Farming and reading family

Although we reminded the Wu family to pretend to sell some of the grain, the time between the reminder and the flood was too short, and we don’t know how well they were prepared.

Mrs. Wu held Gao E's hand gratefully and whispered, "It was thanks to my elder sister that we sold some of the grain and secretly moved the rest to the small courtyard we had before."

"There are people in the city who are stealing food. They cover their faces at night and we don't even know who they are," Mrs. Wu sighed.

She thought about all these things over and over again, and felt that if it weren't for her eldest sister's reminder, they wouldn't have sold all their property and moved to the city so quickly.

Later, it was the eldest sister's reminder that allowed them to make preparations in advance, and now they can live a stable life.

"How long has it been since things started to get so serious?" Gao E was surprised.

"The grain merchants in the city have raised prices too much. Many disaster victims have gathered outside the city. The county magistrate has been forced to recruit many thugs to guard the city gate. It costs twenty cents to enter the city." Mrs. Wu was furious.

"Then..." Gao E didn't have a good impression of the county magistrate.

The person who had previously forcibly bought the Gao family's property was in collusion with the county magistrate.

"Isn't he afraid of arousing public anger?" Gao E felt that doing so would definitely cause big problems.

"Yesterday," Wu unconsciously raised her voice and then hurriedly lowered it. "The county magistrate burned an evil spirit to death to appease the public anger."

"What evil spirit?" Gao E frowned.

"He was a Taoist priest. Before the flood, he was shouting about a flood everywhere. He even went to the county government office and beat the drum to open the court. Everyone thought he was crazy."

"How did that Taoist priest know that there would be a flood?" Gao E was surprised, thinking that it couldn't be another reborn person.

"I don't know." Wu shook her head. "After the flood, the county magistrate thought he was a demon and that he had caused the flood, so he burned him to death in public to appease the public anger."

Gao E felt a chill in her heart. Fortunately, Chen Ke did not do such a thing, otherwise the result would not be good.

"Eldest sister?" Mrs. Wu saw her elder sister was in a daze.

"That man was clearly reminding everyone, why should he be burned to death?" Gao E felt that this logic did not make sense.

"If he was fine, how could he have known about the flood in advance?" Wu asked. "He County has long since passed its flood season. The water today is just weird."

This is just a definition. It does not require logic or basis. Just think of it this way.

You can burn a person to death in the name of justice.

Gao E smiled bitterly: "You think so too?"

Mrs. Wu shook her head. "I actually think that Taoist is a true immortal. It's a pity that the county magistrate has convicted him and no one dares to plead for him."

"Where are the people who took over our Wu family's assets?" Gao E didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"I've been paying special attention to him. He hasn't come to the city yet. I guess he was murdered." Mrs. Wu said excitedly.

Gao E didn't care that Wu was gloating over this. That man almost killed Gao Liang, and such a method was extremely evil.

"So what are your plans?" Gao E knew that they had a lot of food now, and if they didn't handle it properly at this time, it would become a hot potato.

Wu was indeed in a dilemma: "The charity granary in He County was flooded, and I heard that there is not much grain in the government granary at all. If the government granary is out of grain at this time, there must be something wrong. The county magistrate will definitely try his best to cover it up. Soaring grain prices are one thing, but having no grain is really a life-threatening thing."

Gao E nodded: "There is no porridge distribution now?"

"There are too many disaster victims outside, we simply don't dare." Wu also thought about distributing porridge. "If we continue like this, it would be good if we can hold back the disaster victims, but if we can't, there will definitely be chaos."

Gao E frowned and thought for a long time. They could only protect Baotou Village, and they really couldn't take care of any place farther away.

She also didn't dare let Wu take the risk of doing anything with the food. She couldn't test people's hearts at this time. As long as it was edible, even the golden body of a Bodhisattva would be eaten if it was extremely hungry.

"How long do you think it will take for those disaster victims to leave?" Gao E asked uncertainly.

"They simply don't have the strength to leave." Wu thought of what she saw outside the city.

Gao E felt that this was a problem. Those people would have no way to leave and would starve to death there. When the land was full of starving people, only the cruel ones would survive.

"Go back now, sell all the food in your home to the grain shop, and bring Gao Chong and Gao Liang to me." Gao E said directly.

I thought it would be better for them to hide in the city, but now it seems that the city is also very dangerous. It is better to come out so that they will have a place to escape when the time comes.

Wu thought about it seriously and nodded: "Are you afraid of unrest in the city?"

Gao E nodded: "There is no time to lose, the sooner the better."

"Okay." Wu said and stood up.

"Oh right." Gao E suddenly thought of Luo Dagang. "There's a man named Luo Dagang in the city. He's quite capable. If you run into trouble when you leave the city this time, you can hire him to escort you."

Mrs. Wu thought about it and nodded.

"If the servants you brought with you want to leave, you can take them with you. If they don't want to leave, just leave some food for them. There's no need to force them." Gao E thought that not many people could live here.

"I know." Mrs. Wu thought so too.

So Wu came in a hurry and left in a hurry. Chen Ke wanted to invite her to have dinner, but she refused directly.

"What's wrong with her?" Chen Ke asked Gao E in confusion.

Gao E asked Chen Ke to put away the cakes that Wu had brought. "Husband, have you ever met our county magistrate?"

Chen Ke was a little embarrassed: "I have seen him before, but I can't say anything."

After all, Chen Ke was a scholar from He County. When he was offering sacrifices to the Confucian Temple and was picked up by passing officials, he had the opportunity to stand behind them.

But he only has the opportunity to stand at the back. After all, he is not a top writer, his family background is not good, and he doesn't know how to flatter. If such a person walks to the front, it will only be an eyesore.

"Then do you know what kind of person the magistrate is?" Gao E asked seriously.

Although she felt that the magistrate was not a good official, she couldn't be too arbitrary. After all, some people's actions were not as simple as they seemed.

Chen Ke knew that Mr. Fu was not a good official, and he did not want to discuss it privately: "Why did you suddenly ask this, my lady?"

"I just thought that since He County had suffered such a great disaster, if there had been a good official, the people would have had a way to survive." Gao E sighed.

Chen Ke sighed: "My wife is in confinement now, so please don't worry about these things."

Seeing that Chen Ke didn't want to talk about it, Gao E changed the subject: "I'm worried that my brother and his family aren't safe in the city, so I asked if they'd like to stay at our house temporarily. If they really come, I'm afraid they'll have to squeeze in with us."

Chen Ke nodded: "It's okay, I'll help you out if I can."

After the two men agreed on this matter, they went out to help.

Gao E began to think about this matter seriously.

She did not ask Chen Ke about the situation in He County in her previous life. At that time, he was still in the capital, and he was a scholar, so his perspective on things was somewhat different from that of ordinary people.

Just as I was thinking about this, Lei ran in excitedly.

"Someone in our village picked up a pearl down there, and many people are picking it up down there now." Lei was holding an irregular pearl in her hand.