On the day of Yu, before Chenshi (7-9 AM), Zhou Laoda went to the village entrance to meet up with the other nine people. Out of caution, each of them carried an axe or a machete with them.
Zhao Guihua brought the children to see Zhou Laoda off, and didn't leave until he was out of sight. Xingxing has been in a good mood these past two days, no longer whining and clinging to people, looking anxious and uneasy.
As dusk fell, Old Zhou returned home, bringing only an empty basket with him; he hadn't bought anything.
"Well, did you sell the flowers?" Zhao Guihua asked anxiously. Seeing that he hadn't bought anything, she thought something had happened again.
Old Zhou pulled out three taels of silver from his pocket and chuckled twice. "I went to see Young Master Wang today. He bought the flowers and gave me three taels of silver. I showed him the little yellow flowers, and he said that was the chrysanthemum he wanted. He told me to deliver them to him when I have time."
He paused for a moment and then said, "Young Master Wang is very talkative. He told me that he had also gone out to seek refuge before and had not dared to stay in the town for fear that the refugees would come and rob him. He had moved all his valuables in advance and only dared to come back after the imperial court sent troops to suppress the rebellion and the town was at peace."
"Is everything really peaceful outside?" Zhao Guihua asked.
"Peace has been restored, and the refugees have been resettled. Except for those who are temporarily housed in the greenhouses outside the city, the other refugees have been assigned to various villages. However, there are still many refugees begging on the roads and in the towns, probably because the relief food has not yet been distributed."
The reason why Zhou Laoda didn't buy anything was because he didn't know what to buy at the moment. He simply took the money back and gave it to his wife. Anyway, things are settled now. If the family needs anything in the future, he can let his wife buy it. Women are also better at bargaining.
Just then, the sound of children laughing and playing came from outside. Zhou Erfu shouted, "Today I went to Old Zhou's house to deliver medicine and saw that Zhou Laosan could get up and walk around, but his nose was wrapped in a cloth. When he saw me coming, he immediately hid inside again."
Ever since Zhou Laosan's nose was cut off, he has been lying in bed recuperating. It's unclear whether it's because it's too serious for him to get up, or because he feels too ashamed to face anyone and doesn't want to get up.
Zhang Cui's situation was even worse; she almost lost her life. Fortunately, Boss Zhou went up the mountain every day to collect medicine for her injuries and delivered it to her. Zhang Cui finally pulled through, but she was still bedridden and unable to get up.
The children discussed it for a few minutes and then stopped talking. Before, they would gloat and say that Zhou Laosan and his wife deserved it and that it was retribution, but later they were scolded by Zhou Laoda.
“You’re not allowed to say things like that again. No matter what your third uncle and aunt did in the past, they’ve already suffered enough to end up like this. We shouldn’t kick them while they’re down.”
After that, the children became much more low-key. They would still talk, but they didn't dare to mock or say sarcastic things like before.
"Let's go up the mountain to collect herbs tomorrow. The weather is getting colder and colder, and I reckon it'll snow soon. It won't be good to go up the mountain then." Zhou Erfu couldn't stay idle. A few days ago, because the village was attacked and killed by refugees, everyone was afraid to go out and basically stayed at home.
Now that he can finally go out and about, he wants to venture into the mountains.
There are no more honeysuckle or wild chrysanthemums on the mountain, and wild fruits are almost gone too. We can only try our luck to see if there are any wild animals and gather some herbs.
They had collected so many herbs, intending to sell them for money, but Zhou Laosan and Zhang Cui used up most of them. Now their injuries haven't healed and they still need to use the medicine. They were indignant about it.
These two troublemakers are really going to cause trouble for his family.
In addition, we couldn't just leave other injured villagers to die, so we also sent them a lot of medicine. Sigh, all that work we did recently was for nothing.
Another month passed in the blink of an eye. By this time, not only was Nanyang Prefecture at peace, but the other prefectures had also settled down. It could be said that the entire south was at peace, and no more disasters occurred.
However, the two prefectural cities that were previously flooded have suffered heavy losses and are now rumored to be experiencing an outbreak of plague. The two prefectural cities have been sealed off, with no one allowed to leave and no one allowed to enter.
Of course, no one would be so foolish as to go in, but many people had already died and the rioters had been killed. I heard that a new magistrate has taken office in Lishan County. Don't underestimate him just because he is a magistrate. It is said that he has quite a background.
Nanyang Prefecture and several neighboring prefectures are now very peaceful. The people no longer live in fear. The streets have become lively again, with small vendors everywhere and shops on both sides of the road open for business.
With the Lunar New Year just a month away, all the honeysuckle and chrysanthemums in the house have been sold, earning a total of six taels of silver. Adding what was left over, there are still more than eight taels left, which will be enough for the Lunar New Year.
The main purpose is to get more clothes for the children, especially Xingxing. We need to make her two more sets of cotton-padded jackets and trousers so she has something to change into.
"Mom, I heard there's a market in town tomorrow. I've never been to town before. Can I go with you and Dad tomorrow?" Xingxing looked at her expectantly.
Zhao Guihua couldn't resist the little girl's coaxing, and thinking that it was safe outside, she readily agreed.
"Mom, my brothers want to go too, can they come with us?" Xingxing pointed to the quintuplets peeking out the door.
After being glanced at by Zhao Guihua, Zhou Dafu and the others quickly withdrew their heads, but soon peeked out again.
"Alright, stop staring. You can go to the market if you want, but you have to be obedient and not run around. If anyone runs around like they did when they were kids and gets caught by the kidnappers, they'll be sold."
About two years ago, when their five sons were only seven years old, they kept pestering their parents to take them to the market. Eventually, they got annoyed by their nagging and agreed to take them.
To their dismay, the five boys went wild once they reached town, disappearing in the blink of an eye. The couple was frantic and searched for an hour before finally finding all five boys. After that, they dared not take them to town again.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
