The mysterious bird of destiny, the beginning of China

Chapter 196 Follow me to Chang'an!

"What's wrong?!"

Hearing something was wrong in the woman's voice behind him, Li Xinni looked back at her and then asked.

"The lives of the families of these fallen soldiers are not good..."

But under Li Xinni's gaze, the woman finally said slowly, "Although the generals stationed in Shazhou City asked the wives and daughters of the sacrificed soldiers to sew clothes for the army, they can't feed too many people, so..."

"Therefore, many of the wives and daughters of soldiers who sacrificed their lives could only become beggars, or sold themselves into slavery..."

Hearing this, Li Xinni looked a little silent.

However, she knew that soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country should not be treated like this.

How would they feel if they knew that their family members were living in such misery?

And if the soldiers who are still alive today see their former comrades and family members like this, will they still fight for the Tang Dynasty?

I'm afraid I don't want to!

As if she guessed what Li Xinni was thinking, the woman on the side also sighed and said, "It's not that the government doesn't do anything, it's that the conditions don't allow it!"

"The conditions in Shazhou City are not good. The living soldiers are having a hard time, let alone the dead soldiers..."

Hearing this, Li Xinni looked up at the dilapidated thatched house in front of her, and saw several figures shaking in the thatched house.

After a moment of silence, Li Xinni said: "Since the Tang Dynasty has conquered the world at this time, it should consider the people of the world. I will personally tell my father about this matter after I go..."

After saying that, Li Xinni walked towards the dilapidated thatched house in front.

In the thatched house, two thin figures were seen busy. As Li Xinni approached, they didn't even notice them.

At this time, Li Xinni finally saw the scene in the thatched house clearly.

There was a little girl wearing patched clothes, about ten years old, but with a determined look on her face. Next to her, there was a boy of five or six years old.

The boy's clothes were also covered in patches.

Li Xinni and others quietly approached and looked at the little girl who was busy in the thatched house.

The thatched house is also very simple, with only beds made of weeds. In the middle of the thatched house, there is a bonfire, and a clay pot is placed on the bonfire.

At this time, the bonfire was burning, and the boiling sound of "gurgling" came from the clay pot. Obviously, something is brewing in the clay pot.

At this time, the little girl was seen holding a prepared small animal in her hand, which seemed to be about to be placed in a clay pot. When she turned around, she suddenly spotted Li Xinni and others standing outside, and was immediately startled.

"You are……"

The little girl immediately pulled the little boy beside her, protected him behind her, and then looked at Li Xinni warily.

It seems that he wants to use his body and vigilant expression to drive away the danger outside, but there is no threat.

Li Xinni lowered her head and saw the small animal that the little girl was going to put in the clay pot. She recognized it as the four-legged snake that was the most numerous in the Gobi Desert.

At this time, the four-legged snake had been disemboweled. Although it had been dealt with, it was obviously not dealt with completely.

Li Xinni looked at the dirty little girl and boy again, with a kind smile on her face.

"We came from Chang'an. When we saw you here, we were a little curious, so we came to take a look..."

"...Don't worry, we are not bad people!"

Li Xinni has a beautiful face, and it seems that because the three of them are women and they behave kindly, the little girl gradually relaxes her vigilance.

Li Xinni and the other three also slowly entered the thatched house and looked around quietly, but found no trace of adult life.

"Is he your brother? So smart!"

Li Xinni looked at the boy who was protected behind him by the little girl, and then asked: "Where are your parents?"

"My father died in the war, and my mother died of illness a few days ago."

Hearing Li Xinni's question, the little girl answered very calmly.

At the same time, her eyes fell on the four-legged snake that fell to the ground, seeming to feel pity for her food.

"Death in battle..."

For some reason, Li Xinni felt a sudden pain in her heart. At the same time, her eyes felt a little sour. After a long time, she calmed down her tone and continued to ask: "Then how do you live?"

"That's how life is..."

The little girl seemed to have mustered up her courage, and seemed to realize that Li Xinni and the others were not bad people, so she relaxed her vigilance and began to slowly squat down and pick up the four-legged beast that fell on the ground.

