“Benefactor, can your family’s Old Madam get used to eating this kind of wild vegetable soup?” Scholar Ni asked with some concern.
“There’s no grain left now. We can only eat this.” Qin Yining’s small face had grown so thin it wasn’t even as large as an adult man’s palm, though her almond-shaped eyes appeared even larger and brighter.
Scholar Ni glanced at the Eighth Miss and Qin Huining sitting not far behind them, silently shedding tears, and couldn’t help but sigh.
Though both were daughters of the Qin family, the Eighth Miss and Qin Huining couldn’t endure hardship. Their three-inch golden lotus feet couldn’t go out to dig wild vegetables, much less hunt. When asked to do washing and cooking, they appeared completely helpless—they were simply two young ladies whose ten fingers had never touched spring water.
During this period, the servants the Qin family had brought up the mountain were each looking after themselves. Most of the work fell on the men—the Second Master, Third Master, Qin Yu, and Qin Han—followed by Qin Yining and the three loyal maids beside her who could endure the most hardship.
Initially, there had been stored grain on the mountain, and Manager Zhong had deliberately prepared much before coming up. But no matter how much grain there was, it couldn’t withstand so many people consuming it without any resupply.
Now, not to mention rice at ten taels of silver per pound—even offering a hundred taels per pound probably wouldn’t buy any.
After the number of disaster victims gradually increased, hunting and digging wild vegetables were no longer easy tasks.
They had occupied this mountain, which was still manageable, but the civilians in the city had dug up all the grass roots and eaten all the tree bark. At first, there were often cases of people dying from eating poisonous plants by mistake, but now, with more and more people dying, it was impossible to tell how people were actually dying.
During famines, the elderly and children always died first.
Who on the mountain didn’t have a whole family to drag along? Who didn’t hope their old father, old mother, or their children could survive?
The grain was bought with Qin Yining’s money, so she had absolute authority over it.
Some people privately harbored evil thoughts, but most people around were grateful to Qin Yining. If they didn’t want to be condemned by everyone, they could only suppress their feelings.
But beyond their expectations, Qin Yining didn’t keep all the grain for the Qin family, nor did she abandon the elderly and children. After the stored grain gradually diminished, healthy adults began mainly eating wild vegetables and hunted game to fill their stomachs.
Among all the Qin family members, except for the Old Madam, everyone learned how to work. The remaining grain was all given to the elderly Old Madam and the pregnant Second Young Mistress Han.
Twenty days ago, when Qin Yining held a bowl of thin gruel so clear you could see your reflection and wanted to take a sip, she saw Li Gou’sheng beside her, thin as a monkey from hunger, saw the child’s wide, watery black eyes, saw how these children no longer had the vitality to pick wild flowers to give her—she simply couldn’t swallow that gruel.
From that day on, Qin Yining never ate another grain of food.
Bingtang was anxious watching this and told Ninth Sister, Lu Dehan, Scholar Ni, and others about Qin Yining’s recent injury.
“Everyone knows that the Qin mansion suffered disaster some time ago and lost many people. Our young lady was severely injured and barely saved her life. Due to excessive blood loss, her foundation was truly damaged. Before she could recover properly, she came up the mountain. I can give her medicine, but just taking medicine while starving like this won’t work. If the depleted qi and blood can’t be replenished, I fear it won’t benefit her lifespan.”
Though Bingtang was young, her medical skills were excellent, and she was a descendant of the Tang family. Who on this mountain with headaches or fevers didn’t pass through her hands? Thus, everyone on the mountain respected Bingtang greatly.
Hearing Bingtang say this, they all became anxious. When they hunted wild animals or found sweet wild fruits, they would give them to Qin Yining first.
Scholar Ni was seventy-two years old. Until today, he could receive one mixed flour cake daily. He also divided half to give to Qin Yining. When Qin Yining refused to accept it, Scholar Ni gave that half cake to other children.
Starting today, the elderly and children were also cut off from grain. The mountain’s wild game had been caught almost completely. During the drought with no rain for so long, wild vegetables grew slowly too. Next, they would truly have to strip tree bark to eat.
Seeing the soup was about ready, Qin Yining first served a bowl to Scholar Ni, then brought a bowl each to the Eighth Miss and Qin Huining.
The Eighth Miss smiled gratefully at Qin Yining.
Qin Huining kept her head lowered expressionlessly—probably too weak from hunger to smile.
Qin Yining didn’t mind and called Bingtang, Ji Yun, and Qiu Lu to help serve the wild vegetable soup and take it upstairs.
Who knew that on this autumn tiger day when the upstairs door was usually never closed, today it was shut and barred from the inside.
Bingtang went to knock. Soon, the door opened a crack, and the person who opened it was Nanny Qin.
“Fourth Miss.” Nanny Qin looked somewhat embarrassed.
Qin Yining smiled: “The vegetable soup is ready. The hunting party hasn’t returned yet, so drink some soup first to pad your stomachs.”
Nanny Qin smiled and nodded but showed no intention of letting Qin Yining enter, reaching out to take the pottery bowl from her hands.
Qin Yining looked at her suspiciously, then noticed the blood traces and white fur remaining under her fingernails. Her heart jumped. She pushed open the door forcefully, and the smell of stewed meat immediately filled her nostrils.
“Nanny Qin, the hunting party hasn’t returned yet. How do you have meat hidden in the room?”
Nanny Qin lowered her head, speechless.
Bingtang, Ji Yun, and Qiu Lu also entered, and Nanny Qin anxiously closed the door.
Qin Yining quickly walked inside, discovering that all the windows along the way were closed. She couldn’t help but sneer: “On such a hot day, you’re not afraid of the heat.”
