Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Although he had fainted, Shen Yuan was able to hear what Shen Dong, Shen Xi, and Shen Nan were saying.

Shen Dong most likely wouldn't be able to borrow any grain.

From the memories in his mind, his predecessor had already borrowed several times.

Shen Yuan knew well that in the Shen family now, only he—the original body who barely made a living through manual labor—was somewhat capable. Of the other children, only Shen Dong could do some heavy labor to help share the family's burden.

Given the Shen family's current situation, "borrowing grain" really meant they couldn't possibly repay it anytime soon.

Moreover, once you start, there's bound to be a second time. Borrowing grain in this era was no different from borrowing money in later generations.

They say you help in an emergency, not with chronic poverty. The Shen family's situation wasn't something that could be solved by helping once or twice.

If you lent to them, you had to be prepared for them not repaying.

Plus, since the original body had already borrowed several times, the villagers were probably afraid of being hit up for loans by him.

Ultimately, it was because this village was truly desperately poor.

Even Village Head Liu's family didn't have much grain, let alone the other villagers.

Big Tree Village wasn't the only one like this; basically, the villagers in the surrounding villages faced the same struggle to get enough food. This was related not only to the previous years of continuous warfare but also to national policies.

The land here was all in the hands of the nobility's enfeoffed lords, military households granted land for military merit, landowners who bought land through business, and powerful local families. That is to say, it was in the hands of the scholar-official class, military personnel, merchants, and a small portion of commoners with a bit of money.

In this world, you had to possess at least one of money, power, or status to own land.

Even the little harvest they managed to bring in, after paying taxes to the government, still didn't fully belong to the villagers. There were two common arrangements.

In one, they didn't need to keep seeds; the seeds were provided by the landowner every year during sowing. In this case, the share of the harvest given to the tenant farmers would be relatively smaller.

In the other, they needed to save seeds from their own harvest for planting the next year; otherwise, there would be no grain to pay taxes with the following year, let alone anything to eat.

What was left after all that was what the common people could truly call their own.

How could such a small amount of grain possibly be enough to feed an entire family, young and old?

Thus, wheat bran, wild vegetables, and flour made from tree bark became the daily "food" for the villagers of Big Tree Village to fill their stomachs.

Meat was something they never got to eat, year in and year out, because the fish in the rivers, the game in the mountains, and the fruit on the trees all belonged to the landowners.

Allowing the villagers to strip tree bark and dig for wild vegetables was already an exceptional act of grace.

Some landowners didn't even allow that.

Shen Yuan recalled from the memories that the only time the original body had eaten meat was when he was five years old. His father had used a rope sling to hit a bird in the sky, roasted it, and sprinkled some pitch-black coarse salt grains on it for him to eat.

In the original body's memory, that was the most delicious thing he had ever eaten.

He had only eaten it once because if they managed to catch anything, they had to take it to the town to exchange for some aged millet, which could let the family eat a few more meals.

Shen Yuan knew what wheat bran was; he had seen people in the village feed it to pigs in his previous life. But here, at this time, it was precious "food" that humans struggled to get enough of.

He had always thought his childhood in the orphanage was extremely hard, but now it seemed he had lived a life of relative ease.

Under such difficult conditions, no wonder the survival rate of children in ancient times was low and lifespans were generally shorter.

Not having enough to eat or wear, coupled with year-round labor and excessive physical depletion—it would be strange for people to live long lives.

Shen Yuan guessed that Shen Dong most likely wouldn't be able to borrow grain. In the original body's memory, to prevent thieves from stealing their food, he had hidden away some millet.

It was buried underground in the kitchen hut, and only the original body himself knew the location.

He had to go to the kitchen hut to check, to get a bite to eat and keep himself alive.

He was so hungry he had no strength at all. It took Shen Yuan a considerable amount of time just to get up from the bed made of broken door planks.

In the end, it was Shen Xi who used his thin little shoulders to support Shen Yuan.

Fortunately, the original body was small and thin enough. Shen Yuan borrowed a bit of Shen Xi's strength, letting the boy lead him to the kitchen.

The Shen family's courtyard wasn't large. The yellow earth was tamped down firmly. There were only three thatched huts, arranged in an L-shape.

