Wei Yunlan paused and looked in the direction Miss Bai Si was looking. She saw that the rabbit was standing about ten feet away from her, staring at her intently with its two front paws raised.
This rabbit...it seems like it's not afraid of her at all?
Wei Yunlan felt a little puzzled. Before he could take a closer look, a stone flew from behind and scared the rabbit away.
Wei Mingxuan and Wang Gui ran over and said, "What a pity, we didn't catch him again!"
"Then let's not catch them. You came at the right time. Help me dig up these wild vegetables." With two more hands, the bamboo basket in Wei Yunlan's hand was soon filled again.
This time she gave half of it to Fourth Miss Bai, and she did not refuse.
Wei Yunlan took the remaining half back home and mixed it with the remaining portion from the basket used for making soup. He also took advantage of the cover of the mule cart to collect a small portion of it into the space.
She always felt that the things that were originally placed on the edge of the space seemed to have moved a little towards the middle.
Of course, it is also possible that she had taken things out of it continuously over the past two days, leaving some extra space, which gave her this illusion.
"Lan'er, come and have a bowl of hot soup!"
Hearing Gao's call, Wei Yunlan put aside the strange feeling in his heart and walked over quickly.
The team only had a short rest time at noon, and after the sun was at its hottest, the officer announced that they were ready to set off.
As we headed north, the weather should have become cooler, but it was so dry and sunny these days that the ground was as hot as a furnace. Not long after we started walking, everyone began to sweat profusely.
At this time, Wei Yunlan was extremely grateful that he had bought a few bottles of external ointment from the old doctor. The ointment was cool and when applied on the body, in addition to relieving fatigue, it also had a magical effect of relieving heat.
Wei Maolin and Gao were both born and raised in Beijing. Wei Yunlan had never left Beijing since she was a child. However, Suihe, who was by her side, had fled to Beijing from the north with her family a few years earlier. Her family originally lived in Suizhou, which was adjacent to the northwest of Liangzhou.
"I remember that at this time of year in previous years, we should have put away our summer clothes and changed into small jackets. This year is really abnormal."
Hearing this, Gao sighed and said, "In this year, I'm afraid the harvest will not be good. I don't know if there will be trouble after the autumn harvest."
Wei Yunlan was slightly surprised. Her mother was right!
She remembered that in her previous life, not long after that, due to bad harvests and increased taxes, a large number of refugees began to appear in Suizhou, Hanzhou and other places. My younger brother was separated from his family on the way to exile and has never heard from them since, because he encountered a group of refugees.
The route of exile in this life has not changed. If nothing unexpected happens, the team will still encounter that group of refugees.
Must plan early!
The sun was setting in the west, and the next inn was still quite a distance away.
Catching a glimpse of smoke rising in the distance, the official sent two officers to investigate, and soon decided to stay in Liwang Village ahead tonight.
When the team reached the entrance of the village, they saw a group of old farmers holding hoes, looking very alert.
After the officer Jie showed the documents and orders in his arms to the village chief, the group of villagers dispersed, but they would look over here from time to time with vigilance in their eyes.
The Jie official and the runners stayed temporarily at the village chief's house. As for the rest of the people, they were willing to pay some money to live in the villagers' homes, or sleep directly on the wasteland behind the village chief's house. The Jie official didn't care as long as they didn't leave the village.
The Wei family spent twenty copper coins to live in a house at the end of the village that was home to a widowed mother and three half-grown children.
This house has a large yard and many empty houses. It is not difficult to tell that the conditions were good in the past.
"Mrs. Li said that the villagers initially thought that the laborers had come, so they were so alert." Tingxue boiled a few pots of hot water in the kitchen and learned a lot from the widowed mother.
Liwang Village is composed of two large clans, and every household is either surnamed Wang or Li. Li's wife's husband is surnamed Li, and he is the only carpenter in the village. Her uncle is also very strong and can do farm work for two people. Therefore, even though her parents-in-law died early, her family's conditions in the village are not bad.
Unfortunately, last year, she was called up for labor twice in succession. Her husband and uncle were both called away. Her children were still young, so all the work fell on her alone. Not long after, news came back that her husband had died. The court didn't even give her any pension, so the family fell into ruin.
"Miss, let's look at the village entrance. Those holding hoes are all old farmers. This is because most of the young and strong people in the village have been conscripted."
"Isn't this just nonsense?" Wei Maolin slapped his thigh with a dark face, pulled the wound on his neck, and took a breath with a hiss.
Gao pressed the man down on his seat and said, "Be quiet, apply some medicine on the wound and let it heal quickly. Otherwise, if you keep scratching it on the road tomorrow, you'll be in big trouble later!"
Wei Maolin stopped moving but kept talking.
"The harvest is already bad, and if the young and strong men are conscripted, who will farm the remaining fields? Oh, Your Majesty is really confused!"
Gao subconsciously glanced outside the door and saw that only her family was in the yard. She breathed a sigh of relief, but still glared at him unhappily, "Say less. If it weren't for you, how could our family be in this state?"
Although she said this, Gao Shi didn't really mean to blame her husband. After letting Tingxue close the door from the outside, she sighed softly and said, "The emperor has done more than just one or two stupid things. It would have been better if the late emperor had just passed the throne to his grandson."
This was much bolder than what Wei Maolin said, "Madam, you told me to say less..."
"Don't you think so in your heart?" Gao asked back, completely silencing Wei Maolin.
The "imperial grandson" that Gao mentioned was the current crown prince.
The late emperor was a wise ruler. He reigned for more than 40 years. He drove back the northern barbarians, pacified Xiliang, and vigorously developed trade in the south. The people were prosperous and healthy, and the court was also clear. The prince was personally taught by the late emperor since he was two years old. He was good at both literature and martial arts. At the age of young school, he could express his good political opinions in the court.
In comparison, the current emperor pales in comparison.
If the late emperor had not passed away suddenly when the crown prince was just over 18 years old, it would not have been the current emperor's turn to sit on the throne.
"My grandfather calculated that the Crown Prince was born from the Purple Star. With the Crown Prince around, the Great Yong Dynasty can continue to prosper for another hundred years."
Wei Yunlan knew that his great-grandfather was a famous Taoist priest during the previous emperor's time.
She only divined the sky and observed the stars, but never sought help from the late emperor. She had predicted disasters several times and was trusted by the late emperor. After the late emperor passed away and the current emperor ascended the throne not long ago, my great-grandfather also passed away. Only my mother, a married woman, remained in the Tianshi Mansion, and few people in the capital mentioned her anymore.
Wei Yunlan had heard a lot about his great-grandfather's deeds from his mother since he was a child, and knew that the old man was a very capable person.
But he probably had never expected that the Purple Star would unexpectedly fall so early.
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