Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Chapter 1222 Yanzhou Refugees

Night fell like a thick, black cloth, pressing heavily on the barren land.

The fire in the incineration pit burned from noon until dusk, and from dusk until late at night, with flames occasionally leaping up and illuminating the faces of the people around the pit.

“Dinner is here!”

Not far away, Gouwa parked the oxcart, ignoring the expectant gazes of the crowd, picked up the food box from the cart and strode towards Shen Zheng.

"Lord Shen, yours!"

The wooden food box doesn't look big, but it feels quite heavy in your hand.

With half of his face hidden in the shadows, Gouwa whispered, "Your portion is made separately, it has meat, please eat it!"

Shen Zheng chuckled and opened the lid of the food container a crack.

One big lump of fat, two big lumps of fat, three big lumps of fat...

The glistening oil on the meat's face contrasted beautifully with the firelight behind it.

As is well known, in the hospitality etiquette of rural families, large pieces of fatty meat are considered the highest standard of hospitality.

Although Shen Zheng had little appetite at the moment, she washed her hands with mugwort water at the temporary rest area set up upwind. Under Gouwa's expectant gaze, she took the chopsticks handed to her by Hua Duo, picked up a piece of fatty meat and put it in her mouth.

I didn't dare chew it properly and swallowed it quickly.

"Delicious." Shen Zheng shoveled two mouthfuls of rice into her mouth.

"I'm glad you like it!" Gouwa beamed. "They said over there in the kitchen that they'll make it for you again tomorrow!"

Shen Zheng choked, about to say "No need for such trouble," when the villagers, who had been starving all day, were already protesting around the oxcart: "Gouwa, you only brought our food, where are the chopsticks! Are we all supposed to eat with our hands today?"

Gouwa froze for a moment, then turned around abruptly and slapped his forehead: "I forgot! I'll go back and get it right now!"

"Hurry, hurry!" The sound of villagers swallowing hard rose and fell.

It's heartbreaking to see something I can't have!

When Gouwa rushed back with chopsticks, the villagers had already washed their hands and faces with mugwort water as Shen Zheng had instructed, and were waiting for their meal in the makeshift "dining area".

The dining area was a hundred paces upwind of the incinerator. The villagers, gazing at the flames within, wore expressions of unprecedented relaxation: "From last night until now, I feel like I'm dreaming..."

"Who says otherwise? We thought we'd lose at least 30% of the rice, but instead of locusts, we got Lord Shen! Not only did we not lose any rice, but next year... we can even plant high-yield rice!"

"High-yield rice with a yield of 1,000 catties per mu... Hehe, such a good thing has finally come to us."

"Lord Shen is the lucky star of our Wangyue Village!"

"What fortune or luck star? Lord Shen is a bodhisattva! A living bodhisattva!"

"Yes, yes, he's a living Buddha! From now on, we should offer incense to Lord Shen during festivals and holidays."

"By the way, Gouwa, how's the situation at Lock Locust Valley? Have we burned half of it yet?"

"Almost there, almost halfway done. I estimate we'll finish burning it by sunrise tomorrow morning!"

"That's great. By the way, when the locusts came this morning... were you scared?"

Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?

"That's definitely the truth."

"There's no way I'm afraid of that."

"Pah! You're just bragging. Anyway, I was scared to death, I almost peed my pants!"

"Hahaha, you've made something of yourself!"

Under the night sky, laughter and joy filled the air.

Just as Shen Zheng wiped her hands and was about to go wash the dishes, she saw Hua Duo beside her suddenly turn serious and grab the hilt of the knife behind his back.

Shen Zheng was startled, and the foot she had just lifted stopped abruptly: "What's wrong?"

Hua Duo stared intently at the border between the two prefectures, then moved to shield Shen Zheng behind him: "Master, someone is coming from the direction of Yanzhou. Their footsteps are very disordered, and it sounds like there are twenty or thirty of them."

"Someone's there?" Shen Zheng followed Hua Duo's gaze, but couldn't see a single person.

"How far?" Shen Zheng asked again.

"It's very close, we'll see it soon."

Five breaths after Hua Duo's voice fell, Shen Zheng finally caught a glimpse of something unusual amidst the whistling wind.

Rapid footsteps.

Panting sounds...

"Someone's coming from the border!" Gouwa and the others heard the commotion and put down their bowls to run towards Shen Zheng, protecting her behind them.

Everyone stared intently at the border between the two prefectures, and just as their patience was about to run out, one blurry figure after another entered their field of vision.

"Who goes there!" Gouwa was the first to raise his hoe and shout, "Stop! Don't go any further!"

Despite being told to stop, the people opposite them not only did not stop, but ran even faster, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at the incineration pit.

By the light of the fire, Shen Zheng and the others finally saw what the other party looked like—a group of ragged farmers, about twenty or thirty people, including men, women, and children.

"People from Yan... Yanzhou?" Seeing that the other party was dressed as a farmer, Gouwa lowered his guard a little, but still didn't put down his hoe: "You're from Yanzhou? What are you doing here?"

The opposing group stared intently at the hoe in Gouwa's hand, their eyes filled with wariness.

"Speak up!" Gouwa mustered his courage and took another step forward, raising his hoe. "What are you doing in our village in the middle of the night?"

"You... village?" The leader of the group was a middle-aged man. When he heard that Gouwa was from the village, he finally reacted: "You... are from Wangyue County?"

Gouwa glanced at Shen Zheng and nodded, "That's right, we're all from Wangyue Village. I've answered your question, now it's your turn, right? What are you doing in our village?"

"We didn't intend to come to your village!" Before the middle-aged man could answer, the boy next to him spoke up first: "We're on our way to Liuyang Prefecture, just passing through your village! Please let us through!"

Liuyang Prefecture?

Instantly, all the villagers of Wangyue turned to look at Shen Zheng.

Shen Zheng glanced down at her dirty everyday clothes, stepped to Gouwa's side, and scanned the group: "What are you doing in Liuyang Prefecture?"

Could it be the one she's thinking of?

"What's it to you!" The boy stared at the incinerator, secretly swallowing hard. "We're not stealing anything from you, we're just passing through. Why are you asking so many questions!"

As soon as the boy finished speaking, the villagers from Wangyue who had been behind Shen Zheng rushed forward.

They held up their farm tools, and some even held up chopsticks: "Little brat, watch your mouth!"

"What are you doing!" The other group quickly shielded the boy behind them.

The two stared at each other, and for a moment, the atmosphere became tense.

"Fellow villager, let's talk this out, let's talk this out..." In the end, it was the middle-aged man who was leading the group who took the initiative to mediate: "Fellow villager, we are from Qinghe County, Yanzhou. We were just passing through here late at night and wanted to go to Liuyang Prefecture to find a way to make a living..."

At this point, everyone understood.

"So...you're fleeing famine?" Gouwa asked, seemingly asking but actually quite certain.