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

That night, the wind kept blowing. Fortunately, it didn't get strong, but everyone was worried and couldn't sleep well.

At dawn the next day, the wind had basically stopped, but there was still some dust in the air, making it difficult to see far away.

Most of the families in the team rearranged their carts and made sure the buckets were tied securely with ropes before continuing on their journey.

Not long after the team set off, some people who only wore hats and did not use cloth to cover their mouths and noses could not bear it anymore. They felt that there was a lot of dirt in their noses and had to blow their noses from time to time.

Lu Qingqing found two pieces of thin cloth last night, cut them into the shape of long scarves, and gave one to Qin Lang and one to each. So now she didn't feel as uncomfortable as they did.

After walking for a while, when the sun was supposed to come out, there was still no sunlight and everything was gray.

The impact of the sandstorm has not completely dissipated, and both sides of the road are covered with a layer of soil, which looks a bit desolate.

Gradually, refugees began to appear on the road again.

Near noon, everyone finally walked out of the dusty area. By this time, the sun was already very bright.

Lu family.

Erzhuang felt that the dirt in the air was no longer pungent, so he took off the cloth covering his mouth and nose.

But he still felt very stuffy, so when his parents weren't paying attention, he took off his hat and pulled his clothes open a little, and then he felt a little more comfortable.

But the coolness didn't last long, and I felt a little dizzy under the scorching sun.

These days, every family in the team has been saving water, and the Lu family is no exception. Children like Erzhuang who rarely walk drink even less.

No matter how much they cried, Grandma Lu refused to give them too much water.

Erzhuang lost water faster under the scorching sun, and since he drank little water, he fainted soon after.

When Lu Laosan noticed that his son had fainted, he hurriedly handed the burden to Old Man Lu and went to see the child.

Er Zhuang's lips were pale, cracked and peeling, and he had his eyes closed and was unconscious.

Qin Li'niang was also frightened and hurriedly fed Erzhuang water. The unconscious Erzhuang swallowed with big gulps, while Lu Laosan used a hat to shield his son from the sun.

After feeding him water, Qin Li'niang put some water on Er Zhuang's face and neck, and fanned him with a fan, hoping to cool him down.

Seeing Erzhuang still unconscious, although Lu Laosan was anxious, he had no choice but to take back the burden and continue on his way.

Qin Li'niang was only carrying a bag, and she was walking beside the car, fanning the child with a fan.

When they stopped to rest at noon, Erzhuang finally woke up from his dizziness.

When Qin Li'niang saw him wake up, she hugged him with heartache, and while blaming him for being disobedient and taking off his hat, she picked up the water bag and fed him some water.

Erzhuang curled up in his mother's arms, looking listless and listless.

Old Mrs. Lu felt a little distressed seeing her grandson like this. The child didn't even eat the pancake handed to him by the third brother. He loved to eat this pancake the most.

When other families in the team saw this, they strictly ordered their children not to take off their hats. When they were traveling in the afternoon, each family would check on their children from time to time, for fear that they would take off their hats as well.

In the evening, when everyone in Lujia Village stopped, the owner of a team of carriages that were resting not far away came over with several guards.

The leader was wearing black cotton clothes and looked very dignified.

He had obviously observed the Lujia Village team before coming, and now he walked straight towards the carriage of Lu Tianming and County Magistrate Yao.

The team noticed someone coming and picked up their weapons in alert.

Seeing this, the leader raised his hands to indicate that he meant no harm and began to explain:

"Everyone, I'm not a bad person. I see that you all have buckets of water in your team, and I want to exchange some water with you in exchange for silver or food."

When the villagers heard that he wanted to buy water and saw that he had no weapons, they relaxed a little.

When Lu Tianming, who was at the front of the line, heard that he wanted to buy water, he frowned deeply.

We haven't found any water source for several days along the way. If the villagers sell the water, they won't be able to survive for long without water.

Seeing that the Lujia Village team did not refuse him approaching, the leader took a bucket of water from the guard behind him, moved closer and said:

"How about ten taels of silver for a small bucket of water? If anyone wants food, how about a bag of food for a bucket of water?"

After hearing the conditions offered by this man, many people in Lujia Village were tempted.

Ten taels of silver! In the past, they had to save for many years to earn that much. Now, a bucket of water can be sold for ten taels.

But soon, most people became disappointed again because there was not enough water in their buckets.

The families with plenty of water were still hesitant, but they remembered that they had not found any water since they left Pingkang County for so long.

They need to drink water while traveling, and no one knows when they will find water. Money must be spent while living.

For a moment, no one offered to sell water.

The people in the Lujia Village team were talking in low voices, most of them lamenting that water was so valuable now. If they had known that they were in Pingkang County, they would have left some luggage and filled their buckets with water.

Someone couldn't help but say to his family: "Why don't we just exchange with him? If we save some of the water, we can still have some at home for a while."

The people nearby echoed, "Yeah, in normal years, how long would it take us to save up this much money?"

But some people were worried: "What if there is a water shortage later? This water is life-saving."

For a moment, everyone was talking about it and couldn't make up their minds.

At the back of the team, Li Jinbao and his parents became excited.

There was still a lot of water in their big barrel, and it was not difficult to get a small wooden barrel. Thinking that this water was worth ten taels of silver, they were so excited that they could not speak clearly.

Wang Kangshi in the team was also tempted when he heard that water could be exchanged for silver and food. He opened his wooden barrel and saw that there was about a bucket of water inside. He thought of asking the man if he could exchange it for half a bucket.

At this time, Lu Tianming at the front of the team said:

"Everyone doesn't even have enough water for their own consumption right now. We don't have any extra water to exchange with you. You'd better look elsewhere."

When the leader heard this, he became anxious.

"A bucket of water is fifteen silver coins. If you want to exchange it for grain, you can get one and a half bags of fine grain for each bucket of water. This price is exorbitant. If you miss this opportunity, you will never see it again. Think carefully about it."

He was secretly worried. His team had hired more than 20 guards, plus the whole family, and horses to feed. The little water in the bucket would not last long.

This time when he fled south, all his wealth and food were loaded onto these carriages, which were pulled by horses. There was a lot of stuff on each carriage, so horses were indispensable.

But guards are also indispensable. During the escape, they experienced seven or eight robberies of varying sizes, looting by refugees, and bandits blocking the road. It was all thanks to the guards under their command.

In fact, when he passed through Pingkang County before, he loaded several large bath buckets of water into the car.

Unfortunately, there was a sandstorm, the bucket overturned, and he was robbed twice on the way.

Now the entire team only has water at the bottom of the bucket. The amount that can be poured out is less than a small bucket, which is not even enough for the team to have a meal.

Along the way, he observed many teams, and this team had the largest number of people. Almost every household had a big wooden barrel.

Moreover, this group of people is in relatively good condition among the refugees. They must still have a lot of water, which is why they came to us.