"I remember, they didn't let women go to work in the fields."

"Hmm."

Little Gerrit and Hoss had already reached the door of their house.

Without entering the house, Little Glitter looked at the houses of the other residents in the dark village.

Hoss simply answered, and fell silent.

Just standing with little Gerritt.

Little Gerrit looked at the houses not far away in the dark night,

Perhaps in front of the house, there was a numb woman standing or sitting.

Little Glitter didn't ask anything more, he knew why Aunt Reina sat numbly in front of the door of the house, motionless.

Because the twenty percent of the grain paid earlier may have been all the food of Aunt Leyna's family,

And her husband, in order to survive, chose to become a king and a soldier of the church.

She was the only one left at home, with no food, and because she was a woman, she could not leave the house to work in the fields.

Even if there is no food at home, survive this long two months,

Aunt Laina couldn't wait for the harvest in the fields.

There is no hope left.

So Aunt Reina just sat there motionless.

Little Gerrit knows this,

But there are more doubts.

Why is this happening?

Little Gerritt had doubts and deep confusion in his eyes.

Did Aunt Laina do something wrong?

Or is someone doing something wrong?

"Let's go, you should be hungry."

Father Hoss stood a little longer, and then put his hand around little Gerritt's shoulder,

The two went back to the house.

Eating a piece of brown bread and water with a little salt counts as dinner.

When I ate it, I didn't feel full, but my hunger on the way back was relieved.

Father Hoth went to rest.

And little Gerrit also lay on the bed, lying flat, but did not fall asleep for a long time.

His heart was full of questions, and there were too many things he couldn't figure out.

At last

It's the stomach that seems to be hungry again,

Little Glitter turned sideways, curled up against his stomach, and forced himself to sleep.

When you fall asleep, you won't be hungry so quickly.

……

Time has passed for so many days.

In order to earn those salaries from Dr. Munch,

Little Glitter worked until late at Dr. Munch's every day.

And Dr. Munch is very happy these days, and the endless stream of patients makes Dr. Munch have a smile on his face.

Every day, Little Gerritt can get a salary of ten copper coins.

However, the idea of exchanging this money for food has not been able to come true.

I don't know if little Gerrit stayed too late at Dr. Munch's every day, or because the grocery store was never open.

Little Gerrit has never been able to buy food.

He asked his father, Hoss, to buy it, but he didn't buy it.

His father, Hoss, only told him that the only two grain stores in town were still open.

By the time he went, he had already sold out of today's grain.

I couldn't buy food,

I can only survive on the only food left at home, and the more I go to the back, the more difficult I feel.

These days,

His father, Hoss, as he said before, would come to the clinic every day to wait for him.

They waited until he came out of the clinic and returned to the village together.

In the village,

Every night when little Gerrit and his father Hoss returned,

They all saw that in front of the houses of the inhabitants of the village, there were more and more numb women sitting and standing.

It may be that there is still some food left in the family, and it has been eaten.

meantime

I don't know if something has happened in the village these days, and I don't know if it's a happy event.

Grandma Valina's husband, Grandpa Burton, took another wife, and his children also took two wives at this time.

The two of them obtained several wives, and naturally they were the women left over from the families where their husbands were forced to become king's warriors in order to survive.

After taking these women, Burton's grandfather's family naturally also obtained the original land of these women's families.

Burton's grandfather's house did not hold any ceremony during this process, but informed the other residents of the village the next day.

And even so, there are still many people who are like grasping at the straw that saves their lives.

There are many women in the village who cannot survive and try to remarry.

But in the village, even if there is some food left at home, it is not necessarily possible to squeeze out one more person's food.

Even though it is possible to get more fields, these fields need to be cultivated.

But at least you have to be able to survive until the harvest.

And after two months' harvest, there will be more grain to pay, and fifty percent of the grain is set by the church and the king.

If this year's grain harvest is not so good, then 50 percent may be 70 percent, 80 percent, or even more of the real life.

After a brief period of hope,

It's just that in front of that house, there are more desperate and numb people.

……

Walking through some quiet villages,

Little Gerritt and Hoss returned to their house.

It was only when I returned to my house that I found that today, there were more figures in front of my house.

"Hoss, little Glitter, you're back."

The people who came were Grandpa Burton, and a woman with her head down,

Little Glitter looked closely at the woman, and realized that it was Aunt Leyna.

Aunt Leyna stood behind Grandpa Burton, with her head bowed and a bag of things in her hand, silent.

Grandpa Burton, on the other hand, greeted Hoss and Little Gerrit with a smile.

"Uncle Burton, what is this?"

Hawes looked at Burton, then at Leyna, and asked suspiciously.

"Isn't that since little Gerritt's mother died, you haven't had a wife?"

"I said I wanted to introduce you before."

"Now it's just right that Reyna's man is gone, and she's the only one left in the house."

"I also want to be a matchmaker. You see whether it is suitable or not, if it is appropriate, you will live together. ”

“…… Well, you should have some food at home, right? ”

Burton said with a smile.

Laina stood nearby, her head bowed, clutching her hand in silence.

Little Gerrit listened to Grandpa Burton's words and understood what Grandpa Burton meant, but he didn't speak, just waited for Hoth to make a decision.

Hearing this, Hoss turned his head again and looked at Reyna next to him.

Laina met Hoss's gaze, as if she was about to accept the coming judgment, and her body trembled a little in silence.

"Uncle Burton, what?"

"Ha, isn't that also poor Leyna? Moreover, the village took my wife and daughter-in-law at this time, as if my family took advantage of this time to encroach on other people's land. ”

Burton said with a smile.

"You see how nice this Laina is, she is still young, she has no other children, and there are still a lot of fields at home. If you lived together, you wouldn't have more land in your house, and I heard that Hoth didn't have much land in your house.

Ha, if it weren't for your Aunt Valina at home not agreeing, and the food at home was not so sufficient, I would have let Laina follow my children. ”

Burton said with a smile.

Hoss looked at Laina again, a little embarrassed.

Even looking at little Gerrit again, he didn't know what to do.

If you marry Leyna, you will naturally have the land of Leyna's family.

When he waits for the harvest, he will have a lot more grain to harvest, and he doesn't have to worry that after paying fifty percent of the harvest of the family's five fields, the rest will not be enough for him and Little Gerrit to eat.

But if you marry Leyna, you need to give Leyna a piece of food.

But the food at home, even if it was just him and little Gerrit, was already a little difficult.

And what's even harder is that

He now rejected Leyna, who could starve to death in the near future, perhaps tomorrow, or in a few days.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Burton, Leyna...... I only have enough food at home for me and little Glitter. ”

The smile on Burton's face disappeared a lot, and Laina was still silent with her head bowed, but her body did not tremble.

It returned to its previous numb appearance.

"Okay...... Hey, I don't think you have enough food. I told the Sisai family that it was about the same, but he didn't agree, so I thought his family should still have some food......"

As he spoke, Grandpa Burton sighed and left.

Laina stood where she was, paused, raised her head, and lifted a bag that she had been clutching in her hand.

It was handed to little Gerritt.

"To the child."