“And the most important question: to buy grain, do we even have money?” Qu Hu asked very directly.
His father was a military officer, and before his exile, he had grown up in the army. His manner of dealing with people and affairs was straightforward, completely devoid of beating around the bush.
Su Nianyuan nodded. “We do.”
“How much?”
“4,800 wen.”
Su Nianyuan did not conceal the amount; this was all the money she had. Qu Hu wore a look of hesitation, looking at the adorable Su Nianyuan and truly reluctant to crush her self-confidence.
This time, his emotional intelligence was slightly higher. “Little village chief, do you know the current price of grain? Due to the floods this year, grain prices have skyrocketed. A jin of white rice has already reached twenty wen, and even rough rice is twelve wen a jin.”
Eight hundred wen—though it sounded like a lot—would only be enough to buy 400 jin of rough rice.
With 58 people in the village, if each person ate only one tael a day, it would last merely six days.
Su Nianyuan understood what Qu Hu meant, and she remained completely composed. “Of course we aren’t relying just on this. Once the mountain goods from the mountains are sold, won’t we have money?”
Qu Hu countered, “We don’t have the manpower.”
Su Nianyuan looked at him, her large eyes seemingly asking: “Are you an idiot?”
Qu Hu scratched his head. Su Nianyuan withdrew her gaze, looked at the others, and asked, “If someone asked you to work for ten wen a day, with meals included, would you be willing to go?”
“Of course!” Qu Hu and the two Zhao brothers answered without the slightest hesitation.
There were around a hundred small villages surrounding Cangwu County. Aside from the busy farming seasons, the labor force in households would head into the city to work and earn money.
However, jobs were limited, there were too many people, and wages were very low.
Sometimes you could help someone work for a whole day and only manage to get ten wen. This was the current reality of Cangwu County.
Su Nianyuan shrugged. “Then that settles it.”
Feeling a bit sleepy, she stood up, gave a yawn, and headed toward the women’s guest room. “Tomorrow morning, Tiger Dad, Uncle Lin, and I will go to the county town. Dad, you watch the house.”
The small figure disappeared from view. Qu Hu rubbed his chin and looked curiously at Su Jiancheng. “Village chief, how on earth did you raise such a smart girl? Teach me your secrets.”
His son was already seven years old and still played house every single day.
If he wasn’t his own flesh and blood, it truly would be unwatchable.
Su Jiancheng snapped out of his shock regarding his daughter once again. Every time he watched his daughter speak, he had the lingering illusion that he was watching some grand immortal possessing a mortal vessel.
Hearing this, Su Jiancheng proudly lifted his chin. “She’s my daughter, of course she’s smart.”
“(ˉ▽￣～) Tch~~” The four people present all scoffed in unison. Su Jiancheng didn’t care at all; he was just that proud.
The few of them leaned against the pillars to rest. In the darkness, Su Jiancheng suddenly spoke, his voice very soft: “Tomorrow, I entrust you both to protect A-Yuan well. She’s still young, and if I weren’t so useless, she wouldn’t have to shoulder so much.”
Such a tender age, yet she carried a mature demeanor.
That was because the ancestors couldn’t bear to watch his incompetence anymore, which was why they forced his daughter to mature overnight. It was his fault as a father for being useless.
Lin Shoufeng and Qu Hu were both fathers themselves and understood his feelings.
Though Qu Hu often acted like he couldn’t stand Huzi, the fact that he gave his own name to his son showed how much he cared about him. He grumbled with his mouth, but his heart cared intensely.
“Rest assured,” Qu Hu promised.
As long as he was around, not a single hair on Su Nianyuan would be harmed.
Another night passed. The first thing Su Nianyuan did upon waking up was open the “Day by Day Wealth” system to take a look: the account balance was 5,380 wen.
Walking out to the open ground at the main entrance and looking down, the water level had receded after two days and one night.
Su Nianyuan could even see the ruined remains of the Su family’s home.
“Dad, when you clean up today, remember to check if there are any valuable items. Make sure to take proper precautions, and don’t touch any corpses directly with your hands.”
