A massive famine! The whole family travels through time together, and with their spatial abilities,

"Are you thirsty? How about your aunt gives you some water?" Shen Shuli said gently.

Su Tianze swallowed hard, suppressing his thirst, and shook his head, saying, "I'm not thirsty. My second aunt said that children don't need to drink too much water if they don't do chores. We need to save some for the adults, and also for the little brother in my second aunt's belly."

Upon hearing this, Shen Shuli's face immediately darkened.

She thought that even if Zhang Lanhua had ulterior motives, she was at least a smart person and wouldn't show it.

But she never expected that she would dare to withhold water from the children!

"Aze, lying is not the way of a good child. You didn't lie to your aunt?"

Shen Shuli felt it was best to double-check.

Su Tianze immediately shook his head, reaching out to wipe the beads of sweat that had dripped onto his eyelashes.

.

With a serious expression, she said, "Auntie, Aze never lies. Aze hasn't had a drop of water all day."

Seeing that her nephew's lips were so dry they were almost peeling, Shen Shuli chose to believe him.

A child that young shouldn't be able to lie, and Li Jiao'e is still in a coma, so it's impossible that she instigated the child to say that.

What he said must be true.

"Come on, Aze, Auntie will give you some water. Children need to drink more water and eat their fill so they can grow taller quickly."

"Your aunt is telling you, you must remember that although you don't do any work, you are physically weak and need to eat and drink on time to avoid getting sick. Otherwise, if you get sick, it will be a hassle for the adults to take care of you. Wouldn't that be doing more harm than good?"

"If your second aunt ever says anything similar again, or doesn't give you food or drink, or cuts your rations and makes you go hungry, you must tell your grandparents or aunt, understand?"

Shen Shuli patiently taught him.

Although she had taken her anger out on Su Tianze because of Li Jiao'e's behavior, it was only to teach Li Jiao'e a lesson.

Her parents would definitely find opportunities to feed the child; they would never really mistreat her.

"I understand, Auntie."

Su Tianze looked at Shen Shuli with bright eyes, feeling that his aunt was the best aunt in the world.

His aunt wouldn't let him go hungry.

Shen Shuli touched the child's face; the child had a slight fever.

She gave the child 50ml of Lingquan water to prevent the child from getting heatstroke.

"Auntie, this water tastes so good, it's sweet."

Su Tianze felt his head wasn't as heavy as before, and the taste was excellent, so he couldn't help but exclaim with delight.

"Hmm, Auntie added sugar. Are you sleepy? Do you want to rest?"

"I'm a little sleepy, but it's too hot. My clothes are all wet and I feel uncomfortable, so I can't sleep," Su Tianze sighed.

He knew there was a water shortage at home, so he never complained. His mother hadn't changed his clothes in a long time.

He felt like he smelled terrible.

"Just bear with it a little longer, Auntie will give you a bath tonight and change you into clean clothes." Shen Shuli wanted to pat her nephew's head.

But his hair was greasy and covered in visible dust, and he had no desire at all.

Su Tianze was somewhat tempted, but knowing that his family was short of water, he held back and shook his head, refusing, "No, I won't take a shower. Let's wait until we have enough water."

Shen Shuli was touched by the child's innocent words.

Perhaps, Su Chang'an and Li Jiao'e's contribution to the Su family is simply having such a lovely and well-behaved child.

Shen Yuehua returned after delivering the medicine.

She was sweating profusely and told Shen Shuli what had happened.

"The child was saved. Luckily, we had the medicine and treated him in time, otherwise he definitely wouldn't have made it," Shen Yuehua said with lingering fear. "Why does it feel so much hotter than the past few days?"

Shen Shuli explained in a low voice, "It's already forty degrees now, and it'll probably rise another two or three degrees by noon."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yuehua's face turned even paler.

She hadn't expected the temperature to be this high!

It's hard to imagine that summers in ancient times could be this hot.

"My God, look! What's that dark thing? It's covering the sun!"

"Hahaha, dark clouds, dark clouds! Is it finally going to rain? Heaven hasn't forsaken me!"

"It's really cloudy; the sun has gone out!"

"My God, those aren't dark clouds! They're bugs! A huge swarm of bugs!"

"Yes, locusts! Those are all locusts! A locust plague has arrived! This God is trying to kill us, forcing us to our deaths!"

Hearing the loud shouts outside, Shen Shuli and Shen Yuehua actually thought that dark clouds were about to bring rain.

Unexpectedly, it was a locust swarm!

"Aze, sit still in the car and don't get out, okay?" Shen Shuli quickly said to Su Tianze.

“Okay, Auntie, Aze won’t move around.” Su Tianze immediately responded obediently.

Shen Yuehua had already gotten out of the car. She looked up at the dense swarm of locusts overhead, her eyes filled with terror.

Shen Shuli had never seen a locust swarm before, and seeing these billions upon billions of locusts made her shudder with fear!

Fortunately, these locusts do not attack people indiscriminately; their only target is the grain along their path.

The entire North has been suffering from drought for more than ten months. Crops have not only failed to yield any harvest, but they simply cannot grow!

Only where there is a great river can crops possibly be grown.

The people have long been without water and food. If the only food they have is destroyed by these locusts, it will only hasten their demise!

The locust plague has already formed and cannot be stopped by human effort!

Even though Shen Shuli really wanted to deal with it, she was powerless to do so.

She had no solution!

Moreover, these locusts were merely passing through Qingzhou, migrating southwards.

She simply cannot allow trillions of locusts to remain.

Hopefully, officials in other places will receive the news earlier and take appropriate action!

But Shen Shuli knew that this was just a beautiful wish in her heart.

The foundation of this Great Yong Dynasty has long been rotten, and corrupt and greedy officials are everywhere.

Where are there any good officials who truly care about the lives of ordinary people and genuinely plan for their benefit?

Upon seeing this, Su Yunhai immediately urged the villagers to speed up their journey!

When locusts pass through, Qingzhou can certainly guess that the people along the way will have their food destroyed!

I guessed that a large influx of refugees would come!

They would close the city gates in advance to keep the refugees out!

Furthermore.

The only good thing about this swarm of locusts is probably that they can help shield them from the strong sunlight.

Take advantage of the cool weather and walk as far as you can.

However, many locusts flew very low, searching for food.

Locusts crawled all over the grain bags of many villagers.

The villagers cried out in alarm as they tried to drive away the locusts to protect their crops, and the procession not only slowed down but came to a complete stop.

Su Yunhai's carts of grain were well protected. In order to prevent the refugees along the way from seeing what they had, they specially covered them with several layers of tarpaulin.

But the Su family wasn't so lucky.

The cart full of grain was covered with swarms of locusts.

They just wouldn't leave no matter how hard we tried to drive them away; in fact, their numbers kept increasing.

Cui Yuhong cried incessantly, her heart aching, while muttering curses under her breath.

My already chapped lips were torn in several places due to the excessive force, and blood flowed all over my mouth.

The rest of the Su family are pretty much the same.

There was nothing they could do; they had no water at all and couldn't get any from the second-in-command, so they had no choice but to endure it.

Fortunately, the villagers from Peach Blossom Village, led by Zhang Shiwen, fetched a lot of water from their residence in Qingyun City.

They were short of food, so they shared some with families in the group who were short of water in exchange for food.

The Su family also traded grain for some water so they could have a full meal in the morning.