Chapter 47: Taking In

At a street corner in Ji County, Weihui Prefecture, Henan, six-year-old Niuniu curled up in a corner. Her thin single-layer clothes were filthy and ragged, and through the torn sleeves, her stick-thin arms had lost their original complexion. Her hair was like a tangled mess of weeds.

Though it was already mid-spring and the sun felt warm on her skin, she felt as cold as deep winter, her whole body trembling as if she had a fever. Her dull, lifeless eyes looked southward as she thought hazily: Why hasn't brother come back yet? So cold... if only brother could hold me! Just like Mother used to hug me... So sleepy... Huh? Mother, is that you? Mother! Hold Niuniu, I'm cold. Where's Father? Mother, hold Niuniu, Mother! Why are you leaving again?

Eight-year-old Daniu ran with all his might, both hands pressed tightly against his chest, where half a hard sorghum cake was tucked inside his clothes.

He had begged for a long time before a kind auntie gave him half a cake. He and his sister hadn't eaten for two days. Father and Mother were both dead—Daniu knew they had starved to death.

Father and Mother had left the last mouthful of food for him and his sister, while they themselves desperately ate guanyin clay until their bellies swelled up tight.

Father died first. The unwilling, despairing look in his eyes before he died was something Daniu would never forget for the rest of his life.

Before Mother died, though she could no longer speak, she still used her last strength to place her daughter's hand into Daniu's, looking at him with hope in her eyes.

Daniu understood—Mother wanted him to protect his little sister.

Daniu's tears had long since run dry. Because he was too young and lacked the strength to dig a grave to bury his parents. With years of continuous drought and failed harvests, only the dead remained in the village—the living had all fled.

Daniu and his sister, whose voice had gone hoarse from crying, kowtowed three times to their parents, then he led her toward the county town several dozen li away. When Father was alive, he had told him that following the only road east would lead to the county town.

After running a hundred or so steps, Daniu had no strength left. Having not eaten for two days, his whole body was as soft as noodles, and countless stars swam before his eyes.

Daniu slowed his pace, shuffling forward step by step. His little sister was still waiting to eat.

It took him a long while before he finally shuffled to his sister's side. Niuniu seemed to be asleep. Daniu crouched down, pulling out the cake with one hand while shaking his sister's body with the other: "Niuniu, don't sleep. Look, see what brother's got in his hand!"

Niuniu vaguely heard someone calling her. It took a moment before she recognized her brother's voice. She tried hard to open her eyes, but her eyelids seemed glued shut.

She wanted to answer her brother, but all the strength in her body seemed to have vanished. She only wanted to sleep—if she slept, she could see Father and Mother again.

Seeing that his sister hadn't woken up, Daniu could feel her body trembling slightly through his shaking hand. He set down the cake and lifted his sister's upper body—she was burning hot.

He knew his sister was sick. Daniu's heart suddenly felt as if a hand were squeezing it, aching terribly. He understood what getting sick at a time like this meant.

Daniu cried, holding his sister and sobbing heart-wrenchingly. He felt he had failed his parents—Mother had told him to protect his sister, but she was about to die.

A gentle voice reached Daniu's ears: "Little brother, what's wrong?"

Daniu looked up through tear-blurred eyes. A young man in a gray robe stood before him, looking at him.

Daniu sobbed: "My sister's sick—she's going to die!"

The young man bent down and touched Niuniu's burning forehead, frowning: "It's a chill. She won't die from this, but we need to find a doctor."

Daniu said joyfully: "She really won't die?"

The young man smiled: "If you trust me, follow me. I'll take your sister to find a doctor!"

Daniu looked at him warily. Father had said there were kidnappers in this world who took children away to cut out their hearts and livers.

Seeing Daniu's expression, the young man guessed what he was thinking.

He reached into his robes and pulled out a wooden plaque, waving it at him: "See this? I work for the government. Would I deceive you? Bad people wouldn't have something like this!"

At the mention of the government, Daniu's wariness instantly turned to fear.

