Chapter 1, the frontier of lack of food and drink
The northwest border of Dachu, the sky is high and the ground is wide, vast and barren.
At the westernmost end of this remote and desolate Gobi Desert, lies the first pass of Dachu—Dieling Pass.
Dozens of military settlements, large and small, are scattered around Dieling Pass. On the edge of the Gobi, 30 miles southeast of it, the imperial court set up a post station to facilitate the exchange of official documents. Because it is close to the military settlement Tianlingtun, It is called Tianlingtun Post Station.
The frontier fortress in June is scorching hot, and the scorching heat waves in the air make people irritated and thirsty.
A gust of wind hit, and instead of taking away the heat, it also set off billowing dust.
In the firewood room in the backyard of the post station, five-year-old Li Wuya sat on the edge of a temporary wooden bed, holding a broken porcelain bowl dripping with sweat, and sipping water.
too hot!
Too thirsty!
The conditions here are not ordinary hardships!
Lack of water and food, the climate is not good, the summer is terribly hot, and the winter is terribly cold. When she thinks that she may live here for the rest of her life, Li Wuya suddenly feels that life is full of malice for her.
In this life, she was reborn in a military family, a military family, serving as an army during wartime, and farming in leisure time. Unless there is a royal license, the generations and ancestors will be nailed here.
I thought that she would have a better day when she traveled from the end of the world, but who knows, the gods actually threw her on the Gobi Desert, which is not shit.
The Gobi Desert is synonymous with desolation and barrenness.
Five years since the tire passed through, she has complained about it for five years. Judging from the current development trend, she may continue to complain.
"Fifth Sister!"
A five-year-old boy who looked very similar to Li Wuya walked in, took out a worn-out cattail fan from behind like a treasure, and proudly said with his chin up: "Aunt Fang gave it to me, here, Take it and fan it."
Li Wuya glanced at Xiao Douding in front of him, took the cattail fan, and handed him the bowl in his hand: "Drink some water, my mouth is dry."
Li Qilang took the bowl carefully, just like Li Wuya, sipping water in small sips, drinking it with great care.
Their place is very short of water, so there are two wells in the military village and the station.
The wells in the military village had to supply the people in the military village, and the post stations had to supply the soldiers and horses coming and going. No one could get water as they wanted.
Li Wuya saw that Li Qilang stopped drinking after a few sips, and said, "You drink all the water in the bowl. After you drink it, I'll ask for it."
She and Li Qilang are twins. Although under the ravages of wind, sand, frost and snow, they are not pink and jade-cut, and even a little rough and dark, but they both have blessed and pleasing faces.
Again, unlike other children who are sloppy all day long, Li Wuya and Li Qilang clean up every day. When adults see them, they will naturally prefer some.
As long as the request is not too excessive, the people in the station will generally satisfy them, such as giving them a few more bowls of water to drink.
"Uh-huh!"
Li Qilang has always listened to Li Wuya's words, and when she told him to drink the water in the bowl, he immediately beamed with joy, and drank all the water in a hurry.
Li Wuya shook the bamboo fan, fanned it a few times for herself, and then fanned it for Li Qilang a few times.
"Gulu Gulu~"
Li Wuya's stomach suddenly rang.
Ugh. Hungry!
The Li family only eats two meals a day, one meal is only a palm-sized dry mask, plus a bowl of bitter unknown wild vegetable soup.
In this way, the food of the Li family is better than 90% of the families in the army.
The frontier is barren and cold, and the grain output is pitifully low. Many families can only eat one meal a day. The Li family can maintain two meals a day because of Li Changsen who is a small banner in the guard.
Li Changsen, the father of Li Wuya in this life, went to the guard as a soldier at the age of thirteen.
In recent years, there have been years of wars at the border. He relied on fighting the enemy bravely to raise the small flag when Li Wuya and Li Qilang were one years old.
Although Xiaoqi is only a seventh-rank official, he can also receive a salary of 7 shi of grain every month.
With this salary, the life of the Li family has become better, of course, only slightly better.
No way, there are too many Li family members.
The Li family is a military household that has been inherited from generation to generation in Tianlingtun. Mr. Li and Mrs. Li have three sons and one daughter.
Li Changsen was the eldest in the family, but he was the last to get married. Most people in the border gate got married at the age of sixteen or seventeen. He didn't marry Jin Yue'e, the daughter of a hunter in the mountains until he was twenty-two.
Li Changsen and Jin Yuee had four children in total. The eldest son Li Sanlang is ten years old this year, the second daughter Li Erya is eight years old this year, and the five-year-old twins Li Wuya and Li Qilang.
Li Laoer and Li Laosan got married early, one gave birth to five children, and the other gave birth to six children.
Including Mr. Li and Mrs. Li, there are a total of twenty-three people in the Li family.
Thinking of the big family in the Li family, Li Wuya felt bad again. If there were no such people, even if there were a few fewer, their life would not have to be so tight with the output of the family's military farm and her father's salary. .
"Gulu Gulu~"
Singing empty city tricks again in his stomach, Li Wuya thought for a while and jumped off the bed.
I ate too much breakfast at nine o'clock in the morning, but I ate so little. Now it's two or three o'clock, so it's no wonder I'm not hungry.
There is still one or two hours before dinner, so I have to find a way to get something to eat.
The sequelae of the previous life, she couldn't be hungry at all, and when she was hungry, she would feel flustered, and if it was serious, she would feel dizzy and feel very uncomfortable.
"Qachiro, let's go, let's go to the kitchen."
Li Qilang was overjoyed, every time he went to the back kitchen with Fifth Sister, he always asked for something to eat, but soon he hesitated again: "Fifth Sister, didn't Third Brother not let us go to the back kitchen? This will affect my mother's work."
Li Wuya paused, thought for a while and said, "Let's just look outside the kitchen and not go in."
It's not easy to find an errand in this place these days. Jin Yue'e was able to work in the back kitchen of the post station this year. It was an opportunity that Li Changsen spent a lot of effort to win, and their family cherished it very much.
In any case, Jin Yue'e can at least earn some income by working in the post station, and can somewhat subsidize her family.
If you meet a big spender, you can get leftovers or something.
Thinking of this, Li Wuya felt sad again.
She has been reduced to eating other people's leftovers, and she still feels good and happy.
This day is passing. Inexplicably want to cry!
Li Wuya clutched her shriveled stomach, and led Li Qilang out of the firewood room. As soon as she went out, she heard a noise coming from the front yard, and not long after, she saw the grey-haired Yi Cheng walking quickly to the backyard.
Seeing Yicheng, Li Wuya immediately raised a smiling face, led Li Qilang and ran over in a desperate manner, and reached out to say hello from a distance, very enthusiastically.
In the face of survival, face and dignity are nothing, and filling the stomach is the real thing.
(end of this chapter)