Chapter 126: Where Are You Going?

Chapter 126: Where Do You Think You're Going?

"News from the county says the Emperor flew into a rage when he heard and has already sent the prefect of Chuanyang Prefecture to come put us down."

Old Lin's brow furrowed. Over the past few days, with his strength and fighting ability, plus Little Chen's quick wits backing him up, he'd started to stand out among the refugees, and a lot of people listened to him now.

By scaring the folks in the county town, they'd managed to squeeze out enough food for these past few days.

But now that the real officials were coming down, a bunch of starving refugees like them going up against proper government troops would be like a mouse picking a fight with a cat—utterly hopeless.

No way that's gonna fly.

Old Lin looked at Gu Chaoning. "Little Chen, where'd you hear this?"

"From the county," Gu Chaoning said, casting a covert look toward the town.

"Well, you see, I got an uncle who's a beggar in the county. You know how word gets around among beggars. I've been kicking him a share of the food I've gotten these past few days, and he feeds me info from the inside."

So that was it.

It suddenly clicked for Old Lin. No wonder he'd always felt Little Chen was a bit too much in the know.

He'd known the kid had some kind of connection, but he hadn't figured it was an uncle in the county.

Old Lin breathed a sigh of relief, thought for a moment, then rounded up the folks who had a say among the refugees.

"...So that's the deal. The prefect's coming, which means we absolutely can't keep up this fake siege these next few days."

Some who'd long wanted to storm Tong County and grab food and wine for a good feast objected. "Aw, why the hell not? Brother Lin, you've got so much muscle—why don't we just take Tong County before the officials get here? I know a hideout in the hills..."

"Screw you, you greedy little pig-faced bastard, squawking like a frog and trying to get your old man killed?" Old Lin's big paw, the size of a ham, whacked the speaker upside the head. "If you wanna rob, go rob on your own. Don't look at me to lead the pack."

But then Old Lin paused.

Actually, let them go rob. Then he could play the innocent, law-abiding citizen standing with Tong County, and when the officials came chasing after them, they wouldn't come looking for him.

Old Lin's tone did a complete 180. "Aw, my bad, bro."

He pulled the guy's head in and gave it a rub. Everyone around was looking at him like he'd grown a second head, and even Gu Chaoning had a sour look on his face.

"Look, all Old Lin here wants is a full belly, and I wanna go back to farming someday. When the officials arrive and flash their blades, I'll probably piss my pants in fear. I ain't gonna be dead weight for you all."

Everyone: "..."

Nobody could be bothered with him, so they all just kept their mouths shut.

Old Lin didn't give a damn. He just went ahead and made his call. "Anyway, from now on, I'm gonna be the most well-behaved refugee you've ever seen. You wanna scrap, go scrap without me."

With that, he took off with his boys and Gu Chaoning in tow, leaving the rest of them standing there, each with their own agenda.

Gu Chaoning followed behind Old Lin, thinking this guy really knew how to work a crowd. As long as there wasn't a war or a famine, that man was gonna die of old age, no doubt about it.

That night, Tong County was dead quiet for a change. The folks inside weren't used to not hearing the refugees outside hollering for food, and they felt uneasy, worried the refugees were cooking up something big.

A lot of folks didn't get a wink of sleep that night. The big families that hadn't gotten out of town kept sending people to the yamen to poke around for answers.

A Zheng got Gu Chaoning's message and stayed up all night too, keeping watch at the gates.

The silence held until high noon the next day. Just when the folks in Tong County were starting to really sweat it, the city gates got hammered on again.

This time, it was different from the previous skirmishes. They'd torn down shacks to rig up ladders and tied thick logs together for a bunch of guys to haul and slam into the gates.

A Zheng had planned ahead and stacked logs crosswise in front of the gates, and the second the banging started, he had men brace the doors.

For the guys shimmying up the ladders, they jabbed them off with long poles tipped with sharpened points or tied rocks.

At the end of the day, these were just refugees—farm folk who used to till the soil—and the county town had way more people on its side.

But maybe knowing the officials were on their way had lit a fire under them, and sure enough, somebody actually made it up the wall.

Meanwhile, the gates were shaking from the repeated impacts.

The first to reach the top was Zhang Da—the same man who'd tried to incite Old Lin to raid Tong County the day before.

The second Zhang Da's boot hit the wall, his eyes bugged out with excitement. He let out a snort like a bull, raised his machete high, ready to swing it down just like he'd done every time before—

"Thunk!"

Zhang Da stared blankly down at the arrow embedded in his chest. His body swayed, then toppled off the wall.

A booming voice rang out from behind: "The son of the Chuanyang Prefecture Prefect is here! Everyone, drop your weapons immediately!"

Gu Chaoning turned to look. There, atop a tall horse, was He Feiguang, bow in hand, already taking aim at the next person climbing the wall.

Beside him rode a large, imposing man, turned slightly sideways. Gu Chaoning felt he looked familiar, but couldn't make out his face.

The government troops had arrived this early.

Damn! Zhimo and A Zheng were still inside Tong County.

