The Rise of a Farm Girl

Half a year passed in a flash, and the two brothers wrote twice from Kyoto, saying that everything was going well there, that they had passed the provincial examination, and had obtained honors in the palace examination.

The two men went to different places to serve as officials. They were both minor officials of the seventh rank.

Wang Youliang was assigned to Xinghai County as the county magistrate, and Wang Youjin was assigned to a coastal county not far from Xinghai County as the county magistrate. They went to the south, where it was spring all year round.

The two brothers also wrote letters asking their family to go with them to the man's place. But Wang Lao San was reluctant to leave his hometown and refused to go no matter what.

The two brothers had no choice but to go together to be county magistrates. So Wang Jingru and her family stayed in the village. They were in the north, with four distinct seasons.

It is summer now, the season when crops grow vigorously, but this year's crops are not only not strong, but also very dry and yellow, because there has been no rain for half a year. From spring to summer, such a long season depends entirely on carrying water for irrigation.

But people found that the water level at the riverside was dropping very fast. In a few days, the river ditch dried up. People were all panicking. The wells also gradually dried up.

The villagers were all anxious, and the village chief was so anxious that his mouth was foaming. The crops were not yet ripe, and if they were harvested now, they would only be able to harvest some grass.

The village chief knew that it was useless to be anxious, and the villagers were even more anxious. If the crops were not harvested, they would starve. But now even the grass on the mountain was withered and yellow, and the villagers couldn't even dig up wild vegetables.

They started pulling up the grass roots, but the grass roots also needed water to boil. Now the water level in the well was very low.

Each family in the village could only get one basin of water a day, and if they got more, they would have no more. Every family in the village did not dare to use water vigorously, and they only used two or three bowls of water from the basin they were given.

All the rest of the water was used and filled up in clay pots.

Wang Jingru was also anxious! When she found that the weather was a little abnormal, she had already dug a pool in the space, and also went to the largest river in the county and collected a lot of water. Now there is already a very wide river in the space.

I originally wanted to fill the pool, but when the water was taken into the space, a large ditch was automatically formed in the space.

As long as Wang Jingru puts her hand into the water, the water will be continuously absorbed into the space.

When Wang Jingru was collecting water, it was spring and the farmers had just planted their crops. The weather seemed a little abnormal at that time, because in previous years there would be rain and snow after the Spring Festival, but it didn't rain at all until the time when the crops were planted.

Wang Jingru thought about raising some fish in the space and collecting some water, but when she saw that the river in the village was not big and the water was not much, she gave up.

I ran to the largest river in the county and boiled some water. I thought it would be enough to collect a large pool of water, but who would have thought that space had this function and directly formed a river.

At the same time, not only water was taken in, but fish were also taken in. The fish multiplied very quickly in the space, and now the fish in that space have become a disaster.

It just so happened that no one had food, so he could take out a small portion, but what excuse he could use made Wang Jingru very worried.

There is food in Wang Jingru’s space, but she cannot give it to everyone for free, as this will only make the villagers jealous.

After a while, they will take it for granted that you should give them food.

If you don’t give them money one day, they will fight back against you, beat you, and scold you.

Wang Jingru couldn't think of a good solution, so she simply gave up. Each household could still maintain it for a while.

Anyway, it would be wrong to let him take food away for nothing. He couldn't be a sucker. The common people in ancient times were uneducated and very ignorant. As long as someone took the lead, they would follow suit.

As time went by, bandits from the mountains came down and robbed a few landlords at first. Later, these landlords heard about the news and, coupled with the severe drought here, they all migrated to the south.

Since they all left here, the bandits had no one to rob, so they could only attack the common people. It was said that when these bandits robbed a village, everyone in the village suffered.

They robbed chickens, ducks, geese, dogs, cattle and sheep. If anyone had dozens or hundreds of kilograms of food, they would also rob it.

The common people were suffering terribly, and were as frightened as a frightened bird.

They closed the gate tightly every day, and no one dared to leave the yard. But if the bandits came, they would pry open the door no matter whether you locked it or not. These ordinary people could only deceive themselves.

