TFWYH – Chapter 379 Closing the City Gates

Fortunately, because he handled things personally, he left later each day to apply medicine to his wife.

And then — disaster struck.

The moment he felt the ground begin to shake, he reacted immediately and rushed outside carrying his wife.

The next instant, their house collapsed.

The Shen boy carried his wife all the way to the livestock market, with no time to pack anything.

Precisely because of that, the two of them escaped without injury.

Before long, Xiangxi Town turned into a living hell, and countless people flooded into the livestock market.

Even more people were injured.

Later on, Tang Wan arrived.

She set up a shelter and began treating the wounded.

He hadn’t planned to go over and ask for help — when it came to Ling Yu and Tang Wan, he preferred to stay as far away as possible.

But when he ran out, he brought nothing with him. Aside from the six hundred copper coins on him, he had nothing at all.

Soon his wife grew hungry.

He was hungry too.

Tang Wan, meanwhile, was so busy she could barely stop moving.

He worked up the courage and was just about to go ask for help when a big, burly man was kicked out.

Tang Wan came out with a cold expression and gave the man a fierce scolding — and finally even threw the man’s child out after him.

The Shen boy swallowed nervously and quietly pulled back the foot he had just stepped forward with.

With no other choice, he took out his last bit of money and tried to buy food from others.

He was a grown man — going hungry for a while was fine.

But Madam Liang was sick; she couldn’t go without food.

Yet at a time like this, everyone had been fleeing for their lives — who would be carrying extra food?

And even if they did, they wouldn’t sell it to him.

Food was life-saving supplies!

In the end, not only did he fail to buy any food — his money was stolen as well.

Just when he felt desperate, Ling Yu arrived with a group of yamen runners.

With no other options left, he finally gathered the courage to approach Ling Yu.

Fortunately, Ling Yu didn’t make things difficult for him this time.

He not only arranged a place for them to stay, but also found him a temporary job —

clearing rubble and rescuing the injured.

There was no pay, but it came with two meals a day.

The Shen boy let out a huge sigh of relief and settled down temporarily with his wife.

Madam Liang even said, “This is the Young Master Yu you told me about, right? He seems quite nice — and handsome too. He’s nowhere near as black-hearted as you said.”

Shen boy: …

No!

Wife, don’t judge just by his face!

That guy really is ruthless!

Helping him this time was probably only because they were from the same village.

Even so, the Shen boy was very grateful and worked extremely hard.

Except — he constantly worried about his parents back home.

He wanted badly to go check on them, but with no one to care for his wife, he didn’t know what to do.

Until today, while he was carrying a round pillar with several others under a yamen runner’s direction, he saw Ling Yu again.

Too anxious to worry about embarrassment, he quickly informed the runner and hurried over to Ling Yu.

Ling Yu was speaking with several yamen runners about something. Seeing him approach, he stopped and looked at him calmly. “What is it?”

“Nothing major, it’s just… I want to go back and check on my parents. I was wondering if you could help find a reliable person to look after my wife for a bit — she’s not fully recovered yet.” The Shen boy scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Then, seeing Ling Yu’s brow crease slightly, he hurriedly added, “I won’t be gone long — at most two hours.”

“It’s not that I won’t help,” Ling Yu said, glancing at the scholar-dressed man beside him.

The scholar took the hint and immediately continued, “A large number of disaster victims from Wutong Town have gathered at the city gates, and more keep arriving. The county magistrate is worried that criminals may be mixed in among them, and has already ordered the city gates to be closed.”