Children are naturally afraid. When these adults encounter unscrupulous beasts, they will find a reason to take their younger brothers and sisters to some prostitute village and sell them. They will also beat them and scold them for dirtying their land! Many people in Bianjing City were doing this kind of thing, not just in Bianjing City, but those two gangsters outside Xinghua City also wanted to sell Ye Xiaochai and others back then!
This older child, who was about ten years old, had another younger child tied to his back with a straw rope. He had two pigtails and was sleeping on his back, with his face turning a sickly red color from the cold.
Everyone saw Liang Chuan and his party trembling, and they didn't know whether it was from cold or fear.
Liang Chuan jumped off the horse and turned to Yelu Zhongguang: "Is there anything to eat?"
Yelu Zhongguang took out a large piece of dried meat from his backpack, made a small cut with the short knife in his boot, and prepared to hand it over.
"Bring them all!"
Yelu Chongguang ate the small bite himself and gave the rest to Liang Chuan: "I have been hungry for several days."
"I'll let you eat enough later!"
Liang Chuan handed the meat to the child, but the child did not dare to come out to pick it up, and even pulled other children to leave. But the temptation of meat is obviously huge. The child pooped a few times, and the other children only saw the piece of dried meat. They were very hungry. In the past few days, they either ate grass stalks in the ground or dealt with a mouthful of snow water. .
I can’t remember the last time I had a bowl of fragrant rice porridge. The eggs my mother cooked only had one more egg, meat, when my father celebrated his birthday. . So greedy.
"You can't eat! Come with me, quickly!" The child's words were so firm. At such a young age, his eyes were full of perseverance. What kind of suffering caused the child to lose his innocence and grow so big overnight?
Liang Chuan admires this kind of child who has grown up through hardships. Ma Dan is the same, and so is Hong Bufan.
"May I have your name?"
"Hong Buping."
Liang Chuan's eyes lit up and he tried to ask, "Do you know Hong Bufan?"
Hong Buping's expression changed instantly, and a glimmer of hope appeared on his originally dull face.
"He's my cousin, he's my cousin!" He said it twice in a row. The other children didn't understand why the eldest brother was so excited today!
Liang Chuan patted the child's head and said, "Did your cousin ask you to come to Bianjing?"
As soon as Hong Buping heard his cousin's name, he was no longer wary of Liang Chuan. He was eager to survive and said excitedly: "Yes, none of us could survive at the beginning. My cousin's family was even worse, so we could only He went out to wander, and later sent a message back to us saying that he met a kind man in Bianjing and asked us to come together."
Liang Chuan looked at these children, sighed and said, "That's why you're here, right? Where are your adults?"
Hong Buping couldn't hold it back any longer. The tears that a boy of this age should have were filled with tears, rolling down his face, along with snot and saliva: "My parents are both dead... starving to death."
The other children also cried. The movement was so loud that little heads suddenly appeared in the surrounding rooms! Upon closer inspection, there were dozens of people, all helpless orphans. Their eyes were full of fear, and they were looking in the direction of Hong Buping fearfully. They were worried that they might be driven away. .
This was the only place where they had some protection from the wind and snow. .
"We should have stayed with my cousin, thinking... The world outside is even more uneventful. We can survive if we stay in our hometown, but who knows that we won't be able to survive this year. Not long after we came out, my father...
My mother sold it in exchange for five kilograms of rice and noodles for my sister and me. Later, he couldn't bear to eat it himself. . starving. My mother also fell into the river halfway along the way. "
A group of gentlemen listened to Hong Buping's words and made him cry. This is a fucking peaceful and prosperous age!
Liang Chuan said: "Then your cousin must have mentioned me to you!"
Hong Buping's eyes were full of longing, and he said urgently: "Are you Mr. Liang?"
Everyone laughed. They had followed Liang Chuan for so many years. How could Liang Chuan have any of the old man's style and airs?
"I am Liang Chuan!"
Hong Buping looked at the tattoo on Liang Chuan's face and found it difficult to accept it for a moment.
"The family my brother mentioned in his letter lived very comfortably in Bianjing. When I arrived at this village, I saw only ruins. My cousin and the others didn't know where they had gone. I asked the nearby villagers and they said Are you a remnant of some party that was captured by the imperial court and sent to the army..."
Liang Chuan sighed for a while and said: "I did encounter some troubles before, but now that I'm back, this Zhuangzi is still in my name. It can't just be abandoned like this. Zhuangzi needs some villagers. Are you and the other children willing? stay?"
Hong Buping's throat was a little dry. He was too nervous. He was afraid that this was a dream, so he pinched himself: "It hurts!"
"Your cousin used to do a good job in my village. Later, I asked them to go south to Qingyuan. If you don't want to stay in this village, it's not bad to go to Qingyuan. I can give you some money."
"No, no, no, do I need to call you boss? It's already a blessing to my brothers and sisters that you are willing to take us in. How dare we take your money again... It's just..." Hong Buping stammered with his mouth. Speechless.
Liang Chuan said: "If you have anything to say, please be direct. I am easy to discuss."