“I know. Be careful on your way to the county town too!”
Under Su Jiancheng’s reluctant gaze, Su Nianyuan sat atop Qu Hu’s shoulder, and the two adults and one child began making their way up the mountain.
Huzi wanted to follow as well, but after receiving a smack from Hu Niang, he quieted down and behaved.
After walking a few paces, as if remembering something, Su Nianyuan turned her head and shouted loudly, “Dad, feed Li Si today and put him to work!”
Starving and famished, Li Si scrambled out of the dilapidated temple upon hearing the call, expressing immense gratitude with tearful eyes: “Little village chief! You truly are a good person! From now on, I, Li Si, will follow your lead!”
Hu Niang looked at Li Si with utter disgust. Was this guy sick in the head?
After getting beaten and starved, he actually became submissive. When people spoke to him nicely, he refused to listen, and it took getting physical for him to fall in line.
If Su Nianyuan were here, she would definitely give Hu Niang an accurate descriptive term:
M-submissive.
Carrying Su Nianyuan, Qu Hu accurately found the direction even without a path. The three of them walked along in silence, and half an hour later, Su Nianyuan spotted a cave surrounded by quite a few scattered rocks.
“This is it. I’ve cleared out the boulders at both ends, so don’t worry.”
Lin Shoufeng’s right hand consistently gripped the wood-chopping saber at his waist to guard against any wild beasts.
He took the lead and walked inside.
The cave was not spacious, allowing only one person to pass through at a time. Of course, “one person” referred to Qu Hu, so to Lin Shoufeng, the cave was actually quite large.
After walking for about the time it takes to brew a half-pot of tea, they reached the other side of the mountain.
Their field of vision widened once more. Greeting their eyes was a village where only a few houses had been smashed. Compared to Qingzhu Village, this place looked much more like a utopian sanctuary.
“All right, stop staring. Let’s head to the county town first.”
Lin Shoufeng only took two glances, his expression extremely detached, and turned to walk along the trail toward Cangwu County.
For Su Nianyuan, a child who essentially had a personal mount, this journey was exceptionally easy.
After walking for another hour, Su Nianyuan saw the city gates of Cangwu County.
At this moment, quite a few people had gathered outside the city gates, looking utterly desolate and sallow-faced.
As they drew closer, Su Nianyuan heard wailing cries from among the crowd: “County Magistrate Lord, save our village! Our village had rockfalls on the mountain, and many people died! Quickly send people to save the commoners.”
“County Magistrate Lord! You cannot sit by and do nothing!”
After asking a few people, Su Nianyuan learned that Qingzhu Village was not alone. Aside from the county town itself, the majority of villages and towns within Cangwu County’s borders had suffered from the natural disaster.
Places like Qingmei Village, which had good fortune, could resolve things internally.
For places where the disaster was severe, they needed the officials to send people to help, provide medical treatment, and distribute disaster relief grain; otherwise, the commoners could not survive.
However, the guards at the city gates showed not the slightest bit of emotion. They blocked the people outside, and only those who paid the fee and presented their household registration documents were allowed to enter.
The entrance fee alone was three wen.
Qu Hu, Su Nianyuan, and Lin Shoufeng stood in the distance, their faces entirely expressionless as they watched the scene. Looking closely, one could even catch the resentment in their eyes.
How could such a county magistrate even hold office?
Lin Shoufeng clenched his fists tightly, unable to help himself from cursing in a low voice: “Squeezing the blood and sweat money from the commoners—the disaster relief grain was probably pocketed by him too! No wonder this magistrate hasn’t been willing to move his butt for five years.”
Generally, a prefect’s term of office had to be changed every three years.
This was to guard against people harboring evil intentions. Coupled with the fact that Cangwu County was situated in Lingnan—an area of exile—Lingnan was viewed by the imperial court as a rather desolate place.
Yet only the commoners living in Lingnan knew just how much grease and wealth there was in serving as an official in Lingnan!