novelden Chapter 165 Crossing the River, 'Ungrateful Wolf'
Chapter 165 Crossing the River, 'Ungrateful Wolf'
Having just learned the news, Meng Bochang gathered Meng Fuqing and the others together to discuss what to do next.
After listening, Meng Fuqing said directly, "There are countless corpses in the Canglan River. People who are used to seeing such scenes and still do business here must have their hands covered in blood."
Xie Jin agreed, "There must be some tricks to doing this kind of business."
"A suspension bridge made of iron chains? It's not even safe for people to walk on, how can a carriage cross it?" Du Zhong was very skeptical.
Meng Bochang had never seen a bridge spanning such a large river before. After hearing Du Chongyi's description, he felt it was even more dangerous than walking on the riverbed.
Adding to Meng Fuqing and Xie Jin's words, he immediately abandoned his previous idea and carefully said, "Why don't we find a place with a gentler slope tonight and try it? If all else fails, a few hundred people can carry it together and we can get through it."
Xie Jin and Meng Fuqing both knew that the current predicament was easy to resolve, but neither of them wanted to expose the secret.
The discussion was quickly settled by Du Zhong and Meng Bochang. Next came the details of moving the supplies.
Meng Fuqing looked at Meng Bochang and said, "Grandpa Village Chief, we've woven quite a few straw mats along the way, haven't we? Why don't we spread them on the riverbed to make a path? It'll help prevent slipping."
Even if the riverbed silt isn't frozen solid, a layer of matting will prevent a person from sinking in immediately.
"That's a good idea," Du Chong praised. "Leave the manpower arrangement to Young Master Xie. It would be a waste for me to use my strength to move things."
Everyone couldn't help but laugh.
Xie Jin spoke up at the right moment: "The transportation of supplies can be done in a relay, and if danger is encountered, people on both sides can be notified in time."
Meng Fuqing added: "We selected three teams. One team worked together in the middle to carry things, while the other two teams stood on either side with weapons on guard. They could also switch teams back and forth so it wouldn't be too tiring."
"People also need to be stationed to guard both sides of the river..."
The group discussed the matter for a long time until they had considered all aspects thoroughly, and then they dispersed, satisfied.
When Meng Fuqing returned, he discovered that the white wolf was gone.
She asked Meng Ali and Meng Ranran, but they both shook their heads blankly, not paying any attention.
Yan He spoke up again, "Little White went west. I thought you let it go hunting. What happened? Did it get lured away by another wolf?"
Meng Fuqing nodded thoughtfully, "Perhaps."
When she went to the meeting, the white wolf kept biting at the hem of her clothes, but she didn't notice at the time.
"Maybe?!" Yan He's eyes widened, and she raised her voice. She had only said it casually, but she never expected it to come true.
"That 'ungrateful wretch' really is true. We fed and cared for it so well, and it still ran away!"
Her indignant expression made it seem as if Yan He was the one keeping a white wolf as a pet.
Seeing that Meng Fuqing was quite calm and showed no intention of looking for the wolf, she asked, "Aren't you going to go and bring it back? What if it gets killed and eaten by the refugees?"
Remembering how the injured White Wolf still managed to outmaneuver everyone, Meng Fuqing felt that this possibility was very small.
"I'm not going. Let's wait and see if they come back."
The wild game that Meng Fuqing's family hunted in the forest had been consumed in the past few days, leaving only some dried meat that Shan Qiyu had tried to smoke with pine needles in the village.
Dinner was still just dry food with some dried meat; we made do with that.
With so many refugees around, Meng Fuqing had warned everyone not to light fires recently, lest the aroma tempt the refugees to make a move.
Even so, many refugees stared at the convoy with empty yet intensely eager eyes, drooling.
Night fell as expected, swallowing everything like a swamp.
While the surrounding refugees tried to alleviate their hunger by sleeping, the caravan members quietly began to move.
Meng Fuqing used the vines to check the thickness of the ice layer and the softness of the riverbed, and found that it was not as exaggerated as the person had said.
Migrants on both sides of the river took advantage of the frozen riverbed to cross back and forth. In the early hours of the morning, a small group of people walked on the ice, which remained solid.
Seeing this, everyone felt a little more at ease.
They took torches and began to lay straw mats on the ice. There were so many straw mats that in some places they even laid two layers.
Afterwards, Qi Liang took the lead and escorted the elderly, weak, women and children in the group to the other side.
Both adults and children carried everything they could with them.
After the first group successfully crossed, three teams of strong men stood in the riverbed one after another, and the supplies on the vehicle were relayed to the other side, where Qi Liang and others received them.
There were few people in the middle of the river, so no torches were lit. Only people on both banks lit torches and faced each other across the river.
Their movements were inevitably noticed by some of the refugees.
The young man who spoke with Meng Bochang today was sleeping not far from the convoy. When he was woken up, he was dumbfounded by what he saw.
He rubbed his eyes and decided not to sleep anymore, eager to know if these people would be able to cross the river safely.
Some were just watching the spectacle, while others saw this as a good opportunity to launch a surprise attack and seize the grain.
The group crouched low as they approached the riverbank, quietly waiting for their chance.
Before they could make a move, they suddenly heard a wolf howl. They looked in the direction of the sound and saw seven or eight wolf shadows appearing quietly to the west.
Led by the alpha wolf, they bypassed the refugees and came to a place not far from the convoy, where they either stood or sat.
Only the alpha wolf did not stop, and rushed into the convoy like a whirlwind.
Their sudden appearance alone was enough to cause a huge uproar. The refugees, awakened from their dreams, looked at the wolves in terror and fled into the distance.
Meng Fuqing spotted the white figure the moment the alpha wolf appeared.
The rest of the group, who had been on guard, fell silent when they saw the white wolf.
With dark circles under his eyes, Yan He muttered blankly, "Did that ingrate bring its companions to seek refuge with you, its master?"
Meng Fuqing looked down at the white wolf in front of her—its back was stained with blood, its fur was matted and dirty, and its hind legs seemed to be injured as well.
It had clearly just been through a fierce battle, and the pack of wolves behind it were its spoils.
She reached out and touched the white wolf's head, and the white wolf immediately rubbed against her palm.
It's hard not to suspect that this thing is trying to bring its minions to her place to eat and drink for free, but considering how well it's doing, Meng Fuqing pointed to the pack of wolves.
"You take care of them, but don't let them hurt your own people."
The white wolf tilted its head, it was unclear whether it understood or not.
Meng Fuqing felt that it understood. This white wolf seemed to be becoming more and more human-like, perhaps because it often drank the stream water in the space.
She brought a cloth to cover the white wolf's wound, and secretly channeled her healing power into him. Soon, the white wolf was full of energy again.
It led its pack of wolves back and forth between the convoys on both sides of the river, as if inspecting its own territory.
At first, the convoy was terrified, but seeing that the gray-furred wolves seemed to listen to Xiaobai, and with these wolves around, the refugees dared not approach them, so they gradually relaxed.
Despite their surprise, everyone was busy with their work and didn't dare to say anything.
They had to get everything across to the other side before dawn.
Another group of people took over the transport. After everything else was moved, the last thing was the heavier horse-drawn carriage with an empty compartment.
Midway through the journey, one of the carriages fell into the broken ice while crossing a riverbed. After a difficult time pulling it out, the remaining carriages had to change course.
As the first rays of dawn appeared on the horizon, the convoy successfully crossed the river. Exhausted, they reloaded the supplies onto the vehicles, leaving behind not even the straw mats on the riverbank.