She came to the Old Madam’s room door and pushed it open forcefully.
“Clang!” The sound startled the Old Madam and Second Young Mistress Han inside.
At this moment, each was holding a small rabbit leg, gnawing happily. In front of them was a clay pot with soup bubbling “glug glug.”
By the chamber pot in the corner, there were scattered blood traces. The snow-white rabbit fur had been stripped off and thrown on the ground. The plum blossom-shaped ornament that Pang Xiao had personally tied around Er’Bai’s neck was now soaked in fresh blood.
Qin Yining’s head buzzed: “You, you ate my Er’Bai?”
The Old Madam drank a sip of soup and smacked her lips: “Come quickly. We were going to call you anyway. Look how thin you’ve become—drink some soup to nourish your body.”
Second Young Mistress Han wasn’t showing her pregnancy yet but was no longer suffering morning sickness. This was when she could eat the most. Without lifting her head, she kept gulping down soup.
Nanny Qin said awkwardly: “Fourth Miss, the Old Madam and Second Young Mistress both need nourishment. This morning the Old Madam only had one bowl of vegetable soup and was really hungry. Since the hunting party hadn’t returned yet, she said, she said…”
Facing Qin Yining’s bristling eyebrows and wide-open almond eyes full of fury, Nanny Qin couldn’t continue her explanation.
“Which day have I not given you meat? When the whole family was eating vegetable soup, I still saved the best for you. My little rabbit isn’t even as big as a woman’s palm. After skinning and deboning, could there even be two taels of meat? Just how hard are your hearts that you wouldn’t spare such a small rabbit! The hunting party will return soon—you couldn’t wait even a moment!”
The Old Madam couldn’t care about embarrassment anymore. She threw her spoon into the bowl and sneered: “Is this how you show filial piety to your grandmother? In these disaster times, only you would keep something edible as a pet! Isn’t two taels of meat still meat? Two taels of meat to nourish your second sister-in-law’s body can help her bear a son for your second cousin!”
Second Young Mistress Han continued drinking soup while speaking unclearly: “Yining, sister-in-law will compensate you with a hundred rabbits later. Don’t be angry. Come, quickly drink some soup. The meat soup cooked in a big pot doesn’t even have any meat flavor. Come try this quickly.”
Qin Yining’s tears immediately flowed down.
She had gone hungry herself but never thought of killing Er’Bai, because it was personally given to her by Pang Xiao. He said it was a token between them, also a token of peace talks between Great Zhou and Great Yan. He had personally untied the plum blossom ornament from the jade pendant and tied it around Er’Bai’s neck.
They had been so close then that until now she seemed to still remember Pang Xiao’s unique scent.
She understood all the reasoning and comprehended that in war, everyone relied on their own abilities.
But she had personally watched common people starve to death one by one on the streets, personally seen the numb, hollow eyes of those who practiced cannibalism. In her hungriest moments, she thought of that bowl of cold noodles Pang Xiao had personally cooked for her. How she hoped Pang Xiao would suddenly appear and rescue them all from this sea of suffering.
No matter how hungry she was, she didn’t want to eat Er’Bai. She hid Er’Bai in her room, carefully caring for it, hugging it to sleep at night.
Because if she lost it, it seemed nothing would be left to prove their vows of eternal love.
But now Er’Bai had been eaten…
Qin Yining felt that the nerves that had been supporting her and keeping her tense suddenly snapped. Her tears could no longer be held back and poured down.
Seeing Qin Yining like this, the Old Madam also felt somewhat guilty. With false bravado, she said: “It’s just an animal. Is it worth your reaction? Don’t think I don’t know where that rabbit came from! After the peace talks at Xihua City, you brought that beast back. Later that Pang scoundrel came to our country to show off his power. I tell you, that Pang fellow harmed us like this, and I only ate the rabbit he gave you—I haven’t even taught you a lesson yet! You associated closely with him—do you want to rebel?”
Feeling guilty, so she threw accusations at her?
Qin Yining waved her hand, not wanting to say another word to someone like the Old Madam. She picked up the plum blossom ornament from among the blood-stained rabbit fur and turned to leave the Old Madam’s room.
“Miss.” Bingtang and Qiu Lu quickly chased after her, supporting Qin Yining from left and right.
Ji Yun coldly laughed: “What an education! There’s actually someone like you in this world—such an ungrateful, shameless old crone! Grand Tutor Qin is such a refined and noble figure. How could he have a mother like you? Truly bad bamboo producing good shoots! Or maybe you stole a child from somewhere to raise? Despicable! Ptui!”
“You, you’re rebelling! Someone come!”
“Someone? You’re now the biggest burden, always needing people to serve you. Do you still think you’re in the mansion?”
Ji Yun looked at the Old Madam with contempt, turned, and chased after them, fearing something would happen to Qin Yining.
Ji Yun found Qin Yining, Bingtang, and Qiu Lu by a small stream outside Ning Garden.
Qin Yining was crouching by the stream, personally scrubbing the bloodstains from the ornament. She was no longer crying.
But seeing her crouched on the ground, her thin back with shoulder blades seemingly ready to pierce through her clothes, Ji Yun’s nose stung and she nearly cried.
My lord, when will you come? If you don’t come soon, the future princess will be tortured to death—not just from hunger, but from mental torment too!
Ji Yun wanted to console her but opened her mouth not knowing what to say.
Just then, sudden footsteps could be heard.
A slightly hoarse male voice, suppressing joy and out of breath, said: “Yining, is, is that you?”
Qin Yining looked up and saw Yuchi Yan, thin with sunken cheeks and wearing a half-worn long robe, coming up the mountain attended by several guards and palace servants.