Zuo Shaoyang was surprised: "Didn't we discuss it, and asked Dr. Ni to come over and exchange food as a sitting doctor?" Didn't he come? ”

Zuo Gui's father said: "Come, we don't have so much food for Zhouji, only gave him two people, it was originally for him and his mother, but he took it back and shared it equally with the whole family, I saw that his body was not as good as a day, and the back was swollen. So he took his old mother and his crippled brother, and said that three people ate the food of two people, and begged bitterly, but there was no choice but to stay. Together with his son Ni Zhi, the family of four eats and lives with us. The rest of the people starved to death at last,-well, thinking of making people sad, your mother cried for several nights for this, and wanted to help, but ......"

"Dad, you've done your best, and if you help, you'll starve to death."

"Alas, it's really sad to see people starving to death but not being able to help."

"Where's Dr. Ni? Why didn't I see him? ”

He went up the mountain to pick notoginseng. -- These days, very few patients come to seek medical treatment, and everyone is so busy trying to make ends meet that they can't take care of themselves when they get sick. But I heard that he was sitting in our pharmacy, and there were still some patients who came to see him, but not much, and he only paid money, not food, because the officials and the army stipulated that they were not allowed to buy and sell in disguise, including using food to pay for medicine or anything. In fact, the patients themselves do not have extra food to pay for the medicine. Because of the small number of patients, he was idle most of the day, and he did not want to eat at our house every day. During the day, he went up the mountain to collect medicine and came back to us. I advised him not to go, but he didn't agree, saying that we saved his family of four and that he had to find a way to repay him. ”

Zuo Shaoyang was a little gloomy, he couldn't imagine that the famous doctor was reduced to the point of supporting himself by digging medicinal herbs during the famine war years.

Zuo Gui's father said again: "Other Lang Zhong saw him go up the mountain to dig medicine every day, and asked the reason, he said that it was used to change the medicine porridge, and these Lang Zhong also followed the mountain to dig Panax notoginseng to change with us, but there are not many gruel in our family, and those who can help have helped. In this way, many of Langzhong's family members still starved to death. ”

"Who are they?"

"The Xu Langzhong family of the Lingxian Hall and the Wang Langzhong family of the Miaoshou Medical Hall are all starving to death. Xue Langzhong of Renshoutang, he is old and frail, he can't go up the mountain to dig medicinal materials, his apprentice Yan Langzhong, is the one who speaks very hard, he went up the mountain to dig Sanqi to exchange gruel with us, and he didn't eat a mouthful of it for his master, he almost starved to death, and brought it to others, I just let him change the porridge every day, I drank a bowl first, and then let him take the porridge back, which saved his life. But he and his master's family, a dozen or so people, all starved to death. ”

Zuo Shaoyang sighed: "This Shi Langzhong, usually doesn't look very good, but when it is critical, he still respects the master so much, he would rather starve to death himself, and bring the porridge back to the master to eat. ”

"Not really."

"By the way, I heard from my father earlier that Uncle Cai, father and son from the grocery store opposite our pharmacy, are also eating at our house, what's going on?"

"Alas, your Uncle Cai is also an upright and kind person, he doesn't want to drag others down, although he lives opposite our house, he doesn't come to the door to ask for help, he doesn't want to drag down our family. As a result, a family of seven or eight people, one by one, starved to death, and finally your sister wanted to go to the grocery store opposite, knocked on the door for a long time and no one answered, we broke down the door to find out, only he and his son still had one breath left, and the rest were starved to death, carried back to rescue, and survived. ”

"Brother-in-law, what about them? You okay? ”

"As soon as they finished their rations, I brought their family home, and anyway, we moved to the Qu family's old house, which was wide enough to live in. The family was fine, just swollen just like us. However, I heard from your brother-in-law that many people in the yamen were strong, fast and servants, and many people died of starvation. The others were swollen or emaciated, and they couldn't work at all. You smell the street smelling so much, it's because a lot of corpses are rotting and can't be transported out in time. ”

Zuo Shaoyang didn't expect that the starvation situation would be so serious, so he felt a chill and asked, "Is Shopkeeper Yu's family also eating at our house?" ”

"Hmm." Zuo Gui sighed: "Shopkeeper Yu is a kind person, but in these years, kindness has not been rewarded." Four generations of their family live together, more than 30 people, the food is eaten up in half a month, and they have never eaten wild vegetables. The two of them were here, and when we ate, we ate together, and at first the shopkeeper Yu couldn't wipe his face and refused to ask for it, but then he was so hungry that his wife persuaded him again, so he accepted it. There were more than 30 members of the family, except for two sons who came to eat with us, and the rest almost starved to death. There is no way, we can only do this. ”

Zuo Shaoyang understood, Xiao Yunfei said that Shopkeeper Yu was very sad before, and he thought that he was sad and lame, but he didn't expect that his family was almost starving to death. Looking up at Daddy's skinny appearance, he said gloomily: "Dad, you have done a good job, I'm sorry, I couldn't be by your side when you were at your hardest......"

