Chapter 0070: Only the people are suffering

Seeing the neighbors who came to 'collect debts' leave, He Yi looked at the rice jar that had bottomed out again, and suddenly fell into despair.

A few days ago, when the family ran out of food, my father borrowed some from a neighbor's house, thinking that he would return it after surviving this period of green and yellow days.

I never thought that the half bag of rice sent by Tian's yesterday was eaten at lunch yesterday; But after a day's work, I called the neighbor who came to ask for food to take a grain of corn, and there was not a grain of corn left...

Before dawn in the morning, my father went out, saying that he was going to find something to do outside the city, so that he could earn a few dozen dollars, plus the three hundred money saved by the family, so that he could buy stone rice and stay up for some time.

But when Uncle He, the neighbor, came to get grain, he said that the price of grain had risen again today, and it was 450 yuan!

In one day's work, my father can't earn a hundred and fifty dollars anyway...

Even if you earn it after a few days, you don't know how much the price of food will rise in a few days.

Thinking of the deep depression on his father's shoulders, He Xi felt even more bitter in his heart, and came to the back of the courtyard lightly, in the empty cattle pen.

A few years ago, my younger brother was not yet born, my mother was still alive, and the 100 acres of fertile land left by my grandfather were still there; On weekdays, my father concentrated on taking care of the millet seedlings in the field, and my mother washed clothes at home, planted some vegetable sunflowers, and knitted some coarse cloth in her spare time to supplement the family.

At that time, although He Yi's family was not rich, it was barely able to eat and wear.

Later, a drastic change, his mother died, leaving his younger brother who was born prematurely and frail, and there was no joy on his father's face...

In order to prepare for his mother's funeral, his father sold the family's cattle; Later, in order to replenish his younger brother's body, his father could only sell most of the acres of land with tears in his eyes.

Almost every night, my father kept talking nonsense, all he said was 'sell the ancestral property, shameless to face the ancestors and ancestors...

Now, in addition to this dilapidated farmhouse, the He Yi family only has 30 acres of land outside the city.

Coincidentally, last year's harvest was not good, and Chang'an was in chaos again; Before the winter solstice, He Yi's family had already run out of food.

My father went to a rich family to make cattle and horses, and worked hard for more than ten days to earn 300 copper coins, but he couldn't even buy a stone of corn in Dongshi...

Even He Yi reluctantly opened his mouth and asked his father to sell him to the Tian family as a slave, but he couldn't make it because of the Tian family's change.

No matter what, He Yi is just a fifteen-year-old girl; She did everything she could, but she still couldn't save this family that was about to be shattered.

All she can think of now is to reduce the number of mouths to eat for the family...

Ignoring the tears on his face, He Yi walked to the side of the bullpen, pulled out a hemp rope from under a few old bamboo baskets, looked around with a reluctant face, and resolutely hung the hemp rope on the top beam of the cowpen.

Tie the hemp rope in a knot at the top of his head, step on the bamboo baskets, and laboriously put his neck in, He Yi slowly closed his eyes...

As soon as the hand holding the hemp rope was released, there was a hot burning sensation in the neck, as well as a strong feeling of suffocation.

Bunches of golden flowers slowly flashed in front of him, and He Yi seemed to see his mother with a smile on his face, his father who sweated like rain in the fields but would never cry out bitterly and tired, his well-behaved, sensible, thoughtful younger brother, and the old ox whose throat was slowly cut by the butcher.

"Huh? Father? ”

At the last moment before his consciousness dissipated, He Yi only saw a figure that looked like his father, rushing towards him...

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Outside Weiyang Palace, it was already crowded at this time.

From the straight city gate to the arsenal, under the wall of the north palace of Weiyang Palace, which is nearly five miles long, there are people carrying cloth bags and coming to buy grain.

In front of the palace wall, about every 100 steps, there is a temporary bamboo shed, in which a scribe sits and records information in front of the household in his hand.

After checking the household registration information, the scribe talked to the people who bought grain, took the money string handed by the people, threw it into the bamboo basket on the side, and continued to record the information of the next person.

Behind each bamboo shed, there are hundreds of burlap sacks, and more than a dozen soldiers are guarding the outside, waiting for the people who have registered the information and paid the money to come to get food.

On the Gao Street (1), which is nearly 50 steps wide, tens of thousands of Chang'an people are bustling, but they are lined up in a long queue in an orderly manner, waiting.

The reason why no one stepped forward to push or even rob, but honestly lined up in a long line to buy grain in order was because of a short figure shuttling between grain sales sheds from time to time.

The young man who was dressed in a dark brocade robe, with Liu's crown on his head, but his eyebrows were full of anxiety, and tears were always in the corners of his eyes, was a reassuring pill for the people of Chang'an to wait with peace of mind.

Every few moments, the pile of grain behind the bamboo shed will be less than half, but there is always a steady stream of grain trucks coming from the straight city gate and the horizontal city gate, unloading the full load of grain bags on the car behind the bamboo shed.

He Guangsu carried his daughter outside the palace wall, watched this spectacular scene, and after politely asking the people next to him, he chose a relatively short queue and stood at the end.

Feeling the dampness behind him, and then reversing his skinny daughter, He Guangsu couldn't help but feel sad and shed tears again.

"Look, Dad didn't bully his son, Your Majesty really put the food!"

In the morning, He Guangsu, who couldn't find an errand, waited anxiously outside the East City, and saw everyone in the city running towards the south of the city.

He Guangsu was fortunate to witness the scene of the saint crying bitterly and blaming himself for the people's sins.

Hearing that the saint was going to put a small amount of grain, and it would only cost eighty yuan for one stone, He Guangsu bowed deeply to the palace wall guiltily, then respectfully withdrew from Gao Street, and ran to the house - take the money and buy grain!

For 300 yuan, you can buy three and a half stones of corn, mixed with some wild vegetables and dregs, enough to survive until the beginning of spring next year!

Unexpectedly, when I arrived at home, I saw that my daughter was already hanging in the bullpen...

Crying bitterly, he hugged his daughter down and woke her up, and He Guangsu told her daughter the good news with joy and sorrow.

But no matter what He Guangsu said, her daughter was like having lost her soul, staring at the roof and not saying a word.

It wasn't until this moment, seeing the scene outside Weiyang Palace with his own eyes, that He Yi had more popularity in his eyes, and cried on He Guangsu's back: "My daughter is not filial..."

He Guangsu just shook his head with a smile, and choked up on his daughter behind him: "Don't be afraid, there is food, Chang'an has food..."

The father and daughter were mixed with joy and sorrow, and there was a faint commotion in front of the queue.

He Yi shrank his head behind his father in fear, while He Guangsu stood on tiptoe and looked at the grain sales shed under the palace wall uneasily.

I saw that familiar voice quickly walked towards the bamboo shed, and after asking a few words, a loud shout came from He Guangsu's ears.

"Go to the palace and get the food of the East Kitchen!"

Watching the thin figure leave, He Guangsu's tearful face slowly welled up with a trace of happiness and peace of mind.

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PS: Gao Street: Chang'an City in the Western Han Dynasty is in the shape of a bucket character, the north of the city is a civilian area, and the south of the city is Weiyang and Changle two palaces; And the one that cuts Chang'an City into two halves is the Gao Street from the straight city gate to the Bacheng Gate, south of Gao Street is the Weiyang North Palace Wall, and most of the Changle Palace, and to the south, it is the Qili, Guigong, and a small part of the Changle Palace outside the north wall of the Weiyang Palace.

I'm writing the second update now, and I may have to send it later, sorry. I'm tweaking it as soon as possible to get the update time on track.