Two connected ones were the main rooms used for living, and the other served as the kitchen hut and for storing miscellaneous items and firewood.

In the past, when there were more people in the family, they all squeezed into the two main rooms. Now that there were fewer people, it felt much emptier.

But there was only one bed—a door plank from some unknown year that had broken, used as a bed.

The other pieces of wood that could be called beds had all been taken by the original body to exchange for millet to feed Shen Bei.

Infants couldn't eat wheat bran; their intestines couldn't handle it.

But even that millet was equally precious to people like them who had no land. Everything in the house that could be exchanged had been exchanged. Not a single table, chair, or stool remained. Even so, it had only lasted for half a year.

In a house with drafts coming from all sides, in an empty, barren room, Shen Yuan, with his hungry stomach and darkening vision, stared despairingly at the pottery jar that was cleaner than his face.

He swayed a little, startling Shen Xi who was supporting him. Shen Xi exerted all his strength to hold him up, his face turning red with the strain—he definitely wouldn't let his eldest brother fall!

Shen Yuan was moved seeing the child desperately supporting him, but he felt his body was fighting against his will. He was so weak he couldn't even move the grain jar, let alone speak.

Afraid of frightening the children again, Shen Yuan had to force himself to hold on, his breath as faint as a thread. "Big brother is going to faint again for a bit, don't be scared..."

No sooner had Shen Yuan finished speaking than he was forcibly shut down, lying peacefully on the ground. Shen Xi, pinned underneath, was stunned for a moment. He wriggled out from under Shen Yuan's arm and sat there with a bewildered expression.

...

Village Head Liu's house was located in the central area of the village. Usually, if anything happened at the Liu household, the neighbors would crane their necks to look, practically pressing themselves against the wall to listen and watch.

But today, although pleading cries came from the Liu household, not a single person showed themselves.

"Grandpa Liu, I beg you, please save my brother. I just need a mouthful of food, just enough for my eldest brother to eat and stay alive. Please, Grandpa Liu." Shen Dong knelt on the ground, crying and kowtowing. Blood had already appeared on his forehead, but he seemed unaware of the pain, pleading bitterly over and over again.

Begging for a mouthful of food to save his elder brother who was on the verge of death.

He really didn't want to lose any more family members.

"Grandpa Liu, I beg you, please."

Thud—thud—thud—

The sound of his forehead striking the ground, thud after heavy thud, struck the heart of the old man standing not far away.

Village Chief Liu knew that this child had begged all over the village, knocking on every door, but no one had opened for him.

To Shen Dong, this house was the last hope.

From the run-down thatched hut came the cries of a newborn granddaughter. With his left ear listening to Shen Dong's pleas and his right ear hearing his granddaughter wailing from hunger, Village Chief Liu felt his heart being torn apart.

There was no food left at home.

His wife said their daughter-in-law was so starved her milk was drying up. Their granddaughter, already weak from birth and now starving, might not last many more days. Everyone in the household was tightening their belts, not daring to eat an extra mouthful of wheat bran porridge.

It wasn't just his family; every household in the village was the same.

The landlords had taken a bigger cut this year, and on top of that, the villagers had to supply their own seed for next year's crop.

They already didn't have enough to eat, and now they had lost so much of their rations. No family could survive like this.

"Grandpa Liu, please save my eldest brother."

"Please."

"I beg you."

Shen Dong kept kowtowing and begging without pause. His already weak body was on the verge of collapse, swaying unsteadily.

He didn't dare stop.

This was his only hope. If he stopped, his eldest brother wouldn't survive.

Village Chief Liu looked at Shen Dong's thin, small frame. The Shen family had been reduced to just a few children. If Shen Yuan really died, none of them would survive.

Was this world truly bent on starving people to death? Village Chief Liu closed his eyes, let out a long sigh, stood up, and walked into the kitchen.

He used a chipped pottery bowl to scoop out some powdered tree bark. Mixed with water, this could be made into a sort of paste to eat.

But you couldn't eat too much, or your stomach would swell and hurt terribly.

Village Chief Liu filled the bowl with tree bark powder, then poured some out, then filled it again, hesitating all the while. Finally, gritting his teeth, he added half a scoop of wheat bran, packing the bowl tightly. Unsteady on his feet, he walked out of the kitchen.

