Hungry!
My stomach was so empty that it made me feel weak, and it hurt so much that I wanted to put my hand in my mouth.
Originally, Li Xiuniang thought that the days when she was working as a cow and a horse in the Gu family, being teased by her mother-in-law, treated as a mistress by her sister-in-law, and disliked by her brother-in-law, were already the most painful experiences in her life.
Oh, no, the most painful and difficult period was not that period.
But the son accidentally fell into the water and drowned, the daughter suffered from cold and died, and he was beaten to death by the old hunter in the mountains.
...Obviously at that time she was heartbroken and couldn't help herself. She felt that her greatest pain was nothing more than this.
But she forgot that for a person, being beaten to death is far worse than starving to death alive.
Being beaten does hurt and lasts only a short time.
As soon as you close your eyes, everything is gone.
Hunger is not.
Especially on the way out of the desert, people were starving all over the place, and the bark of the trees along the way was stripped bare.
Leaves, grass roots...everything edible was snatched up by the crazy hungry refugees.
Even some inedible things, such as Guanyin soil, began to be stuffed into their mouths.
There was nothing I could do, the feeling of being hungry was too uncomfortable.
Under extreme hunger, people can turn into beasts.
"Grandpa, don't kill me! I, I don't cry anymore, I don't shout that I'm hungry anymore, I can work! I can still sell money -"
Last night, she was too hungry to sleep. When Li Xiuniang ran into the woods alone to try to find something to eat, she heard crying not far away.
The girl's voice sounded familiar to Li Xiuniang. She seemed to be the daughter of Li Xiucai's family in the same village.
Li Xiucai was the only scholar in his village. After failing many tests, he opened a private school of his own and relied on Shuxiu to make a good living for his family.
Li Xiucai had two sons and one daughter. The daughter was the youngest, and the couple loved her very much.
Li Xiuniang was very envious of the Li family's little girl——
While the other girls were still hungry and helping to work, the little girl of the Li family was held by Li Xiucai, holding snacks only available in the county. Her little face was white and plump.
The clothes on her body are also new, not the old clothes that are too small for her brothers and sisters.
The smile on Li Xiucai's little daughter's face was so bright and happy.
But just like this, a child who was pampered by his family was killed by his biological grandfather on the way to escape the famine...
Li Xiuniang in her previous life had long forgotten these extremely painful memories.
She only remembered that when she was a child, her family suffered a disaster, and the whole village fled.
Grandfathers and grandmothers, friendly tribesmen, familiar neighbors, one after another, all fell on the way to escape the famine.
Her parents, brother, and sister also lost their lives due to illness or hunger.
In the end, only her uncle, cousin, and her were left in their family.
Li Xiuniang didn't know whether she was lucky or unlucky. Just when she and her uncle were about to starve to death, they finally arrived in a small town.
I met Ms. Zhao who was carrying her daughter to the town to buy things.
"Three jins of beans! Madam, I only want three jins!"
"Look at my niece. She is already ten years old. She can work and doesn't know how to live for free."
"You can get married in two or three years, and you can even receive a betrothal gift."
"...The years are bad and you can't receive the betrothal gift? Do you have a son? It would be good to be a child bride for your son!"
The uncle seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, lobbying desperately, and by the end, he was almost begging.
Li Xiuniang could not remember clearly what happened in her previous life.
She only remembered that she was bought by her mother-in-law Zhao with three kilograms of beans.
When she first arrived at the Gu family, she was indeed very grateful to her mother-in-law.
If she hadn't bought him, he, his uncle, and his cousin would all have died.
Therefore, she worked hard and tried hard to repay her mother-in-law's kindness.
When her husband "died", she was only seventeen years old, the age of a flower.
If you remarry, you can marry into a good family.
But she remembered her mother-in-law's life-saving grace and did not remarry. Instead, she stayed in the Gu family and worked as a cow.
Serving her mother-in-law and taking care of her sister-in-law, she would rather humiliate her son than grit her teeth so that her brother-in-law can study.
Ten years, she worked desperately for ten years.
Instead of getting back the gratitude of her husband's family, she was rejected and hurt.
