The suffering in the world is tangible at this moment.
Li Qinzai realized that he had seen the worst suffering in the world. The scene at this moment was not much better than hell.
The bowl was still steaming and exuding an unpleasant smell, but the old man in front of him looked as usual.
"This is what everyone eats in Zhuangzi, which makes the nobles laugh." The old man's expression was calm and indifferent, and even his voice had a dead air.
Prince Teng and Li Sujie also held bowls in their hands. They frowned at the food in their hands, but they couldn't open their mouths to taste it.
Li Qinzai smiled and said: "I have been busy all my life just for this food. Good and bad are all things that go into my stomach. How can I smile when I am born late?"
After speaking, Li Qinzai took the bowl and took a sip of the soup, his expression not changing at all.
Prince Teng and Li Sujie looked at him in surprise.
Li Qinzai also came from a wealthy family. He grew up in fine clothes and fine food, and never suffered hardships. Even when he was leading troops in war, he would try his best to make his dining table delicious and rich.
The two of them couldn't understand how he could eat such a thing without frowning.
After Li Qinzai took a brief sip, he used a bamboo chopstick to dig out another mouthful of black paste, chewed and smacked it carefully in his mouth, but his expression remained unchanged.
Li Qinzai didn't even know what it was until he chewed it into his stomach.
After eating most of the bowl, Li Qinzai looked up at Prince Teng and Li Sujie and said, "Why don't you eat it? Don't betray the old man's kindness. Eat it while it's hot. It tastes pretty good."
After saying that, he buried his head and took a big bite.
Prince Teng and Li Sujie were dumbfounded, but when they saw that Li Qinzai seemed to be enjoying the food, they couldn't help but murmur.
Could it be that it tastes really good?
So the two of them cautiously took a sip, and then their eyes widened in shock, their faces quickly turned green, and they opened their mouths to spit it out. Not only that, Prince Teng also bent over and retched, his expression was more than uncomfortable,
Simply horrified.
Seeing the two of them looking like this, the old man said calmly: "My family is living in poverty and has nowhere to go. This noble man is suffering. If you really can't eat, you might as well return the bowl to the old man, so as not to waste the food."
Prince Teng couldn't help but said: "Is this also called 'grain'?"
"Yes, this is also called food." The old man said calmly.
As he said this, he took the bowl and bamboo chopsticks from King Teng's hand, not dissing him as he had just used them. The old man took the bowl and ate it, eating it very sweetly, as if it were the most delicious food in the world.
After eating, he licked the leftovers in the bowl with great care until the bowl was licked brightly.
Then the old man took the bowl from Li Sujie's hand and continued to eat.
Li Qinzai and others just looked at the old man.
The old man finally finished eating, put down his bowl, sighed, and murmured: "I ate too much today, it's a sin."
Several old people nearby looked at Prince Teng and Li Sujie with somewhat dissatisfied eyes, as if they were condemning the two men for wasting food. Judging from their expressions, it was obvious that the old people had eaten more than just one meal's rations, and they might be hungry tomorrow.
Tummy saver.
Li Qinzai took out a handful of copper coins from his pocket and put them into the old man's hand.
The old man was startled and hurriedly refused: "My lord, this is absolutely unacceptable. It's just some vulgar food. How can I deserve such a generous gift from you?"
"Old man, accept it. As we just agreed, you will cook hot food for Wansheng and give him money in full." Li Qinzai said with a smile.
The old man continued to refuse, and Li Qinzai couldn't help but put the money into the old man's arms with a firm attitude.
The old man had no choice but to accept it, and kept saying thanks with a look of shame on his face.
Li Qinzai sighed, how could such simple and kind people live in such poverty.
They say God is fair, but where is the fairness?
Seeing that the old man had collected the money, Li Qinzai was not in a hurry to leave. Instead, he sat down on a moss-covered stone in front of the small house, not caring whether his luxurious clothes were dirty.
"The old man's life is not going well. Where are the children and grandchildren at home?" Li Qinzai asked.
The old man sighed: "My two sons were recruited into the army and died in battle five years ago. My grandson died of starvation the year before last. Now I am the only one left in the family."
Li Qinzai asked tentatively: "You are still quite strong, don't you farm at home?"
The old man nodded and then shook his head: "Farming, but not on our own land, we are working as tenants for the landlord."
Li Qinzai frowned: "The two princes died in the war. The government should provide compensation, money and land. How can the old man become a tenant to others? Where is your own land?"
The old man smiled bitterly and said: "How can a powerless untouchable have his own land?"
"When there was a bad year, the family had no food. In order to survive, they had to sell their land to the landlord at a low price in exchange for food rations to survive the famine. After the bad year passed, the land was gone, so they had to become slaves and work as pawns for the landlords.
tenant."
"Year after year we are still farming, but the grain we harvest is no longer ours. We pay part of it in taxes to the court, and part of it in grain rent from the landlords. In this way, we no longer save one out of ten. The remaining grain is mixed with some livestock."
Wheat bran, digging some wild vegetables and mixing it together are the rations to survive."
The old man looked at the sky with his weathered eyes, which were as silent as a piece of stagnant water. The light, dim and weak as a candle, stung Li Qinzai's heart for some reason.
"It's hard to live, but I don't dare to die. I only hope to be taken over by God with my remaining breath. This life... can only be like this." The old man sighed leisurely, without sadness or joy.
Several old people nearby laughed, their smiles were bitter and sad.
"That's all we can do. What else can we do? Isn't it just for the sake of a full meal? I'm just unlucky and have never had enough to eat in this life. If I accumulate more merits in this life, maybe I can find a wealthy family in the next life."
Li Qinzai looked at the elderly people and said with a forced smile: "Are you all tenants of the landlord's family?"
The old people nodded: "Not just us, the whole village is a tenant farmer. The young and strong people in the village can't survive. Some starved to death, and some ran away. We old and weak people can't run away, so we stay in the village to farm for the landlords."
The earth, year after year, waits for death.”
Li Qinzai's eyes flashed and he whispered: "Did the landlords take advantage of the natural disaster to take over your own land at a low price?"
The old people nodded again.
"It's a voluntary transaction, no wonder others. A disaster year is a life-threatening obstacle. In order to survive now, no matter what happens in the future, I have to sell the land at a low price in exchange for rations. I save my life first and don't care about others."
That’s it.”
Li Qinzai asked again: "Why not open up other wasteland?"
The old man smiled sarcastically: "Wasteland? Wasteland has long been measured and recorded by the government. Every acre is clearly counted. It has also been purchased by the landlord after planning. Zhuangzi has hundreds of miles around, both wasteland and fertile farmland.
Lord, where can I wait to open up wasteland?"
Li Qinzai was chatting sentence by sentence with several old people, while the expressions of Prince Teng and Li Sujie beside him became more and more solemn.
Sure enough, Li Qinzai left the camp today and looked for Zhuangzi everywhere. He was not just wandering aimlessly. He had his own purpose.
In the prosperous and granary land of Jiangnan, the situation of land annexation has become so serious.