Carefully, he handed the clutched pottery bowl to Shen Dong.

"Shen Dong, get up. Grandpa Liu's family really has no food left. This bowl has half tree bark powder and half wheat bran. Take it back, add water, knead it, and make some dough for your brother to eat. Do you know how? Or you can boil water and pour the mixture in to make a paste. If you don't know how, Grandpa Liu will help you make it, so it doesn't go to waste."

Children in the village had to grow up fast. Whether boys or girls, they started helping with chores as soon as they could walk.

Village Chief Liu asked this because he was afraid Shen Dong might not know how and waste the precious food, which would break his heart.

"I can, I know how, Grandpa Liu."

Shen Dong straightened up, his vision darkening. Seeing the pottery bowl, his whole body swayed. Village Chief Liu quickly reached out to steady him, preventing him from falling.

Shen Dong held the pottery bowl as if it were a priceless treasure.

He had thought Grandpa Liu would at most give half a bowl of tree bark powder, which would have been generous. He never expected to get half a bowl of wheat bran as well.

The wheat bran contained a bit of actual flour—real, proper food. Its texture and taste were far better than tree bark powder.

Deeply moved, Shen Dong was about to kowtow in thanks again when Village Chief Liu stopped him in time, looking at his forehead with concern. "Child, why are you so stubborn and single-minded? If you keep kowtowing like this, you'll lose your life."

"As long as it keeps my eldest brother from starving, I'll do anything." Shen Dong gave a strained, awkward smile. "Grandpa Liu, I will never forget your life-saving grace today. I will surely repay you!"

Village Chief Liu didn't care about repayment. Survival was hard enough; what use were promises of gratitude or debt?

"Hurry back now. Be careful on the way. Don't let anyone snatch it."

Every household was short on food. That bowl of mixed flour was as coveted as copper coins in Dashu Village.

If ruffians tried to rob him, he could only suffer in silence.

Shen Dong was born and raised in Dashu Village; he knew this well. On the way back, he was on high alert, holding the pottery bowl in his arms as if it were more precious than his own life.

Fortunately, Heaven had eyes, and he managed to bring the borrowed food home safely.

When Shen Dong returned, he saw Shen Nan holding Shen Bei in the courtyard, wiping away tears.

His heart leaped into his throat, his face turning pale as he rushed forward. "Why are you crying here? Did something happen to eldest brother again?"

Shen Nan sniffled, sobbing quietly, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum. "Eldest brother... died... died again in the kitchen. Third brother said he... didn't... said I was... annoying with my crying... told me to... come out."

Shen Dong was frantic. Wasn't he supposed to be lying in the room? How did he end up in the kitchen? Anxious to see what was happening, he told her to stop crying and hurried to the kitchen.

In the empty kitchen, Shen Yuan had fainted from hunger, lying on the ground. Shen Xi was motionless, his ear pressed against Shen Yuan's chest, listening for a heartbeat, afraid he might be dead. Silent tears streamed down his face as he wiped them away occasionally, sniffing.

"What happened to eldest brother?" Shen Dong placed the pottery bowl on the earthen stove made of packed yellow soil.

Seeing Shen Dong, Shen Xi seemed to find his pillar of strength. He straightened up, sniffling. "Don't... don't know. He suddenly... collapsed."

Shen Dong crouched down, checked for breath, and listened for a heartbeat. He was still alive.

While cooking the paste, Shen Xi was practically drooling.

He covered his little belly, swallowing hard.

Outside the kitchen, Shen Nan sat farther away, holding Shen Bei, quietly hypnotizing herself, muttering, "Not hungry, not hungry, not hungry..." She also tried to hypnotize little Shen Bei, who could only curl up in her swaddling clothes and suck her fingers. "Little sister isn't hungry either, not hungry, not hungry..."

Eldest brother had nearly starved to death to save food for them. They couldn't eat his life-saving rations.

Listening to her own stomach growling loudly, Shen Nan pursed her lips and whispered, "I can't hear my stomach growling at all."

"I'm not hungry at all. I don't want to eat anything."

Author's Note:

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