"Everyone... I've been hungry for several days... I'm afraid I don't have the energy to do the work." Hong Buping's little face was green and red, and he seemed to be an honest person.
Liang Chuan said: "This is easy to handle!"
"Chongguang, you go buy a big pot and three fat sheep. Bring me a thousand kilograms of corn and a few jars of rice wine. I'm going to have a drink with Hong Buping and my brother Zhan Zhao tonight. !”
Fat sheep! Hong Buping and the other children's throats shrugged in disapproval. Liang Chuan handed over the dried meat. Hong Buping didn't even look at it. He first tore off a piece for his sleeping sister, and then tore off pieces of meat for his sleeping sister. For other children, I just licked the palms of my hands. I was satisfied with my mouth, and I told myself in my heart that if I persist, I will have food!
The members of the intelligence team all licked their lips fiercely. Over the past year, through wind and rain, traveling with Liang Chuan, they had long forgotten what mutton soup tasted like. Most of the time, they just had a piece of sesame seed cake to cushion their stomachs. Who doesn’t miss the feeling of drinking hot wine and eating hot hot pot in Zhuangzi?
"Master, why don't you go back to the city at night?"
Yelvzhong asked Liang Chuan on his bright face, but his eyes were actually fixed on Zhan Zhao. Zhan Zhao said slowly: "Master Xia went to the court to discuss matters. The officials will definitely reward you with a royal banquet at night, so you can't come back so soon."
This meaning is very straightforward, just go and have fun, I won’t make it difficult for you!
The crowd roared with joy, the joyful horse hooves raised high snowflakes, and a whip struck the pain and disappeared without a trace.
This group of people worked more and more efficiently. Without Yelu Zhongguang assigning tasks to everyone, some of them went to the city to buy sheep, some to buy corn, and some to Qixian County in the southern suburbs to buy charcoal.
, and some people bought iron pots and brooms to clean up the village.
"Dong... Dong's house." Hong Buping blurted out nervously.
Liang Chuan didn't react for a moment and turned his head, only to see Hong Buping cautiously as if he had something to say.
"Hmm...what's wrong?"
"I'm already your banker... Arrange something for me to do..." All the children of honest families know that they will be able to fill their stomachs in a while, but he really can't do it if he just feeds off other people's mouths like this. , even if he was hungry and fainted in the snow, he still had to help with something to feel satisfied.
Liang Chuan looked at this boy who was not short, but his body was obviously malnourished. He touched his chin and said, "Let's do this. Gather the children together and count the number of people. Those who want to enter Zhuangzi stand together. If you want to leave, I will pay for it."
Hong Buping said: "That doesn't count. Let me do some more tiring work."
Liang Chuan touched his 'filthy hair' that was almost clumping into balls, and said without looking dirty at all: "This matter is very important to me. Later I will know how many people there are in my village. It is not an easy job." , do it well! If you can, Zhuangzi will take care of it for you from now on!"
Hong Pingfan's breathing was a little quick. What a trust. He couldn't understand the letters he sent back before, so he asked the teacher in the village to read them to him. The letters always praised him for finding such a kind and righteous employer. The villagers always didn't believe it and said This is Hong Bufan's bragging. He just saw it with his own eyes when he met him today. Just one action made him fall for him!
"good!"
Hong Buping carried his sister on his back and went to gather the children at the top of his lungs. His sister has been hungry for three days, and her energy is getting worse and worse today. Her forehead is as hot as a stove. Winter is getting colder day by day. The most difficult time is just before spring. He looks at his sister who is losing her vitality. It was like a knife cutting himself.
Sister, we are saved. .
The intelligence team members came back very quickly. Although there was no chili pepper, the smell of the mutton soup kept them going non-stop.
I rinsed the iron pot with water, put it on the pot and the water soon started to bubble. I threw the mutton in again, chopped a few green onions, and sprinkled a few handfuls of coarse salt. A dizzying and charming fragrance filled this desolate and ruined place. The people slowly dispersed in the village.
Once upon a time, this Zhuangzi was a well-known and powerful village in Zhongmu Xiangfu, and even the nearby government offices did not dare to disturb them too much. However, it is really disappointing that the flowers are not blooming for a hundred days, and the prosperous days are over.
It's rare to see it today, there is another wisp of smoke floating in the sky above Zhuangzi!
This group of children had nothing, but each one of them could magically pull out a broken bowl or a broken jar with a missing corner. This was what they survived. .
"Have the people been counted?"
Hong Buping shouted: "Everyone come here!"
He saw more than a hundred children gathering timidly, like a long queue. Zhan Zhao was worried for Liang Chuan when he saw it. With few people, everyone could have enough to eat, but with more people, what would Liang Chuan do?
Hong Buping was also very nervous, but he had no choice. He just wanted these friends to survive, that's all. He looked at Liang Chuan nervously, hoping that Liang Chuan would keep them all, even if it was just to have enough to eat today, but he knew it himself. . There are just too many people.
"There are a lot of people..." His voice sounded like mosquitoes.
When Liang Chuan saw it, he laughed with satisfaction and said, "Not bad, not bad! The rice is still on the way, come on, come on, let's take a sip of the hot soup first!"
