Pu Qirui and his soldiers drove for two days day and night before arriving at Qing'an City. His superior officer, General Ouyang, originally wanted to send troops to resist the enemy, but it was too late. The massacre had long been over. When the people arrived at Qing'an City, they saw a mess everywhere, including the corpses of their compatriots.
Everyone was grief-stricken and angry, but the enemy troops had disappeared long ago. They had no choice but to stay to clean up the battlefield and bury the dead people of Qing'an City.
During this period, they collected many corpses, but did not see a single living person. They thought that everyone in the city had been killed, but they did not expect to see Chang Shichu here, a little girl who looked to be only thirteen or fourteen years old. , dragging the injured body, one person silently handles the corpses of the people.
"Since you are injured, go back and rest. We will handle the remains of the remaining compatriots." Pu Qirui softened his voice and said to Chang Shichu, as if he was afraid that she would be frightened by him.
Chang Shichu shook his head and said, "No, my injuries are not a problem. With the help of more people, more bodies can be processed. The bodies are exposed for too long, and diseases can easily breed. It is better to handle them earlier."
After hearing what she said, Pu Qirui stopped trying to persuade her. After all, what she said was reasonable.
Pu Qirui asked her some more about the situation in the city, and then he wasted no time and was busy gathering the bodies. In such a sad time, no one wanted to talk and just silently lifted up the corpses of the Chinese people. , cremate them, collect their ashes, and raise their graves...
Several days later, some people who had been lucky enough to escape from Qing'an City after getting the news before the massacre began to come back one after another with their families and families, seeing that they were no longer in danger. They had no money to settle in other places, so they might as well come back again.
When they saw the corpses of their compatriots all over the ground, they were filled with grief and hatred, but they also endured the pain and helped collect the corpses.
More than half a month later, the streets of Qing'an City were finally clean again. However, the black blood stains that seeped into the soil still left traces. It was not known how long it would take for them to completely disappear.
Too many people died in Qing'an City, and too few people came back. The whole city was extremely empty. However, the lives of the people were extremely tenacious. As long as they were given a little hope, they could take root and grow on their own. Therefore, as time went by As time went by, the shadow of the massacre slowly dissipated, and people who immigrated from other places gradually filled the once empty city.
Pu Qirui saw that the lives of the people in Qing'an City were gradually returning to normal, and he planned to leave with the soldiers. He found Chang Shichu and asked if he needed to help her find her family.
When Chang Shi first heard his question, her eyes were a bit speechless. She wished she had never had contact with those "family members", so how could she want to find them?
So she shook her head firmly and refused, saying, "Thank you, General Pu, for your kindness, but I don't need your help in finding my family."
"You don't have to worry about troubling me. When it comes to finding someone, I just need to contact some people and pay attention to whether there are any merchants named Chang who have moved to my place. It won't cost me much time and energy. Just treat it as my replacement." The dead people thank you for collecting their remains, so you don't have to feel any psychological burden." Pu Qirui thought Chang Shichu refused because he didn't want to trouble him.
How could Chang Shichu not see that he had misunderstood? Because she explained frankly: "I don't want to find them, not because it is difficult to find them, but because I no longer regard them as family, because before the enemy army came, they abandoned me when they fled and I stayed here alone. If I hadn't been clever and covered myself with other people's corpses, I would have died on the day of the massacre. I had already given one life back to the Chang family, and now I have picked up this life. It’s completely my own.”
When Pu Qirui heard what she said, he was so shocked that he didn't know what to say. After a while, he said with an apologetic look: "I'm sorry, I didn't know there was an inside story. Since you don't want to look for your relatives, then don't look for them." . But you are still young, can you live alone?"
Chang Shichu said: "Yes, haven't I survived well for more than half a month? I have also done a lot of things, so you don't have to worry about me."
Pu Qirui looked at her pale little face that had not recovered from the injury, and hesitantly made a suggestion: "Why don't you just leave with us? Our army also has many female soldiers, female doctors, and female nurses. Do you want to be a soldier? Or you can learn to treat the injured from doctors and nurses."
"No, I just experienced a massacre, and I don't want to experience another war." Chang Shichu still rejected him.
Pu Qirui had no choice but to keep all the silver coins he had on him and said, "I'll leave this money to you. I don't think the Chang family will leave you any money. At least this money can help you survive for a while."
Chang Shichu was silent for a while, but she did not reject him again this time. She accepted the silver coins and said, "Thank you, General Pu. I will return the money to you in the future."
She knew that this man was cold-hearted but couldn't bear to see her penniless. If she didn't accept it, he would be very worried, so she didn't reject his kindness this time.
Sure enough, Pu Qirui was relieved when he saw that Chang Shichu was willing to accept the money from him. He was afraid that Chang Shichu was too stubborn and refused to accept his money.
Chang Shichu was the first living person he saw when he entered Qing'an City, which was littered with corpses. When he saw her, she was collecting the corpses of her compatriots, trying hard to preserve the last dignity of her compatriots, which made him He has a good impression of Chang Shichu and thinks she is a kind and tough girl, so he wants to help her.
"If you have any difficulties, you can write to me." Pu Qirui took a pen and wrote down his mailing address to Chang Shichu, "I will help in whatever way I can, but I often have to fight everywhere, so I may not be able to I’ll see your letter in time.”
"Thank you, General Pu." Chang Shichu accepted the note he gave.
After meeting Chang Shichu, Pu Qirui quickly left Qing'an City with his soldiers.
The empty houses in Qing'an City began to be gradually occupied by people. Those houses no longer had their owners. The owners had either fled with their families or died in the enemy's massacre. Therefore, whoever occupied the houses first could live in them.
As for whether those who fled will come back to take back their houses in the future? This is not an issue that needs to be considered today. In this era of chaos and inconvenient transportation, fleeing does not mean being away from danger. The original owners of those houses don’t know how many of them will reach their destination alive. Even if they do, , I don’t know how many people want to return to Qing’an City.
Even if they really come back, everything in Qing'an City was rebuilt by later generations. Who will recognize your land and house deeds?
