The locusts have attacked several more areas, which are the main grain producing areas of the country, and various measures have been taken to no avail. Wherever the locusts go, they are invincible, and there are no grains and no leaves. The locusts ransacked most of the country, and at last they saw that there was nothing to eat, so they went to the country on the other side of the sea.

The impact of locusts is enormous: they eat all the food and destroy the hopes of the people. Gradually, the surplus food in people's hands was eaten up, and there was no new food, and gradually, people in many places began to run out of food.

Although Yancheng is not patronized by locusts, it is not much better. The economy began to decline, and the purchasing power of everything except food was greatly reduced. People don't have enough to eat, and when they have money in their hands, they keep the food they buy at a very high price to fill their stomachs, and many times they can't buy it. The purchasing power declined, the goods could not be sold, the merchants no longer came to Yancheng, and without the merchants, Yancheng gradually lost its former prosperity.

The shops on both sides of the street slowly began to close, ready-to-wear stores, toy stores, silk shops...... The shopkeeper can't make any money, and he has to support a few helpers who need to eat, and no one can afford it. So they all closed their doors and went home.

The grain store is not open many times, and occasionally there is some grain, and the people who buy grain are crowded and cannot get through, and it will not be for a while. As soon as the grain was sold out, the grain store was soon closed again.

The streets were deserted, except for the autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves whirling on the streets.

Beggars have also lost their livelihoods. While they were still in trouble, all the people began to protect themselves, and did not give money and food to the beggars. Zhuang Xiaochu asked everyone to go back to Huazizhuang, and only sent a dozen brothers to the street every day to see if there was any new news. The brothers who withdrew asked everyone to rest, saying that it was okay to rest, and to maintain some physical strength and reduce consumption.

The incense in the Huazi Temple also slowly faded a lot, and occasionally a pilgrim asked for peace and added some sesame oil money, and the owner couldn't wait to say: "Don't give sesame oil money, give some food." "But after all, I can't say it.

The beggars patrolling the streets came back to report that many people who had fled the famine had come to Yancheng one after another, and all of them were yellow and thin. When they couldn't get anything to eat, some people left one after another. It makes people feel uncomfortable when they see it. Brother Sun went home, and he said that he should save the next person's rations for his brothers, and the county magistrate's family was better off after all. The county magistrate's wife's father brought some rations to the county magistrate's family.

Zhuang Xiaochu asked the county magistrate: "Is there no food in our royal grain depot? Why don't you take some out to help the victims?" ”

The county magistrate said: "The border is also tense, and the saint is afraid that other countries will take the opportunity to start a war, so he will not let the grain move." ”

County Magistrate Sun said: "I looked at the grain depot with grain, and then looked at the people in Yancheng who couldn't eat enough, I really couldn't bear it, I was ashamed to be a parent official." When he finished speaking, there were tears in his eyes.

Judging from the heart, County Magistrate Sun is a good official, does not bend the law for bribes, does not oppress the people, works conscientiously, governs Yancheng in an orderly manner, and has a good reputation among the people. After this natural and man-made disaster, he was also a little powerless, and his food still had to rely on his father-in-law.

Xiao Qi already has a big belly, and he is not as fat as before, but has lost a lot of weight. Although the small kitchen can barely fill the stomach, after all, there is little meat. There are only two of the 20 or so chickens raised on the mountain, and those two are kept for the confinement of the mother. Not only Xiao Qi is pregnant in Zhuangli, but the daughter-in-law of the Tie Niu family is also pregnant, and her due date is a little later than Xiao Qi's.

To tell the truth, it's just a chicken stew, and there are about 20 people at the small dining table, and everyone can eat one or two pieces of meat and a small bowl of chicken soup in their mouths. What's more, most of them are dolls of a few years old. Zhuang Xiaochu said: "Xiao Qi, I'm sorry for making you wronged. Xiao Qi said: "Don't be wronged, I've been more bitter than this before, don't worry about me, it's you, pay attention to your body." Zhuang Xiaochu touched Xiao Qi's moving belly, full of sadness: "Baby, Dad has no ability, Dad can't take care of you now, when the conditions are good in the future, I will definitely compensate you." ”

The small animals on the mountain were hunted and entered the stomachs of the people. Even if no one hunts, the animals can't survive because they don't have food. People dig up wild vegetables, and when they finish digging up wild vegetables, they dig up the roots of small trees, and when they finish eating the small roots, they cut the bark and eat the leaves. This catastrophe brought unbearable hunger to the people. When a certain time of hunger is reached, the whole body is swollen, and some people fall to the ground and cannot get up while walking.

The people who fled the famine knelt in the Huazi Temple, begged the father-in-law of the land, and begged for a way to live. But the father-in-law of the land could not answer, nor could he conjure up food to relieve these victims.

Zhuang Xiaochu couldn't bear not to look at it, and he couldn't leave indifferently like others, so he had to set up a porridge shed at the gate of Huazi Temple, beckoning his brothers to carry the fainted person to the temple, pour a bowl of porridge, and the unconscious person would wake up. After drinking porridge for two days, I have a little strength, and then I will send these people away. As a result, the grain in the village is getting less and less. The small kitchen also began to eat porridge, and the porridge in the big pot of rice was getting thinner and thinner. Drink two bowls, walk a mile, pee, and your stomach will be empty. The brothers on the village began to look yellow and thin one by one.

Brother Zhuang also didn't understand, and said, "We can't eat enough, so why do we go to save others?"

The owner said, "If it weren't for the Hanako Gang, he would be you now." You're dying of hunger, do you want someone to give you something to eat and save your life?"

Zhuang Xiaochu also said: "We are all beggars, we have been blessed by others to live to this day, now we each eat one less bite to save these people, even if we give back these gifts to them." ”

County Magistrate Sun also reduced the amount of money in the government and took some grain to help these temporary victims taken in by Huazizhuang. The county magistrate said: "Good brother, I can't come forward to help, you can help me." These are human lives one by one, if you do good deeds, you can save one by one. If God had eyes, He would remember them for you. "It's a pity that the grain that the county magistrate can take out is a drop in the bucket.

The food in the village is getting less and less day by day, and Zhuang Xiaochu can't sleep every night. The beggars also couldn't sleep at night. It's because I'm hungry, but also because I'm in a hurry. The grain on the farm is about to bottom out, and there is only half a warehouse of grain on the farm, so many brothers, plus these people who are about to fall, from now to the autumn harvest, there are still many months, how can they bear it?