Yegou Village is a remote mountain village under the jurisdiction of Nanyang Prefecture. Recently, Nanyang Prefecture and several surrounding prefectures have been safe and sound, but other places have not been so lucky and have been plagued by disasters from time to time.
Many refugees fled from the affected prefectures to those unaffected ones. Anyang and Pingzhou received a lot of refugees, followed by Quanshui. Nanyang received fewer refugees due to its terrain.
So Nanyang City is relatively stable for the time being, but the city gates of Anyang City and Pingzhou City have been broken down by the disaster victims. Neither of these two prefectures is willing to open their city gates to accept refugees, nor are they willing to provide porridge. When the refugees are starving, they rebel and attack the city.
Fortunately, the government was prepared and suppressed the rioters in time.
Afterwards, the prefects of Quanshui City and Nanyang City ordered that the city gates be opened every morning and evening to distribute porridge, but that refugees be forbidden from entering the city.
With the city gates closed, the people inside the city could live in peace, but those outside the city suffered. Although porridge was distributed at the city gates every day, there were simply too many refugees, and the porridge distributed by the government was mostly water with little rice, not enough to satisfy their hunger.
Many young and strong refugees looted food from surrounding villages, and many villagers were even seriously injured by the vicious refugees in their efforts to protect their food.
In short, the current situation is very chaotic.
"Fortunately, our village took precautions in advance, but these thorns are not foolproof. If those refugees are driven to desperation, they might risk their lives to break in." Zhao Guihua felt a little more at ease looking at the thorns planted all over her wall.
“Our village is very remote, so it’s not easy for refugees to get in,” Old Zhou analyzed. “However, I heard that some of the prefectural cities that haven’t been affected by the disaster have corrupt officials who have hoarded the disaster relief grain allocated by the court into their own granaries. The rice for the porridge distribution is all moldy.”
Zhao Guihua was taken aback. "Is that so? No wonder those refugees rioted and tried to attack the city and seize the government's granaries. Speaking of which, these prefectural cities that haven't been affected by the disaster yet were also suffering from drought and were struggling to make ends meet. Now that there are corrupt officials, life is even harder for the people."
Other places are suffering from floods, houses and fields have been submerged, and many people have died. People can only flee to places that have not been affected by the disaster. In their area, many refugees have already blocked the gates of several prefectural cities.
Old Zhou frowned and said, "The village chief told us to be on guard during this period. The most important thing now is to guard the village entrance and prevent the refugees from breaking in."
“Anyway, the work in the fields is finished, and we’re just waiting to harvest the rice. I can handle all the other work, so don’t worry about things at home. I can manage,” Zhao Guihua said.
"Dad, don't worry, there's still me and my five older brothers at home. You just need to guard the village entrance, and leave the responsibility of supporting the family to us." Xingxing had been standing to the side listening for a long time. If she hadn't spoken, Zhou Laoda and his wife wouldn't have noticed that this girl was also in the room.
"Xingxing, when did you come in?" Zhao Guihua asked, somewhat bewildered.
"I noticed my parents looked unwell and rushed into the house, so I followed them in." They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice her.
"Why didn't you say anything when you came in, daughter?" Luckily, I didn't say anything I shouldn't have, otherwise, what if I had scared the child?
Xingxing frowned and said hesitantly, "Xingxing didn't mean to eavesdrop. I was just standing there listening to you talk very attentively. I thought my parents had seen me."
Seeing her pitiful little face, Zhou Laoda and his wife were amused by her.
"Okay, Mom knows. Xingxing didn't do it on purpose. Dad and Mom were just talking and didn't notice you. We didn't mean to blame you." She just felt that the child was too young and would be scared if she heard those words, so she didn't want her to know too much.
Xingxing looked at their faces again, and only when she was sure they weren't really angry did she feel relieved. "Dad, Mom, my fifth brother and I went out to play just now and ran into Zhou Dahua. She stepped into the stream and twisted her ankle."
"Is she trying to cause you trouble again?" Zhao Guihua's face suddenly darkened.
"No, she was washing clothes by the stream. My fifth brother and I were catching loaches. She was washing her clothes properly when she suddenly fell into the water. When she got back, she was limping and her clothes were wet." Xingxing tilted her head, looking somewhat puzzled.
"Serves her right, let's see if she dares to bully you again." Strangely enough, whether by coincidence or not, ever since Zhou Dahua hit the stars, she has been tripping and falling from time to time, or being bitten by insects or stung by wasps.
Her old wounds hadn't healed before new ones appeared, making her look rather pitiful. However, thinking about how ruthless she was to dare to hit Xingxing, Zhao Guihua felt a sense of satisfaction.
Old Zhou didn't want to comment on this. No matter how hateful Zhou Dahua was, she was still a child, and mainly his niece. Whenever the topic of the child came up, he would choose to remain silent.
"Mom, I want to go up the mountain with you tomorrow to pick honeysuckle, wild vegetables, and mushrooms. If we don't go now, we won't be able to pick them anymore." Once the season is over, it will be gone, and she doesn't want to miss it.
Xingxing hasn't been up the mountain for almost ten days. She's been confined to the house every day, only able to go for a stroll in the village in the morning and evening with her family. She's been cooped up for so long.
"Okay, Mom will carry you there tomorrow," Zhao Guihua said affectionately.
"The stars are heavy, and the road up the mountain is long. The stars can walk by themselves, so Mom doesn't have to work so hard." Every time her brothers saw her panting from exhaustion when they went up the mountain, they would take turns carrying her. She always said no, but no one listened to her.
“Xingxing isn’t heavy at all. Mom loves carrying you on her back. It’s not tiring at all.” Zhao Guihua loves that her daughter is always so fair and chubby. She cherishes her and wants to carry her on her back as much as possible.
There was a noise outside the door; the quintuplets had returned.
"Mom, there's less and less honeysuckle to pick these days. Today, the five of us only managed to pick less than half a basket." Zhou Dafu was the first to enter the courtyard with his basket on his back, followed by the other four boys.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
