Two days later, at dusk, the setting sun hung over the ridges of the Yin Mountains.
The convoy, surviving on dry rations, finally arrived at its destination.
No vegetation could be seen around.
As far as the eye could see, there were only withered yellow weeds and patches of white saline-alkali crusts.
When the wind blew across the wilderness, it filled people's mouths with sand and dirt.
On a dilapidated beacon tower in the distance, a few old crows were cawing hoarsely.
Hundreds of old, weak, sick, and disabled people helped each other, groaning as they shuffled down from the mule carts.
Back when they received the ten taels of settlement silver at the ruined temple in the south of the city, every one of them was flushed with excitement.
Now, the moment their feet touched this dead land, their faces were battered by the cold wind, looking as dejected as frostbitten eggplants.
The group fell into silence.
Everyone stared blankly at this wasteland, their eyes dull.
"Is... is this the Yanmen Wasteland?" the young woman, Madam Li, held her feverish child tightly in her arms, her lips trembling.
"What 'Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall'? This is nothing but the King of Hell's mass grave!"
A man threw his bundle onto the ground and cursed loudly.
In the crowd, Lao Tong, who had read the recruitment poster at the West Market, was staring at a dry ditch in the distance, half-buried by yellow sand.
That used to be an ancient canal, but now it was so dry that not even a loach could survive in it.
Lao Tong began to tremble all over. His knees gave way, and he slumped onto the saline-alkali ground.
"It's over... It's all over..." Lao Tong stretched out a bony finger, pointing at the ancient canal, his voice desolate. "I should have known earlier, I should have known..."
Sun Qi, leaning on a wooden crutch, limped over. "Old sir, what's wrong with you? Isn't it just a dried-up ditch?"
"A ditch?" Lao Tong gave a tragic laugh, tears streaming down his old face. "This is a gash that was carved alive right out of the dragon vein of the Great Qian Dynasty!"
Looking at the bewildered faces around him, Lao Tong spilled out the dusty history of the past.
"When the Great Qian was founded, the Yellow River breached its banks and changed course here. A massive flood submerged half of the Hetao region."
"The canals were completely ruined. Fertile fields turned into watery pits overnight, making it uninhabitable for the people."
"Later, the water receded, but the salt and alkali in the soil rose to the surface."
"Back then, the border general guarding this place, in order to shirk his responsibility for failing to protect the land, actually submitted a memorial to the imperial court, claiming that 'the Hetao region is inherently saline and marshy, and its grain production is insufficient to feed the army.'"
At this point, Lao Tong beat his chest and stomped his feet in anger.
"Those lords in the court who only know how to quote classics and poetry, with a wave of their pens, classified these millions of acres of fertile land as uncultivable wasteland and abandoned them completely!"
"Even the imperial court says this is a dead land. Aren't we just coming here to die?!"
Hearing this, Madam Li, holding her baby, let her tears fall pattering onto the dry, cracked earth.
"I'm not going! I'm not going!"
"I'd rather go back and wait for death in the muddy ditches of the city's south than become a wandering ghost in this desolate wilderness!"
Someone collapsed on the ground, beating the saline crust and crying loudly.
For a time, bursts of crying and cursing erupted from the crowd.
Facing this scene that was on the verge of mutiny.
Lin Siniang silently walked to the mule cart, untied the ropes, and carried the large, rusty iron pot down from the cart.
With a clang, the iron pot landed steadily on the ground.
Lin Siniang walked to the lee of a dirt mound, took a large salt-clearing shovel from the cart, and dug a stove pit in the hard ground.
Lin Siniang did not speak, just buried herself in her work.
She gathered dry red willow branches and camel thorns from around, piled them into the stove pit, and then took out a fire starter from her clothes. Braving the wind, she tried several times until she finally ignited a cluster of flames.
Blind Old Zhao, who had been slumped on the ground listening to the wailing around him, also felt an incomparable bleakness in his heart.
Right at that moment, his nostrils flared vigorously a couple of times.
He was blind, but his sense of smell was extremely sharp.
"Meat... it's the smell of meat..."
Old Zhao's shriveled lips trembled. Following the direction the scent drifted from, he scrambled over on all fours, crawling and stumbling as he felt his way.
He crawled so fast on all fours that several women around him who were still wailing stopped.
Lin Siniang chopped the two pieces of air-dried mutton rewarded by Xu Qinghuan into small chunks and threw them all into the pot, then grabbed a large handful of coarse salt and millet and tossed them in.
Before long, the thick meat broth bubbled and rolled in the iron pot, its overwhelming aroma scattering across the wasteland with the wind.
Lin Siniang picked up a long-handled wooden spoon, stirred it twice, and scooped out the first bowl.
The broth was a milky white, the grains of millet plump with meat juice, and a few drops of oil floated on top, steaming hot.
Everyone's eyes were glued to that broken bowl, and the sound of people swallowing saliva rose and fell.
