She was a little tired and wanted to stop.

"Sister, this time Uncle Da Nan's family and Brother Qiang can't come back."

Xiaodong is still so young, but he already knows that life and death are parting.

Shen Qingci's fingers paused, not knowing how to comfort this child.

"Dad and eldest brother are gone, and Xiaodong will be the same in the future."

"That will be a long time," Shen Qingci counted with Xiao Dong's little finger, "Xiao Dong is only five years old now, and there will be ten years to go when he grows up, maybe after ten years, we will be able to find a new way, and then we won't have to fight with our clansmen." ”

"Really?"

Xiaodong choked up, and he was also sad to drop the golden beans.

"Mother only has Xiaodong, Xiaodong doesn't want to die yet."

Shen Qingci's heart was inexplicably sad, what an old child this is, now he already knows life and death, and life and death actually have a long time for them, and they may not even remember it at this time.

Just like her four-year-old, she even forgot her mother's appearance in her previous life.

She comforted Xiaodong for a long time, this is how to coax the child, at this time, there are friends outside who want to play with Xiaodong, Xiaodong wiped his tears, and ran out.

is still a teenager who doesn't know what it's like to be sad.

In fact, life and death are still too small and too far away for them.

Shen Qingci didn't know the two people who took salt this time, but he knew that he was an honest peasant man, he had met once or twice, and he didn't remember it very clearly, what he remembered was that he had a smiling face, and the sixteen-year-old boy who helped her pick up peach blossoms.

On this day, the whole village went to see them off, and after they said goodbye to their relatives, they hid their tears and climbed the mountain.

Shen Qingci could see that the worry in Xiao Dongniang's eyes was indeed worried that they would not be able to come back, because if they did not come back, it not only meant that they would have no salt to eat, but also that there might be two more strong laborers in the village to die.

Just like that.

The village chief just gave birth to a son of Xiao Dong's father, and on the day of taking salt that year, Xiao Dong's father was selected, and Xiao Dong's father resolutely went, but this year, Xiaodong's father did not come back, and then they had to choose two more people.

But partial, this time the lottery was drawn, and Xiao Dongniang's eldest son was drawn, Xiao Dongniang was almost blind from crying at that time, just now there was no husband, and this time the eldest son was going to die.

But there is no way, the ancestors of the village have been like this for generations, even the village chief is the same.

And now Xiao Dongniang is guarding Xiao Dong, if something happens to Xiao Dong again, then for Xiao Dong Niang, it will almost kill her.

Shen Qing said goodbye and came to the big mountain again, she stretched out her hand and touched the stones, this mountain stone is very hard, all of them are stones.

"You're here too."

The village chief came over with a cane, but it was only a few days, and anyway, he seemed to be a little older, and his beard was gray, but it was a little whiter.

"Village chief, can this be dug up?"

Shen Qingci asked the village, so that every year to lose two men, or a man in the prime of life, to be honest, this is almost a disaster for the village, if there are fewer young and strong men in the village, then the village will only be left with the old, weak, sick and disabled, it is no wonder, she always feels that there are more women here, less men, just like the village chief's family, there is not even a strong laborer, the work in the field, all of them are done by Xiao Dongniang and the village chief, Xiao Dongniang is a woman after all, And the village chief is also old.

The same is true for many people in the village.

It turned out that it was not because of anything else, but because the strong laborers in their family were gone.

The village chief sighed, and also looked at the stone mountain in front of him, his father and brother, his sons, his grandchildren, and maybe his children and grandchildren were all going to die because of this mountain, is this God's punishment for their Donglin people to avoid war?

"We tried," said the village chief, and his fingers were placed on the stones, stroking them one by one, touching them one by one, just like touching the spirits of their dead relatives.

"We have thought about Yugong moving mountains, even if it is a piece of digging in a day, it will not work in one year, it will not work in two years, it will not work in two years, it will not work in ten years, it will not work in ten years, and there will be a hundred years and thousands of years, but the stones here are very hard, and if you only rely on manpower, you can't dig a piece at all."

Yes, how could they not have thought that they would dig up the mountain, if they could dig it, they would have already dug it, and they would not wait until now, that is, because the ancestors wanted to dig the mountain that year, and the men, women and children in the village all came over, and they tried their best, the land was barren, the grain was not harvested, but they did not dig out half a stone down, that year, they were poor, and there was no food, and many people starved to death, and now this mountain is a demon for them. A demon who could kill their entire village.

Shen Qingci turned around again and pressed her face against the stone mountain, she closed her eyes, not knowing what she was feeling, or what she was listening to?

Those who had drawn lots had returned after the tenth day, and it was the sixteen-year-old boy who had a few bags of salt on his back, and his clothes were tattered, and almost all of them were good skins that were missing.

His family hugged him and cried loudly, but the middle-aged man in his forties did not return.

This kind of despair was felt even by Shen Qingci, an outsider.

This night, they finally ate the meal with salt, but when the rice was eaten in his mouth, Shen Qingci couldn't help but feel his stomach back, he stood up, also covered his chest, ran out, and even vomited out all the food he had just eaten, even the yellow bile water.

"Girl, what's wrong with you?"

Xiao Dongniang hurriedly followed out, thinking that Shen Qingci was uncomfortable somewhere? It's so good, why did you vomit?

Shen Qingci stood up straight, and suddenly a tear rolled out of the corner of his eye.

"Sister-in-law, I don't want to eat salt, I feel like it used to be delicious."

Xiao Dongniang thought of something, and also covered her face and cried.

She cried for her husband, for her eldest son, and possibly for her younger son in the future.

And Shen Qingci really found that she couldn't eat salt, she couldn't eat salty things, as long as she ate salty, she would vomit, because she would remember that these salts were exchanged for the flesh and blood of those villagers.

She ate not salt at all, but their blood, their flesh, their bodies.

If they didn't eat salt, they wouldn't die, if they didn't eat salt, there wouldn't be so many people going to such dangerous places to exchange their lives for salt, and if they didn't eat salt, there would be many people alive.