Chapter 73: Entrusted with Teaching; She Can Guess Miao Miao’s Distress

“Miao Miao, I’m counting on you again this time.”

“How many people did you save this time?” Bai Miao asked. She wasn’t surprised that Bai Wei had returned to requisition food and supplies, as this wasn’t the first time.

When Bai Yu and Bai Xi went back, their original goal was simply to prevent the people who had forced them to flee across the sea from seizing political power. However, they had underestimated the cruelty of war.

The Feng Kingdom was now a battlefield everywhere. The upper class used every means possible to seize power, resulting in a life of utter misery for the common people.

Possessing martial strength, the sisters truly could not stand by and watch the people suffer. From the moment they saved the first person, it became an unstoppable trend, and they had rescued many civilians one after another.

Because of natural and man-made disasters, these people could not return to their hometowns. Having finally encountered saviors who treated them like human beings, they followed behind the sisters, helping with work while assisting in rescuing others.

Over time, the food they brought back naturally became insufficient. They had no choice but to have Bai Wei or Bai Qiao lead men out to sea to come to the island and transfer grain back.

With the development over the years, a commercial model had already formed on the island. Even if the island’s own grain production was insufficient, they could use the supplies, gold, and silver exchanged over the years to purchase grain. This finally allowed them to meet the demands of Bai Yu and Bai Xi.

This was another new wave of requisitioning.

Hearing Bai Miao’s question, Bai Wei coughed twice in embarrassment. “There are a few thousand more this time. But don’t worry, Xiao Yu and Xiao Xi have already found an excellent grain-growing area. This time I came back wanting to take some seeds back with me. Once this batch of grain is planted and harvested, we won’t need to transfer food from the island anymore.”

“If that’s the case, doesn’t that mean you’ll be staying on the mainland indefinitely?” Bai Miao caught the key point in Bai Wei’s words.

“But with so many people, if we let them go back alone and they get captured again, it might actually pose a threat to us. Instead of that, it’s better to protect them from the start,” Bai Wei said seriously to Bai Miao, thinking about the events of the past few months. “Miao Miao, you haven’t seen the situation of those people with your own eyes. The warring factions don’t treat them as human at all. When we rescued them, many were nothing but skin and bones. If they leave us, something will happen to them sooner or later.”

“Even though I haven’t seen it with my own eyes…” Bai Miao wanted to say that she had seen similar situations in books, even some illustrations. The wars written in history were often just a few strokes of a pen, but for the people living through them, they were a total catastrophe.

Bai Yu and Bai Xi had enough strength to protect those people. Even if they couldn’t ensure they lived in perfect peace and prosperity, they could at least keep them from starving to death.

If they were still on the mainland and hadn’t obtained the Shell, they would have become victims of the war by now. Perhaps the entire Bai family would have completely disappeared under such circumstances.

“Forget it. Since Eldest Sister and Second Sister want to protect them, it’s their call. I’ll prepare more sweet potatoes for you. Sweet potatoes have a high yield and can feed more people, making them more suitable for planting.”

Bai Wei immediately nodded. “Great!”

…

“Miao Miao will be angry, won’t she?”

“Even if she’s angry, we can’t just abandon this place right now.” Bai Yu looked at the circle of people around them. These were the civilians they had rescued over the last few months. Although their current conditions weren’t good, none of them were willing to leave.

Staying meant a chance at life; once they left, it was very likely they would lose their lives before long.

“If we hadn’t come back, we really wouldn’t have known the situation in the country was so dire. I thought we were already living poorly on the island,” Bai Xi said with a sigh. “These people originally had homes and fields on the shore, but now they’ve been forced to leave their homes.”

“So the occurrence of war is cruel to the common people no matter what.”

“I hope the war ends soon.”

“I hope Miao Miao doesn’t get angry.”

…

“Don’t be angry yet. After all, war is cruel. Many adults can’t even look after themselves, let alone find the energy to care for children.”

Bai Miao looked at the timid gazes of a boatload of children, not knowing what to say.

She was almost nine years old and didn’t consider herself a child, but Bai Yu and Bai Xi had actually sent her a whole boat of children. It truly left her speechless.

“The new base we’ve established has many things to do. If these children stay, we’d have to be distracted to look after them, and we really don’t have the energy. However, it’s not like they can’t do anything at all. They can handle some trivial tasks; they just need you to arrange things for them.”

Bai Miao couldn’t help but sigh and asked, “Do these children have parents?”

“Most of them don’t. A small number were abandoned by their parents,” Bai Wei said. “Besides these children, there are also some… women who have suffered quite a bit…”

Not all women were helpless during the war. Many women who were used to farm work were quite strong and could resist even when encountering villains.

But the difference in strength between men and women, along with other reasons, still caused many women to suffer greatly.

Bai Miao did not refuse. She turned to ask him, “Is there anything else?”

Bai Wei shook his head repeatedly. “Nothing else, don’t worry.”

