208, In and Out of the City
208, In and Out of the City
Separated by a city wall, the city and outside are almost two different worlds.
On this day, when Lu Mingfei followed his father out of the city, he was sitting in the carriage and saw many refugees sitting at the base of the wall outside the city. He didn't know whether they were awake or unable to sleep.
The city gate was guarded by soldiers, and the refugees outside the city could only stay outside and could not enter the city.
On the way out of the city, there were many beggars begging along the way.
"Kind sir, please give me something to eat."
"Give it to Stutter..."
"Please, save my child."
“…”
When their carriage passed by, they saw a woman holding a child on the side of the road, asking passersby for help. Lu Mingfei asked the driver in front to stop the carriage and said to his father, "Father, I'll go over there and take a look."
"You sit here, I'll go." Lu Youtian grabbed his eldest son who was about to get off the car and stopped him.
Finally, the father and son got off the carriage together.
However, when he got closer, Lu Mingfei saw that the child in the woman's arms had a pale face and looked like...
Lu Youtian also reacted and grabbed his eldest son's hand in time, shaking his head at him: "Don't go over there." He was afraid of scaring the child.
"Master, Master, Young Master... Please, please, save my child." The woman had already seen the person coming to her. Her eyes changed and she rushed forward with the child in her arms to ask for help.
Lu Youtian hurriedly pulled the child back.
The guards and servants following behind also hurried to the front to block it.
"Father." Lu Mingfei grabbed his father's arm and looked at the woman with disbelief in his eyes. Seeing the woman kneeling on the ground and kowtowing to them, begging them to save her child, his tears fell uncontrollably.
"Mingfei, get in the carriage. Dad will take care of things here." Lu Youtian was afraid that his eldest son would be frightened because he had never experienced such a thing, so he quickly asked the people following behind to take the child to the carriage.
In fact, Lu Mingfei was really scared. He thought the child in the woman's arms was sick, but he didn't expect that the child in the woman's arms was dead. Moreover, it looked like the child had been dead for quite some time, and the body of the child had already started to stink.
Even from a distance, they could smell the stench of the corpse.
The woman holding her child and asking passers-by for help looked like she had gone crazy.
Lu Mingfei stood beside the carriage and saw his father take out some silver from his pocket and give it to the woman, and then asked someone to come to the carriage and take some food to the woman.
After giving the silver and food to the woman, Lu Youtian walked towards the eldest son with a silent look on his face, "Let's go." In this situation, the most they could do was give him a bite to eat and some silver. They couldn't do anything more than that.
However, Lu Mingfei felt sad when he saw the woman holding the sesame cake and intending to feed it to the child.
"Let's go, get on the carriage first. It's very dangerous here." Lu Youtian noticed that there were many eyes around watching them. He put his eldest son, who was still stunned there, on the carriage, and quickly got on the carriage himself.
"Walk!"
"drive--"
The driver in front grabbed the reins and whipped the horse's butt. The horse spread its four legs and started running, pulling the carriage.
Only after their carriage had gone far away and the woman on the roadside was out of sight did Lu Mingfei turn to look at his father. "You didn't let me go just now. Have you thought of this possibility?"
"This kind of thing happens a lot out there nowadays. When my father encountered it for the first time, he was also shocked. But after encountering it a few more times, he... got used to it." When he said the three words "got used to it", Lu Youtian's face showed some sadness.
When Lu Mingfei heard his father say these three words, "I'm used to it," his face fell silent.
From then on, until they arrived at their farm, neither the father nor the son got off the carriage again.
But this journey was enough for Lu Mingfei to see the situation outside the city clearly.
Before, he only knew that there were many refugees outside the city, but he didn't know what the situation of these refugees was like. The reality was more shocking and shocking to him than what he heard from others.
Only then did he realize that those who stayed in the city were like living in an ivory tower and were well protected.
"The emperor and his officials should really come out and see what kind of life the people outside the city are living. They should see what kind of suffering ordinary people are going through while they are enjoying peace and prosperity."
"It's a pity that some people are blind even if their eyes are open!" Lu Mingfei smiled and shook his head.
Hearing what his eldest son said, Lu Youtian quickly covered his eldest son's mouth and reminded him: "Ming Fei, you can say this kind of thing in front of your father, but don't say it outside. Got it?"
Lu Mingfei took his father's hand that was covering his mouth and nodded.
Their carriage entered the farm smoothly, and Lu Mingfei followed his father out of the carriage.
Now, in addition to the people they had originally bought back, there were also women who were hired to work in their village, and the last batch was the refugees they had recently taken in. Among these refugees, the children and women were all sent to the mountains to reclaim wasteland, and the only ones left here were the young and strong men.
Compared to the outside world, their village is like a paradise.
