Chapter Forty-Six: Exposure

Zhao Mu and the other two slowed their pace, treading as carefully as possible to avoid making any sound.

The refugees were all fast asleep at this moment, much as they slept through the majority of each day.

With nothing to eat on either side, sleeping helped them endure a little longer.

Taiping County was somewhat better off than Haozhou City.

Although the starving dead littered the ground, it was still a hair's breadth away from people resorting to cannibalism.

The journey from Xiaowang Village to Taiping County was roughly a dozen li.

Most of the refugees were concentrated within two or three li of the city gates.

These two or three li were also the most difficult stretch of the road for Zhao Mu and his companions.

Once they pushed past this distance, they would reach the city gates.

As soon as the hour of Mao arrived and the gates opened, they could trade with Qin Jian.

Seeing that they were about to reach the gates, the three of them heaved a slight sigh of relief.

Just at that moment, however, a refugee suddenly opened his eyes.

While sleeping could conserve energy and help a person hold out longer, being hungry for too long would eventually keep one awake.

Under normal circumstances, this refugee would have probably just stared blankly at the stars, daydreaming about delicacies he could never afford to eat in ordinary times.

Today, however, he caught a faint sound, and his eyes rolled sideways to glance in the direction it came from.

With that single glance, he saw three men pushing a handcart toward the county town.

And that handcart was piled high with a large quantity of goods.

The refugee instinctively rubbed his eyes, then widened them to take a clear look.

The handcart was actually loaded entirely with fish!

Furthermore, every single one of them was a large fish weighing several catties!

"Fish! I want to eat fish!"

The refugee muttered under his breath, instinctively starting to rise.

At that moment, the refugee beside him rolled over and grumbled, "Fish, fish, fish, all you think about all day is eating! I want a feast of fish and meat too!"

Swallowing hard, the refugee patted the man beside him and said, "Brother Feng, there really are fish! Huge fish!"

The refugee addressed as Brother Feng froze for a second, then abruptly sat up.

"Fish? Where is there fish?"

He looked around in all directions, and then his eyes lit up as he spotted the handcart being pushed by Zhao Mu and his companions.

"Fish! There really are fish!"

Brother Feng swallowed with great difficulty, then immediately lowered his voice.

Hurriedly covering the mouth of the refugee beside him, he asked, "Xiaoshi, do you want to eat fish?"

Though his mouth was muffled, Xiaoshi nodded rapidly.

Brother Feng turned his head to glance at Zhao Mu's group and lowered his voice. "We two will quietly follow them. Don't wake anyone else up!"

Human nature was inherently selfish; besides, even though the fish Zhao Mu and the others had caught were not few, there was no way they would ever be enough to share among so many refugees.

Furthermore, even if they stopped Zhao Mu this time and forcibly snatched away the fish, what about after they finished eating? What about the next time?

With this experience, the trio would definitely be even more cautious next time, or perhaps never bring fish into the city again.

Therefore, if they wanted to eat fish and stop starving, the best method was to tail them secretly.

As the three pushed the cart, Wang Wu suddenly said, "Brother Mu, someone is following us behind."

Zhao Mu paused and asked, "How many people?"

Wang Wu replied, "Just two. They're acting sneaky—they must have seen us transporting the fish."

Zhao Mu breathed a sigh of relief. He was not afraid of being watched; what he feared most was being swarmed and surrounded by the masses of refugees.

"It's fine. Let them follow if they want to," Zhao Mu said, glancing back. "Two people are always much easier to deal with than a few thousand."

Wang Wu nodded, abandoning the thought of turning back to deal with the pair.

Taking care of those two would not be difficult, but the worry was that they might shout and wake the rest of the refugees.

Before long, Zhao Mu and his companions arrived safely at the city gates without incident.

Because they had allowed extra time for potential trouble along the way, the gates were not yet open. Only a few soldiers leaned against the city wall, yawning listlessly.

Though they saw the three arrive at the gates, they paid no heed.

Ever since the refugees arrived in Taiping County, many came to the gates early every day to beg for food.

However, very few people were willing to bestow charity, and since these refugees were not allowed into the city, they eventually gave up the idea of arriving early to stake out spots for begging.

Yet, as more and more refugees flooded into Taiping County, occasionally a newcomer would refuse to give up and arrive early at the gates to wait.

Either hoping to sneak into the city or begging anyone they met, these refugees had already tried countless methods just to stay alive.

Seeing that the gates were still closed, Zhao Mu was in no hurry and simply waited right there at the entrance.

Glancing back, he noticed that the two individuals who had been tailing them were now hiding stealthily.

It seemed they had no wish to be discovered by Zhao Mu and his group.

"Xiaoshi, do you find these three men familiar?"

Brother Feng poked his head out, gazing into the distance to scrutinize the three figures.

Xiaoshi paused, staring hard at Wang Wu and Wen Zhi for a good while before suddenly exclaiming in realization, "Brother Feng, aren't they the two guys who said they were going outside the city to bury corpses the other day?"

When Zhao Mu left the city, he had disguised himself as a corpse, but Wang Wu and Wen Zhi had been the ones pulling the cart.

Moreover, they had sparked some minor friction with quite a few refugees.

Although Xiaoshi and Brother Feng had not crowded around that day, they had observed Wang Wu and Wen Zhi from afar.

"That's right, it's them. I remember their clothes!"

Brother Feng swallowed and said, "The younger one must be the 'corpse' they hauled out of the city that day. Looking at it now, they obviously weren't burying corpses—they were up to something else!"

He did not specify what that something else was, but it was glaringly obvious.

When Zhao Mu's group left the city that day, they had carried nothing at all.

Yet returning to the city today, their cart was loaded with dozens of large fish!

"Brother Feng, s-should we go over now? If they manage to get into the city in a moment, we won't have anything left."

Xiaoshi stared fixedly at the big fish on the handcart, swallowing mouthfuls of saliva continuously.

He was already starved to the bone; if he lay still, he might have been able to hold on a bit longer.

But seeing those large fish made him feel he could no longer endure it.

Brother Feng pondered for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Let's go! We'll go over now. If they refuse, we'll wake everyone else up!"

Though he wanted to keep the windfall to himself, he also feared that if Zhao Mu and his companions actually entered the city, he would lose his only chance to eat fish.

"They're coming!"

As soon as Brother Feng and Xiaoshi emerged, Wang Wu immediately alerted Zhao Mu with a vigilant tone.

"Don't panic. Let's see what they're up to," Zhao Mu waved his hand, signaling Wang Wu not to worry.

Swallowing their saliva, Brother Feng and Xiaoshi carefully approached the city gates.

"H-how did you guys manage to catch so many fish?"

Approaching them, Brother Feng did not directly reveal his desire to eat fish, choosing instead to ask in a roundabout way.