My whole family time-traveled! I became a god during my exile in a famine.

Chapter 95 Your Highness, did you see that?

The men and women in front of him suddenly pounced on him and grabbed him, which frightened Xiao Jia so much that he hurriedly drew his knife.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on me!" he shouted. "Stop right there!"

Men and women crowded around, crying and pleading, "Please have mercy, everyone. It's so hot, we can't live without water!"

"Water? What water? Look at us, do we look like people who need water?" Xiao Jia irritably ruffled his hair.

How rare! Of all the people to ask for things, why ask these penniless, miserable convicts for food and drink? It's like going against the natural order!

These days, the convicts had been crawling in the dirt and swimming in the water, and they were all covered in dust and dirt.

Except for a very few, such as the young master who recently joined the group, whose clothes and hair were still clean, everyone else, including the Sixth Miss, looked like beggars on the street...

"Please, please have mercy on me."

Please, please, please.

Erdan blocked the crowd with his sheathed knife, saying, "There are so many of us, we don't even have enough to drink ourselves. Don't force others to drink. Let's go."

The elderly man leading the group stepped forward shakily, cupped his hands in greeting, and said, "You gentlemen are the government officials, aren't you?"

"We are villagers who fled from Huangcun. I am Huang Gui, the old village chief of Huangcun."

"Huang Village?" Han Zhao strode up to them, looking them up and down. "Has your village... recently been raided by bandits?"

Village Chief Huang trembled slightly, his hand holding the curved wooden stick shaking. "Young master, you came from Xiaoling Village up ahead, didn't you?"

"We heard that Xiaoling Village had been massacred by bandits, so we hurriedly left the village and planned to find a place to stay in Wan'an Prefecture."

"Do you know the origins of these bandits?"

The village chief hurriedly waved his hand, "I don't know, I don't know, how would we know? Our village is closest to Xiaoling Village. The villagers are all worried that we will be the next ones to be slaughtered, so we packed our things and left the village."

"No way." Han Li stepped forward, a hint of doubt on his face. "Your whole village, and only a dozen or so people escaped?"

"No, no." The village chief waved his hands repeatedly. "Our village of about a hundred households left in batches. The first batch left the day after the earth shook. Our few families had some things to do at home and outside, so we only set off a couple of days ago."

"Kind-hearted people, we are truly good citizens fleeing from disaster. We beg you to have some water. Or perhaps we could... we could exchange some food for water?"

Erdan pointed to the prison uniforms on the convicts, his honest face showing a look of distress. "They really don't have any! Alas, we are all suffering people, to tell you the truth. We were escorting a group of convicts on the road. Our food and water were all lost on the day of the earthquake. We have been barely surviving these days, and we don't know how long we can last."

A dozen or so villagers from Huangcun burst into tears. The convicts exchanged glances, unsure how to get rid of them.

Suddenly, a woman from Huangcun, carrying a seven or eight-year-old boy, knelt down in front of Xiaojia with a thud. "Officer, do you want the child? We don't need money, just buy the child and give him a drink."

"We really have no other choice. We can endure hunger without food, but we'll die if we don't have clean water for a day or two."

"Is that so?" The two light words, spoken amidst the cries and shouts, sounded particularly clear.

What is that?! Everyone looked completely bewildered.

If you can't drink water, you'll die. Isn't that a fact?

Xin Nian walked out from the separated crowd and slowly approached the villagers of Huang Village. She looked down at them and smiled, "When people are truly thirsty, they don't care whether the food and water are dirty or not."

"Your picky eating habits mean you're actually...not thirsty at all."

The village chief of Huangcun, who was leading the group, was startled by the little girl who suddenly approached him, and he shrank back.

Xin Nian laughed at them. The laughter terrified even the convicts, let alone the cowardly villagers of Huangcun.

"Grandpa, why did you lie to us?"

Xin Nian extended a pair of hands wearing disposable gloves, her face full of kindness, and gently helped the old man up from the ground.

The village chief of Huangcun stiffened, suddenly feeling the hairs on his body stand on end, and all 38,800 pores on his body silently opened.

He met the little girl's smiling eyes, which seemed to be full of endless tenderness, and couldn't help but tremble.

"Why are you trembling, old man?" Xin Nian raised her hand and patted the old man's arm. "Tell me, what's the benefit of lying to us? Don't be afraid, I'm not trying to scare you, I just want you to tell the truth."

"Who asked you to come?"

The village chief of Huangcun remained silent, too terrified to move.

"Is this your grandson?" Xin Nian glanced at the boy who had just been seen out of the crowd by the woman.

The woman shrank back in surprise and instinctively hugged the boy tightly.

"Weren't you going to give it to us? Why did you change your mind again?" Xin Nian asked with a smile.

The woman clung tightly to the boy, shrinking her neck and not daring to utter a sound.

“I hate it when people lie to me.” Xin Nian’s expression changed instantly, turning cold. “I especially hate it when people go back on their word.”

"Why are you going back on your word? Can't there be even the most basic trust between people?" As she spoke, Xin Nian moved with lightning speed, grabbing the old man's fragile neck and staring at him coldly. "Tell me, who sent you to be the vanguard?"

The brothers Han Zhao and Han Li had already silently retreated to Xiao Jin's side.

Han Zhao turned to look at his master, expecting to see shock on his face, but instead...

Your Highness, what's the meaning behind your bright, fixed gaze?
Wake up, Your Highness!
Han Zhao took a breath and muttered softly, "Did you see? The sixth young lady has fallen ill again..."

Sixth Sister's hysteria has flared up again!

He would suddenly have a fit of madness every now and then, and when he did, it was quite frightening.

"You're the one who's having an episode," Xiao Jinzhi said dismissively. "What do you know? These people are clearly problematic."

Han Zhao was about to ask: What problems could a group of villagers who are powerless even kill a chicken have?

His Highness then said, "They must have been coerced into coming here."

The villagers of Huangcun were terrified and were about to scatter and flee when Xin Nian shouted "Stop!" to stop them.

Liang Guangxia and his gang of constables, along with the brothers from Longhu Village, rushed forward, grabbed the villagers of Huang Village, and threw them one by one to the old village chief, where they rolled around in a pile.

With Xin Nian gripping his neck, the old village chief could only let out a series of guttural sounds, like a trapped beast.

Several villagers from Huangcun broke down, collapsing to the ground and wailing, "Please, have mercy on us! We didn't come here on purpose; we were forced into this situation."

“It was Commander Wang who sent us. He called himself Commander Wang and brought over a hundred strong young men to arrest everyone in our village.”

"We'll die if we don't listen to them, boohoo."

Xin Nian let go, and the poor old village chief fell to the ground, clutching his throat and coughing repeatedly.