In June, it hasn't rained a single day in the barren land.

The wheat fields around the village of Wo are knee-high in the wheat fields, and the cols are full of greenery.

Although the rainy season has not yet arrived, this year's dry season is the best year for the village, as the reservoir was built in time before the winter of last year and filled with water throughout the winter.

The waterhole in the Beigou grassland has completely dried up, and the ratchet grass and thirsty immortal grass on both sides of the ditch have been gnawed away by the yellow sheep, leaving only the rhizomes under the turf.

After a long winter, there was little wheat left from last autumn's harvest, followed by a long dry season.

This year's drought has been even more severe, with many villagers from other villages fleeing to the city of Highlanza to earn a living, while some skilled bricklayers and stonemasons have gone to the village of Wo to build dams with cisterns and artificial drainage canals.

There are many villagers who cross the Paglos Hill into Oak Ridge to dig wild vegetables and cassava, and some women are not worried about leaving their children at home to starve, so they usually take their children into the mountains to dig wild vegetables.

As many people pass by the entrance to the village of Wall, they stop to look into the village, and they are eager to take a good look at the cistern under construction.

Today, the creek in the village of Wall is one of the few streams in the barren land with clear water.

Villagers passing by here fill the shriveled water bladders on the edge of the stream, and then lean over to drink heartily before continuing over the mountain pass into Oak Ridge.

A group of children from the village of Wall sit under a big tree at the entrance of the village.

Old Sheila would also bring little Peter here every day to sit, and when she saw those old hungry and thin villagers heading towards Oak Ridge, she would also think of herself, if she lost Surdak at that time, Rita would marry again in the future, and I am afraid that she would also take little Peter to join the army of digging wild vegetables in Oak Ridge, and life was always full of hardships and helplessness.

Old Sheila would have hugged little Peter tightly.

Little Peter, who was held in the arms of old Sheila, stared with wide eyes and refused to be idle for a moment.

He looked curiously at the slave camp not far away, and wanted to explore the mysterious house surrounded by reed mats with his friends, and wonder how those kobold slaves lived.

There were a few times when I was about to get in, but I was stopped by the adults in the village in time.

The adults told these mischievous bear children that those kobolds eat all kinds of meat, and their favorite food is children......

The sun was shining warmly on his body, and little Peter showed the jujube wood shield and wooden sword in his hand to the friends around him, which made those children very envious.

A few old people sitting at the entrance of the village chatted under the trees, and the topic was always led to Surdak.

The old man asked, "Duck is coming back this time, and he won't leave again, right?" ”

A tall figure appeared in Old Sheila's heart, and said in a gentle voice: "He is now a knight of the Haylanza City Guard Battalion, and as long as the plane war mobilization order is issued above, he may go to the battlefield at any time." ”

Another old man's tone was sour, envious: "Yes, little Dak is the first knight to go out of our wall village......"

Old Sheila didn't want to talk about this, and her eyes fell on the brown-haired woman who came out of the wasteland not far away.

Her hair was in a mess, and she carried an infant on her broad shoulders, followed by two, the big one holding the small one in her hands.

The woman walked slowly, her skirt was a little torn, her emaciated thighs were exposed when she walked, her face was a little hungry, and the child on her back held a thin wicker in her hand, and she was crying as she put it in her mouth.

The two little ones were also as thin as hemp sticks, and they followed behind the woman, and although they walked with great difficulty, they both gritted their teeth and endured it, and walked forward without a sound.

Their clothes were a little wet, and they had apparently drunk water from the stream.

Hearing the child's cry, old Sheila got up from under the tree and walked towards the family.

"Which village are you from?"

Old Sheila stood on the side of the road, her back hunched so badly that she had to tilt her head to talk to the woman.

"Yuangang Village ......," the woman stopped and said to Old Sheila.

She shook the child behind her, trying to lull him to sleep, at least not too hungry in her dreams, and maybe she would find some wild vegetables if she crossed another ridge.

But the boy refused to sleep anyway, and cried more and more.

"Coming from that far away?"

Old Sheila looked at the boy and reached out to tease him.

The woman nodded reluctantly.

"What about the child's father?" Sheila Sr. asked casually.

"Died on the battlefield of the plane......" The woman turned her head, quietly hiding the bitterness on her face.

