Aunt Chen went to boil some water, and then asked Liu Bai to bring the clothes back so they could wash them.

As they busied themselves, it grew dark. Aunt Chen lit a charcoal fire, which made the hall less cold.

This charcoal was not the same as the charcoal Qin Su used in the capital for reciting poetry; it was just ordinary wood that hadn't completely burned. It was indeed bad for Qin Su and the others, but in the entire Liu Family Village, only Aunt Chen's family dared to do this.

As dusk began to fall, two elderly people returned from outside. One carried a hoe, and the other a basket on his back. Upon seeing them, teenager Liu Bai immediately went up to them, took the hoe and basket, and warmly greeted them as Grandpa and Grandma.

Aunt Chen was cooking inside and didn't have time to come out and introduce Qin Su and the others, so Liu Dazhu took over the job.

The two elders were kind people. When they heard that the guests had come to stay the night, they didn't say much and just went back to their room to wash up.

Liu Dazhu sat down opposite Qin Su at an ordinary square table and bench. The tabletop was a bit blackened, but it was very clean.

Qin Su saw that the tea he poured was of very poor quality, but it was the best the Liu family could offer to entertain their guests.

Her eyes showed no sign of disdain; she simply accepted it calmly and said gently, "The area around Shacheng is mostly sandy. I wonder what can be grown in such land?"

Liu Dazhu didn't hold back, only saying that it was a plant suitable for planting in sandy areas, unlike those in the north or the prosperous south.

"Since there are suitable crops to grow, shouldn't every household be able to afford to eat?"

These words made Liu Dazhu stop drinking water.

His gaze towards Qin Su now held a hint of suspicion.

He's a village chief after all; he's not that naive.

Qin Su continued smiling, "On the way here, I kept seeing some people who looked thin and pale, and I wondered if it was really that bad?"

Da'an has a relatively rich food supply. A hundred years ago, many countries traded with each other, exchanging many plants, including food seeds suitable for mass cultivation.

The fact that the people were fed was an essential factor in Da'an's rapid rise to power.

"Now that I hear what Village Chief Liu is saying, I feel more and more uneasy." Qin Su still had a smiling face, but to Village Chief Liu, that smile looked completely fake.

He held the teacup to keep warm.

"You're not here to find your relatives?"

Although the tone was questioning, his eyes conveyed certainty.

"We're here to find our relatives, of course. This is just casual conversation. If the village chief minds, let's not talk about this anymore."

Liu Dazhu looked at Zhuang Heyu and said, "This man has an accent from Shacheng."

Since you're from Shacheng, how could you have gone to the wrong place to look for your relatives?

Qin Su: "..." She glanced at Zhuang Heyu, feeling helpless.

I didn't expect people to find out so quickly.

“I wasn’t sure before.”

Until Qin Su brought up the matter of the land.

Qin Su pondered whether to continue concealing the truth or choose to be frank.

But before she could make a decision, Liu Dazhu spoke up again, "A few days ago, some people came, saying they wanted to resolve the land issue, but they disappeared before they could do anything. The matter was left unresolved."

"You'd better be here to find your relatives."

Clearly, Liu Dazhu didn't care what Qin Su and the others' purpose was; he just wanted no one to disturb their lives.

Qin Su: "..."

"Is nobody in the capital taking care of Huang County?"

"How can we manage it? Officials protect each other, and even if someone wants to petition on behalf of the people, they can't get their petitions to the emperor. We are just ordinary people who just want to eat."

Qin Su tapped her fingers lightly on the table and said, "But now many people in Shacheng can't afford to eat, and quite a few are starving to death."

"As the head of the village, does Village Chief Liu only care about his own family's well-being and ignore everything else?"

Liu Dazhu was somewhat embarrassed and angry, "You think I don't want to? But I'm just a village head, I can't even beat the county magistrate or the county assistant magistrate!"

"Above the county magistrate are the prefect and the city lord of Shacheng. What can we ordinary people do? No one can hear our voices!"

Qin Su sighed, ultimately unable to continue using the persona of "Madam Qin".

“Tell me what you know, and I can solve it.” She stared intently at Liu Dazhu, but Liu Dazhu didn’t believe her at all.

You could say he doesn't trust anyone.

"You should leave tomorrow. Liu Family Village can't keep such a big shot like you." He got up and went back into the house without looking back.

"Madam!" Lian Tao's face flushed red with anger. "How could he be so foolish? We sincerely wanted to help them."

Qin Su patted her hand to comfort her, "It's understandable that he's so vigilant. His Majesty sent people to purge Shacheng before, but what was the result? No actual punishment came down. This is a big problem."

She considered the matter carefully; the problems here were no longer something that could be handled by just a few people.

Sand City has an army; only force can completely suppress it.

"Zhuang Heyu." Qin Su rarely called him by his name.

Seeing Qin Su's serious expression, he immediately sat up straight, adopting a posture of listening attentively.

"Take this token and head to Wucheng immediately to mobilize troops from there. Lian Tao, go and protect him." She handed a black gold token to Zhuang Heyu and solemnly told him, "This token must never fall into the hands of anyone else. The token is the token's responsibility as long as the person is alive."

Zhuang Heyu realized the importance of the token, took it and held it tightly, saying, "Your Highness, rest assured! I will definitely handle this matter well!"

"But if I leave, who will protect Madam?" Lian Tao didn't want to leave Qin Su.

"The token is very important, so be sure to keep it safe." Qin Su patted her, refusing to let her stay, and then turned to Zhuang Heyu and said, "If you feel you need manpower, take this token to the Shacheng Inn and find Chongyang, and ask him to transfer some manpower to you."

Lian Tao had no choice but to obey, and the two left Liu Family Village under the cover of night.

Qin Su was also nervous. She trusted Zhuang Heyu, but she was afraid that the token would fall into the hands of someone else.

Compared to having Chongyang transfer more people, Qin Su felt that Tao, Zhuang, and Yu were more suitable to handle this matter.

A large number of people actually attracts more attention.

Zhuang Heyu is a smart man; he will handle it well.

"Huh? Why is only Madam Qin left?" Aunt Chen came out carrying a plate.

Qin Su forced a smile but did not explain.

Aunt Chen found it strange, but she didn't dare to press the matter further.

After the meal, Qin Su went to find Aunt Chen.

Seeing that she was alone, Aunt Chen assumed she didn't know how to make the bed, so she smiled and went to help her. Inside the room, Qin Su pulled Aunt Chen to sit down and probed about the land again.

Aunt Chen's personality was clearly different from Liu Dazhu's. She said, "With the tax revenue from Da'an, we can definitely have enough to eat. But we can't stop the fact that some people at the top want to increase the revenue themselves."

"The magistrate of Huang County?" Qin Su asked again.

"Yes. But we ordinary people really have no way to fight back. To be honest, if I knew martial arts and was a martial arts master, I would definitely kill that corrupt official!"

The resentment in her eyes was genuine.