The sun was high in the sky, and they walked around and found that the city was quiet, unlike the morning when they could occasionally see people coming and going.

Could it be that he's going to escape the summer heat? But it's only spring now, and the temperature isn't very high.

In a city this size, it's normal to have four or five grain stores, but now there's only one open. There are even sword-wielding officers guarding the entrance, so it must be a government grain store. The number of people coming in and out is even greater than the number of guards.

There is a board at the door with the price of grain clearly written on it.

The government should have received some grain last year, which allowed them to open grain stores. However, the prices of coarse grains and refined grains remained high, and purchases were limited to half a liter per household.

What shocked her even more was the price of grain seeds, which reached twenty taels of silver per dou.

Few people could afford such a price for grain. Without the means to grow crops, even if there were good weather and favorable harvests, let alone natural disasters, the people might not recover in three to five years.

This is a vicious cycle. Without seeds, you can't grow crops. If you can't eat enough, you have no money to buy seeds.

As you can imagine, food is controlled by a few people.

When she arrived at the gate of the yamen, she found that the people were queuing there, waiting for the government to provide them with porridge.

There were two large straw huts in front, but no one went in to seek shade. Instead, they just stood in line in the sun.

The team was long and looked to be around five or six hundred people, which should be the majority of the city's population.

Everyone lined up like drooping chickens, heads drooping, eyes vacant, and numb. The sun wasn't scorching, but waiting in line for hours with the sun on their faces was unbearable. Many people's cheeks turned red, and sweat poured down.

If this continues, they'll die of dehydration, right? Among other things, the symptoms of salt deficiency are already starting to show. Some people have grim expressions, clutching their chests, trying to vomit but unable to.

Jiang Yue and the other person did not go to queue up. They watched quietly under the eaves.

After a while, several officers with big swords came out carrying a big bucket. The crowd began to commotion and squeezed forward with drooling.

"Don't push! Line up honestly! Anyone who dares to cause trouble will be killed!"

The officer was also thin, but his expression was fierce, not unlike any other bandit they had seen. He even drew his knife and pointed it at the people, frightening them so much that they immediately dropped their heads and dared not move.

It turned out that the thatched hut was used to provide porridge to the government.

Jiang Yue felt conflicted. If he wanted to give the people a way out, why didn't he control the skyrocketing price of grain? He wanted to give out porridge, but his attitude towards the people was so poor. It always felt like he was doing good things, but it wasn't thorough enough.

"Hmph! You starving ghosts, what are you stealing? If you keep stealing, I won't give you any food." The officials were high and mighty, with a sense of superiority as if they were bestowing favors. He moved slowly, without any regard for the hungry people.

After finally arranging the food, he gave an order and the people came forward with their bowls, not daring to shake their hands.

But the officials who were serving porridge were shaking so much that they sent the people away before they had even filled a spoonful.

The people seemed to have gotten used to it and knew that crying and begging was useless. After receiving the bowl, they had to kneel down and express their gratitude.

A woman walked slowly, holding a bowl in both hands. Jiang Yue looked over and saw that the bowl was clear enough to reflect light. It was unshelled corn porridge. Moreover, there were quite a few stones in it.

The woman stared at her feet and didn't notice a carriage coming from the left front.

"Ah——" With a scream, the bowl in the woman's hand fell to the ground.

The ground was scorching under the scorching sun, and the porridge evaporated instantly or seeped into the ground, leaving only a few grains of corn. To make matters worse, the few bowls the woman had left were broken.

She collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down her face, unable to flow any more. With red eyes, she used broken porcelain shards to dig at the rice grains on the ground. Her withered hands were already scratched and bleeding.

"Don't you have eyes? How dare you startle the master's carriage!"

A servant acted arrogantly, and guards came over to drag the woman away.

Jiang Yue saw that she didn't even say "spare me", her eyes were just staring at the bowl on the ground, as if she was not afraid of death.

At this time, a delicate voice came from the carriage, "Forget it, sir, this person is almost pitiful, just spare her life."

The wind blew up the curtains of the carriage, and Jiang Yue saw the graceful and charming back of a woman in a pink gauze dress.

A middle-aged man in official uniform beside her put his arm around her shoulders and said nonchalantly, "Forget it. I understand the hardships faced by the people and will not pursue her crime. Let's go."

"Why don't you thank me quickly, sir!" The guard put the woman down and scolded her.

The woman kowtowed silently, blood oozing from her forehead.

A silver ingot was dropped from above and landed in front of the woman, like a bone thrown to a dog. The woman finally reacted, fearing that someone would snatch it away, so she quickly put the silver in her arms and ran home.

The carriage started up again, and Jiang Yue saw it enter the government office. She guessed that this kind of behavior probably belonged to the prefect of this city.

"The woman above looks familiar."

Jiang Nian didn't say anything, it was so stinky.

The two stopped looking at the pitiful scene of the porridge distribution and waited until nightfall to see if there was any news about those animals.

Jiang Yue saw the bloody scene, and even though she had killed someone before, she felt sad.