Recently, due to the craze for building bamboo houses in Zhao Family Village, the bamboo forest on the back mountain was quickly cut down.
Fortunately, they cut down bamboo instead of trees, otherwise a landslide would have been imminent.
The practice of draining ponds to catch fish and burning forests to hunt is not only due to greed but also to ignorance.
Thanks to the recent surge in popularity of bamboo houses, the landscape of Zhao Family Village has changed, and the awkward situation of every household having no place to live has been resolved.
From then on, conflicts arising from not having a house to get married decreased significantly in Zhao Family Village.
The Zhao family snack shops in Wufang Town and Qingyang County were visited by the Qingfeng brothers before.
Although the disaster was not as severe as in other towns, quite a few houses did collapse.
In the countryside, many livestock belonging to families were killed or injured by the earthquake, making it impossible to deliver food normally.
Therefore, the two brothers took it upon themselves to close the shop.
He also instructed his men to buy as much grain as possible.
We'll just live our lives behind closed doors, and we'll wait for notification when we can reopen the shop.
As time went on, the aftereffects of the earthquake began to emerge.
Even with Magistrate Qiu's best efforts to control prices, the roads were blocked, and the grain shops gradually sold out of grain.
Food is fundamental. The food shortage caused great panic among the people, and as a result, some people who were not good to begin with began to have crooked ideas.
Even though it hasn't reached the point of selling children, quite a few children have still been tagged with straw markers and sold at fixed prices.
Robberies and thefts occurred one after another.
Recently, the constables and yamen runners in the county government have been working themselves to the bone, but the problem persists despite repeated attempts to stop it.
The prison cells are already overcrowded.
Even worse, some people who were not particularly wicked, upon hearing that the landlord was providing meals, risked their lives to rob women and children in front of the government office. During the robbery, they even made the victims shout to attract the attention of the officials inside the office.
At first, Lord Qiu was still interested in interrogating and sentencing them, but later he discovered that these guys were just there to freeload.
Enraged, he gave each of them ten strokes of the cane and threw them out of jail.
Well, I thought I had found a secure job, but the magistrate was too good at counter-surveillance and saw through my scheme. After only two days of eating cold water and stale cornbread, I was also given a beating. My job is broken. I'm heartbroken.
Clutching his backside, he limped and hurried to find a way out.
Faced with immense food shortages within the city, Magistrate Qiu devised a terrible plan: he spread the word that wild vegetables, pheasants, and rabbits were abundant outside the city.
Soon, some people packed up their belongings, left the city, found a mountain or wasteland, set up tents, and began a savage lifestyle.
At first, the people who left the city could manage to find some wild vegetables to fill their stomachs, and if they were lucky, they could even catch a pheasant or a rabbit. They were lucky enough to have some meat.
Just when I felt there was hope for the future, I discovered that many more people had come to the city, competing with them for resources.
The "bubble of happiness" burst again.
In order to obtain more resources for survival, some people moved closer to the mountains, while others began to set their sights on villages and towns.
Considering that most of the shopkeepers in the town and county were girls, the Zhao brothers, along with a few guards, went to the town and county to bring all the shop assistants back to Zhao Village.
These people were settled in the Zhao family's old house.
After clearing the ruins, they cut bamboo from their own mountain and built several bamboo houses for the young men and women.
It's an enhanced version, covered with mud, which not only keeps it warm and protects it from the sun but also makes it waterproof, so these bamboo houses are still habitable even in winter.
The return of these young men and women from the Zhao family caused a sensation in Zhao Village, with young girls and boys always crowding around them.
That's not all; it seems that the pig officials in charge of raising the pigs and the guards at Qingshan Xiaozhu are also getting their hands on them.
Aunt Tian Xiaolan brought up the matter during dinner, and everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Could it be that spring has arrived? All the girls and boys in our household, except for those who are slaves, are quite outstanding. They are capable in everything they do."
When our grandmother was buying people, she said she wouldn't stop them from getting married and having children. If they took a fancy to someone, they could bring it up, and if they agreed, we would help them with the arrangements.
We already have one daughter married off, so we can easily hold a few more weddings.
At worst, we can adjust and rearrange their tasks.
Men should marry when they reach a certain age, and women should marry when they reach a certain age; when they reach that age, they should settle down and start a family.
Aunt Wang Caixia said.
"Yes, if it weren't for the imperial examinations and the desire to elevate our family's status, Qingling, Qingluan, and Qingyi would have been engaged long ago."
"No rush, we have to wait until Mother and the others come back before we can talk about anything," Tian Xiaolan said.
The people who had just been mentioned needing to discuss marriage turned red in the ears, lowered their heads to eat, and pretended not to have heard.
Meanwhile, Huang and the others, who were constantly being targeted, didn't have much energy to think about the people in their family.
On the day the earth shook, thanks to Lord Duan's decisive actions, the number of casualties was reduced to a minimum.
The few earthenware pots that the Zhao family lost were insignificant compared to the corner of their house.
Of course, this is only what you can see when you stand in the yard at night.
In the pitch black, with survival being the priority, all eight members of the Zhao family were gathered in that small space in the courtyard.
To avoid any accidents, we didn't move around all night.
On the seventh day of the eighth lunar month, the earthquake before dawn threw little Zhao Qingyang, who had just woken up, off the bed and onto the wooden planks.
The little guy was a bit disoriented from the fall and instinctively reached out and grabbed a pillar in front of him.
Wait a minute, why is there cloth wrapped around the pillar? The little guy struggled to hold onto the pillar to steady himself.
In order to better grip the pillar, the little hands pulled the fabric with all their might.
After the tremors subsided, little Zhao Qingyang finally breathed a sigh of relief, as a cold voice came from above.
"You brat, what did my pants ever do to you?" Zhao Minggeng said through gritted teeth.
Thanks to Zhao Qingyan's guidance, the Zhao family's clothing has undergone a qualitative leap.
Even if the underwear doesn't have an elastic band, at least it's closed at the crotch. If he were still wearing open-crotch pants like before, hahaha, Zhao Minggeng would probably be dying of shame and indignation right now.
Previously, all his attention was focused on securing the bed and standing firmly, and the scene before him had stunned him.
In the dim light, one could see that the main house first cracked open from the bottom, and then the crack spread out in a net-like pattern, encroaching on the surrounding walls.
Finally, with a crash, it completely collapsed.
The house collapsed, and the ground stopped shaking, as if the purpose of this tremor was to destroy the Zhao family's main house.
The timing was perfect.
After calming down, Zhao Minggeng felt the coldness on his legs. Looking down, he gasped...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com