Ancient Civilians

78

Everyone was doing farm work in the fields when they heard the peddler's hawking voice on the village road outside. What a coincidence! Everyone was worrying that they were running out of salt at home, and now a peddler came to their door with his load loaded on his shoulder?

When I got closer, I saw a dozen tall men carrying loads and coming towards Pingshan Village. Upon closer inspection, they all looked familiar.

"Hey, aren't you from Nanhai City living in Qiuli Town? Why are you here today?" Years ago, they helped them build walls and transported stones. The villagers greeted them, "Why are you doing this peddler's job?"

"Hey, hey, aren't we worried that you're out of salt? Well, everyone is here, come and take a look at our groceries." A tall man who looked like the leader put down his burden and prepared to set them out.

"Where did you get all this salt and cloth?" A group of people from Pingshan Village gathered around to take a look. It was a full load of salt, grain, oil, needlework, cloth, and even a few silk flowers.

"I picked it up on the road" is such a lie. I don't plan to tell them.

"Do you want to exchange? It doesn't matter if you don't want to, we'll be in Qiuli Town. If you want to exchange something, you can come to the town to find us. We have markets every fifth and tenth day." The leading man looked around at the men working in the fields and guessed that they wouldn't be able to sell anything. However, he came to the village mainly to say hello today. If he could sell something, he would sell it. If not, forget it!

"Where did you pick it up? Let's go and take a look." Some people in the village were still unwilling to give up.

"Hehe, we have picked them all up. It's useless for you to go!" The red-faced man who came to our village to work years ago directly refused.

"Tsk tsk, why is this salt so expensive?" In good years, salt was only a few coins, but now it takes five kilograms of grain to exchange for one kilogram.

"Make it cheaper, let's buy some." Seeing that he couldn't get anything else out of them, he decided to buy some salt to take home as an emergency measure. Without salt, he wouldn't have the energy to work.

"This is the only one in the surrounding area. We sell salt and cloth, but other villages don't have it." The people who came here from Nanhai City have only been here for a short time and have no land, so they have always been short of food. Now that they have found this peddler's job, they must exchange it for more food.

"Hey, wait, carry the things to the old drying yard and ask the villagers to go there and exchange them with you." It would be better to let the women at home exchange these needles and thread items.

As for the market in Qiuli Town, since no one has anything to do right now, everyone stays at home and they are bargaining so tightly for the price, I guess the prices in Qiuli Town won’t be much cheaper.

"Okay!" There were more than ten men with them, so they were not afraid of the people from Pingshan Village doing anything bad.

Not only were the outsiders afraid that they would do something bad, they were also afraid that these outsiders would enter the village and cause trouble, so a group of people returned to the village in a mighty manner.

"Where do they get all this salt and cloth?" The women in the village were bargaining with the strangers who were selling goods. A group of men who had just come off the fields were squatting at the edge of the drying yard, staring at the group of people without blinking.

"Didn't you say you picked it up?" There were actually people in the village who believed the nonsense this outsider was talking about.

"Why don't you go out and pick it up?" Someone in the village replied unceremoniously, "Who knows what crooked means they got here. We shouldn't let them into the village."

"What else can there be? I can guess it!" Yang Dalin has been doing business outside for many years and has a quick mind. "Now there are salt and cloth. Apart from Anping County, where else can they be found?"

"Didn't Anping County burn down a long time ago? Could it be picked up from the pile of dead bodies? We can't eat it!" The man next to him was horrified and wanted to step forward to stop the villagers.

The villagers quickly pulled him back and said, "Listen to what Dalin has to say first, why are you in such a hurry?"

Yang Dalin glanced at him helplessly, "Besides the dead, there are still many living people in the city. Will they leave with nothing? Besides, there are still several gangs in the city. Who knows how much food they have stored! Aren't these just waiting for everyone to 'pick up'?"

"Logically speaking, we are neither far nor close to Anping County. Apart from the people from our own village who fled back to the village, how come there is no one from the city?" After the earthquake, the survivors must have a place to stay.

"Maybe it has gone to several other towns. There is more than one Qiuli Town in Anping County!" After a long silence, someone answered in a muffled voice.

"Let's not think about other things. It's enough to be clear in your heart. Just stay in the village honestly and be alert." The joy that was originally due to the arrival of the peddlers disappeared completely. Everyone squatted in silence and stopped talking.

"Should we buy some more and keep some at home?" This is the only store here, so if we don't buy some, there will be no place left?

"Why buy so much? People will take advantage of you!" the village elder scolded. "You are so hungry that you are afraid others won't know."

It seems that the arsonists may not be the few villages near Anping County, but these outsiders are also responsible! Yang Dachuan squatted aside and said nothing. His family had no shortage of salt, cloth and food, but they couldn't sell nothing. He had discussed with Yu Ge'er and bought some salt. There were also some medicine bags in the cargo basket, so he could buy more.

"Dachuan, those of you who live at the entrance of the village should be more alert at night, and don't let anyone sneak into your house without you noticing." Although a wall has been built, there is no one guarding the two gates. After all, they were a little careless!

"I think we should arrange people to guard the gates on both sides of the yard at night, and walk around the village from time to time!"

"We'll make arrangements once these people leave!"

"We have to say something to the people living over there in the village."

Chapter 48 The Sea Rises

This summer, there was a lot of rain. It has been July and the rain has not stopped. The rain poured down into the fields, filling up the paddy fields. There was no time to open the gates to release the water. Although the crops planted were drought-resistant and flood-resistant, the harvest would not be good due to the heavy rain.

Yang Dachuan was not most worried about the crops in the fields. What he was most worried about now was the Anping River leading to the coast. He heard that the water level in Anping County had risen, and the nearby farms had to worry about whether the water would flood them every day. Although the Daping River in their Pingshan Village was only a small tributary, the continuous heavy rains had caused the river to rise and reach the rice fields on both sides.

"What's going on outside?" Today it was Yang Dachuan's turn to be on duty. In addition to guarding the small pavilion at the entrance of the courtyard, he also had to keep an eye on the Daping River outside and be on guard.

"Not so good. The river water has flooded into the fields above." Yang Dachuan shook his head, shook off the rain all over his body, and hung his raincoat aside.

It's still raining outside, and it's been raining heavily for almost a month. The sky is dark, as if it will collapse at any time. The red and purple auroras in the sky can be seen in broad daylight without having to wait until night.

"The outsiders from Nanhai City said that they saw the light first, and then the rats came." Today, Lu Fang and Yang Dalin went to work together. He stared blankly at the sky and muttered, "It seems that the sea water is about to flood to our side. Do you think our village will also be flooded..."