Chapter 185
Almost all of the refugees who had received news reported that their relatives had either died or fallen ill.
Everyone took leave and went in groups to visit their friends and relatives who had been assigned to other villages.
Song Nianchu accepted all requests without exception, approving every refugee who asked for leave to visit relatives.
A few days later, the refugees in the village grew increasingly silent, until one day, a refugee who had gone to visit relatives came running back, covered in injuries.
“Village chief, please, save my younger brother!” The middle-aged man knelt directly before Wu Zhenggui, clutching his head.
“What are you doing? Get up quickly.” Wu Zhenggui immediately helped the man to his feet.
“Weren’t you visiting relatives? How did you end up in such a state?” Song Nianchu also hurried over.
“I…” As soon as the middle-aged man heard this, tears streamed uncontrollably down his face.
He raised his hand and roughly wiped his face.
They say men don’t easily shed tears, but that’s only because they haven’t reached the depth of heartbreak.
Right now, he felt as if his heart was shattering into pieces.
“Today, I did go to see my younger brother, who was assigned to Yang Family Village, but when I got there, he was barely alive.”
“He was nothing but skin and bones. He didn’t even have a place to stay. He was lying in an abandoned house that had already collapsed, with no shelter from the rain, forced to curl up in a corner.”
“All my other relatives are gone. My brother was the only one left, barely clinging to life. I wanted to take him to see a doctor, but the people in Yang Family Village wouldn’t let me take him away. They even beat me…”
“My brother… my brother was also held back by them. I escaped all the way back here. Village chief, I beg you, please save my brother. If he stays in Yang Family Village, he will surely die.” The middle-aged man knelt again, kowtowing repeatedly to Song Nianchu.
When they were originally assigned to villages, it was done by family lotteries.
After he and his brother got married, they split their households, and during the lottery, they weren’t drawn to the same village.
When they parted, they promised to reunite once life improved, never expecting that separation would become eternal.
“Get up first. Let’s talk.” Wu Zhenggui helped the man up again.
“Village chief, I don’t want any of my dividends for next month. I even give up the housing the village promised to build for me later. I only hope you can help bring my brother back.” The man grabbed Wu Zhenggui’s arm.
“This…” Wu Zhenggui didn’t know how to answer and instead turned to look at Song Nianchu.
Song Nianchu stepped forward.
“I understand how devastated you feel right now. But your identities and relationships have already been settled. If Yang Family Village refuses to release him, there’s no way for us to forcibly take your brother away.”
“Then am I supposed to just watch my brother die over there?” The man felt as if the sky was falling.
“I’ve recently heard some rumors. It seems that the refugees assigned to other villages aren’t doing well?” Song Nianchu asked tentatively.
The middle-aged man nodded.
“Almost none of them have good news. My brother still had a breath left. Many people went to visit and didn’t even find a corpse.” The man’s voice choked with tears.
“Did you ask whether only the refugees you sent are dying, or whether people from the local villages are also dying?” Song Nianchu pressed further.
“I didn’t ask about that specifically, but judging by their situation, it’s clear only our people are dying. They never treated us as human beings, so they don’t care about whether we live or die. My brother told me that when they first arrived in the village, they weren’t given any food rations at all.”
“If that’s the case, all of you family members should go together to the county and report this to the authorities,” Song Nianchu said after a moment of thought.
“The authorities?” The man was stunned.
“Yes. After all, the authorities sent you to various production brigades and villages so you could start new lives, not to abandon you to die.”
“When a village accepts refugees, it has the obligation to give them food rations and ensure their basic survival. If, as you say, those villages never distributed food to them, and that indirectly caused their deaths, you can file a complaint with the authorities. They will certainly investigate.”
“Once they look into the matter, you can then propose to move your brother to our village, claiming he wants to settle here. Without the obstacle from their village, we on our side are also willing to accept him.” Song Nianchu explained slowly.
“Really? As long as that village doesn’t stop him, you’re willing to take him in?” The man’s expression turned excited.
“Times are hard for everyone these days. You have suffered a disaster, and as fellow countrymen, we cannot harden our hearts to turn you away. However, our village’s resources are limited. Taking in a hundred people was already our limit. But now the village has recovered a little, so we can manage to support a few more,” Song Nianchu said, feeling a pang of sadness.
In this era, with underdeveloped productivity, encountering a natural disaster was nearly a death sentence.
Those who had fled through countless hardships were striving for a slim chance for themselves and their families, only to end up in such a tragic state.
With her current limited resources, she couldn’t help that many people, but it still weighed on her heart.
“Alright, I’ll go to the authorities right now.” The man turned and left immediately.
The other refugees, who had long been afraid to approach the authorities, now heard that their village was willing to accept their relatives—as long as the other villages released them—and found the courage to do the same.
These refugees formed a group and went directly to the county that very afternoon.
Holding up homemade banners, they knelt at the gates of the government office crying out for justice.
With nearly a hundred people kneeling in unison, the scene was quite striking.
The officials immediately noticed them, and the county head even came out in person to ask what was going on.
After hearing their grievances, the county head’s face reddened with anger, and he led a team to personally go down to the villages to investigate.
“…”
Yang Mingwan was eating dinner at home. On the table sat a bowl of cured meat, a plate of scrambled eggs, and a dish of braised potatoes.
For this era, such a meal was already far beyond what most families could afford.
To avoid being seen by others, they always closed their doors tightly when eating.
But just then, the door suddenly burst open from the outside, and a crowd surged in.
“What are you doing?” Yang Mingwan immediately stood up, trying to shield the food on the table.
But too many people had rushed in, and someone shoved him aside.
When the group saw the meat, eggs, and vegetables laid out on the table, they were furious.
“County head, we’re not lying to you. Look! They shut their doors to eat meat at home, but they begrudged giving even a single grain to our families!”