Chapter 220: Chapter 214: Starving People, Famine Victims, Wanggang Army
Shang Ruyi was startled, she looked carefully and saw that it was two guards. With a gloomy expression, they said, "What are you doing here?"
"I, I came to have a look."
"Who allowed you to come?"
"I—"
Seeing her stutter and unable to speak, the two guards became even more fierce, saying, "Leave quickly, if you don’t, watch out, we won’t be polite!"
Just as they finished speaking, a calm, smiling voice sounded behind Shang Ruyi: "I allowed her to come."
The two guards were startled and bowed with clasped hands: "Master."
Shang Ruyi hastily turned around. At some point, Xiao Yuansui had already walked up behind her, smiling while looking at her. Shang Ruyi immediately felt a bit guilty: "Young Master Xiao."
Xiao Yuansui did not respond to her immediately, but instead waved his hand at the two guards, who immediately stepped aside.
Only then did he lower his head to look at Shang Ruyi, smiling as he said, "It seems, after enjoying the three-foot bed and a meal, the Young Madam still wishes to pass through this door to have a look."
"..."
Shang Ruyi hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the flat road: "There, where does it lead to?"
Xiao Yuansui smiled and said, "Why not go and see for yourself?"
With that, he said nothing more, walking past Shang Ruyi with his hands behind his back. Though a bit apprehensive, Shang Ruyi immediately followed.
Soon, the two of them reached the end of the straight path. Only then did Shang Ruyi discover, after a turn, a wide platform opened up before her, extending nearly a hundred zhang deep. In the center was a flat avenue leading straight ahead, and at the end of the avenue was a massive warehouse, with two large wooden doors slightly ajar at the front. Faintly visible inside, in the dim light, were tall, mountain-like black shadows.
Xiao Yuansui said, "Do you know what those are?"
Shang Ruyi did not answer, instead squatting down slowly to pick up a handful of small stones from the roadside, scattering them ahead.
Immediately, the sparrows that had been pecking around on the ground all flew up with a flutter.
Even though it was winter, nearly frozen scenery, the sudden fright of these sparrows brought this place to life. Shang Ruyi smiled and then turned to Xiao Yuansui, saying, "Is there even a need to ask?"
In the middle of winter, and more so here at Huangtu Ridge, how could there be so many sparrows?
It’s merely because the ground was scattered with rice grains.
However, it was not purposely scattered here to feed the birds, but during the transportation of grain, no matter how neat the loading was, some spillage was unavoidable. As a result, the trees near the main granary and the grain transport paths always had fatter sparrows than other places.
And here, is Xingluo Warehouse City.
In front of her was the real deal, the number one granary that could feed all people under the heavens—Xingluo Granary!
Speaking of it, from a long time ago, she and Yu Wenye would occasionally mention this granary, but it seemed that neither of them had ever seen it, nor did they sketch it out in their minds.
And truly, they never imagined, this granary was like this.
When the door opened in front of her, a rush of warm air hit, mixed with a scent that seemed both fragrant and slightly stinky. The heat forced out a sweat from her slightly chilly body. Shang Ruyi raised her hand to shield her eyes, avoiding the sudden dust storm, and slowly lifted her head.
Everything unfolded before her eyes.
In front of her was a huge warehouse, even larger than all the tall palaces she had seen in the Ziwei Palace. The deep, towering shadows she had seen were rows and rows of grain stacks in the warehouse.
These grain stacks were cylindrical, six or seven zhang wide, four or five zhang high, like small houses. And upon closer inspection, the grain stacks did not rise straight from the ground; a portion was deeply buried beneath. Overall, they stood nearly ten zhang high!
Isn’t this a mountain of grain?
And such mountains of grain were not limited to just one in this warehouse. Shang Ruyi slowly walked into the warehouse and looked carefully. There were vertical and horizontal rows, dozens of majestic grain mountains, densely packed like chess pieces set by gods in the human world. Each piece could drive people to chase after it, even to madness!
Shang Ruyi couldn’t help but tremble, looking at this grain, her heart swelled with indescribable emotion.
For a long while, she muttered, "Grain... this is the stored grain of Xingluo Granary."
Even having seen this many times before, entering again, seeing it again, Xiao Yuansui was still shocked. The surge of emotions was very similar to Shang Ruyi’s. Standing by her side, he slowly said, "Yes, this is the stored grain of Xingluo Granary."
"..."
"Previously, we transported grain to Wanggang Village three times, each time with more than ten carts, enough for the brothers staying in the village to eat for more than half a year."
"..."
"But even with that, we did not empty out one grain stack."
Shang Ruyi took a deep breath.
