A Husband Who Traveled Through the Famine and Developed a Chronicle

Chapter 14 Missing
When did Li Xiuyuan see such a scene? When he saw the officer's staring eyes, his face turned pale with fright, and he wanted to cry as soon as his mouth shrunk, but Bai Xia's hand was faster than him, so he covered his mouth with one hand and suppressed the crying sound. Covering everything in the palm of her hand, she calmly replied: "My mother has returned to her family today, and she is not in the village."

The officer looked at her fixedly, then suddenly smiled, and asked, "Where is her natal family?"

"Lin Family Village"

Lin Family Village is also under the jurisdiction of Wu County. The matter of Lin’s birth in Lin Family Village is also recorded in the county government files, but this official is in charge of Li Family Village and does not have a register of Lin Family Village. Hearing this, he laughed and said, “Li Lin Shi is not here, you may decide?"

Bai Xia took a breath and said, "I can"

"very good"

The official took a pen to write on the booklet, and said at the same time: "Your family has three acres of paddy fields and one mu of dry land. Each mu should produce two hundred catties of grain, a total of eight hundred catties. Forty percent of the grain tax is calculated as 320 catties of grain. An extra 350 catties per head will be charged, and [-] catties for three people. This time the food tax is [-] catties in total. You have to wait five days to make the preparations and pay the food on time."

350 catties, is this a robbery?
Bai Xia dared not speak out, and didn't look at the previous counting, although every family looked like their parents were dead, but someone spoke out.

Didn't even dare to intercede.

Just because the knives in the hands of the other two servants behind this official were already out of their sheaths, they were waiting for someone who was ahead of them to let him kill the chickens to make an example to the monkeys. No one was a fool and felt that they would not dare to kill people.

The county magistrate dared to let them collect the grain in advance, thinking that the people would not cooperate obediently. At this time, he wished that someone would jump out to object or plead for mercy.

"Can you hear me clearly?"

Seeing that Bai Xia hadn't spoken for a long time, the officer repeated.

"Understand"

Bai Xia lowered her head, and squeezed Li Xiuyuan's hand tightly with the other hand, Li Xiuyuan's tears fell even more fiercely after being squeezed so painfully.

"Just listen, go and wait"

After speaking, I called the next one.

Bai Xia brought Li Xiu Yuan back to the crowd, there were hundreds of people, but they didn't make a sound.

The younger ones didn't know what happened, they were only led by the adults, restrained from crying or talking, the older ones were already sensible, and naturally heard what the officials said, knowing that they had to pay the government. At this moment, they were all pale, looking at the officials in horror.

Standing in the crowd, Bai Xia didn't stand alone.

Soon, the officials finished counting the heads and called the village chief aside: "After five days, prepare the food according to what I said. Remember, you can't lose a catty. This is going to be sent to the frontier. If something goes wrong, don't say anything." It’s you, even if it’s me, I can’t keep my head.”

"Yes, yes, sir, the little old man must let everyone raise food"

The village chief's face was pale and his body was shaking.

Seeing him frightened like this, the officials ignored him, and led the people away with the booklet he had memorized.

"God, this is not giving us a way out"

"How can we live with more than 700 catties of grain?"

"Village chief, please go and ask the county magistrate, we really can't afford so much food."

"It's not raining today, and the crops in the field are all dying of drought. How can we get food to hand over?"

When the official sent them away, everyone couldn't hold back any longer. Their legs went limp, and they sat on the ground and cried. They were all in mourning. Bai Xia let go of Li Xiuyuan's mouth. His face had been covered by Bai Xia. His hands were flushed red, and he was crying so much at the moment.

The adults cried, and even though the children didn't know what happened, they cried too.

The cries of hundreds of people buzzed in Bai Xia's ears, making her brain ache from the noise.

She sighed, seeing that the village chief also looked helpless, so she could only hold Li Xiuyuan's hand and go back home first.

On the other side, after the official sent back, he began to send people to check on Lin's whereabouts.

First, I asked the official who went to Linjiacun to inquire, and said that I didn't see anyone, and then asked other people, and said that I did see Lin's going to Linjiacun, but this person disappeared strangely.

As for this news, Li Xiuyuan and Bai Xia who returned home didn't know anything about it.

As soon as she got home, Bai Xia started to pack her things, completely ignoring Li Xiu Yuan who was still crying in shock.

Li Xiuyuan was tired from crying, and while hiccupping, he asked, "Three, hiccup, hey, hiccup, what are you doing, hiccup, what?"

Bai Xia put away all the things she could bring, and sat down on the ground. When she heard his question, she didn't answer. Instead, she got up and walked towards the kitchen, holding a kitchen knife and walking towards the pigsty.

She had to kill the pig.

Taking advantage of the water still available in the village, the pigs are cleaned up and made into jerky.

More than 300 catties of nearly [-] catties of grain, even if they sold their whole family, it was impossible to get them out, and there was almost no other way but to escape.

She prepared first, and they set off when Mrs. Lin came back.

With the five-day deadline, other villagers must still be trying to find ways to raise food. The manpower and material resources of the government are limited, and no one would have thought that some people would flee on the first day. If feelings are not pushed to a dead end, they will not choose to leave their hometown.

Everyone's life is difficult, and most of the food can't be made up.

They will definitely not sit still, they will find someone to intercede with the county government.

I didn’t dare to ask in front of the officials, because there were too many people. When there were few people, I went to the county magistrate with respected elders to cry and beg. Maybe I couldn’t pay less or extend the time limit.

But other people can wait, but their family can't wait.

If the crops in the field can be harvested, there is still some hope, but the weather is obviously abnormal, and it doesn't look like it is going to rain.

The crops in that field were basically dead. Without food, they would naturally not be able to pay the food tax, and their family would have no way to survive.

She has just worn it not long ago, and she has never lived a good life. She doesn't want to die.

Pig-killing knives are usually specially made, and the kitchen knife in Bai Xia's hand is not suitable for killing pigs, but she can't care less about it.

"Hey, don't be afraid, you'll be fine soon"

She held the kitchen knife in her right hand and touched the pig's head with her left hand, coaxing it like a child.

The tone was very gentle, but the strike was quick and ruthless.

She threw away the kitchen knife and took out a hammer to hit the head of the howling pig on the ground. The pig's cry suddenly became shrill, and it fell from the ground after not eating for two days because of the pain. run away.

The screams of the pig startled Li Xiuyuan, who ran to the pigsty in a panic, and saw a scene he would never forget.

A girl in coarse clothes with hair like a chicken coop, holding a hammer about the size of her palm, riding on the back of a half-sized pig, grabbing the pig's ears with one hand, and hitting the pig hard with the other hand with a pig's head.

The pig screamed after being hit, and finally fell powerlessly to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Go get the basin"

Bai Xia looked at Li Xiuyuan outside the pigsty, his eyes were bloodshot, and his body was dripping with sweat. Li Xiuyuan backed away in fright, then stumbled towards the kitchen.

(End of this chapter)