There was no way, the gene chip couldn't change the nature of her road idiot, so she happily found a wooden stick in the snow and turned it around, determined a direction and began to walk forward.

Staying here is definitely a death, and only by leaving can there be hope.

I don't know how many mountains I have climbed, and the endless falling snow has accumulated a thick hat on her head, just like Li Hezheng who was rolling in the snow just now.

She was lucky, she walked in the snow for about two hours, and just when she felt hopeless, she finally saw some fresh footprints in the snow.

Looking for these footprints, she climbed over two more mountains, and Zhao Ruoxin finally saw a woman bent over to collect firewood in the snow at the end of her sight.

This woman is dressed very plainly, a blue coarse cloth clothes have been washed a little white, she is very focused on the action of bending her waist to collect firewood in the forest, but the action is not good, as if she was ordered to slow down twice in a row when watching a movie, until Zhao Ruoxin has already walked to her side, she still doesn't seem to notice.

She was really hungry, shook the snow off her body, and asked very politely, "Auntie, is your home nearby?" Can you use an excuse to eat? ”

Yes, she said borrowing, because she, a high-level intellectual, still has the pride of her bones and can't say the word "begging".

The woman who bent down to collect firewood did not seem to hear her, and continued to slowly pick up the dry firewood in the woods that had not yet been covered by snow.

Zhao Ruoxin couldn't help but raise her voice again and asked, "Auntie, can you excuse yourself to eat, I'm really hungry!" ”

"Oh," the woman agreed, and her body trembled, as if the voice had exhausted all her strength, and she struggled not to fall, and she turned very slowly, "The girl is talking to me?" ”

"You..." Zhao Ruoxin lost her voice, frightened by the woman's face that appeared in her field of vision, and retreated several steps back again and again.

If it weren't for the fact that it wasn't dark yet, Zhao Ruoxin would have thought she had seen a ghost!

The woman's expression is actually not scary, and it is even a little kind, but her completely blue and purple face, as well as her bare hands exposed in the wind, and even her nails are blue and purple, which makes people can't help but feel chills in their backs!

If she hadn't seen that she was still moving and could still speak, Zhao Ruoxin would have thought that this was a corpse that had been dead for a long time and was about to start rotting and stinking.

The woman seemed to know that she had frightened Zhao Ruoxin, and with an extremely slow movement, she slowly pulled up a rag hanging around her neck to cover her face, and then said weakly: "Girl, do you want to eat, my house is in the village in front, and the girl can go with me." ”

"You... Auntie, what's wrong with you? ”

The woman's kindness and simplicity made Zhao Ruoxin's stunned expression a lot better.

The woman turned around, and with a very slow movement to drag the small pile of firewood that had been folded on the ground, and said in a very weak voice: "Girl, I am dizzy, my ears are ringing, and you speak louder, hehe... I'm afraid I won't live long. ”

She dragged the firewood on the ground hard, although beads of sweat had appeared on her forehead, but the small pile of firewood on the ground still did not move.

Zhao Ruoxin stepped forward to help, followed the woman a few steps, and quickly retrieved the information corresponding to the woman's situation in her mind, and finally came to two conclusions: lack of oxygen, or severe salt deficiency.

Hypoxia is not very likely, lack of salt?

Her mind fluttered, remembering that when she first cheated Li Hezheng, the bandits said that they wanted her to exchange one thousand taels of silver or one hundred catties of refined salt.

"It's been a long time since you've eaten salt?"

Zhao Ruoxin dragged the firewood behind the woman with vain steps and asked tentatively.

The woman's weak voice couldn't help but smile: "Yes, there is a lack of salt, it is very short, there is no problem for the girl to eat, but there is no salt anymore." ”

Lack of salt, even if it will be like this, this is something that Zhao Ruoxin, a modern person in her soul, cannot imagine no matter what.

She followed behind the woman in small steps and asked again: "People can't go without salt for a long time, without salt, children will not grow well, adults will be tired and weak, severe will be dizzy and tinnitus, and even worse, it will cause irreparable damage to the body, auntie, you can't do this..."

"Hey!" The woman sighed heavily, "Everyone in the mountains knows these truths, and they have also seen what people will become if they don't eat salt, but what can be done, the salt has been controlled by the prince in Chuyang City."

Eighteen years ago, Prince Zhao entered our Chuyang, he didn't have many soldiers, there were less than 50,000 people, and within our Chuyang, there were three tribes that could produce 50,000 strong laborers, but he controlled the salt, and he also controlled the life and death of our group.

He is going to kill us, eighteen years, we have no way, in order to let the children grow up well, the only little salt that can be obtained in the mountains has been given to the children to eat, and the adults have become soft-footed shrimp one by one, I am afraid that it will not be long before our three thousand miles of Chuyang will become the territory of Zhao Wangye. ”

Zhao Ruoxin was shocked, she didn't expect that the bearded King Chuyang, whom she had only seen once, still had such a great talent, and relying on the means of controlling the salt, she could make the people of Chuyang for three thousand miles helpless.

didn't wait for Zhao Ruoxin to speak, only to hear the woman continue: "At the beginning, there were still people selling illegal salt, and it was not so difficult to buy salt, but later, Zhao Wangye used thunderous means, as long as he caught all the people who sold illegal salt, they were all copied, and there were fewer and fewer people who sold illegal salt, and the price became more and more expensive."

