Faithful to Buddha, Faithful to You

Chapter 69: Refugee camps in Autumn City (2)

Everyone is silent. The cold wind cut him like a knife, lifting his old cotton coat. The sharper the snow flakes, the colder the wind poured on him. Rosh held his head high, his cheekbones frozen in purple, and his eyebrows filled with purple air. He is as holy as Snow Lotus, guarding the insistence of his heart.

Lusho broke the silence and snorted coldly: "The magician is so dull. These women, children and children are useless, they only take up rations. What's wrong with dying? Food is the most important thing today, and the more they die, the less food they consume. ”

I'm so angry when I hear so much inhumanity. No wonder this animal dies in the hands of his own brother. Step forward, just about to strike back, arms pulled. It's Rosh, shaking my head slightly. His eyes were filled with sorrow, but he was more restrained than mine.

Monson glanced at me unintentionally, coughed, and grabbed Lusho's round field: “Prince, if the magician said so, why bother if it doesn't cost the prince his food anyway? There are still many places to visit. The Prince must not delay any longer. ”

Lu Shao was a little grumpy and was dragged back by Monson. Lu Shao mounted his horse, asked his men, glanced at us and continued. Monson also got on the horse, and before he turned his head, I looked again at the silence that had been standing at the door. Somehow, I always thought he looked at me in a very meaningful way. I still can't eat what Monson is like. He seemed to be helping us today, but I knew he wouldn't just be out of kindness.

After such a face-to-face conflict with Lusho, we can no longer persuade him to take his life back. With more than two hundred people, plus the rest of our family, more than two hundred and thirty people are under the same roof. The first thing we had to solve that day was the accommodation issue. Without the extra bedding, Rosh and I were going to sell the clothes out for the wrecked. Each room squeezes a dozen people to the floor and even the kitchen sleeps at night. Slightly stronger, he slept in the hallway outside. Even our own room was lying on top of each other. I finally couldn't accept a life without privacy and pulled a curtain in front of the bed.

Such a dense refugee camp would never meet hygiene standards in modern times. The smell at home is very bad, and my biggest concern is infectious diseases. If someone carries a germ, once it breaks out, in an environment like this, there is no cure at all. After catastrophes, plagues tend to be endemic, and vaccines and antibiotics are not available in this era. Talk to Rosh about my worries, he told me not to be afraid. Spring and autumn are the epidemic seasons, and it's winter, and it's so cold, it's not contagious. We'll think of something else when we get through the winter and spring. Even so, I took the women and washed all the laundry they could and cleaned all the place once.

If we don't leave town now, we can't go outside the city to collect firewood, only the rest of the firewood in the warehouse is supported. To save wood, we only make fires when cooking. Even though so many people are crowded in one place, it is not possible to warm up the room. There are still more than a dozen bags of food in the warehouse, and I let Hu Yanping live there with the Murong family. Hu Yanping understands what I mean. He holds the key to the warehouse every day, and walks away and locks the door. I am not distrusting the displaced, but worrying that people will do what they would not normally do under extreme hunger. But the food, for so many people, can't eat for ten days. Ten days from now, what do we do? The cold winter won't be over for at least a month.

We tried to sell everything we could, his books, my lion's jade from White Earthquake, my gold bracelet from Queen Turtles, all sold. I was hesitant to take out my modern tools, but Rosh denied it. He doesn't want my identity exposed. I sold them secretly with sketches and pencils, but nobody asked. There are too many people selling their property, and I don't have as much gold and silver as I do, and nobody spends money on amazing writing tools. I watched these things from more than 1,600 years later laugh, and when they starve, they're really useless.

No matter how thin the porridge we drink, the food will run out in ten days. Rosh began to take his disciples to the streets every day to beg along the doorstep. I have a deep-rooted Han belief that begging is about stepping on my pride and not accepting the food that I get.

But he didn't care, telling me that he was Bichou, and that was what the beggar meant —— to go to the Buddha's Law, to beg to eat. The Buddha dressed like this every day in a bowl and begged in the city of Wei. I was always saddened by the small amount of food he and his disciples brought back every day. I leave all this begging food to the most sick and weak, and I don't touch it.

