Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Big Brother Returns Home After the Flood

A group of people hesitated at the door, wondering whether to run away, when someone shouted again. It turned out that a thief had broken into the house. It seemed that the thief had just spread rumors to divert attention and steal things during the chaos.

As soon as they heard the sound, the men rushed over carrying carrying poles, benches, and some even dragged iron axes and hammers. Zhen's father also rushed over with a kitchen knife. The group of people surrounded the thieves in an instant.

Someone ran to report to the authorities. Not far away, there were officials from the Inspection Office patrolling the streets. They took the thieves away. Leading the way was Lord Pei. He seemed to still remember the Zhen family. He glanced at them from afar through the crowd and added that the rain had stopped and the dam had not collapsed. He then told everyone to close the doors and windows.

Everyone was panicking just now, but now they realized it had stopped raining and breathed a sigh of relief. If it continued to rain, they would have nothing dry to wear.

Seven or eight people died in this disaster. They all lived by the river. Their houses were collapsed by the water. They were sleeping soundly at night and were crushed to death by wood and bricks.

There are only a few words on the notice, but for ordinary people, it means the pain of family breakdown and death.

The rain was heavy, and after the water receded, the government was afraid that floods would happen again, so every household was conscripted to build the river embankment. The yamen runners came and said that the Zhen family also had to provide one person, and if they didn't, they would have to pay a sum of money. The eldest brother had not returned from Xuzhou yet, and Zhen's father was busy at the restaurant, so the second brother took leave from school to come and build the embankment.

After a rain, many people were displaced. The dikes of Bianjing City were held and not broken, but the dikes of several nearby counties were not. Many victims lost their land and houses, and the harvested grain was still piled in the warehouse when it was washed away by the water. They could not make a living and their days were miserable.

The government also sent relief money to the counties and prefectures that had suffered from the disaster, but unfortunately it had little effect. Many people from other places came to the city of Bianjing, most of whom were families who could not make ends meet and had to sell their children.

My second brother has been on the dam these days and he feels sad. He mostly reads articles on paper, and when he sees what kind of life ordinary people live, he feels sad when he reads the sage books in his hands. He also secretly makes up his mind about what kind of official he should be if he becomes an official.

In this way, we build the dam during the day and write a policy paper at night under the light of the lamp.

The price of grain in the city has also increased several times. This year's wheat has already been harvested, so this flood should not have affected it. However, the grain that has been planted has been soaked by the water and almost all of it has rotted. In addition, some people are secretly raising the price of grain and making a fortune during the chaos.

My aunt was worried that the Zhen family didn't have enough food, so she brought two stone of rice and two stone of flour with her own people. The Zhen family had also stored some food before, but now that the rain had stopped and the water had receded, it was extremely uneconomical to set up a stall.

"When the harvest season comes, I'm afraid the price of grain will go up even more. This grain is enough for the whole family. Although the rain has stopped, the streets are in chaos. Dalang is not at home, so Baozhu should put that stall aside for now."

Mrs. Xu sighed. A rain disrupted the family's plans. Fortunately, they had not incurred any debt when buying the house, otherwise they would not have been able to make ends meet.

I heard that someone borrowed money from the pawnshop to buy a house, but after the flood he couldn't pay it back. Not only was his house confiscated, but he also had to sell his children to pay off his debt.

Baozhu nodded in agreement with Xu's words. She knew in her heart that although the price of grain had dropped a little, it was still two or three times more expensive than before. It was unrealistic to set up a stall again. Besides, the streets were in chaos now, and with so many people desperate, it was hard to guarantee that there would be no trouble.

Our family had some surplus grain because we needed rice and flour to run our stall. My aunt also sent us some new grain, so if we were frugal we could eat it until next year.

The chaotic market situation did not improve until August. Firstly, the government issued an order strictly prohibiting the raising of grain prices, and secondly, rice and chestnuts from the south of the Yangtze River were being shipped into Beijing in batches.

It is true that half of the world's wealth comes in and out through this route. The merchant ships from the south brought not only rice and chestnuts, but also tea and silk. Bianjing once again regained its former bustle and prosperity. Bianjing was the Bianjing of the rich, and the heavy rain that had just fallen seemed like a dream.

There were boats coming and going on the river, and my eldest brother also came by boat.

The situation in Xuzhou was better than Baozhu had expected. As soon as it started to rain, the landowner Shi felt that the weather was not good, so he hired some temporary workers to dig ditches to drain the water. The rain was so heavy that it rained for three consecutive days. Everyone had to go to their own fields, and the hired temporary workers resigned. Since no temporary workers could be hired for a while, the three of them, together with A Zhong and Jiang Shi, worked day and night to dig ditches to divert the water.

As soon as the eldest brother arrived, the four of them dug faster together and saved the bean seedlings from being drowned.

Later, when the rain stopped and the sun came out, Zhen Dalang did not leave. After all, he still could not hire any temporary workers. The four of them worked together to apply manure. After enough sun, the beans should be able to bloom and produce pods.

The whole family breathed a sigh of relief. Farming depends on the weather.

By the Mid-Autumn Festival, everything was back on track. Xu heard from outside that the dike almost collapsed this year because an official who was in charge of dredging the river was so busy eating, drinking and having fun that he didn't dredge the river in time, which almost flooded the city of Bianjing.

I heard that the official was stripped of his official position and his family members were also implicated and all exiled to Lingnan.

Even more people died in the counties below. The dike of Bianjing did not break, but the dam of a reservoir in a county below did. Not only did people die in the flood, but many people also starved to death. Many families had just harvested new grain and had no time to sell it at home before their houses were collapsed by the flood, and the grain was washed away.

