Shi Jin and Jin Jiaoban changed into casual clothes and came down from the city tower, walking down the road paved with bluestones. Jin Jiaoban had a simple knife slung across his body and walked with a lantern beside him to illuminate the way forward for Shi Jin.
In Huayin County, which was affected by the war, all the bustle and popularity of the past have disappeared, and there is no trace of the original night market. Shi Jin still remembers what kind of traffic there used to be on the road he is walking on now. Those places on the road
The snacks nearby are always lured by the fragrance, and the tables and stalls are crowded with customers. When I was a child, whenever I came into the city, my father would buy Shi Jin a bowl of glutinous rice balls from the stall in front of him called Li's Hunyuan.
.There is a fragrant soup in the small celadon bowl, with some plump and round glutinous rice balls floating on it. It is smooth in the mouth, and when you take a bite, the black sesame filling contained in it will flow out sweetly, leaving a delicious taste in your mouth.
It smells good and warms the whole body.
But now the bluestone is covered with mottled bloodstains from the fighting. The sun has just set and there is no one left in the deserted street. There are only two people, Shi Jin and the others, on such a wide street.
The patter of footsteps was accompanied by the faint cries of every household, which made Shi Jin feel sour in his heart.
"Wow... wow~"
When Shi Jin and the others walked to the next alley, they heard the cry of the baby more and more clearly. Shi Jin didn't know why, but he stood at the alley and couldn't move his legs or feet anymore after listening to that sound.
, it was clearly coming from the house at the end of the alley, which made Shi Jin feel desolate in his heart.
"Let's go take a look." Shi Jin raised his hand in the direction of the alley, then walked into the alley with Jin Jiaoban and arrived at the door of that house.
The courtyard wall of this house was not very high, and the door was stained with black paint. It did not look like a very poor family. Shi Jin raised his hand, held the door knocker, and knocked three times.
The crying inside suddenly became weaker. Apparently someone had covered the baby's mouth and nose, causing his crying to cause trouble. Shi Jin knocked again, and then footsteps could be heard in the courtyard.
Shi Jin gestured towards Jin Jiaoban. Jin Jiaoban was very enlightened. He put out the lantern and hid it against the wall.
At this time, an old voice came from behind the door in front of Shi Jin, asking: "Who is it?"
Shi Jin calmed down and said: "A traveler who encounters this cholera has no place to stay. I hope the donor will be lenient."
With a creaking sound, the horizontal latch opened, and the two doors opened inward, revealing a short old man. The old man held a candle and let Shi Jin into the courtyard, and then closed the door.
Shi Jin's eyes brightened, and as soon as he entered the door, he saw a coffin placed in the courtyard. Coupled with the covert crying of the child, Shi Jin's heart was filled with confusion.
Shi Jin read this out in order to understand the basics of the people in the city, so that he could figure out the problems and solve them. So when the old man brought him into the house, and after the two of them were polite, Shi Jin started to pretend to be confused.
Asking nonsense. The old man sat next to him across the candlelight and answered one by one. However, the baby cried more and more loudly, interrupting the two people's answers frequently. After a while, the baby's cries became more frequent.
A woman's silent cry.
The old man sighed, his face full of sorrow, and his words inadvertently brought out the flavor of despair: "Alas... Ever since the thieves attacked the city, the world has changed, and life has become even harder to live. I have worked hard all my life, and just now I have
If you have a grandson, you will lose a son...what a miserable life!" The old man choked up as he spoke.
"The person lying on the coffin lid in the courtyard turned out to be your son.
But now that there are thousands of dead bodies in the city, it may not be easy to arrange them like a funeral. The getting hotter weather will cause a plague. To put it bluntly, the dead have passed away, but the living have to live a good life. Why not listen to the Shaohua Mountain
and burn the bodies to protect the city from the plague."
At this time, the baby in the room cried even harder. The old man sighed and said with tears in his eyes: "What can we do to avoid the plague? Look at this now, with no food and no water, where is the way to survive? The officials took away the food. At that time
It's nice to say it, but it wasn't because the officers and soldiers burned it down last night, and the officers and soldiers stormed into the city to kill people. My son died at that time..."
Hearing what the old man said, Shi Jin's heart rang in his heart. The officers and soldiers killed each other in the chaos last night, and they all knew it by word of mouth today.
"The officers and soldiers have become murderers, but the thieves from Shaohua Mountain have come to defend the city. You said that the world is upside down. What a bullshit world! You only pity my little grandson. He lost his father just after he was born. Now he is hungry and thirsty.
, and will follow us to wait for death..." As the old man spoke, he couldn't help but burst into tears. He was embarrassed in front of Shi Jin, so he quickly lifted up his sleeves and wiped away the tears from his nose.
Although the old man cried and cried speechlessly, he understood everything when he met Shi Jin, who had a delicate heart. The people in the city did not want to cremate the corpse. Although there was also a custom, no one would be so stupid.
The old-fashioned respect for the dead has harmed new lives like children. Now there is only one biggest reason, and that is that there is no hope of life. Once the food and water shortages are solved, then the matter of burning corpses will not be a problem. But at the moment, food
But it’s not easy to solve. What we can do is solve the water problem.
So Shi Jin asked: "Old man, although the government has cut off the water source, I heard that there are still several machine-operated wells in the city. Is there something wrong with the water in the wells that prevents the people from drinking?"
The old man looked at Shi Jin with a foreigner's eyes, shook his head slightly, and said helplessly: "It's not the water that's the problem, it's the well."
"Is there something wrong with the well?" Shi Jin was very surprised when he heard this: "Where does the problem come from?"
"My guest, you probably don't know that in Huayin County, besides the county magistrate, there are two major forces. One is the Huang family who have been officials for three generations. The head of the family is now named Huang Tianba, and the other is the 'Huayin prominent family'.
' of the Kong family, and now the head of the family is called Kong Ru."
"You mean these wells are controlled by his family?" Shi Jin seemed to have picked up some clues.
"The Kong family's business focused on the dyeing workshop, so they used a large sum of money to build three wells, which of course were in their hands."
"So now, in this situation, everyone is in dire need of water. Why don't you just rush in and worry about who owns the well?" Shi Jin was a little confused.
"Originally, he couldn't stop everyone from looting, but the Huang family also stepped in. He is the tyrant here, and he has a group of cruel people. The Huang and Kong families reached a consensus that Huang Tianba would send people to guard the well, and the two
The family has made a fortune... Oh, a load of water costs ten taels of silver. How can I afford it, old man! I have no choice but to sit here and wait to die..."
When Shi Jin heard this, he felt angry. At such a critical moment, there was such a heartless person. Not only did he share water to teach the villagers to survive, but he also made a fortune and made a fortune. Shi Jin knew the root cause.
Although I am angry about where the knot is, my heart is clear. No matter what, a way to solve the problem is found.