When Little Glitter and Hoss returned to the village, it was already nightfall.

The village was not as quiet as it had been at night.

There were several village residents, whispering on the side of the road, some fearful about the same thing.

Originally

Last night, a woman in the village rushed into Mr. Raleigh's sheep pen because she was hungry.

Took a lamb.

And then, in today's time, it was discovered by the shepherds of Mr. Raleigh.

In the evening, Mr. Raleigh's men rushed into every house in the village to inspect them.

Finally, traces were found in the woman's house.

The villagers were talking with some horror about the woman's tragic situation at this moment.

As he spoke, some of the village's residents were chanting prayers and prayers.

Just hearing the news,

Little Gerrit's head seemed to explode suddenly, and it was blank.

He was already worried about the meat that Laina brought last night,

When I heard this, I only thought of the meat that Laina gave him last night.

"It was so badly beaten...... Both legs were broken and her hands were broken, but she didn't die directly, so she lay on her stomach in the courtyard......"

"Forgive her sins, O merciful Lord......"

Seeing someone passing by, the resident who was talking suddenly lost his voice.

And little Gerritt was already crazy at this time, and ran out,

Running in the direction of Leyna's house,

Hoss looked at little Gerrit and ran forward, followed two steps, and then paused,

Just turn around and ask the person next to you who spoke earlier,

"Who did you just say?"

……

Frightened, his mind kept echoing the scene of when Laina gave her meat last night,

It is the same as the tragic situation described by the residents of the village just now, the person who stole the sheep was beaten.

Little Glitter ran all the way to the front of Reina's house.

"Reyina!"

Little Glitter cried out in fear, afraid to see Laina lying on the side of the road, dying, covered in blood.

But he was already in front of the house of the Reina family,

Immediately after, Little Gerrit paused and stopped,

For he saw a figure sitting at the door of the house, and when he heard his shout, the figure had risen from the door.

It was Leyna who saw little Gerrit hurrying over to call her.

"Little Glitter, what's wrong?"

Leyna still has some small injuries on her face that little Gerrit had seen last night,

But Laina, who stood up, was clearly not as miserable as the village had previously described.

"I thought...... I have just heard that someone has broken his hand and foot for stealing Mr. Raleigh's sheep. ”

Little Glitter looked at Reina and said, a little nervous.

Laina looked at little Glitter, smiled, and walked in a little more,

"So you think that the meat I gave you was a steal of Mr. Raleigh's sheep."

"But you forget, I didn't give you mutton."

"I forgot ......"

Little Gerrit opened his mouth,

The fear that filled his heart just now made him ignore these things,

However, even though Lyne was not the one who stole the sheep, little Gerrit still looked at Lyna with some concern.

"That'...... Reyna, where did that meat you gave me come from? ”

Little Glitter asked again.

Laina turned her head, looked to the side, and whispered Little Glitter's answer.

"A pheasant I caught in the forest."

Little Gret's eyes widened a little, and he looked back to the side of the village,

Outside the village, to be precise, in the direction of the village cemetery, there is a dense forest.

But that forest doesn't belong to the people of the village.

and belonged to the nobility and the church in the town.

That's why his grandfather, Medioc, would meet a knight who was out hunting.

When it was discovered that Laina was poaching prey from that forest, Laina would only be punished more cruelly than what little Gerrit had just heard.

That's what belongs to the church, to God.

"Don't worry, little Gerrit, you won't be discovered."

Laina said to little Gerrit with a smile.

Little Glitter looked at Lyna, still a little worried, but she didn't speak.

"All right, little Glitter, go back. Your father, Hoss, should be worried. ”

Reina said to little Glitter again.

Little Glitter looked back at Laina several times, and saw that Laina was still standing in the courtyard,

Gradually, little Glitter also went away and returned home.

……

The next day.

Little Gerrit learns that it was Aunt Tima who stole Mr. Raleigh's lamb.

Aunt Tima is older.

The 20 percent of the food that the church had taken away had taken away all the surplus food from their family, and it was even a little insufficient.

Aunt Tima's husband and son, in order to survive, became warriors of the king and the church to participate in the war against their neighbors.

Aunt Tima was left alone in an empty house with no food, facing a field that could not be cultivated and could not be harvested until two months later.

Previously, Mr. Rowley came to buy the land, and for some reason, Aunt Tima did not sell all her land to Mr. Raleigh.

