Chapter 172
For the time being, Qiu Chi paid no more attention to the Nie family’s affairs. She had already found Zhai Jiayue’s savior, Lu Yuanqi.
Lu Yuanqi’s parents had both passed away, and he was now on his own. His family had no money, so he had never attended school. He made a living by pulling a rickshaw, and everyone usually called him Ah Yuan.
Although his life wasn't as carefree as some, it was fulfilling.
Ah Yuan was a kind person.
This was evident not only in his rescue of Zhai Jiayue but also in his interactions with his neighbors.
He had an excellent reputation in the neighborhood. Whenever people spoke of him, it was always with praise.
Qiu Chi didn’t deliberately try to get close to him, nor did she plan to.
Qiu Chi found a hotel not far from his area to stay in. She spent most of her time gathering medicinal herbs and would occasionally hire his rickshaw.
After a few rides, once they were a little more familiar with each other, Qiu Chi suddenly asked him, “Don’t you find pulling a rickshaw every day exhausting? Have you never thought about changing things?”
“That’s just life, isn’t it? Everyone’s like this. My work isn’t that hard. For now, I don’t want to change anything. I’m quite satisfied with my current life.”
Qiu Chi fell silent after asking her question.
After a while, she asked another, seemingly unrelated question. “If one day you were asked to go to the front lines and fight, would you go?”
Lu Yuanqi didn’t ask why she was asking. He simply replied with a hint of seriousness, “I would.”
This time, Qiu Chi didn’t pause, continuing with her next question, “But you could die on the front lines. Aren’t you afraid?”
“I’m afraid. Of course I’m afraid. But I’d still have to go.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I’m a part of this country. When the country is in trouble, no matter how weak I am, any contribution I can make is still a contribution. No matter the difficulties, if everyone works together, we’ll get through it. We can’t always expect others to protect us.”
Qiu Chi asked a question to which she already knew the answer, “Have you been to school?”
“No, my family was poor. We couldn’t afford it.”
“But from what you just said, you don’t sound like someone who hasn’t been to school. Hmm… I mean, you sound quite cultured. Not that you need an education to be patriotic.”
Lu Yuanqi chuckled. “I think what I said sounds cultured, too. Even though I haven’t been to school, I’ve secretly listened in on some classes. I understand a lot of the big principles.”
Qiu Chi smiled as well. “That’s good. But I have one more question. If you had someone you wanted to marry, would you still go to the front lines without hesitation? If you go, you might fail her. After all, if something happened to you, she might wait for you her whole life, or she might follow you in death.”
After Qiu Chi said this, Lu Yuanqi remained silent for a long time. She didn’t rush him, just waited for him to think it over.
But even when they reached her destination and the rickshaw stopped, Lu Yuanqi still hadn’t made up his mind.
Qiu Chi got out of the rickshaw. Lu Yuanqi scratched his head and said to her, “Miss, I thought for a long time about your question, and I think it’s a bit off. I don’t have anyone I want to marry, and no girl would want to marry me. So a situation like you described would never happen.”
Qiu Chi didn’t say much more. As she handed him the fare, she also gave him a yellow talisman. “I was quite pleased with our chat today. This is a protective talisman. It’s not worth much, but you should keep it with you.”
Without a second thought, Lu Yuanqi accepted the fare and the yellow talisman from Qiu Chi. “Thank you, Miss.”
After giving Lu Yuanqi the talisman, Qiu Chi took a stroll through the Zhai family’s warehouse and then left Xuzhou City for good.
Before this, members of the Zhai family had tried to find her, but it had been useless.
The men who came were all beaten by her and had to be carried back.
Although she didn’t hit the women, she still managed to infuriate them half to death.
Now, having emptied the Zhai family’s warehouse, Qiu Chi deliberately left a note: “Gone to do good deeds on your behalf.”
And she truly was doing good deeds.
What was consumed fastest in a war? Medicinal herbs.
The front lines were desperately short of medicine. Yet, some places had medicine but only wanted to earn blood money, raising the prices so high that the people at the front couldn’t afford it.
Qiu Chi used all the money she had taken from the Nie and Zhai families to buy medicine, which she then sent to the front lines.
Just because she ran out of money didn’t mean Qiu Chi could rest.
She had tried diplomacy first, honestly purchasing supplies with money.
Now that she was out of money, she naturally wouldn’t be so particular.
Of course, she wasn’t so unscrupulous as to take things from legitimate merchants without paying.
The things she took naturally belonged to the invaders.
When taking from the invaders, she didn’t distinguish between medicine and weapons.
Her storage space was infinite, after all. Though she never set foot on the battlefield, the battlefield was still full of legends about her.
For example, the invaders’ weapons depots would suddenly be emptied overnight, while a batch of weapons would appear in one of our locations, leading to a victory with almost no casualties.
Incidents like this occurred frequently wherever there was fighting.
The enemy’s supplies would vanish without a trace, while our side would suddenly have an abundance of them.
As this happened more and more, the enemy’s morale began to crumble. But no matter how vigilant they were or what measures they took, the supplies that were meant to disappear still disappeared.
With the enemy’s morale shattered, our side’s spirits naturally soared.
Qiu Chi stopped when our side began to fight amongst themselves.
She preferred a united front against a common enemy, but she wasn’t surprised by the infighting.
She had been in modern worlds before. Although the history of this world’s Republic era had its differences, the general course was much the same.
Qiu Chi had no intention of getting involved in the infighting.
The enemy hadn’t been completely driven out, but Qiu Chi wasn’t going to manage it any further.
At this point, our side’s victory was already very clear. It was just the infighting that was slowing down the march to victory.
However, there was an advantage to not having completely driven the enemy out. It would let those people see clearly who was more suited to be the final victor.
But none of this had anything to do with Qiu Chi anymore, because she was preparing to leave.
Before she left, she checked up on the people she knew.
As expected, Lu Yuanqi joined the army and went to the front lines, only this time, he didn’t lose his life.
The Nie family’s situation was not particularly good.
Nie Yaya was brainless and thought Zhou Mingsheng was her true love, but he was just playing with her. After finishing his business, he left Xuzhou City without a second thought for her.
After Zhou Mingsheng left, Nie Yaya caused a huge scene at the Yu family’s hotel, allowing the head of the Yu family to fleece the Nie family for a bit more.
In the end, Old Master Nie sent Nie Yaya to be a concubine for the warlord who had come to Xuzhou to recruit soldiers.
The Zhai family, not to be outdone, also sent one of their girls.
But even so, both families declined.
The Nie family’s situation was especially dire.
Because Nie Zhicheng was nothing but a good-for-nothing love brain.
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