Jiuxi

Chapter 1010 [Human World]

As time enters October, the bleak autumn wind sweeps across the northern land, adding a sense of desolation and solemnity.

Lingzhou is the northwestern gateway of Da Qi, and further north is the territory of Jing State.

The Jing River runs through Lingzhou, nourishing a rich and precious plain on the south bank. This place is known as the granary of the northwest.

The weather was good this year, and there were no Jinglian people who imposed heavy taxes. The powerful officials in the state were submissive and obedient under the control of the King of Qin. In addition, the court sent a group of smart, capable and compassionate officials, which finally made the people who had been bullied in the past twenty years smile.

Life is still very poor, but at least it gives people hope.

Five or six miles northeast of Linchuan County, Dongqing Prefecture, there is a village with more than 100 households, named Dujia Village, where all the villagers are surnamed Du. A hundred years ago, the ancestors of the Du family settled here, and after several generations of reproduction and development, the village finally reached its current size.

It is now the slack season for farming. In previous years, at this time of year, the villagers would either be conscripted by the Jinglian people for labor service or go to the county town to find some work to supplement their family income.

On the surface, this year seems to be the same. Those left in the village are the elderly, the weak, women and children. However, if you look closely, you can find some differences. There is a bit more vitality on their faces.

In a field outside the village, a grandparent and grandchild were picking up dead wood. The old man was probably in his fifties, with a hunched body and wrinkled face, all marked by the traces of time and wind and frost.

He piled up the dead firewood picked up by his granddaughter, and then tied them up with a hemp rope with skillful movements.

The little girl was about twelve or thirteen years old. Her dry and yellow hair was tied into a ponytail and her cheeks were sallow. She was obviously thin due to malnutrition, but she refused to stop and rest. She worked hard to find dry firewood and give it to her grandfather.

The old man tied up a pile of firewood, turned around and saw the little girl standing there blankly, so he shouted, "Ni'er, are you tired?"

The little girl shook her head, pointed to a place not far away and said, "Grandpa, look."

The old man looked over, his expression suddenly changed, and he hurried over to hold the little girl's hand.

I saw a group of people coming on the dirt road a few dozen steps away from them. A rough count showed that there were about 20 to 30 of them. Except for a few men standing in the front, the people behind were all leading tall horses. It was obvious at a glance that they were not ordinary people.

The old man had lived for fifty-two years, and had only seen such a scene from a distance when the Jinglian cavalry was heading towards Linchuan County along this dirt road.

"Nell, go home quickly."

The old man panicked instantly and subconsciously told the little girl to run away, but he didn't know how to respond.

At this moment, the group of people on the opposite side also noticed the fear of the grandfather and grandson, and one of the young men shouted: "Don't be afraid, old man, we are not thieves."

The old man was skeptical, but the other party had already walked over. He and his young granddaughter couldn't run away even if they wanted to, so he suppressed his fear and smiled apologetically, "Are you asking for directions, sir?"

The people who came in front of him were the young man and a middle-aged man. Although the old man had never seen the world, he knew that the other party was definitely not an ordinary person.

The young man smiled and said, "Yes, I would like to ask you, old man, how far is this place from Linchuan County?"

"Not far, not far."

The old woman relaxed a little, but still held her granddaughter's hand tightly, nodded and said, "In reply to your question, continue west along this dirt road, and you will reach the county town in five or six miles."

"Thank you, husband."

The young man glanced at the village in the distance and asked, "Is that the village where my father-in-law lives? What's the name of the village?"

Seeing that he seemed to have no intention of leaving, the old man could not help but become nervous again and replied: "Yes, that is called Dujia Village."

The young man nodded slightly, and when he looked down, he saw that the old man and the little girl were barefoot and wearing straw sandals. Their linen clothes had been washed so long that they turned white. So he asked more gently, "What's your name, father-in-law?"

The old man said cautiously: "In reply to your words, my name is Du Wang, and this is my granddaughter, Du Ni'er."

The little girl shrank timidly behind the old man, occasionally glancing at this young man with extraordinary bearing and good looks, but quickly looked away, not daring to look any longer and attract his attention.

She naturally didn't know that this young man was the world-famous King of Qin.

Lu Chen understood the anxiety and uneasiness of the grandfather and grandson, so he gently comforted them, "Don't panic, old man. We are not bad people. Have you heard about the new policy that the court is implementing?"

The old man felt relieved and replied, "I heard that. The county officials came to the village and told me about it."

"It's good to have heard it."

Lu Chen smiled and said, "We are officials sent by the court to visit the various states to see if the new policies have achieved any results."

He knew clearly that if he did not reveal a legitimate identity, these simple people would probably not dare to stay.

As expected, although Du Wang didn't know how high-ranking these strangers were, he thought that no one would dare to pretend to be an official from Beijing, and the other party had no ill intentions from beginning to end. He had lived for decades and had some insight, so he humbly said, "So you are the lord from Beijing. I will kowtow to you now."

As he said this, he pulled the little girl to kneel down.

Lu Chen reached out his hand to help them up, shaking his head and said, "Don't be so polite, father-in-law. If it is convenient, can you take us to Dujia Village for a visit?" Du Wang dared not refuse, and nodded quickly. Then he was about to pick up the dead firewood he had picked up with great difficulty, but found that a young man who looked very strong had come over and took the initiative to pick up the two bundles of dead firewood.

