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

When the city was under strict control, Song Shiwei had already lived in the city for several days. Zhang Wu was worried that he would not be able to detect any movement outside the door in time, so he simply moved into the back house in the front yard. There were three back houses, the innermost one was used to store food, the middle one was a bedroom for the young couple, and the outermost one was used as a firewood room.

In the second courtyard, Song Shiwei lived in the room on the left side of the hall, which was also the largest room in the whole house. Little girl Feng Ru lived next to Song Shiwei. The firewood room opposite was also filled with firewood when Huang Ying went back to the Huang family to help the day before.

Since the people in the city moved back to live in the city, all the major shops have opened one after another. Even the grain shop opens every morning. However, the grain is still limited, and one household registration can only buy two kilograms of grain per day.

Zhang Wu and Huang Hai went to the grain store to buy grain every day. The former did it to show off to others, while Huang Hai was afraid that there would not be enough grain at home. Although two kilograms of grain a day was not enough for a family of eight, when accumulated day by day, it would amount to sixty kilograms of grain a month.

Feng Ru has not left the house since he moved into the city. He reads and writes in the house in the morning. After lunch, he practices boxing and knife-cutting in the spacious main room. In the afternoon, he does some needlework with Huang Ying. His days are quite fulfilling.

There are neighbors on both sides of the new house. Because it is next to the street and there are heavy rains, the neighbors have never seen each other for a long time. Instead, I often see servants from the houses on both sides going out to buy things.

That day, Zhang Wu had just returned from buying food at the grain store. Song Shiwei called him over and, after he sat down, he slowly asked, "Is there enough food at the grain store these days?"

Zhang Wu thought about it carefully and said, "There are quite a lot of them. We go there not too early every day, and there is still a lot of food in the store. I just don't know where the owner of the grain store got so much food in such a heavy rain."

“Are there many people who go to buy food every day?”

Zhang Wu smiled and nodded: "Of course there are a lot of them. I guess all the people in the city went to buy food. However, the food stores have limited supplies, and every household can buy some food, so there is no trouble."

Song Shiwei couldn't help but think about it. It was estimated that Zhou Huai had sent a lot of people to the south to buy food. There was also Shen Qianxue's 500-square-meter and 10-meter-high space. If it was all used to store food, it would be a considerable amount. It was unknown how many times she had gone there.

It now seems that it is inevitable that the people suffering from floods and plagues will come to the North. Even in ancient times when information was blocked, there were still capable people. Now the news that the North is safe has probably spread, and it will not be long before those disaster victims will flock to the North.

The thought only lasted a moment. After coming back to his senses, Song Shiwei said softly, "After buying food in the next few days, go check out what's going on at the city gate. Also, I see several neighbors here are buying firewood. You can go out and ask them too. We can't go without buying firewood for a long time."

Zhang Wuying agreed. This was the inconvenience of living in the city. If you were different from other people, it would arouse suspicion in the long run. It would be better to live in the village, far away from the villagers, and you wouldn't have to worry about being discovered by others no matter what you did.

"By the way, Master, I met Brother Li when I came back today. He probably guessed that we moved to the city."

Now that the city gates are under control, it is extremely inconvenient to enter the city. Li An guessed it was not difficult. Song Shiwei hummed and said, "If you know, then you know. It's not something shameful. Ru'er happened to make him a shirt. You can take Ru'er to find him tomorrow."

"Okay, I will take Ru'er there tomorrow after I buy some food. Master, please wait a moment while I go to make lunch."

After moving to the provincial capital, Zhang Wu would cook a few extra meals every day, and Song Shiwei would put them into the space to avoid inconvenience in cooking later. However, Huang Ying now lived with several people, so there were some things that were not convenient for her to know.

But after being together for a long time, it is inevitable to guess some things. Zhang Wu wanted to ask Huang Ying's opinion another day. If she was willing to take the loyalty pill, then he would not have to do anything behind her back.

The main reason was that Zhang Wu had taken it before and knew that the Loyalty Pill had no harm, but he just restrained himself from telling others about Song Shiwei's strange behavior.

But there is no rush about this matter. Zhang Wu hasn't figured out how to tell her. If it really doesn't work out, then just leave it as it is now.

Early the next morning, Zhang Wu put on the new clothes Huang Ying made for him and drove to Zhou's house with Feng Ru.

After showing the cards to the doorman, the manager of Zhou's outer courtyard quickly came out and welcomed the two people in.

"Li An is discussing something with the young master now, and will be here soon. You two should wait in the side hall first," the steward led the people into the side hall and asked the maid to serve tea and snacks.

At this moment, Li An was reporting the news from the capital in Zhou Huai's study, saying that Cao Chong had been caught making a lot of money some time ago, and the evidence was brought directly to the emperor. The emperor was furious and directly took away half of Cao Chong's power. If Cao Chong had not donated half of his property, he would definitely be punished this time.

However, there was one thing that Li An couldn't figure out. He looked up at Zhou Huai and asked, "My Lord, I still feel that the account book is not right. Our people copied an identical one and sent it back. After a careful look, we found that the whereabouts of a large amount of property recorded in Cao Chong's account book were unknown. There was also news in the palace that if Cao Chong had not later offered a large amount of property, the whereabouts of the property would have been investigated. It's not like he could just say it was stolen."

Zhou Huai also knew about this, and frowned: "Even a big thief wouldn't be able to steal it."

Li An clapped his hands and said, "That's right. Such a large amount of property was stolen without anyone noticing. No one would believe it. So the emperor suspected that Cao Chong had private soldiers and secretly sent people to investigate."

Zhou Huai's eyes were dim: "It's better to let them fight each other."

Li An grinned and was about to say a few more words to Cao Chong when the servant outside the door came in and said that Zhang Wu came to see Li An and was now waiting in the side hall.

"Zhang Wu? They entered the city?" Zhou Huai's eyes moved.

Li An slapped his forehead suddenly and said, "I have been busy with other things recently. I forgot to tell you something. Miss Song and her family should be living in the city. I ran into Zhang Wu at the grain store yesterday. I wanted to tell you this morning, but I forgot about it when I got busy. So, sir, I will go down first."

"Go ahead and ask them where they live."

"Okay," Li An stepped back with a smile and strode towards the side hall.

When Li An went in, Feng Ru was holding the bag tightly in her arms with a little uneasiness on her face. But when she saw Li An coming in, she burst into a bright smile and called out to him crisply.

"Hey, we haven't seen each other for a few days. Our Ru'er has grown taller again." Li An pinched the little girl's chubby cheeks, then looked at the thing in her arms and asked loudly, "What are you holding? It's so mysterious."

Zhang Wu smiled but said nothing.

Feng Ru blinked and raised the bundle: "I made a tunic for Brother Li An, according to Brother Zhang Wu's measurements. I don't know if it will fit."

Li An was stunned, and his heart was indescribably moved. After a long silence, he spoke in a hoarse voice: "You...you did it for me?"