Dressed as a farmer's widow, she brought her daughter to stock up on food and reached the top

Chapter 512 Where Did the Pigeons Go?

Uncle Liu couldn't bring himself to say the rest. According to the principle of first come, first served, Wenyuan arrived first, so he should be satisfied first. However, Master Li was leaving tomorrow, and the sweet potato flour was urgently needed. Wenyuan's junior apprentice had just arrived in Nanyang City, so he would probably stay for a while before leaving.

"It's okay, I can come back another day." Wen Yuan had a kind smile on his face. "What I need is not urgent, so I'll take care of Madam Li first."

"Okay," Uncle Liu replied, and turned to pack some sweet potato noodles for Madam Li. After seeing Wenyuan and Madam Li off, Uncle Liu walked to the backyard with a heavy heart. Looking at the empty pigeon cage, he asked, "Old woman, when did you release the pigeons?"

Mrs. Liu was also anxiously searching the sky for the familiar figure. She replied worriedly, "We released it this morning. Boss, why hasn't the pigeon returned yet? Usually, even if the village doesn't have enough sweet potatoes, or it takes a while for them to be delivered, the villagers will release a pigeon to bring us a message."

"Old woman, don't you think something has happened?" Uncle Liu frowned, but then he thought again, the village is well guarded like an iron barrel, the villagers are very united, and Xiuying is a clever girl, so there shouldn't be any accidents.

Uncle Liu consoled himself by saying, "Old lady, I've been thinking that maybe the pigeon ran into a female pigeon on its way back and got delayed because of playing around. Let's just be patient and wait a little longer."

Bowen angrily walked ahead with Ji Feng, while Wenyuan jogged behind to catch up, panting, "Junior brother, why are you in such a hurry? Didn't you say you'd wait for me outside? Well, was I right? This thing is called preserved egg."

Bowen not only didn't slow down, but actually quickened his pace, gritting his teeth and saying, "Humph, that servant was so audacious that he dared to deceive me! I'm going to make him clearly understand who is the preserved egg and who is the thousand-year-old egg! My silver was all given to me by my students out of filial piety, and I got swindled away by a servant like that. I really can't swallow this humiliation! I'm not willing to accept it!"

Wen Yuan hurriedly tried to console him, "Forget it, Junior Brother. The situation is complicated right now, and this is an emergency. We absolutely must not let Concubine Sun's people notice us. Less trouble is worse than more. The most important thing right now is to attract more resources for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. This is the top priority."

"Hurry up and bring them all to me! I'm from the government office. If you don't want to go to jail, stop talking!" A man riding a tall horse, dressed in cloth, stretched out his hands arrogantly and snatched all the umbrellas from the stall.

"Uncle, please be kind! My granddaughter and I are helpless and barely make a living by selling these umbrellas. You can't take them all away!" The old woman pulled her granddaughter and pleaded in a crying voice.

The little girl hid beside the old man, crying out of fear.

The man had already tied a lot of umbrellas to the back of his horse. He had robbed them all on the street without spending a penny.

A group of vendors hurriedly caught up, followed by two patrol officers.

"Sir, that's him!" a vendor said angrily, pointing at the man on horseback. "He stole our umbrella!"

"That's right, sir! He snatched our umbrella away on the street without saying a word and didn't even pay us a penny!" Another vendor echoed, his face full of indignation.

"By the way, sir, he shamelessly pretends to be an official!" another vendor added.

Two patrolling officers strode up to the horses, pointed at the man on horseback, and shouted, "You, get off! I'm telling you, this street is under our control. You simply don't take our county magistrate seriously!"

Bowen stood in the crowd, watching this scene and nodding secretly. Although the two officials' words were not very refined, they were at least willing to stand up for the people, which could be considered as fulfilling their duties.

The man on horseback ignored the officer's warning and glared at them fiercely, saying, "If you two delay the task assigned by the master, even if you have ten heads, they won't be enough to chop off!"

"Hey! Get down right here! Stop talking big here and pretending to be an official. Look at the way you are dressed. You don't look like an official at all. You are clearly a bandit! If you don't get off your horse, I will chop you off today!" An officer's eyes were wide open with anger. He drew the sword from his waist and was about to walk towards the man.

Seeing this, the man on horseback remained calm. He leisurely pulled out a token from his sleeve, held it high, and shouted, "I'm working for the government! All of you umbrellas have been requisitioned by the master! If anyone dares to stop me, don't blame me for being rude and sending him straight to jail!"

The patrol officers, who had been furious, froze in place the moment they saw the token, their faces filled with astonishment. One of their companions reacted quickly, bowing and apologizing to the man on horseback: "Sir, we are truly sorry! We are new here and may not have recognized you. We hope you will forgive us and not blame us."

After saying this, the two patrolling officers immediately turned around and began to drive away the onlookers and the vendors whose umbrellas had been stolen.

"Go, go! Don't block the official's way here. Do you all want to die?"

"It's your honor that your umbrellas can be requisitioned by the government! Disband, scatter!"

Upon hearing this, the merchants fell silent and slowly left with dejected expressions. Once they confirmed that the man on horseback was indeed a government official, they no longer held out any hope.

Bowen watched this scene unfold. As the crowd gradually dispersed, he slowly approached the elderly man who was packing up his stall and asked softly, "Old man, do the officials here always blatantly rob people on the street like this?"

Upon hearing this, the old man's face suddenly showed a look of fear. He waved his hands in panic, looked around vigilantly, and said in a low voice, "Please keep your voice down! Are you from another place? Our place seems prosperous, as if it has not been affected by the famine. In fact, it is not the work of the government, but thanks to the cheap and filling food.

If there were no sweet potato flour, most of us city dwellers would have starved to death long ago. You don't know, but the price of grain here has already risen to eighty wen per bushel! Even if the price were to drop, it would have to wait until the new rice harvest next year.

Think about it, there has been such a long time between us. If we have nothing to eat, how can we survive? If we spend all our money on buying food, how will we live in the future?

The old man's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Bowen's head, chilling him from head to toe. His heart instantly felt clear and heavy.