Bai Miao finally nodded. “Alright then, leave these people to me. I’ll send them to a place for recuperation. That place is hidden, and no outsiders go there. Sending them there will allow them to recover in peace, and there’s plenty of work to be done there as well.”

Bai Miao was referring to the Forest Plane.

However, no one except her, Bai Yu, and Bai Xi knew the true situation of the Plane. Others only knew there was a remote island that could accommodate many people for living and farming, and that batches of grain and cloth would be sent from there from time to time.

Whether it was the children or the women who had suffered greatly, they all needed an undisturbed environment to live in. A place secluded from the world was most suitable for them.

After Bai Wei left with the grain, Bai Miao arranged the affairs on the island. She then set sail with the women and children Bai Wei had brought this time, heading to the island where the three sisters had first settled.

The houses here were still standing. Every time a ship came by, the people on board would stay here to rest, so the buildings hadn’t suffered much damage.

Arranging for the sailors to stay and rest on the outer island, Bai Miao led the women and children toward the depths of the island.

After walking for a distance to ensure they were out of sight, she had them all close their eyes. Then, she used the Transit Pass to take them to the Forest Plane.

The residential area in the Forest Plane was now fully formed. Besides the areas for planting and breeding, there were large clusters of houses. If an outsider were to come here, they would find that this place was the very definition of a hidden paradise.

The Transit Pass drop point was not far from the residential area. After walking for a while longer with the group, Bai Miao reached her destination.

She explained the general situation to Lin Yu, who quickly nodded, expressing her willingness to take care of these new women and children.

“It might be a bit tiring.”

“Not at all. We’ve just about finished the work here, and daily life is just trivial matters like farming and raising chickens and ducks. Everyone was starting to feel bored. With these children here, everyone can stay busy,” Lin Yu said loudly, then whispered softly to Bai Miao. “Many of us here have already lost the ability to bear children, and we were worrying about what to do when we grow old. Miao Miao, since you’ve brought so many children this time, can we let everyone adopt them as godchildren?”

People of this era were different from those of later generations who had access to advanced technology.

In an age of farming to survive, having no children meant having no one to rely on in old age, which was an extremely painful prospect.

Bai Miao understood their thoughts. Although she felt she could support them even if they had no children, having a child that belonged to them in name would serve as a form of emotional support for them.

So she did not refuse Lin Yu’s request and nodded directly.

“Among the children sent over this time, there are older ones and younger ones. You should pick the toddlers who won’t remember their past and tell the older children clearly that from now on, they are to be treated as your own,” Bai Miao suggested. “There is a war going on in the country right now, and more children might be sent here in the future. Sister Lin, please look after them.”

“Don’t worry, there isn’t too much to do here. It’s just a matter of raising a few more children, nothing to stress over,” Lin Yu said. She looked at Bai Miao and reached out to poke her cheek. “As for you, it’s not good to be so serious at such a young age. You’ve already done something incredible by saving so many people. Everyone is very grateful to you. Those who couldn’t be saved are not your fault. You should focus on the joy of those who were saved and survived, do you understand?”

Bai Miao forced a smile. “It would be better if there were no war.”

Lin Yu didn’t say anything more, she simply opened her arms and pulled her into a hug.

After a long while, she spoke up. “Miao Miao, if you have time, could you come and teach us how to read and write? That way, when the children grow up, we can teach them as well.”

“But what we’ve learned isn’t the same as what they teach back home.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lin Yu shook her head. “We aren’t learning to read and write to take the imperial exams or become officials. We just want to understand more things. For example… how to make these vegetables grow better, or how to increase the yield of these grains, or perhaps other things. You know so much, could you teach us?”

Lin Yu wasn’t as clever as Bai Miao, but she could guess at the girl’s distress.

Bai Miao had read so much and understood so many things at such a young age; her mind must be filled with countless thoughts. If she were left alone to overthink, it would only make her feel worse.

Instead of letting her dwell on things that troubled her, it was better to direct her energy toward mundane tasks. This would distract her and prevent her from falling into a spiral of dark thoughts.

Bai Miao didn’t know what Lin Yu was thinking, but she considered the proposal for a moment before deciding to let them learn more about the outside world. “I’ll teach you to read, and I’ll tell you stories at the same time, how about that? I have so many stories. You can listen to them one by one and learn characters as you go. It might be more efficient that way.”

Lin Yu laughed. “That would be perfect. Just don’t compare us to yourself or assume we’re as brilliant as you. Don’t make us learn too much all at once.”

Bai Miao had indeed run into that problem before, though that was with Bai Yu and Bai Xi. After realizing that not everyone possessed a photographic memory like hers, she hadn’t made that mistake again.

Lin Yu’s suggestion was truly effective. From then on, Bai Miao began her journey as a teacher for both groups, telling stories not only to Lin Yu and the others but also to the people on the island.

Her attention was quickly diverted, and she stopped worrying so much about what was happening with Bai Yu and Bai Xi.