There is a kang in the house, and I finally don’t feel so cold when I sleep at night.
In the summer, when there was nothing else to do at home, he would set up his easel and paint for a while whenever he had time.
For several days, Chen Nian took Mu Feng, Mu Lin and others to the villages outside the city to check on the lives of the people there.
There was a drought last year. Although this year's drought is not as severe as last year, it will still take time to fully recover.
Fortunately, although the winter in the south is cold, we can still grow cabbage, rapeseed and other vegetables in the fields, so there is no shortage of green vegetables to eat.
On the way back to the city, Shen Nian saw an old man working in the fields and went over to talk to him.
"Old man, the weather is so cold, why don't you go home earlier?"
The old man raised his head and looked at Shen Nian and the others. He didn't know what they were doing. He didn't say anything and lowered his head to continue tending to the vegetables in the vegetable garden.
Seeing that the old man ignored them, Mu Feng took two steps forward and asked again in a softer voice, "Old man, we have no ill intentions. We just saw that you were still working in the fields so late, so we asked."
The old man put down the rotten leaves in his hand, patted the dirt off his hands and said, "I want to pick these vegetables and sell them in the city tomorrow. I'll pick a few today and come early tomorrow to pick them, otherwise I won't be able to catch them."
"How many people are there in your family, old man?" Chen Nian asked, "Why don't I see anyone else? Where are your children?"
Shen Nian looked at the old man alone in such a large piece of land, and saw no children coming over, so he asked curiously.
The old man looks to be in his sixties or seventies. Normally, people of such an age should be enjoying their lives at home, and the younger generations in the family would not let the old man work in the fields at such an old age.
Unless they are particularly unfilial.
But in the Dagan Dynasty, such unfilial children basically did not exist, because the government would punish those who were unfilial.
Therefore, children generally dare not be disrespectful to their parents.
"I have three sons. Two of them fled the famine last year and haven't come back yet. One went to work in the city. So there are only me, my wife, and my two little grandsons left at home."
The old man probably saw that they had no ill intentions, so he started talking more.
It was still early for the city gate to close, so Shen Nian thought about going out and simply visiting the old man's house.
"Old man, we happened to be passing by here. Can we go to your house and ask for a bowl of water?"
The old man hesitated, but seeing that they didn't look like bad people and were well dressed, he agreed and said, "Let's go. My house is not far ahead."
The old man came up from the field, brushed the dirt off his clothes, picked up the shoulder pole beside him, and walked towards his home with Shen Nian and the others.
Mu Feng took the carrying pole very attentively, picked up the basket on the edge of the ground and followed.
The old man was still embarrassed, but seeing that Mu Feng insisted, he didn't say anything and just led the way.
Shen Nian looked at the old man walking in front of him, with gray hair and thin clothes, and felt a little sad.
When we arrived at the old man's house, we felt even more uncomfortable when we saw the bare thatched house.
"Old man, didn't the government distribute relief grain during last year's drought? Why did your two sons flee the famine?"
From the account records he saw, the court allocated a lot of disaster relief grain. Although it was impossible to feed everyone, drinking porridge would at least allow them to wait until the drought was over.
Besides, it's impossible that ordinary people don't have any food stored at home, right? They should be able to hold on for a few months.
However, many of these refugees began fleeing famine as soon as the autumn harvest began, and some may have started even earlier.
"The little food the government distributes is not enough to eat. There's nothing we can do. We can't just stay home and wait to starve to death, right?" The old man sighed. "The only way to survive is to go out."
Shen Nian was silent, that was true.
But Linzhou is a land of fish and rice. If even the people here have to flee famine, wouldn’t the people in other places be even more miserable?
"Then why didn't you follow your sons to escape the famine?"
It should be rare to see a son leaving his elderly parents behind to escape famine, right?
"Alas! My wife and I are not in good health. We would be a burden if we go out. So we thought of letting them go and we stay. This way it will be easier for them."
The old man wiped his eyes quietly when he talked about his two sons who fled famine.
Shen Nian was surprised. The old man just said that he had three sons, but only two of them went out to escape the famine, and one stayed at home.
Why didn't that one go?
"Old man, don't you have a son? Why didn't he go?" Shen Nian couldn't help but asked.
"Oh, the second son?" The old man sighed. "My second son had some difficulty walking, so he stayed with the two of us old people and our two little grandsons. Fortunately, they all survived."
Only after he finished speaking did the old man smile a little.
Shen Nian looked at the two five or six-year-old children peeking out of the kitchen door, his dark eyes secretly looking in their direction.
Shen Nian waved, “Kid, come here.”
The two children saw that they had been discovered and ran into the kitchen.
The old man smiled at Chen Nian sheepishly, "The child is a little shy, please don't be offended, young master."
As he said this, he called his two little grandsons over.
When the two children heard their grandfather calling them, they slowly moved over and leaned in the old man's arms.
Shen Nian reached out and touched the clothes on the two people’s arms. It was a thin layer and not warm at all.
After seeing the situation at home, he didn't ask why they didn't dress warmly.
"Old man, can I go inside the house and take a look?" Shen Nian asked the old man for his opinion.
They were sitting in the yard at the moment. From the outside, the thatched house looked rather dilapidated, and they didn't know what the situation was like inside.
The old man nodded. He had nothing at home anyway, so he wasn't afraid of people worrying about him.
"Sir, please watch if you want!"
Shen Nian stood up and went to the main hall and the room where the old man lived. There was a shabby wooden bed with a thin mattress on it and a thin and hard quilt. It must have not been changed for many years.
Apart from the bed, there were only shabby tables and benches, and no decent furniture.
Shen Nian turned around a little and came out.
When they left, they asked Mu Feng to leave all the uneaten dry food in the carriage for the old man.
Then he said goodbye and left.
On the way back to the city, Shen Nian felt heavy-hearted. The lives of the people were more difficult than he had imagined.
They are wearing such thin clothes and the bedding at home is not warm at all. If they don’t eat well and wear warm clothes this winter, they don’t know if they can survive.
Especially the elderly and children find it even more difficult to survive in such an environment.
But this is not a problem for one or two companies. If he wants to solve this problem, he cannot rely on his own funding. That will always be a drop in the bucket.
The imperial court had already allocated a lot of grain and silver for disaster relief, so it probably wouldn't work just relying on the imperial court's funding.
Shen Nian was a little worried for a moment!
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