The thought had barely crossed Jiang Qinyu's mind when she heard Old Man Lu say, "What does this have to do with you? I injured my back when I was young, and the doctor said it would be difficult for me to have children. I just never expected my second son to turn out like this, sigh!"

Hearing this, Jiang Qinyu was completely stunned.

If Chen is unable to conceive and Old Man Lu has difficulty having offspring, then where did Lu Yanzheng and Lu Yancai come from?

No wonder she always felt that Chen and Old Man Lu's attitude towards Lu Yancai was a bit off. Although they were biased towards him, it didn't seem like the way normal people would treat their own child.

Think about it, Lu Yanzheng was gone back then. Even if the old couple didn't admit it, they probably believed it in their hearts. That's why when Lu Yancai and his wife mistreated Shufan and Pan'er at home, the old couple didn't break off relations with them. After all, they still wanted to rely on the couple for their old age.

Later, Lu Yancai and his wife wanted to sell their two children, which must have crossed the old couple's bottom line, so they completely stopped standing on Lu Yancai's side.

Later, Lu Yanzheng returned. According to the common mindset, people would naturally be more inclined to be close to whichever son is more successful. However, Lu Laotou and Chen Shi's closeness to Lu Yanzheng was limited, and they were even a little afraid of him.

Jiang Qinyu felt something was wrong at the time. If Lu Yanzheng and Lu Yancai were not biological brothers, then this matter would make sense.

Jiang Qinyu's mind raced, but in the end she didn't go in.

Regardless of whether Old Man Lu and Madam Chen are Lu Yanzheng's biological parents, at least they raised Lu Yanzheng as their own son and taught him a lot of skills. That's enough. Even if Lu Yanzheng knew, he would still be filial to his parents and take care of them in their old age.

Having promised Wei Chengzong yesterday that she would go to the county to help, Jiang Qinyu packed her things after the farce this morning, and Meng Tianze drove her to the county town in a mule cart.

This was something that Village Chief Li told Meng Tianze yesterday when he learned that Jiang Qinyu was going to the city.

"Sigh, these people really have it so tough," Meng Tianze sighed as he drove the carriage.

Jiang Qinyu lifted the curtain of the car window and looked out, only to see a few people farming on both sides of the road.

These are all refugees who came to Yongshan County. They were assigned to various villages and towns under the jurisdiction of Yongshan County. In addition to trying to integrate into the local life, they also had to start from scratch and work hard to build a family business.

Jiang Qinyu remained silent, watching the people digging in the muddy ground in the light rain, a bittersweet feeling welling up inside her.

A single grain of rice requires a thousand drops of sweat; farmers have always been the hardest-working people. Few people living in modern society can truly understand this hardship, since even farming has become mechanized or semi-mechanized.

Furthermore, many scientific research institutions are studying high-yield grain varieties, and people are constantly improving the quality of crops to make each crop taste better and yield higher yields.

Although it was always said that agriculture was the foundation of society in ancient times, whenever there was a natural disaster or man-made calamity, it was always the common people who suffered the most and were the first to be affected.

Just like this time when Prince Yong rebelled, apart from those who were willing to follow Prince Yong, many honest farmers in Qiongzhou dared not stay in Qiongzhou anymore and could only flee to the surrounding prefectures with their families.

With Wei Chengzhong in Yongshan County, the fleeing people could find a place to stay. It is said that many other prefectures did not open their city gates, so many innocent people were forced to hide in the deep mountains and become refugees.

“Sister-in-law, look here,” Meng Tianze pointed his whip at the path beside the road, “I heard that more and more people are coming to our area. Even Qinggang Mountain has been utilized by the county magistrate, who has established Qinggang Village and moved hundreds of people up there.”

Jiang Qinyu didn't know this at all. She took a special look and saw that there were far fewer weeds and such on both sides of the path. It must have been cleared by the people who now live here.

"Has our county received a lot of people?" Jiang Qinyu asked, feeling a chill for Wei Chengzong and Lu Yanzheng.

Moreover, she now understood why Prince Yong had dispatched 30,000 men to attack Yukang Prefecture.

People are the primary productive force. In any era, population is one of the most important resources. After Prince Yong rebelled, too many people fled his territory, which must have affected his foundation.

Yukang Prefecture was accepting refugees without any restrictions, so it's no wonder that Prince Yong was furious when he found out.

Meng Tianze replied, "I don't know the exact number, but I heard that Xiahe Village next door is full, and more than a dozen new villages have been added."

Jiang Qinyu silently calculated that a small village has four or five hundred people, while a large one has over a thousand. Judging from the current resources, the dozen or so newly added villages should all be large villages with over a thousand people. In that case, there must be at least twenty or thirty thousand people who have fled here.

She suddenly felt immense pressure, because these people needed to consume large amounts of food, cloth, and other resources in the early stages to survive.

But from another perspective, Wei Chengzhong is truly capable. He was able to support the border troops while also settling so many refugees. He is a real talent!

No wonder he didn't expect that a severe drought might be followed by a severe flood. Just feeding so many people every day must have been a huge headache for him.

This also shows that the county magistrate had a shortcoming: he probably wanted to do everything himself and was afraid to delegate tasks to his subordinates.

Jiang Qinyu tilted her head and thought for a moment, then roughly knew what she was supposed to do at the county government office.

Not long after, Meng Tianze brought her there, but she did not leave.

"The village chief told me to stay with my younger brother and sister-in-law and protect their safety," Meng Tianze said with a simple and honest smile.

Jiang Qinyu smiled gently, "Uncle Village Chief, you've gone to so much trouble. Then I thank Brother Meng very much."

She appreciated Village Chief Li's kindness. Working alone in the county government, she did need someone she could trust, otherwise there were certain things she might not be able to do.

Wei Chengzong had been waiting for Jiang Qinyu to come over all morning. Upon hearing the report, he immediately came out to greet her.

"Madam, thank you for your trouble," Wei Chengzong said gratefully, cupping his hands in greeting.

Jiang Qinyu looked at the bruises under his eyes and sighed inwardly, but smiled slightly on her face and said, "Sir, there is no need for this. In any case, you should take care of yourself. The people of Yongshan County are all counting on you."

Jiang Qinyu felt that it was necessary to do everything in her power to protect a good official like Wei Chengzong. Only when such a person lived well could more benefits be brought to the people.

"Thank you, Madam. I will remember this." Wei Chengzhong said politely, but he felt a sense of helplessness in his heart.

He knew he needed to rest, but with so many things waiting for his approval and so many resources to mobilize, he simply couldn't handle it all!

Jiang Qinyu said no more and followed him into the county government office, where they first went to the backyard.

Wei Chengzong pointed to two maids who looked to be seventeen or eighteen years old and said, "These are my wife's two head maids, Jin Suo and Ru Yi. My wife can use them if she needs anything."

"Jin Suo greets General Lu's wife."

"I hope you have met General Lu's wife."

Two maids immediately stepped forward to pay their respects.