Chapter 32
Disaster Relief
Everyone rushed over. Wang Wulang also wanted to carry Ah Yu over, but he could not run fast with a child. Beside him, Hu Erpang saw it and carried Little Ah Yu on his shoulder and rushed over.
Wang Wulang shouted, “Dog fatty, return my sister to me!”
“Catch up to me if you have the ability!”
Little Ah Yu sat on Hu Erpang’s shoulder. At first, she was shocked, but she quickly felt that this was especially fun.
She had never sat on a shoulder before.
Wow, it was thumping.
“Little Sister Ah Yu, hold on tight. Big Brother Erpang has to speed up!” After Wang Erpang shouted, he ran even faster and pulled away from Wang Wulang.
When they arrived, there were already many people at the village entrance, including people from Shanyang Village.
The eldest grandson of the village head was standing by the gong and said loudly, “Yes, I saw them. They’ve all reached the foot of the mountain over there. There are so many people and food!”
Someone did not believe it. “How can the Imperial Court help with disaster relief? A few years ago, many people in our village starved to death. I’ve never heard of food relief. There’s not even any in the town or county!”
It was precisely because they knew that the Imperial Court would not care about them at all that they chose to exchange their children for food.
Because if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to survive. No one would save them.
For the past few years, they had all survived like this, scraping everything together. Some people in Hu Family Village had starved to death, and even more people from the surrounding villages starved to death.
This was because the surrounding villages were more prosperous than Hu Family Village, so there were more old people. When disaster came, a higher proportion of the elderly folks died.
“It’s true. We’re here to report. We met them on the way!” This was a group of youths who had just become adults. They were in charge of waiting for the Wang brothers five miles away from Hu Family Village to prevent the people from Shanyang Village from causing trouble.
Therefore, they were the first to see the entourage.
“Third Uncle Wang and Fourth Uncle Wang are both here! They’re not going to the county city because there are Imperial Court officials with this group.”
When the people from Shanyang Village heard this, their expressions changed drastically. They turned around and wanted to leave.
An official was coming?
They were probably not here for disaster relief, but to deal with them!
“If you leave now, I won’t return the money from before. You have to pay back your debts.” Village Chief Hu took the opportunity to say.
How could the village chief of Shanyang Village care about anything else? He immediately asked the villagers to pack up their things, and they left with the injured.
Whether it was the officials of the Imperial Court coming to investigate the case or to help with the disaster relief, they should stay in their own village. If they stayed in Hu Family Village, they would be in a passive position.
After the people from Shanyang Village left, the people from Hu Family Village were also a little uneasy. They had never seen an official before.
“Are those people really here to help with the disaster?”
“Could they be bandits?”
They were really frightened by the people from Shanyang Village.
Village Chief Hu’s grandson said loudly, “It’s real. I saw their food supplies. There are so many carts pulling them. We can all eat our fill!”
Everyone was a little uneasy, but they waited at the village entrance for the group of people to arrive.
About an hour later, an imposing group appeared at the entrance of the village. The ones walking at the front were naturally the Wang brothers.
“Father, Third Uncle!” Ah Yu saw her father from afar and waved at them happily.
When Wang Chuanman saw his daughter, he ran over in three steps and picked up Little Ah Yu, pressing his face against hers.
“Ah Yu, are you here to wait for Father?”
Little Ah Yu was tickled by Wang Chuanman’s stubble and giggled. She hugged his neck and refused to let go, but she still said honestly, “No, we’re all waiting for the food.”
The official in charge of escorting them grabbed the sword at his waist and shouted coldly, “Get out of the way!”
The villagers were shocked and all moved aside.
“Don’t be rude.” A familiar voice came from the carriage. The curtain was lifted and a person walked out.
It was Zhang Zhan, who had left in a hurry previously.
Compared to before, Zhang Zhan was especially different today. He wore a dark blue robe and looked dignified.
When Ah Yu saw him, she subconsciously shouted, “Hey, it’s crappy pants—”
Before she could finish speaking, Zhang Zhan clenched his fists and placed them under his chin. He coughed heavily. “How have you been? I bade farewell in a hurry a few days ago. It was really because of an official matter. Please forgive me.”
With that, he cupped his hands at everyone.
When the officials behind saw Zhang Zhan do this, they all thought to themselves, “Could this Hu Family Village be the hometown of the Imperial Envoy? I’ve never heard of the Hu Family Village having such a backer before.”
It seemed like he had to remind his subordinates in the future to be more polite to this village.
Village Chief Hu took a few steps forward and asked, “You are?”
Zhang Zhan said, “I followed my Lord to help with the disaster. A few days ago, I came to investigate the actual disaster situation of the various villages, but I didn’t expect to encounter an avalanche. Because I was on official business, I couldn’t stay long, so I hurriedly bade farewell.”
The officials were surprised again. Wasn’t he that Lord?
Forget it, they should stay out of his business.
“Uncle, are you here to deliver food?” Little Ah Yu heard Meatball say not to mention other people’s dark history.
She now knew that it was embarrassing for the other person if she talked about their dark history.
So she didn’t mention it anymore.
She’ll just remember it in her heart~
Zhang Zhan still liked Little Ah Yu very much, mainly because she was too good-looking. She was much better-looking than the young ladies who had been carefully raised in Wanning City.
After a few days, she seemed to have gained some weight. Her face was rounder and she looked more blissful.
“Yes, I came to investigate the situation in the village.” At this point, Zhang Zhan’s eyebrows turned cold.
He had really not realized that such a situation really existed in those villages.
However, the fact that the commoners were forced into such a state was related to the local corrupt officials. They could not be blamed entirely.
However, since he had encountered it, he had to control it.
“The people from Shanyang Village even came to our village to snatch food!”
“They still want to snatch Little Sister Yu away!”
“They injured my mother and my grandmother!”
“They want to eat children. Arrest them!”
A group of young men suddenly shouted. The surrounding villagers wanted to stop them at first, but they still did not say anything.
The children were right. They also wanted someone to uphold justice.
When there was a disaster, the people would eat the children. The officials did not care about the people. They just felt sorry for those children.
How did it reach that point? Didn’t their village survive the disaster too?
“We’ll discuss this matter later,” Zhang Zhan said. “The food we brought this time will be distributed according to the population on the household register. The children will have 10 catties each, 30 catties for adult men, 20 catties for adult women, and 15 catties for the elderly, regardless of gender. It’s going to be the rainy season soon, and farming can’t be abandoned. Each family will have a total of 10 catties of rice grain, wheat, and vegetables seeds. This concerns this year’s harvest, so don’t be greedy.”
In fact, this was only a portion. There was still a portion of the grain seeds that were being transported over from further away. But there was no need to tell them this now.
When everyone heard this, their eyes revealed hope.
There was finally food!
The Imperial Court had finally seen them!
The villagers cried bitterly. The old people even knelt on the ground in Zhang Zhan’s direction and kowtowed again and again. The officials could not even pull them up.
“Thank you, my Lord!”
“Thank you, my Lord!”
Meatball was also excited. [Child, we have seeds!]
Farming, earning money, and upgrading the spatial pocket!
As everyone shouted, their expressions suddenly changed.
“Ah, my stomach!” The child who was originally kneeling with the adults suddenly held his stomach with one hand and his butt with the other. He quickly crawled into a pit and disappeared into the grass.
Before anyone could react, more people ran away while holding their stomachs.
Before long, there were not many people left at the village entrance.
Little Ah Yu was stunned. “Where are they going?”
The seven men of the Wang Family asked Little Ah Yu in unison, “Sister Ah Yu, did you give them water?”