The end of natural disasters: the daily life of child brides in ancient times

Lu Laosan opened his eyes and saw the old village chief in front of him, and burst into tears again.

While crying, she saw half a bowl of porridge left in the bowl next to her, so she grabbed it and drank it all in one gulp.

After drinking, he still held the bowl tightly and licked it clean with his tongue.

Seeing this, the old village chief had no choice but to ask someone to scoop another bowl of porridge.

After drinking four bowls of porridge in a row, Lu Laosan felt that the porridge had reached his throat and he couldn't drink it anymore, so he stopped.

Seeing that he finally stopped, the old village chief continued to ask:

"Third brother, where are your parents and brothers, your wife and children? Where are they?"

Lu Lao San lowered his head and said in a weak voice:

"When the barbarians came, my family was scattered. I saw my eldest brother and my parents go one way, and I took Li Niang and the two children to the Qin family's place."

As if recalling the horrific scene of corpses scattered all over the ground, Lu Laosan's voice trembled, and he continued after a pause:

"Now, my parents and eldest brother should be together, but I don't know where they are."

The old village chief looked at Lu Laosan's dejected expression and held back from asking any more questions.

However, the little girl who was standing next to Aunt Lu didn't understand what the adults were saying, so she asked directly:

"Uncle San, where are Erzhuang and Sanya? They..."

As soon as Erya opened her mouth, Aunt Lu quickly covered her mouth.

But the question was still asked. When Lu Laosan heard the two children, he pulled his hair in pain.

After a long time, he said:

"Some died, some were sold, and now I'm the only one left!"

Everyone around was listening in silence. Lu Lao San seemed to have been holding it in for a long time and started to talk to himself.

"When the barbarians came, I was only concerned with escaping with Li Niang and the two children, and I threw everything in the car away. But after finally escaping, there was nothing left to eat at home."

"Luckily, the Qin family still had some food. Li Niang went to beg them, and my mother-in-law followed suit, so we were able to eat some with every meal. With that little bit of food, our family finally made it to Qingping County. But the city gates were closed, and we couldn't get in at all."

"We had no choice but to take a detour and head to the mountains east of the city. Many places there were impassable for carts, and since we didn't have much left at home, we abandoned the cart as well."

"Luckily, there were still some wild vegetables in the mountains, and with the mushrooms we picked after the rain, we managed to survive. Later, after we got out of the mountains, we learned that there had been a wildfire in the mountains west of the city, and it's estimated that many people had been burned to death."

Tianfu Niang couldn't help but replied:

"Oh, that's right! We were walking along the big mountain to the west, and the fire there was so fierce that we were almost buried in it!"

Only then did Lu Laosan realize that they were taking the road to the west of the city, and he said anxiously:

"Why haven't we seen you? We've been rushing forward all this time, hoping to find the team, but we haven't seen a single villager!"

As Lu Laosan spoke, he became more and more emotional, and the old village chief patted him on the back soothingly.

"After we crossed the mountains, food became increasingly scarce. Later, no matter how much we begged, the Qin family refused to lend us any more food. We could only find tree bark and wild vegetables along the way to fill our stomachs. Li Niang and I could still hold on, but the two children couldn't. They were so young and cried from hunger!"

Lu Lao San said with a tearful voice:

"Later, we finally arrived at Enling County, but we had no money and couldn't even enter the city gate. The Qin family found a carriage to enter the city and wanted to sell Li Niang."

"I...I tried to stop him, but if he continued like that, my whole family would starve to death. The two children were still so young, and I couldn't bear it."

"Just like that, Li Niang followed that rich man away. I...I watched helplessly as Li Niang got into that man's carriage. I really hated myself!"

None of the people listening around said a word, and they listened quietly to what Lu Lao San said.

"I didn't expect that the three Qin family members would come to steal the money right after Li Niang was sold. That money was the money Li Niang paid for selling herself. She was willing to be sold for the sake of her two children. If they came to take it, I naturally wouldn't give it to them."

As he spoke, Lu Lao San covered the scar on his face and said with hatred in his eyes:

"My eldest brother-in-law slashed at me with a knife. He really wanted to kill me. The knife hit me directly in the face. I drew so much blood that it scared them. I fought hard to save a little bit, but that little bit of money couldn't buy much food. My two children... those beasts!"

Lu Laosan's facial muscles were twisted, and the scar made him look particularly terrifying.

"We bought some food, but before we even reached An County, we ran out of it. A swarm of locusts flew over the road, and there wasn't even a single vegetable left on the ground!"

Lu Laosan recalled the time when he fed the grass roots he found to Erzhuang, and how Sanya cried and insisted on eating them, and his heart ached again.

He also loves San Ya, but Er Zhuang is the only blood of his family, and only if he is alive can the family have descendants.

Lu Lao San took a deep breath and continued:

"San... San Ya starved to death in my arms. It's all the fault of those Qin family members! If I see them again, I will kill them!"

Erya was so scared by Lu Laosan's ferocious look that she shrank into Aunt Lu's arms.

"When Erzhuang and I reached a town, we were too hungry to walk anymore. Erzhuang, like his mother, was sold to a landlord in the town."

Lu Laosan thought about how Erzhuang cried when he sold him.

He seemed to be telling himself that he had done nothing wrong, and said in a sharp voice:

"There was no other way. Without food, he would starve to death! If I sold him, he could survive, and so could I!"

A sigh came from the old village chief beside him. Lu Laosan heard it, but did not dare to look up at his expression.

"In the end, before we even reached An County, the earth turned over! I wanted to go back to find Erzhuang, but before I could get back, the plague broke out. God didn't want us to survive at all!"

Lu Laosan seemed a little crazy. He grabbed the old village chief's clothes and shook them, saying excitedly:

"So many dead people, all dead! The roadside is full of corpses, and next to the piles of corpses are wild dogs. Some people were bitten by wild dogs before they were completely dead. Do you know, those wild dogs are eating living people?"

Then, as if he had thought of something, he covered the bite wound on his wrist and continued:

"They are just livestock. I have to survive, survive!"

The old village chief didn't say anything else. Lu Qingqing waited for a long time before she spoke softly:

"Uncle San, have you seen Dazhuang? How is my brother?"

Lu Lao San seemed startled by the sudden voice. He looked at Lu Qingqing for a long time before saying:

"When the barbarians came, Dazhuang was with his elder brother. He should be with his parents and the others."

Then, Lu Lao San seemed to have thought of something and said:

"When the barbarians came, I saw your mother rushing to your grandparents' house. I guess she is with them."