To avoid any unforeseen complications, we decided to go the day after we made the agreement.

This time we set off earlier than usual, before dawn. At first, we used torches to light the way, but as we walked further and it got brighter, we put the torches away.

They waited outside the city gates before they opened, and entered the city as soon as they opened, wasting not a single moment.

Once they entered the city, they didn't dare to delay at all. Just like last time, Fan Jinding and Li led Hong Mancang and others to the pharmacy to wait for the medicinal herbs to be weighed, while Hu Wenhua led the men from Shanshui Village to sell rabbits in the kitchens of various households.

The group became increasingly alarmed as they sold the goods.

Four wealthy families who bought their rabbits were robbed by bandits!

One of the smaller households had only one daughter raised in a rural village who escaped the attack; none of the children inside the house managed to escape!

“That night, there were so many cries and pleas coming from inside, but who would dare to open the door? We also have families to support.”

"The screams and wails lasted for most of the night, so I was too scared to sleep. I stayed awake until dawn, and only when there was no more noise in the morning did I dare to go out."

Old Wu couldn't bear to hear this and asked repeatedly, "Didn't anyone report this to the authorities? This is, after all, the prefectural city!"

"How could we not report it to the authorities? People who were robbed earlier reported it to the authorities, but Magistrate Wu kept making excuses that he didn't have enough manpower, and those yamen runners were drinking and carousing every day and were unwilling to come out."

"These families are only relatively well-off, not so rich that they regularly give money to the yamen runners. Those yamen runners are too busy protecting the wealthy families to care about their lives. If even the rich families are treated like this, we families can only pray for good fortune."

"Besides, you don't know how many bandits there are, probably over a hundred! Who can deal with so many people? Any family that gets targeted is doomed."

The men were silent for a moment. Before they came, they had thought that the rabbits might not sell because the families were cutting back on spending and not buying them anymore. They never imagined that the people were gone.

Or perhaps the whole family is gone.

The other three families weren't much better off than this one. According to the neighbors, some had died or were maimed, and all their belongings were gone. Fortunately, the wealthy family could manage to survive for three years by sweeping up the cracks in the bricks. The injured were treated at a clinic after being helped by relatives and friends, but no one knew how they would get by in the future.

"Let me tell you, it's only because the King of Yan in the north rebelled that things have changed. Otherwise, given the current situation, wouldn't all the wealthy families in our city have to flee north to avoid disaster?"

However, if it weren't for the rebellion of the King of Yan in the north, and the fact that the imperial court used all its military forces to suppress him, our prefecture wouldn't be in such chaos.

"But no matter what, I'm afraid you won't be able to sell your rabbits. People are panicking; who would be willing to eat them?"

Hu Wenhua and the others thanked the neighbor they had been asked about profusely, and after they came out, the whole group was listless.

If the rabbits don't sell, there's no income, and without income, we can't buy many of the New Year's goods we agreed on yesterday.

After all, a rabbit can sell for more than a hundred coins, and those coins can buy ten or twenty catties of black flour or a catty or two of cheap sugar.

This time, the interval between them was the longest, and since they wouldn't be coming for a long time during the Lunar New Year, each family member tried to bring as much as possible, hoping to buy more New Year's goods to take home.

The family was so excited yesterday that they couldn't sleep. Before dawn, they packed the rabbit and walked for more than an hour in the cold wind with torches to reach the prefectural city. Now, are they going to take it back intact?

"We've been to over thirty stores and only sold seven or eight rabbits. What are we going to do?" Li Wen sighed helplessly, running his rough hands through his hair.