The displaced also wanted to go out and beg, but were persuaded by Rosh. Once they get out of this door, they'll be kicked out of town. Only Rosh and his disciples, because of their identity, still receive a minimum of respect. When someone dies in the city, Rosh sends his disciples to read Sutra, often with a few buns. And his disciples, like him, were as noble in character. No matter how hungry you are, you will never eat alone. Even if you have only one bun, you will bring it back to share with everyone.

“Master! Mother!”

Rosh and I are rescheduling, hoping to squeeze out a little more space for people sleeping outside. Rumor turned up, it was Rosh's three disciples, who went to the East Royal Family today to spend time with the old lady who had just passed away. They carefully pulled the handkerchief out of their arms and handed it to me, and opened it, and it was a few dark nests.

“Dear Master, I heard at the funeral of the Royal Lady...” Panyattaro, only 18 years old, hesitated to look at us.

“What happened?” Detective Rosh asked him.

“If there had been a loss of life in the city, it could have been buried outside the city. But the royal family dared not send the old lady out of the city, preferring to bury her in her own yard. ”

I wondered, “Why is that? ”

His young face was intolerant and he lowered his head and said softly: "I hear the new body will be excavated as soon as it is buried. ”

I said "ah” and covered my mouth immediately. He continued to hesitate to say, "The hungry people outside the city are already eating dead people...”

Rosh half-closed his eyes and couldn't bear to listen any more. Tighten between eyebrows. A sigh of unseen sighs.

In the coldest of times, the water drips into ice, and late at night you can hear mourning from outside the city before dying. One voice, like a needle stuck to the tip of the heart, the heart trembles with the call. Think of what Panyattaro said, as if to see the eyes flashing like beasts around you, waiting for the last breath of the dying to fall. Hunger deprives people of their humanity, leaving only animal instincts. What a dark age this is, what a state of survival this is!

Crying all night, I couldn't help but tremble and stare at the sky. He was around, wrapped around me with his arm, also in the chestnuts. I pillow on his arm and think, "It's good to fall asleep." When I fell asleep, I couldn't hear this lament that tore my nerves apart, and the sound of my stomach creeping empty. After listening to it for a few nights and not sleeping for a few nights, I finally learned to let myself fall asleep in the mourning of death.

He took me to an alley outside the house, looked around to make sure no one was around, and lifted my hand full of frostbite to the mouth and held the heat. For a moment, I put my hands down, touched my face, and my eyes filled with intense love and perseverance.

I was surprised to ask, and watching him take a deep breath, he seemed to have made a major determination: "Ai Qing, go home. ”

I was so shocked, I almost jumped: "Where do you want me to go? ”

“Go back to your own time and stop starving with Rosh.” He had a silky white breath in his mouth and smiled.

“No, I'm not going back!” I shouted out loud and he covered my mouth immediately. His hands were also cold, and several frostbites appeared on the back of his hands.

He approached my ear and sounded softly: "Listen to my husband, you go back first, wait for the famine to come back. ”

He thought my trip was just a trip, how did he know the price I had to pay to cross! Tears sprayed thinly and his mouth was still covered and he could only shake his head desperately. Put your hands on his waist and pour them into his arms to cry.

“Ai Qing, it's not life or death. Why are you so upset?” He gently embraced me and soothed the mess of the horns for me.

I buried my head in his arms, he was too thin, and the bones on his shoulders were panicking. “Rosh, I can't go! If you leave, it will be difficult to come back..."

“Why? Didn't you say there was some kind of device that could get you to any age in Rosh? ”

He lifted my shoulders, and his eyes went straight into my heart: "Ai Qing, are you hiding something from me? ”

My heart is sad and my whole body seems to be covered in cold ice. Still afraid to tell him the real reason, he said, “This… this machine is just a trial phase, a long river for thousands of years, that could allow me to cross your lost arm again. ”

Grabbing his arm, he looked eagerly at his clear eyebrows, the corner of his mouth chestnut: “So I can't take this risk, I can't be separated from you. Believe me, we'll get through this. We will. ”

He sighed, his soft lips kissed my tears and held me in his arms. His low sigh came from the top of his head: “How can Rosh handle it...”

Look up at the sky in his arms. Sorrow clouds and snow began to float again. Originally white snow flakes, lined in grey skies, are also dead grey and ruthlessly sprinkled on his thin shoulders. Under this day, there is nowhere else to warm but the embrace in front of you...