Noble Lady

"Yes, Zheng Duoqi is not originally from Haicheng County. He was arranged by Mr. Lu and Datong Trading Company because of the private school matter."

Xue Chenyu suddenly understood.

The private school was not originally arranged to be brought to Lingnan so quickly because she knew that there would be drought and famine here, so she asked Dongyue to bring people and rice here in advance.

A'niang had arranged for people to come here in advance in order to help her.

The consideration at that time was that when famine broke out, not only could the rice be used to help with disaster relief, but the supervision of private schools could also be used to provide work-for-relief and arrange for the livelihood of some people.

We can also use Mr. Lu's name to alert local officials so that they don't block the news unscrupulously.

However, from the current perspective, Haicheng County’s overall plan has been disrupted.

The county magistrate disappeared, there was not a grain of rice in the Su's grain store, and Datong Trading Company was involved in collusion between officials and businessmen.

Only this disciple of Mr. Lu looked clean and free from dust.

"When something is out of the ordinary, there must be something wrong." Xue Chenyu let out a long breath.

Then she met Situ Zhen's gaze and said, "Thank you for your advice, Your Highness. This is my first time traveling far away from home, so my experience is indeed limited."

"Ms. Xue is already very capable. You didn't think of this simply because you have never dealt with these people."

Xue Chenyu did not dare to accept such compliments.

Or maybe she was thinking too narrowly.

Although she suspected Zheng Duoqi from the beginning, it was a different kind of situation where everyone was suspicious.

Still overlooked some details.

After saying goodbye to Situ Zhen, Xue Chenyu went back to find Qiuhua and asked her to go to Su’s Grain Store again to see if there were any other clues.

Qiuhua set off again with her sword.

Xue Chenyu sat at the round table, tapping her hands on the table intermittently, her thoughts in a mess.

Things are more complicated than she imagined.

The deserted Su's Grain Store, the questionable Haicheng branch of Datong Trading Company, Mr. Lu's disciple Zheng Duoqi, and the missing Haicheng County Magistrate He Yuanju.

There are many doubts.

The people and food were nowhere to be found, and the money was nowhere to be found. There was only an account book.

"Yuzhu, call Yumei and Xiahe over." Xue Chenyu ordered.

Yuzhu answered yes and then went out to call Yumei and Xiahe.

Xue Chenyu only instructed one thing, that Yumei would replace Xia He on guard today, and he pulled her aside and gave her a few more instructions.

Xia He asked her to deliver a letter for her.

"This matter is very important." Xue Chenyu quickly wrote the letter and handed it to her solemnly.

Xia He took the letter, and Xue Chenyu whispered something in her ear, which made her eyes look fearless.

"Don't worry, young lady. Xia He will not disappoint you and will definitely deliver the letter."

"The most important thing is to protect yourself."

"I'm a slave."

After explaining all this, Xue Chenyu called Yao Biaotou and the others over.

She had already asked Yumei, and there was not much food left in the county government office. If no new food arrived tonight, the porridge would be gone.

The people of Haicheng County are already in a state of panic, seeing enemies everywhere.

Some of them had just rushed back from outside. If they were cut off from food at this time, something serious would undoubtedly happen.

She also vaguely sensed another meaning behind what Situ Zhen reminded her just now.

Situ Zhen has already sent people to contact his father, but the number of people he brought with him is actually not large. Now he has divided his troops into several groups to track down the whereabouts of the food and to find the villagers who fled north to escape the famine.

On the surface, there were still soldiers in black armor patrolling the county government office, but in reality, there were less than 20 people left, and once chaos broke out, it would be impossible to control the situation.

"Miss Xue, what do you want?"

"Captain Yao, there might be some trouble in the next two days. I hope you can help me. I will definitely give you a generous gift when we return to the capital."

"Miss Xue, it's too polite of you to say this. We've been eating and drinking with you all the way here, and we've also received quite a bit of bounty this time. It's our duty to escort you to Haicheng County and return you safely."

Yao Biaotou was being honest. There were no nice words, but his words were real.

Xue Chenyu breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I'll trouble you, Escort Master Yao. When we return to the capital, I will definitely host a banquet for you and the escort brothers in the escort agency."

"A feast at the Marquis' Mansion?! This is something we wouldn't even dare to dream of in our lifetime."

Yao Biaotou's appropriate and modest jokes eased the atmosphere a little.

Xue Chenyu did feel a little relieved.

The plan to go out and meet people today was no longer necessary, so Xue Chenyu changed into clothes that were more convenient for work and went to the front to help distribute porridge.

Originally, she should have called Xue Luoyan, Du Jingyuan and the others, but they all knew that she was going out today, so they made their own arrangements early in the morning and helped to fetch water, light the fire and serve porridge.

Although today's soup distribution was carried out according to the original plan.

Everyone in Haicheng County has a share of the starving people.

But after the afternoon, the news still spread.

I don't know who started saying that there was not much food left in the government office's warehouse, and they would not have the next meal after this one.

Others said, "This prince didn't bring much food at all. He wants to trick us back and let us starve to death here!"

"Yes, they are afraid that if we go north, the court officials will know about the famine here. Knowing that they are protecting each other, they will simply kill us."

"These officials are not good people. We might as well rob the food in the government office and run away for our lives."

……

No one believed these words at first, but when dinner came, for various reasons, the porridge was served a moment late, and the hungry people started to make a fuss.

"I told you they had no food. They lied to us before!"

"These people definitely don't want us to live. They might even kill all the people in Haicheng County!"

"Go ahead, charge in! Let's grab the food and go home."

People can't stand hearing the word "go home".

As soon as these two words came out, they triggered the string in the hearts of many people, which was easily shaken and they really rushed to the yamen.

There were also those who remained unmoved, such as Grandma Qiao and Xiao Qiao and their group.

But they couldn't stop more people from rushing in.

"Don't come here, don't come here!"

"This porridge is fresh from the pot and is very hot!"

"Be careful!"

Du Jingyuan and the others shouted at the top of their lungs, but they couldn't stop the madness of those people. They could only carry the porridge and retreat as far as possible.

The black-armored soldiers at the door rushed over upon seeing the situation, but could only barely stop them.

Escort leader Yao rushed out with his escorts and martial artists, protecting Xue Chenyu and several other female relatives.

"Ding!" The gong rang.

The crowd that was rushing into the yamen frantically was stunned.

Yao Biaotou stood on the table, holding the gong. "Think carefully, these little girls are carrying the porridge that will fill your stomachs. Just step aside and line up for the porridge. No one will be in trouble."

"The rice in the government office is all the state's public grain. If you steal it, you will all lose your heads!"

While they were listening to what Yao Biaotou was saying, Du Jingyuan, Du Juan and two strong martial artists had already retreated to the corner carrying the porridge bucket.

If someone accidentally knocks over the hot porridge that has just been taken out of the pot in weather like this, they will probably be scalded to death.