When several families in Shenjia Village began to harvest grain, many families were watching.
Perhaps they were influenced by the atmosphere, or perhaps they were really afraid that something might happen, so the next day they joined a few other families in collecting grain in advance.
Several men in the Shen family were responsible for harvesting rice in the fields. Shen Yu'an followed Old Lady Shen, Song and Zhao to carry the harvested rice to the threshing ground to husk it and dry it in the sun.
When Chen Yu'an was carrying rice, he put a lot of it into the space when no one was paying attention, and then took it out when he arrived at the threshing ground, avoiding people.
The Shen family discovered Shen Yu'an's little trick and helped her cover it up.
Shen Yu'an smiled secretly in his heart, thinking that it was a wise decision to reveal some information about the space. It really made things much more convenient.
At noon on the third day, the scorching sun was still high in the sky. Soon, dark clouds floated in the sky and blocked the scorching sun.
People who were drying grain in the threshing ground hurriedly pulled the grain home, fearing that a heavy rain would soak the grain they had collected with great difficulty.
In just a quarter of an hour, heavy rain poured down.
Some people were glad that they had harvested the crops, otherwise the rice ears would have sprouted after this heavy rain.
Those who had confiscated the grain were panicking, but they could only say stubbornly, "Who knows, the rain may last for a while, and the rice will be full of water and produce a few more pounds of grain. You are still collecting the grain in advance, and you will regret it later."
The heavy rain did not last too long and it gradually stopped in the afternoon, but the sky was still gray and gloomy, which made people feel heavy.
Before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, the sky became darker and a buzzing sound was heard.
Shen Yu'an stood in the yard and looked up, and saw a large number of flying insects flying from a distance.
She reacted and shouted, "The locusts are coming. Close the door and seal the entrance to the cellar!"
Shen Ming took Dalang and Erlang to the cellar, covered it with a lid, then covered it with several layers of oilcloth, and then covered it with a layer of soil.
The rest of the people hurried back to their respective doors and closed them. When they saw the locusts flying in, they quickly swatted them and then gathered in the main room.
Old Master Shen stood by the window holding his pipe and sighed, "Oh, how can we survive when our grain is confiscated?"
He had persuaded everyone he could, but from what he had seen over the past two days, the number of families collecting grain was less than one-third of the households in Shenjia Village.
"It's not your turn to worry about what happens. I told you in advance that when the time comes, you should help anyone who comes to borrow food." Old Mrs. Shen reminded.
"I know what's going on." Mr. Shen frowned, took a puff of his cigarette, and said in a heavy tone.
How could he not know this? There are hundreds of households in Shenjia Village, big and small. If he borrows from one family, the second one will come. Where would he get so much grain to borrow by then?
If he lent the grain to others, the boys in his family would go hungry. Although he was kind-hearted and could see clearly, it was precisely because he saw through it that he felt uncomfortable.
At this moment, the fields in Shenjia Village were in chaos, with constant cries and shouts accompanied by the sound of locusts flapping their wings.
After the locusts attached themselves to the rice stalks, they began to bite them at a very fast speed. The people who were harvesting the crops wanted to snatch the food from the locusts' mouths, but the fields would sink if they stepped on them after the rain, and they had no time to harvest the crops.
There were all kinds of crying and shouting in the fields. At the edge of the field, Chen Lizheng slapped his wife in the face.
"It's all your fault. You insisted on collecting only half of the food. Now there's nothing left."
Chen Lizheng's wife was slapped to the ground. She looked at the man who hit her in shock and yelled in despair, "It was you who said that we were afraid of locust plagues and would suffer losses if we collected all the crops. We only collected half of the crops in the fields, and now you blame me. It was you who agreed to this in the first place."
Chen Lizheng's face turned pale and blue, and he kicked his wife who was sitting on the ground. His wife also stood up and started fighting with him.
The same situation happened to other people. Seeing the village head and his wife fighting, they seemed to have found an outlet to vent their anger and a reason to evade responsibility, and they all shifted the blame to their relatives around them.
The people who had collected the food and wanted to come out to take a look at the situation were dumbfounded when they saw the tragic scene outside!
If they don't hurry up and grab a few more bundles of food and take them home, why are they fighting among themselves?
People who could have harvested enough food to fill their stomachs for a few days missed the opportunity because the locusts ate everything here and moved on to the next place.
The people who were fighting looked at the empty field and began to sit on the ground and cry.
Some people began to be thankful that they had listened to the advice and harvested the grain ahead of time.
The place that suffered from the locust plague was not limited to Shenjia Village. Half of the fiefdom of Prince Changding was affected by the locust plague. The people were crying and the door of the county government was closed. No one dared to show their heads before receiving orders from above.
---Shen Family---
Shen Yun recounted what had just happened outside, and everyone was silent.
Seeing everyone silent, Shen Yu'an understood their feelings, but she also knew that they didn't have much time to grieve.
She said, "Tomorrow morning, Uncle San and I will go to the county to inquire about the situation. Others should not go up the mountain. Just exercise at home. If anyone wants to come to our house to ask for food, just beat them away!"
Listening to Shen Yu'an's serious voice, everyone nodded heavily.
Although the locust plague had just hit today and every household had not yet run out of food, there was no guarantee that someone would not be bold enough to blame them for confiscating their food.
After talking about the things, everyone dispersed, but it is unclear how many of them can sleep well tonight.
The next morning, after a simple breakfast, Chen Yun drove a ox cart and set off from home.
The town school did not notify them, but Shen Rong and the eldest and second sons of the Shen family still had to go, so they just happened to get a ride.
This was Shen Yu'an's first time in the county town. The bustling scene on the streets made it hard to imagine that a locust plague had occurred yesterday, and the impact of the disaster had not yet spread here.
"Uncle San, let's go to the county government office." Shen Yu'an said while sitting in the back.
"good."
At this time, many people who had rushed over from the towns and villages below overnight had gathered in front of the county government office, but the door of the county government office was closed, and no one opened the door no matter how the people outside shouted.
More and more people gathered outside, and some people began to incite the crowd to break down the door of the county government office.
"We've suffered a disaster, but the county magistrate is hiding inside and not seeing anyone. Who knows, he's probably enjoying a good life. Let's break the door down and make him give us an explanation." Someone standing in the crowd shouted.
"Yes, yes, yes. Break the door open and let the county magistrate open the granary to release the grain." More and more people responded and began to squeeze forward excitedly.
The door couldn't bear the weight and started to bang.
Suddenly, the door was opened from the inside, and several yamen runners holding spears stood at the door, blocking the people who wanted to rush in.
"Silence, everyone, listen to me." A voice came from behind the yamen runner. Shen Yu'an stood on the ox cart and looked inside. It was the county magistrate with a black hat and a bulging belly.
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