Guan Zhili's gaze settled on the money box and stayed there for a long time.
Jiang Yingcheng had already found some oiled paper herself and wrapped up both their shares of candy. In the process, she secretly took one piece from Guan Zhili's share-the piece he had promised her-and quickly popped it into her mouth.
Jiang Yanchuan saw it but said nothing.
In an instant, this little space fell quiet.
That included the commoners kneeling outside the shop.
Those who could still remain in Jiayu City were the old, weak, sick, and disabled at the very bottom of society. Even the news they normally heard was only what the Beiming Imperial House wanted them to know.
In their limited understanding, Great Rui's imperial family was even more debauched and tyrannical than Beiming's. In their eyes, the tyrant Emperor Mingze was no different from an evil spirit out of hell, ready to devour every last scrap of their flesh and blood.
When word first arrived from the front lines that Great Rui's army was attacking, the King of Beiming had made a great show of recruiting soldiers in the city, solemnly vowing to drive the enemy out of their territory.
Before, they might have had the strength to fight, but the plague that had only recently subsided had cost them far too many soldiers. That was why they had forcibly dragged away all the able-bodied men in the city.
Those left behind were people who could hardly get around to begin with, so when everyone fled this time, they had simply been left here.
They had no means to leave and had long since understood that there was nowhere they could escape to. All they could do was cling almost stubbornly to their homes and wait in dread for death.
And