The Double

Jiang Li was woken up by Wen Renyao.

As she regained consciousness, she noticed that the common folk who had laid down to sleep on the ground with her the previous night had almost all drifted off. Wen Ji was nowhere to be seen, Zhao Ke was still there, and with Lin Yao cradled in his arms, Wen Renyao looked at her and asked, "Second Miss, are you awake?"

"What happened?" Jiang Li looked around and fully awoke. She asked, "Is it over?"

"Prince Cheng’s troops have temporarily withdrawn, and everyone else has gone home," said Wen Renyao. "They shouldn’t return today, according to Ah Heng’s predictions. As long as we held our ground last night, Prince Cheng won’t be able to enter the city. His Majesty has already dispatched the Military Defense General to relieve the siege."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Li said, "Once the Military Defense General arrives, the only one who can be used is General Ping Rong. And since General Ping Rong cannot leave his post, does that mean the Prince of Xia County is coming back?"

"Eight or nine out of ten," Wen Renyao replied as he stood up. Holding a child and having sat on the ground all night, he nearly lost his balance and staggered. Jiang Li also stood up, and Zhao Ke suggested, "Second Miss, let’s head back first."

Although Jiang Li wasn’t sure where "back" was, she nodded anyway.

Along the way, the streets were in complete disarray. Even when Jiang Li first arrived in Huangzhou, having been forcibly taken there, she remembered that Huangzhou City, though not as bustling as Yanjing City, was still lively and beautiful. Now the city, ravaged by the previous night’s fire, was left with nothing but charred blackness, rubble everywhere. There were dried puddles of blood and corpses on the ground. Some people were kneeling in front of their family members’ bodies, weeping in pain, while others, weary, began to tidy up their destroyed homes anew.

Those not burnt to ash had to be salvaged; they couldn’t spend the coming days sleeping on the streets. In front of homes reduced to cinders, the owners sat by the door, wailing. Their peaceful lives were shattered, leaving deep sorrow in anyone’s heart. These cries reaching one’s ears made one feel equally sorrowful. Overnight, countless families were torn apart. People in Huangzhou City had been living their lives peacefully; who would have thought disaster would strike them so suddenly? It was truly an undeserved calamity, a stark reminder of the world’s unpredictability.