12dz Chapter 12 Can’t bear to look directly
Chapter 12 Can’t bear to look directly
"Uncle Chen, Aunt He."
"Xiaodao is here?"
In the Chen family home, Chen Dao, who had already greeted Chen Da and his wife, got straight to the point: "I would like to ask Uncle to escort me to the county town."
"Your chickens are already raised?"
Chen Da asked that in the past three days, he had gone into the mountains several times, collected a large amount of chicken heart grass, and traded grain with other villagers for 10 gray-feathered chickens. He had already fed the chickens chicken heart grass once, and in two more days, he would be able to raise white-feathered chickens.
"Not bad!"
Chen Dao nodded, "I plan to go to the city to sell this batch of white-feathered chickens and buy some gray-feathered chickens. I'd appreciate it if Uncle Chen could accompany me."
It was too dangerous for Chen Dao to go to the county town alone, so he had to find someone to accompany him. The best person to accompany him was naturally Chen Da, who was the strongest fighter and best archer in the village.
Of course, Chen Dao could take Xiao Hei on his journey, but for the sake of safety, Chen Dao did not plan to reveal Xiao Hei's supernatural abilities to others.
"no problem."
Chen Da readily agreed: "I was just planning to go into town to buy some gray-feathered chickens and chicken feed. Let's set off now!"
After saying that, Chen Da turned to He Cuilian and instructed her, "Wife, you stay home and take care of Tiedan. I will try my best to get back before dark."
"Go ahead! I'll take care of things at home."
Soon, Chen Da borrowed a donkey cart from the village chief, while Chen Dao returned home to bring the four white-feathered chickens from the cage. The two then met at the village entrance.
"Uncle, aren't we a bit short of people?"
Looking at Chen Da standing beside the donkey cart, Chen Dao couldn't help but ask worriedly.
In the past, whenever they went to the county town, it was always a group of young and strong men from the village who went together, or at the very least, it was the three hunters, Chen Da, Chen Si, and Chen Jiang, who were relatively strong in martial arts, who went together.
Now, with only Chen Dao and Chen Da remaining, they are inevitably somewhat outnumbered and outmatched.
"no way!"
Chen Da lowered his voice and said, "It's not good for others to know about our breeding of white-feathered chickens, so only the two of us can go."
"Too."
Chen Dao nodded, but couldn't help feeling a little worried: "Wouldn't it be a bit dangerous if it were just the two of us?"
"Don't worry, Xiaodao, don't you know how good your uncle is at archery?"
Chen Da patted the bow and arrows on his back and comforted them, "Those road bullies and bandits on the road aren't stupid. If they see me carrying a bow and arrows, they usually won't target us for robbery. Otherwise, if I risked my life, they wouldn't have an easy time either."
Besides, our things aren't worth them risking their lives to steal.
Chen Dao thought about it and realized that made sense, so he didn't say anything more, got on the donkey cart, and let Chen Da drive the cart towards the county town.
Once again on the official road, there seemed to be even more refugees on the road. The refugees, with numb expressions and tattered clothes, walked slowly along the official road, seemingly with only one goal in mind: to reach the county town.
Many refugees noticed Chen Dao and his companion's donkey cart, but the bow and arrows on Chen Da's back were quite intimidating, and no refugees attempted to rob it.
"Alas, these refugees are just ordinary farmers!"
Looking at these emaciated refugees, Chen Da couldn't help but feel a sense of shared sorrow. These refugees were no different from the villagers of Chenjia Village; they were just ordinary farmers. But natural disasters and man-made calamities had turned them into refugees, into this inhuman and ghostly state.
Chen Dao did not respond to Chen Da, but his heart was inevitably filled with complicated feelings. In fact, if it were just a natural disaster, the people could still get by. What was most terrible was the government's exorbitant taxes and levies.
Land tax, poll tax, and all sorts of other exorbitant taxes and corvée labor forced countless peasants into bankruptcy and made them vagrants.
Becoming a refugee at least spares one from heavy taxes and corvée labor; continuing to farm only leads to death.
"What a scene of national ruin!"
Chen Dao sighed inwardly. In his previous life, he would occasionally read history books and knew that the end of a dynasty was always accompanied by natural disasters and man-made calamities.
Natural disasters alone may not be enough to bring down a country, but when combined with man-made disasters... then that country is not far from its demise.
When countless ordinary people can no longer survive, that will be the moment when this dynasty collapses!
If ordinary people are not afraid of death, why would they be afraid of rebellion and execution?
Those high-ranking officials may not be unaware of this principle, but people are inherently selfish. Who would be willing to generously donate to the country and sacrifice their own interests?
It's fine to be concerned about the country and its people, but it's absolutely unacceptable to make officials sacrifice their own interests.
As the donkey cart approached the county town, it seemed that even more migrants were gathering outside the town.
When Chen Dao last came to the county town, he estimated that there were only a few hundred refugees. But now, looking out over the county town, there were probably no fewer than a thousand refugees.
Chen Dao also noticed that there seemed to be government officials distributing porridge outside the city, but the porridge...
It wasn't even as good as the porridge Chen Dao's family ate; it was so thin you could see the bottom of the bowl. It was more like water with some flour paste on it than porridge.
In addition, Chen Dao also noticed that some well-dressed people, who looked like they came from wealthy families, were talking to the refugees.
“Those are people who buy servants.”
Noticing Chen Dao's gaze, Chen Da explained, "Whenever refugees enter the city, wealthy families in the city will send servants out to buy maids and servants from the refugees. For a bite to eat, those refugees with their families don't mind selling their children. Selling their children gives them at least a chance to survive; if they don't sell, they will starve to death outside the city."
"This……"
Chen Dao opened his mouth, his expression complicated.
In his previous life, he had a deep aversion to human trafficking and loathed human traffickers. He never imagined that he would witness human trafficking firsthand in this world, especially since it was done willingly by the parents...
"Besides the servants of wealthy families, there were also brothel madams."
Chen Da pointed to a heavily made-up woman not far from the two of them and said, "They will select girls with good looks to buy, train them for a few years, and then send them out to serve customers to earn money for the brothel."
Chen Dao remained silent, feeling a tightness in his chest.
He witnessed a ragged, emaciated woman handing over the little girl beside her to the brothel madam in exchange for a small bag of grain...
The little girl was reluctant to leave her mother and cried her heart out. The woman's eyes were also blurred with tears, but she could only force herself to turn her head away and not look at her daughter.
The people in the brothel seemed to have become accustomed to this scene, and continued to select girls with good looks without any expression.
"What a fucking world!"
Chen Dao cursed under his breath, feeling a tightness in his chest.
What happened outside the city was undoubtedly a trampling of humanity. Chen Dao, who had received a Chinese education, could not bear to look at what was happening.
He even considered rushing forward to rescue the girls, but reason told Chen Dao that he couldn't do that, otherwise it would bring disaster upon himself and his family.