"Husband, we're running out of food. We only have three days' worth left..." his wife said, patting their sleeping daughter, her eyes filled with worry.
"Three days..." Carpenter Tang wiped his face. "We'll just have to eat less for a while. The child can't go hungry. I'll go think of something, see if I can borrow some grain."
"Husband, in a situation like this, who would have any grain to spare...?"
His wife clutched the hem of her clothes tightly.
"The war has been going on for months. Before the Northern Wilderness Army even arrived, that dog of a City Lord of ours had already plundered us once. And the prices from those crooked merchants just got higher and higher every day.
And now, to top it all off, the Northern Wilderness Army has carted away all the grain merchants' food. Even if we had a few silver taels, there's nowhere to buy grain anymore.
The other families are no better off."
