Aunt Li slapped her thigh and exclaimed, "Well, it's alright. The governor won't go out until after the third day of the Lunar New Year, and Magistrate Wu will have to wait until after the third day of the Lunar New Year too, right?"
“But it takes at least three days to get from Sihui to us, right? It only takes a little over an hour to get from the prefectural city to us. How can you compare?” Aunt Zhang followed up.
"The yamen runners came the day before yesterday, but they didn't find out anything and went back. Yesterday, Aunt Ziqian came right after. Magistrate Wu must be taking this very seriously. I wonder how much he believed?" Master Fan sighed deeply.
Yesterday, the children told Bai Ziqian his last words when they came back. His words implied that the bandits had been driven away, and he was suggesting that Magistrate Wu would believe them to some extent.
As long as you believe it, that's fine. Maybe they won't come back, even if it's delayed by a few days.
Shui Qing wasn't too optimistic, bluntly analyzing: "The magistrate Wu sent people here these past two days just to confirm whether these people are in our village, and whether they are dead or alive. As long as those bandits haven't returned, he won't believe it."
My guess is that it will be no later than the fourth day of the lunar new year, and there will most likely be a large influx of people arriving in the afternoon.
The people surrounding the bonfire stared blankly at Shui Qing.
The fire was blazing, and they had put on thick, fluffy new cotton clothes, which warmed them up. But at that moment, their hearts felt like they had fallen into an icy pool in the dead of winter.
"The fourth day of the lunar new year?" Old Master Wang asked repeatedly, still in a daze.
Shui Qing hummed in agreement, threw two pieces of firewood into the fire, and said, “Yes, most of the people Magistrate Wu brings will be government officials and yamen runners. These days there are many things to do and little money to be made. I’m afraid the yamen runners are not as obedient and easy to manage as before. With so much work and no money, they should be allowed to rest, right?”
We place great importance on ancestor worship here, so they'll probably deal with us after the third day of the lunar new year. Anyway, we can't escape.
"Simply having yamen runners isn't enough; we also need people to lead the charge. These people have to be fearless and willing to die. We can only choose from among the vagrants and bandits, which will take up most of the day."
The people in the circle felt even colder, as cold air was emanating from everywhere.
But look around other bonfires, where laughter and chatter fill the air, and some men are so hot that they've even taken off their outermost cotton-padded coats.
Everyone else isn't cold, so why is it so cold here?
Aunt Li asked, trembling, "What do we do?"
"So many people were injured, and forty men are still out there and haven't come back. There aren't many strong men left in our village," Old Man Xu said in a trembling voice.
Shui Qing threw two more pieces of firewood into the fire and replied, "If there are no men, there are women. No matter if they are old or young, they can all fill in."
Old Master Wang hesitated for a moment, "Aren't those girls a bit inappropriate? What if their husbands' families don't like them after they marry?"
Aunt Zhang interrupted with a cry of "Oh dear!": "What do you mean by 'later' or 'later'? What do you mean by 'husband's family is happy or not'? I'm telling you, Uncle Wang, you heard what those bandits were planning, didn't you?"
The elderly are killed outright, and those of us of that age are left here; the young children are sold to earn money, and the strong and healthy are injured but can't escape and can still work, so what do you think we should do with the young girls?"
Old Master Wang knew the truth but couldn't say it, and his mind immediately cleared.
Yes, what time is it now? Who cares about the husband's family's happiness? You have to be alive before you can talk about the future, and you have to stay out of the hands of bandits before you can talk about the husband's family!
Shuiqing looked at the old village chief and took the opportunity to suggest: "Our village has a lot of land and few people. In the past, we were poor and few people were willing to settle down. But now we have high-yield potatoes. Even if there are more people, they won't starve to death, and they can even live very well."
Raising rabbits and growing medicinal herbs can also make money, but there is a lot of barren land in the mountains, and we can't possibly manage it all with our current population. And what about in the future?
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