Natural disasters in books: I stockpiled goods to escape famine in ancient times

At the same time, an expedited letter was delivered to Zhou Huai.

The letter stated that Jiangnan and other areas suffered severely from the disaster. The flood came too quickly and too suddenly, and only three out of ten people survived. The Jiangnan prefect was also washed away by the flood and his life or death is currently unknown. All the food stored in Jiangnan was ruthlessly taken away by the flood. There were corpses everywhere in the flood, and suffering was everywhere for a time.

The flood lasted for half a month before receding. Most of the houses in the slums to the east of the city collapsed. Zhou Huai and other wealthy families gradually moved back to the city. The prefect entered the city ahead of everyone else and gathered the people and soldiers to go to the city to rebuild houses.

The stove in the brick house never went out, and bricks and tiles were made day and night. The people who used to live in the east of the city spontaneously went into the mountains to cut trees.

On the day Zhou Huai returned to the city, the rain seemed to be lighter than usual. His slender body stood straight at the door of Song Shiwei's house. Song Shiwei stood on the steps holding an umbrella, and the two faced each other from a distance.

Li An led the carriage and stopped not far behind Zhou Huai, and took Zhang Wu's hand and whispered to him about things in Jiangnan.

Zhou Huai smiled slightly and broke the silence first, his voice clear and gentle: "I'm going back to the city. Shi Wei can come to Zhou Mansion to find me if you have anything in the future."

Song Shiwei nodded his head: "Okay, walk slowly."

"News came from Jiangnan that the people in the south were severely affected by the disaster. I think it won't be long before victims will come to the north to escape. The plague has spread to Jiangnan. If you have nothing to do, try not to go out as much as possible."

Song Shiwei had no connections in Jiangnan so he had never known about it. However, since there must have been countless casualties due to the flood, the plague was also inevitable. Seeing Zhou Huai's concern, Song Shiwei nodded and thought of the plague, and asked:

"If the victims come to the northern border, will the city be closed?"

"Yes. When we go back this time, the city will be under strict control in five days. The prefect will set up several tents outside the city, and the people coming from the south will be accommodated there. After the city is under martial law, only people can leave but not enter."

That means there are still five days left. Song Shiwei has already made up his mind: "Thank you for letting me know."

Zhou Huai looked at Song Shiwei deeply, then nodded slightly, turned around, got on the carriage and left.

"Don't be busy these days. Buy a house in the capital within three days."

Zhang Wu nodded: "I will go to the city this afternoon to ask if the master has any requirements for the house."

Song Shiwei said as he walked towards home, "A spacious place, preferably in the south of the city."

"Most of the people living in the south of the city are officials."

Song Shiwei nodded: "The victims will come to the northern border soon, it will be safer to live closer to the officials."

In the city of Zhending Prefecture, most of the people living in the south of the city are officials, and the government offices are also located there, so that officials can be close to their work. The houses of the wealthy families are mostly in the north of the city. The west of the city is inhabited by wealthy commoners, and the east of the city is inhabited by the poor.

Originally, Song Shiwei planned to buy a house in the west of the city, but he changed his mind temporarily because he thought that if disaster victims gathered in the city in the future, there might be chaos, so he didn't need to consider the places where the noble families in the north of the city lived at all. He could only buy a house in the south of the city. With the government in front, even if there was chaos, it would not happen to him.

When Song Shiwei sat down in the main hall, his eyes fell on Huang Ying who was pouring water for him. After thinking for a while, he looked at Zhang Wu and said, "Buy two houses."

Zhang Wu was stunned at first, and then agreed.

So after lunch, Zhang Wu went into the city. If it were in the past, it might be difficult to find a house in the south of the city, but there have been constant natural disasters recently. After the extreme heat, it was extremely cold, and now it was raining heavily. The city had just been flooded. Those people had lived in the village for a while, and many of them felt that it was more stable to live in the village. It was not far from the city, so many people sold their houses.

Zhang Wu looked at several houses in one afternoon and actually liked one, but the price was a bit high. Zhang Wu planned to go back and ask Song Shiwei for his opinion.

For Song Shiwei, money is not the problem; the problem is that he does not want to be taken advantage of.

"You've decided so quickly? How's the house?"

Zhang Wu thought about the house and said, "It looks like a small house. It's spacious and located in the south of the city. It's only one street away from the government office. The location is good and it's only a few streets away from the main street. The environment is good. It's a bit noisy during the day because it's next to the street."

"Let's go take a look tomorrow. Is this the only house you like?"

Thinking of what his master said at noon that he wanted to buy two houses, Zhang Wu asked the question in his mind: "Why did the master buy two houses? But are they for me?"

Zhang Wu thought that if living so close to the government office would still cause trouble, then they should live together and there was no need to buy another house.

Song Shiwei looked at him inexplicably, "When we move to the city in the future, you and Huang Ying will naturally live with me. As for the other house, lend it to the Huang family. We can't just take Huang Ying to the city to avoid the chaos and ignore your Yue family when we know that a large number of disaster victims will come to Zhending Prefecture."

Zhang Wu suddenly realized, and then he was deeply moved. His master cared so much about him that he would never be able to repay his master's kindness even if he devoted his life to him.

"I was wrong. Thank you for your consideration."

Huang Ying was also embroidering a purse in the main hall. When she heard that Song Shiwei was going to buy two houses, and one of them would be lent to her family, she felt indescribably moved. She walked up to her with sparkling eyes, "Shiwei, thank you for considering my parents."

"I'm not thinking about your parents. Since you've married Zhang Wu, he's mine. I'm thinking about him. It's more important for you two to live a good life than anything else. When the house is settled, you can take some time to go back and tell them to pack their luggage and move into the city as soon as possible."

The two nodded repeatedly.

As for the disaster victims coming from the northern border, Song Shiwei thought about it and decided to let Zhang Wu go to Wei Cai to tell him after dinner. After all, they had been getting along quite well these days, so it would only take a word.

Early the next morning, Zhang Wu drove Song Shiwei to the provincial capital, while Huang Ying and Feng Ru stayed behind to look after the house.

The two went straight to the brokerage firm to find the person in charge who took Zhang Wu to see the house yesterday, and went to see the house that Zhang Wu had mentioned yesterday.

The carriage arrived in just a cup of tea. The house was facing the street, and there were not many pedestrians on the street at this hour. Compared with the bustling main street, it was nothing.

There are two stone lions in front of the house, which looks quite majestic.

Opposite the gate is a screen wall with bamboo forest carved on it. The small courtyard on the right is a stable for carriages and horses. The small courtyard on the left has a row of three-room houses. There is a well in the corner of the wall, and a small stone mountain is placed in front of the well for beautification.

Going around the screen wall and walking inside is the main courtyard. The whole courtyard is very spacious, about the size of an acre. Opposite is the hall for entertaining guests. There is a round table and chairs on the left side of the hall for eating. The room on the right is the study, with a row of bookshelves against the wall and a long desk in front of the window.

There are three bedrooms on the left side of the yard, and three on the right side, a kitchen, a woodshed, and another room that is empty and can be used as a woodshed or bedroom later.