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

Everyone turned their heads silently, wiped their tears, and the cart began to creak.

Their escape began.

The moonlight is so bright tonight that we don’t even need torches.

There were two carts, Li and Zhou Dacang pushed one, Xu and fifteen-year-old Zhou Gu pushed the other, and Huang and Old Man Zhou were ready to replace one of them at any time, so that there would be someone to rest at all times.

All the children, except two younger ones, followed behind.

Huang looked at Zhou Guo who was following Li silently, and felt distressed. "Guoguo, please sit on it too. The child is still young."

Li looked at her daughter and saw that she had no intention of speaking, so she said, "No need, mother. Guoguo is already that big. Besides, there is no room in the car."

In fact, she was also heartbroken, but there were already a lot of things in the car, and with two more children, there was no room for her own daughter.

Huang looked at the two carts. In order to fit more things, the carts, which were originally not large, were loaded and piled with things until there was indeed no space left.

Old Man Zhou looked at his granddaughter who was walking with her back straight and step by step, and said with relief: "It doesn't matter. When the food on the car behind is less, there will be room. Then you can ride with your brother and sister."

Xu glanced at Zhou Guo and said puzzledly: "Come to think of it, Guo Guo seems to be a little different."

As soon as the words fell, everyone looked over subconsciously.

Zhou Guo was still fine, but Li was getting a little nervous. She felt it was a bit inappropriate to say that her daughter was fine at this moment, so she said quickly, "She's grown up now, so she's naturally different."

Xu nodded and didn't pursue the matter any further. These were all trivial matters and she was not in the mood to care about them.

The two children didn't sleep much that night to begin with, and as soon as they got on the swaying car, they fell asleep before they even reached the village entrance.

Zhou Xing deliberately followed them and took care of them, covering them with clothes for fear that they would fall asleep and roll off the car.

The cart stopped, but Zhou Dacang and Zhou Gu stayed beside the cart. The cart was loaded with food, and the whole family depended on it for survival, so it could not be lost.

When the people in the back saw them coming, those who knew them came over to inquire about what was going on.

"Oh, sister-in-law, I heard that your Dalang and Erlang went to the city to find work and were arrested and sent to the army, right? Do you know where they were arrested?"

"Have you been to the county government office to check? Is it right there? Are they the people that the county magistrate has arrested? The war is about to start. Are they going to the front to fight the rebels? Oh, swords and knives have no eyes on the battlefield."

"Not only your family, Qian Erzhu, Qian Tietou, and Wang Sanmu were all arrested. Oh, the most pitiful one is Wang Sanmu. After he was arrested, only his wife and two young children were left at home. The three of them don't know how to live. What a sin!"

When the Huang family members heard this, their hearts sank and they felt very uncomfortable. They forced themselves to talk to people and find out more about the situation.

While listening to their conversation, Zhou Guo looked intently. There were already a lot of people gathered under the big tree at the entrance of the village. There were big and small bags, ox carts and carts, and a crowd of people. Everyone spoke in a very low voice, and only a buzzing sound could be heard.

The adults all had confusion on their faces. The younger children were all asleep, and the older children were already sensible, but they were so frightened that they couldn't speak.

Only a few people looked calm and composed, and they did not show any signs of fleeing from the famine. Instead, they looked like they were out for an outing.

There are not many families like this, but they have confidence that others do not have.

She saw their possessions beside them, ox carts and donkey carts, all loaded with things and covered with oilcloth. In those days, if a family had an animal, they were considered wealthy.

The families of wealthy families are no different from them. You don’t need to look carefully to distinguish them. You can tell them apart at a glance.

Poor people like them wore clothes that were all patched up and tattered after being washed. The clothes worn by the rich families were much better. Although not all of them were made of silk, they were made of neat and clean cotton. Their complexions were also different from everyone else's. Their faces were rosy and shiny, and their bodies were strong.

She was not familiar with the village and didn't know how many families like this there were in the village.

Zhou Mai, who was standing by, saw her staring at other people's ox carts and donkey carts. Thinking that she was not familiar with the situation in the village, he was afraid that she would accidentally offend someone later, so he pointed out the ox carts one by one and introduced them to her in a low voice: "That ox cart belongs to the head of the village. See? The one talking to people is the wife of the youngest son of the head of the village. She is very fierce. On weekdays, if we pass by their house, she will look at us with squinting eyes and stare at us closely, for fear that we have taken something from her house, just like she is guarding against thieves.

In addition to the younger daughter-in-law, the older daughter-in-law is not a kind person either. If a melon or vegetable is lost in their garden, they will curse everyone in the village. If you run into these two people, you have to take a detour and don't go near them. You know, the children in the village are afraid of them. "

Zhou Guo nodded and pointed to another donkey cart, "What about this donkey cart? Whose donkey cart is this?" This donkey cart also has a carriage, and it is obviously used to pull people. It is really enviable.

"Oh, that's Zheng Xiucai's family. Zheng Xiucai's family is much richer than the village head's family. See those carts full of things in front? There are eight or nine carts, all from their family." Zhou Mai looked at those carts with envy. How much food must they have? Their family has less than half the population of theirs, so they must have eaten dry rice every meal...

His saliva was about to flow out, and it was difficult for Zhou Guo to pretend not to see it.

"Oh my God, mother, look at the scholar's house. There are so many carts, and they are all full of grain. How long will it take to eat them all? I have never seen so much grain in my life!" When Xu saw the wealth of the scholar's family, she was stunned. She had never seen so much grain before.

When the people around heard this, they looked over and saw the piles of carts at a glance.

"Can such a small family of people eat all this food?"

"We definitely can't finish it all. If we keep this much food in our house, we'll need three years to eat it all!"

"How can your family compare with the scholar's family? The scholar eats dry food for every meal, three meals a day. How can we afford to eat like this? Isn't this a waste of money?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd fell silent. Indeed, who among their families would be willing to eat like this?

Seeing that all of his family members had the same envy on their faces as Zhou Mai, Zhou Guo couldn't help but remain silent.

"Gululu..."

The reminder from her stomach made her even more silent.

She had no awareness or feeling in the past, but now she has truly experienced it. Days without enough to eat are really miserable. She had not had a full meal that day, and the newly made steamed buns were all in fixed quantities.