Chapter 133 Hanshan County
It took seven days to reach Hanshan County. As he passed through the streets, countless people turned back to look at him.
"Hey, these are the people who are fleeing from famine, right? I wonder which town or village they are planning to settle in?"
"It doesn't matter which village they land in, they won't land in our county. Look how dirty they are. I can smell it from a long way away!"
"That's right. They just passed by my stall and made all the cakes on my stall stink!"
"You're being too much, but you've been selling those cakes for several days and you can't sell many of them. Even though the weather is cold now, they've been sitting around for too long and they're going bad."
"Bah, you...what are you talking about? My cakes are made fresh every day, how come they only take several days to sell? Your bread is also sold for several days, don't throw dirty water on my house"
"Made fresh every day? Bah! Take your red date cake. You've been selling it for five days and it's still not sold out. You can't bear to eat it yourself, but you can't sell it..."
"If you talk nonsense, I'll tear your mouth to pieces. Your bread is still there. I'll keep heating it up..."
"Hey, why are these two stall owners fighting for no reason?"
Xu Zhiyi looked at the bustling streets outside, the small vendors, the rows of shops, and the people coming and going. It was extremely lively, even more lively than any other city she had passed through while fleeing famine.
Su: "Their county town looks quite prosperous, but I don't know what the grain prices are like here."
Old Lady Su: "Well, it's better than our place anyway! Because of the drought, the price of food has tripled. There is no drought in Nanzhou City, the weather is good, and food should be the least affected."
An hour later, the bailiff led everyone to stop at the gate of the county government office.
The yamen runner looked at Xu Zhiyi and said, "Wait here for a moment. I'll go in and report."
After the yamen runner entered the yamen, he saw the county magistrate busy at work, so he bowed and said loudly: "My Lord, I have brought back 138 famine-fighting people from the prefecture city to settle down. Among them are..."
The county magistrate was startled by his loud voice. He put down the file in his hand and waved his hand to interrupt: "Okay, didn't the inspector assign the settlement location? Just take them to the local town government office to record the new household registration."
The bailiff said: "No, sir, here is a letter from the prefect to you. It seems that there are some people who want to make other arrangements for the people who are fleeing from famine this time."
Upon hearing this, the county magistrate took the letter and quickly opened it. After reading the contents of the letter, he cursed in his heart. This Lin Xu would give him a difficult problem. He wanted to arrange a good village for the person, but it couldn't be too obvious. How could he make it less obvious?
After thinking for a while, he sat down and wrote a letter: "Give this letter to the county magistrate of Yuehua Town. He will know how to arrange it."
The yamen runner took the letter and said, "Yes, sir."
When everyone saw the bailiff coming out, they just said one thing and continued on their way.
The villagers who were following behind were immediately discouraged, thinking that they suddenly stopped in front of the county government office because they were planning to move them to another place.
It took three hours to walk from the county seat to the government office in Yuehua Town.
After the yamen runner went in, another yamen runner came out soon after and said loudly: "You line up and come in, take out your household registration to register and change your household registration. From today on, you are registered as a resident of Yuehua Town, Hanshan County, Nanzhou City, and you need to pay 40 coins per person to register."
"What? Forty cents per person? Oh, there are more than ten people in my family, so it will cost several hundred cents, right?"
"Alas, what can we do? We need money to settle down anywhere!"
"How unlucky we are! The village we were assigned to is even worse than our hometown, and yet they still want us to pay money."
"My hometown is good, but there is no water in my hometown! No matter how bad the village I'm assigned to is, at least I won't lack water in the future, right? As long as there is water, I can always survive."
Xu Zhiyi saw that everyone started to line up, and he took his people to the middle of the line.
Unexpectedly, the yamen runner pointed at Xu Zhiyi and the head of the village and said, "Hey, hey, you guys should go to the back of the queue and let the people from their village have priority."
Xu Zhiyi was about to say something when Su quickly pulled her back: "Zhiyi, it's okay. We just need to wait a little longer. This is the government office. Let's not get involved!"
"Mom, I know. I just wanted to ask, and I didn't intend to cause any trouble. Although I have a hot temper, I still know the importance of things."
The old lady looked at the head of the village and his men standing at the end of the line, and her nose immediately turned up to the sky: "Haha! This is so funny! I thought I had pleased the officials along the way, but what happened in the end? Ahaha, it's still our village that comes first at the critical moment."
The other villagers were also surprised. They thought that under the circumstances, the households from Liuhe Village should not have to queue up, but they were called to the end of the line.
Haha! It seems that the yamen runner is not so easy to please. What's the point of chatting enthusiastically along the way? As soon as we arrived at the destination, he immediately turned hostile.
Now, everyone, who were originally extremely envious and jealous, now looked at the head of the village and others with contempt.
Xu Zhiyi watched the people in front of him getting their new household registrations, and then stood aside waiting. Looking at the people in his team whispering to each other, well, from their expressions you could tell they were gloating.
Half an hour later, it was finally the turn of Xu Zhiyi's families. Xu Zhiyi handed the household registration and silver to the yamen runner who was recording on the side.
“Ah…Ah…”
When everyone heard the county magistrate sigh, they looked over with a confused look on their faces.
The county magistrate looked at Xu Zhiyi and coughed: "Alas, the population of this Huangshan Village is full. There is really no room for you families to squeeze in."
The village head was shocked when he heard this. What did that mean? Could it be that they couldn't get a household registration?
The county magistrate glanced at everyone secretly and said, "However, there is another village here, that is... that is..."
Xu Zhiyi, who was standing by, listened to him for a long time and asked directly: "Sir, please tell us clearly. We can accept it."
What kind of shit luck is this? Seeing the county magistrate's embarrassed expression, could it be that this so-called village is actually worse than the desolate mountain village? Could it be that they were directly settled in some extremely desolate place?
County Magistrate: "Well, it's nothing, it's just that the settlement fee in that village is quite expensive, one person has to... have to pay ninety coins."
Xu Zhiyi's eyes lit up when he heard this. This is more than half the price of the Huangshan Village! Could it be a very good village?
Seeing that they were all silent, the county magistrate couldn't help but regret it. Did he ask for too much? Did they think it was too expensive? Or did they not even have the money to pay ninety cents?
"Ahem... ahem... I just remembered it wrong, it seems to be... 30 cents per person."
Xu Zhiyi: Oh my God, is this the monkey you sent? It's so funny!
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