Gone.

In that year, there was a severe drought in Zhuqi County, Pingzhou, and thieves arose.

Ye Qin knelt on the ground, grasping a piece of rubble that he didn't know where to pick up with both hands, and digging at the root of a lonely and withered old tree, digging with all his strength, trying to dig out the old roots to eat. The rubble was not sharp, but the long digging had worn out his palm.

The sun in the sky was scorching, bright and dazzling. The sparse branches of the old trees barely covered the scorching heat.

After digging for a while, Ye Qin was a little tired. He hadn't eaten anything all morning, hungry and thirsty, and his emaciated little hands barely had the strength to dig down.

On the other side of the old tree lay a hungry peasant boy who had fainted from hunger, a child from the same village who had grown into a big cow, with rotten hair like a grass nest, covered with a rotten linen cloth, half fainted, and muttered some muttered muttering in his mouth.

Ye Qin glanced at Cheng Da Niu, licked his chapped lips, gritted his teeth and continued to plan.

He was originally the child of a family of hunters in a small village in Laogou, a few hundred miles away in the mountains, and years of military disasters, banditry, and heavy taxes have overwhelmed the villagers in the countryside, and the severe drought that began at the beginning of this year has almost wiped out the crops, greatly reduced the prey in the mountains and forests, and caused a large number of people to die.

It's hard for adults, let alone children, to survive. As the eldest in the family, at the age of 11 this year, he said goodbye to his father and mother, left home to look for food, reduced the pressure on his father's and mother's rations, and allowed the little brothers and sisters at home to have enough rations to survive. According to the rules of their township, once they say goodbye to their father and mother and leave home, it means leaving home to start a business alone, and they no longer rely on their father and mother and clan.

Ye Qin can't be considered to have a career, but he can be regarded as going out alone.

Fortunately, there were four or five other children between the ages of eight and ten who came out to look for food in the same village, among which Ye Qin was the oldest and had the most experience, so he took the children with him.

For most of the year, they wandered in the countryside villages and towns all over Zhuqi County, because there was not enough food, and because of the attack of wild dogs and jackals in the wild, three or four had died on the road, and only Ye Qin and Cheng Da Niu were still alive.

Da Niu is a year younger than him.

In the early hours of yesterday morning, they slept in a pergola in the wilderness. When the two were asleep, the pergola was drilled in by a hungry and faint old wild dog, and bit the calf of the big cow, if Ye Qin hadn't woken up in time and smashed the old wild dog away with a stone and wooden stick, the big cow almost lost his life. In any case, neither he nor Da Niu can die anymore, otherwise it will be even more difficult for him to survive in this world alone.

Ye Qin endured the pain in his hands, gouging, thinking. I've cut a foot deep, but I haven't found an old tree root that can be eaten.

The old tree has withered and yellowed, and no one knows whether its roots can be eaten. But you have to give it a try, and there are few other edible grass roots and bark nearby. Half a year of drought has killed almost all the grass and trees.

Finally, a section of the old root was dug up, and it was still fresh and moist.

Ah, Ye Qin was pleasantly surprised to poke the old roots with blunt rubble, and it took a long time to dig out a small part of it, bite a small piece of moist bark down, climb next to Cheng Da Niu, shake Cheng Da Niu to wake up, and feed him.

Cheng Da Niu smelled the moisture of the bark, opened his eyes in confusion, and woke up from a semi-fainting, barely chewing a little bark, but he didn't have the strength to eat it.

Ye Qin hurriedly chewed the bark and stuffed it into his mouth.

If you don't eat, you'll die.

Cheng Da Niu ate some bark, and finally took a breath, recovered a little, and sobered up a little.

Relying on this section of tree roots, Ye Qin and Cheng Da Niu lived for more than half a day.

Although eating the bark can make their stomachs ache, it is better than starving to death. The two rested in the shade of the old tree roots for a long time, and when the sun gradually set in the west and was no longer scorching, Ye Qin walked east with the limping cow.

It was getting dark, and there were many panicked wild dogs and jackals in the wilderness, and it was not safe to go to a place where people could live.

