Traveling through 1942 with space

Hou Xiaoge slept soundly until he woke up because he felt a little cold.

He used his mental power to search the surroundings and found that except for his weak younger cousin who were sleeping in the room, only his aunt and second aunt were guarding the yard.

As for why they were guarding, it was of course to prevent anyone from stealing children and luggage.

However, the younger aunt and the second aunt were not idle either. They were working hard to crush the dried bark with the stone mortars in their hands.

"Ugh!"

Hou Xiaoge sighed deeply in his heart, then forced a smile and greeted the two of them.

"Second aunt, aunt, everyone is out busy, why didn't you call me." Hou Xiaoge walked over and greeted with a smile.

"You had a head injury yesterday and needed to recover. You slept very deeply at noon, so I didn't let them call you." The aunt wiped the sweat from her forehead with her arm and said with a smile.

Hou Xiaoge knew that her aunt did this for her own good, so she didn't say anything else. She said hello to the two of them, then went out with her backpack.

The sun was setting, about 6 o'clock. Many lazy people had already started to walk back, but more people took advantage of the evening when there were many insects and worked hard.

I have almost explored the entire village, and I cannot enter where other people live, so I have to turn my attention to the farmland outside the village.

At noon, Hou Xiaoge learned from her aunt that it was the beginning of July in the lunar calendar of the 31st year of the Republic of China, which was mid-August in the Gregorian calendar.

My sister-in-law said that the drought this spring was very serious, resulting in almost no surplus grain after the summer grain was harvested and the rent was paid.

We could have gotten by relying on the remaining food and wild grasses and vegetables, but the bad thing was these chaotic times.

After the summer harvest, the government of the Republic of China continued to impose heavy taxes and levies, and even collected grain in advance. In the end, it even sent grain collection teams to the villages to forcibly collect grain.

The worst thing is that there has been no rain since the summer harvest, and most of the rivers and wells have dried up, which has threatened the lives of ordinary people.

The autumn crops could not be planted, and people had no water to drink, so they could only wait to die at home. Finally, the whole family sat together to discuss how to escape the famine while they still had energy!

The famine had already occurred for three months, and their family had been fleeing for more than a month. Every day they were scavenging and running around, and for the past half month they had been hiding in a ravine not far from Luo County.

[Clarification: Some book lovers may ask why the common people could not survive and fled after only three months of the famine. I can only say that everyone should put themselves into the history of that era.

The 31st year of the Republic of China was a time of chaos, with people fighting the Japanese invaders and warlords. As one of the granaries of the Republic of China, the frequent heavy taxes and levies made the common people miserable.

Moreover, most of the common people did not have their own land, but were tenants of the landlords and the official gentry.

It was a blessing from God that the tenant farmers could work hard all year round to feed their families. As for leaving some surplus food, it was really difficult.

Therefore, in normal years, tenant farmers relied on the little remaining food in their homes, counting their days and hoping for the next harvest.

However, once we encounter years of disaster and chaos, ordinary people will not be able to survive even if the economy stops for one or two months.

A large number of exorbitant taxes and levies will be collected over and over again. You say you can't afford to pay them? Sorry, the lackeys of the officials and gentry will come to your house to collect them and rob them immediately.

Unscrupulous grain merchants would also take the opportunity to collude with officials and gentry, frequently raising grain prices and wielding their knives to reap the spoils of the common people.

The consequences of this are unquestionable. In the end, ordinary people will naturally be unable to survive. They will first sell their property at a low price, then sell their children, and finally leave their homes to become refugees, and most of them will die in a foreign land.

For safety reasons, Hou Xiaoge did not go any further after leaving the village, but wandered around the hillsides and fields near the village.

It hasn't rained for several months, and the earth seems to be sick. The soil nearby turns into powder if you grab a handful. The fields in the distance have been hit hard. Everywhere you look, you can see huge dry cracks.

As for the green that should be there in summer, the ones that are nearby have already been dug up and eaten by people, while the ones that are far away are in the deep mountains and people dare not approach them.

