Chapter 9 Famine 1
Grandpa Liu first went to the purchasing station to ask about the purchase price of mountain products and game. He found that the price was reasonable, so he sold all the mountain products he brought to the purchasing station, but did not sell the game to the purchasing station.
Let Liu's father and Liu Bo wait in a secret place. Grandpa Liu brought Shuxin to the black market, intending to exchange food in the black market. First, find a few people with good conditions to exchange the game for money, and then go find someone to sell grain.
Nowadays, people in the city still live a stable and happy life. They don't farm, don't rely on the weather for their meals, and don't mind if there is no rain for several months.
They didn't know that the harvest in the village was poor, nor did they notice that the water in the fields was slowly decreasing. These were just some of the guesses that farmers might have made in the past.
So there are still a lot of people selling grain on the black market now. Grandpa Liu doesn't pick out the fine grains, but only buys coarse grains such as sorghum, corn and sweet potatoes. Shuxin discovered that it was not just their family. Occasionally, she would see a few old men from the countryside buying food, but the quantity they bought was not as much as theirs, and it seemed that smart people were not good at it either.
After the payment was made, they asked Father Liu and the other man to carry the food to the station to wait for them. Grandpa Liu took Shuxin to the supply and marketing cooperative, and they also stocked up some sugar, oil, salt and seasonings for the family.
It was already night when they arrived at Shuxin's house. They had deliberately chosen to come back at night, after all, they had to buy so many things behind people's backs.
Grandma Liu was also a person who had experienced a lot. She knew that the weather was not right and was very anxious. Fortunately, her good granddaughter is capable and often brings back wild animals. The family has been better off in recent days, eating meat occasionally, and exchanging the leftovers for money and food, and the family has some savings. Otherwise, looking at this situation, the Liu family would be very sad.
Without thinking too much, Grandma Liu and her two daughters-in-law packed up the things and put them in a secret cellar. Now they can still get by every day, so they won't use these things. Let's see how things develop in the future!
The whole Liu family hopes that they won’t have to use the things they prepared!
But the most undesirable thing happened. There was no rain before the autumn harvest, the crops were not filled with starch, and the yield was not much.
Liu Tiegen, the captain of the Liulin team, was a smart man. Seeing that the situation was not right, he did not use all the food to pay the public grain tax, but left a portion of the food for the village. The remaining food would be enough to last until next summer.
Shuxin wrote a letter before the autumn harvest. Shuxin was not reckless. Taking the opportunity to go into the mountains, she used her supernatural powers and mental strength to speed up her journey, crossing several mountains and forests to reach the next city. After disguising himself, he placed the letter in the office of the person in charge. In case it was not safe, he also placed a copy in several other offices.
Of course, she would not reveal her handwriting, as it was all printed out by a printer, which she had found in the utility room of the space before. She did what she could, and she has no regrets.
It’s the 30th of the lunar year. When we celebrated it before, every household was very happy. But today, there is no laughter or joy. Even the ignorant children know how to restrain themselves.
Although the Liu family's situation was not as difficult as other families, Grandma Liu was not well prepared. After all, it was good enough to have enough to eat in the current situation.
Although Shuxin wanted to let her family eat meat and drink wine, she was not prepared to do so. One is that she is afraid of exposing her own space. She is not so great as to sacrifice herself for others. She can value her family and make their lives better, but only if she does not expose herself.
Another reason is that other people around them are having a hard time, and if the Liu family lives too well, they will be resented. She has experienced the struggles of the end of the world and understands human nature too well. People are afraid of comparison. When their lives were good, they couldn't stand others living better than themselves. Now that life is so difficult, and you still eat and drink the same as usual, aren't you a complete target?
Nowadays, every household can still afford to eat. Although it is not possible to eat enough or eat well, it is possible to get by. So Shuxin didn't treat her family badly. She went into the mountains a day in advance to avoid the villagers and brought back two chickens for her family to have a happy meal.
Shuxin had cooked the chicken in the mountains before. There were households living around her house, and it would be too smelly if she cooked it at home. Now the whole village is not well fed, and there is no taste of meat. It would be too conspicuous to cook it at home.
She found a cave deep in the mountains as her base, which would be useful for the next two days. She could prepare food that was inconvenient to cook at home and bring it home.
After finishing my dinner, I lay in bed, thinking about how my family had just secretly worshipped the gods and prayed to the Dragon King to bring rain and give the farmers a way to survive.
Shuxin planned to secretly find a valley in the mountains and plant some high-starch crops, such as sweet potatoes and yams. She had wood-related abilities, so it was a bit of work for her to grow a field of sweet potatoes and yams.
She wanted to leave a way out for the villagers, and hand it over to the villagers when they ran out of food. She was not a kind-hearted saint, and she believed that when the nest is overturned, all the eggs will be broken. They all lived in the same village, and she would know every move of each family.
“It is not the scarcity that is worrying, but the inequality; it is not the poverty that is worrying, but the insecurity.”
This means that we are not worried about having nothing to share, but about the unfairness of distribution; we are not worried about people’s poverty, but about the instability of their lives.
Now that they have caught up with this situation, life is difficult. They must give the villagers hope. Otherwise, they will not only suffer from poverty but also from insecurity, and worry that the villagers will not be able to survive and the Liu family will be affected.
On the other hand, those who received the letter at that time began to think it was nonsense, but as the situation became unusual, they had no choice but to believe it. I submitted the letter to the higher authorities and finally to the parents. I made preparations based on the idea that it is better to believe it than not to believe it.
Xinyang County is located in a mountainous area, and the nearby villages and communes are all located against the mountains, which is better than other places and has green vegetation.
Because of the cheating person Shuxin, the Liulin team has not lost the skin of the nearby forests. She often uses her supernatural powers to promote the growth of some low vegetation and wild vegetables on the mountains. The patches of wild vegetables are a big surprise to the villagers.
When the wild vegetables matured, waves of people rushed to the mountain, fearing that if they ran too slowly they would all be picked by others. The Liu family also followed them. In this situation, they collected as much food as they could, and the Liu family did not mind eating too much.
As winter is approaching, almost every household in the Liulin team is worried. There has been no water today, and the food has not been collected. The relief food will take some time to arrive. How are they going to get through the next few days?
At this time, Captain Ji organized a team to go into the mountains to hunt, intending to get some meat in exchange for food, but they returned disappointed with little gain.
It is understandable that animals also have a sense of crisis. The large animals have all fled into the mountains, and the small ones have all been eaten. Only those who are extremely hungry will go hunting in the mountains. At that time, it won't be people eating animals, maybe it will be the other way around.
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