The child on her back suddenly stopped crying, and the woman looked back in surprise, only to see that the old Sheila was taking out a piece of crispy chestnut flour multigrain cake from her arms, dividing the cake into two halves, and gently stuffing it to the two children next to the woman, the older girl wanted to refuse with a shy face, and the younger child stretched out his little dirty hand early, holding half of the cake in the palm of his hand, his eyes were shining, staring at the multigrain cake with a strange brilliance.

The youngest child on his back grabbed a piece of snow-white baked wheat cake with both hands and stuffed it into his mouth.

The younger child ran to the woman with the half of the multigrain cake in his hand, and his eyes were full of longing, but he still stood on tiptoe and handed it to the woman, and whispered, "Mother, you eat!" ”

The woman had tears in her eyes, but she hardened her heart and said to the younger child: "Nannan, we can't ask for Mama's cakes, we will starve if we eat Mama, and then endure it, and turn over the ridge in front, there are a lot of verdant wild vegetables behind the mountain." ”

Lao Xi stretched out his hand and touched the child's face that was blown red by the wind, and said slowly: "A multigrain cake is nothing, you can endure hunger and walk over there, but the two of them are already hungry and have no strength to laugh, you have no right to refuse for him, this is for the child." ”

After saying that, he stuffed the remaining half of the multigrain cake into the arms of the eldest child, and then turned around and walked back to the dead tree at the entrance of the village.

The woman stood at the entrance of the village and saw old Sheila sitting under the dead tree, so she silently continued to walk towards the mountain pass with the two children, one older and one younger.

The old people sat under the tree and chattered:

"I don't know how long it will take to rain......"

"It's almost June, and last year it was late June and it rained heavily."

"Damn the years, damn the wars of the plane!"

……

Dusk, sunset.

The birds in the wasteland in search of food are returning to their nests one after another.

Some of the villagers slowly crossed the mountains and walked home.

There are not as many wild plants in Oak Ridge as you imagined, and if you want to dig up more wild vegetables, you have to walk deeper into the mountains.

The kobold slaves dragged their tired bodies back from the other side of the river, washed themselves, and waited honestly by the big iron cauldron of the slave camp.

The smell of beans wafted far from the multigrain porridge cooked in the iron pot, and the women returning from Oak Ridge passed through the village of Wall, and the eyes of some of the children who followed them could not help but look at the slave camp.

After a group of kobold slaves washed by the river, they sat outside the slave camp and silently ate multigrain porridge.

Multigrain porridge is cooked a lot, because occasionally there will be Wall villagers who also come here to mix porridge and drink, just to save a dinner, the wheat bran in this multigrain porridge is a little prickly in the throat, but it is definitely not unpleasant, the cook in charge of distributing the porridge will only make sure that each kobold slave gets a big bowl, and the rest of the multigrain porridge will not be too strict, and it is not impossible for the villagers to drink the mixed porridge.

If the cook thinks that the porridge is not enough, she will add some water to the pot and stir it casually to make another big pot, of course, this situation cannot be seen by the old village chief, otherwise he will really scold.

Rita and Natasha worked as an au pair with the women of the village, and came from the cistern site to the slave camp to make porridge, the main reason was that the women in the village thought that the food at the cistern site was better, after all, the cook could still mix one working meal a day, and the women in the village probably only Rita and Natasha would not care about this dinner.

Sheila Sr. took little Peter and sat on a big rock next to the slave camp and waited for the two of them to finish their work.

Andrew and Samira led their horses back from outside the village, and they both made a round of the barren land every few days, this time for nearly a week.

Andrew saw that Little Peter was watching the kobold slaves drink multigrain porridge, and licked his lips from time to time, so he squatted in front of Little Peter, stretched out his hand to hold his shoulder, and asked with a smile:

"Why, hasn't our little knight eaten dinner yet?"

Little Peter shook his head, reached out and patted the small cloth bag he was carrying, indicating that the bag contained food.

"Then why do you still watch kobold slaves eat dinner and drool?"

Little Peter replied crisply: "Uncle Andrew, I just want to know what's boiling in the pot, they eat so fragrant duck!" ”

Andrew touched Little Peter's head and said seriously, "That's not delicious, are you really going to taste it?" ”

Hearing Andrew say this, little Peter became a little hesitant.

