Refugee

The silly waiter had more questions to ask, so Wunian stood on the stool and said loudly into his ear, "I've said it before. I'm a fortune teller. I can tell the future. If you don't believe me, I'll predict yours. Brother Waiter, you're going to slip and fall on your face later!"

"Nonsense, I'm such a big… Ouch! Who did that! Who tripped me."

"Who tripped you? You tripped yourself over the leg of the stool."

Everyone laughed heartily. At this point, the burly man returned, saying, "I've sorted out everything. We can leave at any time."

"Little Sister, let's set off!"

The waiter led the horse carriage to the entrance of the inn. When the burly man saw the two white horses, he exclaimed, "These are two good horses!"

To this, the natural space chided him. It was useless to look good on the outside, but these horses were intelligent enough to listen to human language and speak human language. However, they refrained from speaking since they didn't want to scare people to death.

Wunian and Juxiang got into the carriage and said, "That's right! We'll leave these two horses in your good hands along the way. Please treat them well! By the way, how do we address you?"

"Oh! My surname is Lin."

"Uncle Lin, let's go then!"

"Alright! Sit tight, ladies. Giddy-up."

The carriage started moving slowly! Wunian and Juxiang found it quite novel to sit inside because they had never sat in a carriage before. The carriage swayed as it rolled out of the county city, and then Uncle Lin sped up.

Along the way, they admired the scenery, feeling comfortable and at ease. They decided that if they didn't come across an inn for the night, they'd start a fire in the wilderness and camp out. On the third day after leaving the city, they encountered a group of refugees, old and young. There were more than 30 of them in total, and they were dressed in tattered clothes.

Seeing that a carriage was about to pass by, they all went forward to stop it. "Kind person, give us something to eat! Our children are about to starve to death. Boohoo."

Uncle Lin stopped the carriage. "Ladies in the carriage, there are some people stopping the carriage. What to do now?"

Wunian and Juxiang got down from the carriage and asked, "What's going on?"

A man in his forties had enough strength to answer Wunian, "Miss, we're all refugees. It's unfortunate that it hasn't rained in the village for a long time. We've run out of food at home in the village. We came out to see if we can find a way to survive."

Juxiang helped a few of the elders up and said, "Get up, all of you! We'll definitely help if we can. Little Sister, what do you think?"

"Big Sister, you decide!"

"Alright! I understand." Juxiang then said to the refugees, "Everyone, get up! Don't block the road. Let's find a bigger space and we can cook. I have food. Don't worry, everyone will have enough to eat!"

In order to thank the girls, the refugees kowtowed to them again, an old man asked loudly, "Benefactor, can you tell us your name so that we can at least know whom we may direct our gratitude to?"

Juxiang was touched and replied, "We are only doing what we ought to do. Our names don't really matter."

"It is important. Very important. Please tell us."

"Alright then! My name is Juxiang. This is my younger sister, Wunian."

"Thank you for telling us your name, benefactor!"

In order not to let the others into her secret, Juxiang chose to bring the rice and noodles, a chunk of pork, and some vegetables out from the carriage.

Wunian kept watch outside. She and Juxiang had agreed that Wunian would get Uncle Lin and the 40-year-old refugee to help unload the food. When everyone saw that there was so much food, they wanted to kneel down again.

Wunian helped them gather dry firewood, set up a stove, and cook porridge. A woman who looked to be in her thirties said gratefully to Wunian, "Young Maiden, I thank you for giving us this food. I really don't know how to thank you for helping us. But I wish to beg you to accept my two daughters. I have four children. The youngest is a boy who is still drinking milk. The fourth child is three years old, and one of them has starved to death. Now that the eldest and second are about to die, her father and I really have no choice! I don't want my children to starve to death one by one. Please help me."

Wunian looked at the woman's frail body and sighed. "Get up quickly! Didn't I just give you food? They shouldn't have to starve to death now."

"Young Maiden, you have no idea. There are many refugees on the road. This food might be robbed from us in the next moment! Please accept my two children!"