Farmer's wife: My husband came back and the house was in chaos

Chapter 222: Refugees, grain stores robbed

Jiang Jingyi picked up the bowl and took a sip: "Ugh!"

I almost vomited. What the hell was this that was so unpalatable? It had a weird taste and got stuck in my throat.

"Miss, what's wrong?" The old woman and maid beside her hurriedly brought a handkerchief to wipe her.

"It's okay, it's just that this porridge... is too disgusting!"

"Unpalatable? This is a common meal for ordinary people. It's good enough to fill your stomach." Lu Huaijin put down his chopsticks and looked at her.

In fact, he did it on purpose. He wanted to use this meal to make her give up.

"I can't eat it! You guys eat it!" Jiang Jingyi really couldn't swallow it, the taste was too...

Liu Shuyue and her family were fine. They used to eat brown rice porridge every day, so they were used to it. Especially the wild vegetable pancakes were very fragrant. When her son asked her to make brown rice porridge, she was still wondering if the girl from the capital would be unhappy. Then she changed her mind and thought it was better if she was unhappy! If she was not used to it, she would leave naturally after two days.

Yao Qingnian rode Ye Youcai's ox cart into the city. When he arrived at the city gate, it was different from the past. There was a dark crowd under the city wall. When he walked in, he found that they were all refugees, including the elderly and children, wearing thin and ragged clothes.

"This...Brother Ye, what's going on?" She hadn't been in the city for a few days, why was this the case? Was there going to be another war? !

"I don't know either. A lot of outsiders poured into the city a few days ago, but I didn't expect there would be even more today."

Thinking of this, Yao Qingnian's heart began to beat faster. No, he had to find someone to ask.

After entering the city, Yao Qingnian found that there were fewer people on the streets, and the shops on the street were closed, with only a few open.

She hurried to the shop, and when she got there, she saw that it was also deserted and there were not many people there.

"Zhongxia, what's going on?!"

"Miss, I heard that it snowed in the north and many refugees came into the city. I heard that some shops were robbed. We were just worrying about what to do with our shop, and then you came."

"It's a snowstorm!" Fortunately it wasn't a war.

Even so, it is not much different from a war. Many people died of freezing or starvation due to the snowstorm in the north. With so many refugees outside the city, if a riot breaks out, the consequences will be disastrous.

While Yao Qingnian was thinking, the students in the academy were dismissed early for the first time.

Yinuo rushed back to the shop: "Mom, the academy has started the New Year holiday early!"

The academy has closed for the holiday early. It seems something has really happened: "Yuan Niang, pay the shop assistants their wages and give each of them an extra 200 coins. They will all go home. The time to go back to work will be determined later and I will notify them."

"Zhongxia, please close the shop. The shop will not be open for business during this period. Just stay in the backyard and rest!"

"Yes, Miss!" Zhongxia and others helped to clean up the shop, and the guys received their wages and went home.

Yao Qingnian counted all the accounts in the shop, then paid Zhongxia and the others their wages and gave them a generous annual bonus.

After dealing with the matters in the shop, Yao Qingnian hurried to the grain shop, and saw that the doors of several grain shops were open, and the inside was in a mess, with all the rice jars smashed. Going forward, the situation was similar, and several shopkeepers were sighing.

When she went to the grain store she often visited, she was greeted by the same person as before: "Shopkeeper."

The shopkeeper was very surprised to see that it was Yao Qingnian.

"Girl, why are you here? It's so late now, you should go back!" The shopkeeper sighed.

"What happened?" Looking at the messy grain store in front of him, Yao Qingnian guessed something.

"Alas! The refugees injured the officials and ran into the city. All the grain stores were robbed. It seems that we will suffer this winter."

The shopkeeper briefly explained the situation. It turned out that the number of refugees had gradually increased in the past few days, and the food in the city was originally sufficient, but with so many people suddenly coming, the food supply became tight. Even the price of brown rice rose to twenty cents per pound. No matter whether it was the refugees or the people in the city, they could not afford it!

"Then what are you going to do?" Yao Qingnian originally wanted to buy some food, but it seems that he can't.

"It's robbed, so there's nothing we can do about it. Alas, the past six months of work have been in vain. The New Year is almost here, so I'll pack up and go back home tomorrow."

"Boss, you have a really good attitude." This shopkeeper has a pretty open mind.

"It's not okay, girl. Are you here to buy food?"

"I came here to buy food, but looking at the situation..."

"I still have some food for myself. Do you want me to share some?" The shopkeeper looked outside and said in a low voice. Yao Qingnian was an old customer of the shop. They came and went and became quite familiar with each other.

"No need, shopkeeper. I have enough food."

It doesn’t matter if Yao Qingnian buys anything. The ones at home plus the ones in her space should be enough to get through the winter. She originally wanted to buy more just in case, but given the situation today, forget it.

The shopkeeper was a kind-looking old man who was friendly to everyone. When Yao Qingnian came for the first time, he did not look down on her because of her clothes, so she had always been determined to go with their shop no matter how good other shops were.

"Girl, after you buy something, hurry back home! Things have been uneasy these past few days. There have been many robberies. The government sent officials to drive the robbers out of the city, and now things have calmed down for a while. Otherwise, it would have been a mess a long time ago."

These refugees were hit by wind and snow, and were cold and hungry. If they were allowed into the city, riots would easily break out if someone started trouble first. The robbery of grain stores was a good example.

"Does the government not care?"

"Yes, the county magistrate sent people to several wealthy families in the city a few days ago to discuss the matter of grain donations. The Jiang and Wu families donated a lot of grain money and set up porridge stalls to distribute porridge at the city gate every day. It hasn't snowed here yet, but it's so cold, even if it doesn't snow, I don't know how many people will starve to death."

"Take care, shopkeeper!" Yao Qingnian nodded, said goodbye to the shopkeeper, and turned to leave.

After leaving the rice shop, Yao Qingnian looked up at the sky. The sky was covered with a thick layer of gray, gloomy and depressing.

Yao Qingnian hurried to buy some necessities in the city. He didn't know when he would be able to go into the city again.

Then he went to Mrs. Yu's shop to buy some thick cotton clothes and quilts. Due to the delay in going back and forth, it was already 3 p.m. when he finished buying the things.

Sitting in Ye Youcai's ox cart out of the county town gate, many refugees who were affected by the disaster started to make fires and cook outside the city. Walking along, you can see steam coming out of their pots, but there are only wild vegetable leaves, tree roots, and a few pieces of radish floating in the pots. There is no grain to be seen. A strange smell is floating in the air...