Old Man Shu sighed and said: "There is famine everywhere outside, and there is a war in the north. The court cannot control it, so it can only let the affected people starve to death.
What should I do if I don’t want to die? Then I can only think of a way on my own. If I can’t find food, I’ll beg on the streets. If I can’t find it, I’ll steal and rob.
In my opinion, Yangshui Village is just the beginning, and it will only get worse in the future. Maybe today I can just lie down at home, but tomorrow I will be eaten by others."
Mrs. Shu's heart was extremely heavy. She originally thought that nothing would happen if she stayed at home and didn't go out. However, if there was such a commotion, her home would no longer be safe.
Alas, life is sad!
The old couple handed over the task of watching the fire to the younger ones, and then led their sons to gather at the entrance of the village.
There are only a few people in Yaoshui Village, there are only fourteen households in total. If you go to the beginning and end of the village, you will have enough people.
Just as Old Man Shu expected, the village chief summoned everyone to come out to cause trouble for the refugees.
In order to prevent Yaoshui Village from following the footsteps of the neighboring village, the village chief decided to temporarily form a patrol team to patrol the village back and forth every night. Once an abnormality was discovered, he would immediately sound the gong to notify everyone to take precautions.
According to the village chief's request, each household must provide a prime-age labor force as a member of the patrol team.
After discussion, the Shu family decided to send Shu Mingli, who was the strongest and most powerful fighter.
After all, there is a certain danger in this kind of thing. Everyone in the Shu family is very concerned about Shu Mingli's safety. Anyone who meets him must put aside the trivial matters at hand to explain something.
When cooking every day, you should first serve him a large bowl.
When Yan Yan got free time, she would circle around Shu Mingli, stretching out her fat paws to pat his head from time to time, saying, "Third uncle, you have to be good, pay attention to your safety, and don't let yourself get hurt."
Such extremely high standards of treatment kept Shu Mingli in a state of excitement.
Others were so sleepy on patrol that they could hardly keep their eyes open, but he was not only in high spirits, but when he got free time, he could also pull out a weasel from the grass on the roadside, and wild foxes came out to feed the family.
At the same time, the Shu family also took a series of measures to deal with the crisis.
First, a simple shed was built using wooden planks and bamboos specifically for smoking meat.
It can prevent the smoke from dispersing too quickly, save pine branches, and prevent the aroma of bacon from escaping out.
After all, during the Great Famine, other families were hungry, and your family was so rich in the smell of meat all day long that it was so hated!
Even with such precautions, the neighbor's child was beaten several times for making noises about wanting to eat meat. The kids in the Shu family were too embarrassed to call him out to play.
After setting up the shed, everyone started digging the cellar.
There must be a secret place to hide the meat, eggs, etc. at home, right?
The place where the cellar was dug was in the southeast corner of the Shu family courtyard. The place was originally a pigsty, but the pigs met the King of Hell last year and it has been empty for more than half a year. Now Mrs. Shu has taken care of it.
Speaking of which, digging a cellar is not an easy job. It hasn't rained in more than a year, and the ground is as hard as iron. When I rake the rake down, the ground doesn't respond, and one of the rake teeth breaks off.
In the end, I had no choice but to sprinkle some water and dig slowly while soaking. I worked all day long and dug more than a foot deep.
Shu Mingzhi opened the big blood blister on his hand and shouted that he wanted to switch places with Shu Mingli. He went to the patrol team to fight through life and death, leaving Shu Mingli to fight with the soil at home.
Shu Mingli yawned, pointed at his eyes that were so red that they could spit out fire, and shouted: "What do you think patrolling in the middle of the night is like? You can't sleep every night, and you don't even dare to take a nap.
Fortunately, I can squint for a while during the day. Sometimes I have to work digging wild vegetables during the day. I have been like a rooster with cross-eyed eyes these past few days. I can fall asleep immediately when I stand up."
"Okay, stop yelling, go back to the house and sleep. Resting your spirits is better than anything else."
Old Mrs. Shu pushed him and drove him back to the house. After that, she sighed worriedly and said, "It's not a big deal if we keep going through it like this. Don't look back. If the refugees don't come, we will fall first."
"If the village chief doesn't want outsiders to come to our village, can't he just dig the road?"
Yan Yan raised her head and said seriously: "If there is no road, they won't be able to get in. Third uncle doesn't have to stay up every day."
Mrs. Shu's heart moved, "This is a good idea. It's just to dig the road. How can we get out on our own?"
"Isn't this simple? Just go to the mountain and find two stone slabs, put them on the ground when you use them, and then peel them off when you don't need them. Although it's a bit more troublesome, it's better than having people guarding them day and night." Old Man Shu continued.
Several people carefully considered it, and the more they thought about it, the more they felt that this method was feasible, so they went to the village chief and talked about the idea of digging roads to block the refugees.
The village chief summoned the elders in the village and thought about it for a while, and finally decided to follow Yan Yan's idea and dig out all the roads and trails leading to Yaoshui Village.
A layer of thorns was sprinkled on the bottom of the pit. When in use, it was covered with a stone slab for normal passage. When not in use, the stone slab was removed and covered with a layer of hay for camouflage.
Then, simple straw huts were built at each intersection as a resting point for the night watchers, so as to avoid the enemies falling before they started to fight.
After deciding on the final plan, all the people in Yaoshui Village, old and young, got together and started digging the road!
Shu Mingzhi looked at the big blood blisters on his hands and was about to cry without tears: "After digging the cellar, we still need to dig the road. When will this day end!"
"You can go out and fight those bandits one on one and get rid of them all, so that we don't have to dig roads."
Shu Mingli was very "kind" and helped him find a solution.
"Go, go, go, you want to harm me all the time, aren't you your brother?" Shu Mingzhi punched him.
At this time, Shu Mingwen came to chant sutras: "Fourth brother, no matter what we do, we must take a long-term view. Digging the road is a bit hard and tiring now, but when the digging is completed, we will not have to work hard and stay up late every day..."
"Shut up!" Shu Mingzhi covered Lao Liu's chattering mouth with a big mouth.
Listening to the noisy quarrel behind her, Mrs. Shu's brain ached, "Little bastards, can we be quiet?"
The people who were squeaking just now were instantly silenced and became mute.
After attacking her son, Mrs. Shu turned her head to look at her grandson and granddaughter, and said in a different tone: "You guys are playing around here, don't run around, remember?"
"Remember!"
Yan Yan, Xiao Qingsong and Xiao Qingbai answered loudly at the same time, while Qing Feng stood awkwardly on the other side with his mouth pursed and did not answer.
There is a pile of stones in front of the intersection in the village. There are a few children picking up stones and playing with them.
Yanyan wanted to go over and play with them, but she felt a little embarrassed because she didn't know anyone, so she wanted her brother to go with her.
Qingbai agreed without thinking. Ever since Yan Yan cast a height-growing magic on him that day, he has completely become Yan Yan's little follower.
He would go wherever his sister wanted to go, without any hesitation.
As the eldest brother, Qingsong always remembers to take good care of every younger brother and sister. Before leaving, he asked Qingfeng if he wanted to come with him.
Qingfeng glanced at Xiaotuanzi and shook his head: "No, my mother said she was a bad god and wouldn't let me play with her."