Yangzhou, Jiujiang County, Shouchun.

Although it is the capital of the Zhongjia Dynasty, there is no prosperous scene of the imperial capital of a dynasty in the city, but it looks extremely desolate.

Of course, the palace, which symbolizes the power of the emperor, is so luxurious and majestic. On the other hand, the villages around Shouchun are somewhat dilapidated.

In Lijia Village, outside Shouchun City, in a dilapidated courtyard, there are several leaky houses. Inside the house, a man in his early twenties threw himself down in front of the bed, crying bitterly.

"Mother, Mother, wake up!"

The man shook the old woman's body on the bed and shouted hoarsely. The old woman on the bed was the man's mother, who was less than forty years old, but she already looked old.

The shriveled and emaciated face, combined with her yellow, miserable white hair, showed that she was very malnourished.

Yes, this woman passed out because of the lack of food at home and the impatience of her heart.

Although Li Fang is tall and strong, he is a little cowardly and not good at fighting with others.

At that time, Yuan Shu was proclaimed emperor and summoned all the young men in the territory to go to conquer Liu Bei, and Li Fang had to flee into the mountains in order to avoid military service.

But he didn't want to, when he came back, he found that the family, which was still a little rich, was already extremely embarrassed.

Although Li Fang's family was not a wealthy family before, the family also had some land and some grain. Even though the famine severely reduced the production of the fields, the family was able to make ends meet.

However, because Li Fang evaded military service, not only was his father in his forties arrested, but even the family's food was forcibly requisitioned.

Fortunately, the Li family has hidden some food in many hidden places, but it can still support it with difficulty.

However, the good times did not last long, and almost all of the grain and grass in the villages near Shouchun were requisitioned by Yuan Shu. As a result, famine was everywhere and the people had no way to eat.

If it is the time of spring, the people can also go into the mountains to look for wild vegetables and fruits to satisfy their hunger. But now that the New Year has passed, the weather is still very cold, and it is difficult to find food in the wild.

As a result, there were ruffians from the same village staring at Li Fang's house. They also escaped military service because they hid in the mountains.

Now seeing that Li Fang's family did not run out of food, he gathered three or five people to forcibly break into Li Fang's house and snatched all the grain and grass in Li Fang's house.

Although Li Fang was tall and big, he didn't dare to compete with these ruffians and hooligans, so he could only watch those people rob all the food in his house.

As for reporting to the official, Li Fang didn't have the guts.

Let's not mention that Li Fang himself is a person who has escaped military service, and going to report to the official will only throw himself into the net. Just talking about the current Shouchun government, they are more feared than those ruffians and hooligans.

The ruffians and hooligans are just grabbing some food, and if the people dare to go to the government, whether they are defendants or plaintiffs, they will be stripped of a few skins by the officials in the government.

In the past, many people went to the government, but all the things in the house were extorted. If they can't satisfy those officials, they don't care about right or wrong, and they just let the people beat the people to the flesh.

When Yuan Shu was in Shouchun, there were still many resourceful and honest people under his command, and he was able to barely suppress the unhealthy tendencies in the city.

However, as Yuan Shu led many officials to Yuzhou, the officials of the Zhong family who stayed in Shouchun began to become unscrupulous.

In desperation, Li Fang had to swallow his anger and go up the mountain to hunt every day to support his family. However, now that famine is rampant, hundreds of people are going into the mountains every day in search of food.

In addition, Li Fang is not a regular hunter, so he often returns empty-handed.

He was strong himself, but he was able to barely hold on to starvation. But his mother was dying.

"Our Li family was diligent and diligent in the era, and we didn't dare to be evil, why did we have such an end?"

Li Fang hugged his mother's body, remembering the news that his father had died in battle yesterday, and he couldn't help crying bitterly.

Originally, he thought that if his father died in battle, he would still get a little subsidy. But they didn't want to, but the government claimed that in order to bury Li's father, they spent a lot of manpower and material resources to ask Li Fang for a funeral fee.

The food in Li Fang's house has long been robbed by the government and the ruffians in the village, and even other valuable things have not been left behind.

Today's Li family can be regarded as a family with four walls, how can they get this funeral fee?

Li Fang didn't expect that those people in the government actually claimed that if the daughter-in-law of the Li family could play with them, they could offset the funeral expenses.

Although Li Fang was a little cowardly, he resolutely would not agree. But they didn't want to, those people directly beat Li Fang and dragged his daughter-in-law out to play.

Li Fang's mother was already extremely weak because of hunger. After learning that his daughter-in-law was ruined, he was so angry that he passed out directly.

After crying for a while, Li Fang's eyes were a little red, and a tyrannical mood also appeared in his heart. He turned his head to look at his disheveled, curled up in the corner, and a look of regret and disgust flashed in his eyes.

"Alfon, Alfon......"

Suddenly, Li Fang heard a small shout. He turned his head to look and realized that it was his mother who was speaking.

