Saving System: Calm Down, My Fleeing Host!

Chapter 264 - 256: An Unexpected City (2-in-1) (Part 3)

It seems the little girl has been spoiled by Boss Lu and his wife. There will surely be some commotion in the team in the future.

Despite Boss Lu and his wife’s tearful gratitude towards Cheng Xiaoxiao for saving their son’s life and gifting plenty of nice things, Cheng Xiaoxiao still doesn’t feel much goodwill toward them.

After they arrived, Miss Ke’s treatment improved significantly. When she couldn’t get something here, she would run to Boss Lu to complain in an aggrieved manner.

Looking like a wronged young wife reporting her grievances at her family home, it gave Cheng Xiaoxiao the urge to hit someone.

Her team doesn’t keep idle people, so Ke Mengyao hasn’t had an easy time these past few days.

Here, Ke Mengyao is genuinely feeling wronged to the extreme. Previously, she never had to lift a finger, but in this wretched team, no one sympathizes with her being pregnant. She even has to start by washing dishes and starting fires every day.

She must learn all the life skills, or she can’t stay in the team. Even if her hands are chilled and sore, she can’t rest, nor can she lose her temper. Every time she loses her temper, she gets a demerit, and even destroying public property earns her another demerit. After five demerits, she’ll have to go hungry once.

Thinking back to the experience of being so hungry she was dizzy and seeing stars a few days ago, she felt aggrieved, resentful, unwilling, yet helpless, so she had to bow her head and restrain her temper.

But her resentment only grew deeper. She blamed that damned Cheng girl for ordering such harsh treatment upon her and vowed to have her revenge someday.

Since Uncle Lu arrived, her life improved significantly. Lu’s attentiveness towards her allowed her to gradually regain the feeling of being a pampered young mistress.

Ke Mengyao, swelling with pride, began to disregard the rules of the team, constantly making her presence known in front of Mrs. Lu.

Cheng Xiaoxiao didn’t care for her at first, but with this obvious provocation, she had no choice but to make things clear.

If Boss Lu accepts Ke Mengyao, her team will no longer care about her food and survival.

When Cheng Xiaoxiao laid things out like this, Boss Lu hesitated. Miss Ke’s notorious arrogance and willfulness were well known, and should he really take her in, life might become unbearable.

Yet, his daughter kept pleading for her help, and due to Governor Ke, he had to help.

In the end, he gritted his teeth and agreed but sternly warned his wife and daughter not to overly pamper Ke Mengyao. Everyone is a free person now; they are nobody’s servants, so things shouldn’t be turned upside down.

The whole team moved slowly, and Cheng Xiaoxiao organized people to clear snow, reaching a consensus with the team leaders behind them.

Each team would take turns clearing snow for a day. Otherwise, how could it be fair for her to pave the way at the front and for others to merely ride the coattails at the back? She was no fool.

After half a month of difficult travel, they finally reached the outskirts of Yuan Yang City. Many livestocks and people were found dead from the cold in the villages they passed.

Those who survived tightly closed their doors and windows, staying holed up inside, not daring to venture out.

With the path paved by one group, the line of followers grew longer and longer. Those who caught up learned Liao City wouldn’t open its gates and sensibly followed in the team’s wake.

Many soldiers had escaped from Dingzhou, and Fang Zheng and Lu Jingtian gradually rallied quite a few, making Cheng Xiaoxiao somewhat envious.

Upon stepping out of the forest, they could see from afar columns of smoke rising from the city, accompanied by the clamor of voices, with sporadic sounds of weapons clashing and fighting.

Everyone looked at each other baffled. How could there be warfare in the city during this cold winter’s arrival?

Could it be mountain bandits invading the city for plunder?

No one dared to rashly enter the city at this point.

Each team sent a few people to scout for information, but Cheng Xiaoxiao, with her system assistance, quickly grasped the rough details of the situation.

The Prefectural Governor of Yuan Yang City was assassinated a month ago, and the Court’s new order hadn’t arrived yet.

The City Lord’s two ambitious officials were both aiming to seize control of Yuan Yang City.

One colluded with bandits to raid Yuan Yang City, while the other looted all the grain stores in the city, leaving the common people with no grain to buy.

The city’s populace rose up to form a Rebel Army, fighting for survival.

Two warring factions vying for the City Lord’s position fought fiercely, while the Rebel Army seized advantages from between the cracks, with idle aristocratic young men also keen to claim a share.

This past month, Yuan Yang City had been engulfed in warfare, with people going mad over plundering grain and territory.

The city now lay battered and bruised, reduced from its 70-80 thousand populace to a scattered 30,000 or so people, divided into multiple factions.

Among them were runaway merchants and aristocratic families, with some joining their relatives’ factions, and others without relatives but with powerful backgrounds banding together to form new forces.

In short, it was a chaotic mix of characters, almost a miniature version of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

Understanding the situation gave Cheng Xiaoxiao a headache, especially when the system issued a mission to rescue the city’s populace.