Returning Hearts

The man's eyes darted around before he broke into a fawning smile at Zhou Changhe. "This humble one, Niu Zhou, pays his respects to the lord official."

He squeezed a few forced tears from the corners of his eyes. "Our Niu Family Village has suffered bitterly these past years! The great drought scorched the earth until nothing grew. We had no clothes, no food, and no water. We ate everything there was to eat, and so many starved to death. Now that we have finally awaited the lord official's arrival, we won't have to suffer anymore."

Niu Zhou then turned and shouted at the servants behind him, "Come on, go holler through the village! Call everyone out!"

He turned back with an obsequious smile. "Does the lord official need our help? We might not have anything else, but we still have a bit of strength. We work quick and clean. We'll do whatever the lord official commands."

Zhou Changhe looked at Niu Zhou with a half-smile. "I do indeed have a use for you."

Niu Zhou bowed lower, smiling. "Command me as you wish, my lord. This humble one awaits your orders."

"I want your family's grain."

Niu Zhou went stiff, but an even thicker smile quickly covered his face. "The disaster is severe. Naturally, this humble one understands the need to share the nation's burdens. I am willing to donate all the grain in my household to relieve the state's worries."

He could easily tell that this group was absolutely not from the government. Furthermore, they flew the Zhou family banner. Was the Zhou family trying to stir up trouble and make a fortune during this great chaos?

With the opposing side boasting such numbers and arriving with clear hostility, resisting would only see decades of his family's wealth reduced to ashes. It was better to feign compliance, pretend to submit for now, and wait for the imperial army to arrive.

As for grain, as long as he kept his life, he could always grow more.

"Not bad, not bad," Zhou Changhe nodded with a smile. If the landlords and wealthy households of the villages ahead were as sensible as Niu Zhou, things would go smoothly.

"What are you all standing around for? Get inside and haul out the grain."

Hearing this, the villagers of Baixi Village immediately stirred and swarmed into the large courtyard.

Niu Zhou's courtyard guards hesitated, unsure whether to stop them. They could only look to their master. Though Niu Zhou's heart bled for his wealth, he waved his hand, signaling them to stand aside.

Meanwhile, the surviving villagers of Niu Family Village gathered at the guards' shouts. Yet, their appearance made the hearts of the Baixi Village men pound with shock. Some could not bear the sight and turned their heads away.

Every surviving villager was nothing but skin and bones, covered in filth, looking like skeletons draped in dead skin. Their eyes were deeply sunken, their faces a sickly blue-black, staring blankly like the wide eyes of dead fish. The surviving half-grown children had impossibly frail limbs, yet their bellies and heads were grotesquely bloated.

These villagers moved like walking corpses, showing no reaction whatsoever to the armed group from Baixi Village. Or perhaps they were simply too starved to react, wandering dazedly around the area.

The men of Baixi Village recoiled a few steps in fear, murmuring among themselves as they stared at the horrific scene.

"Isn't that Niu Datou? I saw him just a couple of years ago. How did he end up so pitiful?"

"That's him. A few years ago, he was built as strong as an ox. Now there's not a scrap of flesh left on him."

An older man sighed. "Ah, you youngsters have never lived through a true famine. If it weren't for the Zhou family's benevolent hearts-giving us porridge and summoning rain-we'd likely be worse off than them."

"But we dug the canals and the lakes. We didn't get fed for nothing," a young man muttered, unconvinced.

The elders instantly glared at him with cold fury. "What do you ungrateful brats know? Do you really think the Zhou family was in a hurry to build those things? They just didn't want to raise a bunch of idle mouths who would turn on them later! That's why they had us dig those canals and lakes."

"The Zhou family all live up on the mountain now. In the end, won't it be the village that benefits from the things we built?"

"You little bastard should be starved for a few days. That'd teach you a lesson."

The scolded young man pursed his lips, clearly still stubborn, but seeing more and more glaring eyes turn his way, he could only lower his head in silence.

Standing at the front, Zhou Changhe shouted out to the villagers of Niu Family Village, "Our Zhou family, by imperial decree, has come to provide disaster relief and save the people! Rest assured, every one of you will have grain to eat very soon!"

Hearing there was food, a faint glimmer of light finally broke through their dead, stagnant eyes. They looked toward Zhou Changhe with desperate hope.

"Food... where is the food..."

A dazed, confused man suddenly began to tremble. Mustering a burst of unnatural strength, he dragged himself across the dirt toward Zhou Changhe.

The Zhou family guards on either side hurriedly shielded Zhou Changhe, watching the man warily.

"Great lord... is it true?"

The man's voice was weak and reedy, so starved he could barely form the words.

"My Zhou family is true to its word. We will brew porridge for you shortly."

As he spoke, a group of men carried dozens of sacks of rice out of the manor, piling them into small mounds on the ground. Zhou Minghu and a few others were just ordering the servants to fetch iron pots and firewood. But the moment the starving villagers laid eyes on the rice, their eyes gleamed with a feral green light. Bursting with sudden, desperate energy, they charged forward. Some threw themselves onto the sacks, greedily inhaling the scent of the grain, while others grabbed handfuls of raw rice and shoved it directly into their mouths. Even as the men of Baixi Village tried frantically to pull them back, they could hardly stop the frenzy.

"Father, I see rice! I see rice!" a half-grown child wailed, before falling stiffly backward into the dirt.

A filthy old man jammed raw rice into his mouth with reckless abandon until a choked gurgle tore from his throat. He suffocated right there, choked to death by his own mouthful.

Another man sprinting toward the piles suddenly tripped, hit the ground hard, and never got back up.

These gruesome scenes hammered into the hearts of the Baixi Village men, shocking the younger generation into dead silence.

Baixi Village had simply been established too recently. Even the four prominent families-Qian, Liu, Wang, and Sun-had not yet consolidated power or annexed the surrounding land. Every household still owned a few mu of fields. Even when life was harsh, they were never reduced to utter starvation.

Because of this, the people of Baixi Village-especially those under thirty-had never truly experienced days without food.

As the saying goes, a handful of rice buys gratitude, but a sack of rice buys resentment.

Therefore, even though the Zhou family had set up porridge stations, the thin broth never completely filled their bellies. Forced to dig canals and lakes under the scorching sun every day, these men had complained bitterly, harboring significant resentment toward the Zhou family.

But now, witnessing the tragic, horrifying state of the Niu Family Village, their hearts trembled uncontrollably-torn between pity and sheer terror.

If not for the Zhou family distributing grain and porridge, they themselves would have starved to death long ago.

Zhou Changhe looked at the dying villagers with deep compassion. He turned to the men behind him and barked, "Hurry up and find iron pots and firewood! Pots, bowls, ladles-anything will do. Boil all this grain into porridge! Make it thick, and do not let them go hungry!"

Qian Fangsu was the quickest to respond. He immediately turned and led a group toward the collapsed houses to tear down the beams and timber.

After all, the heavy rain had just passed. The trees outside were soaking wet and useless for kindling.

Sun Mingcheng was even more ruthless. He led his clansmen straight into the surviving houses, forcibly ripping the iron cauldrons right out of the hearths.

Ironically, it was the two factions of the Wang family that remained at odds. Even at a critical juncture like this, they bickered over who should haul the grain first and who was doing more work-a truly ridiculous sight.

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