Madam Zhou leaned closer to him and looked down, and she too had a surprised expression.
Holding the prescriptions in her hand, Zhou Yanrong's eyes welled up with tears. "Great!"
The three jewelry design drawings are all complete sets, including the brooch pendant and waist pendant. They still look like three sets of jewelry, but after changing the colors, they can be transformed into several sets of jewelry.
One prescription was about making an anti-inflammatory powder, and the other was about applying a layer of plaster paste to a broken bone.
Zhou Yanrong was overjoyed and took the prescription to her father to discuss it.
As Mrs. Zhou watched her husband leave in a hurry, she murmured, "I gave too little, too little. I don't know if we'll ever see each other again in this life. I hope my aunt is safe and healthy."
After leaving the Zhou residence, Li Lanzhen looked at the things in the car, and what she saw shocked her!
This is too much! And it's quite comprehensive. The food consists of cornmeal and mixed grains, yellowed broken rice, and coarse cloth. There are also six water bags, three large knives with hemp cloth wrapped around the blades, a pottery jar of coarse salt, and a basket of dried vegetables—real vegetables, not wild greens. Madam Zhou also gave four bolts of silk, snacks, two baskets of mixed grains, a box of small silver ingots, and two boxes of silver jewelry.
With a few clicks of her tongue, Li Lanzhen knew she had to quickly change the items. She put away the silver jewelry and silk, leaving only a batch of coarse cloth outside, and also put away half of the cornmeal. Then she took out three sacks of black flour, each sack probably weighing 100 jin.
Back outside the city, he handed a sack of black flour to the village chief and distributed it among the villagers. It was a token of his goodwill; otherwise, on the way back, it wouldn't be right for his family to be left with only black flour porridge while the other villages drank soup made from tree bark.
But having too much is useless; it can't nurture a person's heart and will only harm your own family.
Seeing that there were quite a lot of clothes, I decided to pack up more than half of them. The more tattered the clothes you wear on the road to escape famine, the safer you will be, as long as you don't expose your skin.
In the village, there are several children under the age of three who run around naked, with their tattered clothes on their heads, and they're incredibly fast and cool.
When they arrived near the city gate, Li Lanzhen lifted the carriage curtain and saw Han Deshun, Xue Laohu, and the other two squatting on the ground waiting for her.
Upon arriving, Li Lanzhen gestured for the carriage to stop, saying, "I'm late, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
Han Deshun and the others stood up and watched Li Lanzhen get off the donkey cart, exclaiming in surprise, "Sister-in-law, what's going on...?"
Several people were wondering to themselves, "Did Li Lanzhen buy another donkey cart? Where did she get the money?"
Seeing the three people's surprised looks, she explained, "Oh, I was lucky. I met Jin Fulai's young master and went to the Zhou residence. The young master gave me a donkey cart and some grain inside."
The servant driving the carriage glanced at the city gate guards looking this way, and said loudly with a smile, "No, it's because this lady saved our young master Jin Fulai from the Zhou family on the street. So, our Madam Zhou invited her to the Zhou residence, and that's how we found out that this lady knows our young master. These are all gifts of thanks from our young master and young mistress."
The three were even more astonished. Li Lanzhen knew medicine? And she saved Jin Fulai's young master? What? What kind of luck did she have?
Seeing that everyone around them was looking at them, Xue Laohu stepped forward and said with a laugh, "Alright, it's good that our in-laws are back. Let's hurry up and leave the city. The village chief is getting impatient."
The servant driving the donkey cart smiled and bid farewell to Li Lanzhen, "Madam, I'm going back now. Have a safe journey."
After seeing off the servants from the Zhou residence, Li Lanzhen noticed the small amount of belongings at their feet and asked, "What's wrong? Didn't you manage to buy any food?"
Han Deshun shook his head with a worried expression. "We managed to buy some, but it was too expensive. Everyone didn't have much money, so we didn't buy much grain. Coarse salt was also ridiculously expensive, so we didn't buy much either. Sigh."
Han Dazhong also shouted angrily, "These corrupt officials are inhuman! With such high grain prices, the imperial court doesn't even care!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than a city gate guard wielding a large sword walked towards them. Xue Laohu tugged at his sleeve, "Keep your voice down, are you out of your mind? Let's go, let's get out of the city!"