And then, Xiao Yuansui continued, "And there are more than forty such granaries."
"What?!"
Shang Ruyi could hardly believe her ears, turning to look at him in astonishment: "This, this is just—"
Xiao Yuansui said, "That’s right, this is just one of the warehouses."
"..."
"My brothers and I entered this Warehouse City, and to this day, no one has walked through all the storehouses."
"..."
Shang Ruyi didn’t know what to say, staring at him blankly for a while before turning her head and slowly approaching a grain pile. She looked up for a moment, then moved to another. Staring at those silent grain piles, they were devoid of emotion or thought, yet they stirred the life and death and joy and anger of too many people in the world, bringing about an indescribable cruelty.
Xiao Yuansui also came forward, walking alongside her.
The two walked side by side, wordlessly, yet it seemed as though a thousand words echoed in this tranquil space.
After an uncertain amount of time passed, Shang Ruyi said, "Why did you bring me to see this?"
As Xiao Yuansui walked forward, he said, "Do you know how long the grain here can feed the people of the world?"
"..."
"Even if the people of the world do not farm or plant, they can live off the grain here for several years."
"..."
"However, even with so much grain here, the court continues its heavy taxation, and the people still bear the heaviest labor duties. Do you know how many innocent people have died in recent years due to famine and war?"
Shang Ruyi’s throat choked, and she couldn’t speak.
Xiao Yuansui walked slowly with his hands behind his back and said, "Yesterday you said that Lu Yong was not a good person, and indeed, he’s not a good person. But what I want to tell you is that there are many people like him in this world. You just haven’t seen them because they don’t appear before you. They only have one name— the starving masses."
"..."
"If they starve to death, they have only one name—starving corpses."
"..."
"If they don’t starve and don’t want to starve, then they have another name—the Wanggang Army."
These three words, heavy as a thousand pounds, weighed down on Shang Ruyi’s heart. Her breath caught, and after a while, she barely regained her composure and looked up at Xiao Yuansui, "What exactly do you want to say?"
Xiao Yuansui smiled at her and said, "Although I only met Young Madam once before, based on what I know of Young Madam, with Young Madam’s disposition, we shouldn’t be enemies."
"..."
"Young Madam showed compassion towards me at the time, let alone all the poor people in the world?"
Shang Ruyi lowered her head in deep thought for a while and said, "Even if I once took pity on Young Master Xiao and pitied all the poor people in the world, it’s only my personal thought. How could it affect Young Master Xiao’s great ambition? Isn’t it a waste of energy for Young Master Xiao to bring me here for a stroll today?"
"Not necessarily,"
Xiao Yuansui smiled and said, "I believe I have the wisdom to recognize people, and Young Madam’s path is certainly not limited to what is in front of you."
"..."
"Besides, you have a husband capable of stirring up the winds of fortune!"
Upon hearing this, Shang Ruyi understood. The reason he took the trouble to bring her here today and said so much was still because of Yu Wenye.
Shang Ruyi said, "You’re still looking for him?"
"Indeed, last night I dispatched several teams to search Huangtu Ridge again."
"Still didn’t find him?"
"No."
"Since that’s the case, shouldn’t you be at ease? Perhaps he really, really won’t come back."
As she spoke, Shang Ruyi felt a pang in her own heart, but Xiao Yuansui shook his head, his eyes deep and focused, and said, "It’s precisely because there’s no trace of him that I can’t rest easy."
"..."
"The maneuvering of a ten-thousand-man army without leaving any trace is very unusual. If he really fled after a defeat as the court claims, he should be in a very sorry state, and there would be no need for him to meticulously cover his tracks. As he is now, I am very clear that he has a purpose!"
Saying that, he turned to look at Shang Ruyi, "He will definitely come back!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the step Shang Ruyi took happened to land on a dry twig on the ground, which snapped with a ’crack.’ Though the sound was not loud, it was particularly piercing in the vast and silent storehouse.
She suddenly turned back, looking at the large door behind them that was already quite distant, "Someone’s coming!"
Xiao Yuansui glanced at her, his expression slightly startled.
Just then, the door, which had been ajar, was once again pushed open forcefully, emitting a long, heavy, low creak, and a tall figure angrily stormed in.
But, just before the person rushed in, Xiao Yuansui suddenly grabbed Shang Ruyi by the arm and pulled her behind a nearby grain pile!
Shang Ruyi, caught off guard, had her back pressed against the grain pile. Before she had time to struggle, Xiao Yuansui stepped forward and pinned her against the high pile of grain.
She was taken aback, "You—"
Before she could finish, Xiao Yuansui covered her mouth with his hand and bent his head to say, "Don’t speak!"