Chapter 24: Xinyue Changes the Plan

He thought this so-called Yangguangzhai was also such an organization, but he didn't expect that just after he joined last night, he ate a bowl of hot food.

They didn't ask him to hand over silver, nor did they ask him to do anything, and he ate the first full meal of his life.

Sister Luo Jin also enthusiastically added rice for him, not minding at all that he ate a lot.

So when he learned that his stay depended on Captain Jiang Jinshi, Wang Hou developed a different emotion.

He was afraid that he couldn't stay in Yangguangzhai and would return to the life of fire and water he had before.

For him, it didn't matter what he did. A thief is a thief, and a mountain bandit is also a thief.

But maybe it would be better here than before?!

Carrying unease and expectation for the future, Wang Hou followed the high-spirited Luo Feng and the depressed Luo Jin.

When Jiang Jinshi came to Li Xinyue's side, Li Xinyue said softly: "That girl likes you!"

Jiang Jinshi was stunned at first, then reacted that Li Xinyue was referring to Luo Jin, and immediately waved his hand to respond: "Impossible, I didn't notice."

Li Xinyue didn't continue to speak when she heard this. Earlier, when Jiang Jinshi was communicating with the other party, that girl's gaze had fallen on her at least five times, so she could be sure of her thoughts. This was due to a woman's intuition.

But Jiang Jinshi, the main character, didn't notice it, so she didn't need to say more.

Silent all the way, after arriving at the city gate, Li Xinyue naturally saw the scene of refugees everywhere.

Even when passing by a bush, a foul smell with a sense of warmth rushed into her nasal cavity, her salivary glands suddenly stopped working, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up collectively.

Turning her head mechanically to look, human corpses were stacked in the bush.

The hot weather caused the smell to become more and more intense, and yellowish-brown viscous liquid kept seeping out of the corpses and dripping onto the ground.

Flies gathered crazily, buzzing, and their larvae squirmed in the corpse water, like countless tiny white maggots, greedily gnawing on the rotten meat.

Li Xinyue endured the acid in her stomach and followed Jiang Jinshi in front with numb steps. Only her dilated pupils showed that she wasn't as calm as she appeared on the surface.

Jiang Jinshi naturally saw this scene too. Apart from a helpless sigh, he couldn't do anything.

Arriving at the city gate, the city entry fee had doubled today. Jiang Jinshi took out twenty wen before he could enter.

Li Xinyue couldn't care about the discomfort from her body and hurriedly observed everywhere, constantly analyzing the current situation.

But the more she observed, the more shocked she became. The grain price could be said to change every hour, and everyone walking on the street had an anxious look, without any joy.

As if seeing Li Xinyue's worry, Jiang Jinshi took the initiative to say.

"The water in the Da Jiang River is also running out!"

During the tenure of the previous county magistrate, he had ordered that if there was a great drought, the river water must not be used for farmland irrigation.

The purpose of doing this was to allow the downstream villages to use water. If the upstream villages used all the river water for farmland irrigation, the downstream people wouldn't even be able to drink a mouthful of water.

Now this county magistrate didn't care about anything. When the water flow of the Da Jiang River gradually decreased, the village heads of the surrounding villages decided to adopt the previous county magistrate's plan after a consensus.

In fact, this plan was indeed effective, ensuring the basic water use of several surrounding villages during this period.

Although they encountered many difficulties when it was first implemented, there were always villagers in the villages in front who secretly fetched water to irrigate their own farmland.

Even if the villagers supervised each other, there were still people who touched the dark to fetch water at night.

But under the insistence of each village head, everyone finally gave up the young seedlings in the fields.

The previous county magistrate's plan was only to drag out time. Rather than wasting the scarce river water in the fields, it was better to let everyone drink it so they could live a few more days.

But when Jiang Jinshi fetched water this morning, he found that the water flow had decreased by at least one-third compared to before. If it continued to decrease according to this trend, then in a few days, Da Jiang Cun and the surrounding villages would be directly cut off from water.

Just as Li Xinyue was lowering her head and thinking, the noise beside her interrupted her thoughts.

The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw the city guards smashing a noodle stall.

This noodle stall was exactly the place where Jiang Jinshi and Luo Feng and his sister ate noodles before.

"The county magistrate said that anyone doing business in the city must pay a fee. Not giving? Fine! Then get out!"

The noodle stall owner sat on the ground in a sorry state, crawling to hug the guard's feet and begging.

"One tael of silver per month, this is going to cost me my life!"

The guard who was hugged kicked the noodle stall owner away. A group of guards drew the big knives from their waists and smashed the tables, chairs, and benches into pieces.

The noodle stall owner rolled twice on the ground, lying weakly on the ground, his emotions collapsing and crying.

No one among the onlookers dared to speak, and there was only numb indifference in their eyes.

The guard's knife pointed at the noodle stall owner, and he looked at the crowd with disdain, his tone full of mockery.

"This is the end of not paying the fee!"

After the guards left, the crowd dispersed in a roar, leaving only the wreckage all over the ground and the wailing noodle stall owner.

The middle-aged man, who was already gray-haired, suddenly became much older in an instant, like an old man in his twilight years.

Jiang Jinshi walked up silently and helped the owner clean up the noodles and pots that had fallen to the ground.

Li Xinyue saw this and thought for a moment, then followed to help clean up.

The owner was stunned for a moment, and stammered as if he recognized Jiang Jinshi.

"You... you are the guest from yesterday?"

Jiang Jinshi nodded, his hands still not stopping, just responding casually.

"Your noodles are delicious."

The owner took a deep breath and stood up, putting the broken tables, chairs, and benches together.

"I'm afraid the guest won't be able to eat it in the future!"

Jiang Jinshi clapped his hands and showed a bright smile: "There will always be a chance!"

The owner didn't speak and silently cleaned up every piece of debris on the ground.

Until the owner left, Jiang Jinshi was still looking at the other party's staggering back until it completely disappeared.

"Let's go! Go buy some firewood and a door panel, so as not to be scolded by Xiao Lizi when we get home." Speaking of this, Jiang Jinshi also shrank his neck, looking like he was afraid.

Looking at the man whose expression changed so quickly in front of her, Li Xinyue suddenly found that she didn't understand the other party.

One second he was regretting for the noodle stall owner, and the next second he threw this matter behind him.

But Li Xinyue only knew one thing, and that was that her plan had to be reformulated.

Doing business didn't seem realistic at the moment. As a weak woman with no strength to truss a chicken, she definitely couldn't keep her industry.

Perhaps slowly reselling to earn points, and when she had saved enough points, finding a place with beautiful mountains and water to enjoy her old age would be a good choice.

That kind of life should be very boring, but at least it would be safe and worry-free.

After buying firewood and a common door panel, Jiang Jinshi bought a pig's elbow and some ingredients, preparing to stew it for dinner tonight.

Turning around and seeing a small box of osmanthus cakes, Jiang Jinshi gritted his teeth and bought it, thinking that Xiao Lizi would like to eat it.

Naturally, Li Xinyue couldn't avoid seeing it when he took out the money. Li Xinyue didn't expect Jiang Jinshi to have some family foundation, and he could actually afford to eat meat.

...... ===== CHAPTER 25 =====