Rebirth: The Journey of an Heiress novel Chapter 1258

Chapter 1258: Chapter 1253: Vigilance

Bai Jinse’s bright black eyes glanced at the bundle under the man’s head. Inside were provisions he had prepared for his five or six-year-old son, which he and his wife rarely ate.

From Bai Jinse’s observations, the couple had stopped eating the provisions and had reduced their child’s daily two rations to one, and they were also smaller, indicating that their provisions were running low.

Once the provisions were gone, there wouldn’t even be grass ahead, and then it would be her turn to fill the void.

But she couldn’t die!

If she died, how heartbroken her mother, eldest sister, and elder siblings would be.

Especially Fifth Brother, who would probably blame himself for a lifetime, as he was the one who brought her to the battlefield. If she died and even her bones couldn’t be found, how could Fifth Brother bear it!

She must live! She must survive!

Even if not for herself, it must be for the Bai family and all her relatives!

Too many people in the Bai family have already died. Eldest Sister said... no more incidents can happen to anyone in the Bai family!

She calculated in her mind the distance traveled in these days, roughly estimating how far they were from Yunjing, also guessing if by now the Zhou or Yan Kingdom had already taken Yunjing.

They couldn’t keep going further away, as traveling in this direction distanced them from Yunjing and the Zhou military camp.

Bai Jinse looked up and saw a frail boy tied up as securely as she was, appearing to be only seven or eight years old, also starved like her.

Seemingly sensing someone looking at him, his jet-black eyes reflected the flickering red glow of the dying fire, silently revealing a fierce determination, as if ready for a life-or-death struggle with anyone, his eyes harboring deep wariness.

Bai Jinse looked away and inadvertently saw a broken bowl half-hidden by straw in a pile at the ruined temple. She checked the length of the rope on her body, shuffled over to the straw pile, turned around, and used her still-active hands to reach for the broken porcelain piece, cutting a small nick on her hand.

She grabbed the shattered ceramic bowl, immediately starting to cut the rope with it. Because she hadn’t eaten properly for days, her entire body was weak and trembling, making the piece in her hand shake. She had not yet cut the rope when her wrists were already raw and bloody.

She held her breath, gritting her teeth tightly; matters of life and death... Bai Jinse could endure any pain.

Perhaps because of being starved for so long, even the sensation of pain was dulled, and as the porcelain piece scraped across her delicate wrist skin again and again, she simply couldn’t feel it.

Before long, without having severed the rope, Bai Jinse was drenched in sweat from exhaustion.

While cutting the rope, she calculated in her mind that it must now be deep into the night when people sleep most soundly. If she quietly escaped now, even in her frail condition, at least her life would be safe!

During this time, Jinse noticed the boy with eyes like a wolf cub staring at her.

Thinking the child, being tied up, was also likely intended as food by the Xiliang people, she felt an untimely pang of compassion, persuading herself... if she escaped without taking the child, he might cry out, and she wouldn’t be able to escape.

Feeling the looseness on her wrist, Bai Jinse knew she had succeeded. She didn’t bother wiping the sweat off her face, freed herself from the ropes, and signaled the child to "shh," propping her frail body against the wall and walked toward the boy with the ceramic shard in hand.

The boy seemed to understand that Bai Jinzhi was going to save him and remained very quiet.

Feeling uneasy, the man with his foot on the boy’s chest saw his wife clutching their son defensively behind him, her eyes full of fear, "Husband..."

"Who’s spreading such nonsense? We’ve been traveling with everyone, chewing bark and roots, and everyone has seen it. If we had provisions, why would we suffer like this?" the man shouted.

"If it’s not true, open the bundle and let us see!"

"Yeah, if there’s no provisions, open the bundle and show us!"

The men in the temple were already rising, closing in on the man, who pressed his back against the wall, unable to retreat any further, protectively pushing his wife and child behind him.

Suddenly, the boy mustered all his strength to leap at the man’s bundle. The bundle tore open, spilling the provisions wrapped in clothing onto the floor...

"It’s provisions!"

"Provisions!"

"Grab them!"

The temple erupted into chaos as the disheveled Xiliang people scrambled desperately for the provisions on the ground. Some already turned on the man, tearing at his family’s belongings and luggage, as he wildly swung a thick stick from somewhere, defending his family.

Seeing the man’s stance, the Xiliang people, already driven mad by hunger and having seen the provisions, joined in upon witnessing some people successfully snatching some...