The enormous gangplank on the side of the tower ship was lowered, and Shen Jue and Feng Chunya led a contingent of the Northern Garrison Army ashore in orderly fashion.
Pei Du, meanwhile, walked toward the Goddess, who was holding a spirit fox in her arms.
To put it bluntly, these past few days at sea had been several times more comfortable than their time in Xindu City.
There was probably no deity in all the world who treated mortals as kindly as the Goddess did.
Originally, they had not planned to enter the cabins of the tower ship.
It was only after the Goddess herself told them that the cabins were for them to rest in that they mustered the courage to step inside.
The rooms were completely beyond their imagination. They were practically like an immortal palace. Not only was hot water available at all times, but there was also an endless supply of all kinds of food, along with many strange and novel things.
Pei Du stopped three paces away from the Goddess and bowed respectfully.
“Divine Lady, the people of this fishing village are living in great hardship. May we use the food aboard the tower ship to help them through this difficult time?”
“Go ahead.” The Goddess gave a slight nod.
Her hand rested on the spirit fox’s back, stroking it gently.
After confirming that the Goddess had granted permission, Pei Du bowed to her once more. Then he turned and left. After discussing the matter with Shen Jue and Feng Chunya, they immediately took action.
Shen Jue led part of the group back to the tower ship to move supplies, while Pei Du and Feng Chunya were responsible for distributing the food.
The villagers had already been badly frightened by the heavenly fire that had just descended. Now, seeing the Northern Garrison soldiers approaching with an air of murderous severity, they were so terrified that they fell to their knees, not daring to raise their heads for so much as a glance, afraid that they would be arrested and taken away.
Zhu Jingzhe also pulled his younger sister down to her knees.
“Brother, all of them are carrying knives. They look just like those villains who used to come to the village and forcibly take people away to fight in the war. Could they be here to seize people too?”
The more Zhu Guyu spoke, the more frightened she became.
For years, the south had been plagued by warfare, and people were dying everywhere—some of hunger, others in the chaos of war…
The people most afraid of encountering armored soldiers were ordinary civilians like them. In this troubled world, rebel troops were no different from pirates or bandits. In fact, they were often even more vicious.
“Brother, maybe we should run.” She tugged at Zhu Jingzhe’s sleeve and whispered, “I still have a packet of Soul-Dazing Powder that Mother gave me for protection before she died. It should be enough to make them dizzy and disoriented for a short while…”
She had originally intended to use it on the pirates, but just as she had found the right moment to scatter the powder, one of the pirates had been killed.
At the thought of this, she could not help sneaking another glance at the Goddess standing by the shore.
She was the one who had killed the pirate.
Realizing what Zhu Guyu intended to do, Zhu Jingzhe hurriedly pressed down her hand and lowered his voice.
“Don’t do anything foolish!”
The most formidable skill of an illusionist was not actually the sleight of hand used to create illusions, but the art of preparing medicines—especially drugs that could daze the mind.
Combined with sleight of hand, such drugs could make an illusionist’s tricks appear completely real.
But these crude little tricks might fool ordinary people. They certainly could not deceive a deity with limitless divine power.
“That’s a god. How could we possibly escape?”
“Brother, then are we just supposed to wait here to die?”
As the siblings spoke, Feng Chunya had already led a small squad over. Each soldier carried a bulging, dusty gray sack, though no one could tell what was inside.
When Feng Chunya reached into one of the sacks, Zhu Jingzhe warily stepped in front of Zhu Guyu to shield her.
Then, in the next moment—
A rough hand extended toward Zhu Jingzhe.
In that hand was a large steamed bun, still radiating heat. Its rich wheat fragrance stood out sharply against the salty, fishy air.
Zhu Jingzhe jerked his head up and saw the tall, powerfully built female general squatting before him. She looked somewhat fierce, almost menacing, but her eyes were unexpectedly gentle.
“Don’t be afraid.” Feng Chunya grinned and held the bun out a little farther. “It’s clean. It was steamed just now.”
Zhu Jingzhe froze.
“F-For us?”
He did not reach for it immediately. Instead, he asked, “Why are you giving us food?”
When his father had still been alive, he had taught him a saying:
“Never accept a favor without a reason. There’s always a catch.”
When Feng Chunya saw that he was not taking the bun, she did not get annoyed. She simply stuffed the large white bun into his hand.
The warmth of it startled Zhu Jingzhe.
“These buns were bestowed upon us by the Divine Lady. We have more than we can eat, and it would be a waste to let them spoil.” Feng Chunya glanced at Zhu Guyu hiding behind her brother, then pulled out another bun and held it toward her. “Here, little girl. This one’s for you. Don’t be afraid. The Northern Garrison Army aren’t bad people.”
Zhu Guyu stared at the bun for a long time. She swallowed again and again, but still did not dare take it.
Feng Chunya merely smiled and gently placed the bun on the sand by her feet.
“I’ll leave it here. Take it whenever you feel like eating it.”
Then she straightened and waved a hand at the soldiers behind her.
“Spread out. Go from house to house handing out buns. Have someone set up a pot and cook some rice porridge too. Let the old people and children drink first.”
The soldiers responded and dispersed.
Carrying their sacks, they headed toward the entrance of the village.
Zhu Jingzhe watched as Feng Chunya helped Old Uncle Wang, who had been lying on the ground, to his feet and gave him a large white bun as well.
Only after Feng Chunya had gone some distance away did he lower his head and look at the bun in his hand, his expression complicated.
The last time he had eaten a steamed bun had been three years ago.
That winter had been especially cold. His father had carried half a sack of coarse flour home from the city. His mother had mixed in a little tree bark and steamed several dark, lumpy buns. The whole family had gathered around the stove to divide them among themselves.
He and his younger sister had each eaten two. Their parents, however, had waved them off and said they did not like them. They had only torn off a little and soaked it in water.
Back then, he and his sister had been foolish enough to believe that their parents truly did not like the food—or perhaps could not eat it.
Only later had he realized the truth.
It was not that they did not like it, nor that they could not eat it. They had wanted to save the food for him and his sister.
“Brother…” Zhu Guyu called softly.
“This bun isn’t fake. We can eat it…”
Only then did Zhu Jingzhe notice that Zhu Guyu had somehow picked up the bun from the sand and taken a small bite.
Since she had already eaten it, there was no point in saying anything more. He handed his own bun to her.
“Eat it.”
“Brother, aren’t you going to eat?”
“I don’t like them.”
After saying this, Zhu Jingzhe raised his eyes and looked around.
Not far away, on a stretch of rocky beach, a young soldier was squatting before an old man with white hair. He broke the bun into small pieces and fed them to the old man one piece at a time.
The old man’s hands trembled as he accepted each piece and stuffed it into his mouth. He chewed twice, then suddenly burst into tears. His withered hands seized the soldier’s arm, and his voice came out hoarse and trembling.
“My son… My son was taken by the court and forced into the army too. When he left, he was just your age. He hasn’t come home in five years…”
The soldier froze, his heart filled with conflicting emotions.
When he heard that the old man’s son had been conscripted, his first instinct was to protest—how could such a thing have happened?
But just as the words reached his lips, he remembered that this was the war-torn south, not the peaceful, prosperous north.
It was only after leaving the north and coming to the south that he realized how precious the things he had always taken for granted could be in the eyes of others.
He was fortunate to have been born in the north, where he could become a believer of the Divine Lady and live beneath her protection.