She only sold a portion of it for a small amount of food.

And apparently, that little bit of food won't keep her alive for long.

When Mr. Raleigh's family levied slaves, Aunt Tima was too old to be chosen.

Other things in the process, it's not so clear.

I only know that the night before, Aunt Tima took advantage of the night to steal the lamb of Mr. Raleigh's house.

In order to avoid being discovered, Aunt Tima did not even light a fire when she ate at night.

But the next day, Mr. Raleigh's men, with impunity, rushed into every house, rummaging through every place,

Even if Aunt Tima hid it well, she still found a lot of traces.

And presumably to dispel the hungry residents of the village from the same thoughts as Aunt Tima,

They taught Aunt Tima a very cruel lesson.

Aunt Tima, whose hands and feet were broken, lay in front of her house, dying, until the next morning.

After that, the church also came the trial of Aunt Tima,

Because of Aunt Tima's grave sins, she could not return to the arms of the Lord after her death.

The rest of the village was not allowed to erect a tombstone for her grave, which belonged to the devout.

Before you go out to school in the morning,

Little Gerrit asked Hoss to take him to the grave where Aunt Tima was buried.

Just like the previous grandfather of Medioc,

Tima's grave stood alone a little further from the village cemetery, with no tombstones.

"Father's ......"

Looking at the grave bag, little Gerrit was silent for a long time,

Then he turned his head and looked at his father, Hoss, to ask something, but in the end he only shouted.

For some questions, he already has answers in his heart,

But these answers also brought him more doubts.

……

In the text,

Time begins to pass day by day.

Relying on the only food left at home, and some things that Hoss managed to get that didn't know whether weeds or wild vegetables,

Little Gerrit and Hoss barely survived.

In addition to going to school every day, little Gerrit would also go to Dr. Munch every afternoon to work until the evening, when he returned home with his father, Hoss.

There was not so much work in the fields with only five fields left, and his father, Hoss, would still work in the towns most of the time.

Little Gerritt's income from Dr. Munch has basically been fixed, ten copper coins a day, and his father Hoss has more income than Little Glitter.

But the income of the two still can't keep up with the rate of rising food prices.

More often than not, even if little Gerrit and Hoss wanted to exchange their daily income for a small amount of food, they couldn't buy it.

Grain stores in towns are rarely open, and when they do, the day's food is quickly sold out.

In such a long time, little Gerrit and Hoss have only bought food once,

And the little food they bought was only a drop in the bucket, and it allowed little Gerrit and Hoss to eat for a day.

As his father Hoss said,

The further you go, the harder it gets.

At the beginning, I was not hungry for a while after eating such a small thing.

But later, after eating a little more, I felt hungrier than before.

Most of the time,

Little Glitter strangled his stomach with a hemp rope, and when he was so hungry that it was not time to eat, he drank more water.

Little Glitter's studies were probably affected by hunger.

When you are very hungry, you can only think of food in your head, and you can only feel hunger.

Even though little Gerrit wanted to learn, the pace of learning was much slower.

And in the village.

Something is happening, too.

Reina is still alive, probably like before,

She sneaked into the forest at night to find some food and barely survived.

But the body, inevitably, also has more wounds.

Little Glitter didn't know why Reina changed her mind.

Before, desperate and numb, Leyna was only willing to wait for death, and then return to the arms of the Lord,

But now, he is willing to survive and disobey the laws of the church.

Was it because he had spoken to Reina before?

Or don't have to.

And after that,

Reina also gave little Gerrit a few times during the night, presumably pheasants or birds.

It's just the previous diarrhea that made little Gerritt just eat a little bit every time even if he craved it.

I also hope that Laina will eat it too.

Except for Laina,

There was another incident in the village,

In the village,

The women who were left alone at home, and who were not chosen by Mr. Raleigh to be slaves, belonged to their fields,

The original crops are still thriving, and some of the weeds that should have been in the fields always disappear after a night.

For this matter,

Grandpa Burton's explanation was, 'The merciful Lord has taken pity on the poor and has given them merciful favor and divine grace.' ’

But at this time, the sentence is already like a joke.

Every night the woman who goes to the field knows what is going on.

Other than that

It's Mr. Raleigh's captive sheep.

Probably because of the tragic situation that happened to Aunt Tima before, no one dared to do the same thing again, even if they were hungry - stealing Mr. Raleigh's sheep.

