In the early autumn of 1783, the Hirosaki Domain of Tohoku Mutsu, an island country.
This is the third year of Tianming.
Starting from the spring of last year, the Kanto region began to have rainy weather; in early summer, the temperature was still cold, and most people were still wearing winter cotton-padded clothes.
Everything seems to indicate that an ominous era is coming.
Liji and Shino walked tiredly on the road in the forest. Since the freeze last year, they had not eaten any real food. They usually ate wild vegetables and tree roots mixed with barnyard grass.
And half a year ago, the Iwaki volcano to which the Hirosaki Domain belonged began a massive eruption.
The lava from the volcanic eruption and the subsequent mudslides destroyed the mountain forests and villages, and the birds and animals in the mountains fled in all directions. The volcanic ash in the sky also buried farmland, and all the crops died; the land full of magma and mudslides could no longer be cultivated.
The villagers waited for dozens of days, and sent messengers to the feudal government several times, but except for the fact that the officials from the feudal clan sent two of their men to check, nothing happened.
Without waiting for relief, villagers in Liji's village began to flee.
But if everyone leaves, what will happen to the fields? So even if survival is difficult day after day, and the food stored in each family is gradually used up, some people still stay in the village and wait. Slowly, some villagers who starve to death become left-behind
The food that the villagers call it. What's more, everyone exchanges wives with each other. Anyway, it's not their own. Don't feel bad, so let's do it.
Liji didn't want to eat human flesh, and he didn't want his wife Shino to be eaten, so they had no choice but to escape.
He thought that he might be able to help his distant relatives who had gone to Kyoto, even though they had no contact with him for two generations.
So before dawn, Liji and his wife Shino packed up the tattered belongings at home and quietly left the village.
At noon, one hand was holding the big bag on his back, and the other hand was holding his trembling wife Shino, who was already hungry, walking on the road in the mountains. At this moment, Li Ji felt that the world was spinning, his chest was pressed against his back, and he was very dizzy.
But, we have to leave no matter what!
I don’t know how long they had been walking, but just as Liji was holding his wife and faltering, he suddenly smelled a burst of fragrance coming from the woods in front of him.
It smells so good! Although I have never smelled this kind of smell, Keliji instinctively thought that it must be food!
Rikichi and his wife Shino walked quickly in the direction of the aroma regardless of the risk. But their weak bodies could no longer bear the sudden movement. Both of them fell to the ground with their soles mixed with garlic. However, they rolled and got up.
Even though they find it difficult, they have to climb over it.
After climbing through a clump of low shrubs, the couple smelled the fragrance and came closer.
At this time, a not-unsightly face suddenly appeared in front of them, holding a bowl of food with an inexplicable aroma with a smile, and said to Li Ji in a weird accent: "Want to eat?"
"..."
Li Ji and his wife saw this man with short hair squatting in front of them in a daze.
"Monk?" This was the couple's last thought before they fainted.
"I'm going! I fainted anyway!" the man said helplessly. He was holding the food in one hand, but the other hand was behind his back. The short knife in his hand was shining brightly in the sunlight behind him.
In a daze, Li Ji felt that someone was feeding something into his mouth. He swallowed instinctively, and gradually he felt that his empty stomach no longer felt so uncomfortable.
I don't know how long it took, Li Ji woke up from his coma. As soon as he opened his eyes, he was dazzled by the light of the bonfire next to him and closed his eyes again. The firelight shone on his body very warmly. Then, he thought of his wife
Shino then called out his wife's name.
"Liji, I'm here."
Shino's voice came from the side. Liji opened his eyes and saw his wife running towards him.
"Shino, Shino. What happened?" Liji tried hard to understand what happened.
"Thank you, sir." Shino said as he helped her husband up. Only then did Liji realize that it was already dusk.
"You two are both awake. Hey, you scared me." The weird accent in Li Ji's memory before coma rang out again. I saw a very tall young man walking out from behind a big tree, his hair
Very short, wearing strange clothes, and holding a strange black thing in his hand.
The young man walked up to Li Ji and the two of them, knelt down and said, "Your name is Li Ji, and she is your wife? How about it? Do you understand what I say? Do you understand how to do your work?"
Both of you understood the first sentence, but what was the second sentence about?
Looking at the tall and strong figure of the young man, the couple shrank their necks, lowered their heads, and nodded.
"Ha. It's good if you can understand." The young man grinned and said to Li Ji with gestures and words: "After you passed out, I fed you some food."
When Liji heard this, he quickly took his wife and knelt down to salute. He said to the young man with tears in his eyes: "We escaped from Yanmu Mountain. The village suffered a big disaster. Mountain fires broke out and all the crops were destroyed."
It’s all ruined!”
Liji couldn't help but feel extremely miserable when he thought that the several acres of land he had rented and farmed had been destroyed. What would he do in the future?!
The young man helped the couple up and sat up, and said to Liji: "Speak slowly, speak slowly."
"Yes, sir." Liji wiped his tears with his tattered sleeves and continued: "Since last spring, the weather has never gotten warmer. Heavy rains and cold winds have continued. Until early summer, the weather was still very cold. By September
In the past month, the rice planted was still green and not mature at all.