Lin Siniang carried the bowl, pushed through the crowd, and walked straight up to Madam Li.
She crouched down, scooped up half a spoonful of broth with the wooden spoon, blew on it to cool it slightly, and steadily brought it to the feverish toddler's lips.
The toddler's cracked lips parted instinctively, swallowing that mouthful of life-saving broth.
Madam Li looked as if she had been struck by lightning, staring blankly at Lin Siniang, then looking down at the toddler in her arms.
Her lips trembled for a long time before she finally burst into loud, wailing sobs, kowtowing repeatedly to Lin Siniang.
This scene rendered the entire place dead silent.
After freezing for a moment, the crowd scrambled over each other to line up.
"Mother of mine, there's actually meat broth to eat!"
"Lin Siniang, are we eating now?"
...
Sun Qi held his bowl and squatted on the ground. As the scalding meat broth went down his throat, it was so hot that tears streamed down his face.
He swallowed in large gulps, letting his tears mix with the broth and fall into his stomach.
In his mind flashed the memory of being in the Bing Battalion years ago, fighting until his head bled just to snatch half a dark flour steamed bun; he remembered being kicked out of the military camp after breaking his leg, fighting with wild dogs for food in the muddy waters of the city's south.
For so many years, he had long forgotten what it felt like to be treated as a human being.
Sun Qi finished the meat broth and wiped the tears from his face.
Blind Old Zhao licked the bottom of his bowl completely clean, sitting on the ground hugging the empty bowl, grinning in silent laughter.
After drinking half a bowl of hot broth, the child in Madam Li's arms let out a faint cry.
This meal left everyone feeling thoroughly satisfied.
...
Late at night.
In the few rows of dilapidated earthen houses left by predecessors, the sound of snoring rose and fell.
Lin Siniang lay fully clothed on a hard wooden board, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
Just as she was envisioning her future freedom, a series of faint bumping sounds suddenly came from outside the door.
She rolled out of bed and pushed open the ajar wooden door.
Today's moonlight was pale, shining on this vast, empty land.
She saw over a dozen dark figures crouching next to the mule cart loaded with farm tools.
Looking closely, she realized it was Madam Li struggling to pull out a hoe.
Meanwhile, Sun Qi leaned on his crutch, resting on one leg, already holding a large salt-clearing shovel in his hand.
Lin Siniang was full of doubts and thought about going over to take a look.
Her footsteps startled the crowd.
The dark figures stopped their movements in unison, standing awkwardly in place.
"It's the middle of the night, what are you all fussing about instead of sleeping?" Lin Siniang asked in surprise.
Sun Qi tightened his grip on the shovel handle and gave two awkward, dry laughs.
"Lord Lin, it's just that after eating your meat... everyone feels uneasy in their hearts."
"We're afraid that when we open our eyes tomorrow morning, this meat broth will just have been a dream."
Madam Li chimed in quietly.
"It's cool tonight, so we figured we'd go dig in the fields for a bit! If we do more work, we won't feel guilty eating that bite of meat tomorrow."
Lin Siniang looked at this group of old, weak, sick, and disabled people who could barely even stand steadily.
It wasn't that they had high moral awareness; they were simply terrified of poverty, terrified of hunger, and terrified of being deceived by this world.
Only by pouring their sweat and strength into the soil could they dare to believe there would be food on the table tomorrow.
Lin Siniang stepped forward and took the heavy salt-clearing shovel from Sun Qi's hands.
She walked over to the edge of the dried-up ancient canal.
Gripping the shovel handle tightly with both hands, she raised it high and slammed it down heavily against the hard, alkaline earth!
Clang!
The shovel chipped a deep white mark into the ground, the sheer force of the impact leaving the webbing of Lin Siniang's hands numb.
She pulled the shovel free, turned around, and looked at the crowd.
"Meat broth is certainly not a dream. As long as you are willing to work the land, we will have it every day from now on."
"But reclaiming wasteland isn't a brief, desperate struggle; it is a grueling test of endurance! With your frail bodies, if you go out to the fields in the middle of the night to brave the cold wind, you will all collapse by tomorrow."
Lin Siniang used the handle of the shovel to point at the white mark on the ground.
"Everyone, put down your farming tools and go back to sleep for now."
"Tomorrow, as soon as the sun rises, we will start from this very mark and turn this dead land over!"
Sun Qi looked at the mark on the ground, then looked at Lin Siniang, and his tense shoulders finally relaxed.
"Listen to her ladyship, go back to sleep! Save your strength for tomorrow's work!"
The crowd placed their tools back onto the carts and quietly made their way back to their earthen houses.
Lin Siniang stood alone by the ancient canal, the night wind fluttering the hem of her clothes.
At the exact moment their shouts rang out, in the darkness atop the distant Yin Mountains, a lone wolf let out a long howl at the moon.
