"Good boy, come and eat grass."

Pingya, Yanzi and Hutou each held two pieces of grass and fed the rabbit, which was the only "poultry" in their family.

When looking for firewood, I would dig through the snow and pull up some unfrozen grass to feed them. To prevent them from getting cold, I even found some rags to surround the cage.

The village head's wife looked inside and saw the gray and white furry rabbit, neither fat nor thin, looking quite energetic. Unlike their family, who only ate three-quarters full every day, their wrists thinned by hunger.

She laughed and said, "This rabbit is really fertile!"

The pair that Jiang Yue sent first gave birth to 6 little rabbits in mid-November. Brother Jiang Shan went into the mountains and caught another pair, which gave birth to a litter of 5 rabbits a few days ago.

To prevent the rabbits from fighting and getting injured, the village chief separated the cages into several large ones. They were full and it was a pleasure to look at them.

"It's good to be able to give birth, so you can sell it for money." As soon as Jiang Shan said this, several children turned their heads to stare at him, pouting.

The village head's wife shook her head and laughed. The children were just ignorant. But looking at those dry little faces, she felt distressed. "I'll leave you a greedy mouth."

The children were happy now, wiped the saliva from the corners of their mouths, and continued to feed the rabbits.

While hunting before, they caught a little rabbit. The village chief's wife felt sorry for the child, so she decided to keep it for herself.

We have an old, small iron pot at home, which is one of our most important possessions. It had a hole in it before and was repaired in town. Except for using it to stir-fry meat, it is usually put away.

Li did not add any seasoning except salt. He first dry-fried the rabbit meat until it was crispy and the rabbit oil was released, and then added wild vegetables and stir-fried them together.

The fragrance that day made the whole family as excited as if it was New Year’s Day. They washed all the dishes and pots clean. I’m still drooling when I think about it now!

The village chief and his family were spending the winter happily. The village seemed to be getting lively, with many people talking outside.

But the village chief has now lost heart, and since no one comes to visit him, he will not join in the fun.

A few days later, their next-door neighbors found out the whole story while chatting across the yard. The village chief's face couldn't be any darker.

A man and a woman drove a horse-drawn carriage into the village, claiming that they wanted to find maids and servants for the great philanthropist Wu from the provincial capital.

"Our master has a son and a daughter, and the house has five courtyards." Seeing everyone's confused faces, the woman said, "It's as big as five acres of land."

The villagers were stunned. A house that big! The family must be rich! In their village, only the village chief and Jiang Yue could afford a mule cart, but look, even their servants have a horse carriage!

The woman pulled out a property deed from her bosom and said firmly, "Let me show you guys, the address is in the city, you can check it out any way you want!"

She continued, "Our master's house is so large that he needs to hire many servants and maids to serve the young lady and the young master. Otherwise, why would our master be called a kind man? He doesn't want to do the cruel things of business, so he still wants to use the name of recruiting workers."

"If anyone has a boy or girl under seven or eight years old who is willing to work for the Wu family, please bring them here so we can choose. After signing the contract, we will give them two dou of grain. The child will receive 500 coins per month and can go home to see their parents once every three months..."

Wow——

500 Wen a month is more than what an adult would earn by doing hard labor!

It's not selling the child, it's sending the child to enjoy a good life! What's more, now I can give him two dou of grain, and he can go home once a month in the future!

Most of the villagers were moved. Some immediately brought their own babies over, while others beat their chests and stamped their feet, hating that their children were actually a year or two older.

The village chief's neighbor talked about what happened that day with great interest, but it was a pity that she didn't have a baby at home.

"Those two men actually signed the long-term employment contract on the spot and readily gave us two buckets of black flour! They are truly a wealthy family..."

The village chief felt a chill in his heart when he heard this, but there was nothing he could do.

He wanted to scold the villagers. "How can you, illiterate as you are, guarantee the authenticity of someone else's deed and the contract you signed? Whose master would just give a deed to a servant and take it away? Who would personally go to the village to recruit someone? And why did you come all the way from the capital in such icy weather? The roads in the capital are all blocked by snow!"

But he couldn't scold him, nor could he wake him up. The child had already been sent away, and now as a parent, all he could do was keep the thought in his heart.

The village chief wiped her face, turned around and went into the house, ignoring her neighbor who was still nagging about how envious she was.

As the village chief said, he couldn't wake them up by scolding them. Among those who sent their children to the car was Eugene Hua and his wife.

They were smug, their sunken cheeks filled with wide smiles as they said their daughters were enjoying a good life, following the daughters of wealthy families and no longer having to work in the fields. They even received money, food, and meat sent back every month!

It was so beautiful that I kept talking about it in the village for several days!

They didn't even consider whether the child could actually be brought back. If not, where would they go to find him? What if they found the wealthy family and they refused to release him? Could a villager like you really defeat them?

——Fucheng——

As the days passed, the people's hearts became numb and they no longer waited for the court to provide more relief food. Every day they could only queue up to receive the food donated by Mr. Wang.

If you can't get a place, you'll have to buy expensive food. If you have no money left, buy satiety pills and wait for death. If you can't even afford satiety pills, then you'll starve and freeze as you sleep, dying in a dream of being well-fed and warm.

The expressions of the people Jiang Yue saw every day were becoming increasingly rigid, like the "high-level world-weary face" often mentioned in modern times. But those people only had indifferent expressions. The people here were truly despairing of life, as if they would not care if they died the next second.

In such a repressed mood, there are fewer quarrels in the city, but more incidents of fighting, murder and suicide due to disagreements.

In the past, people would still go to join in the fun, but now, when they hear that someone in someone's family has died and that they were moved to a mass grave outside the city without even leaving rags, they say coldly, "It's good that they're dead. There will be fewer people looting food and firewood. Did you take off his clothes?"

As the twelfth lunar month arrived, Jiang Yue began knocking on doors with vegetables. This time, she wasn't looking for middle-class families, but for wealthy ones. The greenhouses of wealthy families had already been "expropriated," and it was likely that her family would have difficulty getting vegetables.

"Knock-knock—"

"Stop knocking, I have no food to give you!" an impatient female voice yelled from behind the door.

I think it’s because there are more beggars, and every day there are people who are targeting wealthy families.

Jiang Nian was on guard, and Jiang Yue approached the door and whispered quietly, making sure that the person behind the door could hear, "I don't ask for food, I sell vegetables."

In less than three seconds, the door opened.

A thin, long-faced woman poked her head out in surprise, then looked at her suspiciously, "Are you kidding me?"

Jiang Yue lifted the cloth covering the bamboo basket in her hand, revealing only a green leaf. The old woman said hurriedly, "Madam, please come in and talk!"