Li Erlin took the sack carried by Li Ping'an and put it on the cart and piled it on top. He then took out something wrapped in oil paper from his arms, "Ruyi was hungry just now. I bought a few meat buns. These are the leftovers." For you."
The remaining warmth of the buns could be felt through the oil paper. Li Pingan opened it and saw three buns inside. One of them had been eaten by someone. It was not difficult to guess that Xiao Ruyi lost her appetite after eating it.
There is no reason for Li Erlin, a strong laborer, to eat half of a steamed bun and leave half of it, so he can only be Xiao Ruyi.
Li Ping'an was the last one to come back. He just picked up a bun and wolfed it down, when Chen Song shouted in a hoarse voice to go home.
"Dad, why haven't you seen Uncle Abo? Isn't he going back?" Li Ping'an glanced at the young woman and two children and recognized them as Chen Bai's wife and two sons.
Li Erlin's face darkened, and after he passed the city gate and walked far away, he lowered his voice and said sadly: "Abo is gone. He is on the cart pulled by the village chief."
Li Ping'an paused for a moment, then started moving again. Looking at Chen Song's back in front of him, he felt mixed feelings.
One thing happened after another in the past two days, and he felt out of breath. However, Chen Song was even worse. In less than twelve hours, first he lost his father, and now he lost his brother. He was the only adult man left in the family.
The steps on the way back were far less brisk than when we came, and everyone was silent with solemn expressions. Those who pulled the carts, and those who pushed the carts, seemed a little numb in their movements. When they came out, no one thought that when they went back, in addition to food, they would also take Chen Bai's body with them.
When she saw Chen Bai's body, the seventy-year-old Mrs. Chen couldn't bear the blow of another white-headed man sending a black-haired man to her in a short period of time. She fainted. Chen Song's mother first lost her husband and now her youngest son. , I couldn’t cry anymore, and my tears were about to dry up.
The village chief's house was in chaos again, and there were endless cries, especially the cries of the children, which were so childish and sharp, like thorns piercing everyone's hearts.
A sad atmosphere enveloped the entire greenhouse, and everyone felt sad. Many people could be seen kneeling with their hands clasped together, begging God to let them go with miserable faces.
After each family took the food back, the villagers gathered around the village chief's house, which had several floors inside and outside. The clan leader and elders sighed and had no intention of dispersing the crowd.
After a long time, Mrs. Chen woke up, looked at the two bodies on the ground, and reluctantly said, "Take them away and bury them. Just bury them."
After saying that, it was as if all the strength in his body had been drained, his body was paralyzed, and there was no trace of life in his eyes. His whole figure was covered with a layer of gray, as gray as the gloomy sky.
The ancestral graves of the Chen family are on Wubei Mountain, east of the big thatched shed where they now live, and some distance further up.
In this situation, we can't have a grand funeral. Fortunately, the house at the foot of the mountain was not flooded. The villagers surnamed Chen sent several people down the mountain to carry a coffin from the village chief's house. This was originally Mr. Chen's. Tai prepared it for herself, but she didn't use it, but her son used it first.
As for Chen Bai's coffin, it was originally prepared for him by the patriarch Chen Zheng, who offered to use it to bury Chen Bai.
There was no funeral, but two coffins were carried to the Chen family's ancestral grave, two pits were dug, the coffins were placed in the pits, and they were buried with soil.
Chen Song knelt down and burned the paper money, and said with sadness in his heart: Dad, little brother, I have wronged you for now. After this difficulty is over, I will give you a beautiful funeral.
After burning the paper money, he kowtowed a few more times, gritted his teeth, stood up, turned around, and left resolutely.
Right now, he has more important and urgent things to tell everyone.
Returning to the hut, he asked people to call all the people in charge of every household in the village and gather them at the place where they gathered before setting off in the morning. Everyone was free at the moment, and after a while, hundreds of people gathered in the open space outside the hay shed. There were the family leaders who were specially called, and there were also people who came to join in the fun and wanted to hear what was going on.
However, despite the large number of people and the hustle and bustle, no one whispered to each other, and the dark and vicissitudes of their faces were covered with an expression of inexorable worry.
"Uncles, brothers!"
Chen Song's voice became hoarse. He shouted at the top of his lungs, and everyone's eyes focused on him.
After cupping his hands, Chen Song then raised his voice and said: "I heard the news that the county's granary was attacked by a group of bandits last night. My younger brother Chen Bai happened to be on duty in the Yamen..."
It turned out that last night, a group of bandits with weapons suddenly appeared near the granary and attacked the granary. A fierce fight broke out between the government officials on duty and the gangsters. The sound of fighting woke up the nearby people, who were suddenly panicked and shouted. The granary was not far from the county government office. I had vaguely heard the sound, and then I met people fleeing and came to ask for help.
Chen Bai's job at the county government office was as a clerk in a household. Yesterday, heavy rains continued, and many places in Qingfeng County were hit by disasters. When he was working overtime to collect statistics on the damage, he heard at first glance that a gang of gangsters was attacking the granary, and he quickly followed the government officials there. To help, he unfortunately died under the knife of a gangster during the fight.
The remaining gangsters probably saw more and more support from the government and knew that the operation failed, so they simply set fire to the granary and took advantage of the chaos to escape. By the time most of the government officials arrived, the fire in the granary had already been extinguished and burned until The light went out this morning, and all the food in the barn was reduced to ashes.
Because the gangsters appeared suddenly and had a clear target, they seemed to have been premeditated. In addition, when they retreated, they seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye. The government suspected that the people near the granary were suspected of harboring the gangsters, and there might even be accomplices before the fire was extinguished. , and arrested all the surrounding people.
This is also the reason why Li Ping'an saw few people on many streets in the city. They didn't dare to go out at all.
As soon as Chen Song finished speaking, the crowd exploded.
At present, the summer grain harvest has failed and grain prices are soaring. The grain stored in the government granary is not only used for disaster relief, but also sold at low prices to suppress grain prices. But now someone tells them that the grain in the granary has been burned to ashes?
For a moment, the aura of despair spread like a tide.
There is no food relief from the government, and the price of food in the food store keeps changing every day. What will they do after they finish eating the surplus food at home?
At this time, Chen Song said again: "Don't worry, everyone, the county master has sent people to report the disaster situation and the fact that the granary was set on fire by bandits to the state capital. The state capital will not sit idly by and do nothing. Today we bought food. If you save a little on food, you can wait for the food sent by the state government in a while. As long as the government has food, the price of food will not rise!"
After hearing this, the villagers' expressions softened a little.
Li Pingan breathed a sigh of relief for a moment, but soon asked Li Erlin in a pessimistic voice: "Dad, do you think the government will really take care of us?"
Li Erlin rubbed his face, "Now we can only trust the government!"
Do you have no choice but to believe it?
Is it worth believing?
Li Ping'an suddenly missed his life in his previous life very much. He believed in the government and soldiers of his previous life more than the government of this era. With that kind of trust, even if a soldier pointed his gun at him, he would believe that there was an enemy behind him.
But at this time, the scene in another place was different from the gloomy and gloomy atmosphere on the hill behind Xiao Chen's village house.