When the New Year came around, I thought that God would be kind and give the poor a way to survive. But it turned out that it was still cold and the storms continued. Before the rice was planted in the fields, wildfires broke out in Yanmu Mountain, and the fields were destroyed by lava and mudslides.
destroyed.
The elders in the village said that the feudal lord would distribute relief, so we kept waiting. But a few months later, all the food stored at home was used up, and there was no relief from the feudal clan. There were no wild vegetables around the village. Even rats were eaten.
After I dug them all up and they still ate them, I thought, instead of starving to death in the village, I might as well escape and maybe there would be a way to survive."
"Then you met me." The young man looked at the two young couples in front of him who were no more than 1.6 meters tall and said: "You said you are small and not big, but you can really carry it. How can you carry such a big package?
Are you taking all your belongings with you? It’s a whole donkey.”
Li Ji and his wife felt that this gentleman was saying weird things again because he didn't understand the last sentence.
The young man thought for a moment and asked, "How long have you been without food?"
Before Liji could think clearly, Shino on the side said: "The village ran out of food more than three months ago. Except for those who go out to look for food, the elders told the young and old not to run around and to stay at home and lie down. This way they can
So hungry."
The young man muttered to himself after hearing this, and the couple were confused. However, Li Ji discovered that when the young man was questioning the couple, he kept holding the strange black thing in his right hand.
Mr. and Mrs. Liji kept kneeling on the ground obediently until their knees were numb. Then the young man remembered that the couple had been kneeling all the time, and then said: "Get up."
Gu~~gu~~" Li Ji thought his stomach was growling. After he stood up, he glanced at his wife and found that her face was red.
After the couple passed out together, they were first fed some porridge by the young man. After Shino woke up, he was worried about Li Ji, so he didn't eat anything.
The young man smiled and said, "Are you hungry? Wait a moment."
After saying that, he turned around and walked behind a big tree not far away on the left. After a while, he turned around and came out and waved to them.
Liji and Shino looked at each other, plucked up the courage, and walked over. He thought that since this young man could save them both, he probably wouldn't do harm for the sake of property.
When the two of them followed the young man around the big tree, Liji and Shino couldn't help but froze.
Under the big tree, there was a blue mat spread, which glowed under the setting sun and looked like an oilcloth. On top of the oilcloth, there were two or three large cardboard boxes stacked.
The young man called the two of them to come closer and opened a box with one hand.
"This is porridge." As he said this, he took out two palm-length jars from the box and handed them to Li Ji.
Then he grabbed three or four bags from another cardboard box. Li Ji could see clearly. The bags were actually transparent, and the contents inside could be clearly seen. But what were those things? They looked golden in appearance.
It looked soft and soft, something he had never seen before.
The young man threw the rest of the bags on the blue mat at his feet, holding only one in his hand. He grabbed the bag with one hand and tore the transparent bag open with his teeth. Suddenly, a smell of milk mixed with wheat came out.
It came out. Li Ji and his wife swallowed their saliva in dismay. After the young man handed the contents of the bag to them, they looked at it in a daze.
The young man made an eating gesture: "Eat."
Liji took a small bite, and the rich taste of milk mixed with wheat filled his mouth. He felt relieved and took another big bite.
"It's actually red bean paste...is this wagashi?!"
When Rikichi went to the feudal castle with his father when he was a child, he ate it once in the castle town. But the wagashi in his hand was actually more delicious than the ones he had eaten before!
Liji had never eaten such delicious food. As he ate, he thought about how lucky he was to escape from the village, the hardships he and Shino had along the way, and how all the utensils passed down by his father had been replaced by food. He began to cry uncontrollably.
fall.
"Oh. I forgot. You still don't know how to open this." The young man patted his head, casually took the porridge jar in Liji's hand, opened it for him, and handed it back to him. Then he helped Shino also put the porridge jar away.
Open.
Shino took the porridge pot and lid, looked at it, and said in surprise: "Hey, there is a small spoon here."
Hearing the sound and looking around, he saw a transparent folding spoon of unknown material fixed on the inside of the lid.
The young man explained: "You can take this down and use it for porridge."
After Rikichi and Shino ate two pieces of red bean bread and two cans of porridge respectively, the young man refused to let them eat any more. He explained that people who have been hungry for many days cannot eat too much in one meal, as this will damage their intestines and stomach.
bad.
The young people also ate the same as the couple, but Li Ji found that the young people always looked disgusting when eating. He didn't understand how such delicious food could not be eaten?
After eating the food, Liji squatted under the tree and thought for a while, and whispered to his wife. The two immediately stood up, walked to the young man, and knelt down.
"Thank you very much for your shelter and reward! I, I..." Liji stumbled for a long time, and finally bowed his head and said: "I hope you can take me and my husband in, and I am willing to serve you as a slave."
The young man was stunned: "What? You want to be my servant?"
"The land can no longer be cultivated. I heard you say that the famine will last for a long time. We are really desperate. Please have mercy on us, sir!" After saying that, Rikichi and Shino kowtowed to the young man.
The young man's eyes were rolling, and after a while he said: "Okay. Follow me for now. Later, forget it, just take it one step at a time."
When Liji and his wife heard this, they were very happy. They kowtowed heavily and said, "What is your surname?"
The young man touched his short hair and said, "My surname is Zhao, Zhao Xin."
The protagonist of our story is none other than this young man, Zhao Xin.