I really don't want to be a novelist

Chapter 435 Never let go of everything

It was already dark when young Gerrit and Howth returned to the village.

The village was not as quiet as before at night.

Several village residents were whispering on the side of the road, saying the same thing with some fear.

original,

Last night, because of hunger, a woman in the village rushed into Mr. Raleigh's sheep pen.
A lamb was caught.

Then today, he was discovered by someone who shepherded Mr. Raleigh's sheep.

In the evening, Mr. Raleigh's people rushed into every household in the village to check.

Finally, traces were found in the woman's house.

The residents of these villages were talking about the woman's tragic situation at the moment in some horror,

During the conversation, there were also residents in the village who were chanting prayers.

Just heard the news,

Little Gerrit's head seemed to explode suddenly, and it was blank.

He was worried about the meat Leina brought last night,
Hearing this matter now, he could only think of the meat Leina gave him last night.

"Being beaten so badly... Both legs and hands were broken, but she was not beaten to death directly, and she was left lying on the ground in the yard..."

"My merciful Lord, forgive her sins..."

Seeing someone passing by, the talking resident suddenly fell silent.

At this time, little Gretel had gone crazy and ran out,

Running in the direction of Leina's house,
Hoss looked at little Gerrit and ran forward, followed by two steps, then paused again,
I just turned around and asked the person next to me who spoke earlier,

"You just said, who is it?"

……

Filled with horror, the scene when Leiina gave her meat last night kept echoing in her mind,

It was the same as what the villager described just now, the tragedy of the man who stole the sheep was beaten.

Little Gretel ran all the way to Leina's house.

"Leina!"

Little Gerrit yelled in fear, he was afraid to see Leina lying dying on the side of the road, covered in blood.

But he was already at Leina's house,

Immediately afterwards, little Gerrit stopped his feet and stopped speaking.
Because he saw a figure sitting in front of the house door, and when he heard his shout, that figure had already stood up from the door.

It was Leina who saw little Gerrit hurried over and called her.

"Little Gretel, what's the matter?"

Leina's face still bears some small wounds that little Gerrit saw last night,
But Leina who stood up was obviously not as miserable as the village described earlier.

"I thought . . . I heard just now that someone stole Mr. Rowley's sheep and had their limbs broken."

Little Gretel looked at Leina and said, still a little nervous.

Leina looked at little Gretel, smiled, and went a little further,
"So you feel that the meat I gave you was a sheep stolen from Mr. Raleigh's family."

"But you forgot, what I gave you was not mutton."

"I forgot……"

Little Gerrit opened his mouth,

The fear that filled his heart just now made him ignore these things,

However, even though Leina wasn't the one who stole the sheep, Little Gerrit still looked at Leina with some concern.

"Then...Leina, where did the meat you gave me come from?"

Little Gerrit asked again.

Leina turned her head, looked to the side, and whispered the answer to little Gerrit.

"A pheasant I caught in the woods."

Little Gerrit opened his eyes wide, and looked back to the side of the village,
Outside the village, to be precise, in the direction of the village cemetery, there is a dense forest.

But that forest does not belong to the inhabitants of this village,
It belongs to the nobles and churches in the town.

That's why his grandfather, Medioc, met the knight out hunting.

And if it was discovered that Leina was poaching the prey in that forest, Leina would only be punished more cruelly than what little Gerrit had just heard.

That is something that belongs to the church, to God.

"Don't worry, little Gerrit, you won't be found out."

Leina smiled and said to Little Gretel.

Little Gretel looked at Leina, still worried, but he didn't speak.

"Okay, little Gerrit, you go back. Your father Hoss should be worried."

Leina said to Little Gretel again.

Little Gretel looked back at Leina several times, seeing Leina still standing in the yard,

Gradually, little Gerrit also went away and returned home.

……

the next day.

Only then did Little Gerrit know that it was Aunt Tima who stole Mr. Raleigh's lamb.

Aunt Tima was older.

The [-]% of the food collected by the church before took away all the remaining food from their family, and it was not even enough.

Aunt Tima's husband and son, in order to survive, became soldiers of the king and the church to participate in the war against neighboring countries.

Aunt Tima was left alone in an empty house without any food, facing a field that could not be plowed and could only be harvested after two months.

Earlier, Mr. Raleigh came to buy land. For some reason, Aunt Tima didn’t sell all of her land to Mr. Raleigh.

