Abandoned Infant in a World of Ice and Snow

Suddenly hearing an infant's cry made Old Man Jiang jump. He quickly checked his grandson in his arms, but it wasn't him. The crying came from afar.

Perhaps it's someone else, like me before, traveling with their child?

But looking at the vast expanse of white in the distance, seeing no one, Old Man Jiang thought again, Could it be a similar situation to that mother and child who froze to death, only the child isn't dead yet?

With that thought, Old Man Jiang instinctively moved towards the sound.

He didn't search far before arriving at a frozen lake. On the ice, two naked infants lay there!

"Ah?"

Old Man Jiang walked over, trembling. He saw two babies, fair and tender, only about a foot long, appearing to have just been born.

There was a male infant and a female infant. The male infant had his eyes closed, smacking his lips, not crying at all!

The female infant was more typical. Unable to open her eyes, she cried desperately. It was her wails that had attracted him.

"Oh dear..." Old Man Jiang hurried over, looking around. No one else was there.

Where did these two infants come from? In this harsh winter, who would give birth to two children and abandon them in the ice and snow?

He didn't ponder it further and immediately picked up the two children, tucking them into his embrace.

But then, he collapsed heavily onto the ground!

He had no strength left. Old Man Jiang had only been holding on by sheer will, wanting to bring his grandson's body home. Moving numbly like a corpse, he might have managed, but this commotion, holding three infants, was too much.

He lay there on the frozen lake, gasping for breath, unsure what to do.

So pitiful. How long have they been alive? They haven't even opened their eyes to see the world, and now they're going to freeze to death in this ice and snow.

But perhaps this was just how the world was. Old Man Jiang wasn't seeing abandoned infants for the first time, though the ones he'd seen before... were skeletons.

In his Tea Mountain Village, there were almost one or two infant deaths every year. Some truly died, born weak or starving to death, but others... were abandoned.

On the outskirts of Tea Mountain Village, there was a baby tower, about ten feet high. It was actually a stone structure, shaped like a tower, specifically for abandoning infants.

Some poor families were more heartless, drowning their sick or un-raisable newborns, many never even opening their eyes.

Old Man Jiang had once seen floating abandoned infants in the village river. When he encountered them, he could only helplessly call out, "Whose child is this? Someone collect the body!"

And some parents couldn't bring themselves to do it, so they would take their female infants or sickly babies to the tower, never to inquire again, letting them fend for themselves. This made those parents feel a little better, as they would fantasize that a kind person would take the abandoned infant home and raise them well. But this was just self-deception.

Old Man Jiang had once gone to look inside the baby tower, but after one look, he never dared to go again.

The scene was unforgettable. He realized that all the infants had been eaten alive by insects, rats, and ants. They could do nothing but cry.

"Don't cry, Grandpa is with you..." Old Man Jiang mumbled.

As people approach death, they often fall into memories.

Perhaps this is fate... In the last moments of my life, I found two children. Although they will both freeze to death soon, at least I can give them some warmth.

"Waaah..." The female infant cried desperately. She was pressed tightly against Nu'er's body, her skin purple from the cold.

Seeing this, Old Man Jiang gritted his teeth, pushed his grandson's corpse out of his embrace, and held the two infants even tighter against his chest.

He told himself, the living were more important than the dead.

Thus, he once again fell into a daze, but then felt a warm current.

"Cold... No, it's warm... So warm..." Old Man Jiang opened his eyes. He was still lying on his side on the frozen lake.

The side touching the ice was frozen stiff, but his chest area was warm!

What was happening?

He looked down. The female infant had stopped crying long ago. The male infant was still sleeping soundly, even drooling.

Drool? Old Man Jiang was stunned. In this freezing weather, he was almost numb with cold, his tears turning into ice shards. How could this child drool without it freezing?

Is my embrace this warm? No... this child is warm!

Old Man Jiang hadn't felt such a warm embrace in a long time. The male infant was burning hot! It was this warmth that allowed his old body to hold on.

Is he sick?

To him, this felt like the final surge of energy before death, a sign of imminent freezing.

