Seeing that Ding Youtian didn't ask anything but looked confident, the old tutor gestured to him to talk for a moment and took the lead to walk towards their main house.

Ding Youtian followed him. The village head and clan leader were not there. The two old men accompanied the tutor to have dinner and went home, saying that they would come back later when they were free.

Since no one else was around, Ding Youtian stopped pretending and went into the room to greet the old tutor again, saying in a neither humble nor arrogant manner, "Your Highness, I greet you."

The Grand Tutor raised his eyebrows, then stroked his beard and nodded. He wasn't really surprised. If Ding Youtian didn't know his identity, he would have been truly surprised.

"What's the matter with the high price of grain? Don't say you don't know." The old tutor also went straight to the point and asked directly.

Ding Youtian smiled slightly and said, "I'm sorry I can't tell you right now. Master, just watch over it. There will be results within ten days."

Although the Grand Tutor had no idea how Ding Youtian, a small farmer, could be involved in the affairs of the Baiya County government, he knew that Ding Youtian had indeed intervened, so he did not ask any more questions. He just frowned and said, "The disaster relief grain has been allocated a long time ago. It should have reached the counties in Baiya County by now. There shouldn't be such a thing as buying grain at a high price. What went wrong?

"I heard it was coming soon, but you said it was called early. How early is early?"

The Grand Tutor didn't ask him who had heard it from, but simply assured him that it had been withdrawn a month ago. Then he shouted outside, and the servant who had come with him pushed the door open and entered.

"Send Xiang Qian to Jin County to find Jin Cheng and have him check what's going on with the disaster relief grain and whether it's arrived yet or not."

The old master instructed the servant.

Xiang Qian was the man driving the carriage. He was feeding the horses at the stable. After the servant went to talk to him, he led the horses out and rode away.

Not long after he left, the news that Old Ding and his son were buying up grain and fodder everywhere reached Jian Ning and Ding Youtian's ears. He and his son were afraid that if the villagers knew about it, they would kill others, so they hid the news and lied that others had borrowed grain from their family and were now returning it to them after the new harvest.

The villagers were not stupid. Father and son carried bags of grain back home. When had Old Ding become so generous and lent out so much grain? A nosy villager passed by the Ding family's old house, walked in and told Jian Ning and Ding Youtian about it.

Jian Ning was also speechless. His son dug a hole and he jumped into it.

She didn't care whether Old Ding's family paid compensation or not, even if they died, it would be fine. But Ding Youtian thought that they were her own parents after all, and she secretly regretted not hearing about it earlier. If she had heard about it earlier, she would have asked Xiang Qian to pass the message to Old Six. Now she had to trouble Third Master Ding to make a trip.

When Mr. Ding San was putting on his horse and preparing to go, Jian Ning saw it. After asking the reason, she told Mr. Ding San not to go and followed her to find Ding Youtian.

"I didn't let Third Uncle go. They're already going around buying food and supplies. Even if you call Old Six back, they might not listen to him. If they knew you were meddling in this matter behind the scenes, they might come and cause trouble again."

"...Is it my fault for not considering it enough, or is it the young lady who is thoughtful?" Ding Youtian said after a moment of silence.

"If they can't sell it, the most they'll lose is the shipping costs. It's not a bad idea to let them learn a lesson. Don't worry too much."

Ding Youtian nodded and said nothing. He knew in his heart that what Jian Ning said made sense. Lao Liu might not be able to persuade Old Ding and Mrs. Meng when he came back. Not only would it be a wasted trip, but Lao Liu might even get scolded.

But he still couldn't let it go. Ding Youtian knew better than anyone what kind of people Old Ding and Mrs. Meng were. They either wouldn't give him a penny, or even ten oxen wouldn't pull them back. And if the money went down the drain, he couldn't predict what would happen to that family.

Right now, he just hoped that they could be a little more sober-minded and not spend all the silver. He knew that Old Ding and Mrs. Meng only had a maximum of 180 taels of silver in their hands. If they kept some of it, they would be able to make up for the loss slowly after a while.

It was not easy for ordinary farmers to save a few dollars. He suddenly understood why Blind Liu was unwilling to teach him the art of wisdom.

In order to save the victims from the dire straits, he had to offer advice to Qin Yifan. Originally, his advice was only aimed at unscrupulous businesses, but it could not stop the greed of ordinary people like his parents who wanted to get rich overnight. In the end, nothing would be done and many families would suffer heavy losses.

He was worried about his own mother, who had been cut off from his relationship with him, and worried that they would not be able to bear the blow and would become seriously ill. What about other people's parents?

He then thought again, if he had not learned wisdom from Blind Liu and had not given Qin Yifan advice, thousands of disaster victims would have starved to death!

Alas, it is rare to have the best of both worlds.

Forget it, as long as people don’t be greedy, they will not suffer from unexpected disasters. Everything is fate!

He had persuaded himself clearly, but there was still a knot between his brows that could not be resolved. Jian Ning saw it and could not help but think of the large-scale village fight he had witnessed in his previous life.

The special police team is occasionally deployed to maintain local public order. Even if some villagers in the mountainous areas are fighting to the death today, they will miraculously unite and face the outside world if they encounter a big disaster tomorrow.

In order to compete for water sources and mining rights, villages have even come to face each other with muskets.

Although Ding Youtian had severed ties with that family, blood ties could not be severed by a piece of paper. If Old Ding and Mrs. Meng were unable to bear the consequences and committed suicide, she did not want Ding Youtian and the four little ones to hold a grudge against her.

What a hassle.

After dinner, the village head invited the tutor to his home to rest, and the servant Fuxi also went with him. After Jian Ning finished telling stories to the children and finished her work, she returned to her room. She glanced at Ding Youtian, who was lying on the bed reading a book, and asked, "How about having Brother Qiu take you to the county town in the middle of the night, and you bring Lao Liu back. Have him go there early tomorrow morning to persuade them. Whether they listen or not is up to them, and you just need to make sure your conscience is clear."

Ding Youtian's eyes lit up and he forgot about Brother Qiu.

In the morning, Ah Man called Qiu Ge to the utility room. Later, Jian Ning asked him to tell the old tutor about Qiu Ge. Qiu Ge is now a good helper to replace her work. The villagers can accept Qiu Ge, and Jian Ning believes that the tutor can also accept it.

Therefore, Brother Qiu returned to work early and is now sitting on the corridor gnawing on the wild boar head that Jian Ning gave him as a reward.

"At night..." Ding Youtian hesitated for a moment, "Could you trouble me to come with you?"

"Okay, go quietly and come back quietly." Jane Ning was worried about him going alone, afraid that something might happen to him and she would have trouble reporting to the four little ones.

It was a dark and windy night. After getting up and arming herself, Jian Ning pushed Ding Youtian awake from his couch and handed him his clothes. Ding Youtian opened his eyes and saw that her head and face were covered tightly, with only her eyes visible. Without a word, he immediately followed her example, taking the clothes from her hand and wrapping himself tightly.

What Jian Ning didn't expect was that Ding Youtian was actually afraid of heights. Just as Brother Qiu carried them up into the air, he screamed, tilted his body, and fell headfirst!