Monkey’s men had not yet returned with the information, but Tang Xiaobei had already asked everything clearly on Jin Feng’s behalf.
Different trades have different specialities. Bei Qianxun was skilled in martial arts and had also received training to resist torture and interrogation.
If it had been harsh torture, she might truly have revealed nothing, just as she had said nothing back in the Western Sichuan prison.
But Tang Xiaobei did not use that method. Instead she addressed her as “Sister” this and “Sister” that, drawing close, chatting openly about family matters and personal feelings.
Bei Qianxun and Tang Xiaobei were already old acquaintances. After rescuing Tang Xiaobei back then, the two had spent several days together.
However, emotions are influenced by one’s physical state. At that time Bei Qianxun had been full of vigour and pride, while Tang Xiaobei was depressed, worried about the Chamber of Commerce, and had no mood for probing questions.
Now the situation was completely reversed. Bei Qianxun was the one in distress.
Meeting an old friend in a strange land naturally makes people feel closer, especially when one is feeling weak.
So during this meeting, Bei Qianxun no longer showed the aloofness she had before. She unconsciously lowered her guard.
Under Tang Xiaobei’s gentle guidance, she answered almost every question asked. Before long, Tang Xiaobei had nearly uncovered the full story of Bei Qianxun’s ancestors for eight generations.
Jin Feng finally understood why Bei Qianxun was here and how she had come into conflict with the bandits.
After parting with Jin Feng back then, Bei Qianxun had wandered the jianghu. Nearby she met a girl who was fishing.
The girl’s parents had gone out fishing in autumn, encountered water bandits, and because they refused to hand over the fishing boat that was their livelihood, the bandits killed them, leaving the girl and her little sister behind.
Bei Qianxun and the girl got along very well. Perhaps she was also tired of drifting through the jianghu, so she temporarily stayed at the girl’s home.
The longer they spent together, the more they found they shared the same temperament. The two swore sisterhood and became sworn sisters.
Bei Qianxun felt this small mountain village was quite nice. She planned to buy a fishing boat, settle down here, and stop wandering east and west.
But on the very day she went to collect the boat, a group of bandits stormed into the small mountain village.
When Bei Qianxun returned from the town with the boat, all she saw was the girl’s ice-cold corpse, covered in shocking, horrifying wounds!
Bei Qianxun was furious beyond measure. She chased after them and wiped out that group of bandits.
To establish their authority, the bandit chief sent men to massacre the entire small mountain village!
That was how the deep enmity between them began.
Bei Qianxun’s martial skills were superb and her movements were unpredictable. Once she targeted them, the bandits dared not come down the mountain in small numbers. Anyone who came out alone died.
Even to go down the mountain to buy a packet of salt, they needed at least dozens of bandits travelling together.
Even so, bandits were still occasionally assassinated by Bei Qianxun.
The two sides remained locked in this stalemate.
It continued until yesterday, when the bandits somehow discovered where Bei Qianxun and the child were hiding. They mobilised their entire force to surround the small hill.
While breaking out with the child, Bei Qianxun was shot in the thigh by an arrow.
If she had not happened to run into the scouts Monkey had sent ahead to scout the way, she might have died right there.
“Sister Qianxun is also someone with a bitter fate,” Tang Xiaobei sighed. “She met a young lady who treated her well, only for the Xue family to harm her. Then she finally found a place where she wanted to settle, and bandits ruined it again.”
“In this world, how many people suffer like her?” Jin Feng sighed as well.
In the latter half of the night, Monkey’s men returned with the information. Their account was roughly the same as what Tang Xiaobei had learned.
Only then did Jin Feng feel truly at ease.
Because of the delay caused by Bei Qianxun, the group set out again just as dawn was breaking the next day and continued their journey.
This place was already not far from Chuan Shu territory. As Jin Feng had expected, the further they went, the more refugees they encountered, and the more wretched they appeared.
Many people wanted to approach Jin Feng’s group to beg when they saw them, but when they noticed Daniu and the others carrying war blades, the common folk all shrank back in fear.
Jin Feng’s group was travelling light to move quickly and carried only limited dry rations. Even if they pitied the refugees, there was nothing they could do.
They only felt deeper hatred in their hearts towards those powerful nobles who had lured away the Ninth Princess and seized their own granaries.
The refugees they met in the morning still had some possessions with them. Those they met later were basically empty-handed.
Everyone looked like walking corpses, their eyes dull and lifeless.
They had only vaguely heard that Jiangnan was prosperous and that going to Jiangnan might allow them to survive.
But where exactly was Jiangnan? How far away was it? When would they arrive? They had no idea at all.
What they did know was that staying in Chuan Shu meant certain death.
Along both sides of the road, many trees had been stripped of their bark. Some trees had even had their roots dug up.
These were the kinds of trees whose bark and roots were relatively easier to digest.
But such trees were limited in number, and eating them often left large amounts of indigestible residue in the stomach, making excretion extremely difficult.
After entering Chuan Shu territory, corpses of people who had starved, frozen, been killed, or died of illness began to appear by the roadside.
These bodies were completely stripped of clothing, lying naked along the road, frozen into solid lumps of ice.
“What a sin. They stripped the clothes off others, but at least they could have dug a pit and buried them?”
Tang Xiaobei looked at the corpses of a mother and child by the roadside, her eyes filled with pity. “They have no conscience at all!”
She used to think her own background was pitiful, but now, seeing these people dead by the roadside, she realised what true misery looked like.
“It’s not that they have no conscience. It’s that they want to bury them but cannot.”
Jin Feng sighed. “The ground is frozen solid in this cold weather. Without tools, they cannot even dig a hole.”
“Even the poorest households should have at least a kitchen knife or a hoe, right? If the whole family is fleeing, why not bring those along?” Tang Xiaobei asked.
“I’d like to know that too.” Jin Feng was also puzzled.
Although iron tools were considered valuable in Great Kang, most common households still owned one or two.
After all, without a hoe they could not farm, and without a kitchen knife, eating was very inconvenient.
Yet along the way, many of the refugees were empty-handed, carrying nothing at all.
“Sir, you probably have not travelled far before. Keep going a bit further and you’ll understand why.”
Daniu, who was following beside them, spoke up. “We’ve seen this sort of thing too many times while escorting caravans.”
“Don’t keep us in suspense. Just say it!”
The tragic scenes they had witnessed along the way made Jin Feng feel extremely uncomfortable. His tone became sharp.
“What else could it be? Their family possessions were all taken by the grain merchants.”
Daniu pointed forward with his hand. “Sir, look. There seems to be a grain-selling shack over there!”
“Let’s go take a look!”
Jin Feng frowned and whipped his warhorse.
The horse, feeling the pain, broke into a trot.
“Quick, everyone follow!”
Daniu hurriedly urged the escorts behind to keep up with Jin Feng.
When they reached the shack, Jin Feng finally understood why Daniu had said the people’s iron tools had been “robbed” by the grain merchants.
Next to the shack stood a wooden sign. On the sign was written how much grain common household iron tools could be exchanged for.
Jin Feng himself was a blacksmith and knew the true value of iron tools very well.
In normal times, a single kitchen knife could fetch at least a sack of millet. Here, it was only worth three taels.
Even a hoe, which used far more iron, could only be exchanged for half a jin.
One must know that for many common folk, iron tools were family heirlooms. A single hoe could be passed down through several generations.
Yet now these were being traded to grain merchants for just half a jin of millet.
How was this any different from outright robbery?