When he was little, an ox in the village had died of illness, and government officials came to investigate. The constables were terrifying—even the village head, such an important man, didn't dare stand up straight before them and even got whipped once by one of them.

The young man said gently: "Where are your parents?"

Daniu lowered his head and replied: "My father and mother both starved to death."

The young man sighed: "Come on. Let's cure your sister first. After that, I'll take you to a place where you can eat your fill and stay warm."

Daniu looked at him doubtfully.

The young man smiled: "I'm from the government. A noble lord sent me to search for orphans like you. Hurry—if we're late, your sister really will die!"

Daniu struggled to his feet, trying to drag his sister up, but he had no strength left. The young man sighed softly again, bent down, scooped Niuniu into his arms, and strode off quickly. Daniu picked up the half cake and followed closely behind.

By the time Chongzhen came again to the imperial estate, it was already the fourth month of the ninth year of Chongzhen.

The wheat in the fields had begun to joint and form ears. After a winter of fertilizing and watering, the wheat was growing well. An unbroken expanse of green carpeted the earth, filling one with anticipation for the harvest a month away.

After more than half a year of sustained investment, the tenant farmers of the imperial estate had been completely transformed. Men and women, old and young, all had work to do, and their incomes were steadily rising. Chickens and ducks had begun laying eggs, and all the eggs produced were purchased by the imperial household at market prices, then sent to the Yongwei Camp to supplement the nutrition of the soldiers in daily training.

With money in hand, the farmers began buying daily necessities—needles and thread, pots and pans, oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar. Some of the wealthier families even purchased cosmetics and face powder for their women, items that counted as luxuries.

Merchants had the keenest noses. From the early days of peddlers coming door to door to the present shops doing business, a market of considerable scale had gradually formed outside the estate walls.

Because of the imperial estate's demonstration effect, the estates of various nobles and powerful families around had no choice but to grudgingly lower their rents. The original seven-tenths was mostly reduced to five-tenths, and the tenant farmers were deeply grateful—finally they could eat their fill, even if it was only coarse grain, something they couldn't have dreamed of before.

Chongzhen, however, was already preparing to lower the rent to three-tenths when the summer harvest came. He imagined those nobles must be cursing him with all manner of venomous words in private.

When the estate wall was being built, Chongzhen had specifically instructed that it be expanded considerably outward. The original farmhouses now formed the innermost part of the estate, while rows of new timber-and-earth houses were built around the perimeter, packed tightly against one another—a layout Chongzhen had planned based on the model of collective dormitories from the sixties and seventies of the later era.

For the old, weak, women, and children who had been on the brink of death, having a place to shelter was already a blessing from heaven—what more could they ask? Such houses saved a great deal of space, and if anyone prospered in the future, they could find another place and build their own home.

The people living here were all women and children who had fled the drought in Shaanxi and Henan. As for the elderly—there wasn't a single one. In a great disaster, most elderly people, to save a mouthful of food for their children, chose to eat tree roots and bark. When there was nothing left to eat, they could only eat guanyin clay, and the result was predictable.

Most able-bodied men had chosen to take their whole families and join the ranks of the roving bandits. The women and children whose households had no able-bodied men were taken in here.

The young man who had rescued Daniu and Niuniu was Wang Ancheng, an Embroidered Uniform Guard officer. The Embroidered Uniform Guard had been ordered by imperial decree to leave the capital and gather up women and children, and Wang Ancheng was one of them. After Niuniu recovered from her illness, Wang Ancheng brought Daniu, Niuniu, and more than twenty other orphans back to the capital, where they were settled at the imperial estate. After being promoted to Squad Leader for his merits, Wang Ancheng had once again left the capital to carry out the same mission.

Daniu and his sister were among the first batch of orphans to arrive here. Considering that Niuniu was a girl, the estate head who distributed the houses specially arranged a two-room suite for them. Each room had a simple wooden plank bed with brand-new bedding. Daniu slept in the outer room, and the inner room belonged to Niuniu.

The first thing every woman and child who came to the imperial estate did was take a mandatory bath. Their old clothes were burned and buried to prevent the spread of disease.

