Chapter Ninety-Two: Slaughtering Locusts
"Brother Er Gou, what's going on? Why is everyone running?"
Liu Ergou stopped: "I heard that the locust plague in Qingyun Village is getting worse and worse, and they are planning to burn the locusts."
"What? Didn't the crops burn to death too?" Jiang Mi didn't care about the people over there, she just felt it was a pity that such good crops were ruined!
"That's right. I don't know what's gotten into the village chief of Qingyun Village. Besides, their land is so close to our Hongyang Village. What if the fire spreads to our side?"
An old woman walked unsteadily nearby, crying out, "What a tragedy! Such good crops have been burned; there's going to be a famine..."
[Latest Mission: Help the villagers of Qingyun Village overcome their difficulties]
[Quest Reward: Secret Manual for Making Fine Salt (Part 1)]
Fine salt? What is fine salt?
It's a condiment used to add saltiness and make food more delicious.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Mi's mouth watered. Who wouldn't want to eat something delicious?
To resolve such a huge issue and only provide the first half, that's incredibly stingy!
This thing is really powerful, and the manual has three parts: upper, middle, and lower. Let's see how you perform. If you keep complaining, you'll get an electric shock warning.
Jiang Mi immediately stopped complaining; solving the immediate problem was more important. She then followed the villagers towards Qingyun Village.
At this time, the villagers of Qingyun Village and other villagers came to watch the excitement. Village Chief Yang led the way, standing on the edge of the field, followed by several people holding torches. It looked like they were really going to burn the locusts.
Seeing that the village head was also coming this way, Jiang Mi rolled her eyes and had a general idea in mind.
"Village Chief Yang, are you really going to burn the locusts? What will happen to the crops?"
At this moment, countless locusts were flying in the air, and even some plots of land in other villages near Qingyun Village were affected.
Village Chief Yang didn't seem worried about the crops being burned at all: "Even if I don't burn them, the locusts will eat them all anyway. Burning them might save some food."
Some villagers from Qingyun Village nearby started crying. They all depended on their crops for a living. The fire not only destroyed their food, but it was also tantamount to taking their lives.
"Isn't there any other way? Didn't you have a good idea before?"
At this moment, Yang Liu, who had suggested the idea, took two steps back. She had previously suggested covering the crops, but there were too many locusts, and people couldn't even walk into the fields. Moreover, if the crops were covered, they wouldn't grow without sunlight.
"Yang Liu, come out here! It was your brilliant idea. If we had caught and eaten locusts earlier, the locust plague here might have ended long ago!"
"That's right, it's all because you missed the best time. When the village head came to our village, he told us to eat locusts to reduce the locust plague. Look at other villages, there are hardly any locusts left, but our village is plagued by locusts!"
"What are we going to do now? Who will compensate us for the crop damage?"
Although Village Chief Yang was also angry about Yang Liu's bad idea, he could only help her suppress the public outrage because he remembered how comfortable she had served him last night.
"She was doing it for everyone's own good. You yourselves didn't dare to eat locusts back then, so you can't blame anyone else for that. Did I stop any of you from eating locusts?"
Village Chief Yang's words were somewhat shameless, and someone retorted indignantly, "As the village chief, if you don't set an example, what's the use of us eating alone? Can we even finish it all? We still have to rely on everyone to help."
Village Chief Yang couldn't very well punish the man at this point, since he had already provoked public anger. He could only remember the man and find an opportunity to deal with him later.
"It's all over now. Everyone, please make way. I know you're worried about the crops, but this is the only way. Otherwise, we'll end up with nothing left. Don't blame me then."
The village head was sweating profusely as he walked. He glanced at the sky full of locusts. These locusts had to be eliminated, otherwise they would eat all the crops in Qingyun Village and then fly to other villages.
"Don't rush, everyone's here, let's think together if there's any other way."
When everyone saw the village head, it was like seeing a savior. They could no longer count on Village Chief Yang, and they hoped that the village head could help them solve their current problems.
"I have a way!"
A woman's voice suddenly came from the back of the crowd. Everyone made way for Jiang Mi, who squeezed through and said to the village head, "Village head, I have a way."
The village head's eyes lit up when he saw Jiang Mi. He said happily, "Good, good, tell me quickly, what should we do now?"
Village Chief Yang was furious when he saw Jiang Mi. If it weren't for her following the village head, would he have resisted the village head's proposal in the first place? Come to think of it, this woman has always been up to no good.
"Jiang Mi, you're no longer from Qingyun Village, would you really be so kind as to help us?"
Jiang Mi rolled her eyes: "I do have grudges against you and Yang Liu, but I don't have any against the other villagers, and I would never disregard the lives of so many people because of personal grudges!"
The village head nodded approvingly: "That's how people should be. The method of eating locusts that Jiang Mi mentioned before has proven effective to everyone. So many of us have eaten locusts and we're all fine. It's just that the people of Qingyun Village didn't listen to her."
Many villagers in Qingyun Village lowered their heads, feeling ashamed, and many who had previously had good relations with the Jiang family spoke up for her.
“We trust the Jiang family, but it’s useless for just a few families to eat locusts. Besides, Yang Liu found out and went to complain to the village chief, who then scolded us!”
"That's right, it's all Yang Liu's fault. If she hadn't said she had a better idea, would we have ignored the village head and Jiang Mi?"
Yang Liu hid behind Village Chief Yang. She resented Jiang Mi to the core, but with so many people criticizing her, she dared not say anything and could only shed tears of grievance: "I was only doing it for everyone's good."
"Is this method of burning locusts also your idea?"
Seeing that he couldn't quell everyone's anger, Village Chief Yang also felt a bit disgusted with Yang Liu. It was indeed Yang Liu who suggested the idea of burning the fire. This woman always boasted that she was smarter than Jiang Mi, but the things she did were completely brainless, making him lose face as the village chief!
The village head calmed everyone down: "Alright, alright, let's not dwell on other things for now. Solving the locust plague is the most important thing right now. Jiang Mi, do you have any good ideas?"
Jiang Mi said with a serious face: "We can kill these locusts by digging a big pit together, putting food in it to attract the locusts, and then burning them."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
