This Spring Festival is a bit unpleasant. There is no entry in the village, only an outing. The silver had already been spent. The village has a large population, and even having a full meal has become a luxury. There are no big fish and meat in the reunion dinner, no dumplings, and even white-flour steamed buns are nowhere to be seen. Everyone still eats porridge, but there is no residue in the porridge of the reunion dinner, some dates and red beans are put in, and everyone's expressions are a little concerned.

Zhuang Xiaochu said with a smile: "Today's reunion dinner, everyone is happy." We are all together, and there is no hurdle that we can't overcome. After the New Year, hold on for a few more months, and when the autumn harvest comes, life will be better. Come, let's pick up the bowl, let go of the belly and eat today, and be full. ”

After eating, Zhuang Xiaochu and a few beggars took out the red lanterns from the warehouse and hung them one by one. Everyone's mood is better. Someone took the lead in singing the song "Friends go together for a lifetime, those days are no more, a word, a lifetime, a lifetime of love, a glass of wine....... Many people sang along, and the song slowly brightened.

Little Flower Shadow's full moon wine didn't do anything, everything was simple. After the Spring Festival, Xiaohuaying can go out with her arms, the amount of food slowly increases, and people slowly gain weight, her skin is white and tender, it looks pink and jade, and her eyes are watery, like a black grape.

The brothers on the village all said that the Seventh Lady is a beauty, and the little flower shadow is a natural beauty embryo, and it is estimated that when she grows up, she will be more beautiful than the Seventh Lady. There are many people in the village, and most of them are staying in the village now, and Xiaohuaying is either holding in this person's arms or lying on that person's back.

One day, the Iron Ox came back from the grave and saw the shadow of the little flower. I don't know if he mistakenly thought it was his child or something else, anyway, since then, he didn't go to the grave, and he changed to follow Xiaohuaying every day when he got up, anyway, where Xiaohuaying was, he followed, at first the brothers were afraid that others would hurt Xiaohuaying if they were stupid, but later found that he had no malice at all, he just followed and watched. However, he felt that whoever was harmful to Xiaohuaying, he immediately rushed with someone. He never dared to hug Xiaohuaying. It's as if Little Flower Shadow is a porcelain doll, and he's afraid of breaking her. He also regained some of his senses. Everyone told the owner, and Zhuang Xiaochu said: "Let him follow, maybe follow him, and his illness will be cured." ”

Xiao Qi has been very weak since she gave birth to Huaying. Aunt Hua sometimes takes care of Xiao Qi, and Xiao Huaying is taken care of by others. Little Flower Shadow is hungry or peeing, as long as she cries, Tie Niu will pull the person holding Little Flower Shadow to rush to Aunt Hua. Everyone in the village laughed at Xiaohuaying, who had just been born for a few months, and had a personal bodyguard.

After the Spring Festival, everything did not improve. People are dying of starvation all over the country.

Thousands of miles of sorrow, thousands of miles of geese crying.

The sun and the moon moved, and the earth was lonely.

Everywhere is a depression and loneliness.

The brothers of Hanakozhuang are also struggling to survive. But because of the owner's hard work, fortunately, there is still some slag porridge to drink. However, the number of people fleeing is increasing day by day, and those who cannot support it have to be relieved, and the porridge will not be available for long.

Zhuang Xiaochu is difficult to sleep every night, and the slag porridge he ate is difficult to absorb, his body is extremely thin, and he fell asleep at night, Xiao Qi touched his gradually abrupt ribs, and cried distressedly: "My brother, why did you lose weight like this." I don't eat in the kitchenette anymore, you eat my food. Zhuang Xiaochu said: "It's okay, brother can hold on." "Actually, Xiao Qi is not much better. But compared to Tie Niu's daughter-in-law, she is already very lucky.

April is here. Because the emperor does not release grain, there is no war on the frontier. In fact, if the war is started now, it is estimated that many people will volunteer to join the team, because now in the army, there is food to eat. Compared with starvation or war death, it is better to die in battle, at least you can eat a full meal.

Neighboring countries are beginning to extend an olive branch: they are willing to sell grain at a high price. The grain is stale and the price is three times higher than the previous price. This is not difficult to understand, since there is no certainty of winning the war for the time being, let's plunder it economically.

The emperor was unwilling to pay for this batch of grain. If the treasury is empty, the dragon's heart will be uneasy, and he is afraid that there will be trouble on the frontier again. But he did not refuse this batch of grain, so it was taken over by several of the largest grain merchants of our time. The grain merchants brought the grain back and sold it with some profits, so that the people had a way to live, and the grain merchants still had some profits.

In this way, after the operation, the grain stores will have grain. It's just that the price of grain has increased four or five times compared to before. Now grain is more expensive than silver. However, food can save lives, and without life, silver can only be a pile of decorations. The common people took out the little money they had to buy food to eat. Zhuang Xiaochu lamented that if it were the current society, could such a thing happen? The state would have arranged the people properly. But he is still in this disturbing world, and there are hundreds of people in Zhuang looking at him with their eyes.

Zhu Laosi and lame Li took out all the belongings (including jewelry and jade) in Huazizhuang, counted and counted, and estimated that they would not be able to exchange much food.

Xiao Qi took out all the valuable gifts she received when she got married, (except for her small fish pendant and the bracelet given by her godmother, she said that those two things could not be moved, the meaning was different, and she would leave them to Xiaohuaying in the future.) ）

The Zhuang brothers consciously took out the moon silver and bits and pieces of jewelry that they had saved before.

The old gentleman took out all the money for the fortune telling, and the old gentleman said: "I have lived here for so long, I am also a member of Huazizhuang, and I will not leave in the future." This is my coffin book, let's buy all the food. Anyway, with you, the coffin should be the same or not, with you, I can rest assured. Zhuang Xiaochu was so moved that he couldn't speak. When the old people in the village heard what the old gentleman said, they also took out the coffin book that they had worked so hard to save.

Zhuang Xiaochu asked Zhu Laosi to count everyone's silver one by one, Zhuang Xiaochu said: "Wait for Zhuang Shang to come back in the future, and make up for everyone one by one." Everyone said: "Don't remember, Huazizhuang is everyone's home, and everyone should share the joys and sorrows when there are difficulties." And I won't remember it anymore.

The county magistrate's wife took Wen Lan to Zhuangshang, first, to visit Xiaoqi and Xiaohuaying, and secondly, to tell Zhuang Xiaochu that she and the county magistrate had prepared three thousand taels of silver for Zhuang Xiaochu to send someone to fetch them.

She said: "There is a shortage of grain in the village, so hurry up and take it to buy grain." This silver, in the future, Huazizhuang will be repaid when he gets rich, and it doesn't matter if he doesn't pay it back, just when our husband and wife have contributed to the village. Zhuang Xiaochu and the brothers in Zhuang were very moved when they heard this.