Affection for Sidaogou during the Famine

"What's wrong with Zhaozhao today? Why is he eating so little? Xiaoliang, did something happen when you went into the mountains today?" The old lady was very confused.

"Hmm," Xiao Liang ate the fried young thorn sprouts in big mouthfuls. This wild vegetable was really delicious. Zhao Zhao hadn't lied to him. "We saw a dead child and dug a pit to bury him."

The old lady and the five girls were all shocked. "What, a dead child? Which road did you take? How did you see a dead child?"

It is not uncommon for children to die in the countryside, and villagers have special places to discard them.

However, Zhao Zhao had never seen such a scene before. Was he scared?

Xiaoliang's mother was also puzzled, "It's not uncommon to see this on the mountain, why don't you go around it, why are you rushing to bury it?

Zhao Zhao is small, and you are all older than her, don’t you know that you will scare her?”

Shufen is not worried about her son. Although he is young, he has already seen mountains of corpses and seas of blood and has become numb!

The old lady was a little worried that Han Zhaozhao would be frightened. Especially since her granddaughter, who always ate more than others, ate very little tonight, which had never happened before.

Wu Ni drooped her eyelids and just ate and ate. The dead child or not, for her who used to live in the countryside, it was too common, every family had thrown a few dead children into the mountains.

Even though she was still young, she often heard and saw her friends in the village or their younger brothers and sisters disappearing.

In her village, only her family had no one alive. Fortunately, her family had a capable relative from her maternal grandmother's family, who often sent money and things to support her family.

She could eat her fill, take medicine when she was sick, and even a dying person like her was taken to the capital to find a doctor to cure her illness.

I can only secretly envy other people's families.

All the wild vegetables in the yard were picked that night. After the adults went to work the next day, the three children stayed at home to wash them, blanch them, and dry them in the sun.

The two families did not plan to sell them at the pigeon market. Wild vegetables were in season and were not worth much, so it was better to keep them for home.

Han Zhaozhao didn't go up the mountain for more than ten days. She felt uncomfortable, and for several days in a row, every time she closed her eyes at night, she would think of the naked little girl.

She took advantage of the good weather to dry the medicinal herbs she had accumulated during this period, sorted them and packed them into bags, then took her two children to the Chinese medicine store to sell them.

Han Zhaozhao and Xiaoliang each got 108 yuan. In the final harvest, everyone shared the harvest. The medicinal materials were only rated three levels, so each of the six people got 2.36 yuan.

Now, everyone was convinced. Sure enough, Han Zhaozhao was right. The efficacy of the medicine would affect the price, and the return for the same amount of effort would be much lower.

Xiaoliang and Wuni were bored of studying after being locked up at home with Han Zhaozhao for a few days.

"Sister, let's go pick wild vegetables? Xiying and the others picked up a big basket yesterday." Wu Ni begged.

"We have plenty of food for you to eat, so just stay home and learn the poem I taught you."

"Now that I know how to recite it, I'll recite it to you: I slept through the spring without knowing the dawn, ... I wonder how many flowers have fallen."

Wu Ni recited ancient poetry with her hands behind her back, shaking her head, which made Han Zhaozhao smile.

I don’t know why, but there seems to be a fixed posture for reciting ancient poems. Everyone seems to be taught by the same teacher, which is quite interesting to watch.

"Are you proud of having memorized this poem? Do you know that our country's cultural heritage has a history of 5,000 years, and many excellent poems and articles have been passed down.

There are 300 well-known Tang poems alone. You should recite them well!

Don't worry about other things, just learn what you want to learn!"

Wu Ni said nothing and hid in the corner to recite "Happy Rain on a Spring Night". She decided to move now and not be urged to study by her sister.

Xiao Liang raised his hand, "Zhao Zhao, I have something to say."

Han Zhaozhao wanted to laugh. Where did these two kids learn this? They act like elementary school students.

"Tell me, what's the matter?"

"Wuni and I both want to go dig wild vegetables!"

Xiaoliang shouted very loudly.

Han Zhaozhao shook his head. "How old are you? You're still fooling around. Study hard and learn as much as you can. In a few years, ask your dad to find you a suitable job so that you can support yourself and be filial to your mom."

Is it so important to dig wild vegetables? It seems your family doesn’t lack food now.”

"If I study hard, can I really get a job?"

"Well, study hard!"

Xiao Liang was a die-hard fan of Han Zhaozhao. He believed everything she said. He was so happy that he forgot about digging wild vegetables and ran to share the good news with Wu Ni: "Wu Ni, when I get to work and earn money, I will buy you some candy. I will also buy new clothes for mom and for Zhaozhao..."

This child has a conscience!

It was another Sunday, and the friends gathered again and went up the mountain again.

This time, they didn't gain much.

It hasn't rained for nearly a month and the drought has returned.

This drought seemed to be more severe than the last one. The grass and rice that had grown with great difficulty were almost dried up by the drought.

Especially in the fields, the leaves of the seedlings are all drooping and can be burned with just a match.

Farmers began to draw water to irrigate the fields again. This time they looked more tired. The sun was so bright in the sky and the temperature seemed to have suddenly risen, as if the hot summer had arrived.

That day, they found a locust tree whose flowers were as white as snow, not affected by the drought at all.

Risking being pricked by the sharp thorns, a group of children plucked all the berries from the locust tree. This time, they finally returned with a full load.

When I got home, the old lady took action again. She steamed locust flower tofu, made locust flower cakes, and cooked locust flower porridge, but she didn't stir-fry the locust flowers.

During this period, more and more people came to escape famine and beg for food, and the Han family has become more and more low-key.

I seldom cook food with a strong smell, and if I occasionally feel like craving it, I try to wait until late at night when everyone is asleep.

In the evening, Han Zhaozhao entered the space, finished her work, and began to boil medicine.

She found that the three members of her family looked so healthy that they attracted attention among the crowd of people who looked pale and thin.

For several days in a row, first the Xue family came, then the Qing family, and then the old lady’s sisters’ family, all came to borrow food, which scared the old lady.

The old lady announced: From now on, the whole family will start pretending to be poor!

Anyone who comes to borrow food will not be lent a single grain!

Han Zhaozhao didn't believe that a good person like the old lady could really be so heartless.

Sure enough, in the middle of the night, the old lady secretly sent a bucket of dried sweet potatoes to her old sister like a thief. Judging from the amount, it was at least two or three pounds.

The old lady tiptoed to open the door and returned home. When she looked up, her granddaughter was waiting for her in the main room.

"Grandma, didn't you just say that you wouldn't give any grain to anyone who came to borrow it? Whose house did you go tonight?"

Han Zhaozhao was a little worried. It was almost eleven o'clock, and the old lady was still going out in the dark. She was really afraid that she would fall again.

Besides, it is not safe on the streets now. There are people going to the black market in the middle of the night, beggars fleeing famine, and those Buddhist monks... There are patrols, but there are too few people, which is just a drop in the bucket for so many alleys in the capital.

If something really happens, it will be too late to regret!