The mudflats outside Great Bay Fishing Village had never been so lively. Dusk lay over the muddy road like a thin layer of gold dust, making it look almost passable.
The common people streaming in from Wuling City trudged along in a bedraggled line. Some leaned on walking sticks, some carried children on their backs, and some had to stop after only a few steps to gasp for breath, bracing themselves against their knees as the veins in their foreheads stood out one by one.
The first to arrive were the young people who could still run.
Panting heavily, they stepped onto the damp sand at the edge of the mudflats and craned their necks to look around.
Yet as far as the eye could see, there was only the empty stretch of mudflats, a few crooked thatched huts, and two or three fishing boats with holes in their bottoms, stranded along the shore.
There was no Goddess, and no white porridge…
The young people exchanged glances, the excitement on their faces ebbing away inch by inch like the receding tide.
“This is Great Bay Fishing Village, all right, but why haven’t we seen the Goddess? Could someone have tricked us?”
“I knew it. How could there be a Goddess handing out porridge? Where in the world would such a good thing happen?”
“Let’s wait a little longer. It isn’t completely dark yet.”
The people behind them arrived one after another.
The crowd grew larger and larger. Some began to cough, while others squatted on the ground and sighed. Several exhausted old men simply sat down on the sand. Their cloudy eyes stared out at the sea, their gazes especially hollow. The sea breeze lifted their gray-white hair, strand by strand, plastering it against their gaunt faces.
No one knew how much time had passed.
By the time the sun had set, the Goddess they had all been waiting for still had not appeared. Disappointment spread across every face.
Some of the old people had been sitting for so long that their knees had stiffened. When they braced themselves against the ground and stood up, their joints crackled loudly.
Some had already begun turning back. Their feet dragged across the sand, leaving two shallow trails behind them.
“Let’s go, let’s go. It was a trick.”
“Maybe some rich person was looking for a bit of amusement and deliberately played us poor folk for fools.”
“Let’s head back. The road will be even harder to walk once it’s completely dark.”
The crowd began to shuffle toward the road they had come by.
Just then, a great deal of talking suddenly rose from the low woods behind the mudflats.
“Ma, give me that basin of clothes. I’ll carry it. I’m strong, so don’t underestimate me.”
“Oh, you’re so clumsy. Don’t make trouble. These clothes were just washed. If you get them dirty, I’ll have to wash them all over again!”
“Don’t worry, Ma. My hands are steady.”
“Auntie, just let her carry it. Nier has been strong since she was little. I’d say she’s a lucky child. Who knows? Maybe one day our Nier will become a great general like General Feng of the Northern Frontier Army. Wouldn’t that be something?”
“That’s right. Once Nier becomes a great general, no one will dare bully you two anymore.”
“When I become a great general, I won’t just protect my mother. I’ll protect the village too… Mmph!”
“You’re still a child. All you do is spout nonsense.”
“Hahaha…”
As the laughter and chatter emerged from the woods, a group of figures pushed aside the low bushes and walked out onto the mudflats in twos and threes.
Several young men led the way. Barefoot, with their trouser legs rolled above their knees, they carried wooden basins piled with freshly washed clothes on their shoulders. Water dripped steadily from the damp garments.
Behind them followed a group of women.
Some were young, while others were already advanced in age. They carried wooden basins overflowing with clothes in their arms.
There were also several half-grown boys and girls among them, helping to carry quite a few of the wet garments.
They were the villagers from the fishing village.
They had clearly just finished washing the clothes. Taking advantage of the remaining daylight, they had circled around from the other side of the mudflats and planned to pass through the low woods on their way back to the village to hang everything out to dry.
Who could have imagined that the moment they stepped onto the mudflats and looked up, they would see a crowd of unfamiliar, unwelcome visitors?
Everyone was startled by the sight before them.
Several thousand strangers in tattered clothes, with sallow, emaciated faces, had suddenly appeared on the mudflats outside their village.
Anyone would have felt their heart clench at such a scene.
In these chaotic times, it was not only marauding armies that burned, killed, and looted. Refugees starving to the point of desperation would also enter villages and seize whatever they could find.
The people from Wuling City had stopped as well. The huge crowd turned to stare at the fishing villagers who had emerged from the woods, their eyes filled with surprise and wariness.
They had all heard what the villagers said just now.
These people knew some General Feng.
Anyone who could become a general surely had soldiers under his command. That was someone they could never afford to offend.
Both sides stood motionless.
Seeing that the fishing villagers had fallen silent, Zhu Jingzhe realized that things could not continue this way. He turned and signaled to his younger sister with his eyes not to move recklessly, then squeezed through the crowd toward the front.
He lifted his chin and forced himself to appear calm, but the way his hands kept tightening around the wooden basin betrayed the nervousness in his heart.
“Who are you people? Why have you gathered here? Let me give you some advice: the Northern Frontier Army is camped just ahead. Our villagers are currently working for them. You’d better not cause any trouble. The Northern Frontier Army’s blades and spears are no joke!”
Frightened by Zhu Jingzhe’s mixture of threats and warnings, the people from Wuling City shrank back.
“D-Don’t misunderstand!” His voice trembled with nerves, but he did his best to speak clearly. “Brother, we aren’t bad people! We came from Wuling City. Earlier today, a great many white sheets of paper suddenly floated down from the sky, saying that the Goddess was bestowing white porridge at your Great Bay Fishing Village. So we came to take a look…”
Zhu Jingzhe knitted his brows tightly. “What kind of white paper?”
“I can’t really explain it. When it floated down from the sky, it looked like ordinary white paper, but once we held it in our hands, it turned into light, and then a voice began to speak…” The people from Wuling City gestured frantically, sweat beading on their foreheads.
One of them cautiously tested the waters.
“That voice told us that the Goddess was in your Great Bay Fishing Village handing out porridge. You… you really didn’t know?”
“The Divine Lady did indeed descend upon our village. She also killed the water bandits and saved every one of us.”
Zhu Jingzhe thought for a moment before continuing, “As for the matter of her handing out porridge, I know nothing about it.”
“However, I can take you to find the Northern Frontier Army. They are believers of the Goddess and may be able to answer your questions.”
With so many refugees gathered near the fishing village, there was no guarantee that nothing would go wrong. The best course of action now was to bring them to Rocky Shoal and hand them over to the Northern Frontier Army.
Besides, judging from their expressions, they did not seem to be lying. Perhaps the Goddess had led them here herself.
Although he could not guess what the Goddess intended, since she had wanted these people from Wuling City to come to Great Bay Fishing Village, taking them to the Northern Frontier Army could not possibly be wrong.
The people from Wuling City hesitated, then nodded in agreement.
“Brother Zhuzi, you all go back to the village first. These clothes need to be taken back and hung up as soon as possible.” Zhu Jingzhe handed the wooden basin in his hands to the young man beside him and continued, “I can take them to Rocky Shoal by myself.”
