Liang came in with two black-faced buns in his hands, and when he heard this, he wiped his tears and said, "Why didn't you say it earlier, kid?" I wanted to ask you if you have enough food to eat, but you can't come here when you're busy at home these days, so you delay this matter as soon as you get busy. If you didn't come, you thought there was still food, so you weren't in a hurry......"

Upon hearing this, Fennel was surprised and delighted: "Is there any extra food at home?" ”

Liang closed the door and came over to hand the soybeans and bean curd in his hand.

The two children looked at the bun with their eyes, but they didn't dare to take it. Fennel was overjoyed when she heard that her mother still had a surplus, and pushed the two children with tears: "Grandma gave it, don't hurry up yet, thank you grandma!" ”

Soybeans and bean curd hurriedly took the steamed bun, hurriedly put it in their mouths and took a bite, and said vaguely: "Thank you, grandma!" ”

"Good! Eat slowly, don't choke! Liang touched the child's head lovingly, and wept at the fennel: "The food has been prepared for you a long time ago, I knew that I should have sent it to you as soon as possible, seeing that the child is hungry like this, I will go and get it for you!" ”

Last time, when Zuo Shaoyang exchanged rice for the Sangjia fragrant tea shop, he once proposed to his father Zuo Gui to send food to his sister, and when he bought it, he had already bought more for his sister's family. But after all, the married daughter and son-in-law are outsiders, and Zuo Gui didn't want to help unless it was a last resort, so he dragged it down. As a result, I didn't expect that my son-in-law's family had already run out of food, so they relied on eating rice bran and wild vegetables, the child was not digested, and his stomach was bulging.

Zuo Shaoyang said to his mother: "Mother, let Miss Peilan help you take it, the two bags of rice are still a little heavy, don't flash your waist." ”

Liang agreed, went out to the kitchen, picked up the basket and was about to say to Miao Peilan, Miao Peilan had already taken the initiative to say first: "Does aunt want to carry something?" I'll help you! ”

Liang nodded and said in a low voice: "Zhong'er's sister is here, and there is nothing to eat at home, so send her two bags of rice." If you have time, you can help them carry home, okay? ”

"Okay, leave it to me."

Miao Peilan took the basket and followed Liang to their bedroom, put the two bags of rice in the corner of the house in the basket, covered it with an old coat, carried it to the concocted room, and put the basket down.

Liang picked up his clothes and revealed the rice bag inside: "This is seven buckets of rice, which should be enough for your family to eat for more than half a month." If you boil porridge and add some wild vegetables or something, it is enough to eat for more than a month. It's not enough to ......, and then find a way. Don't expect Houpu, he is an honest man, let him ask his father-in-law for help, he can't save face, don't think too much, just think about the old people and children at home, you don't eat, and they have to eat. ”

Fennel wiped her tears and nodded repeatedly: "Mother, you gave us so much rice and noodles, is there enough food at home?" ”

"Enough!" Liang asked Soybean to take this sister Douhua out to play, closed the door, and then whispered to Fennel, "Zhi'er and Miss Miao are not outsiders, they saved your brother's surname together yesterday, Miss Miao saved your brother last time, Miss Zhi'er is now ......, this ......, your brother's maid, so they are not outsiders......"

Fennel knew Bai Zhihan and knew that she was the granddaughter of the Beijing official who returned to her hometown next door, but she hadn't been to her parents' house during this time, so she didn't know why this white girl had become her brother's maid now, she looked at Bai Zhihan with tears in her eyes, and interjected and asked, "The white girl is my brother's maid?" ”

Bai Zhihan nodded.

The Liang family naturally did not regard Bai Zhihan as a maid, but as a future daughter-in-law, but he couldn't say this to his face, so he said: "I'll tell you about this slowly." Either of them is an outsider anyway, so they don't need to avoid it. Let me tell you the truth, your brother sold the recipe for concocting aconitum to the old shopkeeper of Hengchang Pharmacy, got some money, and it is estimated that he will have to fight, and he is worried that the grain will be sold out, so he bought some food, and it is almost a bucket per person. Your mother-in-law's family of seven can only give you seven buckets. Our family, as well as Miss Miao's family and Bai Zhihan's grandfather Qu's family, all have rations, and they are also one person and one fight, you can rest assured. ”

When Miao Peilan and Bai Zhihan heard this, they were both surprised and delighted, although the second daughter never said it, she was also very anxious about this matter in her heart. However, now that the price of rice is so expensive, people can't give it for free, so where does this rice money come from?

Fennel gratefully took Zuo Shaoyang's hand and patted it: "Brother, thanks to your cleverness, I thought of this earlier, and it is rare that you still think about my sister, and my sister is ......grateful in my heart" Speaking of this, tears rolled down again.

Zuo Shaoyang said with a smile: "Sister, don't be like this, we were in difficulty at the beginning, you and your brother-in-law often brought wine and meat over, thinking that the law would help the family, and also helped me guarantee the registration of wasteland, they are all a family, so we don't talk about the two families, and we should help each other." ”

Fennel was moved when she heard him say this, and listened to his tongue speak uncomfortably, and he spoke vaguely and a little funny, and said: "It's okay now, with these seven buckets of rice, even if the family's life is saved, I don't know how to thank you." He choked up again.