"Wow! This cave is great! It actually hides so much food." After walking for more than 200 meters, Hou Xiaoge finally got something.

However, judging from the appearance of the cave, its owner should have been caught, otherwise the entrance would not be blocked.

Because mental power cannot be directly collected through objects, Hou Xiaoge took out the small hoe he dug out from the landlord's house in the morning and began to clean up the loose soil and dead grass that buried the rat hole.

Throwing aside the loose soil and dead grass, the hidden rat hole appeared in front of Hou Xiaoge. With a move of his mental power, Hou Xiaoge collected four or five kilograms of wheat into the space.

"Not bad, not bad, another considerable income." After covering the rat hole, Hou Xiaoge hummed a song and continued to explore.

"Hei Wa, get up!"

Just as Hou Xiaoge was about to dig a rat hole, a young man came running over from the distance, shouting.

Hou Xiaoge looked up and saw that it was his cousin Huanhuan.

"Heiwa, what are you doing lying on the ground?" Huanhuan walked up to him breathlessly and asked.

"Keep your voice down, do you want people to know what I'm doing?" Hou Xiaoge pretended to be angry and warned in a low voice.

"Oh, oh! Let me speak softly. Heiwa, what are you doing?" Huanhuan saw Hou Xiaoge's stern face and quickly lowered her voice.

Seeing his twelve-year-old cousin talking to him like a thief, Hou Xiaoge burst out laughing.

"Brother, there is a rat hole buried here. There should be something in it. I am preparing to dig it out! It will be bad if others find it." Hou Xiaoge said as he kicked the small hole blocked by dry grass.

"Really? That's great, I'm strong, let me do the digging!" Huanhuan excitedly took the small hoe from Hou Xiaoge's hand, stuck out her butt and started digging.

There were about three pounds of wheat in this rat hole, but after seeing his cousin, Hou Xiaoge decided not to harvest it.

It would be a good idea to use some of the unexpected food to subsidize relatives. After all, times like this are when we need to stick together and keep each other warm.

After digging for about five or six minutes, Hou Xiaoge saw that his cousin was already tired and out of breath, so he took the hoe and started digging.

After drinking the spiritual spring water several times, Hou Xiaoge has recovered the strength of a normal eight or nine-year-old child. In less than three minutes, the more than one-meter-deep hole where the field mice hid their food was dug out.

"Wow! Wheat, so much wheat. Heiwa, hurry up and pick it up. It would be bad if others see it." Huanhuan quickly blocked the entrance of the cave with his body, grabbed the food and stuffed it into his pocket.

The pocket of Hou Xiaoge's shirt had been torn a long time ago, and his pants had no pockets, so he had to take out a bamboo tube and start pouring the money in.

The two brothers picked up the wheat very carefully, and not a single grain of wheat was caught.

"Erhuan, Heiwa, what are you two doing?" At this moment, a woman's voice came from a distance.

"Heiwa, run."

My cousin covered the two pockets of his shirt, called out to Hou Xiaoge, and then ran back to the village.

At first, Hou Xiaoge didn't understand why he was running. Finally, he took a look at the food in the bamboo tube, suddenly realized what was going on, and quickly followed his cousin back.

"These two damn kids must have found some food in the rat hole."

A minute later, a middle-aged woman in her thirties hurriedly trotted to the edge of the field, looking at the empty rat hole and cursing.

"Heiwa, we are scavenging outside. If we find something good without our parents around, we should run away if we are discovered. They will snatch it away." After the two brothers ran away, cousin Huanhuan explained to Hou Xiaoge breathlessly.

Hou Xiaoge was not shocked, because his cousin Huanhuan's words confirmed his guess.

"I understand, Brother Erhuan." Hou Xiaoge pretended to be nervous and nodded heavily.

"Let's go home. We've made a fortune today."

After Huanhuan finished speaking, she carefully pressed the food in her pocket, and then walked towards her temporary home with a swift step, not recognizing any relatives.