The sky was growing dark.
Outside the camp, three enormous iron pots had been set over makeshift earthen stoves. The firewood inside the stoves burned brightly, and waves of steam carrying the fragrance of rice drifted through the air.
When Shen Jue approached, he happened to see one of the soldiers in charge of the army’s provisions stirring a pot with a long-handled wooden ladle. The bottom of the ladle scraped against the pot, bringing up a thick layer of rice paste.
He stopped in his tracks and looked at the soldier, his gaze sharpening.
“How much rice did you put in this pot?”
The soldier’s hand froze. The ladle hung in midair for a moment before he slowly set it against the rim of the pot.
He did not dare raise his head to look at Shen Jue.
“W-We followed your orders, General. Two handfuls of rice per pot, with plenty of water added…”
Shen Jue said nothing.
He walked to the second pot and bent down, using the firelight to examine its contents.
The grains of rice had already boiled until they burst open.
It was far too thick to have been made with only two handfuls of rice.
“Who told you to add more to the pots?”
The soldiers by the stove all stopped what they were doing and lowered their heads. Not one of them dared to speak first.
In the end, it was the soldier stirring the porridge who raised his head. Her face was flushed from the heat of the fire, and beads of sweat dotted her forehead.
“General, the people of Wuling are so thin and frail. Thin gruel wouldn’t do them any good. So we in the kitchen discussed it and decided to set aside some of our own rations, so that the people could at least have one proper meal…”
Shen Jue was silent for a moment before asking, “If you give them your rations, what will you eat?”
“General Shen, we’re young and strong. Going hungry for a meal or two really won’t hurt us.”
A tall, thin soldier beside her hurried to answer.
After speaking, she seemed to realize that something was amiss and added in a small voice, “Please don’t blame Captain Zhao. This was everyone’s idea.”
The tall, thin soldier had dark skin and a strikingly heroic air. If not for the obvious difference in her voice, no one would have noticed that she was a woman.
That was normal enough. After spending a long time in an army camp, men and women were hardly distinguishable. Once they stepped onto the battlefield, it was kill or be killed. Who would care whether they were male or female?
Shen Jue’s gaze swept over the faces of the kitchen soldiers one by one. They were all around twenty years old.
They really were still very young.
“How much did each of you set aside?” he asked.
“Two days’ worth of rations.” The tall soldier answered, “We can drink more water over the next two days and manage somehow…”
“Ridiculous.” Shen Jue cut her off.
“General Feng and I are still alive. Do you really need to tighten your belts to save food? Whatever amount you gave away, take the same amount from my rations.”
“General Shen!”
Several soldiers cried out at once.
Captain Zhao was even more frantic. “General Shen, why would you do this? Your own rations are already limited, and you have to patrol the camp during the day and check the accounts at night. Doesn’t all that take a toll on you?”
Shen Jue’s expression remained unchanged.
“This is a military order,” he said quietly. “I have already sent a letter back north. Someone will be bringing grain south shortly. In light of the fact that you acted out of kindness, I will overlook your taking matters into your own hands and nearly jeopardizing our plans this time. Let this be the last time.”
What he said was true.
Once he realized that the Goddess intended to save the people of Wuling, he had written a letter and sent someone to deliver it to Shen Yu.
They only needed to hold out for half a month.
Shen Yu should be able to bring enough provisions from Liaodong Prefecture, the nearest region, to relieve their immediate crisis.
The soldiers exchanged glances, then hurriedly bowed their heads and acknowledged the order.
“Once the porridge is ready, distribute it at once.”
With that, Shen Jue turned and left.
Since the Goddess had given them no divine instructions, they did not dare act recklessly. Instead, they had returned to their old trade.
Back in Xindu, the Northern Frontier Army had not only been required to train every day, but had also helped the farmers clear wasteland and plant crops.
It could be said that anyone picked at random from the Northern Frontier Army would be an expert at reclaiming land and farming.
Today, Feng Chunya had taken most of the soldiers out early that morning to search for suitable land near the fishing village, preparing to plant grain.
Shen Jue was on his way there to see how things were progressing.
Yun Shu stood beneath a tree, holding Little Fox in her arms as she watched Shen Jue’s back disappear around the corner of the tents.
Little Fox shifted in Yun Shu’s embrace.
“Host, Shen Jue has plenty of faults, and sometimes he seems a little… strange, but he really is a good person.”
Worried that Yun Shu might think it was urging her to pursue Shen Jue, it quickly added a jab at him.
“That said, I really dislike Shen Jue. He’s always making trouble for no reason. Every day, he’s either being sour about this or jealous of that. He’s such a lemon!”
“No one is perfect. As long as they haven’t committed some unforgivable crime, there’s no need to judge them too harshly.”
Yun Shu stroked the fur along Little Fox’s back.
“Go keep an eye on Shen Jue and Feng Chunya. Don’t let them discover that Chen Chao is bringing his men toward the camp.”
“Oh, and don’t let them return to camp too quickly, either.”
With Shen Jue and Feng Chunya’s abilities, along with the ten thousand soldiers of the Northern Frontier Army, dealing with a rabble like Chen Chao’s would be effortless. They could send Chen Chao straight to the netherworld and let him experience all eighteen levels of hell—a full-service package.
“Host, leave it to me!”
After Little Fox left, Yun Shu silently followed the kitchen soldiers.
They traveled in groups of three.
Two of them carried a full bucket of porridge between them, while the third shouldered a bundle of bamboo tubes tied together with rope. Those would be used to hold the porridge.
“Make way! Coming through! The porridge is here!”
Captain Zhao shouted at the top of his lungs.
The people sitting or squatting on the ground all raised their heads at the sound. They stared at the buckets of porridge in disbelief.
Before they had time to react, the kitchen soldiers had already begun distributing it with practiced efficiency.
“Here you are, old man.”
Captain Zhao filled a bamboo tube and handed it to the elderly man closest to him.
The old man’s withered hand closed around the bamboo tube.
He lifted it to his nose and took a deep breath. His cloudy eyes immediately reddened.
“It’s porridge… It really is porridge…”
He mumbled indistinctly, as though speaking to the people beside him—or perhaps reassuring himself.
“The Goddess didn’t lie. Someone really has bestowed porridge upon us!”
Captain Zhao said, “Old man, the Divine Lady is the greatest deity in all the world. She would never lie.”
The old man hesitated before voicing the thought in his heart.
“But this porridge was given to me by you, not by the Goddess…”
“We wouldn’t dare claim the credit.” Captain Zhao waved his hands repeatedly. “This porridge was made from the rice bestowed by the Divine Lady. We merely contributed the insignificant labor of cooking it. Ultimately, it was the Divine Lady who granted you this bowl of porridge.”
As he spoke, he did not forget to ladle porridge into the bamboo tube of the person beside him.
As more and more people of Wuling received their porridge, the area gradually fell silent. The only sound left was that of swallowing.
The people clutched their bamboo tubes and drank one mouthful at a time. Many began to weep as they drank.
Some even finished their porridge and then stuck out their tongues to lick the residue clinging to the inside of the bamboo tubes.
In the woods not far away, a group of people hid behind the trees, watching the scene with undisguised greed in their eyes.
