Steward Zhang said impatiently, “That’s your business. The head of the family is benevolent, but with so much land leased out, we still have to collect the rent. If you have no grain, you can pay its equivalent in money.”
Qi Da’s body sagged. “Where would we get any money?”
He looked up at Steward Zhang with a pleading expression. “Please, Steward, give us a way to survive. We—we only ask to borrow a little grain. We’ll repay it next year.”
Steward Zhang sneered. “You haven’t even paid this year’s rent, and now you want to borrow grain? Do you really take the Zhang family for a charity?”
Despair filled Qi Da’s heart. “Please, Steward. Our ancestors have all farmed for the Zhang family. Even if we have no great accomplishments, we’ve served them faithfully. Now that disaster has struck, all we ask is for a chance to live.”
“Please, show us mercy and give us a way to survive. I know there’s grain in the fortress—lots and lots of grain. Please, have pity on us and give us some. We’ll become slaves or servants, anything!”
Steward Zhang sneered. “You’ve certainly thought this through. Your fields are ruined, and the planting season has passed. If you want to sow and cultivate the land, you’ll have to wait until next spring. Do you expect the Zhang family to feed you for the next six months for free?”
“Besides, half of your group consists of the old, the weak, women, and children. What can you do besides eat without working? What qualifications do people like you have to become slaves of the Zhang family?”
Qi Da suddenly pulled over his eldest son, hiding the reluctance in his eyes. “Steward, look at my son. He’s seventeen this year, at the prime of his strength. Take him in. He can endure hardship and do anything. We only ask that you give him enough food to survive.”
The other villagers hurriedly pushed forward the strongest young men in their families as well. As long as the Zhang family accepted them, they would not starve to death.
This was their most humble plea. They were offering the last bit of value they had left, begging only for a chance for their families to survive.
They knew that if they sent away all the able-bodied men in their households, the old and weak left behind would have an even slimmer chance of survival.
But at least the young men would live.
Steward Zhang flung his sleeve. “Do you really take the Zhang family for a charity hall? Get lost, get lost! We’re not taking anyone in. Stop kneeling outside our fortress. The fact that we haven’t demanded this year’s rent from you already shows our mercy.”
It was not that the Zhang family did not want these wretches to pay their rent immediately. Steward Zhang simply knew very well that these villagers possessed nothing except lives that were now worthless.
In the past, when villagers could not pay their rent, they could offer family members as collateral.
But in a year of disaster like this, every additional slave meant another mouth to feed. The Zhang family had harvested almost nothing this year. How could they possibly feed all these people for free?
When spring came next year, they could recruit laborers again. The only thing Sìzhou never lacked was people.
With that thought, Steward Zhang gave a cold snort and entered the fortress.
Qi Da crawled forward on his knees, about to continue pleading, when more than a hundred retainers emerged from inside, each holding a bow. Their pitch-black arrowheads were aimed at him and the villagers behind him.
Qi Da dared not move again. As he watched Steward Zhang’s retreating back, despair flashed in his eyes.
He wanted to get up and chase after him, but when he faced those dark arrowheads, all the strength went out of him.
Only after a long while did he rise with the help of his eldest son, then leave with faltering steps.
After they had gone some distance, he could not help looking back at the enormous fortress, which loomed like a ferocious beast. With lingering resentment and bewilderment, he finally turned away.
No one knew how long they walked before they finally returned to the village.
When Qi Da reached his home, it could no longer truly be called a home. The house had collapsed, and the family could only use branches to build a crude shelter.
Sitting inside the shack, the family stared blankly outside, not knowing where to go or what to do.
Before long, many villagers came over.
“Village head, what are we supposed to do now?”
“Our village has farmed for the Zhang family for generations. I never imagined they would show us not the slightest bit of human feeling in the face of disaster.”
“What humanity could the great families have? We’re not even as valuable as their slaves. Why would they care whether we live or die?”
“That’s right. If we die, there will be others alive next year to work for them.”
“Boo-hoo… It wouldn’t matter if I died, but what about my children? I had hoped my eldest and second sons could become slaves of the Zhang family. At least then they’d survive. Who could have imagined that the Zhang family wouldn’t even take them if we offered them for free?”
“If we have no other choice, then let’s rebel! We can just rob the Zhang family!” a thin man shouted angrily.
Qi Da looked at him, his eyes filled with sorrow. “Rob them? What do we have to rob them with?”
Everyone fell silent.
Indeed, what could they use to rob the Zhang family?
Not only was the fortress easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it also housed more than a thousand retainers, all fully equipped with bows, swords, and other weapons. They were well trained, well fed, and strong.
What did the villagers have? Their only weapons were hoes and woodcutting knives. After going hungry for so long, and with the floods having left them dependent on sprouted grain, tree bark, weeds, and roots from the mountains to fill their stomachs, their legs were weak and their bodies frail.
“What are we supposed to do? We can’t all just starve to death, can we?” The thin man slumped to the ground in despair.
Qi Da lifted his head toward the blazing sun. “If there’s really no other way, we can go to the county seat.”
“No!” someone immediately objected. “Didn’t we send Da Niu and the others to the county seat a few days ago? There’s no disaster relief there at all—and there’s an epidemic!”
They had actually known that the Zhang family was unlikely to open its granaries to save them. Thus, after dealing with the bodies of those who had died in the flood, they had sent several people to the county seat to find out what the situation was like.
As it turned out, the county authorities were providing no disaster relief. The gates of the county seat were tightly shut, with refugees crowded outside, and many had already contracted the disease.
The villagers, meanwhile, had promptly disposed of the corpses and had been extremely careful with their water, so no one had yet shown symptoms of the epidemic.
Qi Da shook his head. “It’s already September. How many more months can we dig up tree roots and strip bark to eat? Once winter comes, there will be nothing left.”
He looked at the houses that had been reduced to ruins. “We no longer have the strength to rebuild them. When winter arrives, we’ll either freeze to death or starve to death.”
His voice was filled with exhaustion and desolation. “Even if we somehow make it through the winter, we still owe the Zhang family this season’s rent. How are we supposed to repay it?”
The rent was extremely burdensome, taking roughly sixty to seventy percent of the harvest. After laboring all year and handing over the rent, the villagers had very little left. Eating their fill was impossible; they could barely survive.
If they also had to make up for the rent destroyed by this year’s flood, they truly would have no way to live.
The crowd fell silent once more. No matter what they chose, every path led to death.
“Village head! Village head!”
Just then, everyone heard a shout so excited that the man’s voice broke.
Qi Da’s heart lurched. Following the sound, he saw Da Niu running wildly toward them, shouting, “Village head! Village head! Ah!”
After suffering from hunger for so long, and running too hard, Da Niu stumbled and fell, rolling twice across the ground. He paid no attention to it, scrambling back to his feet and continuing to run.
Qi Da took two steps forward and hurriedly asked, “What happened?”
He feared that other refugees had entered the village, which was why he had stationed Da Niu and several others at the entrance.
It was not that he was overly cautious. At a time like this, refugees driven mad by hunger were capable of anything. If they were not careful, the entire village might become someone else’s food.