Samira, who was behind, came over and took an apple out of her pocket and stuffed it for little Peter, and Andrew and little Peter made an appointment to take his homework tomorrow morning, and then the two led the horse back to the village.

It wasn't until the two of them left that the kobolds in the slave camp breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, and the villagers couldn't feel the strong murderous aura emanating from the two, but their noses could smell the smell of blood, whether it was the butcher on Andrew's back or the quiver hanging from Samira's waist.

……

Kobold slaves would go into the hut to rest after dinner, and their easy-going nature was easily satisfied wherever they went.

There was still a little bit of multigrain porridge left in the big iron pot, and Rita and Natasha were ready to scoop out the porridge and scrub the big iron pot well, and the day's work would be over.

The two talked about what to eat for dinner, Surdak came back for dinner tonight, Natasha wanted to make the dinner more hearty, and little Peter sat on the side and nibbled on apples, which could still be eaten in this season, and there was only the half-elf archer under Surdak in the village.

Old Sheila came to Rita, bent down and scooped up a large wooden bowl from the large wooden basin, and handed it to Rita.

"You're going to eat this?" Rita's eyes widened, looking at the large wooden bowl in old Sheila's hand, and then pointed with a spoon to the multigrain porridge in the iron pot that was about to cool down.

When old Sheila faced Rita, she didn't have any scruples when she spoke, her eyes widened, and she said to Rita:

"Can't I have a bowl if I don't eat it?"

"I didn't say that." Rita muttered, and casually filled old Sheila with a large wooden bowl of multigrain porridge.

Natasha, who was busy on the side, hurriedly walked over and said to old Sheila: "The porridge is a little cold, why don't I warm it again?" ”

Old Sheila waved her hand and said, "That's good!" ”

After speaking, he took advantage of the moonlight to walk towards the entrance of the village, and under the dead tree outside the entrance of the village, a woman with a yellow face and thin muscles was holding a child in her arms, and there were two smaller ones beside her, who were sitting there quietly.

Then a big bowl of multigrain porridge is enough for a woman and a few children to eat.

After thanking the woman, she divided the porridge among the three little ones, and when the three children had eaten enough, she poured the rest of the porridge into her stomach in one go.

Then he took advantage of the moonlight to leave the village of Wall.

It wasn't until the woman and the children were far away that Rita, who was hiding not far away, stood up and raised her eyebrows and said very dissatisfiedly to old Sheila:

"Hey, what are you trying to do?"

Old Sheila walked to the slave camp with an empty wooden bowl without raising her head, and said casually, "Don't you see?" ”

"But it's not in order!" Rita takes a stand with Sheila Sr.

Old Sheila stopped, turned to Rita and asked, "Just because I asked you for a bowl of porridge?" ”

"You're going to make it hard for us." Rita said.

Old Sheila raised her head, stared into Rita's eyes and asked, "What can be so difficult?" ”

Rita argued, "If other people do the same as you, how can we refuse?" ”

"Why refuse?" Sheila Sr. shoved the wooden bowl in her hand to Rita and asked rhetorically.

Rita said: "There is only so much porridge, whoever eats more is destined to eat less, if too many people are like this, what will those kobold slaves who dig rivers for us eat?" ”

Old Sheila said very dissatisfiedly: "If they only eat a little leftover, will they be hungry for anyone?" Have you forgotten the days when you starved? ”

The argument between old Sheila and Rita continued until the dinner table, where the candles were dripping with wax, and little Peter was fascinated by the candles on the candlesticks, and he wanted to pick at the dancing flame with his knife.

Natasha sat aside and didn't dare to interject, and when she saw that the main food basket on the table was still empty, she took out a basket of white bread from the kitchen.

Dinner was a fried cutlet, which was very tender and only medium-rare.

If this kind of meat is too cooked, it will lose a lot of juice and will become smaller, so the barbecue meat eaten by the villagers is basically only medium-rare.

With a glass of golden cider in front of Surdak, Natasha silently placed a piece of white bread on his plate.

Surdak cut the fried meat on the plate and divided it into everyone's plates, and then smiled at old Sheila and Rita and said, "Don't argue, in fact, this matter is easy to solve, and I have been discussing this matter with Uncle Bright these days......"