"Mouse, what are you doing sneaking around?"

On the street, a thin figure is looking in front of the door of the big family.

"Brother Zhuang, Zhang Dahu's family must have grain in stock, otherwise let's go steal some chaff at night, right?" The thin figure said, he turned his head, and was swallowing his saliva, looking to be fourteen or fifteen years old.

"Stealing food, no, if you get caught, you will be killed?" The stout half-sized man said.

"But my mother is sick, and she will starve to death if she runs out of food?" The mouse said worriedly.

"We don't steal fine grain, just steal some coarse chaff." Seeing Da Zhuang's hesitation, the mouse hurriedly persuaded again.

"Okay then?" Da Zhuang didn't seem to be able to bear the hunger, swallowed his saliva and said.

Xia Xiang has become the most serious place in the whole Great Qin, some time ago, the merchants of the Rixiang clan took away almost all the grain of the people at a price higher than 30% of the market. Nowadays, only the government and some wealthy families who did not covet cheap food are still stockpiled, and although the entire prime minister has begun to save money and save rations, there are still many people who have run out of food in their homes. The grain that was sold at a price 30% higher than the market price is now no longer available even if it has tripled. Although the county government opened porridge sheds for disaster relief at the four city gates in the southeast, northwest and northwest, it was only a drop in the bucket for the victims of the city.

Zhang Dahu, whose real name is Zhang Dayuan. He started his business by doing grain business, but since the popularization of new grain varieties, every household has surplus grain. The grain business became more and more difficult, so he switched to the cloth business. Perhaps it was the professional habit of doing grain business a few years ago, this big family would leave enough grain for the family to use for a few years at any time, and this habit also made him one of the few people who can eat enough to eat today.

As the saying goes, the husband is innocent and guilty, and it is precisely because there is food at home that Zhang Dayuan is very uneasy in his heart. In order to prevent the news of food at home from spreading, he has been keeping the door closed these days. He knew in his heart that he must not let the news of his family's food stock be spread, otherwise no one would know what the hungry ghosts outside would do.

"Mouse, are you sure that Zhang Dahu has food at home?" Da Zhuang asked.

In the middle of the night, two and a half children whispered outside the walls of Zhang Dahu's courtyard.

"I'm sure, I saw him feeding the dog in the dog hole, full of bran. We can't even eat chaff, and his family can still feed the dogs with chaff, and there must be fine grain at home. The rat said with certainty.

"Mouse, that's all I have for a tortilla." Da Zhuang took out half a piece of cornmeal and said reluctantly.

"I can't bear the children to catch the wolves, and I can't let the daughter-in-law not be able to trap the hooligans." The rat snatched the tortilla from his bosom, took out the poison he had gotten from the barefoot doctor in the village, and threw it down the dog hole.

Zhang Dahu has a big dog, and if he wants to go in and steal food, he must first solve this dog, otherwise the dog will definitely be found when he barks.

"Whew."

"Whew."

Not long after the tortilla was thrown in, the dog's whimper was heard in the yard, and after a while the dog stopped barking, presumably because it had been poured by the medicine.

"Big brother, I'll climb in through the dog hole and open the door for you." The mouse said.

In this world, there are only wrong names, no wrong nicknames. As the name suggests, this rat man is black, thin and small, and a big black rat who is alive and well.

The dog in the yard has been drugged, and the rat is naturally not worried about the dog hurting people. Cautiously crawled through the dog's hole to avoid making any noise. It was late at night, and the people in the house seemed to be asleep. After the mouse climbed into the courtyard, he tiptoed open the bolt of the gate and let Da Zhuang in.

"This way, this way."

The mouse whispered, the yard of this big family is almost the same. The location of the kitchen is very eye-catching, and the two of them came all the way to the kitchen, only to see a few pieces of bacon hanging on the beam of the kitchen, and the two grain tanks were full of grain.

"Big brother, look." The rat seemed to have discovered something, and shouted in a low voice from Da Zhuang.

Behind this kitchen is the firewood room, which is connected to the kitchen, separated by a small door. Looking through the crack in the door, I saw that there was no firewood in the firewood room, but a hoarded bag full of grain.

"This big dog family has a lot of food in stock." Da Zhuang muttered without concealment.

In the kitchen of Zhang Dahu's house, there are fine grains such as rice and flour, as well as coarse grains such as cornmeal and sweet potatoes, and of course, the bran for feeding livestock is also indispensable. Where do the two and a half sons remember what they said during the day, only stealing some chaff. Out of nowhere, I found two pockets, and I put them in the grain. After each person had about half a pocket, another person took a piece of bacon and put it in his pocket.

Both of them are half-sized, their bodies have not yet grown up, and they have not eaten enough these days, and their strength is also a little lacking, and they are staggering when they walk with half a bag of food.

Luckily, it's nighttime, and there's not a single person in sight on the street. Otherwise, these two half-sized sons are walking on the road carrying food, and some tragedy may happen.

Both of them lived in a shack in the north of the city, which was the poorest place in the entire lower prime minister. Da Zhuang and Mouse are neighbors, and they grew up together when they were young. The two trust each other very much, and after stealing the grain, they agreed that neither of them was allowed to leak secrets.

This family is happy and worried, and the two families of Mouse and Da Zhuang have half a bag of food, which is frugal and can live for half a month longer. But Zhang Dahu's family was worried, he didn't care about the lost grain, but was afraid that the matter of surplus grain at home would be known.

"Master, it's broken, there's a thief in the house."

The woman's urine door was loose, and before dawn, Zhang Dahu's mother-in-law got up on the way to the thatched house, and happened to see the big dog that had been poured out of the house, and the kitchen door was wide open.

When Zhang Dahu heard this, he was immediately shocked and frightened, where was there still a little sleepiness.

"Damn, that bastard dares to break ground on Tai Sui's head." Zhang Dahu looked at the messy kitchen and scolded.

"Master, shall we report to the official?" Zhang Dahu's mother-in-law asked.

"Smack."

"Report to the official, why did Lao Tzu marry you stupid woman." Zhang Dahu slapped him and said angrily.

At this time, where do you dare to report to the official, the official in this catastrophic year is not much better than the bandits. If the government knows that he has food stored at home, he must not find an excuse to requisition it for him.

"Let's move the grain to the cellar, and leave two days' rations in the jar." Zhang Dahu said.

In order not to let people know that there is food at home, this big family sent all the mother-in-law and children in the family back to their hometown in the first few days, and now there are only these two people left in this courtyard. The two took advantage of the fact that the sky was still dark, and began to move the grain towards the cellar, and before they could carry a few bags, the two of them were tired and panting.