Chapter 294 The government robs food, and the pirates send food
dusk.
The red and yellow glow hung low in the sky, turning into a haze that enveloped Lijia Village.
There was nothing in the room. There were two stones in the center, one at one end and one at the end. There was a wooden board on top and some straw.
This is the bed where Wu Chengsi will sleep tonight.
Fortunately, Wu Chengsi had stayed in the military camp. Otherwise, if he had slept in the comfortable big bed in the palace for a long time, it would have been difficult to fall asleep tonight.
There was not a single piece of furniture left in Li Si's home. It is not known whether the officials took it away when they came to the village to arrest people, or whether it was taken away by other people in the village.
Wu Chengsi sat on the window eaves and listened for a long time, but all he felt was dead silence.
It is obviously a village where people live, but it feels like an abandoned village.
Li Si has been out for a long time and has not come back yet, probably because he failed to borrow rice.
Only then did Wu Chengsi realize that he seemed to be too careless.
Because everything seemed normal between Li Bashu and Li Bashen, he regarded this place as a normal village.
But if you think about it carefully, the fields in the village are all deserted. The young and middle-aged people in the village were either killed by the government or became pirates, leaving only the old, weak, sick and disabled in this village.
What do they eat?
How did they survive?
Thinking of this, Wu Chengsi couldn't sit still. He stood up and hurriedly walked out the door.
I walked around the village and didn't see a single person.
Suddenly, a small figure flashed past and entered a courtyard.
Wu Chengsi followed to the door and looked inside, only to see a seven or eight-year-old boy holding a pile of grass and talking to an old woman leaning against the corner.
"Grandma, do you think this is it?"
The old woman shook her head.
The little boy cried loudly, and the old woman gently stroked his head and whispered comfort.
Soon, the little boy cheered up, wiped his tears and said, "Grandma, it's not completely dark yet, I'll go out and look for you again."
The old woman held the little boy's hand and shook her head, as if to tell him not to go out.
Wu Chengsi's heart sank, this old woman was probably mute.
The little boy broke away from the old woman's hand and said, "Grandma, I'll be back soon. You wait for me at home. I will definitely find some edible wild vegetables."
The old woman waved to the little boy anxiously, but the little boy walked away without looking back.
When he came outside the door, the little boy immediately saw Wu Chengsi.
"You, don't catch me!"
The little boy shouted, turned around and ran back into the yard, diving into the old woman's arms.
Wu Chengsi followed him into the small courtyard. The old woman held the little boy in one hand and a wooden stick in the other, shouting "hehe" at Wu Chengsi.
Wu Chengsi showed a gentle smile and said slowly: "Old man, don't be afraid, I am Li Si's friend."
The old woman was stunned for a moment and stopped what she was doing.
The little boy poked his head out of the old woman's arms and asked, "Are you Uncle Li's friend? Is Uncle Li back?"
"He's back. I just went to see Uncle Eight with him." Wu Chengsi knelt down and said with a smile.
The little boy suddenly lost his fear and asked, "Is Uncle Zhang here?" He didn't seem to care about Li Si.
Wu Chengsi asked curiously: "Who is Uncle Zhang?"
The little boy looked disappointed, lowered his head and said, "I'm going to find something to eat, so I won't talk to you anymore."
Wu Chengsi smiled and said: "You don't have to look for it. Uncle will treat you to something to eat later, okay?"
"Really?" The little boy seemed a little disbelieving, but also a little hopeful.
Wu Chengsi smiled and said, "It's true. You wait at home, and I'll go into the city to buy food."
After leaving the small courtyard, I turned around and saw the little boy following me.
The little guy looked away, put his hands behind his head, and said, "I, I will take you out of the village."
Wu Chengsi smiled and turned around.
The little boy noticed that Wu Chengsi was not taking the road out of the village, but he did not dare to ask him out loud, so he just followed behind.
When they arrived at Li Si's house, they called Zhuge and his son out and told Zhuge Nan to go into the city and buy dozens of kilograms of rice and meat.
Zhugenan glanced at the little boy and saw that he was sallow and thin, with one finger in his mouth and looking at him with big eyes.
Without saying anything else, he quickly walked towards the entrance of the village.
Zhuge Sanyuan said: "Sir, is there a shortage of food in the village?"
Wu Chengsi sat down on the stone steps and said: "The fields in the village are all deserted, and the young people are gone. What can these old and young people eat?"
Zhuge Sanyuan frowned and said: "Jiangnan has always been prosperous. The accident in Lijia Village happened less than a year ago. Is there no surplus food?"
"The food, all the food has been taken away by the government!" The little boy mustered up the courage to interrupt.
Zhuge Sanyuan was startled. The government actually robbed the people of their food?
Based on his experience, he had only seen a court that forced people like this when he was a child.
Then the court called the Sui Dynasty was overthrown.
Wu Chengsi sighed and asked: "My child, what is your name?"
"My name is Li Ermao."