Hehe, do you know, now a pound of coarse salt on the black market in Chuyang City has been sold for ten taels of silver a catty, not to mention green salt and refined salt, it is not something that we mountain people can think of! ”

Zhao Ruoxin was puzzled: "You can't buy in the shop like some normal people, or buy salt in other people's hands, and it won't become the current situation, right?" ”

The woman shook her head: "Salt is supplied in rations, if you want to buy it in the shop like the ordinary people in Chuyang City, you must become the people of Zhao Wangye, and register in the government to buy it normally, although we people have no ability, but we still have the backbone, become the people of Zhao Wangye, the family has to pay taxes, and we have to send people to serve in the army, be a strong man, and serve in the military...

Girl, you tell the old woman, where did this truth come from, this Chuyang is obviously our land, we have lived here for generations, why did he Zhao Wangye come to occupy our land, and we have to pay taxes for him, the children in the family are full of meat in the palms and backs of their hands, starting from the milk doll, it is not easy to raise such a big man, why should I give it to him Zhao Wangye, girl, do you know that nine out of ten children sent out to serve in forced labor will not come back..."

The woman burst into tears, and Zhao Ruoxin was very sad when she saw it.

Salt! Since ancient times, it has been a battleground for soldiers, and if you control salt, you will control the lifeblood of life, which is the same as where there is a shortage of water, and the preciousness of water.

Zhao Ruoxin didn't say anything more, silently followed behind the woman, and turned another mountain bend, a thatched house lined up, and a village that could not be seen at a glance appeared in the field of vision.

The village was deserted, and even though the first snow had just fallen, not a single child could be seen playing in the snow, and occasionally smoke could be seen rising, but no sound of frolic or gossip could be heard, and there was a dead silence and thick desolation.

The woman was hospitable, and led Zhao Ruoxin into a dilapidated thatched hut on all sides, the thatched hut was very simple, at a glance, only a stone-stacked stove in the middle had a jar still steaming, and around the stove, there were three simple stools messily placed, and in addition, there was no furniture or other decoration.

What kind of stewed meat may be in the jar, the smell of meat wafting all over the room, Zhao Ruoxin, who had been hungry and cold for a long time, smelled this taste, and immediately swallowed her saliva.

The woman was not stingy, and casually pointed to a corner to signal Zhao Ruoxin to put down the firewood she had picked up, turned around and brought her a full bowl of stew, and said kindly: "A few days ago, the dog hunted a wild boar in the mountains, the stew was stewed, but there was no salt, the old woman and his sister had no appetite, and they couldn't eat it, if the girl could eat it, she would eat more." ”

After speaking, seeing Zhao Ruoxin gobbling up, the woman dragged a stool and sat down next to the stove, and said to herself: "This charcoal is not a good thing, the burning is anti-burning, but the poisonous smoke is too big, many people in the village have people in their families who have been killed by this poisonous smoke, and the old woman is worried that I will also be harmed by this poisonous smoke, so she braved the snow to pick up some firewood and came back." ”

Zhao Ruoxin gulped down the meat, glanced at the stone furnace in front of her, and immediately understood what the woman was talking about about poisonous smoke.

Coal is actually coal, because it contains some other minerals, incomplete combustion will produce a lot of carbon monoxide, if the combustion gas is not discharged in time, it will indeed cause danger to human life.

Zhao Ruoxin frowned, and muttered: "Charcoal is a good thing, just make a flue and exhaust the gas outside the house..."

The woman didn't understand what Zhao Ruoxin meant, and then began to sigh again: "There are more and more people suffering from salt deficiency in the village, and they are getting younger and younger, and it won't be long before we really can't resist..."

Zhao Ruoxin finished eating, and chatted with the woman in front of her for a long time, and the sky gradually darkened.

At this time, a crying man outside sounded: "Mother! My sister ate poisoned salt! ”

"What?" When the woman in the room heard the sound, she fell directly to the ground nervously, "You... Why don't you stop it. ”

The door creaked open, and a sturdy man more than seven feet tall and wrapped in a wolfskin jacket walked in with red eyes: "The child went down the mountain today, and when he came back, he heard from the people in Wuling Village that my sister couldn't help it, and went to Wuling Mountain to drink the water of the poisonous salt well, and she was about to die." ”

The man pushed the door and saw the woman who was lying on the ground, and before he could hurry, there was another person in the room, and his face was anxious, and he hurriedly rushed forward and wailed: "Mother, what's wrong with you, don't scare Shan'er!" ”

The sturdy man approached, and the flickering fire in the stone furnace shone on his face, and Zhao Ruoxin saw the man's face clearly, and saw the thick black and messy eyebrows clearly.

Seeing this very characteristic face clearly, Zhao Ruoxin suddenly felt a sigh in her heart.

it! It's him, the palm of the mountain, my sister is really bleeding mold, she ran for a long time, and she ran to his house, isn't this self-defeating! It's over, it's over.

(Happy New Year's Day, friends who read books ask for collections, ask for recommendation tickets, hehe, it's New Year, is it really good not to send a red envelope?) ）