Chapter 4: Massacre

  A new mound rose on the grassland, and Yun Xiao patted the mud flat with a shovel. After eating a can of beef, he also fed some to Xiaobai. The little guy almost instantly liked the taste of Meilin's canned food, and one paw was scratching the can while eating with a "slurp" sound. Then, it barked at Yun Xiao for water to drink, its silly appearance somewhat soothing Yun Xiao's chaotic thoughts.

  Applied some Yunnan Baiyao ointment to the thigh, and then attached the sleeping bag to the horse's back, before climbing back onto the horse.

  With the sleeping bag as a barrier, I feel much more comfortable.

  In the late afternoon, Yun Xiao encountered a sudden downpour. The wind and rain on the grassland came quickly, and before Yun Xiao could put on his waterproof jacket, the big raindrops were already falling down. A water curtain hung between heaven and earth, and the temperature dropped sharply. Yun Xiao shivered with joy, thinking that compared to catching a cold, the Huns' swords were even more terrifying. The heavy rain at night was enough to erase Yun Xiao's footprints, while also hindering the pursuers' speed.

  After rushing through the rain for a night, Yun Xiao felt his throat extremely dry and his head was a bit dizzy. As expected, he had a fever. After passing through a dense thicket of grass, Yun Xiao finally saw the fields.

  Tilling the land has been a means of livelihood for Han people for thousands of years. Peaceful Han people do not like to plunder, but instead like to ask the earth for food, and all harvests are earned through labor. In contrast to those nomadic tribes who like to plunder, good fields are the mark of human civilization.

  A six or seven year old girl, with a four or five year old boy, digging wild vegetables on the edge of the field. At the beginning of spring, no one's food is enough to eat.

  A dizzying whirlwind, wherever there's a field, there's a city wall. Once inside the city walls, one is safe. He spurred his horse and rushed towards the two little children. The little boy stared blankly as the tall horse galloped towards him. The terrified little girl pulled the little boy and ran for their lives, not even having time to pick up the basket of wild vegetables.

  Yun Xiao felt the sky and earth spinning around, wanting to open his mouth to shout with a swollen throat but couldn't utter a single sound. He wanted to wave his arm to greet, but found that his arm was soft like two noodles, unable to lift it up no matter what.

  "Boom." Yun Xiao's eyes turned black and he lost consciousness.

  A pale moonbeam, a patch of cold and clear moonlight pours into the house through a hole in the wall. An old woman with white hair slowly pushes the spinning wheel, under her coarse cloth headscarf, a drop of sweat is reflected by the cold moonlight, shining brightly.

  The old wooden door creaked, and the fabric was woven into a thin layer. In the yellow earth house, there was only the sound of "ka da ka da", and the silence was a bit frightening.

  The first to discover Yun Xiao waking up was Xiao Bai. The little guy quietly lay beside Yun Xiao and, upon seeing him wake up, gently licked Yun Xiao's nose with his barbed tongue.

  Yun Xiao tried to speak, but his swollen throat hurt so much that he couldn't utter a word. All his strength seemed to have been drained away, leaving him with only enough energy to breathe.

  The little white movement startled the old woman, and the old woman got up and walked over.

  "Are you running over from the Xiongnu side?"

  Yun Xiao nodded with difficulty.

  "What evil deeds!"

  The old woman wiped away a tear, and Yun Xiao pointed to the backpack in the corner. The old woman brought over the backpack, and Yun Xiao used all his strength to pull open the zipper, taking out two tablets of acetaminophen.

  The old woman was amazed at the design of the zipper and Yun Xiao pointed to the coarse ceramic bowl on the ground.

  He gulped down the cold water, which relieved his sore throat. The stimulation of the cold water made his swollen throat feel much better. Yun Xiao fell asleep again, and the antipyretic was very effective, it's a must-have medicine for jungle adventure.

  Her face felt cool, and Yun Xiao opened her eyes. The old woman was still spinning, looking at the hole in the wall, and the outside light had already brightened. Her whole body ached, feeling like she was going to die. Xiaobai's whole body was wet, and he was scratching Yun Xiao's face with his muddy paws that were dripping with water.

  The puppy ran to the front of the old woman, took two steps towards the door, barked a few times at the old woman and then walked out. It was clearly calling the old woman to follow it.

  The old woman stood up in doubt, patted her sore waist, and followed Xiaobai out. Yun Xiao, who was still dazed, was woken up again by the children's cheers. The two children were talking loudly about something. The old woman scolded them loudly, as if she was afraid of waking up Yun Xiao. Trying to move, her whole body still had no strength, and cold sweat continued to break out.