Moreover, he carefully blew off the dust on it.

"Living like this..."

how to live

Just catch some small animals outside to feed yourself.

As for clothes, the clothes on her body have become very small.

All the adults in the family died, leaving only two children. The eldest sister subconsciously wanted to protect her younger brother behind her and did her best to raise her younger brother.

But he still ate this meal without finishing it.

It’s okay that it’s summer right now, but what if we wait until winter?

How can you survive the long winter without warm clothes and food?

This is the Gobi. There are no lush mountains or fertile farmland to grow sweet potatoes. I'm afraid it won't be long before there will be no more siblings in this world.

I don’t know which morning, there will be two more corpses of children who died of freezing or starvation in this thatched house...

Perhaps, this is a corner of this Shazhou City, and a corner of this world.

For the first time, Li Xinni felt this huge sense of powerlessness.

She lowered her head and looked at the little girl who was already busy and continuing to cook her own meal. Li Xinni suddenly said: "Why don't you come with me? Follow me to Chang'an. From now on, you don't have to suffer from hunger!"

"Go with you?"

Suddenly, after hearing Li Xinni's words, the little girl suddenly turned back to look at Li Xinni, her clear eyes filled with vigilance again, "You are not human, are you?!"

"no……"

"Do you know that I am from Chang'an, and I came with the army led by the prince!"

Li Xinni explained patiently.

"Army? Are you here to fight the bad guys?"

The little girl asked after hearing Li Xinni's words. Obviously, she also knew what happened in Shazhou City recently.

"That's right!"

Seeing the little girl know this makes it much easier, and it also helps the little girl believe in herself.

"But it's good for me to live here..."

Obviously, the little girl still rejects Li Xinni in her heart. After all, to her, Li Xinni is a stranger who suddenly appears.

From her little point of view, no one would treat her well without any reason.

And people who are kind to themselves are often bad people!

Seeing this, Li Xinni was not surprised. After all, she could live on her own. Without any vigilance, how long could a ten-year-old girl survive alone?

"In that case, how about I accept you as my sister?"

Li Xinni seemed to be afraid that the girl would refuse again, so she quickly said: "When I return to Chang'an, I will take you to meet my father and mother and ask them to recognize you as their goddaughter. In this way, you also have a father and a mother..."

"In this way, your brother can survive..."

"..."

……

Finally, Li Xinni walked out of the simple thatched house, holding a girl in her hand, and the girl's brother was held by a woman behind her.

None of them dislike the filthiness of girls and boys. After all, this is how they came to be.

Before they entered the palace, they were just girls who were bought and sold at will!

……

The little girl being led by Li Xinni looked around curiously. It turned out that she only lived on the outskirts of Shazhou City and had not entered the center of Shazhou City. At this time, everything around her was full of novelty to her. Finally, she found herself being led into a magnificent courtyard by Li Xinni, and then she stopped belatedly.

At the same time, a look of cowardice appeared on his face.

"what happened?"

Li Xinni noticed that the person in her hand had stopped and couldn't help but stop too. Then she squatted down and asked the girl in a low voice.

"This is where noble people live, I can't enter..."

"...No problem."

Li Xinni reached out and touched the girl's head, holding back the sourness in her heart, and said: "From now on, you can live here."

"Let's go!"

After persuading the girl, Li Xinni took her inside.

As for the girl's brother, he is still young and does not know what is going on around him.

…………

"Princess, the girl and boy have finished washing. They are... too thin..."

A woman had a look of sadness on her face and continued: "Furthermore, the doctor said that they are somewhat weak due to lack of food and clothing..."

"I'll go take a look later!"

Li Xinni put down the document in her hand, put the brush aside, and then stood up.

"it is good!"

Later, the two came to a courtyard and saw that the little girl and boy had washed up and put on clean clothes.

However, they were standing in the courtyard with awkward expressions at this time, and the unfamiliar environment made them feel particularly uneasy.

Seeing Li Xinni enter, the embarrassment on the little girl's face immediately disappeared, and then a smile appeared on her face. She stood up and shouted softly, "Sister..."

