Chapter 26: Seizing Grain
For ordinary people, life is full of hardships and trivialities, and death is really not a big deal. After all, they call living suffering and dying a blessing.
Thus, Guan Zhiwei cured one person and killed another, a mortality rate of fifty percent, yet she was still hailed as a divine physician.
The neighbors all come to her for treatment when they have any ailments.
No other reason than hunger.
Doctor Guan wrote a prescription, and Madam Feng was in charge of dispensing the medicine.
Add some meat and a pot of water; it would be even better if you added some salt.
Cook a big pot of broth, serve a bowl, and if you're lucky, there might be some scraps of meat in it.
After drinking a bowl of herbal soup, I felt warm and recovered.
This is a good medicine for treating illnesses.
Everyone was filled with gratitude and said, "Dr. Guan has the medical skills to bring the dead back to life."
Her main job was as a blacksmith, and she also worked as an assassin. Unexpectedly, she became a miracle doctor.
It's impossible to find anything more absurd than this.
But this is not a long-term solution.
Even their entire family faced the predicament of having no food. No matter how frugal Madam Feng was, adding grass, tree bark, and meat to her porridge to make a big pot, she couldn't change the fact that the food supply was gradually dwindling.
This is a rural area, a piece of farmland, where many farmers live, yet they face a food shortage.
Guan Zhiwei fell into deep thought.
Although autumn ramie is not as tender as spring and summer ramie, it is still usable.
When Guan Zhiwei went hunting, they followed him into the mountains and cut a large amount of ramie. Madam Feng wanted to make thread to spin clothes, but they couldn't just rely on Xiao Guan. A living person isn't an object; who else could they hang on?
She and the old woman were sitting in the courtyard making a fuss. Looking at Guan Zhiwei, she casually asked, "Little Guan, what are you thinking about?"
Guan Zhiwei rested her chin on her hands: "I want to rob the granaries of the aristocratic families."
Madam Feng paused, didn't reply, but just worked the thread even harder, almost rubbing it until sparks flew.
This is understandable; in an era where everyone is putting up with things, someone suddenly comes out and says, "I want to steal it."
While everyone was eating savory tofu pudding, someone jumped out and said, "I want sweet tofu pudding." What's the difference? That's so weird.
It's even stranger than someone liking to eat mooncakes with five-nut filling.
"It's good to grab grain, it's good to grab grain, Xiao Guan is a good girl." The old woman smiled as she twisted the thread, her wrinkles smoothing out like blooming chrysanthemums.
Guan Zhiwei's eyes lit up, "Grandma thinks it's good too?"
Madam Feng sighed helplessly, "How can you listen to her? She's getting senile."
The old woman nodded with a smile.
"Xiao Guan!"
Atu came running in from outside, panting and looking panicked: "Second Brother sent me to tell you that the Chen family is here to collect grain again, and they also want our bear skins!"
Madam Feng was so nervous that she broke the thread.
Guan Zhiwei immediately laughed: "Great, I didn't rob them, but they came to plunder me first, that's interesting."
Even government officials have a tough time.
Gao Yang first plundered their grain, gold, and silver and transported them away. Then he set fire to the city and burned all the nearly ripe rice. The entire city was left with neither money nor food.
The imperial court wanted to collect annual tributes from other places, but due to war and regional separatism, it was unable to do so, and the entire city faced the predicament of having no food.
If powerful families don't want to just stand by and watch, they can only exploit their way down the social ladder layer by layer.
These peasants are the most cunning and treacherous; they know how to hide things. They complain about being poor, but actually, they have rice hidden in some ditch in their house.
The rats that steal grain must be dragged out.
The Chen family's accountant, accompanied by guards, arrived at Xiahe Village in an oxcart to collect grain. He had heard that the village was wealthy and had hardly seen any deaths.
"Sir, we really can't give you any more grain. The villagers are all surviving by digging up tree bark." The village chief smiled apologetically. Years of hard work had left dense wrinkles on his face, which hung loosely on his bones, giving him a bitter look.
The others nodded in agreement; they were too weak to even speak, their voices trembling with exhaustion.
"Why do I smell meat? You can actually eat meat?" The accountant had a keen sense of smell, and his expression was full of suspicion.
The village chief rubbed his hands together: "Oh, we can't eat, we really can't eat! That's because Doctor Xiao Guan is treating patients. She uses bear meat in her medicine and makes soup."
"And bears!?" The accountant perked up at the news.
The village chief grinned, revealing his black teeth: "That's Hei Er from our village. He's quite capable. He went into the mountains and killed a bear. It would be great if he could serve the Chen family in the future."
Fearing he would be dragged off to beat the bear, the second brother said helplessly, "I didn't do it, Xiao Guan did."
"Huh?" The village chief looked surprised.
"Ah!" Everyone else was shocked as well.
"Hey, country bumpkins are so ignorant. You're shocked by killing a bear. Our second young master organizes hunts, what kind of ferocious beasts haven't we hunted?"
The village chief waved his hand: "It's different, it's different, Xiao Guan is different..."
"Let whoever wants to hit you do so, but bring the stuff over first. My husband is in dire need of a winter coat. If it's a good one, we can at least reduce our grain collection by half."
The accountant didn't care what was different about Xiao Guan; he was only thinking that if there really was a bear, he could bring back the bear skin and paws. Even if he couldn't get any food, he could still claim credit.
The village chief could only swallow the words "she was beaten to death with her bare hands," and just chuckled and said, "The bear skin is intact, there isn't a single wound."
The accountant thought he was bragging; how could he possibly have no wounds at all?
“You old codger, if I see any loopholes, I’ll cut the reward in half.”
Hei Er sensed something was wrong and quickly and secretly pushed A Tu. A Tu was small, so he ran away without attracting attention.
Having received the tip, Guan Zhiwei waited for them in the courtyard.
The fence around the courtyard was low, and a section of it had been dismantled. With Guan Zhiwei around, there was no fear of bandits or thieves, so it was never installed.
Two wooden forks with a rope strung between them made a simple clothes rack, where a bear skin was being dried.
Guan Zhiwei peeled them herself, and she did a pretty good job.
The accountant, impatient to wait, came over. Seeing it from afar, he was delighted: "It's quite a big piece, but it'll do. Quickly put it away."
Four guards rushed in, ready to rob, completely ignoring the people in the courtyard.
They were impolite, and Guan Zhiwei was impolite in return.
She grabbed one and threw it to the ground. When the others saw this, they immediately stepped forward to scold and stop her. So, like the Calabash Brothers saving their grandfather, they piled up one after another, forming a human pyramid, just like stacking building blocks.
One stomp, and these people will be unable to move.
On the ground, cries of sorrow filled the air.
The accountant was dumbfounded, exclaiming, "You, you, you!"
"I...I...I...I..." Guan Zhiwei sneered, "I'm a stutterer."
Dogtooth's eyes were full of admiration: "I want to be a stutterer too." He had lost himself to the point of blind obedience.
"I want to too!" Atu cheered.
Hei Lao Er pulled them aside and handed them over to Feng Niangzi and the old woman, telling them not to cause any trouble. He solemnly said:
"Get lost."
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