The situation is getting worse and worse. Now there is no water even in the wells. The villagers are so thirsty that their lips are cracked. Some families are used to saving money and can even store two buckets of water.

The family was used to using water lavishly, but now there was not a drop of water left. Bandits were rampant, and there was no water or food. I heard that other counties had already fled the famine, and when the village chief came back from the town, almost all the people in the town had left.

The crops in the fields were as yellow as the hay, and they could catch fire if they were lit. The village chief rang the gong when he came back from town. The village was not big, but everyone could hear the gong clearly. Every household gathered in the village square.

Soon all the villagers arrived. The village chief stood on the high platform and said loudly that people from other villages and towns had all fled the famine.

I'm also notifying everyone to hurry home and pack up, we'll leave this afternoon. You still have three or four hours to pack up, and I can't control those who don't want to leave and want to stay and die.

If anyone is willing to follow the famine-fighting team, we will set off after noon. Everyone should go back and pack up quickly. After saying this, the village chief waved his hand and ran home.

He was in a hurry to go home and pack up his things! He had no time to talk nonsense with the villagers. When the villagers heard this, they also hurried back to pack up their things. The poor families only had two sets of tattered clothes, a pot, two bowls and chopsticks, and two tattered quilts.

They gathered the remaining food and water bags at home and what they could take with them. Almost every family in the village had a cart. They went back and forth to the town for convenience. There were trees on the mountain, and every family could do it with a cart.

Hardworking families have two or three carts at home. But this kind of cart is also heavy, and the wheels are made of wood. Wang Jingru's family has a horse-drawn carriage. Zi Yan's two brothers went to Beijing to take the imperial examination and drove away a horse-drawn carriage. There was no more at home, so Wang Jingru went to the town to buy another one.

After loading the things into a horse-drawn carriage, Wang Laosan drove the carriage, and the mother and daughter squeezed into a corner of the carriage, and when the time came, they slowly headed out of the village. They waited for the villagers outside the village, and Wang Laosan planned to go to his sons' place, after all, his two sons were county magistrates in two neighboring counties.

No one dared to bully them there. They held their household registration in their hands. Wang Jingru was afraid of losing it, so she asked her mother for it and put it in the space.

The village chief came to see Wang Laosan, Laosan, look where we are going, I heard that the two boys in your family have become officials. I don’t know where they are officials, you tell me what’s going on over there, our whole village will go to the county town under his jurisdiction, at least we won’t be bullied.

If I go to some other place where I am unfamiliar with the place, I will have to endure being bullied.

Wang Laosan said that the two guys were in Xinghai County and Yanhai County in the south. In the county where Manhuazhou is located in Qihua County in the south.

Then let's go there! But these people have never been far away. As the head of a mountain village, how could they have seen the outside world?

But the people in the village were uneducated, so Wang Laosi hurried back.

When the village chief saw Wang Laosi coming back, his eyes suddenly lit up. After all, Teacher Wang was a scholar and had traveled and studied with his teacher.

The village chief hurriedly called Wang Laosi. Laosi, you came back just in time. Our whole village is going to flee the famine, will you come with us?

Wang Laosi said, "Uncle village chief, I came back for this reason. I wanted to discuss with you about escaping famine together. Since you are planning to leave, I will go home. Well, that's the best thing to do."

The village chief thought that there was plenty of time to discuss along the way, so he left first and discussed it on the way. After all, there were many people fleeing famine to the south. It would be right to follow the crowd.

The village chief also returned to his own team, then struck the gong and shouted, "Let's go!" The large group slowly walked out of the village.

Everyone was pushing a cart forward, which was filled with everything that could be taken out of the house. Every family's cart was piled high with stuff. Someone in front was pulling it with a rope, and someone in the back was pushing it.

In this way, everyone walked forward. The family with the easiest ride was the one with the ox cart in the village. In addition to Wang Jingru's family, the village chief's family had a donkey cart. There were only these three carts in the whole village.

There was a space in Wang Jingru's space where there were weapons looted from Mr. Liu's house. Wang Jingru found two machetes in the space and placed them on the carriage in case of emergency.

Wang Jingru jumped off the carriage again and came to the village chief's house. The village chief was walking beside his donkey cart. Erya, why are you here?

