Sold immediately after wearing it? I took my family and fled the famine.

As each family passed through the cave entrance, they grabbed a handful of grain from their grain sacks and placed it in the tattered cloth bags prepared by the group. Some people honestly grabbed some, while others tried to be clever, pushing their children forward to hold the grain. The amount held by the little hands was less than half that of the adults.

Someone on the other side got angry and took a step forward with a curved knife. The child's father immediately pulled the child behind him and shouted, "What's wrong! It was supposed to be a small handful, and it didn't say who would give it! You didn't bring your wife and child and you're trying to extort money from us? We gave you that handful, so why can't we leave!" The people behind were blocked from entering the cave and joined in the commotion, each one louder than the last.

The man's face darkened from the noise, but he eventually swallowed his anger and moved aside.

The cave is much larger inside than it appears from the outside. As you walk in, the ceiling gradually rises, and at the very back, after a bend, there is a spacious area that can accommodate dozens of people lying down.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of dry pine needles and reeds, which felt soft underfoot. The air was dry, making it feel like a completely different world from the muddy ground outside.

But the cave had already been occupied by the earlier refugees. There were only about a hundred of them, but they occupied most of the cave. Their bedding was spread out, piled up here and there, with wide and scattered gaps in the middle. Even though they could have squeezed in dozens more people if they had moved, they refused to move.

Some people lay on their bedding, legs crossed, yawning; others squatted in the corner, chewing on something. When the newcomers came in, they didn't even lift their eyelids. They collected the grain, but no one moved an inch.

"Make way." Uncle San stood in front of a young man, carrying bedding.

The young man, wrapped in a tattered blanket, took up a large space. He glanced up at his third uncle, turned over, and didn't move.

The third uncle didn't waste any words with him. He put the bedding aside, sat down at the man's feet, stretched out his legs, spread dry straw on top, unfolded the bedding, and helped Zhang Shi to sit on it. Xiao Niu was wrapped in the quilt.

The young man, finding it too crowded, muttered something and moved half an inch to the side. A fire was lit in front of the bedding, and the flames flickered, illuminating the cave walls and gradually warming the cave.

Jiang Xing placed the clay pot on the fire, opened the last few packets of warming medicine, poured them in, added water, and simmered. The aroma of the medicine filled the air. She brought the first bowl to Zhang Shi's lips, and Zhang Shi, leaning against the blankets, drank it. Third Uncle also drank a bowl, and after finishing, he leaned against the stone wall and closed his eyes.

The calf pinched its nose and forced the medicine down its throat, sticking out its tongue in the bitterness.

After the medicine was brewed and given to his family, Jiang Xing stood up and looked around. The cave was already crowded with people, with fires burning one after another, and wet clothes hanging by the fires, steaming.

The livestock were led to the innermost part of the cave. Uncle San tied the ox to a rock and laid dry grass on it. The ox lowered its head and slowly chewed its rumination. This was the first time it could rest properly after traveling for so many days.

It was still raining outside, but the temperature inside the cave was warm.

In the middle of the night, coughing began. First, someone in the distance coughed twice, then someone nearby followed suit. In less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the coughing became a continuous chorus.

Jiang Xing leaned against Zhang Shi with his eyes closed, keeping a close eye on Zhang Shi and his third uncle.

The woman squeezed through the crowd, crouching low, carrying a three- or four-year-old child in her arms. She walked quickly, dodging people lying haphazardly on the ground.

When she reached Jiang Xing, she squatted down, panting heavily. The child in her arms was pale, with his eyes closed and his mouth opening and closing as he breathed heavily, his breathing rapid and shallow.

The woman's cotton-padded jacket was wet in the front, whether from tears or rain that hadn't dried completely, it was hard to tell. Most of her hair was disheveled and plastered to her face, and her voice was hoarse and cracked.

"Girl, girl, you have medicine. Please give some to the child, just a little bit, enough to brew one bowl." She lifted the tattered cotton-padded coat wrapped around the child.

"Look at this child, she's so feverish she can't even open her mouth. If this drags on any longer, I'm afraid she won't make it through the night. Please, I beg you..."

Jiang Xing looked at her, and after a moment of silence, he said, "We're out of medicine, and my family members are also running a fever."

"Girl, your family has already taken their medicine! Look at this child." The woman pushed the child towards Jiang Xing, tears falling onto the child's face, and the child squeezed out a muffled groan.

The woman grabbed Jiang Xing's sleeve: "How can you bear to watch a child burn to death like this? You're a woman too, you have a younger brother, how can you bear to watch a poor child die without even offering a helping hand?"

Jiang Xing pulled her sleeve out of the woman's hand. She looked down at the woman, her tone unwavering: "I have to keep my medicine for my family, I can't bear to do that, but I don't have any extra medicine to share with others."

She didn't give a word. Right now, everyone in the cave was coughing, and everyone needed medicine. She only had two doses left. If she set a precedent and gave it to her, people would come in droves. If she said she didn't have any more, no one would believe her, and it would only cause her more trouble.

He shoved the woman's hand away, his tone leaving no room for negotiation: "It's not that I don't want to save them, it's that I can't afford to. If I save this one, there are dozens more over there. Then everyone will come to me for medicine, and there won't be enough to go around. The saliva in the cave could drown me. You care about your child, and I care about my family. Let's each look after our own."

The woman froze for a moment, her pleading expression stiffening, and then her face changed.

She wasn't the type to just walk away after being rejected. She jumped to her feet, grabbed the child, turned around, and yelled at the entire cave, "You all heard that! She left someone to die! She has medicine; she hid dozens of packets of medicine under her basket. She was just brewing medicine for her family. Other people's children were dying of fevers, but she ignored them all; she only cares about her own family! You be the judge!"

Her man pushed his way through the crowd; he was tall and burly, his cotton trousers had two holes worn through at the knees, and his eyes were bloodshot like a spider web.

He pointed at Jiang Xing and then at Widow Sun not far away, his voice even louder than a woman's: "I saw it with my own eyes! At Guandu Ferry, she gave a widow several packets of medicine! It was her medicine that brought down that child's high fever! She gives it to others, but not to us? Isn't my daughter human? You said you didn't have enough medicine, so you didn't share a packet with us, but why did you share it with others back then?"

"Exactly!" the woman's voice was shrill and sharp as she pulled the child closer to her. "Her child is a child, but our children aren't?"

Several gazes fell upon Jiang Xing from the crowd. Not everyone joined in the commotion, but no one spoke up to stop them. Only coughs and the woman's sharp accusations echoed in the cave.

Ma Dadan strode through the crowd from behind, the scar on his face darkened by the firelight.

He stood in front of Jiang Xing, shielding her behind him, and said calmly, "It's their own medicine; it's their right to give it to their family. Giving it to them is a favor, not giving it to them is reasonable. What right do you have to force them? Go back."

The woman looked up and glared at him: "Who do you think you are? You..." Before she could finish her sentence, Ma Dadan had already placed his hand on the hilt of his knife.

He didn't draw his sword and swing it outwards; he simply placed his hand on the hilt and remained motionless, watching the couple. The woman's mouth was open, but the words she was about to say were stuck in her throat, and she didn't dare to utter another word.

"Hey, let me take this child's pulse. Follow me." An old voice came from behind. It was an old man with neatly combed hair, carrying a medicine box on his back. He looked like a doctor.

The couple didn't dare delay and quickly took their child to find the old man.