The Side Character Wants to Lie Flat-Chapter 136: Entering the City

As they traveled, they saw that many villages and fields had been flooded. Hordes of refugees were making their way toward the county seat.

Hua Manman asked curiously.

"Didn’t the county seat get flooded?"

Jin Ling’er explained, "I heard they dug channels near the county seat. The water all flowed away through them, so it doesn’t pool up inside the city."

Hua Manman asked again, "Then why not build channels in other places, too?"

Jin Ling’er answered sheepishly.

"I don’t know about that.

We’re from out of town, looking for relatives. We aren’t from Fu’an County.

Most of what I know is just hearsay, so I only have a vague idea of things."

Hua Manman asked, "Are the relatives you’re looking for right here in the Fu’an County seat?"

Jin Ling’er nodded, then added with some embarrassment.

"To be honest, we were heading to the county seat anyway. Guiding you was just on our way."

Hua Manman waved a hand dismissively. "It’s fine."

The area they were in was under the jurisdiction of Fu’an County.

Many towns had been devastated by the disaster, and Fu’an County was among the hardest hit. However, thanks to the channels built within the county seat, the city itself remained completely unscathed. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Many refugees were flocking to the Fu’an County seat, hoping to find a way to survive.

Every one of them was gaunt and sallow, dressed in tattered rags. Their eyes were filled with blank confusion and a numb despair for the future.

They didn’t know what awaited them at the end of this road.

But they had no choice but to keep moving forward.

The county seat was still a long way off. With the rain making the roads slippery, Hua Manman and her party’s progress was even slower.

Along the way, Jin Ling’er and her brother grew so hungry that they nearly fainted.

Hua Manman and Li Ji weren’t much better off; they were both starving.

They wanted to hunt, but all the low-lying areas nearby were flooded. They had to head for higher ground, where they luckily managed to catch a warren of rabbits in the woods.

They roasted the rabbits and shared the meat.

It was barely enough to take the edge off their hunger.

To avoid starving again on their journey, they spent some time foraging in the mountains.

This time, they found two snakes and some wild fruit.

They roasted the snakes until they were dried, then wrapped them up with the wild fruit in a piece of clothing to carry as provisions.

Surviving on these meager rations, they finally struggled their way to the county seat.

However, they were unable to enter the city.

The city gates were closed.

Refugees arriving from all directions were turned away. With nowhere else to go, they were stranded in the wasteland outside the city walls.

Hua Manman looked out. As far as the eye could see, the land was teeming with refugees.

Many of them had fashioned makeshift tents from tarps to shelter from the wind and rain.

But many more had no shelter at all and could only huddle on the ground, hugging themselves as they endured the buffeting wind and rain.

Li Ji looked up and saw numerous soldiers standing atop the city wall.

The soldiers gazed down upon the refugees, their expressions cold and indifferent.

It was as if, in their eyes, the people below were nothing more than a swarm of insignificant ants.

A family was huddled at the base of the wall near the city gate. A little girl had fainted from hunger, and a woman was holding her, weeping.

Hua Manman walked over and offered her the single wild fruit she had left.

At the sight of food, the woman immediately stopped crying.

She snatched the fruit, stuffed it into her mouth, and after chewing it into a pulp, fed it to her daughter.

A single piece of fruit couldn’t change their terrible situation, but it at least made the little girl’s breathing a little less faint.

After feeding her daughter, the woman finally looked up at Hua Manman.

An awkward look appeared on her gaunt, sallow face.

"I’m sorry, I was just so desperate, I..."

Hua Manman waved a hand to show it didn’t matter.

She crouched down, glanced at the girl in the woman’s arms, and asked, "Why don’t you go into the city?"

Because of the fruit, the woman was now filled with gratitude toward Hua Manman.

When she heard Hua Manman’s question, the woman didn’t hold back and answered truthfully.

"They say the County Magistrate won’t let us into the city."

Hua Manman was confused. "Why?"

The woman replied, "I’m not sure about the specifics.

I heard it’s because some refugees caused a disturbance in the city before, which upset the local residents.

The County Magistrate was afraid it would affect the city’s peace and order, so he commanded the gates to be shut and strictly forbade any refugees from entering."

Hua Manman asked, "If you can’t get into the city, why are you all still here? Why not leave?"

"Because the Gao Family, the Deng family, and the Cao Family from inside the city distribute congee out here."

As she said this, the woman couldn’t help but swallow.

Even if it was just thin, watery congee, it was a rare delicacy under the circumstances.

Hearing this, Li Ji suddenly spoke.

"Who are those three families?"

The woman turned to look at Li Ji.

After days of travel, Li Ji’s clothes were wrinkled and his rain-soaked hair was plastered to his face. His lips were pale, and he looked far more disheveled than before.

But even so, his tall, straight posture and handsome features made him stand out from the crowd of gaunt, sallow refugees.

The woman couldn’t help but stare for a moment when she saw him.

Hua Manman introduced him. "This is my husband. His name is Li Ergou."

They were merely strangers who had met by chance; there was really no need to introduce him by name.

Hua Manman was clearly teasing Li Ji on purpose.

Li Ji smiled faintly. "She’s my wife. You can call her Sister-in-law."

Hua Manman: "..."

The woman didn’t notice the sharp exchange between the two and continued with her previous topic.

"The Gao Family, the Deng family, and the Cao Family are all major local clans in Fu’an County.

They say their clans have produced many impressive figures, and some have even entered the court to become high-ranking officials.

Even the local County Magistrate has to treat them with deference.

The three of them are all good, kind-hearted people. When they learned we were suffering from the floods with nowhere to go, they set up a stall outside the city to distribute congee every other day."

As she said this, she raised a hand and pointed to a thatched stall not far away.

That’s where they distribute the congee.

The stall was now occupied by a crowd of refugees, packed to the brim with people.

Hua Manman remarked, "So those three families really are good people."

The woman nodded vigorously. "Yes! They’re great benefactors, much better than the County Magistrate!"

The County Magistrate doesn’t care if they live or die, but those three families are willing to give them congee.

The comparison made it obvious who was superior and who was inferior.

Li Ji asked, "Hasn’t the court distributed any congee?"

The woman sneered, her tone filled with resentment.

"Those officials are the most vicious of all. They don’t even see us refugees as human beings, so why would they ever bear to part with their grain for us?

I heard there’s tons of grain stored in the county government’s warehouses.

But the County Magistrate just refuses to hand any of it out. There’s nothing we can do but stare."

Just then, Jin Ling’er, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up.

"Is the Gao Family very powerful here?"