Human suffering is visible at this moment.

Li Qinjae found that he had seen the most miserable state in the world, and the picture at this moment was not much better than hell.

The bowl was still steaming and smelling unpleasant, but the old man in front of him looked the same.

"This is all the food in the Zhuangzi, and the nobles are smiling." The old man's expression was calm and indifferent, and even his voice was full of death.

King Teng and Li Sujie also held bowls in their hands, and the two frowned and looked at the food in their hands, but they couldn't open their mouths to taste the taste.

Li Qinzai smiled and said: "I have been busy all my life, for this bite of food, good or bad are all things in the stomach, how can I laugh in my later life." ”

After speaking, Li Qinzai took a sip of soup from the bowl, and his expression did not change at all.

King Teng and Li Sujie looked at him in surprise.

Li Qinzai is also from a rich background, from childhood to brocade clothes and food, he has never endured hardship, even when leading troops to fight, he will try his best to make his table delicious and rich.

The two of them couldn't understand how he could eat such a thing when he was pampered, and he didn't frown.

After Li Qinzai took a bite, he took another bite of the black paste dough with a bamboo chopstick, chewed it carefully in his mouth, and still did not change his face.

Until the thing was chewed into his stomach, Li Qinzai didn't eat anything.

After eating most of the bowl, Li Qinzai looked up at King Teng and Li Sujie and said, "Why don't you eat?" Don't live up to the kindness of the old man, eat it while it's hot, and it tastes good. ”

After saying that, he buried his head and took a big bite.

King Teng and Li Sujie were dumbfounded, but seeing that Li Qinzai seemed to be eating very deliciously, the two couldn't help but mutter.

Does it really taste good?

So the two of them also tasted it carefully, and then their eyes widened, their faces quickly turned green, and they opened their mouths and spit it out, not only that, but King Teng also bent over and retched, his expression was not only uncomfortable, but also frightened.

Seeing the two of them like this, the old man said very calmly: "The house is surrounded by walls, and there is nothing to come out of, so that the nobleman suffers, if you really can't eat, the nobleman might as well return the bowl to the old man, don't waste food." ”

King Teng couldn't help but say, "This is also called 'grain'? ”

"Yes, it's also called grain." The old man said calmly.

As he spoke, he took the bowl and bamboo chopsticks in King Teng's hand, and did not dislike that he had just used them, and the old man ate the bowl with a big gulp, and ate it very sweetly, as if it was the most delicious food in the world.

After eating, I cherished the residue in the bowl until it was shiny.

Then the old man took the bowl in Li Sujie's hand and continued to eat it.

Li Qinzai and the others looked at the old man like this.

The old man finally finished eating, put down the bowl and sighed, and muttered, "I have eaten too much today, sin." ”

Several old people next to them looked at King Teng and Li Sujie with a little dissatisfaction, as if they were condemning the two of them for wasting food, looking at their expressions, it was obvious that the old man had just eaten more than just the rations of a meal, maybe he would have to save hungry tomorrow.

Li Qinzai took out a handful of copper coins from his arms and stuffed them into the old man's hands.

The old man was taken aback, and hurriedly refused: "The nobleman can't do this, it's just a little vulgar food, how can he be so generously gifted by the nobleman." ”

"Old man, take it, I just said okay, you make hot food for the late students, and the late students will be given all the money." Li Qinzai said with a smile.

The old man continued to refuse, and Li Qinzai couldn't help but say that he stuffed the money into the old man's arms, and his attitude was very resolute.

The old man had to accept it, and he kept thanking him with a guilty face.

Li Qinzai sighed, how could such a simple and kind person live so poorly.

It is said that God is fair, where is the fairness?

Seeing that the old man had received the money, Li Qinzai was not in a hurry to leave, but sat on a mossy stone in front of the low house, not caring at all whether his luxurious clothes were dirty.

"The old man's life is not very satisfactory, what about the children and grandchildren at home?" Li Qinzai asked.

The old man sighed: "My two sons were recruited into the government soldiers, and they died in battle five years ago, and my grandson starved to death the year before last, and now I am the only one left in the family." ”

Li Qinzai asked tentatively: "Your old body is still quite tough, don't you farm at home?" ”

The old man nodded, and shook his head again: "Farming, but not planting your own land, giving it to the landlord as a tenant." ”

Li Qinzai frowned: "The two Linglang died in battle, the government should have a pension, give money and land or something, how can the old man be a tenant for others?" What about your own land? ”

The old man smiled bitterly: "Unwieldy people who have no power and no power, where is their own land." ”

"In a disaster year, there was no grain in the family, in order to survive, I had to sell the land to the landlord at a low price, in exchange for rations to survive the famine, the disaster year passed, but the land was gone, so I had to fall into slavery and become a tenant for the landlord."

"Year after year, I still plant the land, but the grain harvested is no longer my own, the court pays a part of the taxes, and the landlord pays a part of the grain rent, so that there is no one in ten, and the remaining grain is mixed with some wheat bran eaten by the livestock, and then digging some wild vegetables and stirring it, which is the ration to live."

The old man's vicissitudes of life looked at the sky, his eyes were as silent as a piece of stagnant water, and the dim and faint light like a broken candle pierced Li Qinzai's heart for some reason.

"Live and live hard, die and dare not die, keep a breath of remnants and only hope that when will be harvested by the sky, this life...... That's all there is to it. The old man sighed leisurely, without sorrow or joy.

Several old people next to him laughed, bitter and sad.

"That's all there is to it, what else can I do? Doesn't a person live just for a full meal? It's just that I'm unlucky, I haven't eaten enough in this life, and if I don't accumulate more merit in this life, maybe I can vote for a solid family in the next life. ”

Li Qinzai looked at several old people and said with a forced smile: "How many of you are also tenants of the landlord's family? ”

The old people nodded: "Not only us, but the whole village is tenants, the young and strong in the Zhuangzi can't survive, some starve to death, some run out, we old and weak can't run, stay in the Zhuangzi to farm for the landlord, and wait for death year after year." ”

Li Qinzai's eyes flashed, and he said in a low voice: "Your own land, all the landlords took advantage of the natural disaster to collect it at a cheap price?" ”

The old men nodded again.

"You love my willing business, no wonder others, the disaster year is a fatal hurdle, in order to survive now, how can I care about it in the future, I have to sell the land at a cheap price for rations, save my life first, and then I can't care about anything else."

Li Qinzai asked again: "Why don't you open up another wasteland?" ”

The old man sneered: "Wasteland? The wasteland has long been measured by the government, every acre is clearly calculated, and it was also bought by the landlord after the point, Zhuangzi is hundreds of miles away, whether it is wasteland or fertile land, there is an owner, where do I go to open up the wasteland? ”

Li Qinzai chatted with several old men one by one, but the expressions of King Teng and Li Sujie next to him became more and more solemn.

Sure enough, Li Qinzai's move of leaving the camp today and looking for a Zhuangzi everywhere was not an aimless stroll, he had his own intentions.

In the land of the rich granary in the south of the Yangtze River, the situation of land annexation is already so serious.

(End of chapter)