Qingshan Village is the northernmost village in Dingbeihou's territory. It is more than 300 miles away from Hongyuan City. It is located in a small mountain valley. It has 22 households and 98 people. Most of them are old and weak, women and children, and not many young adults.
Thirty people.
The village is mostly made up of mud-walled thatched houses, and the only brick house courtyard is the original lord's mansion! The heavy snowfall for several days has turned this small village into the same color as the sky and the earth, and it is difficult to see the village from a distance.
At this time, in a dilapidated earthen house at the east end of the village, an old woman in shabby clothes was standing in front of the stove with her waist bent, pouring the black noodles in her hand into a pot full of boiling water, as if counting the black noodles.
The number of noodles is so careful.
Next to the stove, a little girl of five or six years old, with a sallow complexion and thin skin, stared at the pot and kept pouting.
Only half of the handful of black noodles was put into the pot, and the old woman slowly put the rest into a bag next to it, without even a single bit falling out.
"Nier, please bear with me a little longer! Your brother is sick, let him eat first!" The old woman looked back at the little girl, feeling a little sad.
"I'm not hungry, let's feed it to my brother first!" Nier nodded her little head, looked away from the pot with great reluctance, then turned and walked towards the door.
After a while, the water in the pot became slightly thicker. The old woman picked up a chipped bowl, filled a spoonful of dark gruel, and walked carefully to the bed inside.
There was a sleeping boy lying on the bed, his little face was red...
"Grandma! Grandpa Fu is here!" When the old woman was about to help the little boy get up, Ni'er's voice came from the door.
"Brother Fu!" The old woman hurriedly put the bowl next to the bed. When she turned around, an old man with a stooped figure and a wrinkled face had already entered the room.
"Brothers and sisters, Tiedan'er needs to be seen for his illness. If it continues..." The old man glanced at the bed with a worried expression!
"Hey!" The old woman sighed and shook her head sadly: "I know this, but how can my family have any money? And this weather... let's wait until Tiedan'er's father comes back!"
When they talked about Tiedan'er's father, the two old men's faces became even more worried. Brother Fu said: "Shi Wazi and the others have been in the mountains for several days and they haven't come back yet! The mountain has been closed by heavy snow and the temperature has dropped so low.
The road will definitely be more difficult to navigate, I'm really worried...they are the only young people in our village..."
"Brother Fu, don't say that. Shi Wazi and the others grew up in the mountains, how could something go wrong..." The old woman said this, but the worry in her eyes became more and more serious.
"It's all Mr. Jiangling's fault! If he hadn't raised taxes, we wouldn't have..." At this moment, Ni'er's childish voice suddenly sounded.
"Shut up!" The old woman glared fiercely and shouted.
Nier shrank down, biting her lips tightly, her eyes instantly filled with moisture.
"Brother and sister, how old is Ni'er? Don't talk about her if she's ignorant!" Brother Fu advised, squatting next to Ni'er and asked softly: "Nier, who did you hear that?"
"That's what Liu Yuan who moved away said..." Ni'er choked and whispered.
"Don't listen to him. He is not from our village to begin with, and he doesn't know many things!" Brother Fu gently rubbed Ni'er's head.
"Nier, grandma told you that you have to be conscientious... The old man used to cut taxes every year, especially the severe drought ten years ago. If it weren't for the old man, grandma, and your father, there would be many people in the village.
Everyone will starve to death, how can you be there..." The old woman's expression finally softened, but her tone was still stern.
"The old Lord has not been here for the past three years, and Young Master Jiangling has not raised taxes in the first two years. In the end, there is no other way, and it has not exceeded the upper limit stipulated by the empire... If it were other nobles, who would care about our life and death...
…”
After talking a lot, the old woman noticed the confused expression on the little girl's face and couldn't help but sigh: "I'm so confused. Ni'er is so young, how can she understand this!"
"Okay! Remember from now on, don't speak ill of Lord Jiang's family!" the old lady said at last.
"Oh! I'm going to see if dad is back!" Nier nodded in understanding, turned around and ran out of the door.
Seeing Ni'er running out, the old woman shook her head: "Young Master Jiangling must have failed... People from Hongyuan City came to check the village's identity cards a few days ago... It's just that the girl Mei'er is so old.
Snow, such cold weather..."
Brother Fu couldn't help but fell silent. After a while, he took out a small cloth bag from his body and put it on the stove: "Brothers and sisters, there are two kilograms of white flour here, let Tiedaner replenish himself!"
"No!" The old woman flatly refused, took two steps, stuffed the bag of flour back to Brother Fu: "You don't have much food at home, and your daughter-in-law is about to give birth..."
"It's all my fault that the village is in such trouble this time. If I hadn't listened to the liar and asked everyone to exchange white noodles for black noodles, I wouldn't have..." Brother Fu looked ashamed.
"You are also kind-hearted. If you exchange the white flour for twice as much black flour, our village will be able to survive this winter. Who would have thought that we would be deceived... No one blames you..."