And those sheep, with the passage of time, grew up little by little, and the wool grew longer little by little.

On the other hand,

Probably the inhabitants of the village.

Because of hunger, the bodies of the village residents are visibly becoming thinner and thinner.

The most powerful thing is like a layer of rough and yellow skin left, stretched on dry bones.

At the same time, not everyone was as lucky as Laina to survive.

There were many people who were gradually starved to death.

In the beginning, it was the oldest women who had been abandoned.

They often start to stink after a few days of death, only to be found dead in a house with a closed door.

In the beginning,

For every person who died, Grandpa Burton would organize someone to take him to the village cemetery for burial.

But later, with hunger, the residents of the village have no strength, and this thing is getting slower and slower.

It's often because the smell is so unbearable that it's hastily buried.

If it weren't so stinky, the dead man's house would have become a grave.

……

Time passed little by little like this.

The grain in the fields is finally about to be harvested, and the two months of hunger are finally coming to an end.

Many of the village's hungry residents have already begun harvesting before the grain in the fields is fully ripe.

Aunt Laina also discussed with Hoss that when the grain in her family's field was harvested, she would let Hoss help with the harvest.

Except for the fifty percent that needs to be paid to the church and the king, the rest is only enough for her to eat until the next harvest, and the rest is given to Hoss and Little Gretel, who help with the harvest.

Most of the women in the village, who were still alone at this time, made a similar decision and asked for help from different families.

There was no one to take care of it before, and the food in the fields was still growing normally, which can be said to be a divine grace.

Say a tacit explanation.

But if no one harvests it, but the grain in the field is harvested by itself, it can only be said to be a miracle.

all

It seems to be finally starting to get better,

Even if fifty percent of the food had to be paid to the king and the church, the rest would always keep the inhabitants of the village through this period of hunger.

Little Gerrit is also looking forward to this day,

He just hoped that in the evening after the harvest of grain, he would have an extra dinner of brown bread.

“…… Little Glitter, what are you thinking? ”

At school, classmate Ammon shouted little Glitter again,

Little Gerrit came back to his senses and shook his head,

"Nope."

Then he tightened his clothes and pressed his stomach, and little Gerrit continued to study.

……

“…… Dr. Munch. Can I get paid a little less and exchange my salary from copper coins to food? ”

In the evening, as he left Dr. Munch's office, little Gerrit repeated the request he had already made.

Ever since he discovered that there was no food available in the town, little Gerrit had mentioned the matter several times to Dr. Munch.

But each time Dr. Munch refused.

"Little Gerritt, what are you thinking? A little less pay? Your current salary is what I gave you extra. If you want less, it's fine, as for the exchange of food, it's your own business, don't bother me. ”

Dr. Munch unceremoniously rejected Little Gerritt's request again.

"Dr. Munch, I need some food. I don't have food to eat, so there's a lot of work I can't do anymore. ”

"Ha, then when you can't get the job done, I'll change to an assistant. Didn't you see the corpse outside the clinic? Want to take advantage of me? If you don't have the strength, I'll have someone throw you out. ”

Dr. Munch continued.

Little Glitter was ready to leave.

“…… Take it, and fuck me off now. ”

At this time, Dr. Munch took out two pieces of black bread from the nearby hut and handed them to little Gret.

Little Gerrit looked up,

"Thank you, Dr. Munch, you are a kind man!"

"Huh? Am I merciful? . I've already given you food, and you don't want to leave because you want to ask me for a salary again? ”

Dr. Munch laughed, then scolded.

Little Gerrit shook his head,

Then he took the food and quickly left the consultation room.

Out of the consultation room, little Gerrit saw the figure of his father Hoss,

Hurriedly walked over, little Gerrit picked up the black bread in his hand, and a smile appeared on his face,

Whatever Dr. Munch's intentions were, today he did exchange his pay for food.

"Father, Hoss, look...... We had dinner tonight. ”

Little Gerrit said with a smile to his father, Hoss.

Father Hoss smiled as usual,

"Is this your paywork?"

"Yes, Hoss."

"Well, let's go back then."

"Okay."

Father Hoss held little Gerritt in his arms, and little Gerrit held the black bread in his hand.

As usual, the two of them left the town and walked in the direction of the village.

It seems that everything is getting better.

But obviously,

None of this is enough to let go of the hungry little Gerritt.