It wasn't until evening that Lao Tong and Zhi Changle came back from outside.
Business at the inn here is slow, it's dinner time, and there aren't a few tables of diners when you walk through the hall.
Lao Tong went straight to the counter and asked, "Has the food been delivered upstairs?"
The accountant was working on the abacus. Knowing who Old Tong was referring to, he raised his head and said with a smile, "Not yet, they didn't come down to shout."
"That's the same as yesterday," Lao Tong said, "go up faster."
"Okay, little one, I'll go back and give you instructions."
Lao Tong and Zhi Changle went back upstairs. Pang Yi was blowing the wind by the window and silently looking at the dusk outside the window.
There were no lights in the house, and the sky was dim. The old man was reading by the light and shadow outside.
Hearing the noise, the old man looked up and blinked.
"Very diligent." Zhi Changle said, going over to light a candle.
"Ah Li is back, is he next door?" Lao Tong looked at Pang Yi.
Pang Yi glanced at him: "Yeah."
"Let's go." Lao Tong pulled up Zhi Changle.
Xia Zhaoyi was reading when she came back. There were four candles lit in the room, one on the round table. She had a stack of paper, an inkstone, a pen, and a pot of cold tea in her hand.
There was a knock on the door, she turned a page of the book and said: "Come in."
Lao Tong gently opened the door, and Zhi Changle came in, then turned around and closed the door.
"Ah Li, you are reading too." Lao Tong came over and said.
Xia Zhaoyi looked up and smiled: "How's it going? Did you get anything out of going out today?"
Lao Tong put down a bag of warm rice cakes in his hand: "Ah Li, this is for you, it's quite delicious."
"Okay," Xia Zhaoyi brought it, "Thank you very much."
"We didn't find a good location," Zhi Changle said, "We plan to find a job tomorrow and earn some money while looking for a shop."
Xia Zhaoyi raised his eyebrows, paused, and said, "If you are looking for some leisure time, what are you going to look for?"
"Let's go see who wants us. We can build a house or cut wood. If that doesn't work, the two of us can work as porters. Anyway, we are strong." Old Tong said.
"Be a porter," Xia Zhaoyi said in a low voice, frowning slightly, "If you want to be a porter, there is one thing I have to mention. If you want to be a porter, or do any hard work, you have a very good chance.
You may be arrested and sent to do labor force."
"Corvee? But we see quite a lot of adult men on the street." Zhi Changle was puzzled.
"Because this is Kyoto."
There are countless guards and soldiers. If they are not responsible for their duties, they like to be in plain clothes on weekdays, so it is not surprising to see them on the street. But you two have such strong bodies to do hard work. Do you think you will not be taken away?
? What we lack most now are soldiers to fight and the final act of hard work."
Lao Tong looked uncomfortable, frowning and looking at the candlelight on the table.
Seeing his expression, Zhi Changle knew that he had remembered that the two of them were deserters again, and was speechless for a moment.
After a long silence, Lao Tong said: "Ah Li, will you look down on us?"
"Why do you ask this?"
"I, the two of us are greedy for life and afraid of death," Zhi Changle said in a low voice, "The two of us were deserters, and we still are. Even if Jiangnan Camp is not inhabited by humans, if we escape, we have to go to other barracks to continue.
Being a soldier is... I think we will be forced to do hard labor if we are captured."
Xia Zhaoyi blinked and said nothing, looking down at the book in his hand.
Lao Tong looked at her and saw that the girl looked calm and quiet.
"Ah Li?" Lao Tong called softly.
"Yeah." Xia Zhaoyi responded for a long time, raised his eyes and suddenly curled his lips into a smile.
Lao Tong and Zhi Changle were stunned for a moment: "Ali, you..."
"You are all veterans. Even if I haven't experienced it, I know how much hardship veterans have endured."
Do you look down on two veterans?"
Lao Tong's eyes were slightly red and he looked aside.
Zhi Changle gritted his teeth: "But Ah Li, we are just deserters."
"You should have your own reasons," Xia Zhaoyi curled her lips, "But don't tell me, I'm not a man of rules, and I don't like to interfere with others. You can live your life however you want. Don't rape, lust, kidnap, or plunder people.
Just set it on fire."
"The food is here!" The waiter's voice came from outside the door, knocking on the door next door.
Lao Tong and Zhi Changle looked back and said, "Ah Li, why don't you eat something first."
"You guys go first," Xia Zhaoyi raised her hand and stroked the pages of the book in her hand, "I won't be able to eat until I finish reading."
"Then we will bring it to you? We won't disturb you and you will eat here alone?" Zhi Changle said.
"Well," Xia Zhaoyi said with a smile, "Thank you very much."
Zhi Changle and Lao Tong left, and soon the food was served. There were both big fish and meat, and the rice was a big bowl of fragrant rice.
After putting it down, they asked Xia Zhaoyi to shout after eating, and they would come over to clean it up immediately, and then left, closing the door gently.
The candlelight in the room returned to calm, Xia Zhaoyi looked at it, raised his hand and gently placed it on it.
The heat of the fire burned under the palm of my hand, warm and warm.
If you lower your hand a little further, it will get very hot.
She retracted her gaze and looked at the book in her hand, her expression becoming solemn.
I only read one book today, and half of the book here. There are not many words, the statements are concise, and there is no emotion, just coldly spread on the page.
But Xia Zhaoyi vaguely felt that every word and every line was more terrifying than a murderous knife or poisonous medicine.
She has always known that harsh taxes, levies, and miscellaneous taxes are more important than mountains and fiercer tigers, and this has been the case in all dynasties, but only when she saw these words with her own eyes and touched them with her own hands did she know how bloody they were.
The most stringent one was the previous dynasty, which required two-thirds of the harvest for each hectare of land, and one stone for grass, all of which were levied according to the amount of land granted. Regardless of whether it was cultivated or not, regardless of whether it was drought or rain, if the amount was not paid enough, each person would be taxed.
Xia Zhaoyi thought of several history books he had read before. Every emperor in the past dynasties, except for those who were cruel and unusual, had words of praise for them in the books.
Among them, several emperors of the last dynasty perished due to widespread civil strife and foreign invasions. There are also words of lamentation and pity in the book, as well as laments and generosity, and then the merits and demerits are discussed.
Xia Zhaoyi suddenly felt ridiculous now.
The writing style of history books is really powerful. There are so many people who clearly bully the people and provoke people's resentment and morals, but they are portrayed as sad men who have lowered their ambitions and humiliated themselves, and are helpless in the face of the overall situation that has been decided.
