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

Chapter 916: Palm

Although Wu Zhijian's two children are still young, they are very sensible and have firmly remembered Wu Zhijian's instructions, never stepping out of the house.

"Really, Xiao Cui?"

Upon hearing his daughter's voice, Wu Zhijian felt much of the fatigue from a busy day dissipate. He bent down and gently stroked his daughter's hair, his face full of smiles.

"of course it's true!"

Xiao Cui looked up and said, "If you don't believe me, ask my brother. Neither of us has left the house today!"

"No need to ask, Father believes Xiao Cui!"

Wu Zhijian picked up his daughter and asked affectionately, "Xiao Cui was so well-behaved today, what reward do you want?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Cui hesitated for a moment, then said in a clear voice, "Dad! I want to eat wheat porridge?"

"Wheat rice?!"

Wu Zhijian was taken aback at first, and then a wave of sadness washed over him.

He knew that Xiao Cui didn't genuinely like eating wheat porridge. The reason she said she wanted to eat wheat porridge was simply because she knew about the family's difficult situation and didn't want to put her father in a difficult position.

Looking at his sensible daughter in his arms, Wu Zhijian couldn't help but feel the urge to cry. As a parent, he was unable to provide his child with good growing conditions, and even let his child suffer from hunger and cold along with him.

This made Wu Zhijian feel extremely incompetent.

"Xiao Cui wants to eat wheat rice, what about you, Xiao Luo?"

Wu Zhijian's wife turned to look at the boy. Unlike the lively and active Wu Cui, Wu Luo, the older brother, was more composed and usually appeared rather taciturn.

"Mom, I want to eat wheat rice too."

"Alright! Then Mom will go and make you some wheat porridge."

Seeing how sensible her son was, Wu Zhijian's wife wiped away her tears and went to the kitchen to get busy.

About fifteen minutes later, the rice was ready, and the family sat down around the table to enjoy this simple dinner.

"Dad, why is there so little wheat rice in your bowl? Can I share some with you?"

At this moment, little Wu Cui noticed the abnormality in her father's bowl. Her and her brother's bowls were filled with piles of wheat rice, while the wheat rice in her father's and mother's bowls... barely reached the bottom of the bowl.

"Dad and Mom aren't hungry, so we'll just eat a little! Xiao Cui and Xiao Luo, you two need to eat more so you can grow taller!"

"Is it?"

Wu Cui clearly didn't believe her father's answer, but this was always the family's usual practice at mealtimes: her parents would eat less, while she would eat more.

So Wu Cui didn't ask any more questions and just quietly ate her meal.

After dinner, the couple first coaxed their child to sleep, and then returned to their room to discuss things in hushed tones.

"Wife, this grain is definitely not enough for our family to get through the winter. I plan to go to the East Market tomorrow to see if I can find some manual labor to earn some money. I'll leave the household to you!"

"You can leave the family to me without worry!"

"to make!"

After whispering for a while, the couple, exhausted from a busy day, quickly fell into a deep sleep.

…………

…………

The next day.

After waking up and having a simple breakfast, Wu Zhijian bid farewell to his wife and children and prepared to go out to try his luck and see if he could find some manual labor to earn some money to supplement his family's income.

"Old Wu?"

"Old Mu?"

As soon as Wu Zhijian stepped out of his house, he ran into an acquaintance, his neighbor Mu Ma.

Wu Zhijian stopped and asked, "Old Mu, how's your harvest?" as he watched Mu Ma push open the door.

"Ugh! Don't even mention it! It's bad luck!"

With a worried look on his face, Mu Ma said, "Damn it, God! Damn it, those damn rebel dogs! My family's five acres of land only yielded 800 catties of grain."

Five mu of land yielded 800 jin of grain, which is equivalent to 160 jin per mu. Even in Kyushu, where productivity was low, this was considered a very low yield.

800 pounds?

Upon hearing this number, Wu Zhijian instantly felt a sense of shared misfortune. Although Lao Mu's family had harvested 400 jin more grain than his, Lao Mu's family also had a larger population.

With his parents still alive and four children, Lao Mu's family has eight mouths to feed. Assuming each person eats two jin of grain a day, Lao Mu's family consumes 16 jin of grain a day. 800 jin of grain would only last for two months at most.

"This winter is going to be tough!"

Wu Zhijian sighed deeply.

Old Mu nodded in deep agreement, his weathered face resembling a withered chrysanthemum: "I was just thinking of going out to find some work to earn money to supplement the family income. If I can't find work, I'm afraid my whole family won't even make it through the winter!"

"Yes!"

The two men sighed, knowing that two years of war had devastated Minnesota's commerce, making it unlikely they would find work.

Even if the hope is slim, they have to try, otherwise neither they nor their loved ones will be able to survive this terrible and long winter.

"Old Wu, since we've run into each other, let's go together and try our luck in the East Market!"

"to make."

After sighing and lamenting, the two set off for the more commercially developed East Market.

Just then, a figure hurried past the two of them. Mu Ma, who had better eyesight, immediately grabbed the man's arm and asked loudly, "Old Meng, what are you rushing off to?"

The man called Lao Meng stopped and looked back at Mu Ma and Wu Zhijian, asking in surprise, "Lao Mu, Lao Wu? What are you doing here?"

Old Meng was also their neighbor, so he naturally recognized them and was even quite familiar with them.

"We're planning to go to the East Market to find some work, what about you?"

Old Mu looked Old Meng up and down and asked.

"Of course I went to the county government! Don't you all know that?"

"what do you know?"

"You guys really didn't know?"

Old Meng looked at the two of them as if they were wild men in the deep mountains and forests: "The government has posted notices saying that King Yang is aware of the poor harvest in Mingzhou and will soon send a large amount of grain to Mingzhou. Everyone in the city knows about this, how come you don't?"

"what?!"

Wu Zhijian and Mu Ma, who had been busy with the autumn harvest, were completely unaware of this matter and were extremely shocked upon hearing it.

"Is this true? Is King Yang really that kind-hearted?"

Mu Ma asked instinctively.

"Look what you said."

Old Meng retorted, "You, Old Mu, have lived most of your life, but has anyone ever allocated you even a single acre of land?"

"no!"

"So you still think Yang Tianwang isn't a good person?"

Old Meng pressed on, "Besides King Yang, who else would be willing to give you, a rough man, a piece of land? It would be good enough if they didn't charge you 70% of the grain tax."

"Uh! I misspoke, I'll slap myself!"

A look of shame flashed across Muma's face, and he slapped himself hard across the face.

Compared to the rulers he had encountered who were so cruel they practically squeezed the marrow from the bones of the people, King Yang was far better than he could have imagined! He really shouldn't have spoken of King Yang like that.