Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

Zhou Guo nodded. Without his father and mother, he didn’t know if he could survive in such a chaotic world. No wonder his aunt didn’t say anything.

"Here, this piece of meat is good, with less bones and more meat. Eat more." Zhou Mai took the piece of meat from his bowl, thinking that his sister would eat more good food and more meat. Eating the meat would completely cure the disease.

Zhou Guo picked at the meat in the bowl and sighed secretly. Ever since her appetite increased, she rarely had a full meal. After meals, she could only drink more water to barely fill herself up.

However, the snake meat is really delicious, fresh and tender, with firm and chewy texture. It tastes like chicken and fish, and is almost the same as I remember.

The meat pieces were small, so I cooked most of the big snake. I gave some to others, and there was still almost half left.

Everyone in the family can enjoy a lot of it.

Zhou Guo ate about ten pieces of wild vegetable dumplings with relish and drank two bowls of soup. The soup was so delicious that she almost screamed out. God knows how long it had been since she had eaten good food or drank such delicious soup.

Even the wild vegetables in the soup were much more delicious than usual, fresh and juicy, and she ate a lot of them.

Seeing her eating the wild vegetables with chopsticks one by one, Li added some firewood and ate a few more handfuls.

Soon the pot started to bubble. Zhou Guo picked up her chopsticks and ate with great satisfaction. She was not picky and enjoyed both old and tender food. She was not full after eating so much, so why should she be picky about these things?

"Mm, delicious, delicious, this snake meat is so fragrant. Brother, it's all thanks to you that I can eat such a delicious meal today. Your children are amazing, you are so lucky."

"That's right. This soup is really delicious. I think it tastes better than chicken soup. Hey, the last time I ate snake meat was more than ten years ago. I can eat it this time thanks to Guoguo. She is so brave at such a young age. She dared to catch such a big snake. Even ordinary men probably don't dare to do it."

The two old men ate other people's food and had nothing to give back. They could only say a few nice words. What's more, they were all sincere. Such a young child could bring game home. They were truly envious.

Zhou Deli was extremely proud. His family's Guoguo really made him proud. This child was truly capable.

The whole family ate the meat and drank the soup in silence and happiness, with smiles on their faces.

The people next to me were so envious that they smelled the fragrance in the air, swallowed their saliva repeatedly, and their eyes were wide open. They couldn't even eat the steamed bun in their hands.

The families who got the snake meat were extremely happy and divided the meat happily.

The head of the village was also happy. After all, who wouldn’t be happy to get such a big bowl of meat for free?

The village head's wife smiled and said, "This Zhou family is pretty good. Even though their two sons were arrested, they haven't declined. Now the younger generation is about to grow up. But the old ones are old and the young ones are young. I'm afraid I'll have to take care of them more in the future."

The head of the village nodded and sighed, "Yes, once these two strong laborers leave, there will be no one left to help in the family."

The eldest daughter-in-law curled her lips and said, "Why didn't you contribute? I think their family is doing well. They don't need Dad to take care of them. Besides, how can we take care of them? We can't just deliver food to them. We only have enough food to eat, not much more."

The daughter-in-law nodded repeatedly and said, yes, yes, there are so many families, and every family doesn’t have enough food. Shouldn’t they also send food?

The headman's wife glared at them and said nothing.

The whole family ate up a big pot of snake meat, including the meat, vegetables and soup, without even a drop of soup left.

Zhou Guo touched his stomach and sighed with contentment. The feeling of being full was so happy!

Seeing her satisfied look, Li smiled knowingly, thinking about the two wild vegetable dumplings and a few pieces of snake meat left in her arms. These were enough for her daughter to have a meal, and she didn't need to worry about her two sons.

Everyone in the family ate to their heart's content. After finishing their meal, they put away their bowls and went to sleep. There was nothing else they did but eat and then sleep.

I had a very enjoyable meal and I didn’t feel hungry for several days afterwards. It lasted for several days.

After eating the delicious food, I felt more energetic when walking and felt much more relaxed than usual.

However, since we set out on the journey in June, not a drop of rain has fallen, not even a cloudy day.

Because they walked fast, they gradually caught up with the group of people who had walked ahead of them. The further they went, the more people they met. Everyone was carrying their families, big carts and small bags, carrying baskets on their backs, and they were all covered in dust and looked very tired.

According to Zhou Dacang's previous idea, he wanted to find a suitable place ahead to stop, and then go back to find his two brothers when the situation was peaceful. However, he did not find a suitable place along the way. Most of the villages along the way had left or fled, and even those that did not flee had few people left.

I heard that some of the taxes collected in the county are heavier than those in their place, including travel taxes and various surcharges. There are also shoe fees, farm tool fees, cattle rent, salt fees... In addition, there are all kinds of heavy corvee labor, and they have to perform corvee labor for half a year every year.

Upon hearing about such heavy taxes and corvee labor, Zhou Deli shook his head repeatedly. With such heavy taxes and a bad harvest, no one could survive. I'm afraid there wouldn't be even enough to eat.

However, Zhou Guo found that the road was becoming more and more desolate.

It was a hot summer day, and the road should have been covered with green shades, but the dead trees and rotten grass along the way gradually increased. Further along, one could often see patches of withered and yellow grass on the mountains on both sides. The occasional ditch had already dried up, leaving only the deepest puddle in the middle.

All the refugees passing by fetched water there.

Zhou Guo's brows gradually frowned, and they became tighter as time went on. He didn't know what the situation was like. If it improved, that would be good. If it got worse, he didn't know if he would have any water to drink.

The only thing she could do was to take her brothers to dig wild vegetables, all kinds of wild vegetables, grass roots and herbs.

After all, Zhou Deli and Huang were old and had a lot of experience, so they had a premonition that something was wrong. So when they were on the road, they asked the children to carry baskets and dig wild vegetables everywhere. When they had a break, except for the one who cooked, the whole family went out to dig wild vegetables.

Seeing this, other people in the village also started digging.

In fact, there is nothing to dig at this time. The grass leaves are withered and yellow, and even some green leaves have been dug away by people in front. Often, you may walk around with a basket for a whole morning and still not dig up a basketful of grass.

Zhou Guo was different. She was not afraid of yellowing leaves as long as they were edible. At this time, the Houttuynia cordata seedlings had grown very tall, but she did not dislike them. She not only pulled down the seedlings, but also took the roots underneath. She wanted them all.

They are all good things. The seedlings can be dried and used as medicine to clear away heat and detoxify, and can also cure coughs.

When others saw that she was about to put the dead leaves on the ground into the basket and take them away, they couldn't help but shake their heads. Forget the previous ones, at least they were still green, but this one is so old, the leaves are all burnt and yellow, can it still be eaten?