Lin Zaozao sighed helplessly and turned to walk towards the carriage. Seeing Xiao Taohua standing by the carriage, Lin Zaozao gave him a princess carry and directly placed him into the carriage.
"Ruo Qiu, Fantian Baby, Ye Yi, Xiao Liuli, and Little Xibei, you all don't need to ride horses. Since the distance to the disaster victims is not far, all of you will ride in the carriage!"
"Okay, Zaozao."
After everyone got on the carriage, Lin Zaozao turned and sat on the carriage with Gu Shan and Xiao Taohua.
As for Dalu and the others, they honestly followed behind the carriage, communicating in the unfamiliar frontier language along the way.
Just as the scout had reported, when Lin Zaozao's caravan reached another official road, there were indeed a pile of ragged disaster victims lying on the sides of the road.
As far as the eye could see, they were all men. Lin Zaozao didn't see a single woman.
They looked pale and thin, but their spirits were still quite good. At least they weren't as emaciated as the ones Lin Zaozao had seen on television in her previous life.
Judging from their ability to chat with their companions, these people must have had enough to eat in the last few days.
When the disaster victims lying on the roadside saw Lin Zaozao's carriage, Lin Zaozao clearly saw the scrutinizing gaze in their eyes.
Their gaze seemed to be testing whether they had the ability to rob Lin Zaozao's caravan.
Facing the scrutinizing gaze of the disaster victims, Lin Zaozao almost rolled her eyes to the heavens. Was this a typical case of the farmer and the snake?
She had promised the System to save these disaster victims. But the moment they saw her, they were thinking about how to rob her caravan.
[System, can I not save these disaster victims? I feel their gaze on the caravan is not right. It's really not good!]
[Host, the people of the frontier region have simple minds and have always revered brute force. If the host can subdue them, they naturally won't dare to cause trouble.
And haven't you noticed? Among these disaster victims, they are all men, not a single woman.
That means they had very well protected their families before the disaster came.
They would rather set out on an unknown path than not protect their wives, daughters, and mothers.
This alone is enough to admire them.]
[Damn System, you're right. Since these people only revere brute force, then I'll give them a good lesson in moral ethics!
I'll tell them what it means to win people over with virtue.]
[Host, do you have virtue?]
[Damn System, even lacking virtue is also a kind of virtue, understand?]
[Ha! I just understood! Next, please go ahead and win people over with your lack of virtue!]
Lin Zaozao looked at the men slowly approaching her caravan. She quickly grabbed the already drawn knife from Gu Shan, signaling him to sit back down. Gu Shan was a pregnant person, how could he just casually fight and kill? If he got hurt, what would they do?
"Zaozao, I'll go down and deal with them."
Xiao Taohua held back the Lin Zaozao who was about to jump off the carriage, and his eyes were full of killing intent as he looked at the approaching disaster victims.
They had originally wanted to listen to Zaozao and go help these disaster victims. But now it seems they had the audacity to try and rob the caravan.
"Xiao Taohua, you with your big belly, be a little more well-behaved. Watch your wife, I guarantee I can subdue them without having to deploy a single soldier."
After comforting Xiao Taohua by patting his hand, Lin Zaozao jumped down from the carriage, grabbing the whip from the coachman.
"Hey hey hey! You all stop for a moment, let's clarify things! Are you all approaching aggressively to rob us of our wealth? Or are you planning to rob us of our women?"
Lin Zaozao's questions made the disaster victims pause in their steps. They bent down and looked warily at the small fatty (who had gained fifty jin) blocking the carriage in front of them.
"Tell me! Are you here to rob us of our wealth, or are you here to rob us of our women?
Let's not talk about robbing our wealth first, let's talk about robbing our women!
You've all seen, in our caravan, the only woman is me.
As for appearance, as long as you're not blind, you must have seen that I am a devastatingly beautiful goddess.
So, does my appearance meet your standards for robbing our women?"
"We won't touch your woman."
The leader of the disaster victims said in a deep voice.
"Oh! You won't touch me, so that means you're disgusted with me as a woman. If you don't like women, then you must like men.
If you're disgusted with me and want to rob a man instead... then you have plenty of options.
In my caravan, we lack everything except for handsome men. Innocent and cute, cold and domineering, charming and beautiful, even physically imposing ones. Tell me, which type of handsome man do you all want to rob?"
Lin Zaozao deliberately batted her eyes, asking seriously.
"We don't like men either, and we won't rob them."
The leader of the disaster victims replied coldly.
"Oh! You don't like a goddess like me, and you don't like the different types of handsome men...
Could it be? You want to rob my horses? Your tastes are a bit too high, aren't they?
No, that's not allowed. The horses in my caravan are all loving couples, very faithful.
If you do some unspeakable things to them in front of their mates...