Li Fang was overjoyed, hurriedly rushed to the bed, and shouted loudly: "Mother, mother, it's great that you woke up!" ”

Mother Li's eyes were a little sluggish, and he said weakly: "Ah Fang, Shouchun can't stay anymore, you better leave here." When I die, you will marinate my flesh and eat it as a ration on the road. ”

Li Fang was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly cried: "If I act like this, wouldn't it be better to be a beast?" ”

"Ahem!"

Mother Li coughed twice and said, "Silly boy, if you can survive, what's the harm in being a beast?" Look at those people in the government, and the ruffians and hooligans in the village, which one is not a beast? ”

"What's more, I can't hold it anymore. Instead of spending money to bury me, it is better to keep it for you as a ration. ”

Speaking of this, Mother Li's eyes became darker and darker.

Seeing that Mother Li was about to close her eyes, Li Fang hurriedly shouted: "Mother must hold on, I just caught a prey outside, and I have hidden it." ”

"As long as Auntie holds up a little longer, I can make broth for you to eat."

"Really?"

No one was willing to die, and hearing Li Fang's words, Mother Li's eyes suddenly lit up.

Nodding vigorously, Li Fang said, "Auntie insist, I'll go get you something to eat." ”

After speaking, he walked over to his wife, who was curled up in the corner of the wall and was in a trance, kicked her, and said, "Why don't you come with me to the kitchen to boil water?" ”

Although Li's wife is also yellow and thin, it can still be seen that she is a beautiful embryo. The hunger in her belly and the ruin of her body had made her a little self-defeating.

However, Li Fang's words once again gave her the idea of living. What about being insulted, in this troubled world, as long as you can survive, it is better than anything else.

She struggled to her feet and whispered, "Did you really hit your prey?" ”

Li Fang's face turned pale and he scolded: "Am I still lying to you?" Don't go boil the water yet! ”

Mrs. Li didn't dare to slack off, and ran to the kitchen to boil water. It didn't take long for the water in the pot to be boiled.

At this time, Li Fang entered the kitchen with a kitchen knife and said to his wife, "Follow me to get the prey!" ”

Li's wife's eyes lit up, and she got up and came to Li Fang's side. But he didn't want to, Li Fang suddenly covered her mouth with his left hand, and slashed her throat with a firewood knife in his right hand.

Under the light of the fire, Li Fang's face was so hideous, and faintly, two tears of remorse could be seen.

It didn't take long for the smell of meat to spread.

After the meat was boiled, Li Fangqiang held back the hunger in his stomach, first filled a bowl of broth, and served it to the dying mother Li.

"Mother, the prey I hunted has been cooked."

Li Fang came to the side of the hospital bed and shouted in a low voice. However, Li's mother was lying on the bed, without the slightest movement.

"Mother, Mother!"

Li Fang shouted twice again, but Li's mother did not react in the slightest. He panicked, put down the bowl containing the meat in his hand, came to Li's mother's side, stretched out his fingers tremblingly, and touched Li's mother's face.

"Ahh No! ”

Feeling a cold feeling coming from his hands, Li Fang suddenly couldn't help but scream. He knew that his mother had passed away forever.

After shouting, Li Fang took out Li's mother's body and couldn't help crying.

"Knock knock!"

At that moment, there was a sharp knock on the door. Li Fang was shocked, put down his mother's corpse, wiped a handful of tears, and secretly looked out the door.

I saw that a few ruffians who came to their house and grabbed food were banging on the wooden door with a greedy face.

Li Fang quickly finished the meat in the bowl, and he didn't care about the hot juice.

"After eating, I have the strength."

Seeing that the knocking on the door was getting more and more urgent, Li Fang finished drinking the broth in the bowl, took out some medicinal powder, ran to the kitchen and poured it into the iron pot, and hid the remaining wreckage.

"You guys, what are you doing here?"

Li Fang opened the door, looked at the fierce and vicious people, and said with some fear.

"Get out of here!"

The man at the head kicked Li Fang away and scolded loudly: "You damn thing, you don't even honor us when you have meat to eat at home, and you are so slow to open a door." ”

After speaking, these ruffians and hooligans couldn't wait to run out of the kitchen, scoop up the meat and start eating.

"Brother, there's something strange about this meat."

After several people devoured it for a while, one looked at the meat in his hand with some suspicion.

"Uh, I'm dizzy!"

As soon as the man finished speaking, he felt a little dizzy, and he couldn't control his body and fell to the ground.

"There's something wrong with this meat!"

Several other people screamed, and they all fell to the ground one after another. At this time, Li Fang had already locked the door, held a kitchen knife, and came to the side of several fainted men with an expressionless face.

"Mother, with this food, I can leave Shouchun and go to other places."

Looking at the few people who fainted on the ground, Li Fang's face was a little hideous, and his eyes were also full of hatred.

At this time, he knew a truth, that is: in this era of cannibalism, if you want to live, you have to eat others.