Madam Gu's thoughts drifted away: "At first, only a few would occasionally crawl ashore, but after half a month, most of them were floating on the surface of the water, densely packed and terrifying. Most of these vile insects hid in the mud of the paddy fields. These insects have a pair of pincers, and many farmers have been injured."

Coincidentally, crayfish also have a pair of claws, and this immediately popped into Shen Jiao's mind.

However, she remained silent, as she had not yet discovered this type of creature in this dynasty.

Liang Heng asked curiously, "That's strange. Since this insect was discovered at the beginning, why wasn't it eliminated when its numbers were small?"

If a solution had been provided earlier, things wouldn't be in such a chaotic state now.

Ji Yan snatched a piece of osmanthus cake from Shen Jiao's bowl with her chopsticks and sneered, "The emperor sits on his high seat, and the court hears what he hears. Local officials don't care about the people, and that's the reason why trouble arises."

He speaks so eloquently, yet he still manages to make a mess of his own country. Amazing, Shen Jiao thought to herself as she snatched the osmanthus cake away.

Ji Yan then snatched her bowl.

Shen Jiao: "..."

Are you sick? You've been spacing out for a while, and now you're going crazy?

Madam Gu was also somewhat surprised that the tyrant would say such things.

It wasn't that she was prejudiced, but the Yan Emperor's reputation was widespread, which was not a good thing.

Now, even eating at the same table with him feels like a dream to her.

However, since Ji Yan did not explicitly state his identity, she could only pretend, with feigned trepidation, that he was an ordinary guest.

Madam Gu nodded: "Indeed, as you said, because this insect is not large and is not poisonous, no one took it seriously at first. It is not unusual for strange insects to exist in the world. However, something happened during this period that suddenly made the evil insect out of control."