He could only hope the two of them were clever enough not to get caught by the officials.

As for when they'd be able to get out...

Gu Chaoning rubbed his forehead.

Probably not until the imperial relief grain arrived.

At that thought, he couldn't help but let out a mocking laugh. Old Lin beside him wrinkled his face and looked at Gu Chaoning, unable to fathom why the boy could laugh at a moment like this.

Gu Chaoning: "...Brother Lin, the officials are here."

Yeah, they're here, so what—Old Lin snapped back to reality and immediately threw himself to the ground, wailing. Amidst all the chaos, his cries somehow carried all the way to He Feiguang's ears.

"Oh, my lords, you've finally come—!"

The last word was drawn out in a long, cracking shriek.

"If you'd come any later, we'd have been bullied to death by these rebellious refugees!"

The men following Old Lin started crying too. Some who were still fighting the officials, utterly outmatched, heard Old Lin's cries and realized what was happening. They turned and ran toward him.

As they ran, they shouted: "Brother! How could you do this!"

With others leading the charge, the rest turned and fled as well. Old Lin saw the young lord at the front raise his bow and take aim at him. His mind went blank, and he instinctively grabbed Gu Chaoning beside him and ran in another direction.

The group scattered and fled, with the government troops in hot pursuit, leaving only the old, weak, and disabled refugees standing around looking utterly bewildered.

How... how had things come to this?

Gu Chaoning followed behind Lao Lin, silently cursing the moment Lao Lin took off running.

He wanted to find a chance to slip out of the group, head back around Tong County to get word to A Zheng and Zhimo, then leave—but this Lao Lin was just too damn loyal.

Seeing that Gu Chaoning couldn't keep up, and recalling the advice and information Gu Chaoning had given him these past days, Lao Lin gritted his teeth and simply scooped Gu Chaoning up into his arms.

Gu Chaoning: "...ugh, Brother Lin, ugh, put me down now, don't make me hurl all over you."

Lao Lin said in a panic: "Oh my dear little brother, don't you dare throw up—the folks behind us are starving crazy. If you puke now, they'll pounce on us and eat whatever comes up."

Gu Chaoning: "..."

He'd only been faking the nausea, but now Lao Lin's words made him feel genuinely queasy.

They knew the terrain better than the officials, and the officials had their own worries, so it didn't take long to lose them.

The group hunkered down in a snow hollow, and instead of feeling cold, they were drenched in sweat.

Lao Lin had been running so long that the moment he stopped, his stomach let out a loud "gurgle."

He clutched his stomach, thinking that if it weren't for those rebels dragging him into this mess, he'd be chowing down on fresh grain right now!

With that thought, he shot to his feet, stormed over to the guy who'd dragged him in, and slapped him hard across the face.

"I'd already split from you bastards, and you still dared to drag me into this!"

The man smiled, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, not even flinching. "Brother Lin, you're our leader. When push comes to shove, how could you ditch us?"

Seeing Lao Lin raise his hand to hit him again, he raised his voice a notch. "Now that Brother Lin's the head of these rebel refugees, killing me would just make what I said true."

Lao Lin's hand stopped.

But he still couldn't let it slide. He lowered his hand, stomped on the man's foot, and ground it in hard.

The man yelped in pain, but still twisted his face into a grin.

The group of fifty or sixty or so moved on, found a patch of woods that looked safe enough, built a shelter out of snow bricks, and lit three campfires. Then they settled in, some sitting, some sprawled out.

They bunked down there for the night. With no food to speak of, most of them had gone nearly two days without a bite, and a few wanted to take their chances in the woods.

To their surprise, they actually scored. The group bagged six rabbits, two pheasants, and dug up two snake nests before heading back out.

It wasn't much, but it was just enough for everyone to get a little something.

Gu Chaoning was itching to get back. He'd tried to slip away the night before, but Lao Lin, worried it wasn't safe, insisted on keeping watch all night, so Gu Chaoning had no choice but to stick around.

He'd planned to try again that night, and finally made it to evening—but Lao Lin set up the night watch again.

Gu Chaoning shot his hand up. "I'll take watch with Brother Liangzi."

"No, you little—eh? Is that a monkey over there?"

Gu Chaoning froze, then quickly turned his head, and saw a small golden monkey squatting on a branch not far away, watching them.

Gu Chaoning's mind went blank.

It was Guozi.

He almost instinctively stood up, wanting to walk forward, but Lao Lin pulled him back.

"Not to be blunt, brother, you're not thinking of catching that monkey to eat, are you? It's up in the tree—you couldn't catch it if you tried. It'd run you around like a dog on a leash."

Gu Chaoning stopped, speechless. After that, whatever Lao Lin said faded into the background. He just watched the little monkey seem to grin at him, then dart away quickly.

In the dead of night, hearing the breathing beside him, he carefully got up and started to walk out. He hadn't taken two steps before a hand grabbed his arm.

"Where are you going?"

Gu Chaoning turned around. In the firelight, Lao Lin flashed a grin, teeth bared, eyes sharp and gleaming.