  Before long, the fragrance of fish and meat wafted from the courtyard. A six or seven-year-old girl wearing coarse linen clothes with two braids and a delicate face carried in a large ceramic bowl.

  The cloud has grown a long mouth but still can't speak.

  A warm fish soup was spooned into his mouth, with a strong grassy smell, probably because no oil or salt had been added.

  After taking a big chunk of stinky fish meat, Yun Xiao felt that his body was no longer sweating profusely and he had some energy.

  Suddenly outside became chaotic, a woman's voice was quickly saying something in dialect. Yun Xiaoer was stunned and didn't even hear clearly.

  Several elderly women pulled open the hay-made door and dragged Yun Xiao into the yard. They moved a water tank, revealing a dark hole. Then they threw Yun Xiao in. Yun Xiao saw a younger woman riding on one of the four horses he brought back, galloping desperately towards the forest.

  The cave wasn't big, and after Cloud Whistle fell to the ground, he was battered all over like a scattered frame. Suddenly, the entrance of the cave turned black, and something came crashing down with a loud thud. It landed right on Cloud Whistle's chest, and he almost passed out from the impact.

  Two more people came down, and from their vague silhouettes, they looked like two dolls.

  The entrance was covered with a loud bang, followed by the sound of moving water tanks. Outside seemed chaotic, with people and horses in disarray, wailing and screaming sounds transmitted through the ground. Then, wisps of smoke and fire rose from the ground again.

  It wasn't until much later that the water vat was finally opened. The woman who had been riding a horse and running around stood at the entrance, pulling up Yun Xiao and the two children one by one after they had regained some strength.

  The thatched hut was still emitting black smoke, and on the ground lay several corpses scattered all over. Not a single one was intact, with arms and legs strewn about in every direction. The pale gray intestines were hanging from the trees, and none of the bodies had heads. Bloodstains almost dyed the entire courtyard red, and a layer of dark sticky substance clung to the dry tree bark.

  A middle-aged woman was gathering the scattered bodies to one side, but since there were no heads and they were too fragmented, the bodies just piled up into a heap.

  Yun Xiao stared blankly at everything in front of him, he had never thought that the slaughter of the Han people by the grassland nation would be so bloody. The scenes he had only seen in textbooks before were now vividly presented in front of him, and it was so shocking. No matter what, Yun Xiao couldn't understand why humans would commit such crimes against their own kind.

  Two little children were surprisingly calm, not crying or making a fuss. Following the middle-aged woman to collect the bodies, at such a young age, they dragged a large leg on the ground and walked, looking at Yun Xiao's eyes with an inexplicable sense of eeriness.

  They were buried by hand, some of whom were not even in elementary school age.

  Yun Xiao flipped out the engineer's shovel and silently began digging a hole. Since coming to this world, one had to face this reality; only the strong could survive in this world.

  Several people worked together to dig a large pit and bury the body.

  Xiao Bai suddenly appeared from a corner, looking around nervously with a very tense expression, clearly having been frightened.

  Yun Xiao opened his backpack and prepared to take out a sausage to comfort Xiaobai, remembering that there should still be one left.

  "Clang." A small wooden sign fell to the ground. Yun Xiao was about to pick it up when a middle-aged woman next to him snatched it away as if she had seen gold.

  "Where did you get this brand from?"

  The middle-aged woman had a heavy accent and Cloud Whistle had to listen twice before she could make out what she was saying.

  "This is an old man I met on the Xiongnu side, he was killed by the Xiongnu people."

  A middle-aged woman held a wooden sign with tears in her eyes, earlier she had collected so many corpses but hadn't seen her cry this sadly.

  "According to what you said, it should be my husband's father."

  A middle-aged woman placed a tablet on top of the tomb and kowtowed with two children.

  "Our village is called Wei's Village, and there used to be over twenty households with more than a hundred people. In the past few years, the Xiongnu invaded our borders, and all the old and young in the village were captured, leaving only us dozen or so lucky ones who escaped into the mountains. Who would have thought that today we'd suffer such a disaster again? How are we going to survive from now on?"

  "Auntie, you saved my life. From now on, whenever I have food to eat, there will always be some for you."

  Four people, four horses headed towards Maiyi. It was a city on the Great Wall, where Han troops were stationed and relatively safer.

  "What's your honorable surname, auntie?"

  "Just call me Wei Shu, these two kids, the girl is called Wei Ya, and the boy is called Qing Er, they are all children of our family."

  "Wei Qing! Then his sister won't be Wei Zifu?"

  Yun Xiao's head spun again, and he almost fell off his horse.