Traveling to Ancient Times: My Space Contains Weapons

Chapter 288 Encountering Disaster Victims and Offering Hope

The man looked at the bread in Chu Chen's hand, swallowed hard, but still refused.

"Young master, you must be a traveler from afar. I already feel bad for having eaten your food, so I cannot accept your charity!"

After hearing this, Chu Chen forcefully tore open the bread packaging and split the bread in half: "Big brother, you take half and I'll take half, how about that?"

Without waiting for his agreement, she shoved half a loaf of bread into his dirty hand.

The man opened his mouth wide as he smelled the aroma of the bread.

Then I took a bite, and tears instantly streamed down my face.

“Young master, today I, Wu Gang, have accepted your kindness in providing a meal, which allowed my family to survive. From now on, I am your man, and I will be at your beck and call whenever needed.”

Chu Chen was munching on his bread, completely bewildered. What was going on? It was just a piece of bread, why was he so moved to tears?

However, what Chu Chen didn't know was that Wu Gang, along with his wife, children, and elderly parents, had been starving for several days.

Not a single grain of rice or a single wild vegetable could be found in the fields.

He had originally planned to lie in bed and starve to death with his wife, children and elderly parents, but he hadn't expected to encounter Chu Chen knocking on the door as soon as he lay down.

If there were even the slightest hope, who would be willing to give up their life?

"Well, it's not really a task, brother. With such a severe disaster, why don't people seek help from the government or rebuild the land after the disaster?"

"Young master is joking. How could we lowly commoners possibly receive help from the government? It is said that there is disaster relief, but for some reason it has been delayed."

"Everyone wanted to clear land and plant crops, but they were too hungry and lacked the strength to do so because they had no seeds."

Wu Gang then began to explain to Chu Chen.

Perhaps it was seeing this wealthy family, or perhaps it was because she thought Chu Chen was from an official family, that she vented all the grievances and resentments she had accumulated over the years.

At this moment, he was not even afraid of death, so why would he be afraid of people?

Judging from this young master's actions, he doesn't seem like a bad person. If he can get help, the rest of the village can probably be saved. Why not do it?

After a while, Chu Chen had a general understanding of the situation here.

The disasters they suffered were the same as those of Daxia: flash floods following blizzards, followed by drought.

This makes sense, since it's just a mountain away from the Great Xia, and the climate isn't that different.

However, the official system of Wu Tuo Kingdom was far inferior to that of Da Xia.

When the disaster first struck, the authorities made a token effort to provide porridge at the city gate for a few days, but they never paid any attention to them after that.

So, these ordinary people, having eaten all their food, began to source mountain products from the mountains.

After they finished getting all the mountain produce, they started eating wild vegetables. Once they ran out of wild vegetables, they had no other choice.

Some starved to death, others fled the famine, but those who couldn't leave stayed in the village.

"Approximately how many people are left in your village?"

"Reporting to the young master, our village previously had about a thousand people, but now they have scattered and are mostly elderly and children. There are less than forty people left!"

Wu Gang looked at Chu Chen, shook his head, and said.

After listening, Chu Chen stood up and looked around the entire village.

Looking at this dilapidated and desolate scene, I thought to myself, "Then I'll help you out."

If you haven't encountered it, that's fine. But if you do encounter it and have the ability to help, then you should lend a hand!

"Brother Wu, in that case, please call out the rest of the people. I'll give everyone a good meal today!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Gang was overjoyed and bowed to Chu Chen again.

"Young master, you are truly a living bodhisattva! I'll go right away!"

After saying that, he jogged off to knock on doors one by one.

Before long, a dozen or so emaciated people appeared in the open space, staring blankly at Chu Chen.

As Wu Gang left, a bag of rice and a large iron pot appeared behind Chu Chen.

Seeing the dozen or so people in the open space, Chu Chen frowned: "Brother Wu, didn't you say there were still forty or so people left? Where are the others?"

Wu Gang looked at Chu Chen somewhat embarrassed.

"Young master, to be honest, most of the remaining people are women. Since they have no clothes, it is inconvenient for them to be seen by others."

"Holy crap, no clothes on?" Chu Chen frowned upon hearing this, thinking to himself that when he was in modern society, he saw a TV series that depicted a poor family where the whole family only had one road.

Whoever goes out wears it, while the rest stay in bed, unable to go out.

I never expected to see the truth of it all now.

So he said to Wu Gang, "Here's what we'll do: you take these people and cook first, I'll go and think of a way to help you."

After saying that, Chu Chen handed the rice and pot to Wu Gang, and then headed towards the village entrance.

Those dozen or so people with empty eyes suddenly saw the young master hand Wu Gang a bag of rice and a pot.

His eyes lit up instantly: "Young Master Wu, this young master?"

“Uncle Old Dwarf, this is a wandering bodhisattva, our savior.”

"Yes, yes, yes, our saviors!"

"Brother Wu Gang, that young master is all alone, why don't we..."

A slightly younger man watched Chu Chen leave and instantly had a wicked thought.

Before he could finish speaking, Wu Gang rushed forward and kicked him to the ground: "Wu Sanwa, if you have such thoughts again, even if that young master doesn't care, I, Wu Gang, will be the first to enforce the family rules!"

The older, shorter man also pointed at Wu Sanwa and said with a look of disappointment.

"Sanwa, do you believe that we'll beat you to death right now and feed you to the dogs? Then you can explain to the young master and beg for your life later."

Wu Sanwa looked at the angry crowd and immediately deflated.

Although he had this thought in his mind, he would never dare to do it alone. With his frail body, he wouldn't even be able to withstand a slap.

As soon as Chu Chen reached the village entrance and saw that no one was around, he waved his hand and a pile of down jackets appeared.

It was early spring, and the weather was still a bit cold, so they needed this.

After taking out the clothes, Chu Chen turned around and headed back towards the crowd.

When I walked to the open space, I saw a young man kneeling on the ground, looking at me with a wronged expression.

"Brother Wu, what's this?"

Chu Chen looked at Wu Gang and asked.

“Young master, you saved everyone’s lives, and we should be extremely grateful to you. However, this boy has harbored ill intentions towards you, so we are handing him over to you for disposal.”

After listening, Chu Chen squatted down and looked at the boy in front of him: "You want to kill me?"

“Young master, I was wrong. I was afraid of being hungry, which is why I had such a rebellious idea. Please forgive me.”

Chu Chen smiled slightly after hearing this: "It's human nature, I can understand it, but your mistake was that you shouldn't have tried to take advantage of me."