"Hey!"

Li Xinni responded: "Now do you believe that my sister is not a bad person?"

"Well, sister is not a bad person!"

After looking at the surrounding environment and the clean clothes on her body, the little girl answered in a daze.

Li Xinni took the little girl and sat aside, and then asked: "Can you tell sister what your name is now?"

"My name is Xiaohua, my mother and father both call me that, and my brother's name is Xiaoniu!"

The little girl answered quickly, and at the same time, she glanced at the boy playing in the courtyard, with some peace of mind on her face.

"Little flower?"

Obviously, this is not a formal name, just a nickname.

Just as he was talking, a woman walked in from outside, and at the same time, she was holding a name book in her hand.

"Princess, here is the list of orphans in the city, and there are also their names."

Speaking of this, the woman continued: "The chief officials of Shazhou City have recorded this very clearly, and they know about the women's palace in Chang'an City. They are currently preparing to send these children to Chang'an..."

Obviously, the woman was speaking favorably for the chief official of Shazhou City, and perhaps that was also the case.

Li Xinni also knew that the chief official of Shazhou City would not lie to him about this matter.

Nodding slightly, Li Xinni took the name book and found a page with the name of the little girl.

"Weiyang?"

"An Weiyang, that's a good name!"

That's right, the name of the little girl in front of her is An Weiyang. Obviously, her parents spent a lot of effort in choosing a name for her.

As for the girl An Weiyang's younger brother, his name is An Ning.

Somewhat biased towards women's names.

Peace, but not peace!

Li Xinni sighed slightly in her heart.

Looking sideways at An Weiyang, he found An Weiyang's bright eyes looking at the name book in his hand. He noticed Li Xinni's gaze, raised his head and looked at Li Xinni again, and then quickly lowered his head.

There is a lot of timidity in his demeanor.

"This contains your and your brother's names."

Li Xinni patiently explained: "Your name is actually An Weiyang, and your brother's name is An Ning!"

"An Weiyang... An Ning..."

An Weiyang wrote it down carefully, as if it would be engraved in his heart.

"At the same time, there are other children like you up here..."

"Sister, do you want to take them all to Chang'an?"

"Of course!"

Li Xinni nodded with absolute certainty.

"Chang'an...what does he look like?"

An Weiyang fell silent, and after a moment, she raised her head and asked.

"It's... pretty good!"

Li Xinni replied.

……

……

Time passed, and Prince Li Shimin led his army to the expedition. Nearly ten days have passed, and although they have not returned yet, news of the triumph has come.

Prince Li Shimin led the army in grief, crossed the Gobi, almost reached the grassland, and finally found traces of the Turks.

In the end, the Tang army surrounded the Turks layer by layer, and after a fierce battle, they finally returned victorious.

"I'm afraid it won't be long before we can go back!"

Li Xinni was sitting in a room. There were trees growing outside the hollow wooden window, which looked particularly lush in summer.

Shazhou City is an oasis. Although there is no farmland, there are still plants growing.

At this time, Li Xinni said to himself while writing this thing.

On the side, An Weiyang, who was already neatly dressed, was silently polishing ink for Li Xinni.

Hearing Li Xinni's words, anticipation appeared in her eyes, "Can we finally go to Chang'an..."

Chang'an, for her, is a sacred place. In her imagination, Chang'an should be a place without hunger and cold.

People there don't have to worry about food and clothing.

Seeing An Weiyang's expectations, Li Xinni also smiled slightly, and then began to think about the many orphans in Shazhou City.

Among them, there are more than [-] girls and more than [-] boys, totaling more than [-] people.

They are all aged from five to twelve years old. The older ones entered the army early and the younger ones did not survive.

What gave Li Xinni a headache was how to get these more than a hundred children to reach Chang'an City smoothly!

After all, Shazhou City is not close to Chang'an City.

"If it doesn't work, then send some soldiers to the people of the world to escort these children away slowly."

If he returns to Chang'an with the troops who conquered the Turks, he will obviously not be able to keep up with the advancing speed of the army.

(End of this chapter)