"You're welcome, sister." Zuo Shaoyang hurriedly diverted the topic and said, "What is my brother-in-law busy with these days?" ”

"Alas, what's the busy, your brother-in-law is the clerk of the Qiangu in the Yamen Fang, and he is usually responsible for the taxes of the Qiangu, but now all the grain in the Yamen has been collected by the officers and soldiers, and the rebels have blocked both ends, and the people have fled the famine, where can they still collect taxes and grain, naturally there is nothing to do, so they can only follow them to supervise the construction of the city on the city wall."

Zuo Shaoyang's heart sank: "Repair the city wall? Is the government reinforcing the city walls? ”

"Yes, the broken city wall has been repaired, the moat outside the city has been dug deep, and the antlers and horse stakes have been erected on both sides, and I am so busy all day and night that I am hungry."

Zuo Shaoyang remembered what Fan Heimian said before, the enemy deliberately killed and injured the soldiers of our army, but did not kill them, the purpose was to further consume the grain and grass of Hezhou, and under the condition that he was completely able to break through the city of Hezhou, he encircled it at both ends and did not attack, obviously he was encircling the point to send reinforcements, -- surround Hezhou, and use the familiar and dangerous terrain of Hezhou to eliminate the officers and soldiers who had been reinforced in front, so as to weaken the imperial court and prepare for regaining power in one fell swoop. couldn't help but sigh: "So, are the officers and soldiers preparing to defend Hezhou?" ”

"Maybe, anyway, your brother-in-law went up to the city tower at noon today, and he was called by the county lord, and he has been busy until now, and he is busy repairing the city wall or something. I told him, "What's the use of building walls?" Even if the rebels don't come to attack the city, maybe our city will be destroyed one day! -- Look at the people all over the city, the tens of thousands of people who fled into the city before, at that time we were still pitiful people who had nothing to eat, those who starved to death, those who froze to death, and now, who will pity us? I heard that many of them have long run out of food. I can't do it. By the way, your brother-in-law said that there are still people who are so hungry that they eat human flesh! ”

Zuo Shaoyang and the others were startled, and asked in surprise: "Eat ......, eat human flesh?" ”

"Not really! In addition to supervising the construction of the city wall in the city tower during the day, your brother-in-law also had to go around with the yamen to catch Kuaimin Zhuang in the morning to transport the corpses that were frozen to death and starved to death, and found that many of the corpses were mutilated, and the flesh on the thighs and buttocks were all cut off with knives! There is also a discovery of boiling dead children to eat! Say that children's meat is delicate ......! ”

Liang was clever and pushed the fennel: "Okay!" Don't talk about it, it's scared to death! ”

Zuo Shaoyang frowned and said, "This is too terrifying, it can't be a rumor, right?" ”

"No, it's true! Your brother-in-law said that he saw with his own eyes the human hands boiling in the pot! I heard that Ouyang Thorn Shi was very angry when he found out, and he had already ordered that anyone who was found eating human flesh would be killed on the spot! I don't know if this ban can stop those who are ruthless. Alas, people are very hungry, and they can do anything to survive. ”

For a moment, the room was quiet, and everyone felt a chill down their spines.

Liang reluctantly said: "Don't say it, Fennel, you go back quickly, the old people in the family are still hungry." Miss Miao will help you bring the food home. ”

Fennel was overjoyed and said, "Mother, ...... the money for this grain?" ”

"What's not money, you bring things over, why did you ask for money?"

"But ......" Fennel turned her head to look at the door, lowered her voice and said: "I am a married woman, now I am a member of the Hou family, not the Zuo family, these grains are also eaten by the people of the Hou family, if this money is only a few dozen yuan, I will be cheeky and not mention it, but now the price of rice is soaring, the market price has been fifteen times per bucket, and there is no place to buy it, these seven buckets of rice noodles are almost a hundred times!" If you don't accept so much money, I'm afraid that my father won't agree! ”

"That's it! Your father is also a knife-mouthed tofu heart, can you not help you when you are in trouble? He said, I don't want money. ”

"But ......"

Zuo Shaoyang said: "Okay sister, what does the family say about the lack of money, if you really don't want to go, wait for a few years when the world is peaceful, and the family is rich in food, you can just return us seven buckets of rice." ”

"How's that going to work?" Fennel wiped her tears and said, "Now a bucket of rice sells for fifteen yuan, and before the rebels came, a bucket of rice was only 400 yuan, an increase of thirty times!" Then we can take advantage of this advantage. ”

Zuo Shaoyang rolled his eyes and said, "In the future, I still need your brother-in-law's help, so I should give the honorarium first." ”

"If there is anything you want to help, just say it, your brother-in-law is a warm-hearted person, and anyone who can help will definitely help."

"After a while, now I can't move due to a leg injury, and when I get better, I'll talk to my brother-in-law."

"What the hell is going on, you said it, I'll go back and tell him, let's get ready first."

"It's nothing, I'm just thinking, now I have some fields at home, and when the war is over, I can farm, and I want to trouble my brother-in-law to help with it."

"That's it, okay, this is his old job, and he is familiar with the road. It's going to be done properly! ”

"That's good! After that, I had to trouble my brother-in-law. ”

(To be continued)