Chapter 3390 Extra Zhou Yin 5
The atmosphere at home was very bad, and Zhou Yin began to run to the county town frequently, hoping to find some work to earn money and buy grain from the grain store.
But the year was bad, and since last year there had been refugees in the county town, all scrambling for work on the streets. Even though he had connections and was familiar with the people in the county town, he couldn't find much work.
Moreover, the price of grain changes three times a day, one price in the morning and another price in the evening. The little money he earned with hard work could not buy much grain.
When there was only one bowl of food left at home, Zhou Jin finally had to take out the money for Zhou Yin to marry a wife and go to the grain store with Zhou Yin to buy food.
The money that could buy a cart of grain in the past can only buy a small bag now.
On the way back, Zhou Jin and Zhou Yin said, "At this point, you really have to wait a few years before getting married."
Zhou Yin looked at the starry sky and said, "Let's survive first. Look at the number of stars. Tomorrow will be another sunny day."
Zhou Jin drooped his shoulders. He hated sunny days the most now.
The two brothers were very cautious when they entered the village, for fear that people would know that their family had bought food.
Last year’s harvest was poor, and many families had a bad New Year. They were all looking forward to this year’s harvest, but who knew that this year’s harvest would be even worse than last year’s.
Many families started running out of food in March and then began to borrow money from everywhere.
The Zhou family also lent out some money at the beginning, but fortunately, Mrs. Qian was very strict and asked her to send away all the relatives and friends who came to the house later.
Otherwise they would have starved to death long ago.
Zhou Jin took the small bag of rice home and opened it to show Qian.
Qian put it away and said, "From now on, I have the final say on how much the family eats."
Zhou Jin and Zhou Yin agreed and had no objection.
From that day on, the Zhou family began to keep their doors closed, staying at home whenever possible and minimizing activities to avoid exhaustion.
Only Zhou Yin would occasionally take Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang to the mountains to dig some edible grass roots and pick some wild vegetables.
But because of the drought, many edible plants on the mountain have died. What's left are the animals in the mountains, and they will compete with people for food.
People in the village began to starve to death, and some began to leave with their families. If they stayed, they would die.
The village chief also came to Old Zhou's house and said to Zhou Jin and Zhou Yin, "We are also thinking of moving out."
Zhou Jin squatted on the ground, feeling unhappy. "Can I live if I go out? Didn't my fifth uncle who went out two days ago come back? He took seven people with him, but only two came back. I heard there's not even water to drink out there. It's better to die in the village than to die out there."
The village chief was so weak from hunger that he said, "Just walk a little further, out of this dry place."
"How far is that?"
"I don't know," the village chief said gloomily, "but God can't really give us no way out. If we find a direction to go, we will eventually find a way out."
He looked at Zhou Jin and Zhou Yin, then at Zhou Dalang and the others, and sighed, "If the government won't release grain, staying in the village means we'll all die. If we go out, maybe a few of us can survive. Every one who survives is better than everyone dying in the village."
Zhou Yin, who had been silent the entire time, said, "The food provided by the court is already on its way. I heard that it will arrive by the middle of next month at the latest."
The village chief didn't even ask who told him that or whether it was accurate. He simply said, "If a person doesn't eat, they'll die in five days. Besides, we're already this starving. We'll all be dead in three, not five."
"There are still twenty-three days until the middle of next month. After twenty-three days, we will all be dead, and there will be no point in releasing more food."
Zhou Yin murmured, "It's too late to tell..."
"How can we possibly give you the earliest opportunity to come to the government office?" the village chief said weakly. "And how early can you be?"
Zhou Jin looked at his sons, then turned to look at his wife who was so hungry that she could hardly speak. He couldn't help but hug his head, his eyes red and he didn't say a word.
Leaving Qili Village means they have to make some choices, as they have a large family, most of whom are children.
The road is not easy to walk on, and some children will definitely have to be abandoned, or even...
His eyes were red as he said, "I heard people outside have started eating people. If, if..."
"So we have to go together," the village chief said. "All the villagers are together. If someone dies, we can find a place to bury them. We can't let them be eaten."
Zhou Jin lowered his head and said nothing. The balance in his heart kept swaying, and he couldn't make up his mind whether to leave or not.
Zhou Yin looked at his eldest brother, then at his sister-in-law, who was leaning back in her chair with a pale face. He lowered his eyes and said, "The entire Jiannan Road was affected by this disaster. I heard that even many places in Longyou Road were affected. The capital is also suffering from drought. Therefore, the food can only be transferred from Hedong Road and even further away, and the speed is very slow."
The village chief only knew Jiannan Road and that Longyou Road was north of Jiannan Road, but he didn't know about other places. So he finally couldn't help but ask, "How do you know?"
"My friend said so," Zhou Yin said, "so there are so many disaster-stricken areas. Twenty days is not enough to get out of the disaster zone. Otherwise, my second uncle and the others wouldn't have turned back halfway."
There were seven people when they went out, but only two were left when they came back, and the remaining five died on the way.
"Can we really walk for twenty days if we're this hungry?" Zhou Yin asked. "And there are so many refugees out there. What if we run into someone with malicious intentions who wants to eat us?"
"At least we have water to drink in the village. We can dig in the mountains and eat tree bark and leaves to survive for a while. We just need to wait until the government releases grain."
The village chief stood up on his knees and walked out with his back hunched. "I'll talk to the other families."
He still wanted to go out. His family had no food left and they really couldn't survive.
The village chief went back home. The next morning, his grandson Dazhu knocked on the door and said with a pale face, "My grandfather passed away last night. Now my father is the village chief."
Zhou Yin couldn't even muster the energy to feel sad, so he leaned against the door and asked, "Are you guys still leaving?"
Dazhu shook his head. "My dad said he's not leaving. We're going up the mountain to dig up tree bark. If we chop it up, it should last for a few days. Do you want to come with us?"
Zhou Yin agreed and asked, "Is your grandfather buried?"
"No, I just came to ask my uncle for help. Just dig a shallow hole."
Zhou Yin went back to the house to get the hoe. Zhou Jin followed silently behind him. Zhou Yin stopped him and said, "I'll go. Big brother, you haven't eaten anything this morning, so you'd better not move."
Zhou Jin stopped and whispered to him, "Save your energy and don't get yourself into trouble."
Zhou Yin agreed and went to the village chief's house with a hoe.
Zhou Yin is of older generation but younger. The village chief's son Dahua is about the same age as Zhou Jin. He is squatting in the yard with an unshaven beard. The village chief has changed into new clothes and placed them in the coffin.
There were already quite a few young men squatting in the yard. They were all from the same clan and had a good relationship with the village chief's family.
(End of this chapter)
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