Oh, how greatly would that affect my horses!"
Watching Lin Zaozao's exaggerated performance of wailing and stomping her feet, Xiao Taohua, Gu Shan and the others couldn't help but burst out laughing uncontrollably.
"You, you, you, you're asking for it..."
Hearing the teasing laughter of Xiao Taohua, Gu Shan and the others, the leading disaster victim's gaze immediately became fierce.
However, although he glared fiercely at Lin Zaozao, he did not actually attack her. When Lin Zaozao advanced, he even subconsciously took a few steps back.
Lin Zaozao looked at the veins popping on his hands, inwardly shaking her head in amazement.
It seems she had really managed to anger this guy.
But at the same time, it also proved that these disaster victims were not truly bad people. At least, even after she deliberately made them sound so despicable, they still didn't come forward to harm her.
Verifying her guess, a warm smile immediately spread across Lin Zaozao's face.
"Hey hey hey! Big brother, I misspoke, don't get angry!
Since you don't want to rob our women, are you looking to steal some silver? Tell me, how much silver do you want, let me see if I have any?"
"We don't want silver either. If you have any food, could you share some with us? We won't take all of your food."
The leader said in a deep voice.
"Big brother, why didn't you just say you wanted food earlier?
Seeing you all with fierce expressions, surrounding our caravan, I thought you were planning to do something like killing people or doing shameful things!"
"As long as we have food, we won't casually hurt people. Life is too precious. We, we just want some food."
The leader's words made Lin Zaozao pause, swallowing back the large mouthful of words she had been about to say.
After all, she had seen too many things lately where people didn't value human life.
Now hearing this man say that life is precious, Lin Zaozao couldn't help but be surprised.
This ragged man seemed to have quite some insight.
"I can give you all plenty of food! But, you must also promise me that after receiving the food, you will not harm anyone else."
"I, Dadala, am the chief of the Tuya tribe. I swear by our tribe's totem that even in our destitute state, we have never harmed another person's life carelessly."
"You're still the chief of a tribe?"
Lin Zaozao looked at the thin, sallow-faced man before her, her expression filled with disbelief.
How could a tribal chief have fallen into such a wretched state?
"My name is Dadala, and I am the chief of the Tuya tribe. This year, beyond the frontier, there was snowfall in June.
This sudden snowfall caused extremely grave losses for all of us, as we were completely unprepared.
In our Tuya tribe, the heavy snowfall froze all our cattle and sheep to death. Even some of the children who had not yet grown up.
After the heavy snow, it then became scorchingly hot. From the freezing cold to the blistering heat, the frozen cattle, sheep, and people had no time to be processed before they rotted and stank in the blazing sun.
Because of those decaying corpses, in less than a month, the remaining people all fell ill.
The strong men were still manageable, but the frail women and children - they were the first to succumb to the diseases.
Miss, in just one month, the women and children... they..."
"They all died?"
Lin Zaozao asked, stunned.
"No, no, they didn't die. Miss, in the wind valleys of the frontier, there lived a divine doctor.
Whenever someone in our Tuya tribe fell ill, we would all go to the Wind Valley to seek out that divine doctor for treatment.
But recently, the divine doctor had to return to the central plains for some matter. To try to treat the women and children in our tribe, we could only take them and venture into the interior, hoping to find the divine doctor and beg him to save our tribe's women and children. Even if it meant becoming his slaves."
Looking at the tall, hunched man before her, Lin Zaozao's heart truly ached.
After all, the man standing before her was a truly good-hearted person.
"Dadala!"
"Miss, Miss?"
"Do you see? In the carriage behind me, it's not just filled with food and clothing, but also many medicinal herbs.
And my husband Ji Fantian is the patriarch of the Divine Doctor Clan. He has brought the Divine Doctor Clan here to provide aid and treatment to the disaster victims who have migrated from the frontier."
As soon as Lin Zaozao finished speaking, Ji Fantian also descended from the carriage and approached Lin Zaozao's side.
Ji Fantian first observed the tall, brawny man before him, then bowed and said, "I am Ji Fantian, the patriarch of the Divine Doctor Clan. The young lady standing beside me is my wife."
"Divine Doctor Ji Fantian!"
Seeing the refined and distinguished Ji Fantian, a realization seemed to dawn on Dadala.
He led the men behind him and immediately dropped to his knees before Lin Zaozao and Ji Fantian.
"Your Majesty Mingzhu, Divine Doctor Ji. We deserve to die, we were wrong. Please spare us.
Divine Doctor Ji, please do not be angry with us for our recklessness. We truly only wanted to take some food, we did not intend to harm anyone. We know we were wrong, please punish us.
But Divine Doctor Ji, please, please save the women and children in our tribe. They are barely hanging on..."
