Turbulent world

  Turbulent world.

  It was the year when Pingzhou Zhujiqu County suffered a severe drought and bandits rose up in large numbers.

  Ye Qin knelt on the ground, his hands grasping a piece of broken tile he had picked up from who-knows-where, and with all his might, he dug at the roots of an old withered tree, trying to dig out the roots to eat. The tile was not sharp, but after a long time of digging, it had already worn through the skin on his palms.

  The sun in the sky is scorching hot and dazzlingly bright. The sparse withered branches of the old tree barely block out the intense sunlight.

  After digging for a while, Ye Qin felt somewhat tired. He had not eaten anything all morning, his stomach was hungry, his throat was parched, and his pair of thin small hands almost had no strength to dig down.

  On the other side of the old tree, on the muddy ground, a famished rural boy was lying unconscious. He was Xiaodao, a young man from the same village, with a messy bun and a tattered hemp cloth covering his body, half-conscious and mumbling incoherently.

  Ye Qin glanced at Cheng Da Niu, licked his dry and cracked lips, gritted his teeth and continued digging.

  He was originally a child of a hunting family in a small village deep in the mountains hundreds of miles away. The years of war, banditry and heavy taxes had already made the rural villagers gasp for breath. This year's severe drought, which started at the beginning of the year, resulted in almost no harvest from the fields, and the reduction of game in the mountains was even more devastating, causing a large number of people to die.

  It's hard for adults to make a living, let alone children. As the eldest in his family, this 11-year-old boy bid farewell to his parents and left home to find food, alleviating the pressure on his parents' mouths and allowing his younger siblings to have enough food to survive. According to their village rules, once they leave their parents, it means they are independent and will no longer rely on their parents or clan.

  Ye Qin can't be considered as having established a career, but he has also been out on his own, wandering around.

  Fortunately, there were four or five other children aged 8 to 10 from the same village who came out together to forage for food. Among them, Ye Qin was the oldest and most experienced, so he led the group of children.

  For more than half a year, they wandered in the countryside and villages of Zhujia County because there was not enough food, and they were attacked by wild dogs and wolves in the wilderness. Three or four people had already died on the road, leaving only Ye Qin and Cheng Daniu alive.

  The big cow is one year younger than him.

  Yesterday, at dawn, they slept in a shed in the wilderness. When the two were fast asleep, the shed was drilled into by an old wild dog that was starving and dizzy, biting Xiao Niu's calf. If Ye Qin hadn't woken up in time and chased the old wild dog away with stones and sticks, Xiao Niu would have almost lost his life. In any case, he and Xiao Niu couldn't die anymore, otherwise it would be even harder for one person to survive in this world.

  Ye Qin endured the pain in his hands and continued to dig, thinking. He had already dug a foot deep, but still hadn't dug up any edible old tree roots.

  The old tree has withered and turned yellow, but whether its roots are edible or not, no one knows. However, they have to try it out, as almost no other edible grass roots or tree bark can be found nearby. The severe drought of half a year has almost scorched all the grass and trees to death.

  Finally, an old root was dug up, still fresh and with moisture.

  Ah, Ye Qin excitedly used a blunt tile to fiercely poke and dig at the old roots, and after a long time, he finally dug out a small section. He gnawed off a small piece of damp tree bark, crawled over to Cheng Daniu's side, shook him awake, and fed it to him.

  Cheng Da Niu smelled the damp air of the tree bark, dazedly opened his eyes, and surprisingly woke up from a semi-coma. He barely chewed on some tree bark but didn't have the strength to swallow it.

  Ye Qin hastily chewed up the bark and stuffed it into his mouth.

  If you don't eat, you will die.

  The big cow ate some bark and finally caught its breath, recovering a bit of energy and becoming somewhat clear-headed.

  With this section of tree root, Ye Qin and Cheng Da Niu lived for more than half a day.

  Although eating tree bark would make their stomachs ache, it was better than starving to death. The two of them rested in the shade of an old tree root for half a day, waiting until the sun gradually set and was no longer scorching hot, when Ye Qin supported the limping Big Cow as they walked eastward.

  It's getting dark, there are many frightened wild dogs and jackals in the wilderness, it's not safe, must go to a place where people can live.

