Chapter 12: Incidents in the City
At dawn the next day, Xu Yaozu, Wang Liaohu and others set out pushing carts.
When the group of more than thirty people arrived at the city, the city gate was not open yet, and a few disaster victims were lying sparsely outside the city.
They waited until the city gate opened, then Xu Yaozu pushed the cart towards the gatekeeper, and the others followed closely behind him, stopping ten meters away from the city gate.
After paying the entrance fee to the gatekeeper, Xu Yaozu entered the city.
The city seems to be thriving, but if you look closely at the faces of the vendors, you can see that almost everyone has a sad look on their face.
Xu Yaozu came to a tea shop where one or two customers were sitting scattered around.
"Uncle, can I ask you how to get to the grocery store?"
The tea shop owner looked up and pointed, "In the back street."
Xu Yaozu was about to thank him when he saw the tea shop owner looking around and whispering, "I think you are a refugee, so I'm reminding you to buy some food and leave quickly. Don't stay in the city."
Oh, this world is a cannibalistic place!"
After saying this, the tea shop owner turned around and continued to rest with his eyes closed.
Xu Yaozu thanked him and went straight to the store.
The grain store was not in short supply as Xu Yaozu had imagined, and the number of people coming to buy grain was only a handful.
Xu Yaozu took a quick look around the granary and found that the grain here was not only of good quality and variety, but also had all kinds of groceries.
A middle-aged man dressed as a shopkeeper came over with a smile.
"Sir, would you like to buy some food? We have all the food in our store."
Xu Yaozu looked around and found that the cheapest coarse grain was sold for 200 wen per catty, which was a price increase of more than ten times.
Not to mention the expensive salt, the cheapest coarse salt was sold for 5 taels of silver.
Xu Yaozu was filled with anger and sadness. The Sheng Dynasty had clear laws that stipulated that grain prices should not be raised due to unusual phenomena in the sky, and if there were any price fluctuations, they should not exceed 50%.
But now, the price has increased by more than 10 times. How can the lower-class people afford it?
Although Xu Yaozu was full of anger, he had to endure it because more than 200 people in Dahe Village were waiting for the food to save their lives.
Xu Yaozu only used 10 taels of silver to buy two kilograms of coarse salt, and exchanged the rest of the silver for coarse grains. Even so, all the grains added up to less than 500 kilograms.
The shopkeeper watched Xu Yaozu carefully checking each bag of grain and couldn't help but teasing him, "Our store is honest and trustworthy. Even the prefect has praised us."
Xu Yaozu paused while checking the grain, put on a simple smile, picked up the grain and started loading it into the truck.
Because of the tea shop owner's reminder and also for peace of mind, Xu Yaozu quickened his pace to leave.
When they were only a few hundred meters away from the city gate, they were chased by a group of thugs and an old man dressed as a rich man.
"Quick, quick, quick, stop him for me."
Xu Yaozu knew something was going to happen and wanted to get out of the city gate quickly, but he was blocked by several thugs.
"Why are you running? You stole my old man's food and you still want to run away."
"Little brother, I spent a lot of money to buy this food at the grocery store in the back street. How did it become your grandfather's?"
The thug chuckled and said, "You said you bought it with money, but who can prove it for you? How about I go back to the grocery store with you and ask?"
After hearing this, Xu Yaozu had nothing to understand. It was really a good series of tricks.
He looked at the indifferent gatekeeper at the city gate and his eyes turned red. This was an official who "served the people".
I'm afraid the prefect is also behind this. It's such a good plan. He wants to squeeze every drop of blood out of the refugees.
"Don't bother asking. I'm afraid the shopkeeper will say he has never seen me before!"
The others laughed out loud, and the old man dressed like a rich man walked over slowly and said:
"You are quite self-aware, you guys should drive him out of the city."
"I am the winner this year. Who dares to touch me?"
Unexpectedly, as Xu Yaozu finished speaking, the laughter around him became even louder.
"Just now I praised you for being self-aware, but you turned out to be a fool. Is it difficult to be without a mentor in this world?
Haha~ Looks like you don’t have to leave the city.”
Xu Yaozu looked at the thugs approaching him and decided to give it a try.
Although Xu Yaozu has been studying since he was a child, he is not the kind of person who only focuses on reading sage books. Every time he has a day off, he would go to the fields to farm with his younger brothers, so he has a lot of strength in his hands.
But two fists are no match for four hands, and he soon fell into a disadvantage. The thugs hit Xu Yaozu again and again with sticks, and their ferocity did not even want to give him a chance to survive.
Xu Yaozu also felt that he might die here today, but he didn't expect a young man to fall from the sky.
The boy's skills were unfathomable. In a short moment, all the thugs fell to the ground, but the sword in his hand was never unsheathed.
Before Xu Yaozu could finish thanking the gods, the young man had already landed on a carriage and was driving away.
Xu Yaozu propped himself up, gritted his teeth, pushed the cart and followed behind the carriage. Sure enough, the doorman did not stop him.
He was completely relieved only when he saw Wang the Hunter and his men coming to greet him.
Hunter Wang was about to ask about the scars on Xu Yaozu's face when he saw Xu Yaozu chasing after the carriage.
"Thank you so much for saving me just now, sir. It's a pity that I have nothing to repay you now. I hope you can tell me your name. We, the whole village, are very grateful to you."
Unfortunately, the young man didn't say a word from beginning to end until the people in the carriage gave instructions.
"Let him come forward."
Only then did Xu Yaozu realize that there was someone else in the carriage.
Xu Yaozu followed the boy and stood by the car window. Before he could say thank you, he heard someone in the car ask, "How many of you are fleeing? Where are you going? What route are you taking?"
In fact, Xu Yaozu did not want to answer these questions, but for some reason, the tone of the person in the car was calm and peaceful, which made him involuntarily answer the above questions one by one.
“…”
Ever since the small team set out to enter the city today, everyone on the mountain has been a little distracted.
Xu Nian didn't want to stare at everyone in the cave, so he took a few brothers and sisters out of the cave to look for food.
"Sister, what should we do today? Why don't we go look for dates?" Xu Jian suggested while swallowing his saliva.
"Where can we find so many dates? Let's just look around."
Because the little boys Xu Cai and Xu Ling also came, Xu Nian didn't dare to take them too far.
Not far behind the cave is a cliff, and below the cliff is a pool formed by a waterfall. The water used by everyone in the past two days came from here.
However, due to drought and no rain, there is no water flowing down from the surface, only a few meters deep water remains in the pool.
"Sister, why are we here? There is nothing to eat here." Little Xu Ling's head was full of questions. Her mother strictly forbade her to come near here.
Xu Nian smiled mysteriously, "Maybe there is a surprise here. Take some stones and throw them into the water. What if there are fish hiding underneath?"