Grandpa Village Chief, I have something to tell you. I heard from my eldest brother that it is very dangerous to escape from famine. Let everyone put the axes and kitchen knives in the house out in the open so that they can fight the bad guys at any time.

After Wang Jingru's reminder, the village chief suddenly realized what was going on. Yes, there were actually people fleeing famine on the road. If they saw that their team had surplus, they would definitely come and rob them.

The village chief said with a smile, "Thank you, Erya, thank you for reminding me!" Even the village chief didn't expect this. Our Erya is really good and can think so far ahead.

Village chief, grandpa knows, Erya, you should go back to your home as soon as possible. After Wang Jingru said goodbye to the village chief, she ran back to her own carriage and sat down.

Wang Laosan said with a smile, "What did our Erya do?" Wang Jingru said, "I asked the village chief to inform everyone to prepare weapons." While they were chatting, the village chief struck the gong.

Then he shouted to everyone to take out all the weapons they could find at home, axes, kitchen knives, sticks, anything would do.

If there is any danger on the road, everyone can be on guard at any time. After the village chief shouted this, every household began to turn over their bags.

The village chief's words are still very authoritative in this village. After finding the things, everyone continued to move forward. They walked until dark, and there were many people on the road.

At night, when they rested, every family would go around the fields looking for grass roots and tree barks. There was no water, so they would just scrape the dirt off the grass and chew it.

Some families who had food had no water, so they could only find some firewood, fry the food in a pot, and then chew it.

There were many people coming from other towns on the road. This group of people looked very disheveled, their clothes were tattered, their lips were chapped, and they were staggering as they walked. It seemed that they had been hungry for a long time.

These people were looking for grass roots everywhere, and they also peeled off tree bark and chewed it. Although it tasted bad, they had to eat it if they wanted to survive.

Wang Jingru also has a lot of cakes, steamed buns, and dumplings in her space. These are all the goods she bought in town. Every time she goes to town, she buys a few baskets of dumplings, steamed buns, and cakes.

Wang Jingru's family had rice and flour, but who would dare to light a fire to cook at this time? Then they would just wait for these people to come to patronize them in the evening!

For safety reasons, Wang Jingru told her parents, "Mom and Dad, we can't cook anymore. First, we have water, but others don't. Second, others don't have food, but we do. We'll be robbed."

Wang Jingru thought it would be a pity if so many people died of thirst. Wang Jingru said to her parents, "Dad and Mom, I'm going to go inside for a while and will be back soon. I won't go too far, so you don't have to worry."

Wang Laosan was worried and wanted to go with him, but Wang Jingru said that she didn't let him go with her. What a joke! If she let her father go with her, how could she release water from the space?

Wang Jingru walked inside. They had not gone far yet. There were many mountains in this area. Wang Jingru found a small pond. Under the pond, there was still a lot of silt that had not dried up.

Wang Jingru chose this place and did what she said. She looked around and saw that there was no one around. She quickly released water from the river in the space.

The amount of water must be controlled. Don't put too much, otherwise it will be thrown away in vain.

But we can’t put too little, or there won’t be enough for everyone to share. After about ten minutes, Wang Jingru felt that it was almost enough.

I ran back quickly and found the village chief. The village chief said, "Grandpa, I found a small pond with water in it. I asked everyone to quickly take the tools to draw water. Each family should draw one bucket. There seemed to be no more than that."

Because there were other people fleeing famine on the road, the village chief asked everyone to pass the message to each other quietly.

Everyone quietly took up their buckets and hurried to follow Wang Jingru. Soon, they arrived at the pond. Everyone lined up and dribbled the water. Soon, everyone in the village had been given water.

When people from other villages saw the people from Wangjia Village, each of them brought back a bucket of water. The rest of the refugees came in that direction, as there was still a lot of water there.

These people brought tools to fetch water, and each of them fetched a bucket. Their lips were chapped from thirst along the way, and some were even on the verge of death.

When I heard there was water, I ran there as fast as I could. When I got there, I drank the water in big gulps.

That night, all the refugees were excited. With a bucket of water, they could survive for ten days or half a month. They could even go further. Maybe they could find water somewhere else!