Ye Qin took the big cow to the pergola where they lived yesterday, which was next to the post road on the barren slope a few miles to the east.

Merchants and horses often passed by on the post road, hungry and thirsty for water. During the day, there is a restaurant from a nearby town that sells tea, wine and meat to customers passing by along the way.

However, in order to avoid encountering thieves, the restaurant leaves every night, and the pergola is empty, so they can live in the pergola and hide from wild dogs and jackals. You can also pick up a little leftover rice from the ground and use it as dinner.

In the past half a month, Ye Qin and the others have lived there at night.

In the evening, when the sky is sunset.

Ye Qin helped the big cow to the side of the pergola, and squatted on a messy grass next to him to rest. This pergola is a simple bamboo house made of some bamboo, and the entrance is an open-air greenhouse, under which there are more than a dozen tea tables, chairs and stools.

Now the owner of the restaurant in the pergola has not left, and the old man of the restaurant and a young junior are busy, greeting more than a dozen men wearing one-color green coats and robes. This group of men was noisy and noisy in the pergola, changing glasses and bowls, drinking and eating meat, which was very lively.

Ye Qin smelled the smell of wine and meat wafting out in front of the pergola, and he was hungry to death, but after only glancing at it, he quickly retracted his head in fear, not daring to look at it for more than half a look. These lean and capable men are all wearing official clothes, and they are the officials of Zhuqi County.

When he first came out of the countryside to look for food, he almost regarded these officials in official uniforms as good people. However, in the past six months, I have begged for food in the county seat and several villages and towns, and I have seen many evil things, and I am extremely afraid of these people.

It's better if it's a bandit, you don't have any money, and you won't kill people casually. These officials are much more ruthless than bandits, if they don't like anyone, they will be beaten to death, killed and cut off their heads, and will be counted as thieves' heads and sent to the county seat to receive merit.

Ye Qin was poor only with a rag to cover his body, and he would rather see the bandits than the officials.

Cheng Da Niu was so hungry that he didn't see clearly that those men were dressed as officials and wanted to crawl over to beg for something to eat.

Ye Qin was startled, and quickly pulled him back and grabbed Da Niu's arm. The bull struggled with all his strength and tried to say something out loud. Ye Qin hurriedly covered his mouth again, desperately looking for a look, don't go over to look for death.

The big cow was already smaller than him, and he was injured again, and he struggled for a while and couldn't break free, and he had no strength, so he could only lie down and rest in a daze.

The two of them huddled together in a hidden place next to the pergola, trying not to attract any attention from the officials.

Ye Qin took a look at the sky, the sun was about to set, this group of officials was full of food and drink, and I believe that they would not stay in this wilderness for a long time. When the group of officials leaves, he may be able to find something missing.

He sighed in his heart. This kind of digging tree roots to live, I don't know when it will end.

Under the pergola, there was the lively laughter of the men.

Surrounded by all the men in the middle, a middle-aged official with a thin and yellow appearance is quite majestic, and he is obviously the leader of the officials.

The middle-aged official took a sip of wine, touched the remaining wine from his beard, and said loudly: "What a damn bad luck, that gang of robbers can really run, ran dozens of miles from Zhuqi County, fled to this ghost place where birds don't pull to death, and almost exhausted our brothers to death." The brothers ate more wine and meat, and at night they had to travel in the dark to catch the bandits as soon as possible. ”

Ye Qin hid in the grass nest on the side of the pergola, more than ten steps away from the officials sitting in the pergola, and their words fell on his ears word for word.

All the officials and messengers flattered the middle-aged officials.

"This is thanks to Li Ye's personal action, otherwise this group of robbers would have disappeared without a trace. It doesn't matter if we work hard, but we can't let that gang of robbers escape, so as not to make Li Ye's hard work in vain. ”

"Yes, as long as you catch that gang of robbers, cut off the thieves' heads and go back to receive merit, Li Ye will not be able to get a generous reward. Our brothers will also get some benefits!"

"Li Ye is not the number one catcher in our county, and every time he makes a move, he will never fail. This time, we also have the blessing of Li Ye!"