  Ye Qin took Da Niu to the thatched cottage where they stayed yesterday, which was located on the side of a desolate slope several miles east of the post road.

  The post road often has merchants and horses passing through, thirsty and wanting to drink water. During the day, there will be a wine shop from a nearby town that specializes in selling tea, water, and wine meat to passing customers.

  However, to avoid encountering thieves, the tavern would close every night and the awning would be empty, allowing them to stay inside and hide from wild dogs and wolves. Moreover, they could pick up some leftover food discarded by customers on the ground as their dinner.

  For nearly half a month now, Ye and Qin have been staying there every night.

  In the late afternoon, when the sky appears with sunset glow.

  Ye Qin leaned against the big cow and came to one side of the thatched hut, squatting down in a clump of weeds to rest. The thatched hut was a simple bamboo house built with some bamboos, with an open-air shed at the entrance, under which there were more than ten tea tables, chairs and stools.

  The owner of the wine house in the cool shed has not left yet, and an old man and a young waiter are busy serving more than ten men wearing single-colored green robes with knives. This group of men is noisy and shouting inside the cool shed, exchanging cups and bowls, drinking and eating meat loudly, extremely lively.

  Ye Qin smelled the wine and meat aromas wafting from under the cool shed, and his craving was almost killing him. However, he only took a glance before hastily withdrawing his head in shock and fear, not daring to look again. These lean and robust men were all dressed in official attire, and they were officials from Zhukai County Town.

  He had almost taken these officials wearing official uniforms for good people when he first came out of the countryside to find food. However, after more than half a year, begging in the county town and several villages, seeing many evil things, he was extremely afraid of these people.

  If they were just bandits, it would be better. They wouldn't kill people for no reason and wouldn't take their money. But these officials are much more ruthless than bandits. If they don't like someone, they'll beat them to death, cut off their head, and then claim the head as a bandit's and send it to the county town to collect a reward.

  Ye Qin was so poor that he had only one tattered hemp cloth to cover his body, and would rather encounter bandits than meet with government officials.

  The big cow was so hungry that it became dizzy and didn't notice those men were dressed as officials, thinking of climbing over to beg for some food.

  Ye Qin was shocked and quickly pulled him back, pinning down the big cow's arm. The big cow struggled with all his might, wanting to say something out loud. Ye Qin hastily covered his mouth again, using his eyes to signal to him not to look for death.

  The big cow was originally smaller than him and had been injured, struggled for a while but couldn't break free, had no strength left, could only lie down rest dazedly.

  The two of them huddled together in a secluded spot next to the awning, trying not to draw any attention from these officials.

  Ye Qin took a look at the sky, the sun was about to set, this group of officials had eaten and drunk their fill, and he believed they wouldn't linger in this desolate wilderness for long. After these officials left, he might be able to find something that had been left behind.

  He secretly sighed in his heart. This kind of life digging tree roots, doesn't know when it will come to an end.

  Under the awning, came the Han men's loud and cheerful laughter.

  Surrounded by a group of Han men in the middle, a thin and sallow-looking middle-aged official with a dignified appearance was obviously the leader of the officials.

  The middle-aged officer took a swig of wine, wiped the remaining wine from his mustache and said loudly: "Damn it, that group of robbers really knows how to run. They ran dozens of miles from Zhujici County Town and escaped to this godforsaken place, almost killing us brothers with exhaustion. Brothers, eat more wine and meat, tonight we still have to rush in the dark and catch up with those robbers as soon as possible."

  Ye Qin hid in a thicket of weeds on one side of the pavilion, more than ten steps away from the officials sitting inside. Every word they spoke fell into his ears without exception.

  All the officials flattered and tried to win over the middle-aged official.

  "It's all thanks to Master Li taking action himself, otherwise this group of robbers would have escaped long ago. We can't let them get away, or else Master Li's efforts will be in vain."

  "Not bad, as long as we catch those bandits and bring back their heads to claim credit, Master Li will definitely get a generous reward. We brothers can also benefit from it!"

  "Old Master Li is indeed our county's number one catcher, every time he takes action, he never misses. This time we also benefited from Old Master Li's good fortune!"