The government released relief grain but people still starved to death. An official reported this to the government, and the matter became a serious matter. The government ordered a thorough investigation.

During dinner in the evening, Xu talked about the gossips she had heard with her family members over the past few days.

Baorong talked about the Wanxing transaction at Xiangguo Temple, which was held five times a month. It took a month off this time and will be open again in the next few days. Baozhu is busy every day and has never been to join in the fun. After hearing what she said, she also wanted to go and take a look.

Speaking of Daxiangguo Temple, Xu also said that there were several Buddha statues in the temple that had been soaked in water, and now the wealthy people in the city have donated money to rebuild the Buddha statues.

Hearing this, the whole family sighed in unison.

Last month, apart from the monthly allowance from Zhen's father and the five strings of cash Baorong earned from selling flowers, the family had no income from other businesses, and they couldn't even rent out the empty room next door.

Xu said that the house would be rented out soon, and they would just wait for the other party to finish their busy period before moving in. She was very excited when she said this, as if the person moving in this time was a very good person.

Without waiting for the children to ask, she waved her hands and refused to say who she rented the house to.

With my eldest brother back, I had to set up the stall at the ferry again. Food prices had dropped, but not by much, so selling rice balls and cold noodles wasn't profitable anymore. Previously, the prices for cold porridge, cold noodles, and rice balls weren't high, but now that food prices had gone up, it wasn't profitable anymore. I had to find something new to eat.

It was still hot, so it was inconvenient to prepare hot food. Baozhu decided to sell cold skewers cooked in red oil. The vegetarian items included lotus root slices, potato slices, green vegetables, radish, and bean curd sheets.

Meat dishes include pickled pork, chicken, quail eggs, etc.

Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for family reunions. Since we were given a day off from school, my second brother came home early. Baozhu and my eldest brother, naturally unwilling to miss the opportunity to make money, split up, with my eldest brother remaining at the dock while Baozhu pushed the cart to Zhouqiao Street. We had to go home early today; for the Mid-Autumn Festival, we had invited my aunt and her family over for dinner that evening.

The base oil for the red oil cold skewers on the stall is fried with chilies from the southwest, which requires a lot of effort and naturally costs money.

Vegetarian skewers cost one cent each, and meat skewers cost two cents each. The meat skewers are not big, and many people think it is a good deal to spend two cents to get some meat flavor. Each skewer is threaded on a bamboo stick, and after ordering, it is placed in a bamboo tube and drizzled with some red oil. It is easy to eat, and just the smell makes people's mouths water.

This time, a lot of bamboo tubes were ordered, and each one was engraved with the pattern of Zhen's food stall. There were also cold drinks left on the stall. Some people still remember her green bean and mint ice porridge. When they saw her selling it again, many people gathered around in the blink of an eye.

Most people go there to buy ice porridge.

Nowadays, all the stall owners have raised their prices, but Baozhu has not. Although the price of grain has increased, the price of mung beans has not increased much, so she has kept this one.

Most people just looked at the red oil cold skewers and swallowed their saliva. Looking at the bright red appearance, it was afraid that it would be spicy. Baozhu thought that she would prepare two servings tomorrow, one with five-spice and the other with red oil and spicy.

Seeing that everyone was asking but no one was buying, Baozhu said, "These ten skewers of meat and ten skewers of vegetables, plus a cup of mung bean and mint porridge, make a complete order. It's only forty coins."

This is a saving of five cents, after all, the ice porridge alone costs fifteen cents.

A man with an accent that didn't sound like Bianjing was a bit surprised and squeezed over to ask how much the cold skewers were. Baozhu asked if they were sold individually and how much a whole portion would cost. The man immediately ordered a whole portion.

After Baozhu finished cooking, he sat down at the table and started eating.

He was the one who was eating spicy food, but the ones who were swallowing their saliva were the people around. There was a child holding onto the edge of the table, with half a crystal pendant hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"Eat...I want to eat——"

The old lady who brought her grandson out was a little embarrassed and pulled the child behind her.

"You can't eat it, it bites people!"

The old lady made up a clumsy lie. The little kid had been cheated many times and didn't believe it at all. He just started crying because his grandma didn't buy it for him.

Baozhu smiled kindly and picked up a skewer and handed it to the child. The child stopped crying immediately and glanced at his grandmother to see if he could take the skewer by looking at her expression.

Baozhu didn't drizzle any red oil on the dish, but just took it out from the marinade and handed it over. She wasn't a fool and wouldn't give it to anyone, but she saw that the child wasn't the type to throw a tantrum, and the grandmother who took care of the child wasn't the mean person, so she sold it in a good way.

Sure enough, the little brat finished eating in a few bites, and before the tears of fake crying fell, he opened his mouth and said to his grandmother, "Don't bite me, I want more--"

The old woman, looking like she was about to burst into tears, took a few deep breaths and said, "Give me ten skewers of vegetarian food, ten skewers of meat, and a cup of mung bean and mint drink, without the red oil."

Baozhu's voice was loud. The man sitting at the table had finished eating and handed over the bamboo tube. "Ten more vegetarian skewers and ten more meat skewers."

There was no time to wipe the red oil off his lips, and they were only spicing up. This merchant from the southwest had been in Bianjing for several days and had never tasted any spicy food, at most with some pepper, which was not satisfying at all. This time, he finally came across something that suited his taste at this stall and wanted to buy it all, but unfortunately his stomach was not big enough.

He bought three servings in a row and ate them all. Then he burped contentedly and left.

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