was out of place with the emaciated refugees, so I deliberately smeared mud on my face. But after two or three days of traveling through mountains and valleys, they became disheveled and covered in dust and grass, and were no different from the refugees traveling with me.

At first, Ye Mingzhu could hear the shrewish woman's curses and the crying of the bewildered child, but the procession became quieter as time went on.

In this lean season, when every household had no surplus food, Ye Mingzhu had dozens of small gold rings strung together as a travel allowance. She planned to take one out and pawn it when she ran out of money. She had even prepared her excuse: that it was an ancestral heirloom ring and that was the only one she owned...

But reality is never as beautiful as the picture book describes. She held the items close to her body but dared not take a single one. If she could, she would even exchange them for a steamed bun. But even if she was naive, she knew what kind of situation she was in.

The further they went, the stranger the atmosphere became. A deathly stillness mixed with a heavy sense of wariness filled the air. They clutched their shriveled little bundles to their chests as if they were their own lives. Inside, there might only be a few grain cakes, but they were related to the lives of their entire families. Everyone kept a safe distance from their own family members.

These days, a single steamed bun can buy a wife. It's not that parents are heartless; it's just a way to find a place for their daughter to have a livelihood.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Ye Mingzhu always wore men's clothing, and her disheveled appearance saved her from these unpleasant problems.

What's even more terrifying is that some people are so hungry that their eyes are practically glowing with lust. Zhen E and Ye Mingzhu dared not get too close to the crowd, nor too far away. They took turns keeping watch at night, fearing that they might accidentally turn into a pile of meat in the pot.

Back to the present, Zhen E dozed off for a while, then opened his eyes and whispered, "It's getting dark soon, let's hurry up, otherwise we'll be all alone after this group leaves."

Ye Mingzhu nodded, forcing herself to stand up. The hyenas lurking in the shadows wouldn't let a lone pedestrian get away.