Chapter 97 The Locusts Are Coming
Zhao Ergou turned around.
I saw the county magistrate.
The magistrate wasn't wearing official robes, but his fine silks and satins, along with his slightly plump figure, made him easily recognizable.
Cheng Wanwan and her group quickly bowed.
"Greetings, Your Excellency."
The magistrate waved his hand: "We're all old acquaintances, no need for formalities when we meet again."
After saying that, his gaze fell on Zhao Ergou, "If Ergou isn't too busy lately, you can come to the county office to see me. My son is about your age, so you should have something to talk about."
Zhao Ergou forced a bitter smile.
While digging ditches a while ago, he ran into the magistrate's son, who was born in the same year as him but was much more naive.
The most crucial problem is that the magistrate's son considers himself superior and always bosses him around, treating him like a servant, which he dislikes very much.
He said respectfully, "With the rice harvest imminent, I need to keep a close eye on the fields at all times, so I may not have time to go to the county government."
The magistrate nodded: "Alright, we'll talk about it after we're done with this busy period."
He looked at Cheng Wanwan and said, "Ergou's mother has raised a good son. If he could read, he could be my unfilial son's page. It's a pity... But he can be a playmate. We'll talk about it again after the autumn harvest."
The magistrate waved his sleeves and left.
Zhao Ergou immediately said, "Mother, I don't want to be the magistrate's son's playmate. I don't want to go."
He only behaved well last time when they were looking for water, so why did the magistrate remember him? He really doesn't want to be a servant...
Cheng Wanwan was also a little stunned. She knew that Er Gou was quite clever and quick-witted in all aspects except for being a little confused about relationships. She never expected that he would catch the eye of the county magistrate.
Being a pageboy is fine, but being a playmate is not good. Playing with toys can lead to the loss of ambition, which is not a good thing.
Cheng Zhao, who had been keeping a low profile, spoke up: "The magistrate is a good official. If you are unwilling, you can simply refuse."
These scholars, when they get together, talk about matters of state and politics. They know best what kind of temperament the county magistrates of the nearby towns are.
The magistrate of Hekou Town had the best political achievements. Relying on the dock as a transportation hub, he developed Hekou Town into the largest town in the vicinity.
The worst-tempered person was the magistrate of Phoenix Town, who would plunder the people's wealth every year during the harvest, making the people of Phoenix Town suffer terribly.
The most considerate of the people's sentiments was the magistrate of Ping'an Town. He was stout and had a broad mind. He often went out into the streets and got along well with many shopkeepers. It was just a pity that Ping'an Town was too small. The magistrate was transferred here to serve as an official for seven years, but he did not achieve any great political achievements.
Since Cheng Zhao had said so, Cheng Wanwan decided to put the matter aside for the time being.
She looked at Cheng Zhao and said, "Go back to Chengjia Village today and bring some clean clothes. You can stay at your second aunt's house from now on. You can leave whenever you pay off your debts. However, your grandparents and parents will definitely object to this. I only have one request: I don't want the Cheng family to cause trouble for the Zhao family again."
Cheng Zhao nodded repeatedly: "Second Aunt, I know."
The oxcarts parted ways at the fork in the road as they headed back.
Cheng Zhao walked back to Chengjia Village. It was almost noon, and the Cheng family was preparing lunch.
As soon as he entered, Old Mrs. Cheng greeted him: "Zhao'er, you're finally back! What did your second aunt say? Did she give you the money?"
Cheng Zhao did not answer. He went into the house and took out the two trunks that he had put in yesterday. He said in a cold voice, "I can't go to school for the time being. I found a teaching job to support myself. Grandma, don't worry about me."
"What are you going to do teaching? Won't that interfere with your chances of passing the imperial examination?" Old Mrs. Cheng said anxiously. "Zhao'er, I asked the village head to inquire. There's an academy in Phoenix Town that's still accepting students. I'll have your father take you there to register later. We must study, we must become scholars..."
Cheng Zhao shook his head.
One of the people who framed him was the magistrate's own son; by going there to study, he was walking into a trap.
Now, we can only take it one step at a time.
"Grandma, please don't worry about me." Cheng Zhao took a step back firmly. "I'm eighteen years old this year, almost nineteen. There are some things I should handle myself. I will definitely overcome this difficulty."
He walked out without looking back.
Grandma Cheng wanted to chase after him, but she was the only one at home cooking. There was a fire burning in the stove and food in the pot, so she couldn't leave him alone. She could only watch helplessly as her eldest grandson disappeared at the entrance of Chengjia Village.
Cheng Wanwan and Zhao Ergou had just arrived at their doorstep.
Before the wooden buckets and basins on the oxcart could even be unloaded, a commotion erupted throughout the village.
"Oh no! Locusts are coming!"
"My God! Why are there so many locusts!"
"Don't panic! These locusts are less than a tenth of last year's swarms. Everyone must stay calm!"
"Go back and get your weapons, drive the locusts away!"
Zhao Da rolled off the oxcart and ran home as fast as he could.
Cheng Wanwan and Zhao Ergou quickly got off the oxcart, each holding a tool in their hand, banging and tapping, trying to drive away the locusts with their noise.
A small number of locusts flew over from the sky. They weren't many, but they weren't few either. Although these locusts wouldn't devour all the crops, they would certainly cause considerable damage to the harvest.
The people of Dahe Village went crazy, banging and driving the rice paddies away.
After an unknown amount of time, the swarms of locusts slowly disappeared, and the villagers sat wearily on the ridges of the fields, each one still shaken.
Locusts can devour food more than three times their own size in an instant. In just a short time, some families have suffered heavy losses, with at least half an acre of rice being eaten.
Although there were losses, it's much better than last year.
Last year, in just half a day, thousands of acres of rice paddies in the entire village were completely devoured.
Many people dare not recall that scene.
The village headman asked each household about their losses with a serious expression. Basically, all the houses had been eaten to some extent, except for Cheng Wanwan's house and Aunt Wang's house, which showed no signs of locust infestation.
Aunt Wang smiled broadly: "So many locusts have flown over, but they won't eat my rice. I don't know why."
She tried to drive away the locusts with a lot of tools, but the locusts didn't give her a chance at all.
Cheng Wanwan looked at her family's rice paddy. The dozens of ducks that Zhao Sidan had herded onto the paddy were swimming leisurely, clearly having eaten their fill.
She said, "Ducks are the natural enemy of locusts. My wife and I have ducks in our fields, so locusts will naturally choose rice paddies without ducks."
People didn't quite believe that ducks could catch locusts. Ducks can't fly, but locusts can. Even people can't catch them, so how could ducks?
When they looked at the ducks, those that hadn't eaten their fill quickly raised their heads, stretched out their beaks, pecked one up, swallowed it, and continued searching for the next one.
The village head waved his hand and said, "The locusts that flew in today have served as a wake-up call for us. There are less than half a month left before the harvest, and we must not let anything go wrong at this critical juncture. If you have any money left at home, hurry up and buy ducks to raise in the fields. Every little bit helps prevent this."
Everyone nodded quickly.
Ducks can scare away locusts, lay eggs, and can be killed and used to make soup. Raising ducks is a highly profitable business, so why wouldn't people agree to it?
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