Crops are planted in the fields here, and many livestock such as chickens, ducks, fish, geese, etc. are raised. The whole village looks prosperous.
At first glance, there were still quite a few people working in the fields.
If he hadn't encountered what happened outside just now, and hadn't seen with his own eyes so many refugees outside begging for food from passers-by, he would really have thought that the world was as beautiful as what he saw before his eyes.
After walking around with his father and seeing that everything was going well at their farm, Lu Mingfei said to his father, "Dad, don't sell this year's grain, meat products from the workshop, and down jackets. I'll find another way for you to make money."
"Okay." After hearing what his eldest son said, Lu Youtian did not ask the reason, nor did he say that if these things were not sold, they would have no money to pay for the workshop expenses.
Since the eldest son had spoken like this, he believed that the eldest son would definitely have a way to deal with it for him.
…
The father and son stayed at the farm for a while. Lu Mingfei also met several managers here. Then he and his father took a carriage to leave their farm and return to Shihua Village.
A wall has been built outside Shihua Village and the gate into the village is closed.
Perhaps hearing the sound of their carriage approaching, someone on the wall leaned out and called out, "Who's down there?"
"Hu Zi, it's me, your Uncle Youtian." Lu Youtian lifted the car curtain, stuck his head out and shouted to his nephew on the wall.
"It turns out to be Uncle Tian. Wait a minute, we'll open the door right away." The people on the wall heard the sound and knew that it was their uncle who had returned. They quickly asked the people below to open the gate and let the carriage outside into the village.
After the village gate opened, their carriage entered the village.
Lu Mingfei lifted the car window curtain and called out to the people outside: "Wang Xiaohu."
"Hey, Qillang? You are here too?" Wang Xiaohu was surprised to see his friend whom he hadn't seen for a long time.
"Well, my father and I are going to visit the clan leader. We'll come back to see you when we get out." Lu Mingfei said to Wang Xiaohu.
"Okay." Wang Xiaohu responded quickly, "I'm right here. You can see me when you come out."
Wang Xiaohu is the grandson of Village Chief Wang and Lu Mingfei's playmate when they were young.
After growing up, Wang Xiaohu took on the task of guarding the village and protecting all the villagers, which was also a different way of protecting the village.
Lu Mingfei hadn't been back to the village for a long time, so he hadn't seen his childhood friends for a long time. After saying hello to his friends, he asked the driver to drive the carriage inside.
On the way into the village, he lifted the car curtain and looked out. He saw that there were still some elderly people in the village, but there didn't seem to be many children.
When we got to their tribe leader's place and heard him talk, we learned that many women, children, and young men in the village had gone up the mountain. The only ones left in the village were the elderly who were reluctant to leave.
There are mountains behind their village.
When their village was walled, all the roads leading into the village were blocked. The only way into the mountains was through their village, and then up the mountain behind. Otherwise, you had to go around in a big circle to find the way into the mountains.
Talking about the situation outside, Patriarch Lu couldn't help but sigh.
Seeing his grandson coming back, Patriarch Lu looked at the child who had returned to the village and asked, "Mingfei, have you finished the provincial examination?"
"Well, yes, I just finished the exam. I happened to be free today, so I went out with my father to take a look." Lu Mingfei replied.
Upon hearing this, Patriarch Lu nodded. He didn't ask how the provincial examination went, or whether he had passed. He simply told the father and son returning to the village, "Things are not peaceful outside right now. You should stay in the city and don't go out much. I'll call a few people to take you back to the city later."
"No, no, we brought people out." Lu Youtian said.
Knowing that the situation outside was not good, they were about to return to the city. Lu Mingfei glanced at his father and asked someone to bring a box from their carriage.
He had someone put the box on the ground, opened it, and took out a crossbow. He handed it to the old patriarch, "Fifth Master, we brought back a few crossbows. Please distribute them to everyone later. It would be best if we could form a crossbow team and let everyone master the use of crossbows."
"These crossbows are made of iron and can kill people without them even noticing."
"However, it's best not to let the government know about these things." Otherwise, Lu Mingfei would worry that the government would trace the origin of these bows and crossbows and find them. However, he did not mention these words to the old patriarch.
How could Patriarch Lu, who has lived for most of his life, not understand these things?
"Okay, I'll pick out a few people to distribute these bows and crossbows. It's rare that you still care about the villagers." The old patriarch looked at the father and son, feeling comforted. Their clan had a promising young man, and it was rare that this promising young man still cared about the people. It was their good fortune.
After handing the crossbow to the old patriarch, Lu Mingfei and his father said goodbye to the two old men and left the village.
When passing by the village, he gave Wang Xiaohu a newly made miniature crossbow and taught Wang Xiaohu how to use it before leaving the village with his father in a carriage.
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