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

The refugees could not help but retreat one after another, not daring to even look at each other for fear that they would be killed if they made eye contact.

Zhou Guo was holding her hoe and walking in the front, her eyes never resting, watching the movements of the people around her. Seeing that they were all retreating with fear on their faces, she was startled and looked at the attire of her group. She was silent for a moment, as she did not expect such an effect.

He gripped the hoe tightly, glanced at the people behind him, and quickened his pace.

Everyone followed closely behind.

Some of the refugees who had followed up in the mountains at the beginning fell behind, and the rest who had finally caught up saw how Zhou Guo and the others were dressed, and when they got closer they heard that there were people in front who had the plague. They were so scared that they quickly rummaged through their luggage. Those who had no luggage simply pulled some grass to cover their mouths and noses, and followed Zhou Guo and the others closely.

This time the survival instinct took over and with heavy steps he tried his best to keep up with the pace in front of him. If he didn't walk faster he would be dead.

It is better to follow the little monk. Even if someone dies and dies around the monk, the little monk may be kind enough to chant some sutras for them and help them to be reborn.

The people at the back of the team found that someone had followed them, and they immediately frowned. Then they recognized that this was the person who had been following them for several days. Looking at their weird appearance, they opened their mouths but said nothing in the end. It's not easy for anyone these days, and everyone has to fight for their lives to survive.

Zhou Guo looked at the people lying on the roadside, lying in all directions, skinny and bony, dying, with dark eyes, withered like dry leaves, no trace of life on their faces, empty eyes, young and old, like a rag, it was shocking.

The mother held her dead child in her arms and kept lifting up her clothes to feed the child, looking like a madman.

The child lay beside his long-deceased mother, with his big eyes open, neither crying nor making a fuss.

Some children kept putting what they were holding in their hands into their mothers' mouths, stuffing it into their mothers' mouths while at the same time stuffing it into their own mouths. She recognized that it was a piece of dry grass.

This is just the tragedy of the world.

Zhou Guo stopped walking. One of the two children looked only one year old, and the other about two or three years old. They were too young!

She couldn't help but look at the people behind her. These nearly three hundred people, young and old, all had their lives at stake!

Everyone couldn't help but stop and many people wiped away their tears.

"What a damn world! Why doesn't God open his eyes? How can such a young child survive?" An old woman sighed and wiped her tears.

The children looked at the children silently, "Mom, can we take them with us? They are so pitiful. They have no mother."

The adults didn't say anything. How should they take care of them? Having two more mouths to feed is not a big deal, but they are worried that the two children will get sick. What if the whole group of them is infected? The plague is fatal. Didn't they see that both their parents have died?

The children kept begging.

"Don't talk nonsense. Maybe they all got the plague. The plague is contagious. Don't let us all get it and die. Then you will be like these two children."

The children were so frightened that they immediately shut their mouths.

"Children this young are all clean. Look how long the adult has been dead, but these two children are still alive. They don't look like they are sick. Why don't we take them with us?"

……

The adults argued for a while.

Zhou Guo was usually very decisive in killing his enemies, chopping off their heads like cutting melons. But at this moment, looking at the two young children, he was really in trouble and hesitant.

She looked towards Li Zheng.

The head of the village understood what she meant in an instant, opened his mouth, but was unable to say anything, nor could he say no.

The adults were becoming increasingly noisy.

Zhou Guo finally decided not to take them with her. She had to be responsible for the lives of more than 300 people in the team, but she couldn't bear to leave like that.

She gave each person a bamboo tube that contained water at home, and two steamed buns made of porridge.

The two children were starving and thirsty. They picked up the bamboo tube and gulped down the water. After drinking, they picked up the steamed bun and started to eat it. They did not forget to feed their dead mother while eating themselves. "Mom, eat, eat, there is food. Water, drink, give it to me."

The people behind her stopped arguing when they saw her doing this. They looked away as they saw the two children taking food and feeding the dead person beside them.

After Zhou Guo handed the things to the two people, she turned around and left without looking back. She was afraid that if she stayed a moment longer, they would change their minds.

When everyone saw her striding forward, they followed her after a moment's hesitation. The younger children looked at the two children reluctantly. The adults, whether they advocated taking the children away or not, all breathed a sigh of relief, as this decision was not an easy one to make.

Li felt sorry for her daughter as she looked at her resolute back. This child must have made such a great decision.

Mrs. Xu also said, "We have so many adults here, why let a child make this decision? No matter how capable she is, she is only eight years old. What can she know!" She was a little resentful.

Huang sighed and said nothing. She just felt that since her granddaughter had made this decision for the team, things might be different in the team in the future. But she couldn't tell how it would be different.

Zhou Guo, who was at the front, forced herself to calm down. She kept telling herself that this decision was correct. In order to protect the interests of more people, this was the best choice.

But she hadn't walked far when she heard someone behind her say, "Oh, those two kids are following us!"

She was startled and looked back, only to see the older child dragging the slightly younger child, stumbling behind them. The younger child could not even walk steadily, and did not cry when being led by his brother, but looked dazed and confused.

My heart softened immediately and I made up my mind: since I couldn't avoid it, I would just take it with me.

She turned around and walked behind her, asked her mother to find two pieces of clothes, and then walked towards the two people.

When the two children saw her, they stopped. The older one sniffed and looked at her without saying a word.

The younger one had a confused look in his eyes and just grinned when he saw her.

She was silent for a moment, then shook out her clothes and wrapped the two of them tightly from head to toe, just like them.

Then he held two people, one in each hand, and walked forward.

Everyone was stunned watching this scene.

Li was even more anxious and went forward to exchange her daughter back. The two might be sick, and she was afraid that she would pass the disease on to them, as they were her children.

Zhou Su was even more jealous. His sister had never hugged him, so why should she hug these two kids? He felt sorry for them just now, but now he decided to hate them both.

Both of them hurriedly squeezed to the front.