Chapter 1 Transmigration [Revision]
"Qingqing, Qingqing is breathing!"
Before Su Qing even opened her eyes, she heard a voice beside her.
Isn't she already dead?
How can I still hear sounds?
On her way home from get off work, Su Qing rescued a child who had fallen into the water, but then died herself.
Unexpectedly, she didn't die; she's still alive.
The next second, a memory that didn't belong to her flooded her mind.
In another time and space, there is another Su Qing, the daughter of the magistrate of Nanjiang County, Guangyue Prefecture, Shunchang Kingdom, who is sixteen years old this year.
Her parents were loving, and her younger brother was well-behaved.
However, when the new emperor ascended the throne, his uncle, Prince Wuyong, rebelled.
In an instant, the smoke of war rose up in Shunchang Kingdom.
Their county, Nanjiang, was no exception.
Su Qing's father, Magistrate Su, refused to reveal the location of the hidden granary in the county town, even at the cost of his life, and was beheaded on the spot by the rebels.
His body was hung in front of the city gate until the imperial army recaptured Nanjiang County. The general personally took down the rope and then buried Magistrate Su.
The rest of the Su family, who had been hiding and running away, weren't much better off.
Su Qing, whose health had never been good, was already running a fever, and the sudden news of her father's death made her illness even worse.
By the time her father was buried, Su Qing was too ill to get out of bed.
He's dead now.
When she woke up again, she was Su Qing from the modern era.
Su Qing sighed; she had learned the skills of a barefoot doctor from her grandmother.
I roughly understand that the original Su Xiaoqing was physically weak, and the turmoil during the war caused her to become more anxious, which aggravated her illness.
Then, he was suddenly struck by the devastating news that he had died from heart failure and exhaustion.
In plain terms, he was in poor health, and was also very frightened and heartbroken.
So it's gone.
Su Qing had also experienced the loss of a loved one, so she could understand why Su Xiaoqing was so grief-stricken.
Su Qing finally opened her eyes, and Su Niangzi rushed over and held her daughter's hand tightly.
Su Niangzi's original surname was Mei, and she was known as Mei Niang. She lost her husband and then her daughter, which left her looking exhausted.
While everyone else was preparing for Su Qing's future life, she suddenly woke up, which made Mei Niang overjoyed: "Good daughter, good daughter, it's alright, it's alright."
A little hand was also taken.
Su Qing looked and saw it was her four-year-old brother, Su Cheng.
Looking around, the once bustling government office is now desolate.
The county magistrate is gone, and the registrar is dead.
The remaining people mostly fled.
Those who didn't run away are hiding in various places and rarely show themselves.
However, Su Qing's "resurrection" brought Mei Niang some joy at this moment.
Once she regained some strength, she couldn't help but sigh.
Before she could speak, she heard someone calling for Mei Niang from outside the door, clearly indicating that something important had happened.
The people outside deliberately lowered their voices, but Su Qing still managed to hear a sentence or two.
"We only have enough food for three days."
"Not enough to eat."
"You can't buy it anywhere else either."
“Squire Wang refused to lend it.”
The granary that Magistrate Su had been desperately guarding was eventually discovered.
The rebels took away what they could carry and burned what they couldn't.
In Nanjiang County today, only a few large households still have grain reserves.
Ordinary people, and even government officials, were starving.
Mei Niang was the wife of Magistrate Su.
Now, the government consults her on everything, big or small.
Mei Niang forced herself to remain calm; she came from a farming family.
She's excellent at managing domestic affairs, but not so good at handling external matters.
She and Magistrate Su were betrothed as children. No one expected that when they got engaged, her husband would pass the imperial examination and become an official.
Even after her husband's death, she still had to fulfill his duties.
Mei Niang returned to her room, her face showing her helplessness.
Three days.
We only have enough food for three days.
In fact, the millet porridge served that evening was rather thin and watery.
Anyone could see that the Nanjiang County government was truly at its wit's end.
We need people, but we don't have any.
There was no grain available.
Although Su Qing was lying on her sickbed, she couldn't help but feel anxious.
