It's really hard to just farm peacefully.

"When you came to our county, did you see the refugees scattered everywhere?" Chunying finished talking about the gossip and naturally switched to the next topic.

"I haven't seen them since entering Dongtai County, but before that, they were indeed everywhere. Is there anything wrong with them?" Jiang Yan asked back.

This was also what she had been curious about for many days, but she had never gotten an answer from Zhou Li.

"There's nothing wrong with the people. But you know, many of them are not from our county." Chunying seemed to reveal a hint of anger when she said this.

"Ah?" Jiang Yan caught her emotion but didn't quite understand. "Aren't refugees just people coming and going from all over? Does it matter if they're from Dongtai County? They didn't stay in the county either..."

"Right, but people in other counties don't think so. They just think we drove them out and they all call us ungrateful."

"Ungrateful?" That's something you should scold...

"That's not the case at all." Chunying saw that Jiang Yan seemed to agree, so she quickly explained.

"They were originally laborers sent from all over the country to build the palaces and mansions for Your Majesty and the other lords. They're not all from our county. Now that the work is done, what's wrong with letting them go home?"

"Don't they want to go back? Or they can't go back because they don't have the money?" When it comes to laborers, Jiang Yan immediately thinks of the 25 people who were brought out of Dongshan Village.

"I think they just don't want to go back." Chunying said firmly, "Before, a wealthy businessman in our county was willing to pay for people to send them home, but one group ended up running back halfway.

They told everyone they met that this wasn't the way home, and the leader wanted to sell them to human traffickers, causing most of the other groups that hadn't set out yet to disperse... I don't know what they were doing."

"If they really planned to sell the person secretly, you can't blame them for making a fuss." Jiang Yan retorted, "When something like this happened, didn't your county magistrate check the authenticity?"

"We did," Chunying answered without hesitation. "Our county magistrate sent people to the neighboring county to investigate. They found that everyone in the first group who returned was still at home. That's why everyone guessed that those who ran back didn't want to go home and changed their minds at the last minute."

"But the safety of the first team does not mean the safety of the second team." Jiang Yan felt that there were big problems with the investigation results of the Dongtai County Magistrate.

She then added, "And we only checked the neighboring counties. What about those who live farther away and in more remote areas? Have they all returned?"

Chunying seemed to have just realized what was happening, and said hesitantly, "Yeah, you do have a point... But those rich people don't have the laborers' yellow cards, so even if they wanted to sell them, no one would dare to buy them."

"They're used as slaves to work in illegal mines. They're bought to do some shameful things." Jiang Yan was used to answering each other's questions, and he realized it was inappropriate after he said it out loud.

Fortunately, Chunying didn't have any special reaction. She just said with relief, "Fortunately, when this happened, our county magistrate didn't force it because he was afraid of trouble. He just asked the masters of each prefecture to come and take the people back themselves. Those who didn't want to go back could stay.

If His Majesty had not been arriving soon, he would not have chased them away."

At this point, Chunying said to Jiang Yan with praise: "Your governor Fang is really good. He brought the person back early."

"Early?"

"Yes, they sent someone to pick it up right after it was finished." Chunying counted on her fingers, "It's been more than three months."

Jiang Yan calculated in his mind that it would take more than three months. Based on his walking speed, theoretically he would be able to see him for the last time before leaving Dongshan Village.

But… Jiang Yan suddenly looked at Chunying with admiration and praised her, “Haven’t you always been a maid in the mansion? How do you know so much? You’re amazing!”

Chunying's cheeks flushed, and she answered shyly but frankly: "Have you forgotten? I have many sisters who were assigned to work in different mansions. When we can't sleep at night, we like to talk about these things."

"If there's anything you want to hear, I can ask them~"