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

The village chief and several others also noticed this situation and briefly explained it to the villagers.

Let everyone hurry up to get some water and leave as soon as they are done.

Almost everyone in the group brought two buckets. Some families had too many people and not enough buckets, so they even brought pots.

The Qin family had two buckets in total, which Qin Lang took, while Lu Qingqing took two pots with handles.

By the time everyone finished drawing water, there was much less water in the bay.

On the way back, everyone slowed down a lot to prevent the water from spilling.

After Qin Lang was injured, Lu Qingqing took the bucket.

Now that the bucket was full of water, Lu Qingqing had a hard time walking.

Although she was a little taller, she was still short and was much less strong than men.

The buckets all had lids, and Lu Qingqing secretly put some of the water in the buckets into the space, finally feeling a little relieved.

Qin Lang tried to take the bucket several times, but was coaxed into refusing by Lu Qingqing.

The wound on Qin Lang's leg was very deep and he needed to heal for a while.

On the way back, several more wolves from the pack caught up with the villagers.

The wolves were falling not far behind, and the villagers were terrified, fearing that they would be attacked by the wolves again, so they unconsciously increased their speed.

It was not until they entered the mountain next to the village that the wolves stopped following them.

Everyone felt relieved and returned to the village in the evening.

The families whose relatives had died burst into tears when they learned that their loved ones had died.

But after crying, they had no choice but to accept reality and went home with the wolf meat they were given and some water that the village chief had allocated.

Although life is painful, those who are alive have to continue living.

After returning home, Grandma Qin looked at the two injured people, turned her back and secretly wiped away her tears while getting medicine.

Grandma Qin carefully treated the wounds of both of them.

When listening to Lu Qingqing's story about their experiences on the mountain, he looked at them lovingly, touched Lu Qingqing and Qin Lang's heads, and said:

"You two are good children. The Bodhisattva will bless you and wish you a safe and smooth life without illness or disaster."

Lu Qingqing looked at the loving Grandma Qin, then at Qin Lang who was smiling at her innocently beside her. Her mind relaxed all of a sudden and she fell asleep in a short while.

When I woke up again, I felt a stinging pain from the wound.

Lu Qingqing remembered that there were no anti-inflammatory drugs in ancient times, and was worried that the wound would become inflamed and cause a high fever.

Fortunately, I don’t know if it was because the wound was treated well or because the two people were young and in good health, but the wound did not become inflamed.

After returning from the mountain, Lu Qingqing began to secretly nourish Qin Lang.

The fat in the previous space has been boiled down to oil, but the lean pork and pork bones have not been touched.

Lu Qingqing added spices and salt to the space, cooked a pot of bone soup, and drank a bowl every day.

Qin Lang's eyes widened when he drank bone soup for the first time.

Lu Qingqing found it funny and coaxed him:

"This is a special reward from the Bodhisattva because he thinks you're brave and saw you were injured. You can't tell anyone else about this. If you do, the Bodhisattva will get angry and won't send you any more delicious food."

Qin Lang nodded seriously, took Lu Qingqing's hand and shook hands with her, which was Qin Lang's unique way of making a promise.

That morning, I heard the village chief beating the gong again at home.

Lu Qingqing panicked and wanted to run out with her weapon.

Grandma Qin hurriedly stopped her. This time, the village chief only knocked once, asking everyone to gather at the village entrance to announce something.

Lu Qingqing scratched her head in embarrassment, having made a mistake.

Later, she listened to Grandma Qin's explanation and learned that the village's bronze gongs were usually kept at the village chief's house.

When there's a major announcement, one knock is given. When there's a flood, two knocks are given. When the village is under attack or in other serious situations, three knocks are given.

When the villagers arrived at the village entrance, they found that someone from the government had come to inform them that it was time to pay this year's grain tax.

I thought that the drought this year was severe and the court would reduce tax revenue.

When they learned that the government collected 20% more taxes this year than in previous years, there was an uproar in the crowd.

"Why, do you have a problem with the imperial court's taxation?"

The tax collector shouted loudly, and the constable who followed him immediately drew out the big knife he was carrying.

The blade flashed with a cold light, coupled with the ferocious expression of the constable, the crowd instantly became quiet.

The villagers in the front row kept trying to hide back, and the village chief had no choice but to apologize and explain.

"Sir, please don't misunderstand. We are all family. Lu Tianming, the chief clerk of our county government, is my cousin. I wonder if you know him."

The official's expression softened when he heard this.

"Are you talking about Lu Zhubu, the clerk beside the county magistrate?"

"That's right, Lu Tianming is our uncle's son. He even came back to the village to pay New Year's greetings last year."

Seeing that the clerk's expression had eased, Muramasa quickly responded.

When the officials heard this, their expressions suddenly became friendly.

"Oh, this is really like a flood that has washed away the Dragon King Temple. Brother, I don't mean to embarrass you all, but this grain tax was directly ordered by the prefect. I heard that..."

At this point, the voice gradually became quieter.

"There's another barbarian invasion from the north, and the imperial court hasn't sent any additional grain and grass, so we've increased the grain tax. The county magistrate knows that life is difficult for the people this year, but it's hard to obey orders from above. Brother, please be considerate of us runners."

When the village chief heard this, he knew that the increase in grain tax was a foregone conclusion, so he said a few more polite words.

After inquiring about the time and place for collecting grain taxes, he sent the officials away.

The village chief then notified each household to go back and prepare the grain tax. They were to come back in the afternoon to weigh and inspect the grain, and to go to the county to pay the tax tomorrow.

He also asked each household to prepare more so that if the grain bin was full this time, there would be some surplus and not be insufficient.

When Lu Qingqing returned, she saw that the door of Grandma Qin's house was open and she was trying to open the big lock of the cellar.

Grandma Qin directed Qin Lang to move grain out of the cellar. The grain for tax payment had been prepared during the autumn harvest.

Lu Qingqing also went down to the cellar to help, and was shocked as soon as she got there.

The cellar was full of food, enough for the three of them to eat for two or three years.

After being shocked, Lu Qingqing subconsciously looked at Grandma Qin, only to find that Grandma Qin was also looking at her.

Grandma Qin said with a smile,

"Girl, now you don't have to worry about not having enough food."

Lu Qingqing suddenly remembered that when she first got married, the Lu family only added a small spoonful of whole grain noodles to each meal and rarely added salt.

She subconsciously cooked according to the Lu family's cooking method. While eating, Qin Lang said that the rice was not salty enough and asked her if she forgot to add salt. After eating, he said he was not full.

Lu Qingqing then realized that not only did she not add oil or salt, but she also didn't cook enough.

She was so embarrassed that her face turned red. Grandma Qin was worried that if Qin Lang continued talking, she would become even more embarrassed.

I tried to smooth things over for Lu Qingqing, saying that she was afraid that she would run out of food and go hungry in the future.

Looking back now, Lu Qingqing knew that it was Grandma Qin who always asked Qin Lang to stay with her more because she was afraid that Qin Lang would be embarrassed to tell her if there was anything.

Now, she told her about the food at home without any hesitation. Grandma Qin really treated her as a family member.

Lu Qingqing smiled affectionately at Grandma Qin and said, "It is my blessing to meet you and Brother Qin Lang."