Heavy snow covered the mountains around the county town.

However, at this time, no one will be in the mood to sing a poem.

The county seat of Puzhou is surrounded by mountains and has never been guarded.

There were no Jinyi guards who were already small in number to arrive here, and there were no soldiers from Jinhua Mansion to come.

In front of the city gate, the ground was trampled and flooded, and the snow and water were mixed with mud, so wet and muddy that from time to time people slipped and fell to the ground.

Beginning at the gates, you went out for miles, and the ground was full of huts made of sticks and thatch.

The cold air doesn't hide the rancid smell here.

The thinly dressed people hid in thatched huts, and most of them were huddled together in families.

However, this does not bring them the slightest warmth.

Young children and old people were surrounded by the prime of life, but their faces were open with slender cracks like spider webs, and blood and muddy water were mixed together, black, red, black and red.

The blue-purple lips could no longer exhale much white smoke, and a gust of wind blew and trembled silently.

There is no light in people's eyes, no waves, a pair of eyes, a face.

It's all numb and dazed.

They know they were born here, but they don't know where they will die.

Probably going to die here.

The atmosphere of death permeated the four city gates of Pujiang County.

At this moment, several men dressed in thick cotton clothes and wrapped in tight sheepskin furs, holding gongs in their hands, rang out in the thatched huts.

The first person struck the gong, and the four people behind him carried two bulging cloth bags on their shoulders, and the same cloth bags on both hands.

There's food in there.

The new grain that has just been harvested this year is white and clean.

Finally, there are two strong men armed with fire sticks.

No one spoke, only the sound of a gong.

In the shed, which could not shelter from the cold wind, there was some movement and response.

In the distance, in the middle of nowhere, a few quarrels began to be heard, very weak, and were swept away by the cold wind.

The procession of beating the gong does not pause at its feet, and walks in a fixed way along the route of each day.

On the side, there was a sizzling sound of mud being trampled, accompanied by a few coughs.

This was followed by the sound of the child crying.

There were also the sounds of swearing and crying from women.

It seemed that these few voices ignited the cold stagnant water around it, and countless sounds began to sound.

The man who struck the gong frowned slightly, and finally stopped.

And in front of him, there was a man holding a girl with a double bun.

There were several tattered clothes on the man's body, of different sizes, which made the man's body look a little cramped. The black, red, and purple face was full of tears, and there was numbness and anticipation in his eyes.

It should be a half-grown girl with double flat buns combed by her mother, only wrapped in a jacket that is obviously an adult, and her eyes in the past have a hint of uneasiness at this time.

"The Legend of the Fairy Tree"

The man held the child in his arms and knelt in the cold, biting mud.

He didn't dare to look up, just hugged the girl tightly and begged in a low voice: "Wudou!" Just five buckets! She's eight years old, she can work, she can serve people, and she doesn't need food! ”

The man who struck the gong had a beating stick in his hand, stepped forward and picked up the girl's chin and turned to himself.

Then he snorted, with an inexplicable smile on his face.

Then under the gaze of the man who was looking at him with his head sticking out.

The man who struck the gong said calmly: "Sandou." ”

"Three buckets...... Three buckets can't be made...... Three buckets can't be ......"

"She still has her brother and her brother, and she has to eat...... ...... all to eat."

The man who struck the gong suddenly took a step back with a disgusted face, and looked at the crowd around him.

Most of these people have large or small children in their arms.

The children, perhaps because of the cold or because of hunger, did not cry.

The children hid in the arms of their parents, staring blankly at the man and child kneeling on the ground.

"Five buckets? That was the price of the day before. It's only eight years old, and if you use it ruthlessly, you have to break it, and it's worthless. ”

After finishing speaking, the man who struck the gong seemed to remember something, and added: "Today's three buckets are not sold, tomorrow may be two buckets, and if you don't sell them, other ones will sell them today." ”

The man kneeling on the ground hugged the child in his arms tightly, and his mouth trembled and said, "Wudou...... Five buckets do not make ...... Four buckets! Just four buckets! ”

The man who struck the gong frowned.

A strong man holding a fire stick walked to the side quietly.

"Three buckets! My house is sold! The girl is ten years old, she can do anything, and she won't use it! ”

"As long as you give out three buckets, my family will be sold!"

"And my family, my family also sells three buckets!"

"I'm me, I'm still me!"

“……”

In the surrounding crowd, someone began to walk out with a child in their arms.

Someone even dragged a woman from the back of the crowd all the way to the crowd, and the mud all over the ground was kicked by the woman and flew all over the sky, as if to echo the flying snow in the sky.

The woman kept screaming, but the man grabbed her by the neck and pulled her arm.

The man came to the front.

And he left the woman heavy on the ground.

There was some fierceness in his eyes.

"Erdou!"

"Easy to use, Run!"

The man who struck the gong leaned back and looked down: "The skin is loose, a bucket...... Half, send you half a bucket. ”

"Good!"

The man agreed.

Behind the man who struck the gong, a man took a bucket and measured out a bucket and a half, without the need for an additional belt. The man who had come with the woman had already stepped forward with his robe and taken the bucket and a half.

When he left, he took a deep look at Nadou, with some dissatisfaction.

That bucket is very small.

With someone taking the lead, in the blink of an eye, there were five or six half-sized girls next to the man who struck the gong.

The sack of grain on a person's body is empty.

But there was an extra rope in his hand, and the woman and the girl were all strung together.

The man who struck the gong then looked at the man who was still kneeling in front of him.

Unceremoniously spat and spit out.

"See? There is no shortage of your girl. Say that three buckets are three buckets, no more than one point, no less. ”

The man kneeling on the ground gritted his teeth, and cries were heard from time to time in the distance.

He seemed to hear his son's cry.

With a heartbeat, the man raised his head and threw the girl in his arms at the feet of the man who struck the gong.

"Three buckets will be three buckets!"

As he spoke, the man took out a cloth bag from his arms, carefully stretched it open, and held it up in front of the gong man.

The corners of the man's mouth raised slightly, and he nodded back.

The cloth bag full of grain reached the man's empty bag.

"You're a thousand-knife killer!"

"Ahh The old lady fought with you! You thief with no eggs, selling my mother's daughter! ”

Suddenly, a woman wearing only a single dress rushed out of the crowd on one side, holding a wooden stick in her hand, and let the man beat her.

This side was caught off guard.

Bags of rice were scattered all over the floor.

And the woman was already scuffling with the man who was kneeling on the ground.

It's like the chaos is contagious.

The surrounding victims rushed up like crazy as they looked at the food mixed in the muddy sewage.

For a time, the scene was turned on their backs.

Bang bang bang!

Bang Bang Bang!

"Who is bold enough to make trouble again!"

A group of third-class errand officers from Pujiang County suddenly came out of nowhere.

The knife was so frightened that they snatched the food, and the chaotic victims became honest one after another.

"Bad luck!"

The man who struck the gong cursed in a low voice and glanced at the errand who had rushed over.

The servants immediately threw aside the women and men who were scuffling in front of them.

"The grain was given, most of the bags were lost."

"Your woman has to pay for it too."

The man who struck the gong said again, and the servant dragged back the woman who had just been thrown aside.

The woman and the eight-year-old girl were strung with ropes.

"If you all step back, if you dare to make trouble again, you will already be guilty of rebellion!"

The servants stood on either side of the line of gong-striking men, swords flashing and forcing the people around them back.

And the man who struck the gong took a step.

They had a few sacks of food, seven or eight more girls in the ranks, and two women.

And in front of them, there are more thatched sheds.

……………………

The three watches are in place, and at the beginning of the month, I asked for a wave of monthly passes~