Seeing the Zhu family members' faces turn ashen, she felt a sense of relief.

In the end, with an air of great understanding, they were allowed to fetch water.

On the surface, the Zhu family was also very moved by her "tolerance" and said a lot of nice things before leaving.

Liu Yingying sat under the tree, holding up the hairpin to the sunlight, examining it closely, and many memories came to mind...

Scholar Zhu did not like the original owner of this body.

He married her only so that someone could take care of him and his three young children left behind by his deceased wife.

He rarely spoke to her and rarely put any effort into giving her gifts.

When they got married, Zhu Jianqiang was still a student in the imperial examinations.

It was only six months after their marriage that he passed the prefectural examination and obtained the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the county-level imperial examination).

In my memory, Zhu Xiucai was very happy that day, and even unusually, he brought back a pot of wine from outside, wanting to invite her to drink with him.

It is said that his deceased wife, who died young, would often drink with him under the moon; the two were childhood sweethearts...

However, the original owner, who was timid by nature, did not dare to be presumptuous in front of him and refused his enthusiastic invitation.

I still remember that the rare enthusiasm that had risen in the scholar's eyes gradually faded, so he did not force her. After that, the two of them continued to treat each other with respect.

"Liu Niang, what are you thinking about?" Zhao Di walked over, interrupting her thoughts.

Liu Yingying smiled and took her hand, handing her the silver bracelet and plum blossom hairpin that Ma Jinhua had given her.

"Liu Niang, what are you doing?" Zhao Di looked at her with great surprise.

Liu Yingying said, "These things were all prepared by your father himself, so naturally they should be given to you."

Zhao Di refused, saying, "No, this is a gift from Father and Grandmother, how can I accept it?"

This wasn't anything particularly valuable, and to be honest, Liu Yingying didn't even care for it.

Even storing it is too bulky.

"Then you can consider it as me giving it to you again. Of course, you can also choose to give it away or keep it as part of your dowry later."

"Liu Niang, what nonsense are you talking about? I...I don't want to get married, I just want to stay by your side forever..."

Zhao Di blushed slightly as she spoke, but still reluctantly agreed to accept the two items left by her father.

Then he asked Liu Yingying another question.

"Your grandfather, grandmother, second uncle, and third uncle bullied you so much, why did you agree to give them water?"

Liu Yingying smiled slightly, but instead of answering her question directly, she asked in return, "If the decision were given to you, would you agree to let them fetch water?"

“I…” Zhao Di was taken aback, not expecting Liu Yingying to ask such a question.

The concept she was instilled with from childhood was that women should obey the three obediences and four virtues, the first of which was to unconditionally respect their elders.

According to that logic, she would have to agree to let her grandparents fetch water.

But if we were to follow her true thoughts, then it's certain that she wouldn't agree!

"I understand. You must have only reluctantly agreed because of Father, right?"

Zhao Di looked up at her with an innocent little face, and Liu Yingying couldn't help but chuckle.

What does this have to do with a scholar?

He doesn't have that much face!

But Liu Yingying did not deny it. "Zhaodi, you have to understand the current situation of the four of us. Your father is gone, and there is no man to support this family. When we are poor and destitute, everyone can come up and kick us while we're down. But once we have more and more capital, in those people's eyes, we are just a piece of fat meat."

“I can take a knife and slash your uncles, aunts, and cousins, and I can beat up your aunt... but in the end, I am outnumbered and outmatched. If we really have to resort to force, we won’t gain any advantage.”

"Moreover, I am now the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zhu family. If I forbid your grandparents from using water for a while, others may not say anything, but just take it as a lesson for them."

"But if we really just stand by and watch them die of thirst and starvation, then there will probably be no place for us, mother and children, to stay in this Peach Blossom Village. Do you understand what I mean?"

Zhao Di tilted her little head and listened attentively.

Finally, she nodded very seriously; "Yes, I understand. Now it's you, Aunt Liu, protecting me and my brother. When my brothers and I grow up, it will be our turn to protect you, and we will never allow anyone to bully our family again!"

"Good girl!" Liu Yingying smiled with satisfaction and reached out to pat her fluffy head.

Zhao Di was a smart child, but unfortunately her father believed that a woman's virtue lay in her lack of talent and never taught her to read or write.

Liu Yingying was thinking to herself that when she had the means in the future, she would definitely send Zhaodi to school as well!

Although the village's drinking water problem has been temporarily solved, everyone will now have to face another, more severe survival challenge.

Food shortage

Without water, everyone will die of thirst.

But even with water, people will still starve to death if there is no food.

Currently, all the villages have run out of ammunition and food.

In order to survive, the village heads of several townships in Furong County convened a meeting with the village chiefs under their jurisdiction to discuss the matter.

Because the entire Ningzhou Prefecture has suffered extensive disasters this year, if the imperial court does not take action, there will be at least nearly a million people starving to death.

Although the villagers did not understand politics, they knew that if they all starved to death, it would be a troublesome matter for the officials in the court.

Immediately, someone made a suggestion.

Everyone went to the county to plead with the magistrate to open the granaries for disaster relief.

Although the government has not yet made a clear statement about providing disaster relief, they have to at least give it a try, because it is at least a matter of whether their family members can survive!

So that very evening, a large group of people set off on foot towards Furong County.

Liu Yingying learned about this the next day from the villagers' casual conversation.

If this happened in modern times, it would be easy to resolve.

Because in her time, an old man invented a kind of "hybrid rice", which could at least ensure that people would not go hungry no matter what kind of disaster occurred.

However, in this era where technology and civilization were very backward, the yield of food was pitifully low.

The imperial court also relies on local taxes to replenish the national treasury, and disasters in the region will affect tax revenue.

Therefore, she was not sure whether the government would be willing to open the granaries to provide disaster relief.

Regardless of whether the government provides disaster relief, the people still have not given up on helping themselves.

People started digging for wild vegetables everywhere, searching for anything they could use to fill their stomachs!

But in this kind of weather, the hope of finding plenty of food in the wild is simply impossible.

Liu Yingying had the system's shop at her disposal and was not short of food, even though she sympathized with the disaster victims.

However, she could not withdraw large quantities of grain from the mall to provide disaster relief.

Because it was predictable that if she did that, a very tragic end would await her.