In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 857 Unfilial Son

However, Xu Sanyang could only dream about it. Escaping the Lu family was completely impossible for a serf like him. Even if he escaped, without his own land and without a household registration, he would be considered an "unregistered resident" by the court and would have almost no means of survival.

Therefore, escaping the Lu family was just an unrealistic fantasy in Xu Sanyang's mind.

However... occasionally, late at night, Xu Sanyang would inevitably feel a little lonely and regretful.

Xu Sanyang had heard his parents say that in his grandfather's generation, his family also had their own farmland. However, for some reason, the farmland became the property of the Lu family, and his grandparents had to become serfs of the Lu family in order to survive.

From then on, from Xu Sanyang's grandfather to his father, and now to Xu Sanyang himself, his identity has never changed; he has always played the role of a serf in the Lu family.

To be fair, being a serf in the Lu family was not an unacceptable thing to many people in Youzhou. After all, the slaves belonged to the Lu family, and the Lu family would cherish them to some extent. Compared to the tenant farmers outside the Lu family manor who were struggling to make ends meet, the serfs of the Lu family could at least have their food rations guaranteed, and at least they wouldn't starve to death.

Perhaps Xu Sanyang was a person who loved freedom by nature. He did not like this kind of life where he buried himself in a small world all day long, just to earn two meals a day, living a life like a numb, tireless animal.

Xu Sanyang felt that people shouldn't live like this, especially after his parents passed away, this thought became even stronger for him.

Xu Sanyang's parents did not die of old age, but of illness.

Death from illness was one of the most common causes of death for the Lu family's serfs. Although the serfs belonged to the Lu family and the Lu family would do its best to ensure their survival, the cost had to be taken into account in everything.

If the serfs suffered from minor illnesses that a doctor could easily cure, that would be fine. The Lu family's doctors would treat them and help them recover so they could continue farming for the Lu family.

However, if the illness is serious and requires expensive herbs to cure, then the sick serf can only lie in bed and wait to die.

In the eyes of the Lu family, the medicine used to cure the disease was more expensive than the Lu family recruiting a new serf. The Lu family, which had never regarded serfs as human beings, would never pay such a high price to cure a serf.

When Xu Sanyang's parents fell ill, the Lu family's doctor came to visit them, took their pulses, shook his head, and left.

After that, Xu Sanyang's parents' condition worsened day by day. Even though Xu Sanyang did his best to take care of them at their bedside after finishing his farm work every day, he still couldn't save their lives and could only watch helplessly as they passed away...

That day, Xu Sanyang, a grown man, cried like a child. He didn't even have the right to bury his parents. Soon, servants from the Lu family came to the door and forcibly cremated the bodies of Xu Sanyang's parents. Xu Sanyang could only hold the urn containing his parents' ashes and bury it under the tree behind him, so that they could rest in peace.

This is one of the reasons why Xu Sanyang would come to rest under this tree after finishing his farm work. Sitting here, the images of his parents would always flash through his mind, as if his parents were still alive and by his side.

"Dad, what are we eating today?"

"Little girl, how about we have wheat rice tonight?"

"More wheat rice? Okay!"

"What a good girl!"

"..."

Many serfs with their families passed by not far from Xu Sanyang. Looking at those lively and sensible children, a hint of envy flashed in Xu Sanyang's eyes.

Normally, lowly serfs were not entitled to reproduce, but the Lu family implemented a rule to ensure the number of serfs:

Any male serf belonging to the Lu family who is 15 years old or older and has never made a mistake while working can apply to the Lu family for marriage. The Lu family will then arrange for another female serf of similar age to marry him.

Most of the couples in the Lu Family Manor got married and had children because of this rule.

Xu Sanyang's parents were brought together by this rule, and then Xu Sanyang was born.

Xu Sanyang is now also eligible to apply for a marriage with the Lu family, but he has not done so.

The reason wasn't that Xu Sanyang disliked women, nor was it because he didn't want to carry on the family line. Rather, Xu Sanyang felt that if his child knew he was born a serf, he probably wouldn't want to come into this world.

The children born to these serfs, the boys would grow up to be serfs like them, while the girls, if they were pretty, might have the chance to become maids of the Lu family, serving the Lu family members, or becoming playthings for them.

If one is not good-looking, then one can only work in the fields like the men, toiling all day just to fill one's stomach.

In short, children born to Lu family serfs, whether boys or girls, are destined to suffer from birth. Xu Sanyang couldn't bear to see his children become lowly serfs like himself, or playthings of the Lu family nobles. Therefore, over the years, he has never applied to the Lu family for a marriage match.

"If my dad knew I did this, he'd probably pick up a stick and yell at me for being an unfilial son, right?"

Xu Sanyang chuckled self-deprecatingly. When his father passed away, he held his hand and urged him to make sure that the family bloodline was carried on no matter what...

Unfortunately, Xu Sanyang did not have such a strong obsession with carrying on the family line, and the Xu family bloodline was destined to end with him.

"San Yang, I knew you'd be here!"

A voice came from beside him, and a small, thin figure sat down next to Xu Sanyang, smiling as he spoke.

Xu Sanyang knew without looking back that this person was Li Ming, one of his few good friends.

Li Ming and Xu Sanyang were of the same status, both being serfs of the Lu family, and Li Ming was five years younger than Xu Sanyang.

However, unlike the taciturn Xu Sanyang, Li Ming was extremely lively and talkative, able to converse with both his friend Xu Sanyang and other serfs.

"I'm so tired!"

Li Ming, who had also worked in the fields all day, lay half-reclined under a tree and said with half-closed eyes, "San Yang, have you heard? The manor has been surrounded!"

"Surrounded?"

Xu Sanyang was obviously unaware of this matter and asked curiously, "Who dares to surround the Lu family's manor?"

"Naturally, it's Yang Zheng from Liangzhou."

Li Ming replied, "I just heard the news from someone else. The entire manor is now surrounded by Yang Zheng's army of 100,000 men. Not even a fly can get out!"