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n“Brother Gousheng, what’s going on here? The sky has cleared up. Why are you carrying food up the mountain?” An Jiuyue asked one of them when she saw them carry food up the mountain.

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n“Hi, Jiuyue.”

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nAn Gousheng was nervous when he heard a voice. He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that it was An Jiuyue.

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nHe glanced at the people carrying the food and replied, “These grains were taken out secretly by the Junior Officer from his and some of our households. They will ensure our survival.”

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nThey trusted An Jiuyue. Everyone in the village would have suffered terribly if not for her. Yet, they now had to go through so much trouble to hide the food.

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nAn Jiuyue was puzzled. “Are you hiding the food?”

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nShe had not descended the mountain since her last trip to town, where she found An Yilu and caught a female goat on the mountain.

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nShe did not know what was going on below the mountain.

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n“That’s right. If we don’t hide the food, it might be gone soon.”

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nBefore An Gousheng could say anything, another man carrying grain on his back replied to An Jiuyue and sighed.

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n“What do you mean? Are there people stealing the grain?” An Jiuyue asked.

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n“Yes.” An Gousheng nodded.

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n“You don’t know about this, Jiuyue. I heard that besides our village, many other villages have been robbed of their food. Anyone who has a bite to eat will be robbed now. The food in town is more expensive than gold.”

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nHe sighed too.

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n“You left the village?” An Jiuyue asked in surprise.

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nDidn’t I tell them not to leave the village? The epidemic is raging outside.

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n“No, no.” An Gousheng shook his head hastily.

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nIt was not like he was tired of living. He would not dare to leave the village at a time like this.

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n“An outsider came to the village last night to steal our food. He was caught by our people on patrol. We heard from him that things are very chaotic outside. They’re coming close to cannibalizing one another.”

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nAn Jiuyue was silent.

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nComing close to cannibalizing one another?

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nAlthough An Jiuyue was from the modern times, she knew a little about this.

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nDuring the Great Famine, some people cooked the dead and ate them to stay alive. She did not expect to hear about this by chance.

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nHer expression turned grim immediately.

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nQian Jiyun saw that she did not look well and handed her the water bottle at his waist. “Have some water.”

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n“I’m fine.” An Jiuyue glanced at him and shook her head.

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nSuppressed the disgust she felt, she looked at An Gousheng again. “How is the village?”

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nAn Gousheng replied, “It’s not too bad. At least we still have some plain porridge and wild vegetables to tide us over.

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n“The Junior Officer is afraid that those people from the other villages will rush over to rob our food when they find out that we still have some. They will really snatch everything away.”

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nAn Jiuyue’s expression darkened.

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nRobbing their food was not too bad—running the risk that the outsiders might spread the epidemic disease to their village while robbing was a greater worry. There would be unimaginable consequences.

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n“Jiuyue, if there’s nothing else you need from us, we’ll go on carrying the food first.”

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n“Oh, go ahead, Brother Gousheng.” An Jiuyue nodded.

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