At the gate of the government office, Jiang Zhengmao was called over by a minor official. "It's getting late. Find a place to rest first. Tomorrow morning your village head will come and take you to Jiuxi Village."
Jiang Zhengmao agreed while pondering the name of Jiuxi Village. He stopped the clerk who was about to leave and asked, "Sir, is there a lot of water in Jiuxi Village? Why is it called this?"
He was really worried. His village was submerged during one flood, and he wouldn't be able to withstand another one with his already fragile bones.
The clerk laughed and said, "That place is backed by a mountain. There used to be many small streams, but they have dried up now."
"Back up the mountain!" Jiang Zhengmao was shocked. He had hardly seen any mountains since he entered Chongming Prefecture. How come there were mountains where they were going?
"We're not living in a ravine, are we?"
The clerk waved his hand and said, "It's not a mountain valley. We don't have many mountains in Chongming Prefecture. There is only one mountain from Ganzhou to our Beichuan County. Don't worry."
After hearing what the clerk said, Jiang Zhengmao was still a little uneasy.
At night, everyone slept outside the county government office. The old cotton-padded clothes they were given came in handy immediately. After a night, just as the sky was getting light, Jiang Zhengmao and Jiang Boliang moved to keep warm while looking for anyone coming to the county government office.
At three quarters past midnight, an elderly man in his fifties finally arrived. He walked with a young man, coughing non-stop.
The two brothers looked at the two men eagerly as they walked into the county government office, not noticing the young man's wary look at them.
The villagers woke up one after another, and Jiang Huaixu quickly walked to a deserted place to wash up.
It’s okay not to take a bath, but not brushing her teeth is the end of her.
After washing up, they returned to the convoy. The person who took them to the village was talking to Jiang Zhengmao. Jiang Huaixu heard his uncle call him Zhou Lizheng.
Zhou Lizheng looked to be in his early fifties, tall and thin, with a dark complexion and a square face that looked somewhat serious.
The serious Zhou Lizheng was so shocked that he couldn't express it in words. When he saw the convoy just now, he thought it was purchased by a wealthy businessman who had fled, but he didn't expect that it was actually the villagers who were assigned to Jiuxi Village.
He didn't know what to feel. He glanced at the villagers behind Jiang Zhengmao and asked the young man next to him to count the number of people.
After checking the number of people and the household registration, he cleared his throat and said, "From now on, I will be your village head. No matter where you came from before, you will be residents of Jiuxi Village from now on. You must honestly open up the wasteland and behave like decent people. I will not tolerate evil people. If anyone dares to deliberately cause trouble, I will directly send you to the government office. Do you understand?"
Facing the village head, the victims did not dare to say much and just responded obediently.
Zhou Lizheng asked again: "Have you changed your household registration?"
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, having no idea this even existed.
Jiang Zhengmao said at the right moment: "It hasn't been changed yet."
"In that case, we must first change our household registration at the county government office. This will be considered as a complete settlement. Each household must pay two taels of silver. Go quickly."
When the victims heard about the two taels of silver, they were in an uproar. Along the way, except for the porridge stalls, they were asked for silver everywhere. They were disaster victims, not money-sellers, so where did they get so much silver?
Some disaster victims refused to change their household registration. Zhou Lizheng looked at them coldly and said, "The law says so. You have to pay money to change your household registration. If you don't pay, you will have no household registration. It's up to you!"
Things have come to this point, and the choice is no longer in the hands of the victims. They have to come up with two taels of silver.
Jiang Zhengmao and his group naturally had no worries about money. Those who had no money at home would pay for it first, and they would settle the bill in detail later.
After changing his household registration, Jiang Huaixu learned that there were a total of 300 people assigned to Jiuxi Village. In addition to them, there were also several families of disaster victims surnamed Lin who were assigned to Jiuxi Village with them.
Jiang Huaixu glanced calmly at the group of people surnamed Lin. If she remembered correctly, many of them had sold their own children.
Before she could think it over, Zhou Lizheng, along with the young people around him and three hundred disaster victims, set off for Jiuxi Village.
They walked very fast along the way. Jiang Huaixu specially memorized the road to the county town. When he arrived at Jiuxi Village, it was already afternoon.
The victims stood under the large locust tree at the entrance of the village, dumbfounded by the scene before them. Jiang Zhengmao was close to Zhou Lizheng, so he asked, "Lizheng, is there anyone in this village?"
Zhou Lizheng walked and coughed all the way, his voice now hoarse. "The houses and fields in Jiuxi Village are already empty. You are the first group of disaster victims to arrive in Jiuxi Village, and more will come later. Since you were the village chief before, you will be the temporary head of Jiuxi Village. You can choose the houses you like. They are all dilapidated and there is nothing to choose from."
He called the young man who had been following him, "Mancang, take them to their place. I'm going back first."
"Dad, please go slowly on the road. I can handle it, don't worry."
Jiang Huaixu stepped forward at the right moment and said, "Village head, wait a minute. Can I have a word with you?"
Zhou Lizheng didn't know why Jiang Huaixu called him, so he could only look at Jiang Zhengmao.
Jiang Zhengmao had no idea what Jiang Huaixu was trying to do and was confused for a moment. Jiang Huaixu pointed to his throat and winked at Jiang Zhengmao.
Jiang Zhengmao understood: "Oh—I wonder if the village head has ever taken medicine for his cough?"
"Ahem, not yet."
"My niece is quite skilled in medicine. Why don't you ask her to take your pulse and give you some acupuncture? The results will be guaranteed! Brother Zhou, please take us to the village and settle us down. Everyone, follow us!"
With just a few words, he arranged everything properly, even the head of the village was involved, but the head of the village didn't know what to say.
After everyone left, only two girls of similar age were left standing in front of him.
Jiang Huaixu pointed to the stone bench under the tree and said, "Grandpa Lizheng, you have to believe me. I saved a lot of people along the way."
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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