Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

Chapter 893: Chapter 893: Abnormal

The Deputy General, already fuming with anger, began to curse under his breath once the Prefecture Governor had left and the numbers here were sizeable.

“Damn it to hell! Making a sortie out of the city late at night, not only did we lose quite a few brothers and gain no grain, but we also ended up with two hundred extra mouths to feed. What kind of situation is this…”

Quite a few of the trusted soldiers beside him couldn’t stand to listen anymore and glared at the Deputy General with round, angry eyes.

Far from backing down, the Deputy General grew even more assertive.

“Oh! What do you lot think you are? Daring to glare at me, believe it or not, yours truly will have someone gouge out your eyeballs right now, so you won’t even know how you died!”

At his words, the crowd began to stir restlessly.

A flash of surprise crossed Liu Sisi’s eyes, but she did not step forward to speak.

Since she remained silent, those who followed her lead did the same, and although the crowd was still restless, they all stood in place without any further action.

On the other hand, Zhang Peng just chuckled coldly.

“We might be nothing special, but what’s your worth? Don’t forget you were the one the Prefecture Governor tasked to escort us to the hostel. I’d advise you to think it through before you act!”

These words worsened the Deputy General’s complexion, but fortunately, he didn’t dare to be too excessive. After randomly assigning a few soldiers to follow, he led everyone to the hostel.

“This is the hostel. If you don’t want to meet with a disaster, I’d advise you all to think twice before stepping out of this main entrance.”

After delivering his message with a sneer, the Deputy General didn’t wait for a response and hurriedly left after handing over the guests to the Post-house Minister.

Once he and his men were gone, it left the Post-house Minister and Liu Sisi and others looking at each other.

Fortunately, the Post-house Minister was a reasonable man, or perhaps it would be better to say a man who feared trouble. Instead of causing a commotion like the Deputy General, he quickly arranged a large courtyard for everyone and led them there before bidding farewell and leaving.

As soon as the Post-house Minister left, the stiff smiles on everyone’s faces collapsed.

“Sister-in-law, we didn’t even get a chance to talk before he shut me up. What should we do now?” Zhang Peng looked especially troubled.

“What else can we do? At the moment, what we need to do is to eat well and drink well, to conserve our strength for when it’s needed. Otherwise, we won’t be able to do anything when it matters.”

Liu Sisi’s words were meaningful. She turned to look at everyone, “Brother Zhang, how did the brothers fare with their injuries and losses?”

She had been busy earlier and hadn’t had the time to tally the casualties.

Zhang Peng had already counted the casualties early on and had a clear idea. Hearing Liu Sisi bring it up, he looked much more somber, “We lost eleven brothers, and a dozen others were injured.”

The loss of ten trusted soldiers dimmed the light in Liu Sisi’s eyes. These soldiers were not easy to train and losing even one was painful, let alone so many.

“Write down the names of the fallen brothers. When we return, we’ll properly compensate their families. As for the wounded, bring a doctor quickly to treat them and make sure not to neglect them.”

“We understand. But you don’t have to worry, sister-in-law; there is a military doctor among us.”

Zhang Peng acknowledged, then went off to make arrangements.

Soon, the cooked dishes arranged by the hostel were delivered.

The cooked dishes delivered were even worse than the steamed cornbread they had while marching. It was coarse grain porridge so thin that one could almost see their reflection in it.

In the cold snowy weather outside, these were all fiery men who fought with their lives on the line, so how could a big pot of translucent coarse grain porridge fill everyone’s stomachs?

Suddenly, curses and complaints rose and fell in the courtyard.

Liu Sisi also felt miserably cold, and after taking care of necessities in the inner room arranged by Zhang Peng, she thought for a moment. Instead of changing back into women’s clothes, she smeared another layer of yellow mud on her face in front of the bronze mirror. She didn’t even spare her hands.

The clamor from outside made her leave the room. After listening for a moment, she understood the cause of the commotion.

She immediately chastised, “Enough! What are you all doing? Have you forgotten your own names just two days after leaving Old Master Marquis’ side?”

Liu Sisi’s words instantly quieted the noisy crowd, who lined up with ashamed faces.

A trusted soldier stepped out of the ranks, “Report! Princess, it is not that we wish to cause trouble, but this porridge… this, it simply won’t fill the stomach. How can we march and fight? We implore you to argue our case!”

These were all Di Yelei’s trusted soldiers. Di Yelei certainly took special care of their food; when would they have ever tolerated such an indignity?

The reason they dared to cause such a commotion here was hoping that Liu Sisi would come forward to demand more food for them.

But Liu Sisi wouldn’t indulge their arrogance.

In front of Di Yelei, these men were as meek as cats, but they dared to create such a ruckus in front of Liu Sisi, simply because she was a woman.

Understanding the crux of the matter, Liu Sisi scoffed coldly, “The Deputy General went out of the city to forage for grain, which can only mean the city’s supply is extremely tight at the moment. If you don’t want to eat, you are free to go back to your rooms, no one is forcing you to eat.”

“Who doesn’t want to eat? Stand up!”

She shouted loudly, questioning the crowd sternly.

The commotion was originally intended to get more food, so how could anyone not want to eat? That would be tantamount to not valuing their lives!

The few who had been particularly disruptive now silently hung their heads, queuing in line to receive their food.

Watching the trustee add a half scoop of plain rice porridge to each person’s bowl before calling for the next one, Liu Sisi frowned. Such watery coarse grain porridge would probably not fill her stomach either; no wonder these brawny men were causing a fuss.

Liu Sisi let out a wry smile, “Do you remember when Brother Zhang mentioned that we are men of the Marquis, how the prefect suddenly turned deathly pale?”