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At first, his wife fled because she could no longer endure his violent behavior. Despite this, he did have a child, just a little over three years old. However, just last month, in a moment of unbearable hunger, he traded his own child for food, staging a tragic exchange of a child for sustenance.
Yun Yi couldn't help but gasp in disbelief, lamenting that this man was truly despicable! He had initially thought that when this person mentioned having elderly dependents and young children, he was claiming to be a filial son. Little did he know that calling him a person was already an overstatement.
Yun Yi immediately thought of a question and asked, "Is the phenomenon of trading children for food common in the outside world?"
Zhao An remained silent for a long time before responding, "It's quite prevalent." Not every commoner is like those in Zhao Family Village, who possess thousands of acres of fertile land. Most farmers rely on working the land to survive; if they are no longer employed by the landowners and lack their own land and sufficient surplus grain, they have no choice but to leave their homes in search of survival opportunities.
Those who own land fare slightly better; when faced with desperation, they can sell their land for food. However, during such disasters, those greedy individuals would never pay a fair price for land. They would only try to drive prices down. What once was worth a great deal might only fetch a few bags of grain.
In such circumstances, they cannot hold on for long and will ultimately end up wandering like other refugees. Yun Yi couldn't help but sigh. This situation was indeed a desperate measure. Natural disasters and man-made calamities forced the vast majority of people to struggle merely for survival. Was living truly so difficult?
At its core, this was due to severe inequities in wealth distribution. The upper-class nobility controlled over seventy percent of the country's land, while the middle class and powerful landlords held two-thirds of it.
The vast lower class barely received any land. As a result, the upper-class nobles indulged in luxury, while local tyrants lived carefree lives, leaving only the ordinary people to endure suffering.
"Let’s take in more refugees," Yun Yi said, patting Zhao An on the shoulder. "For every person we accept, one less will suffer this hardship."
Zhao An nodded in agreement. "My lord, the Zhao Family will do everything in our power to save lives, even if it costs us our own."
Yun Yi nodded lightly, choosing not to elaborate further. It was fortunate that he had arrived during the Guangxu era. At that time, the population was around ten million. If one were to travel back to the peak of the Three Kingdoms period, the population of China would have been less than eight million. The drastic drop from nearly ten million at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty to under eight million during the Three Kingdoms period illustrates just how dire the living conditions were in between.
After some time, Yun Yi's mindset improved a bit. Gao Shun had regained his stamina after eating cooked fish, his complexion shifting from pale to a healthy rosy hue. At that moment, Yun Yi turned to Gao Shun and asked, "By the way, you mentioned having news about Dian Wei?"
Gao Shun nodded in response. When discussing their upcoming acquaintance and collaboration with Dian Wei and Chu Yan, Yun Yi fell into deep thought. "So you decided to come to me because you heard Dian Wei's words?"
Gao Shun quickly affirmed, nodding repeatedly. "Yes, we returned from the north bringing twelve excellent Hequ horses, twenty fine horse hides, and over ten thousand pounds of horse meat for my elder brother."
Zhao An's eyes sparkled upon hearing these figures. Over ten thousand pounds of meat would be enough for Zhao Family Village and its more than a thousand refugees to last a month. Moreover, there were twelve exceptional warhorses; the quality of Hequ horses was outstanding and incomparable to the ordinary horses raised by Zhao Family Village.
Yun Yi nodded in acceptance of this goodwill: since it came from Dian Wei, he would accept it all.
He continued, "Zhao Family Village is currently in dire need of talented individuals from various fields, and your arrival is most timely."
However, there was one thing he needed to clarify.
Faced with such a serious tone, Gao Shun became even more respectful. "Great Immortal, please speak plainly."
Yun Yi reminded him, "You absolutely must not bully innocent civilians. If I discover any misconduct, I will deal with it severely and without mercy."
To express his determination, Gao Shun patted his chest and solemnly promised, "Great Immortal, everyone in my tribe upholds righteousness and kindness. Even in the most dangerous moments, no one wishes to abandon the weak or the elderly. So rest assured, my people will not engage in any behavior that violates the rules. If any tribesman commits a crime, I will personally handle it and bring their head to atone."
Yun Yi patted Gao Shun's shoulder in comfort. "Good, I believe you and hope you will not let me down."
Gao Shun smiled broadly. "Great Immortal, I will go outside and call the tribesmen in right now."
Seeing Yun Yi nod, Gao Shun quickly made his way out of the village.
Meanwhile, outside the village, the crowd waiting for news was buzzing with discussion.
"Why hasn’t Gao Shun returned yet?"
"Do you think he ran into trouble?"
"Don’t speculate wildly; Brother Dian Wei said that a deity resides in Zhao Family Village. Meeting a deity is not that easy! I think Gao Shun is probably trying every means to meet the immortal."
This reasoning seemed quite reasonable.
An elder from the Gao Family, Gao Ping, cleared his throat twice and said, "Everyone be patient; if it gets dark and he still hasn’t returned, we’ll stay here overnight. It shouldn’t take more than one night. Even if we can’t meet the deity, Gao Shun should return with news."
Someone asked anxiously, "But what if he really doesn’t come back?"
Gao Ping pondered for a moment before replying, "At that time, I will go check on the situation myself."
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