"Er Mao, when did the government steal your food?"
"Just a few months ago, they arrested us all and said we were going to build embankments. Then they released us. After we returned to the village, all the food... was gone."
As Li Ermao spoke, his voice became more throaty.
Wu Chengsi asked: "Then how did you survive these past few months?"
Er Mao raised his little head and said: "It's Uncle Zhang. He will bring food to the village every once in a while, but this time he came a little slow!"
Wu Chengsi's heart moved and he asked: "Is it Zhang Gou?"
The little boy nodded.
The government snatched food, but pirates delivered it.
Wu Chengsi clenched his fingers tightly, wishing he could hold the sword in his hand and chop off the heads of those corrupt officials immediately.
Zhuge Nan almost ran to Hangzhou City and hired two more carriages when he returned to the village.
When we returned to the village, it was completely dark.
The carriage crossed the main road in the village and arrived at the door of Li Si's house.
In addition to Wu Chengsi, Zhuge Sanyuan and Li Ermao, those waiting outside the door were also the Eighth Uncle and the Eighth Shen.
They had just been called over by Wu Chengsi, and they didn't know the situation yet.
As soon as the carriage stopped, several coachmen hurriedly put the rice, meat and vegetables on the ground, turned the carriage around, and ran away without saying a word!
Zhuge Nan cursed at the carriage going away: "I'm rushing to reincarnate!"
Wu Chengsi frowned and said, "What's going on?"
Zhuge Nan hummed: "You don't know that the carriages in the city are not willing to come to Lijia Village, saying that this is a pirate village. I still paid double the price to get these people to help me take a trip."
While the two were talking, Uncle Ba, Ba Shen and Li Ermao were all staring at the food on the ground.
Suddenly, Uncle Li Ba suddenly knelt down to Wu Chengsi and kowtowed: "Master Wu, you are not only the savior of Xiaosi, but also the savior of our entire village. The old man kowtows to you!"
When Ba Shen and Er Mao saw this, they also kowtowed.
Wu Chengsi helped the three of them up and said, "Everyone eats first. If we have anything to say, we can talk while eating later."
Uncle Eight shouted: "Fengzi, why don't you hurry up and call all the ladies in the village to cook for Mr. Wu!"
"Why!"
Ba Shen agreed and went happily.
When Li Si returned to the village, he smelled the smell of meat from afar.
When he was on Changye Island, all he ate were sour lettuce and steamed buns, and all he ate on the ship was dry food. He hadn't had any meat for a year.
Taking two steps out of three, he followed the scent to his small courtyard and found that the whole village was gathered in his small courtyard.
There are more than 20 elderly people and seven or eight children.
There was a fire in the yard, and everyone was eating around the fire, white rice covered with cabbage and pork slices.
Li Ermao was sitting next to his grandma eating. When he saw Li Si, he hurriedly swallowed the food and shouted: "Uncle Li is back, Uncle Li is back!"
In Er Mao's heart, Wu Chengsi and the others were friends brought back by Li Si. He was able to eat meat because of Li Si's contribution, so he shouted very affectionately.
"Li Si, come in quickly!" Uncle Eighth's voice came from inside the room.
Li Si hurriedly entered the house and saw that there was an extra table in his house. Wu Chengsi and the other three villagers and his eighth uncle were all sitting around the table, each with a large bowl of rice in front of them.
Uncle Eighth scolded: "Where have you been, kid? Why did you leave this guest alone at home? It's so outrageous!"
Li Si swallowed his saliva and said: "Eighth Uncle, I originally wanted to borrow some rice from everyone, but I couldn't borrow it, so I thought of going up the mountain to pick some wild fruits."
"The fruits on the mountain have been picked long ago." The speaker was Er Mao. He didn't know when he sat on the threshold with a bowl in his hand.
At this time, Ba Shen walked in from outside the house, holding a full meal in his hand, and said with a smile: "Xiao Si, this is yours, it has been served for you a long time ago, hurry up and eat!"
Li Si hurriedly took the bowl and chopsticks and ate quickly.
The other villagers also immediately immersed themselves in eating. For a while, the only sound left in the house was the sound of eating.
After a while, Wu Chengsi asked: "Eighth Uncle, Li Si, did Zhang Gou send you the food you used to have?"
Uncle Eight said: "Isn't it true? If it weren't for that man, everyone would have starved to death."
"There should be many villages around here that are in the same situation as yours. Their food is also sent by Zhang Gou and the others?"
"Yes, the situation is the same in dozens of our villages that have been jailed."
Wu Chengsi sighed.
In this way, Zhang Gou's group of pirates robbed to support so many mouths. It is no wonder that they even dared to rob Japanese ships.
This time, Zhang Gou and the others did not send food for a long time, perhaps because many people were killed by the Japanese.
"Uncle Eighth, can you contact Zhang Gou? I want to talk to him."
Uncle Eight hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, the old man will go to sea tomorrow and I'll help you call him over."