But what could he do?

Old Man Jiang tried his best to move his body, using the warmth from his chest to gradually loosen his stiff limbs.

Just as he was struggling to get up, a shout came from the distance: "Look, there's a living person!"

Hearing this, Old Man Jiang rejoiced. Could it be that these two children would survive?

It wasn't surprising he thought this. In this time of great disaster, refugees like him couldn't shout with such vigor. They wouldn't even pay attention if someone was lying in the distance.

Are they officials? Is the court providing relief? That's great...

Old Man Jiang smiled knowingly, slowly sat up, and turned to look.

But that glance made him jump.

It wasn't that the approaching people were hideous. On the contrary, they were all disaster victims and refugees, just like him.

"So it's just a shriveled old man." The three people who arrived were very disappointed upon seeing him clearly.

The three were not strong, and their appearance was even a bit simple and honest, but their words were ruthless: "This old man is old and dry, not much meat. It's better to pick up some frozen meat by the roadside and eat him. It will thaw slowly."

Hearing this, Old Man Jiang knew these three would not eat him.

"Eh? There's a child here..."

Hearing this, Old Man Jiang clutched him tighter, shrinking back as if to keep himself warm.

"Alas, he's already frozen into an ice lump." It turned out that what these people saw was the corpse of his grandson, whom Old Man Jiang had pushed out of his embrace.

"Let's go." The leader waved his hand, and the three turned to leave.

From beginning to end, they didn't say a word to the old man, as if they were just picking meat and vegetables.

They probably never expected that with a frozen child lying beside the old man, he would still have two soft infants in his arms.

"Hoo..." Old Man Jiang breathed a sigh of relief.

But before he could be happy, the female infant in his arms started crying again. Such infants would easily wake up with just a slight movement.

"Ah?" Hearing the sound, the three refugees turned around in unison, their faces full of joy.

Old Man Jiang struggled to get up and turned to run, but he fell after only a few steps.

His legs were numb, and the ice lake was too slippery compared to roads with deep snow.

"Old man, so you were hiding another one..."

"Ouch, it's two!"

They chased after him, pried open the old man's hands, revealing a male and a female infant, and were ecstatic.

These two little infants looked so tender, white, and smooth, completely different from the children brought by other refugees. It was obvious at a glance.

"Stop!"

"Beasts! Stop!"

Old Man Jiang was so angry his heart ached, but how could a dying, withered old man contend with three well-fed young and strong men?

He was easily pinned to the ground, and the pair of infants were snatched away.

The female infant cried loudly, her body trembling as she was held upside down by her ankles. The male infant remained silent, his head clamped in a large palm!

Judging by the strength of the grip, they didn't care if they crushed the child to death.

Old Man Jiang's eyes turned bloodshot, his pupils dilated with rage, and he blurted out, "Let go of my grandson! That's my grandson! You can't eat him!"

However, the three young and strong men ignored him, carrying the two infants away as if they were carrying two pieces of meat.

Old Man Jiang got up again, his stiff hands and feet dragging as he hobbled after them.

They didn't care, as if this wasn't the first time they had done this, and they didn't even spare a glance at this half-dead 'mummy'.

The three walked for about a mile, arriving at a ruin, likely a small village crushed by the heavy snow.

In the ruins, there was a bonfire, and an iron pot was placed on it, heating water.

"Eh? Cook, you really managed to start a fire?"

"The wind stopped, the snow stopped. If I can't even start a fire, I might as well die."

It turned out there were four people in total. Three had gone out to find food, and one had stayed behind to tend the fire.

"Why are they so small?" The cook looked back at the two tender infants and couldn't help but stare blankly.

Especially the crying female infant, her cries made him hesitate to speak.

"This female infant is so noisy, throw her into the pot first!" One person casually reached out to throw the female infant into the pot.

The cook instinctively shouted, "Wait!"

The three were stunned and asked, "What's wrong?"

The cook took the female infant, turned her over, and held her in his arms, saying, "The water hasn't boiled yet."