"What are you talking about, you are trapped on the top and have suffered a lot."

Zuo Shaoyang thought to himself, it was not just a matter of hardship, but he almost died, but he didn't need to tell the old man, so as not to worry about them. He asked again: "By the way, what is the situation of the shopkeeper Fu who opened a silk and satin shop that we first sold grain to him?" ”

"It's okay, but the food is almost gone, we gave him the food, plus wild vegetables, saved food and lasted for a month, no one starved to death, and then there was no food, came to us and said to exchange it with the silk shop, we naturally didn't dare to sell it." I asked two days ago, it seems that they did not starve to death, after all, they had food to eat for more than a month, and their bodies could still bear it. ”

Zuo Shaoyang said: "Didn't the officials and soldiers promise that in the future, when the rations are eaten, they will put porridge to help the people?" Doesn't it mean that the purpose of the grain requisition is to crack down on the hoarding of grain by the merchants, so that everyone can eat and will not starve to death? Did the officers and soldiers put porridge? ”

"What kind of porridge to put in it, many people in the officers and soldiers themselves have starved to death, where is there still food to put porridge? The fan black face who often comes to our house, a sturdy man, is so hungry that he has a large belly, he can drink seven or eight bowls in one breath, but the gruel is too fine, and he can't find rice, in fact, it is no different from white soup. He fainted from hunger several times. ”

Zuo Shaoyang had expected this result for a long time, but after really hearing about this result, he couldn't help but be a little gloomy.

Listening to his father's talk about putting medicine porridge, Zuo Shaoyang looked around the room, and then realized that the room was originally full of medicinal materials that could satisfy hunger, but all of them were gone, and he hurriedly asked, "How many of those medicinal materials are left?" ”

"If you can last seven or eight days at most, it's all gone."

When the two of them talked about this, their hearts were heavy. After a sigh, he pushed the door and stepped out.

Zuo Shaoyang saw Bai Zhihan standing there, she now knew why Bai Zhihan didn't add steamed buns to the fragrant tea shop, so she walked over and smiled apologetically: "Zhi'er, I'm sorry, I lost my temper without understanding the situation and made you feel wronged." ”

Bai Zhihan smiled slightly: "Young master, it is hot after the beginning of spring this year, the silk cotton robe you are wearing is too thick, the slave maid will help you change into a thinner robe, right?" ”

Bai Zhihan didn't say it, Zuo Shaoyang didn't feel it, such a reminder, it really felt like a steamer, and hurriedly unbuttoned it and said, "It's really hot." ”

After the jacket was taken off, it was a jacket shirt inside, Bai Zhihan said: "This shirt is relatively thin, I just haven't made a shirt for the young master yet, so let's wear this first." It's just a little big, so I'll change it when the young master takes it off and wear it again. ”

Zuo Shaoyang knew that Bai Zhihan was ingenious and was the best at tailoring needlework, so he took off his shirt and handed it to her, and put on the jacket first. Seeing that her hands were very neat, she remembered her injured hand earlier, and hurriedly asked, "Is your hand injured healed?" ”

"It's been around for a long time. The young master's leg is also better, right? ”

"It's totally good." Zuo Shaoyang saw Ding Xiaosan standing aside with his waist bent, so he said to his father Zuo Gui and mother Liang: "His name is Ding Xiaosan, it turned out to be a shop buddy from Huichun Hall, their shopkeeper had no food to eat, so he was kicked out, and he met him on the top of the mountain, and seeing that he was very diligent, let him go to our pharmacy as a buddy." ”

Now in this difficult period, Zuo Gui's father is reluctant to increase manpower from the bottom of his heart, but this is his son's partner, and it is not easy to refuse. He nodded in agreement. Turning his head and beckoning Cao'er, the little girl behind the Liang family, to come over, and said to Zuo Shaoyang: "After Cao'er took your medicine last time, she got better quickly, and after asking, she found out that her father and brother were all starving to death." She had nowhere to go, so she knelt on the ground and begged your mother to take her in as a maid, not a penny, as long as she had something to eat. When your mother saw that she was pitiful, she left her behind. ”

Zuo Shaoyang nodded and said, "Cao'er is very ambitious and worth helping." ”

Now, there are two more mouths to eat at home.

Zuo Shaoyang asked Bai Zhihan to feed Sang Xiaomei gruel. Then come to the ward for a follow-up visit.

After the battle, the officers and soldiers knew that they were not the opponents of the rebels, and they did not dare to take the initiative to attack, but the rebels did not move, so the two sides have been at peace with each other, no new battles have occurred, and there have been no new wounded.

(To be continued)