Traveling through life as a widow: six sons to support her in her old age

Chapter 168 What to do

Lan Qiyan pointed at an old woman with triangular eyes and asked, "Mom, who is this thing? Why don't I recognize it?"

Old Lady Yu sat down and took a breath. "Yanyan, we live in the north and she lives in the east. She never leaves the house and relies entirely on her daughter-in-law to take care of her. It's normal that you haven't seen her before."

"Li Wenjing, what do you mean?"

"You are lucky, Li Zhaodi, but Mianhua is unlucky. How could you have to deal with this family? You have to work, wash clothes, cook, and serve the mother-in-law while you are pregnant."

"Li Wenjing, you're still talking about me. What about you? You've brought death to your parents-in-law, your husband, and your two daughters."

Old Lady Yu was so angry, they all deserved to die, how could they kill themselves?

She stood up, walked to Li Zhaodi, and slapped her twice, "Say it again to me?"

Li Zhaodi covered her face and said, "Look, Shugen, someone is beating your mother, why didn't you say anything?"

"Mom, you are just a bad mouth, what does it have to do with me? Aunt Wenjing is right, you act like an old Buddha every day, letting Cotton serve you, look at how big Cotton's belly is.

The earth is shaking, and you asked me to carry you and run, throwing the cotton down. Mom, you only have yourself in your heart.

Let's split up. I'm not afraid of being criticized."

"Yang Shugen, you have no conscience. You have forgotten your mother after getting married..."

Old Lady Yu slapped him twice again, "Shut up, you have no home anymore, why are you howling? If you cause an earthquake again, I will throw you out."

Old Mrs. Yu was very sad. Other people's homes could still be seen a little bit, but their home was buried completely. Where would they live in the future?

Now everyone is still in panic. The village chief dragged his tired body to stand up and said, "Let's go to the state capital to see how to arrange it. There is still a month before the harvest, but now there is nothing."

No one spoke, and everyone lined up consciously. After a night of hard work, they finally arrived at the provincial capital.

The situation here is better than theirs. Although there are ruins everywhere, the shops on the street have not completely collapsed.

Lan Qiyan couldn't help but sigh, it turns out that ancient buildings were earthquake-proof, with the exception of thatched houses.

When the day breaks, there are people covered in dust and dirt everywhere. Some are filled with joy after surviving a calamity, some are filled with pain from losing their loved ones, and some are filled with numbness from having nothing.

Yu Zian and Yu Ze ran back and forth several times before they met up with Lan Qiyan.

"How is it? Is everything okay?"

"The parts distributed here are injured, but the others are fine."

"That's good. The prefect has invited the village chiefs of each village to come over. The specific arrangements will have to wait for the village chiefs to come back."

“It is estimated that it was rebuilt on the original site.”

"Shouldn't the government be responsible for this?" In modern society, the country helps the people rebuild their homes, and when one side is in trouble, all sides will come to its aid.

Lan Qiyan didn't know what to do now. Apart from the small number of casualties in their village, several village chiefs were wiped out.

"Don't think about that for now. Are you hungry? Let's get something to eat."

"Dad, you didn't even look at the city gate. We were chased out by the officials as soon as we entered. What's more, we didn't bring any food with us."

"Come with me into the city and see if I can find a pot. I brought some rice with me and we can each have a bowl of rice porridge."

Lan Qiyan touched his pocket and found a total of 37 taels of silver. He looked at the people around him and covered Yu Zian's mouth. "Hold on. You won't starve to death if you don't eat."

Yu Zian looked around. He was a little careless and still vaguely believed that he was in the army.

Lan Qiyan stood up and walked around, stuffing a piece of candy into each child's mouth, and also stuffed one into Old Lady Yu's mouth.

At the very least you can maintain the body's basic energy. At this time you cannot reveal that you have some food. If everyone else has nothing to eat and you do, it would be a sin.

Half an hour passed, and there was still no sign of the city gate opening.

The village heads did not come out. Although some people stamped their feet and cursed anxiously, they spoke in low voices and no one dared to speak loudly.

In an imperial society, the people were numbed by oppression and dared not resist at all.

Lan Qiyan was impatient. "Sons, can you estimate how many people are here?"

"There are 18 to people. Qinghe County has towns, and each town has an average of villages. Each village has to people, and as few as to people.

The year before last, the government counted the population of Qinghe County at a total of 41,500.

But there are less than 3,000 people here, and the rest are either dead or injured and can’t get here at all.”

Lan Qiyan gave Yulin a thumbs up and said, "You have a good memory and are very observant, but did you notice that all the people here are young people and children?"

"Old people don't leave easily. They want to die in their own house."

Lan Qiyan glanced at Yu Zian and said, "Maybe they just want to leave the hope of life to their children."

"Son, when will the relief grain from the court be distributed? What about the house?" This is what Old Lady Yu was concerned about. It didn't matter if she died, but what about these children?

"Mother, Qinghe County is more than a thousand miles away from the capital, and it would take three days and three nights to get there even if we galloped at full speed.

Even if we send it to the capital, it will take at least half a month for them to discuss it.”

Lan Qiyan snorted coldly, "By the time they get here, the flowers will be cold.

What people fear after an earthquake is not having no food to eat or no place to live, but plague.

I feel that the imperial court will not come to rescue us, but will leave us to fend for ourselves.

If the plague breaks out, there might be a massacre in the city. Let's wait a little longer. If the village chief doesn't come out and the city gates don't open by evening, we'll have to think of a way."

Lan Qiyan's words made several people fall into deep thought. Yu Zian had seen this before. He had encountered a plague caused by floods on the march. A town at that time was directly blocked and then set on fire.

The air was filled with the smell of burning flesh and there were wailings everywhere, but he was powerless to do anything.

Lan Qiyan felt very depressed. What was going on? Why did she have to encounter this?

Just when I was about to get up and go to the outer circle to get some fresh air, I saw a group of familiar people walking towards me. People from Taohua Village were also here.

She widened her eyes and saw Li Sumei, Lan Xinyuo, and the dusty Lan Dabao, but she didn't see Lan Cunliang. Was he dead?

"Mom, aren't those your stepmother and stepsister? Where are your father and my grandfather?"

Lan Qiyan shook his head, "I don't know."

"Wait a minute, Mom. I'll go find out what's going on."

Yu Xiu was stopped by Yu Zhen. "Don't run around. I won't be able to find you later. I'll go ask around."

"Be careful and don't have too much contact with them."

"Got it, mother."

The three brothers Yu Ziqing walked over through the crowd and started crying when they saw Old Lady Yu.

Old Lady Yu slapped everyone and said, "I'm not dead yet, why are you crying?"

"Mom, do you have anything to eat? We are so hungry."

Old Lady Yu slapped them again and said, "I'm so hungry that I'm dizzy. Why don't you give me something to eat?"

Lan Qiyan's stomach growled at the right moment, and the three Yu Ziqing brothers looked over at the same time.