When the shopkeeper saw Yunyi enter, he hurried over and said, “Miss, you’ve come! I haven’t seen you for a long time.”
Because Yunyi had been coming to the teahouse to listen to stories every few days these past months, and often paid the storyteller to retell stories about the Li clan of Taiyuan, the shopkeeper had come to recognize her.
Yunyi sat down while answering, “Yes, because there were some matters at home, I only now found time to come over.” After the New Year, Xiao Shi’s health had frequently been poor, and Yunyi had been caring for her. For more than half a month, she hadn’t left the palace.
After Ruyi ordered a pot of tea, she looked around and said, “By the way, shopkeeper, how is it that there’s not a single person in your shop? Even the street has very few people. Last time I came, it was still quite lively.”
The shopkeeper smiled bitterly, “Who says it isn’t so? Alas, this world gets harder to endure with each passing day.”
Yunyi asked in confusion, “Has something happened?”
The shopkeeper sighed and sat down, “I won’t hide it from you, miss. Since the end of last year…” He lowered his voice, “That is, after the emperor from the palace came to our Jiangdu, the taxes have grown heavier day by day. Originally we could still hold on for a while, but we happened to encounter a poor harvest. Last year’s yield wasn’t even half of normal, yet the court doesn’t care at all and still desperately demands we pay money and grain. Miss, you tell me – when we can’t even fill our own bellies, how can we pay anything?”
Ruyi said, “Didn’t you report this matter to the officials?”
The shopkeeper sighed deeply, “We spoke up as soon as the harvest failed, but what use was it? The officials still push us toward death. Just a few days ago they came to collect taxes under some unknown pretext. This time I barely managed to get through it, but…” He looked around the deserted teahouse and said in a hoarse voice, “You can see for yourselves – no one comes anymore. This teahouse will probably have to close soon. Thirty years – from when this teahouse first welcomed customers until now, a full thirty years. It was my father’s life’s work, and I never thought it would fail in my hands. When I go to the underworld in the future, what face will I have to meet my father?”
Jixiang couldn’t bear it and said, “Don’t be too sad. Perhaps these days will gradually improve.”
“Improve?” The shopkeeper suddenly laughed, but his laughter was full of bitterness. “With such an imperial family and court, where would we have good days? Truth be told, we’re all just waiting to die.” With that, he sighed again, “Actually, this area is still considered good. I hear that in some places, people have started eating tree bark and leaves.”
Ruyi said in shock, “Tree bark and leaves? How can such things be eaten?”
The shopkeeper smiled bitterly, “When you’re truly starving, you can eat anything, as long as it can fill your stomach.”
Yunyi said in a low voice, “Have the people… truly reached such dire straits?”
“I only heard this from others. If you don’t believe it, miss, go see for yourself and you’ll know.” With that, the shopkeeper shook his head and walked away. He was hunched over, as if carrying a thousand-pound burden that he couldn’t straighten under.
After a moment of silence, Yunyi set down her untouched tea and said softly, “Let’s go.”
Ruyi and the others also felt uncomfortable and left some tea money before following Yunyi out. After leaving the teahouse, Yunyi didn’t return to the palace but walked through the city. Along the way, every person she saw had a worried expression, sallow and thin faces. On their faces, she couldn’t see a trace of joy. In a trance, she seemed to have returned to Honghua Prefecture. She still remembered that year when the court launched three campaigns against Goguryeo, forcibly conscripting countless men from every household – it had been the same scene. But the people of Jiangdu seemed even more miserable than those of Honghua Prefecture back then. At least the latter hadn’t been unable to fill their bellies.
Four years ago, she had thought that by killing Li Yuan, she could bring peace to the world and let the people live in security. It turned out this wasn’t so. What truly caused chaos in the world and made it impossible for people to live in peace wasn’t Li Yuan, but… her father the emperor!
For this, she didn’t know how many times she had advised her father, but each time she was met with angry rebuke. Her father was stubborn and obstinate, completely unable to listen to her counsel, and didn’t regard the people’s lives as important at all.
As they passed by a run-down wooden house, Yunyi heard the sound of a child crying and making a fuss inside, vaguely saying something about not wanting to eat, mixed with the parents’ coaxing and scolding voices.
Before they could react, the wooden door suddenly opened, and a small figure rushed out, colliding directly into Yunyi’s arms.
Looking closely, it was a little girl about five or six years old, holding a snow-white rabbit in her arms, with two streams of tears still on her face, looking quite pitiful. Behind her, a man and woman with sallow faces chased out, the man holding a cleaver in his hand, quite frightening.
Ruyi quickly protected Yunyi behind her and shouted at the couple, “What are you trying to do?!” Every time Yunyi went out, guards followed at a distance. As long as she called out loudly, they would arrive immediately, so Ruyi wasn’t afraid of the man.
“This has nothing to do with you, move aside!” The man shouted once, staring at the little girl, “Hurry up and give me that rabbit!”
The little girl cried and shook her head, “No, I raised Xiaoman from when it was small. You’re not allowed to kill it!”
“If we don’t kill it, should our family of three starve to death?” As soon as the woman finished speaking, the man glared and said, “Today I’m definitely going to slaughter this rabbit no matter what, and have a good filling meal. Give it to me!”
“No!” The little girl held the rabbit tightly and looked up at Yunyi, “Sister, please save Xiaoman. Don’t let daddy kill it!”
Yunyi crouched down and wiped the tears from that small face, “What’s wrong? Why does your daddy want to kill it?”
The little girl sobbed, “Daddy says there’s nothing left to eat at home, and he’s so hungry he can’t stand it, so he wants to kill Xiaoman and eat its meat. Xiaoman was bought by daddy from the market before, and we’ve been raising it at home. It took so much effort to raise it this big – how can we kill it?”
Jixiang said, “Since you raised it with your own hands, you must have feelings for it. How can you be so cruel?”
The man said angrily, “Easy to say when you’re not the ones starving! Stop meddling in other people’s business and get out of the way!”
The woman sighed beside them, “If we weren’t truly starving with nothing to eat, why would we have to kill Xiaoman?”
Seeing the man charge forward, the little girl panicked and loosened her grip. The rabbit took the opportunity to leap down and hopped away into the distance. Seeing this, the man’s eyes immediately turned red. He pointed the knife at the little girl and shouted fiercely, “You little wretch, you deliberately let that rabbit go! You’re determined to starve me and your mother to death, aren’t you? Believe it or not, I’ll butcher you too!”
The little girl was frightened into loud crying. The woman stopped him, “Enough, stop scolding our daughter. Hurry and chase that rabbit, or we’ll have to go hungry again today!”