Noble Lady

Entered the county government office.

The gloom on Situ Zhen's face faded a lot, and he ordered Fang Rui beside him, "Check and see who is instigating them behind the scenes."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

In the face of natural disasters, human resources are limited. It is hard to find someone willing to give them a chance of survival, but some people, for their own selfish interests, keep making trouble behind the scenes, trying to drag some innocent people into the quagmire.

This crime is simply unforgivable!

Situ Zhen walked quickly towards the study. Fang Rui quickly reminded him, "Prince, you should rest for a while. We have contacted Marquis Xue. The food will arrive tomorrow at the latest."

"I'm worried." Situ Zhen said.

He was not worried about Xue Hou, because Xue Hou was his Mr. Wu. What he was worried about was that someone else might cause trouble on the road.

Fang Rui followed closely, but he was already a little out of breath. "But you and Lord Xue have already made all the arrangements. There can't be any other unexpected changes, right?"

Situ Zhen didn't say anything and soon completely put him out of his mind.

Fang Rui, who was left gasping for breath, said: I worked so hard, but what is the master running for?

Before dark, the government office posted a notice: Stealing imperial grain is a capital crime. Considering that the leader of the riot has been brought to justice and the others were instigated by others, they will not be investigated further for the time being. If they commit the same offense again, they will be executed without mercy!

The four words "definitely kill without mercy" have great deterrent effect.

When I saw the notice, everyone was terrified and rushed to the nearest resettlement site.

Many of the people who owned the shops on the street near the county government office had fled the famine, leaving the space vacant. The county government office then used the space temporarily as a shelter for the hungry.

Fortunately, it is still summer in Lingnan. If it were winter, life would probably not be so easy.

But it's soon.

It's already October, and winter will be here in another month and a half.

Many people don’t even know where they will be tomorrow, but they are already caught in the anxiety of winter.

Especially when the city and county government posted the notice, any unreasonable ideas that they had just had were completely strangled in the cradle.

But the seeds of doubt had already been planted, and many people still wondered: Is there really no food left in the government office? Will there be porridge tomorrow? Are they really going to starve to death?

I was lost in thought and fell asleep again.

……

Xue Chenyu in the yamen was not having a much better time.

Qiuhua and Xiahe have not returned yet.

She was a little worried that something might have happened to them.

But on second thought, they both have received special training and should be able to protect themselves.

But as night fell, his anxiety grew deeper and deeper.

It is understandable that Xia He went out of town to deliver a letter and couldn't come back, but Qiuhua just went to Su's grain store and hasn't returned yet after a day. She was afraid that something had happened.

Thinking of this, she hurried out.

"Miss, please stay." Yumei blocked her way.

After a brief moment of surprise, Xue Chenyu understood and asked, "This is what the prince meant, isn't it?"

Yumei didn't dare look at her out of guilt, and said weakly, "...Yes, Junior Master-Uncle has told me that something might happen tonight, so you must not go out."

"What's going to happen tonight?"

"Sorry, young lady, I have nothing to say." Yumei's face was tense, and she looked a little serious.

"Okay then. I won't go out. Go and call Du Jingyuan and Luoluo over for me."

Yumei hesitated for a moment, "...No, if I leave, the girl will definitely take the opportunity to run away, and then I won't be able to explain to Junior Master."

Xue Chenyu was furious.

But she didn't give up.

She thought for a moment and then said, "Then just call your junior uncle over. There are some things I can only say to him face to face."

Yumei shook her head.

"Why?"

Yumei stopped talking.

Xue Chenyu paused, "Isn't he in the county government office?"

"You, you, you...how did you know that?" Yumei's already big round eyes widened as if she had heard some shocking news.

Xue Chenyu exhaled a breath of foul air, "I didn't know before, but now I know. Tell me, where did the prince go?"

Yumei quickly pursed her lips and said in a very firm tone: I can’t say it.

Xue Chenyu took two steps inside the door and then called Yuzhu over.

"Your Junior Master only told me not to leave, but he didn't tell anyone else not to come in."

"……No."

then.

Yumei and Xue Chenyu looked at each other across the door.

After a while, Yuzhu came over.

Xue Chenyu pulled the person into the house and closed the door in front of Xiao Yumei.

Yumei: "...It's not me who forbids you from going out, it's my uncle who said so."

"He said that if you go out, your life will be in danger. How could I let you be in danger? So I can't let you go out no matter what."

She was mumbling to herself, and no one could hear her.

In the room.

"Girl, you..."

"Shh!"

Yuzhu was about to speak when Xue Chenyu silenced her.

She quickly lowered her voice so that only the two of them could hear her and asked, "Girl, is something wrong?"

"I suspect something happened to my father."

Mr. Hou?

Yuzhu gasped in surprise, "How is it possible? The Marquis is a martial arts expert and a grain transport officer, how could he..."

"It is because he is a grain transport officer that something might have gone wrong." Xue Chenyu was very calm at this time.

If Situ Zhen hadn't asked Yumei to stop her from going out, she wouldn't have thought of this.

But just now, Yumei's attitude made her think more.

My father is a grain transport officer, and the transported grain is to be handed over to Situ Zhen for disposal. But now Situ Zhen's people have arrived in Haicheng County, but my father is nowhere to be seen.

Last time they said that the situation of families in Zhushan County and Huaiyuan County had eased somewhat, so it shouldn't have taken so long for them to see any talented people.

If the local officials along the way were causing trouble, Situ Zhen would not have to hide it from him.

Unless something else happened to them.

"Miss, I heard from Grandma Qiao today that there are bandits in the Haicheng County area. Could it be that the Marquis and his men have encountered bandits?"

Bandits!

That’s right, it’s bandits!

In the previous life, along with the drought disaster here, the destruction of a group of bandits was also reported to the capital!

It is said that the officers and soldiers who came to provide disaster relief also wiped out the local bandits.

Officials and bandits collude.

What was said at the time was very general, and she didn't understand it in detail, so she never took it to heart.

Xue Chenyu hit her head angrily.

She should have known better. How could she have overlooked such an important matter?

At the beginning, my father and his grain transport team were so large that the bandits probably did not dare to take action out of caution.

But if someone provided them with clues, such as where to rest along the way, and they took the opportunity to act, wouldn't they be more confident?

Xue Chenyu took a deep breath and said, "Yuzhu, go and tell Luoluo and Yao Biaotou a message for me."

Yuzhu quickly put her ear close to what she said, her expression changing moment by moment.

"...Girl, this is not good, right?"

"Don't ask, just go."

Yuzhu had no choice but to go quickly.

In the second half of the night, shouts and cries of killing were heard outside the yamen.

Xue Chenyu was sleeping with her clothes on. When she woke up, she opened the door and came out.

Yumei quickly pushed her into the house and said, "Don't go, girl. It's dangerous outside."

"Do you know what happened?"

Yumei pursed her lips and said nothing.

At this time, Fang Rui came running over in a hurry, "Ms. Xue, the bandits have entered the city. Come with me and take shelter!"