As the group walked forward, Lu Chen asked, "Old man, you picked up these dead firewood to keep warm in the winter, right?"

Du Wang shook his head and said, "Don't be afraid of being laughed at by the nobles. We are not willing to burn firewood for the winter. We can sell this firewood in the county town for twenty coins."

Lu Chen looked at the smile that came from the heart on his old face, then glanced at the straw sandals on the little girl's feet, and couldn't help but fall silent.

Yuchi Gui, who was walking on the other side, did not speak, because he knew very well that this was the real life of a poor person.

As for how they survive the cold winter, they can only reduce going out as much as possible and just tough it out.

Dujia Village is not big, with a bumpy dirt road in the middle, some mud brick houses and many thatched houses scattered on both sides.

Suddenly a group of strangers, who were either rich or noble, came in. The old, weak, women and children in the village were trembling with fear. They did not even stop to watch and hid back in their own houses.

The autumn wind blew, and a gust of dust blew in my face.

Lu Chen walked forward in silence, and soon arrived at Old Man Du's house.

The so-called home is actually just a row of three dilapidated earthen houses.

Since coming to this world, Lu Chen has lived a rich and comfortable life. His food, clothing, housing and transportation are all taken care of by others, so he does not need to worry at all. At most, he has to go through a hard time when leading his troops to war, but this does not mean that he has no understanding of the real world.

He had watched a lot of video materials in his previous life, so even if he had not experienced it personally, he knew the true meaning of the word poverty.

"My Lord, this..."

Du Wang rubbed his hands nervously. The room could be described as bare and there was not even a decent chair in the cramped space.

"It's okay. I'm not that delicate. Why don't you just sit in the yard for a while?"

Lu Chen forced a smile and walked outside. The yard was just a fence around the house. There was a wooden frame in the corner, and underneath was the family's stove.

Du Wang quickly asked the little girl to take out the cleanest bowl in the house and poured a bowl of cold water - people in this era basically did not drink hot water because they were reluctant to burn firewood.

But when he came to Lu Chen, he was in trouble. This young man must be someone extraordinary, so how could he let him drink such cold water?

Lu Chen took it on his own initiative and sat down on the ground. Yuchi Gui and the other guards followed suit.

"Father, sit down and have a chat."

Lu Chen's kind attitude finally reassured Du Wang, and he took the little girl and sat down not far away.

"Are you the only two people in the family now?"

"In reply to your words, my wife died of illness fifteen years ago. She had two sons. Two years after the eldest son got married, when Ni'er was just born, he was captured by the bandits and forced to do forced labor. He died in the mines. Not long after hearing the news, my daughter-in-law also died of illness."

There was no sadness in Du Wang's cloudy old eyes anymore. Only a dull look remained. It was the despair of being crushed by the world.

He came back to his senses, smiled apologetically at Lu Chen, and continued, "The second son was captured by the bandits two years ago and was forced to transport military rations. Since then, there has been no news. He is most likely dead, so I and this girl are the only ones left at home."

There was total silence all around.

Qin Zilong and the other bodyguards all lowered their heads. At this moment they truly realized the meaning of the word "inhumane". Moreover, what happened to Du Wang's family was not an isolated case. Lingzhou, Weizhou and Qingzhou were adjacent to Jing State. The people in these three places had been subjected to double oppression by the Jinglian nobles and local powerful people in the past twenty years. There were countless cases of families being broken up and wives and children being separated.

They followed Lu Chen all the way. Du Wang was not the first person with a miserable fate they met, and he would definitely not be the last.

Du Wang felt the kindness of this group of people and sighed, "You are kind-hearted. In fact, my family is not the worst off. For example, Uncle Seven's family at the west end of the village... Forget it, let's not talk about this, or you will feel uncomfortable. I have finally been looking forward to the arrival of the great judge in the past two years. You must have heard of Prince Lu's name. Fortunately, with Prince Lu, the court's army was able to drive away those bandits."

"Also, last year, Lord Lu also sent people to Lingzhou to raid the Xu family, who had killed countless people. They arrested all the Xu family members and took them to the capital to be beheaded. Then he sent officials to return all the land occupied by the Xu family, including my two acres of land. This year, the weather is good, and I risked my life to grow crops. In the end, I harvested more than twenty bushels of grain."

"If it were in the past, after paying the rent to the government, there wouldn't be much left, but the county officials said that the court seems to have a rule now, and people like me don't need to pay rent. I've gotten used to going hungry over the years, but Ni'er is still young. If she keeps going hungry for three meals a day, I don't know if she will grow up. Now, she finally doesn't have to go hungry every day."

"I don't want to think about the past now. I just hope that Prince Lu lives a long life and the court gets better and better, so that I can raise Ni'er. Otherwise, her parents will never be at peace even after they die..."

The old man kept on talking, and finally couldn't help but tear up.

Lu Chen looked at the old man's face which looked like he was laughing and crying, then looked at the little girl's huddled appearance, and felt as if his heart was blocked by a stone.

He raised his head slightly, looked at the clear and vast sky, and sighed softly.

(End of this chapter)