After crossing over, he has no taboos among the zombies.

After cracking melon seeds and watching the show, Qin He stretched and wandered around Liucheng.

As the army attacked the city, the atmosphere in the city was tense and the streets looked very deserted.

There were dead branches and fallen leaves everywhere, mixed with ice and snow, and pedestrians were coming and going in a hurry.

Very few shops are open.

The only place that can be considered lively is the newly opened Qingniu Immortal Temple.

With the Feiyu Guards, three hundred soldiers and the young and strong men guarding the city, the people spread the news from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred, and the small abandoned City God Temple regained its popularity after a makeover.

Qin Heguan took a look and went into a pub that was still open two streets away.

The pub is not big, with only two or three tables, tightly drawn curtains, and a heater in the corner. As soon as you enter, you can feel the warm air on your face, which is very comfortable.

"Boss, please bring as much good wine and food as you can." Qin He sat down at the table and greeted the boss.

Perhaps it was too early, and there were no customers in the tavern. There was only an old shopkeeper with white hair wiping the counter.

"Ahem... Sir, please wait a moment." The old shopkeeper coughed and a smile appeared on his wrinkled face.

After a while, the "good wine and good food" were served.

A plate of salted beans, a plate of pickles, a plate of dried plums, and a pot of wine.

"Boss, is that...that's all?" Qin He was a little disappointed. He had originally planned to come out to eat some meat.

"Sir, these are all we have left." The old shopkeeper slowly shook his head and added, "The dishes are not good, but this plum wine was brewed by my grandson and his wife. Since you are new here, you can try it. It has a unique flavor."

"How did the shopkeeper know that this was my first time here?" Qin He was a little surprised. He had changed his appearance and imitated the local accent, but he never expected that the old shopkeeper would see through him at a glance.

"I'm buried up to my neck in the earth, and I do business with the neighbors. New customers will naturally know me when they first come." The old shopkeeper smiled and poured Qin He a glass of wine.

"You're so polite, shopkeeper."

Qin He quickly held the wine with both hands, and when it was full, he took a sip, his eyes lit up.

"Good wine!"

Plum wine is slightly sweet, not pungent or pungent, not dry in the mouth, and warm in the throat. The most special thing is the plum fragrance, which is refreshing and very comfortable to drink.

To make such fruit wine, good grains, good water and good craftsmanship are essential, and the plums must be picked at the right time of year. If any one of these links is missing, the wine cannot be brewed.

"Sir, please drink slowly. This is the last pot of wine left." The old shopkeeper slowly put down the pot.

"Only one pot left?" Qin He suddenly felt a little regretful, thinking to himself, if you still have more, buy a few jars and drink them slowly when you get home.

"There's a severe drought this year, and all the plum trees outside the city have dried up. There won't be any more plum wine in the future." The old shopkeeper shook his head, a trace of loneliness and desolation on his face.

"A thousand ships pass by the sunken boat, a thousand trees bloom in front of the dead tree, the old trees wither and the new trees sprout, in a few years, it will be lush again." Qin He comforted.

But the old shopkeeper shook his head and said, "No, even if there are plums, there is no one left."

"Why?"

Qin He asked with a smile, reaching out to push away the bench next to him, motioning the other party to sit down and chat.

There is wine and food, but the only thing missing is a story.

Later, I chatted with the old shopkeeper and learned that Liucheng not only experienced a severe drought, but also a plague broke out in the middle of the year.

The people in the city fled or died. By the time the plague subsided in the cold winter, there were only less than 10,000 people left in the city, out of the 40,000 to 50,000 people who originally stayed in the city.

Nine out of ten houses in the neighborhood were empty, the tavern had no food or plums, and no customers, so it had gone out of business long ago.

After selling this last bit of wine, we will close down the business.

"Where are your grandchildren and granddaughters-in-law?" Qin He asked.

"He fled the plague in the middle of the year and originally planned to take me with him, but my old bones could no longer move, so I stayed behind. Luckily, I survived the plague, but I don't know how my grandson and granddaughter-in-law who escaped the plague are doing." The old shopkeeper shook his head and sighed, his face full of worry.

Qin He couldn't help but be silent for a while.

Lu was plagued by constant natural and man-made disasters, and banditry was everywhere. If you didn't escape, you would die, and if you escaped, you would be in danger of death.

The old shopkeeper is very old. If his grandchildren and granddaughters-in-law unfortunately pass away early, even if the tavern has customers, there will be no one to brew wine.

In his twilight years, the old shopkeeper has run the tavern all his life, and this small tavern is his spirit.

Once a person loses his energy and spirit, he will die soon.

After a moment's silence, Qin He smiled faintly and said, "Don't worry, boss. Once the Lu New Year comes, the rebellion in Lu will be quelled, and your grandchildren and granddaughters-in-law will return. Next year, there will be good weather, plums, and wine."

The old shopkeeper was stunned when he heard this, and said with a smile, "Thank you for your comfort, sir. I saved my life." It was obvious that he did not believe what Qin He said.

Seeing this, Qin He added, "I'm not just saying this to comfort you, but I'm reading your face. The shopkeeper sees that there will be younger generations to see you off."

When the old shopkeeper heard this, his cloudy eyes immediately brightened up a bit, and he asked hurriedly: "Do you take what the objective person said seriously?"

"Of course it's true." Qin He nodded.

……

After a long time, Qin He left the tavern and was seen off by the old manager.

Walking on the empty streets, most of the houses around were dilapidated, with no one to clean the snow. They were all empty houses, and many doors and windows showed signs of being burglarized.

Sparse smoke rose up, and the sky was gloomy.

Unlike the "lively" scene at the canal dock, the only thing that the troubled times manifested elsewhere was depression.

The living are as thin as ghosts due to hunger, and the city is as dilapidated as a ghost town.

The old shopkeeper’s experience is just a small microcosm of the troubled times.

Countless refugees left and never returned. No one knew where they went. They just disappeared without a trace.

When the prosperous times return, the living space they leave behind will soon be filled with new populations.

It goes on and on, one cycle after another.

Qin He had no motivation to interfere with such a process, or rather, he didn't know what the point of such intervention was.

He was just chasing the reward of cremating the corpse, moving forward step by step based on his feelings.

Unless, a technological revolution breaks out in the future.

But the problem is, this is a low-level martial arts training world, where demons and monsters eat human bones and strange knights run rampant. Will it be the same as in later generations?

Qin He didn't know either, so he decided to take it one step at a time.

Back to the old shopkeeper.

Qin He knew from the Qi-gazing technique that the old shopkeeper's grandson and granddaughter-in-law were no longer alive.

The whole world was in chaos. Very few people were lucky enough to escape and survive. Most of them were just buried in a different place.

But what Qin He said to the old shopkeeper was not just empty words of comfort; there really would be someone to see the old shopkeeper off to the end.

Life is so wonderful.