“Knock knock knock—”

"Is anyone inside? Is Jiang here?"

A deep voice sounded outside the courtyard gate. The two men looked at each other and their expressions became serious.

Jiang Nian walked out, "Someone is here, please wait a moment."

He was slow and it took him a while to open the door, and the people outside were getting impatient.

With a creak, the door opened and he looked outside. There were two men with large knives.

Yueyue said that these two people were yamen runners and were wearing official uniforms.

"What's the matter with you two adults?"

His voice was cold, his face expressionless, and his condescending attitude made the two yamen runners feel overwhelmed.

"Ahem," the tall yamen runner cleared his throat, "We are following your instructions to understand the disaster situation of each household."

The short yamen runner next to him pointed at him and said, "Move aside, we have to go in and check."

Jiang Nian glanced at him, suppressed his dissatisfaction, and stepped aside to let them in.

The short yamen runner was frightened by the look and quickly retracted his finger. He had naturally heard that there were two living devils on this street, one male and one female, who would beat people up and feed them feces if they disagreed with them!

The tall yamen runner despised him for being timid, so he led the way in.

In the city, the people living in the outer city, near the city gate, are the most common and the poorest. The further into the inner city you go, the more shops there are and the richer the people are.

The people living on these streets are all middle-class families. The two yamen runners walked along the way and found that among the ordinary people's homes, this house was not the largest, but it was the most neat among all the houses.

"None of your tiles fell off?"

"We moved in after the renovations, less than six months ago. With such heavy snow, how could the tiles not be damaged? We were just lucky to have some new tiles left over from the previous renovations, so we replaced them. Look, sir, the broken tiles are here."

A young and beautiful lady came out from the inner room. The tall yamen runner flipped through the book in his hand and nodded. What she said matched the book. Looking at the corner where she pointed, there were indeed several large piles of broken tiles, already covered by heavy snow.

The two yamen runners walked over to the barn and raised their eyebrows. Their mules were growing really well; it was obvious the owner had put a lot of effort into raising them. It was truly remarkable that they still had the energy to raise mules at this time.

Moreover, it was said that the two living devils had ferocious faces and were harsh in their dealings, but when he saw them today, he felt that the rumors were wrong.

The short yamen runner pushed open the door of the next room, and a foul smell of feces hit him in the face.

"Sir, this is the house where chickens and ducks were raised before the natural disaster."

The short man was startled and quickly retreated. They used these to stuff...

The tall man also found the smell unpleasant and closed the door. "I heard you raised a lot of poultry? Have you killed them all now?"

Seeing the suspicion in his eyes, Jiang Yue remained calm and said with a wry smile, "I used to have one, but how can I afford it now? I already exchanged the money for food. You two adults, please feel free to look at it."

The two yamen runners really checked every room, and then walked to the main room. Everything was neatly arranged and clean, which was pleasing to the eye.

But there is one thing that is very strange, "Is the young lady the head of the household?"

This house was registered under the Jiang family's name. Ever since the young lady appeared, the tall man hadn't spoken a word. What a strange couple! Why would the woman be the one speaking in the front?

Jiang Yue nodded, "My husband is a son-in-law, so I am the one who makes the decisions in our family."

The two yamen runners opened their eyes wide and looked at Jiang Nian, somewhat surprised that such a tall man was actually a son-in-law.

In the capital, except for those who were nearly starving to death, almost no one was willing to be a son-in-law. It would be a bad reputation, and the child wouldn't have the same surname as mine, so how could the family line be carried on?

But the other party accepted the title of son-in-law very calmly and did not show any shame or embarrassment.

Jiang Yue asked again, "My lords, do you have any other questions?"

The two shook their heads, registered their situation and left.

After leaving the Jiang family, the short yamen runner saw that he looked hesitant and asked, "Is there a problem?"

"This place is so clean. There's even a millstone and a rice pounding plate. And look at how well-looking this couple is. They must eat well..."

"Oh, you're just overthinking it! We didn't leak anything just now. We checked the cellar, and there was nothing else except a few liters of grain and radishes. Not even a scrap of meat. Maybe there are only two of them living there, so they don't have a shortage of food! Let's go to the next house quickly, I'm almost freezing to death!"

The tall yamen runner also felt that he was thinking too much and was misled by the rumors. Nowadays, wealthy families are short of meat and vegetables, so who can still raise chickens, pigs and sheep?

He casually drew a circle in the booklet and went to the next family, the Wang family.

As soon as the gate was opened, the stench coming from the yard was a hundred times worse than that of the house where the Jiang family raised chickens and ducks. The yamen runners almost vomited!

What's wrong with the people on this street? They always have a problem with shit and piss...

After Jiang Yue sent the yamen runners away, he put out the things that had been put away.

The chickens, ducks, rabbits and sheep instantly returned from heaven to hell, shivering in the cold.

She put the small stove back into the main room, where a pot of fragrant bone soup was stewing. Fortunately, she had just quickly opened the doors and windows to ventilate the room.

The two men discussed while drinking their soup, "Just now, those two yamen runners were looking around like they were looking for something."

Jiang Yue had read a lot of books and had a rough idea of ​​what was happening. "It's true that they registered the disaster victims, but it's hard to say when they'll provide relief. The imperial court has more than just one prefecture to manage. I think they might be looking for wealthy families to 'distribute their wealth'."

Seeing Jiang Nian's confusion, she explained in a more popular way, "In other words, see which families have spare money. Those with more grain can donate grain, those with cloth can donate cloth, and those with money can donate money. The government has been suppressing the grain shops for so long, they should have run out of ammunition and food."

Regardless, their family hadn't revealed anything. It was about time someone from one of the city's wealthy families showed up.

"Son, let's sell the vegetables at a higher price during the Chinese New Year!" The main reason is that one family cannot sell too much. During the Chinese New Year, prices will go up, so isn't it normal for her to increase the price by one or two times?

She doesn't want to exploit ordinary people, but to exchange them for some fine works of art.

Jiang Nian nodded.