Tian Erniang looked at the strangely dressed woman in front of her and said nervously, "We, we are refugees fleeing from disaster. Please, please give us a sip of water and a bite to eat."
"I, I will kowtow to you." Saying this, she was about to kneel.
Liu Mi hurriedly stopped her. "You don't need to kneel. We have water."
She glanced at the child again, opened her mouth to say something, but ultimately said nothing.
She pointed to the temporary shelter under construction on the left. "Go sit over there and drink."
Tian Erniang and the others nodded hurriedly, their eyes staring longingly at the wooden bucket carried by the apothecary boy ahead, which contained clean water.
She licked her lips. Her throat was burning, and she couldn't even swallow her saliva. She staggered behind Liu Mi.
Liu Mi led the people to the open space in front of the temporary shelter. The apothecary boy put down the bucket and was about to ask them for bowls to hold the water, only to find that they didn't even have a single bundle.
Fortunately, Liu Mi had anticipated this situation. She took out bamboo bowls from a basket carried by another apothecary boy and poured them a few bowls of water.
Tian Erniang quickly reached out a hand to take it, thanking her gratefully, "Thank you, thank you, my lady."
The child on her back was tied to her body with vines. Fearing the child would be uncomfortable, she hadn't tied them too tightly, and she had walked hunched over, supporting the child with one hand along the way.
Liu Mi shook her head. "There is more when you finish, don't rush."
Tian Cuihua took the water the apothecary boy handed her and impatiently poured it into her mouth.
Her pair of children also took the water and gulped it down just like her.
The bamboo bowl was large and quite deep. Because Tian Cuihua drank too fast, she felt out of breath halfway through and quickly stopped to gasp for air.
After catching her breath, she continued drinking. This time she tasted a hint of saltiness in the water, thinking she had been hungry and thirsty for so long that her senses were wrong.
What she didn't know was that Liu Mi had deliberately put a little salt in the water.
This was what Jiang Jin had told them during their lessons, saying that saltwater could quickly replenish something called electrolytes. She didn't understand what electrolytes were, but she would do as Jiang Jin said.
After finishing a large bowl of water, Tian Cuihua finally felt like she had come back to life.
Enduring the weakness spreading through her body, she bowed to the apothecary boy who handed her the water and thanked him, "Thank, thank you, noble sir."
The apothecary boy smiled. "We are no noble sirs. This was all ordered by our lord. If you want to thank someone, thank our lord."
Tian Cuihua revealed a fawning yet grateful smile, knelt down, and kowtowed toward Gefeng City. "Thank you, my lord."
She was just an ignorant village woman and didn't know how to address him, so she followed the apothecary boy in calling him lord.
Meanwhile, Tian Erniang carefully fed the water to the already semi-conscious Daya.
Daya swallowed instinctively. After drinking several mouthfuls, she finally woke up, her eyes brightening. "Water, water."
She took two more sips and pushed the bamboo bowl away, looking up at Tian Erniang. "Mother, you drink."
Tian Erniang licked her lips and carefully drank a few mouthfuls like a precious treasure. Feeling a little strength return to her body, she carefully handed the water to Daya. "Hold this, I'm going to put your sister down."
Daya was very obedient. Although she still wanted to drink, she held it back. She held the bamboo bowl with a devout expression, as if holding a life-saving medicine.
Looking at Daya, who was covered in dirt and so thin that only her large eyes stood out, Liu Mi felt a pang of sorrow and spoke gently, "There's still water, you can drink."
Daya glanced at her timidly, then quickly lowered her head, murmuring, "Give, give it to my sister to drink."
Through their recent flight from disaster, she was well aware of the preciousness of water, feeling that asking for such a large bowl of water was already an enormous blessing.
Tian Erniang finally took the child off her back and held her in her arms.
Looking at the child's pale face, her heart trembled. With shaking hands, she took the bamboo bowl and carefully fed the water to her youngest daughter.
Her lips trembling, she coaxed in a low voice, "Erya, there's water now, have a little drink."
However, the child kept her eyes closed, completely unresponsive.
"Erya, Erya, what's wrong? Don't scare Mother, wake up, wake up and drink some water. We have water now, you'll be fine once you drink it, woo woo..."
Tian Erniang carefully shook the child in her arms, sobbing in agony, wanting to cry but having no tears left.
She had noticed the child wasn't doing well this morning, but there was nothing she could do. She could only carry the child on her back and continue walking aimlessly.
She was hungry and thirsty, her reactions dull, and her body numb. Along the way, she hadn't realized when her child had passed away.
It wasn't until she put the child down that she realized her child was gone!
But she refused to believe it. Erya was so good, never crying or fussing the entire way. How could she be gone?
Clearly, they had water now, clearly they had reached a city. Just a little more, just a little more and her Erya could have lived.
Liu Mi sighed inwardly, her nose stinging slightly. She was a healer, and she had already seen earlier that this child was dead; her body had already gone stiff.
Tian Cuihua stumbled over, looking at Erya's pale face. She opened her mouth but couldn't say a word.
She wanted to cry but couldn't shed a tear. She wanted to comfort her but didn't know what to say. She just carefully stroked Erya's cold little foot, which was nothing but skin and bones.
Daya couldn't help but cry out. Although she was only seven years old, in such a chaotic world, she had learned the difference between life and death early on.
Tian Cuihua's two children also started sobbing, the atmosphere filled with sorrow.
Liu Mi sighed and said softly, "Bury her properly."
After a long time, Tian Erniang carefully placed Erya on the ground, kowtowed to Liu Mi, and choked out, "I wonder if you would allow me to bury Erya on the hill over there."
She was referring to the small hillside ahead of the official road.
Liu Mi nodded. "You may. My condolences. You still have another child to take care of, so live on well."
Tian Erniang kept her head pressed to the ground for a long time. A single tear finally fell, dropping onto the earth and splashing up a speck of dust.
Liu Mi turned to the group and said, "Our Gefeng takes in Han commoners. You can enter the city. The people of Gefeng will not starve to death as long as they work."
A gleam flashed in Tian Cuihua's eyes, a desire for life. "This is Gefeng? That's wonderful. I, I can work. I can do any work."
She pulled her children forward, looking at Liu Mi with a face full of hope. "They can work too."
Liu Mi raised an eyebrow slightly. "You've heard of Gefeng?"
Tian Cuihua nodded. "Yes, I heard people say that Gefeng City is a city for Han people, and that if you work, you get food to eat. I didn't expect we would actually reach Gefeng."
Liu Mi thought to herself that the lord's "preaching" seemed to be taking effect.
She glanced at the group and said, "However, before you enter the city, you must ensure that you haven't contracted any plagues. You must have seen many corpses along your journey."
Tian Cuihua's heart tightened, but she nodded honestly. "There were corpses. We avoided them from a distance and didn't approach them."
Liu Mi nodded. "The incubation period for a plague is generally five days. You will stay here for five days. It will be best if nothing happens, and then you can enter the city."
Tian Cuihua understood. She opened her mouth and finally said, 'Alright.'
Plague—what a terrifying word. If ordinary folk like them contracted a plague, there was basically only one outcome: death!
Gefeng City giving them water to drink and allowing them to enter the city was already a great kindness. If they really had contracted a plague, they would end up harming the entire city.
It was just staying outside for a few days. During their flight, where hadn't they slept? This place was already very good; at the very least, it was safe.