"What's the rush?" The three found it inexplicable, as they had eaten raw meat in the previous few meals!

The cook said forcefully, "I started the fire, so I decide how to cook it!"

The others didn't mind, thinking it was just the cook's obsession with cooking.

Soon, the water began to bubble and boil.

However, the cook touched the female infant's frozen face as if he hadn't seen it. The three exchanged glances and were about to put the male infant into the pot first.

"This male infant is warm and isn't crying. Is he sick?"

"Which of the meat we've eaten wasn't from something sick? What are you afraid of!"

"That's true!"

As they were speaking, a hoarse voice came from behind: "Stop! Let go of my grandson! I'll let you eat me!"

Old Man Jiang finally arrived, limping. Seeing that the two children hadn't been put into the pot yet, he breathed a sigh of relief and quickly pleaded with a smile, "Eat me! Eat me!"

The cook glanced at Old Man Jiang and sighed softly.

The refugee holding the male infant shook his head, "Eating you is not as good as digging up a corpse from the ground to eat."

"You have fire and a pot, so you don't have to kill my grandson... I'll find them for you, I know where there are other infant corpses!" Old Man Jiang pleaded, hunching over as he approached, a knife clutched in his hand.

The Cook chimed in, "That's true..."

Hearing this, the hand Old Man Jiang held curled in his embrace paused slightly, and he loosened his grip on the woodcutting knife.

However, in that moment of hesitation, a plop sound was heard as the Male Infant was thrown into the pot.

The Male Infant, sleeping soundly, suddenly struggled, twisting and twitching in the scalding hot water, and then he became still.

At this single sight, Old Man Jiang's mind went buzz, blanking out completely.

The vagrant chuckled, "This baby isn't even weaned yet. We can't raise him in these times. Might as well give him a quick end."

The other two brothers heard this and felt he had a point. Two newborns, seemingly only a few days old, probably hadn't even had a mouthful of milk. How could they possibly be raised?

Rather than dying of cold and hunger, it was better to let them be a meal.

"Old man, this is your grandson, isn't it? His flesh saved our lives, so we'll share a portion with you..."

The vagrant was still speaking when a flash of steel was seen.

Slish!

His head rolled to the ground, blood staining the white snow.

"Ah!"

"He has a knife!"

The remaining three were terrified and retreated repeatedly!

The Cook's eyes widened, never expecting this withered, half-dead old man to be so ferocious!

That one slash was too fast. By the time they reacted, the man was already dead.

They had never looked down on this old man, nor had they expected him to be hiding a woodcutting knife. Such a broken woodcutting knife had instantly severed a head, implying a certain level of strength, speed, and angle. Was this old man an executioner?

The strike was delivered without the slightest hesitation, even carrying a killing aura. He was an old soldier! The kind who had killed on the battlefield!

That's right, the chaotic times had only recently ended. For a civilian of this age, it would be strange if he hadn't served in the army.

"Grandson..." Old Man Jiang stumbled a few steps to the pot, sobbing, reaching out to retrieve him.

As his right hand trembled, the knife fell to the ground. It turned out that the previous strike had been his limit, an outburst fueled by extreme anger. He was old after all.

Coupled with his frail body, his right wrist was now sprained, and the joint was visibly protruding abnormally. He couldn't hold a knife like this.

"His hand is broken, quickly restrain him!"

"I've got the knife!"

The Cook didn't move, but the other two chose to pounce, pinning the dangerous old man down, intending to kill him.

The old man's left hand was scalded by the hot water, and he couldn't even lift his right hand. Pinned to the ground by two burly men, he let out a wail.

He had already treated the found infant as his own grandson, yet he had lost his loved ones once again.

"Heavens... Heavens!" Old Man Jiang didn't know why he was still alive, his roar filled with endless desperation.

Pop!

Suddenly, a pair of tender, pink hands emerged from the pot, gripping the edge.

The next moment, a chubby head popped out, steaming and dripping with boiling water...

A pair of round, curious eyes darted around.

The gazes of the four men instantly converged there, their eyes filled with extreme shock.

"A... a monster!"