She just sold part of it in exchange for a small amount of food.

And obviously, that little food can't keep her alive for long.

When Mr. Raleigh's family recruited servants, Aunt Tima was not selected because she was too old.

Other things in the process, are less clear.

All I know is that the night before, Aunt Tima took advantage of the darkness to steal the lamb from Mr. Raleigh's house.
Aunt Tima didn't even light a fire when she ate at night to avoid detection.

But the next day, Mr. Raleigh's people rushed into every house without any scruples, searched every place,
No matter how well Aunt Tima hid, many traces were found.

And probably in order to dissuade the hungry residents of the village from having the same thoughts as Aunt Tima,

They taught Aunt Tima a cruel lesson.

Aunt Tima, whose limbs were broken, was lying in front of her house, dying, and did not die until the next morning.

After that, the church also heard the trial of Aunt Tima,

Because of Aunt Tima's serious sin, she cannot return to the bosom of the Lord even after she dies.

Other residents of the village were not allowed to erect a headstone belonging to a devout believer on her grave.

Before leaving for school in the morning,
Little Gerrit asked Hoss to take him to the grave where Aunt Tima was buried.

Like the Medioc grandfather before him,
Tima's tomb stands a little far from the village cemetery, standing alone, and there is no tombstone.

"Father……"

Looking at the tomb, little Gerrit was silent for a long time,
Then he turned his head and looked at his father Hoss, wanting to ask something, but in the end he just yelled.

For some questions, he already has answers in his heart,

But these answers also brought him more doubts.

……

In the text,

Time began to pass day by day.

Relying on the only food left at home, and some wild grass or wild vegetables that Huos managed to get,
Little Gerrit and Haws barely survived.

In addition to going to school to study every day, little Gerrit would also go to Dr. Monk's to work every afternoon until the evening before returning home with his father Huss.

There is not so much farm work in the farmland with only five fields left. Father Hoss still comes to town to work most of the time,

Little Grit's income from Dr. Monk's place has basically been fixed, ten copper coins a day, and his father Hoss has a little more income than Jr. Grit.

But the income of the two still cannot keep up with the speed of rising food prices.

And more often than not, even if Little Gerrit and Howth wanted to use their daily income in exchange for a small amount of food, they couldn't buy it.

Grain stores in cities and towns are seldom open, and if they open occasionally, the food provided that day will be quickly robbed by people.

For such a long time, little Gerrit and Hoss bought grain only once,
And the food they bought was just a drop in the bucket, enough for little Gerrit and Howth to eat for a day.

As Father Hoss said,
The further you get to the back, the harder it is.

At the beginning, I was not hungry for a while after eating such a small amount of food.

But later, after eating a little more, I feel hungrier than before.

most of the time,
Little Gerrit was strangling his stomach with a hemp rope. He was really hungry and didn't have time to eat, so he drank more water.

Little Gerrit's studies may also have been affected by hunger.

When you are very hungry, you can only think about food and feel hunger.

Even though little Gerrit wanted to learn, the speed of learning just slowed down a lot.

And in the village.

There are also things going on.

Leina is still alive, probably as before,
She sneaked into the forest at night to find some food and managed to survive.

But, inevitably, there were more wounds on his body.

Little Gretel didn't know why Leina changed her mind,
Before, the desperate and numb Leina was only willing to wait for death, and then return to the embrace of the Lord,
But now, he is willing to survive and violate the church's laws.

Was it because of what he said to Leina earlier?

Still don't have to.

And after that,
Leina also sent little Gretel meat several times during the night, probably some pheasant or some kind of bird meat.

It's just that the previous diarrhea made little Gerrit eat a little every time even if he craved it.
Hope Leina eats too.

Except Leina,
Another thing happened in the village,
in the village,
Those women who were left alone at home, and not chosen by Mr. Raleigh to be servants, still belonged to their fields,

The original crops are still growing vigorously, and some weeds that should have been in the field always disappear after one night.

For this matter,

Grandpa Burton's explanation is, 'The merciful Lord has pity on those poor people, giving them merciful care and grace. '

But at this time, this sentence is already like a joke.

Every woman who goes out into the fields at night knows what's going on.

In addition,

It is the sheep raised by Mr. Raleigh's family.

Probably because of the tragic situation that Aunt Tima suffered before, no one behind, no matter how hungry they were, dared to do the same thing - stealing sheep from Mr. Raleigh's house.

