"Uncle, who are you? Why are you here so late?"
Looking at the old man being helped up by Chang Shun, Jiang Ran felt a chord of despair.
The old man has bronze skin, which is the color of the sun from working in the fields for many years. His face is full of wrinkles, which are the lines given by hard work and time. His clothes are tattered, which are the result of the hardships of life. His eyes are slightly cloudy, and there are tears in them.
The old man looked at Yinzhen, and before he could open his mouth, tears rolled down his thin, wrinkled cheeks.
Yinzhen was shocked when he saw this. He was often ordered to go to various places on official business and had met many people of all kinds, but the sorrow in the old man's eyes still shocked him greatly.
"Uncle, what's wrong with you?"
As Yinzhen asked, he asked the old man to sit on a stool in the yard and signaled Chang Shun to get some tea and food.
The old man's lips were dry and chapped, and it seemed that he had been here for a long time.
"Are you the Ninth Master?" the old man looked at Yinzhen closely and asked in an old and trembling voice.
Yinzhen nodded and said, "I am the ninth prince Yinzhen, sir, what happened to you?"
When the old man saw that Yinzhen had confirmed his identity, he immediately stood up and knelt on the ground again, and kowtowed quickly, saying in a crying voice, "Master Jiu, I beg you to have mercy on me. Please help me because I have never done anything bad in my life."
Seeing this, Jiang Ranli hurriedly helped the old man up and said, "Uncle, please tell me what's the matter. We will help if we can."
After hearing Jiang Ranli's words, the old man thanked him repeatedly and then told him the reason.
It turned out that he was a villager in a village called Jiazigou, and he made a living by relying on a few acres of thin land. However, unfortunately this year, his son and daughter-in-law went to Fujian to do business, but encountered a disaster and both died. His wife was heartbroken after hearing the bad news and fell ill.
His son and daughter-in-law died, his wife was bedridden, and he had a five-year-old grandson at home. So, the grief of losing his son in old age and the burden of the family fell on him alone.
He had originally hoped for a good harvest this year so that he could sell some of the grain to treat his wife's illness and raise his grandson. However, he encountered unscrupulous merchants who tried their best to lower the price of grain. If he sold the grain just like that, he would not be able to make back his investment.
He learned that the prices at Wu's Grain Shop were reasonable, so he brought some grain over overnight. However, there were too many people coming to Wu's Grain Shop to sell grain, and he waited in line for two days without getting a chance. Today, when it was finally his turn, Wu's Grain Shop refused to accept any grain.
He had no choice but to resort to this last resort. Following the rumors about Yin'er and Jiang Ranli in Shanxi City in recent days, he came here.
But he stayed here for a whole day and only saw Wu Yanqing, but not Yinzhen and Jiang Ranli. He was about to leave in grief when he suddenly saw a carriage coming and saw Yinzhen and Jiang Ranli.
Even so, he didn't dare to come out rashly. He was struggling in his heart, which was why he accidentally made a noise and was discovered by Chang Shun.
After hearing the old man's story, Jiang Ranli felt very heavy-hearted. The old man's experience was really heartbreaking.
"Where is the food you brought? I'll take it first," Wu Yanqing said immediately.
Upon hearing this, the old man's eyes lit up with surprise. He stood up and was about to kneel down to thank Wu Yanqing, but was stopped by Jiang Ranli's quick eyes and hands.
This time, the old man single-handedly brought 300 kilograms of grain on a cart. Wu Yanqing wanted to buy it for a high price, but the old man refused. He said that although he was poor, he also knew that he should not take advantage of others, and forced Wu Yanqing to accept it at the price of the grain they collected.
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