Two bathhouses had been built in the settlement. The men's bathhouse had a large pool filled with scalding hot water. The women's bathhouse consisted of individual stalls partitioned by wooden boards, each containing a large wooden tub and soap beans. To care for little girls like Niuniu, several women had been specially assigned to scrub the children clean.

Freshly washed Daniu, Niuniu, and the others would each receive brand-new robes and shoes, all made according to Chongzhen's requirements. Because of the refugee intake, the military uniform workshop had specially assigned some women to sew clothing for them.

Niuniu, now fully recovered, was overjoyed after her bath and new clothes. She skipped and hopped back to the house, went to her bed in the inner room, took off her new shoes, and climbed onto the bed with its mattress. She bounced a few times, then suddenly froze. Slowly she lay down, wrapped herself tightly in the quilt, and tears streamed silently down her face. Father and Mother—she wondered if they had new quilts to cover themselves with underground.

Chongzhen held Zhu Meichuo's little hand, strolling leisurely through the market outside the estate.

Zhu Meichuo held a candied hawthorn stick in her hand, eating while looking around at everything. Like Zhu Cilang, her world had been limited to the area around Qianqing Palace. Every day she faced only palace maids and eunuchs—everything outside was utterly novel to her.

Take the candied hawthorn in her hand, for instance—bright red berries coated in caramelized sugar, its sweet-and-sour taste filling her with delight.

Zhu Cilang was quite dismissive of the things little girls liked. Though he secretly wanted a taste, he sternly refused the candied hawthorn his sister offered him, then quietly instructed the guards accompanying them to buy several more to take back to the capital for Erya. He had only met Erya once, but Zhu Cilang had never stopped thinking about her.

Chongzhen smiled indulgently at his son's little tricks, then said to Cheng Qianli, who was warily scanning their surroundings: "Old Cheng, this isn't your first time accompanying me out. Don't be so tense. Let me ask you—what dreams do you have?"

Cheng Qianli was taken aback, scratched his head, and replied: "Reporting to Master Huang, this humble one never dreams when sleeping."

Chongzhen said in exasperation: "Idiot! I'm asking about your aspirations—aspirations! Do you understand?!"

Zhu Meichuo swallowed a mouthful of candied hawthorn with effort and chimed in: "Imperial Father, Meichuo is like Old Cheng—I don't dream when I sleep either!"

Cheng Qianli smiled obsequiously and said, "This humble one understands, understands. This humble one's ambition is simply to protect the safety of Master Huang's entire household!"

Chongzhen ignored him, crouched down to pick up Zhu Meichuo, and said in a low voice, "Meichuo, what did your father teach you? When outside, don't call me 'Imperial Father'—call me 'Father.' Remember that? If you make that mistake again, I won't bring you out anymore!"

Although Zhu Meichuo didn't understand why she couldn't call him "Imperial Father," she still nodded vigorously to show she remembered. Chongzhen laughed heartily. Behind them, Zhu Cilang curled his lip, feeling quite speechless at Zhu Meichuo's childishness.

Chongzhen carried his daughter as he walked and said, "Old Cheng, I think you're in the prime of your life with fine martial skills—following me around all day is a waste of your talents. That's why I asked. But you, instead of telling me the truth... What man doesn't want to fight on the battlefield, win merit and glory, and earn honors for his wife and children? You're someone I trust—if you have any thoughts in your heart, just tell me directly."

Cheng Qianli said solemnly, "To answer Master Huang, this humble one's training is in ground combat—it wouldn't be of much use on the battlefield. To speak from the heart, being by Master Huang's side as a guard fills this humble one with great honor, and my wife and children at home are proud that this humble one serves in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. My family has served in the Guard for generations, but no one has ever been Master Huang's personal bodyguard. This humble one doesn't wish for any change in this life—when my son grows up, I'll have him enter the guard station to serve Master Huang's household as well!"

Chongzhen stopped in his tracks, fixed his gaze on Cheng Qianli, and said, "As long as the Great Ming stands, I will not treat a man who serves it with such loyalty unkindly!"