And those sheep, as time passed, grew up a little bit, and the wool became longer a little bit.

In contrast,

Probably the residents of the village.

Because of hunger, the bodies of the residents in the village became thinner and thinner visible to the naked eye.

The worst thing is that there is only a layer of rough and yellow skin left, stretched on the dry bones.

At the same time, not everyone was as lucky as Leina to survive.

There are many people who are gradually starved to death.

In the beginning, it was the oldest women who were abandoned.

Often after a few days of death, it starts to stink before being found dead in a room with the door tightly closed.

at the beginning,
Every time someone died, Grandpa Burton would organize people to take them to the village cemetery for burial.

But later, with the hunger, the residents in the village had no strength, and the work became slower and slower.

Often it is because the smell is too unbearable, so they are buried hastily.

If it wasn't so smelly, the house of the dead would be a tomb.

……

The time passed like this.

The grain in the fields is finally coming to the harvest season, and the two months of hunger are finally coming to an end.

In some villages, many residents who suffer from hunger have already started harvesting before the grain in the fields is fully ripe.

Aunt Leina also negotiated with Hoss to ask Hoss to help harvest the grain in her field when it was time to harvest.

Except for the [-]% that needs to be paid to the church and the king, the rest is only enough for her to eat until the next harvest, and the rest is given to Hoss and little Gerrit who helped harvest.

And most of the women in the village who were still living alone at this time also made similar decisions and asked different people for help.

No one took care of it before, and the grain in the field was still growing normally, which can be said to be a blessing from God.

Say a tacit explanation.

But no one harvested, and the grain in the field was harvested by itself, which can only be called a miracle.

everything,
Seems to be finally starting to get better,
Even if [-]% of the food needs to be paid to the king and the church, the rest will always allow the villagers to survive the hunger during this period.

Little Gerrit is also looking forward to the arrival of this day,

He just hoped that in the evening after harvesting the grain, he could have an extra brown bread for dinner.

"...Little Gretel, what are you thinking?"

At school, Imoen, a classmate, called out to little Gretel again,
Little Gerrit came back to his senses, shook his head,

"No."

Then he tightened his clothes and pressed his stomach, and little Gerrit continued to study.

……

"...Doctor Monk. Can I take a little less salary and change the salary from copper coins to food."

In the evening, leaving Dr. Monk's consulting room, Gerrit Jr. repeated the request he had already made.

Little Gerrit had mentioned this matter to Dr. Monk several times since he found out that there was no food to buy in the town.

But each time Dr. Monk refused.

"Little Gerrit, what are you thinking about? A little less salary? Your current salary is what I give you extra. If you want a little less, you can do it. As for changing to food, this is your own business, don't come trouble me."

Dr. Monk unceremoniously rejected Jr. Gerrit's request again.

"Doctor Monk, I need some food. I have no food to eat, and there will be a lot of work to be done."

"Ha, then when you can't finish the work, I'll change an assistant. Didn't you see the dead body outside the clinic? Want to take advantage of me? If you have no strength, I can have someone throw you out .”

Doctor Monk said again.

Little Gerrit was about to leave.

"...Take it, and get the hell out of here now."

At this time, Dr. Monk took out two pieces of black bread from the next hut, and handed them to Little Gerrit.

Little Gerrit looked up,
"Thank you Dr. Monk, you are a kind man!"

"Huh? Am I merciful? Go away. I've already given you food, and you still want to ask me for salary?"

Doctor Monk laughed, then cursed.

Little Gerrit shook his head,

Then he took the food and quickly left the consulting room.

After leaving the consulting room, little Gerrit saw the figure of his father Hoss,

Hurrying over, Little Gerrit picked up the black bread in his hand, with a smile on his face,

Regardless of Dr. Monk's thoughts, he did exchange his salary for food today.

"Father, Hoth, look...we have dinner tonight."

Little Gerrit said to his father Hoss with a smile.

Father Hoss smiled as usual,

"Is this what you get paid for your work?"

"Yes, Howth."

"Well, let's go back then."

"it is good."

Father Hoss held little Gerrit in his arms, and little Gerrit held the black bread in his hand.

As usual, the two left the town and walked towards the village.

Everything seems to be getting better.

But obviously,
None of this spared little Gerrit in hunger.

(End of this chapter)