When it was noon, An Chuxia looked at Chen Xiancheng and Master Gou with a calm expression, the two of them stood up and walked around frequently, and it was obvious that they were hungry because they were used to lunch.

An Chuxia looked up at the sun and felt that the time was almost up, she also stood up and tidied up her official uniform, Master Gou saw her stand up and hurriedly walked over and asked, "My lord, I don't know where we are scheduled to eat lunch?" ”

Master Gou has heard of the officials who come to collect taxes every year, and they all directly order the village to entertain them well.

Hearing Master Gou's words, An Chuxia frowned slightly, and a look of remorse seemed to flash on her face.

"I forgot about it. ”

As soon as these words came out, Master Gou and Chen Xiancheng both changed their faces, and they had the urge to scold their mothers, and they were used to being pampered.

How can you still endure hunger, An Chuxia has admired enough of the two people, and the colorful face is like a Sichuan opera changing face.

Only then did he say unhurriedly: "But it doesn't matter if you forget, let's find a random family to go in and beg for food, and the villagers should agree to give alms if they are so kind." ”

Chen Xiancheng and Master Gou looked at each other, when did they fall, they also needed someone to give alms to eat a meal.

Zhu Tiehua and eight or nine officials were also hungry, but they could see the embarrassed state of these two corrupt officials and villains, and they felt that it was worth starving.

"Let's go!" In addition to the officials who recorded taxes and a few officials, who continued to stay here to collect grain, An Chuxia led a group of people towards the village.

Chen Xiancheng pursed his dry lips and secretly touched his stomach, he was already thirsty and hungry, and he also regretted that he was dirty at that time, and refused the water brought by the old woman.

In the early summer, they knocked on the door of the first villager, and it was a skinny boy of six or seven years old.

An Chuxia glanced at Chen Xiancheng and Master Gou with his eyes, and squinted his eyes to hide a cold light in his eyes.

When the boy opened the door, he recognized it as the person collecting the grain tax in the threshing field at the head of the village, and took a step back with a somewhat cringed expression.

Stopping Zhu Tiehua, who was loud beside him, he stepped forward and asked softly, "Are your adults at home?" Would we like to come and ask for lunch at your house? ”

The boy saw An Chuxia's kind tone, so he replied with a trembling voice: "My father went to pay the grain tax, and my mother said that the food left at home is not enough to eat until the new grain comes down next year."

I took my sister to dig up the withered wild vegetables in the field and came back, and later mixed them with porridge in the chestnuts to drink.

Our family never had extra food for lunch, and we never ate lunch, so we can't entertain you. ”

An Chuxia took a deep breath, suppressed the sourness in her heart, and once again set her eyes on the two black-hearted corrupt officials.

When they were looting the people's fat and ointment and filling their own pockets, they never thought that many people would not have enough to eat and would even starve to death.

But on their faces, An Chuxia saw nothing but indifference, disgust, and there was no trace of shame and pity in their expressions towards such a thin child.

Several officials who came to protect An Chuxia's county order all showed pity for the skinny boy, and Zhu Tiehua stared at the culprit of all this.

And the person who has always been a figurine is indifferent to everything, and can only say that the black heart is different from normal people.

An Chuxia gently touched the child's head, didn't say anything, and continued to take people to the village to find lunch.

They knocked on the doors of several villagers in succession, and the answers they got were similar to what the little boy said.

There is no extra food at home for lunch, and they never waste food for lunch, they all tighten their belts and eat twice a day.

Just when Chen Xiancheng and Master Gou were getting more and more hungry and impatient, they finally saw smoke coming from a chimney, which showed that the family should be in better condition, and this was cooking lunch.

Chen Xiancheng took the initiative to take everyone to a house in the village this time, he glanced at Master Gou who was following behind him, Gou Yuantong's eyes flashed, and he still stepped forward and knocked on the dilapidated wooden door.

When he opened the door, Chen Xiancheng found that it was the one who brought water to the old woman's house who was rejected by him in the morning, and he was embarrassed for a moment, and Chen Xiancheng was hungry.

Still high up, he said in a proud voice: "We came to help you collect taxes, and now it's noon, and we have decided to have lunch at your house." ”

The old woman secretly pouted, she had paid so much more food tax before, should she thank him?

But in the end, she didn't say anything, stepped out of the way, and invited the group into her family's broken grass house.

When An Chuxia looked at her, the old woman nodded imperceptibly.

When everyone entered the low house, their eyes darkened, and Chen Xiancheng, who was used to living in a big house, felt that this house was not even as good as his toilet.

I wanted to leave immediately, but I couldn't bear to be hungry at this time, so I had to sit on the small stool that the old woman had moved.

He knew that if he did not return to the county after the confiscation of the grain tax today, it would be impossible for him, the county chief responsible for the collection of grain tax, to return to the county ahead of schedule.

If it weren't for the pressure of this new county order, how could he have been so hungry, he would have turned around and gone back a long time ago, how could he have come to such a poor place to suffer.

Wait until the woman brings a gray-black nest head that has just come out of the pot and puts it on the table with one crooked leg.

Chen Xiancheng and Master Gou couldn't help frowning their foreheads when they saw such a nest.

After An Chuxia thanked the woman, she picked up a nest head and put it in her mouth to eat, Zhu Tiehua and several officials felt this nest head.

It's a little different from what they usually see, but the prefectural magistrates have eaten it, and they can still be more noble than the prefectural magistrates.

So when they all picked up the nest head, An Chuxia glanced at Zhu Tiehua and several officials with a deep meaning, and they were suddenly stunned in their hearts.

Then they ate the head of their mouth and gnawed on the nest as if nothing happened, and only they knew what it was like.

Chen Xiancheng and Master Gou saw that everyone was naturally eating the nest head in their hands, and immediately felt that maybe this nest head just looked dirty and not delicious.

Maybe it's not so bad to eat in the mouth, the two of them couldn't stand the hunger, so they still picked up the gray-black nest head and put it in their mouths and took a bite.

After this mouthful, Chen Xiancheng and Master Gou, who swallowed it, had chest pain, "Bah, bah! What the hell is this!

It's bitter, astringent, and hard, where is this what people eat, and it chokes to death! ”

The old woman walked in and looked distressedly, and was about to bend down and pick up the nest head that had been thrown on the ground and bitten on it.

Chen Xiancheng, who was angry that he was choked by this thing, stepped on his feet in advance.

(End of chapter)