Chapter 7: The Unpredictable Hearts of People on the Fleeing Road

Looking at the bustling street, Xia Mo showed a hint of confusion.

“If only we had a map. Hey, do you know how to get there?”

“To Baiyue, I know.”

“Oh?”

Xiao Jingyuan confidently moved ahead, and Xia Mo hurriedly followed.

“You little brat, don’t talk big and trip over your own tongue. You’ve never been to Baiyue, have you?”

Xiao Jingyuan replied, “I haven’t been there, but I have the entire map of the Great Zhou in my head. Don’t worry, I won’t get it wrong; I’ll definitely help you find your relatives.”

Xia Mo recalled that he had been chased around by various scholars while growing up.

She smiled and said, “Oh, so I underestimated you.”

“Yeah, don’t call me little brat; you’re not much older than me.”

Why didn’t he object when she called him little brat?

Xia Mo chuckled, “Alright, I’ll just call you by your name.”

“No way.”

Xia Mo’s expression stiffened, “Then what should I call you?”

“I’m your little brother from now on, and you’re my fourth brother.”

Oh my, she was acting as an older brother. As the future tyrant’s ‘brother’, Xia Mo felt a bit overwhelmed.

She suppressed the urge to laugh and sincerely nodded at his youthful face. “Okay, I’ll call you Xiao Di. Xiao Di, which city gate should we go through?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Of course, it’s the South Gate.”

While others were entering the city to replenish supplies, they had no money, so they only took a few buns to make it look like they had something and quickly headed out of the city through the South Gate.

There were refugees at the South Gate too, but far fewer than at the North Gate.

Most of these were elderly, weak, women, and children, truly impoverished and too weak to follow the young people southward to escape.

To put it bluntly, they were people who feared being a burden to their families or being abandoned by them.

They set up a makeshift shelter outside the city and guarded a broken bowl, receiving a bowl of watery porridge every day at the city gate.

No one knew how many days they could survive; they just took it one day at a time.

“Please, big brother, give me something to eat.”

Suddenly, a child appeared out of nowhere and hugged Xiao Jingyuan’s leg.

The child was dirty, with a face as thin as a palm, speaking in a soft voice as if lacking strength.

Xiao Jingyuan looked completely stunned.

Xia Mo turned to look at him, somewhat curious about how this little emperor would handle seeing his subjects nearly starving.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Jingyuan directly pried the child’s hands away and coldly stepped forward, leaving him behind.

Xia Mo’s mouth twitched, and she hurriedly followed.

Once they were far enough away, she whispered, “You really are cold. We have buns in our pack; I thought you would take one out to give him.”

Xiao Jingyuan suddenly stopped and turned to look at Xia Mo, his gaze icy enough to freeze.

“A single bun won’t save him.”

Only then did Xia Mo notice that he seemed to be struggling to suppress something, his hands slightly trembling.

She wisely closed her mouth, and after a moment, she sighed softly, “You’re right. I see so many eyes staring at us; if we take out a bun, we might not be able to get away ourselves. Let’s go.”

“It’s not that I’m afraid we can’t get away.”

He didn’t say anything further.

On his delicate face, there was an expression not belonging to his age.

“With just our two legs, we can only spend the night in the wild tonight. Xia Mo, let’s try to hurry a bit; I’m worried that Tongzhou City will fall soon. Once the barrier of Tongzhou City is gone, the northern region will become a slaughterhouse for the enemy cavalry.”

Xia Mo didn’t understand military matters, but she knew that Xiao Jingyuan would become quite formidable later on, personally leading the army as emperor to reclaim the territory lost to that fake emperor, defeating all the surrounding small border nations and relying on annual tributes to survive.

His analysis must be correct.

So as night fell, they didn’t dare to rest.

After having a hearty meal, the two continued on their way.

Not long after, a scream came from ahead, a voice that sounded somewhat familiar.

Xiao Jingyuan stopped. “It’s that scholar.”

The scholar from the big dormitory last night?

“You really value money over your life; let go, or I’ll kill you.”

The two were startled again, and Xia Mo said, “It’s that ‘merchant’ who invited the scholar to travel together.”

No wonder she felt something was off; that person seemed overly familiar, chatting casually with the people in the big dormitory, asking all sorts of questions, apparently looking for a suitable target.

It turned out he was fixated on the two of them, two half-grown children, dressed in clean new cotton coats, especially Xiao Jingyuan, who looked noble and distinguished. She hadn’t expected that Xiao Jingyuan was quite cautious and had directly refused.

Turning back, he had then engaged the scholar, who probably had never faced the harshness of society and fell for it easily.

“The world is cold, and people’s hearts are not what they used to be. I trusted you so much, even sharing my steamed buns with you, and yet you’re trying to rob me and kill me.”

Xia Mo was slightly startled; this plot seemed a bit familiar. Wasn’t this the same scene as before with her and Xiao Jingyuan?

Just as she thought this, she saw Xiao Jingyuan rush out.

“Hey, Xiao… Xia Wu.”

Xiao Jingyuan charged forward, using his body to knock the man who was about to harm the scholar away.

His injuries hadn’t healed yet, and after traveling all day, this collision was truly self-inflicted damage while hurting the enemy.

Xia Mo hurriedly stepped forward to help the scholar up, who was so scared that his lips trembled, and he looked at them in surprise, saying, “It’s you!”

Xia Mo didn’t say anything; with a thought, she dashed into the convenience store, and in an instant, she had a fruit stick in her hand.

Xiao Jingyuan seemed to have received formal training, and his fighting skills were quite skillful.

But the opponent was clearly not an ordinary person and had some skills.

The man was small and weak, already injured, and couldn’t gain the upper hand, instead provoking the opponent further.

“You little brats, you were my targets all along. Now that you’ve come to me, I won’t hold back.”

The man became fierce and grabbed Xiao Jingyuan’s shoulder.

He already had an injury on his shoulder, and this grip caused him to wince in pain.

At that moment, Xia Mo, holding the fruit stick, rushed in front of the man and thrust it into his arm.

The man cried out in pain and released Xiao Jingyuan’s arm.

Taking advantage of this opening, Xiao Jingyuan forcefully drove his knee into the man’s abdomen, causing him to double over and fall to the ground.

“Are you alright?” Xia Mo caught Xiao Jingyuan, holding the fruit stick and warily watching the man curled up on the ground, howling in pain.

Xia Mo was slightly stunned, seeing the man rolling in pain, realizing that Xiao Jingyuan’s knee strike was definitely more than just a simple hit to the abdomen.

“I’m fine.”

He didn’t look fine to her; Xia Mo sighed, “Sit down for now; let me check on you.”

She helped Xiao Jingyuan sit down, and the scholar also hunched over and came forward.

“I’m very grateful to both of you for saving my life.”