In this era, in Heilongjiang Province, there were a vast number of floating populations.
Furthermore, the floating population at this time could be said to come from every region. Many had fled their homes from various places to escape famine in order to survive, but there were also many fugitives who had committed serious crimes in their hometowns and fled here to avoid the punishments they deserved.
The former were easier to deal with, as many traveled with their families and had run away simply to stay alive, forced to find a way to survive.
Therefore, such floating populations were generally not dangerous or unstable; they were the type that could be accepted.
As for the latter, they could be said to be countless times more dangerous than the wild beasts in the mountains.
Because the reason these bastards ran this way was mostly that they had committed crimes that, if caught, would result in at least ten years behind bars, or even "eating peanuts"—being executed.
Thus, it was easy to imagine how dangerous such people became when they had no food to eat and no money to spend.
Most of the people Wang An had killed previously were of this sort.
Once Wang An learned the identities of these two, he immediately regained his composure. Whether they were the former or the latter, as long as they were floating population, they were not a cause for concern to Wang An.
Turning around, Wang An asked the two
"Come on, you two lift your heads first and look at me."
As the old saying goes, "To judge a person, first look at the eyes," and some say, "The eyes are the windows to the soul." Therefore, in many cases, one can see a lot from a person's gaze while they are speaking.
Just like in prison, when interrogators question suspects, they always stare into the other person's eyes.
While not always accurate, it is certainly useful.
When the two lifted their heads, Wang An noticed that they looked very similar and were likely father and son. The older one was around 40 years old, and the younger one looked to be about fifteen or sixteen.
Moreover, the clothes they wore were extremely worn out; not only were they covered in patch upon patch, but there were also many holes. One look was enough to know that their lives were truly miserable.
After observing them for a moment, Wang An asked in a smooth tone
"Tell me, what are your names? Where in the interior did you come from? When did you arrive? And where are you living now?"
Wang An's words lacked any emotional fluctuation, sounding just like a normal chat.
Upon hearing this, the two did not exchange glances. The older man spoke up
"My name is Huang Baoguo. We fled famine from Yuzhou. We've been here for over ten years. Last year, when land was being distributed here, I figured land was probably being distributed back in my hometown too, so our family went back. Who would have thought that once we returned, the village chief said we didn't have household registration and wouldn't give us land? So we came back here. Now we're living in a dugout over by Weizigou."
Hearing this, Wang An felt quite a bit of heartache for them, because this was the most typical "black household" of the era.
Unrecognized in their hometown and viewed as outsiders, and still unrecognized in a foreign land, viewed as outsiders by the outsiders—to put it bluntly, their household registration had been completely lost in the shuffle.
One must realize that in this era, traveling depended on letters of introduction. Without one, you could hardly leave the county town, let alone get anything done. And for people like this, who would dare issue a letter of introduction?
Wang An knew of the place called Weizigou. It wasn't very large, located about ten odd li to the southwest of Sujiatun.
About twenty households lived in Weizigou, every single one of them residing in dugouts. Without exception, these people were floating populations from various places; it was essentially a gathering point for the displaced.
Of course, there were many such gathering points scattered throughout Heilongjiang Province.
However, the geographical location of Weizigou was already within the range of the deep mountains. Although there wasn't much arable land nearby, it was absolutely enough for these people to farm.
But because it was located in the deep mountains, there were many wild beasts nearby that plagued the crops. This resulted in a situation where, although they planted a fair amount every year, the harvested grain was very little.
In short, the lives of these people were far, far harder than those of the people in Kaoshan Village.
Wang An noticed that when the man spoke, his eyes did not dodge. What they contained was only weariness and helplessness—and more so, a kind of compromise and resignation toward life.
Wang An could feel that the man was not lying, so the person should be fine.
Consequently, Wang An shifted his gaze to the other person, the youth, and asked
"And you? What's your story?"
The youth glanced at the box-cannon pistol in Wang Li's hand and said with some fear
"My name is Huang Zhong. He is my father."
As he spoke, the one called Huang Zhong pointed to Huang Baoguo beside him.
Huang Baoguo added
"Mm-hmm, this is my son."
Hearing the name Huang Zhong, Wang An couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. It was mainly because Wang An suddenly remembered that in the *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, there was a person named Huang Zhong, and that Huang Zhong seemed to be quite fierce.
Wang An blinked, looking at the clearly malnourished Huang Zhong before him, and calculated secretly in his heart that against a Huang Zhong like this, he could easily take on ten of them alone.
Having understood their identities, Wang An felt more secure. However, looking at the corn cobs placed in front of the two, as well as the wild vegetables and mushrooms dumped on the ground, he felt a bit conflicted.
The main issue was that the corn cobs this father and son had stolen totaled only about thirty.
If he were to beat them or make things difficult for them over such a small amount of stuff, Wang An really couldn't bring himself to do it.
Most importantly, they stole the corn simply to fill their stomachs.
But in this era, every household lacked grain. While the floating population had it hard, the villagers weren't having it easy either. If Wang An just let them go, it would be somewhat unjustifiable.
Wang An stared at the two, couldn't help but suck on his teeth, and then cast a complaining look toward Wang Li.
In Wang An's view, for such a trivial matter, Wang Li should have just chased them away and turned a blind eye to it.
But Wang Li, instead, had used a gun to detain them here.
After thinking for a while and finding no better solution, Wang An turned to the sidecar and took out the canned jar containing chili sauce, then said to Wang Li
"Where are the steamed buns? Go get the buns, let's eat."
Wang Li also noticed Wang An's conflict and his resentment toward him, so he turned and ran back into the dugout.
Wang An didn't look at Wang Li and asked Huang Baoguo and Huang Zhong as if they were just chatting
"How many times have you stolen corn from this plot of land?"
Huang Baoguo immediately said with a bitter face
"This really is the first time. There's truly no grain left at home. Eating wild vegetables and mushrooms every day is fine for adults, but the child really can't take it anymore."
(End of Chapter)