While the two old men were rejecting the two kilograms of white noodles, a group of horse-drawn carriages came slowly outside the village.
At the front of the cavalry, a handsome young man stopped at the entrance of the village.
"This is Qingshan Village, the territory of your lordship. It is really shabby, and they are all thatched houses... I will live in this place from now on!" The young man sighed and walked into the village.
There was silence all around, and there was no one outside, making people feel no life at all.
The young man frowned and went straight to the lord's mansion! He was here to lead the charge, and he had to arrange the storage location of the food first.
Just as he walked to the door of the Lord's Mansion, a small figure suddenly appeared in his sight.
"Huh?" The young man stopped and found a little girl of only five or six years old standing next to the wall. It was such a cold winter, but she was wearing very thin clothes. Her linen clothes were very shabby, and she was shivering from the cold.
At this time, the little girl was holding a handful of snow with her little hands and stuffing it into her mouth.
"It's such a cold day, how can this child eat snow? Will he die?" The young man stepped forward and knocked the snow ball out of the little girl's hand.
"Ah!" The little girl was startled. She looked up and saw a tall figure standing in front of her. She was so frightened that she backed away and leaned against the wall.
"Little sister, don't be afraid!" The young man squatted down, showed a smile that he thought was kind, and asked softly: "It's such a cold day, why did you run out alone, where are the adults at home?"
The little girl looked very frightened. She hugged her chest tightly with her hands and said tremblingly: "Grandma...take care of my brother at home!"
"Then why do you eat snow? Aren't you afraid of the cold?" the young man asked again.
"I'm...hungry!"
"The severe winter has just begun, have we already run out of food?" The young man's expression was a little heavy. The little girl was already so hungry that she ate snow. You can imagine the situation in the village.
Thinking in his heart, the young man took out a white flour cake from his body and handed it to the little girl: "Eat this, you can't eat snow in such a cold day, it will freeze!"
The little girl's eyes were immediately fixed on the white flour cake, she couldn't help but purse her lips, and slowly stretched out her little hands.
"Don't worry, my brother gave it to you, take it!" The young man smiled and put the white flour cake into the little girl's hand.
"Thank you, brother!" The little girl immediately beamed, turned around and ran to the east of the village, still shouting: "Grandma, grandma, I got food for my brother!"
The childish voice echoed in the village, injecting a breath of life into the deathly silence.
Seeing the little girl's happy look, the young man also showed a happy smile, turned around and opened the door of the Lord's Mansion...
In the house at the east end of the village, two old people heard Nier's shouting. They paused at the same time and looked happy: "I got food. Could it be that Shi Wazi and the others are back!"
The two of them quickly opened the door and walked out quickly!
However, all they saw was Ni'er's small figure running alone, and everything around them was empty.
"Where are the people? Shi Wazi and the others haven't come back?" The mood of the two old people instantly dropped.
"Grandma, look!" Nier cheered happily and raised her little hand, but because she was running too fast, her foot slipped and she fell. The two old people were heartbroken and hurriedly shouted to be careful and move forward.
Go quickly.
As if she didn't know the pain, the little girl got up again. The little hand holding the white flour cake was always raised high and did not touch the ground at all.
The old woman finally held Nier in her arms, rubbed her knees distressedly, and asked, "Does it hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt! Grandma, look, it's white flour cake!" The little girl brought the white flour cake to the old woman as if taking credit for it.
"Where did this... come from?" The old woman's face darkened and she asked in a low voice. She was afraid that someone would deceive Nier and sell her as a slave to another country.
"A big brother gave it to me, it's at the lord's mansion!" Nier replied crisply.
"Lord's Mansion!" The two old men looked at each other and thought to themselves: "Could it be that the new lord has arrived... No way, with such bad weather..."
"Let's go! Let's go take a look!" Brother Fu said with some anxiety.
"Okay!" The old woman nodded, went back to the house and took a look at Tiedan'er, then led Nier and Brother Fu towards the Lord's Mansion.
At this time, some doors opened one after another. When they heard Nier's shout just now, many people, like the old woman, thought that the young men who had entered the mountains were back.
"Uncle Fu, Aunt Yun, I just heard Ni'er yelling that she got some food. Are Shi Wazi and the others back?"
"It's been five days and it's time to come back. The family is going to run out of food!"
"Where are they? Why can't they see anyone..."
During the questioning, the two old men stopped and explained: "It's not Shi Wazi and the others, it seems that the new lord has arrived. He just gave Ni'er a white flour cake at the door of the lord's mansion!"
"New lord!" Everyone was a little surprised, this snowy day...
At this moment, there was a rumble of wheels, and a large group of carriages slowly drove into the village, attracting everyone's attention.
[bookid=3116420,bookname="The Great Appraiser"]
An apprentice in an antique shop accidentally obtained the identification system and gained the ability to identify all things in the world. He was able to pick up antiques and was omnipotent. In the end, the apprentice became a great collector.
A friend's book can be called an urban classic. It is very interesting and highly recommended to book lovers.