After the village chief left, Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua started talking about pumpkin seeds. Zhao Guihua thought for a moment and said, "Instead of distributing seeds, why not just distribute pumpkin seedlings? What if they don't grow the seeds and come back to us for more?"
“If we want to distribute pumpkin seedlings, we have to grow them ourselves first. Wouldn’t that be too much work for us?” Old Zhou disagreed.
Zhao Guihua opened her mouth, but in the end said nothing. "Forget it, let's talk about this next year."
The taverns in town couldn't open for business yet, and the work in the fields was finished. Zhou Laoda's family went up the mountain every day to pick all kinds of wild vegetables, fruits, and mushrooms, and they could also hunt a few small animals every day.
Now, Ah Hui and Ah Hei are also very capable, often catching wild rabbits or bamboo rats, becoming true hunting dogs. This makes Zhou Erfu and Zhou Sifu very happy, and the two of them love to take the two dogs running all over the mountains.
Today is no exception.
"Woof woof woof." A fierce barking came from a nearby hill. Ah Hui and Ah Hei were a little scared when they heard it, but they did not back down. They stretched their necks and barked a few times with weak voices.
"It's those officials again. Why won't they give up? They've searched every inch of Yegou Village and haven't found a single ball. Why aren't they leaving? Why are they still wandering around the mountains every day?"
Zhou Erfu looked displeased. This group of officials came from the county government. Ten officials and a dozen hunters had been searching for pumpkin vines on the mountain in Yegou Village for more than half a month, but unfortunately they had found nothing.
They really think pumpkin vines are everywhere. If it weren't for the stars in their house, they would never have dug up a pumpkin vine, and they wouldn't even know that this species exists.
That day, Zheng Qingshu learned that their pumpkin vines had been found on the mountain. The next day, he sent people into the mountain to search for them. He heard that they hadn't found them in the outer areas, so they went into the mountain to search for them, but unfortunately, it was all in vain.
"Why are you only searching this mountain? Why don't you look in other mountains?" Zhou Sifu carried a hoe, carefully identifying the entrances to the holes in the ground, and started digging when he found a bamboo rat burrow.
"Yesterday, the village chief said that if we can't find it in the woods in our village, we'll look in other woods. There will be a big reward if we find it."
Zhou Erfu stroked his chin, wondering if he should take Xingxing to search in the mountains. Previously, his family had sold dozens of pumpkins to the county magistrate for five taels of silver each, which would have brought in more than five hundred taels in total.
The county government has now issued a notice stating that pumpkins found on the mountain will be sold for five taels of silver each. This news is quite tempting for the poor.
Thinking this, Zhou Erfu really asked Xingxing. Xingxing blinked, looked up and surveyed the surroundings on the way down the mountain, then lowered her eyes and didn't say anything.
"What's wrong? Can you find it?" Zhou Erfu asked in a low voice.
"Yes, there is, but that place is too dangerous. We can't go. Our lives are more important. Let's not be tempted by those few hundred taels of silver." Xingxing said seriously, signaling Zhou Erfu to calm down and not do anything reckless.
“Alright, Second Brother isn’t stupid, he won’t do anything foolish.” Zhou Erfu sensed the subtle warning in the little girl’s voice and couldn’t help but feel a chill, so he dared not mention it again.
When they returned home in the evening, Zhou Laoda's family ran into the group of officials. The officials were on their way back to the village and were taking the same road as them, so Zhou Laoda's family stood aside and let the officials go first.
"Oh, is this little girl yours? She's really pretty." The speaker was a hunter who had come into the mountains with the officials. He had a very ordinary face, but his smile made him look even more honest. He looked at Xingxing deeply with his small, bean-sized eyes.
The man seemed to have asked the question casually, and after asking, he didn't care whether anyone answered or not, and followed the official away as if nothing had happened.
"Something's off about this person." For some reason, Xingxing felt very uncomfortable with the look in that person's eyes, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong.
Zhou Laoda thought that the man was just a hunter. Judging from his tattered clothes and dark skin, what problems could a poor hunter possibly have?
However, he immediately thought of Xingxing's precognitive abilities. The little girl couldn't say someone was acting strangely for no reason; it could only mean that the person really had a problem.
However, we're still on the mountain, and there are too many people talking, so we'll have to go back and ask about this later.
After dinner, Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua took Xingxing to their room and asked her about what happened during the day. "Why did Xingxing say that person was strange? Is he going to do something bad to our family or our village?"
"I can't really explain it right now, but I just have a bad feeling about that person. Parents, you don't need to worry too much. If there's any danger, I should be able to sense it beforehand. Right now, I really don't know where the problem lies." Sigh, Xingxing was also very troubled.
"Don't look so sad. If you don't know, you don't know. Don't overthink it. Get some sleep. Are you alright by yourself? Do you want your mother to sleep with you tonight?" Zhao Guihua looked at her with concern.
Xingxing smiled, revealing her teeth, and comforted her mother in a soft, sweet voice, "Mom, don't worry, Xingxing is fine."
Seeing that she seemed to be really alright, Zhao Guihua felt relieved and said gently, "Mother will take you back to your room and leave after you fall asleep."
"Mom, you're so good to me." Xingxing nestled in her arms, acting coquettishly.
Several days passed in a flash, and nothing happened. Xingxing ate and slept as usual, having a great time as always. It seemed that her previous unease was just a figment of her imagination.
People gradually relaxed, and soon good news came: the town and county were reopened, all those who had sneaked in and contracted the plague were found, and the patients who were trapped on the boat had all recovered.
The disaster relief grain was also delivered to the disaster-stricken prefecture, and sweet potato vines were distributed to some people to start planting. It is said that it rained in the disaster-stricken area the night they received the sweet potato vines. This is exciting news, and everything is developing in a positive direction.
With the crisis in Nanyang Prefecture resolved, shops can resume normal business, markets will return to normal, and the government has notified villagers in various places that they can go out and move around, no longer confined to their villages and unable to go anywhere.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
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