The guards at the city gate had already seen the Zhou family's donkey cart and the servant driving it, and had also heard what the servant was saying. They didn't want to meddle and provoke the Zhou family, but when they heard Han Dazhong cursing the imperial court, they came over to take a look and give him a warning.
Upon seeing this, Li Lanzhen quickly took out a small cloth bag from the donkey cart. Inside was a black cloth, which was from her spatial storage. Once ready, she saw the guard approach them.
The guard, his face dark, still dared to speak, but Li Lanzhen raised her hand, handed him the bag, and said with a hearty laugh, "Sir, you've worked hard. In this sweltering heat, you still have to guard the city gate and serve the people. You are truly a good official."
Then, lowering her voice, she said, "Take this bag of grain home and make pancakes for the children." After saying that, she stuffed it into his arms and winked at Xue Laohu, signaling him to hurry up and leave.
Han Deshun and the others quickly put everything on the ground into the donkey cart, and Xue Laohu pulled the cart and drove off.
The guard laughed and said loudly to Li Lanzhen, "It's our duty, it's what we should do." Then, patting the grain in his arms, he whispered, "Thank you, you can go now."
Nowadays, grain is more valuable than silver. You can't necessarily buy grain even if you have silver, and there's hardly any real grain left at home.
He turned around and slowly followed behind the donkey cart, talking to Li Lanzhen, "Sir, have a lot of outsiders come to Linshui County recently?"
"Yes, wealthy people can get in by paying silver, but those without silver can't get in. Every day, many people fleeing famine come in looking for grain shops to buy grain, but where can they find any grain? The grain in the grain shops is too expensive."
"Are people in this city no longer fleeing the famine?"
“Some have left, but most have chosen to stay in the city and not go to other places.” Then he whispered, “You’d better leave Linshui County today and head up the mountain.”
Then he straightened up and shouted, "Hurry up and get out of the city, you're blocking the road!"
Without turning her head, Li Lanzhen jogged a few steps to catch up with the donkey cart and whispered, "Let's hurry."
Xue Laohu also looked warily at the envious crowds on both sides of the road, and nodded, "Don't say anything, let's go. Look at the people on both sides, hunger can drive people crazy."
Several people stared intently at the donkeys and donkey carts with longing, possessive, and plundering eyes at the emaciated refugees on both sides.
They returned safely to the temporary resting place of the Han family villagers. The village chief anxiously looked towards the city gate, worried that he might be able to buy food. Without food, the journey of fleeing famine would be even more difficult.
When he saw his eldest son walking away, swinging his arms, and Han Dazhong also empty-handed, only Xue Laohu leading a donkey cart, he wondered if they hadn't bought enough grain to buy a donkey cart instead? Nonsense!!
I'm going to give that unfilial son a good whack when I get back!
So, before Han Deshun could even report to the village chief, the old village chief swung his cane and beat him so badly he was running all over the place.
The others were confused until they heard him scolding Han Deshun, at which point they realized what was going on, and the people of Hanjiacun were also furious.
Only Li Lanzhen, Xue Laohu, and Han Dazhong knew what was going on.
Han Dazhong stepped forward and grabbed the cane. “Village Chief, you’re wrong. This donkey cart was brought to the Zhou residence by Lanzhen and her sister-in-law after they rescued Jin Fulai’s young master on the street. They ended up meeting Jin Fulai’s young master there, and to thank Lanzhen, they gave him the cart and some other things.”
Then everyone understood. Some were envious, some were happy for Li Lanzhen, and of course, some made sarcastic remarks.
Ma Dazui darted to the front of the donkey cart, stroking it and clicking his tongue repeatedly. "Oh, Aunt Lanzhen, don't you have a donkey cart at home? You can give this one to the village, so that everyone in Hanjia Village can ride in it. You won't refuse, will you?"
The villagers, always eager to take advantage, immediately looked at Li Lanzhen with sparkling eyes and expectant gazes.
Li Lanzhen slowly walked over, took her hand, and clapped her hands. "I will refuse. You need to understand, this is my donkey cart, belonging to me. It's not the common property of Hanjiacun."
After looking around at the people in Hanjiacun, I understood what everyone was thinking. At that time, it wouldn't concern me, so I shouldn't use morality to blackmail myself.
Before long, Gou Dan was seen running and shouting loudly, "Village Chief, let's run! Old Lady Wu is coming with the yamen runners!"
(My darlings, you've been reading this for so long, please add me to your bookshelf, otherwise you won't be able to find me anymore.)
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