But she had only been there a short time and didn't know whether she should speak up.
That night, Su Qing vaguely heard someone rummaging through things. After struggling to get up, she saw Mei Niang quietly rummaging through the chest.
She pulled out a set of gold jewelry from the bottom of the box.
Su Qing recognized that this was a gift that Magistrate Su bought for his wife immediately after she passed the imperial examination.
At the time, many people thought that Su, the scholar, would abandon his wife who had shared his hardships, and that with his knowledge and appearance, it would be easy for him to marry someone else.
But he brought this set of glittering gold jewelry to thank his wife for giving birth to their children, and even more so for her tireless efforts in enabling him to study.
When he went to take up his post in various places, he always brought his wife and children with him.
This set of jewelry also became a testament to their relationship.
Whenever Mei Niang talks about this, her eyes always crinkle with joy.
Now, however, he took out the gold-plated noodles, intending to exchange them for grain outside.
Su Qing couldn't help but speak up: "Mother."
Su Qing was still very weak and spoke in a very low voice.
Unexpectedly, Mei Niang still heard it and immediately came over. When she got to Su Qing's side, she had already put the gold-headed noodles away, clearly not intending for the children to know.
Su Qing said, "Mother, in this world, this kind of jewelry can't be exchanged for much grain."
Mei Niang was momentarily nervous.
There was nothing she could do.
The remaining staff in the yamen still need to eat, and as the magistrate's wife, she should take responsibility.
Seeing that he couldn't persuade her, Su Qing couldn't help but say, "Isn't there a local gentry named Wang? How about we borrow some grain from him?"
Mei Niang sent the head constable of the yamen to try, but he couldn't even get in the door.
After the war, having food is the most important thing.
What's wrong with the government? The government has nothing to do with them.
If you want food, you need to exchange it for goods.
Mei Niang took out the gold-headed noodles to exchange for a period of time's food rations for the yamen.
A day or two later, the constable knocked on the door. Mei Niang no longer hesitated and handed over the jewelry. When she returned, her eyes were filled with tears.
The government office is about to run out of food; they have no choice but to provide it.
Su Qing coughed a few times, feeling a mix of emotions she couldn't quite describe.
What angered her even more was that the gold-plated headdress, worth at least twenty taels, was exchanged for only one hundred catties of millet.
Are you kidding me?
Who can only buy one pound of millet for two hundred coins?!
Even after the war, food prices were outrageously high! More than ten times higher!
If I remember correctly, last year the Wang family bought millet for five wen per jin.
Now, it can be resold for two hundred coins a pound.
"Even at this price, people still have to queue up to exchange for grain." The constable felt very guilty. "There are quite a few people gathered in front of Magistrate Wang's house, begging to exchange for grain."
In front of the Wang family's gate, crowds of people holding land deeds, gold, silver and cloth were gathered.
All they wanted was to earn a living.
Those without money lined up to borrow money to exchange for grain, and the interest rates were so high that they were astonishing.
Su Qing frowned. Wasn't this just profiting from the national crisis?
Making a fortune by taking advantage of natural disasters and man-made calamities.
Land consolidation and usury are both things that no human being would do.
The millet brought into the warehouse was only enough to feed the officials for half a month at most.
This absolutely cannot continue.
Magistrate Su refused to reveal the location of the granary, even at the cost of his life, for fear of this day.
If even government officials live like this, what about ordinary people?
Su Qing frowned and struggled to sit up.
After several days of rest, she was finally able to get up, albeit with difficulty.
It's impossible to say I didn't have mixed feelings during this time I was lying in bed.
After much thought, she had only one thought in mind: she couldn't watch the Nanjiang County government office go to its wits' end.
The question is, how should this matter be handled?
Su Qing closed her eyes and thought of her only relative from her previous life, her deceased maternal grandmother.
If it were her maternal grandmother, what would she do?
When Su Qing opened her eyes, she already had an idea.
Mei Niang brought over a bowl of millet porridge, and her daughter asked, "Mother, how much money and grain does the yamen have left, and how many people are available?"
"I want to know."
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