In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 211 Fortunately

"of course it's true."

Liu Yan answered confidently, "Two meals a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Eat as much as you can, as long as you don't secretly bring it home."

that's nice!

The three women thought to themselves that two meals of steamed buns a day was a luxury they had never dared to dream of before, when they could only eat bran and occasionally sorghum flour.

This made the three of them even more grateful that they had chosen to marry into Chenjia Village, otherwise... how could they have such a life of eating well and having enough to eat every day!

…………

…………

Liu Qiaoshou was once a carpenter, as was his father. The reason he was named Liu Qiaoshou was in the hope that he would inherit the carpentry craft.

Liu Qiaoshou did not disappoint her father's expectations. She learned most of her father's carpentry skills and became a well-known carpenter in Liangshan Prefecture-Nanling County.

Although the status of craftsmen in Xia Kingdom was not high, they were not looked down upon either. Relying on the carpentry skills passed down from his father, Liu Qiaoshou used to live a very comfortable life. He not only found a wife, but she also gave birth to a son and a daughter for him. He had both a son and a daughter, which could be considered a happy life.

Liu Qiaoshou used to think that she would spend her whole life working with wood. Although she wasn't rich, she lived a decent life. At least she had a skill and wouldn't lack food or drink.

But fate was unkind. With the arrival of a cold snap, crops throughout Liangzhou suffered severe losses, and the people's lives became increasingly difficult...

Naturally, fewer and fewer people sought out Liu Qiaoshou for work. After all, most carpenters these days earned their living by making furniture for others, and when people ran out of money, they naturally stopped thinking about furnishing their homes.

Without furniture orders, life became increasingly difficult for Liu Qiaoshou's family, who had to tighten their belts and rely on their savings to make ends meet.

If that's all there is to it, Liu Qiaoshou's family can still manage. As long as they rely on their savings to weather the winter disaster, their lives will naturally improve.

but……

The corrupt court had no intention of giving the people any way to survive, especially with the entire Liangzhou region suffering near-total crop failure...

That damned imperial court actually wants to conscript men and increase taxes!

In Nanling County, where Liu Qiaoshou lived, the tax increase was much harsher than in Taiping County. Every household had to send one able-bodied man to join the army and pay one shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain. If they were unwilling to send an able-bodied man, they had to pay two shi of grain...

Heaven have mercy, the people of Liangzhou don't know where their food rations will come from tomorrow, let alone the grain they will have to hand over.

It's not hard to imagine that over 90% of the people in Liangzhou couldn't pay taxes.

The consequences of not being able to pay taxes...

Either the whole family is conscripted into the army, or the whole family is imprisoned, or the whole family is forcibly sent to perform forced labor...

None of these options were acceptable to the people of Liangzhou, so... the people had no choice but to find another way to survive.

Some people chose to abandon their land and send their whole family to the city to beg for food. Others chose to sell themselves to wealthy families as servants. Still others, like Liu Qiaoshou, chose to run away and flee to Qingzhou!

Indeed, Liu Qiaoshou fled from Liangzhou to Qingzhou. After packing up his valuables and the little food he had left, Liu Qiaoshou set off for Qingzhou with his wife, son, and daughter.

Even now, Liu Qiaoshou still remembers how difficult his escape was. Along the way, he and his wife endured countless hardships. The little food they had had to be given to their two children, while the two adults could only eat a small amount of food each day to survive...

Even more terrifying, Liu Qiaoshou had witnessed cannibalism firsthand!

On the official road where refugees were fleeing, a man happened to have starved to death on the ground. The other starving refugees immediately swarmed around him and devoured him...

Upon witnessing this scene, Liu Qiaoshou felt a chill run down his spine. He quickly covered the eyes of the two children and, together with his wife, fled the place as if they were escaping!

Liu Qiaoshou was ultimately lucky. With her meager food supplies and wild vegetables she found along the way, her family arrived safely outside Taiping County.

But he was also unfortunate, because after arriving in Taiping County, he was not able to live the life of having enough to eat that he had imagined. Instead, he could not even enter the county town and could only stay outside the town, surviving on the little bit of porridge that was distributed. Moreover, the porridge was even less than what everyone could get. The government distributed very little porridge every day, and only strong and healthy men had a chance to grab a portion.

Fortunately, Liu Qiaoshou, having worked as a carpenter for many years, is still quite strong despite being nearly forty. She manages to get a bowl of porridge every day for the four members of her family.

That bowl of porridge alone was clearly not enough to fill the stomachs of four people; it could only keep them from starving...

For days, Liu Qiaoshou's wife and two children have been lying in the simple shed almost every day, too weak to even move. Liu Qiaoshou himself is no exception; apart from the time the government provides porridge each day, he can only stay in the house and try to minimize his energy expenditure.

"Father, mother!"

Liu Qiaoshou's youngest daughter lay on the hard, uncomfortable wooden board, her eyes vacant as she cried out, "I'm so hungry!"

"I'm so hungry!"

The eldest son also spoke weakly, staring blankly at the ceiling, as if hoping that something to eat would fall from the ceiling.

"The boss."

Hearing the voices of her two children, the wife looked at Liu Qiaoshou and said sadly, "Is it time for the government to distribute porridge?"

"not yet!"

Liu Qiaoshou glanced at the sun's height through the cracks in the wooden planks of the shed, her face full of helplessness. The government's meal service time was Chenshi (7-9 am) every day, but now... the sun had just risen, and there was still some time before Chenshi.

"When will this day end?"

Liu Qiaoshou's wife, Qi Hua, choked up, feeling as if a fire was burning in her stomach, and she couldn't muster any strength at all.

Sometimes she even thought that she might as well die sooner, at least then she wouldn't have to suffer this pain.

only……

Whenever Qi Hua sees her two children, she puts aside the thought and strengthens her resolve to live.

The two children are still young, and if I leave, they will probably have a hard time surviving.

Even for the sake of her child, Qi Hua had to live on with strength.

"Ugh!"

Liu Qiaoshou sighed softly, feeling extremely tired. He also wondered when this kind of life would end, but unfortunately...

No one could give him the answer, and he couldn't see what the future would hold!

"Boom boom boom!"

Just then, there was a knock on the wooden door of the simple shed, and a voice that Liu Qiaoshou found somewhat familiar came from outside.

"Quickly open the door, skilled hands! The officials have arrived!"