I saw my children die one after another, and I was sold to a remote mountain and abused by an old hunter in his forties...
Li Xiuniang finally woke up. At the moment of her death, she swore in her heart: "If there is a next life, I would rather starve to death than enter the Gu family."
Li Xiuniang never thought that after death, she could really come back again.
But why should she be reborn on the road to escape?
It doesn't matter whether it's earlier or later.
It’s been a long time since I’ve experienced what it’s like to be hungry, especially when I’m so hungry that I almost have hallucinations.
Li Xiuniang's brain is a little slow, and the hatred and resentment that were once so deep don't seem to be so clear.
He bit his lower lip hard and used the pain to remind himself: "No! I can never forget this hatred and hatred!"
Anyway, they will arrive in the town soon.
Although this place was also hit by disaster, it was better than their hometown. At least they still had some food on hand.
If she doesn't go to the Gu family, she can sell it to other families.
I just can’t be with my husband anymore.
Everyone in the Gu family is full of bad guys, but her husband is the only one who is kind.
In her previous life, after Li Xiuniang was beaten to death, her soul wandered back to the Gu family and heard the conversation between Zhao, mother and son.
It turned out that while the husband was repairing the river embankment, he was injured and was washed away by the river.
Downstream, the husband was rescued by a passing general. After regaining consciousness, he forgot who he was.
When the general saw that his husband was tall and strong, and still had some strength, he accepted him as a soldier under his command.
The husband followed the general to the battlefield, made military exploits, and gradually became the general's confidant and lieutenant.
At this time, it was already ten years later.
When your husband becomes an official, someone will marry him.
But the husband said that he had forgotten the past. If he had already married a wife, wouldn't he have harmed two women?
After declining the marriage, the husband began to search for his identity.
He followed the address the general told him and walked up the river.
Perhaps when he arrived at a familiar place, his husband recovered his memory.
However, there was fighting again ahead, and the husband had no time to pick up his family in person, so he wrote a letter and ordered someone to send them back.
When the mother-in-law received the letter and found out that her eldest son was not dead and had made military exploits, she immediately beamed with joy.
But after she was happy, the mother-in-law turned gloomy again——
His own son was so promising that the royal princess also married him.
But there is a despicable child bride at home, which is so embarrassing.
The sister-in-law and brother-in-law came up with ideas together and finally decided to sell Li Xiuniang.
They didn't want to harm Li Xiuniang's children. After all, they were the blood of the Gu family.
However, it happened that Li Xiuniang's son was playful and accidentally fell into the river. By the time he was fished out, he had already died.
The daughter was frightened and developed a high fever that night. She didn't stay up for three days and then left.
The son and daughter were not killed by the Gu family, but Li Xiuniang couldn't help but resent them - she was busy working in the fields and making money, while her mother-in-law and the other three were idle and didn't bother to take care of the children.
How could the son fall into the water if someone was watching? How could my daughter be so frightened that she would have a fever and then die?
"This time! I will never have anything to do with the Gu family again!"
Although she couldn't let go of her husband, Li Xiuniang couldn't let go of her resentment.
Gu~Gulu~~
Li Xiuniang was furious and her stomach growled happily.
Her vision began to turn black and her feet were wobbly.
"We're here! There's a town ahead! Once you get to the town, you'll find food!"
Someone in the fleeing team shouted in surprise.
Li Xiuniang, who was dizzy with hunger, instantly became energetic.
She and her cousin supported each other and worked hard to move their heavy steps towards the town step by step.
However, when they arrived in the town, everyone hid when they saw Li Xiuniang and the others.
Regarding the refugees who were crying and shouting that they wanted to sell their children and daughters, although the residents in the town showed their displeasure, they just said they were pitiful, and no one was willing to buy them.
"What to buy? Our family is going to sell people, so why buy people? If you buy that girl, you will save the food rations for her?"
Yes, people in small towns are indeed better than refugees.
But in years of famine, landlords have no food left.
"Mom, I want to buy! I want to buy a girl!"
Amidst all the "don't buy" voices, there was a little voice that sounded particularly nice.
Uh-huh!
Including Li Xiuniang, several thin girls all looked at the mother and daughter...
