When we stopped to rest at noon, Old Man Xu also lamented with everyone that he had escaped from famine when he was a child. He had been away for two months and it was not so miserable.
There are people who don't have to eat human flesh, but they are people who exchange children for food, and there are people who steal children and carry them on their backs to eat. How can it be like today, when refugees have become gangsters, blatantly robbing children to eat, and even dying on the way? Even if the corpse is left intact, it will be eaten by wild dogs, and then eaten by humans.
Everyone is sad.
Along the way, there were many refugees with red eyes and dull faces. Therefore, no matter how hard the journey was, they would not eat or drink during the day, and they would have to wait until night anyway.
Sitting and resting right now is just resting.
Suddenly, there was a noise under the tree not far ahead. A man was taking a hatchet to chop down a teenage girl, and a woman was struggling to stop him.
The girl cried and asked her father not to let her go, and the woman cried and begged the man to let his daughter go.
The man lost his mind and kicked the woman away, then slashed the girl to the ground with a knife. It took just an instant.
The woman was kicked out and lay on the ground, her face turned pale. She crawled back with no strength. She saw the man grabbing her daughter's flesh and blood and started to eat it. She couldn't help but cry, "Beast, beast..."
When the dozen or so refugees nearby saw the fresh meat, they couldn't sit still and jumped on it.
The man grabbed the meat with one hand and waved a hatchet with the other hand to stop others from approaching.
But the refugees turned around and grabbed hatchets and stones. When they threatened the man, the man gave up and shared the food with him.
Then, a bunch of people gathered around and started gobbling it up.
When everyone saw this, they couldn't help but secretly shake their heads.
Mrs. Shi sat cross-legged, shaking her head and mumbling some mantra.
She was a goddess, and this was often the case along the way, so everyone had already become accustomed to it, thinking that she was begging the gods for quick rain or for their blessing to reach Qingzhou safely.
But at this moment, everyone heard her muttering about ghosts, ghosts, and ghosts.
Her children and grandchildren watched her quietly and curiously. After a while, she slowly stopped muttering and opened her eyes.
The second daughter-in-law Zhong asked her, "Mom, what are you thinking about?"
Mrs. Shi said with a reserved face: "There are gods three feet above your head. People are doing it, and God is watching."
Old man Zhou looked up into the sky and said, "Where is the spirit? Our people in Yunzhou are suffering so much, why doesn't he look at it?"
Mrs. Shi quickly stopped him, "Oh my dear, I don't want to be disrespectful to the gods."
"You god is asleep and can't hear or see." Old man Zhou replied to her, "My dear, you begged him for more rain last year, and the result was great. This year, he didn't even get a drop of rain. I begged him not to." Use it!"
Old Mrs. Shi choked and simply ignored him, closed her eyes and continued to mutter.
Old Mrs. Xu looked at Old Man Zhou and said: "What are you talking about to the gods? The old emperor in Beijing is the one who should take care of us! We pay taxes and are subject to grain requisitions, no less, but he doesn't matter whether we live or die. No matter what! Brother, if you want to scold him, scold him!" If you scold the gods, if the gods blame you, he won't listen to the old emperor.
Which refugee on this road doesn't scold him in his heart?
Old Man Xu silently glanced at Old Mrs. Xu. This old woman was so embarrassed when she secretly scolded her, and now she started to drag others with her to scold her.
When Old Man Zhou heard this, he realized that the girl was right, and he immediately began to curse.
He has a loud voice and a violent temper. He curses so loudly that, come on, all of a sudden everyone is following you and yelling at me.
In particular, Mrs. Shi scolded the most cheerfully. As long as she didn't scold the gods, she could scold anyone.
Zhang Xiulan was sandwiched between the Ma family and the Zhou family. She was poking at them secretly and also scolded them a few times.
Seeing the refugees looking around frequently, Old Man Xu quickly spoke up to stop all this, Okay, let's get on our way!
…
After driving for two more days, several families had no water, and the bamboo tubes were all empty. The Xu family had the most dry food, and the amount of cornbread they ate was at the end.
Everyone's physical strength gradually weakened and their steps became difficult.
At this time, I felt that these guys were really a burden, especially the carts, but they were already here. It would be really painful to let go of them, so I had to carry them all with me even if I gritted my teeth.
Old man Xu moved forward with great difficulty on crutches, and asked Guan Shan, "Xiao Guan, how long do we have to walk?"
Guan Shan's mouth was chapped with blood blisters, and his dark face was so rough that it was hard to tell that he was a young man. He said: "Come on, when you see the stone monument in Baoguan Village, you will cross the boundary stone in another thirty miles."
Already."
Baoguan Village?
Where?
Old Man Xu looked forward again and again, but what he saw was still desolate land. He didn't see any villages at all. But he still had to go forward.
Xu Chunshan wanted to explore further to see how long Baoguan Village was left and what the situation was like in Qingzhou beyond the boundary stone, but he had no energy left and could only give up.
A group of people walked forward with difficulty. After walking for a while, they would lie down and rest for a while.
There are still some refugees on the road who can no longer walk at all. They are crawling on the ground using their hands and feet, trying to crawl like Qingzhou.
After walking forward for a long time, Old Man Xu saw a big stone standing on the side of the road. He hurriedly called his grandson and asked: "Liu Lang, take a look. Is this the stone monument of Baoguan Village?"
Xu Dajun glanced at it and said, "Master, this is."
Old Man Xu took a breath and said, "We still have to walk thirty miles." It was no longer possible. His vision turned black and he was so hungry that he was scratching his intestines.
"Have a rest, have a rest."
Everyone stopped to rest again, right next to the big rock.
Xu Yinyin dragged her almost useless legs and sat down on the ground. She looked up and saw three words on the stone. She heard that it was called Baoguan Village, but she could probably understand these three words.
The word village.
Illiterate, illiterate.
Worry.
The people were helpless, and there was no bamboo tube to hide and tuck at this time. Everyone turned the bamboo tube over and shook it again and again, hoping to shake even a drop of water out of it.
I was so hungry that I couldn't help it, so I took the half piece of steamed bun in my hand, licked it in my mouth twice, and then put it away as a treasure.
Several children, whose faces were pale from hunger, lay motionless in the arms of adults.
Mrs. Xu poured the gourd hanging around her neck over and over again, licked her white-skinned mouth, and then turned to ask Xu Dajun beside her, "Liu Lang, are you thirsty?"
Thirst.
Xu Dajun glanced at Xu Yinyin.
Xu Yinyin: She is also thirsty, but she cannot take out the water in the bamboo tubes in her space.
In the past few days, Old Man Xu didn't let everyone stay too far away. She tried to apply some iodophor but failed to find a chance, so she could only let her feet become useless.
Old Man Xu glanced at the big guy who was struggling, and saw that he had almost rested. He stood up with the help of crutches and continued walking. After walking these thirty miles, he would have a way to survive.
A group of people dragged their families and carried their burdens on their backs and continued to move forward.
It is said to be a village, but there is not a single person in Baoguan Village where a village road extending from the foot of the stone monument is deserted.
Old Man Xu also didn't expect that this place is so close to Qingzhou and has the same drought.
When it was getting dark, a group of people finally reached the boundary stone.
This side of the boundary stone belongs to Yunzhou, and there is a severe drought caused by locusts. The crops have been harvested, and there is not a single tree that has not been stripped of its bark.
Beyond the boundary stone, which belongs to Qingzhou, you can see that the fields are full of hungry people, the land is dry and cracked, and there is no trace of green.
"Xiaoguan, are you really in Qingzhou? Are you on the right track?"
Old man Xu was dumbfounded, and so were everyone else.