Xiangzi has already helped pack up the roasted locusts, and is preparing a handful each for the children to take home.

Unexpectedly, these military households waved their hands in panic: "No, no, thank you for your kindness, we will go back now!"

There was also an elderly woman who lay on the ground and kowtowed to the stones, muttering something in her mouth. After kowtowing, she dragged her child to catch the ducks, walking in a hurry.

Chu Qing saw it inexplicably, and then heard an adult who was leading a child to catch ducks saying, "When you get back, pick your throat quickly and spit it out for me, do you hear me? Oh my god, how can this happen!"

The old woman who was kowtowing to the stone just now gave her grandson a few slaps on the butt: "Who told you to eat it? Ah? You dare to eat it too! What if you offend the locust god and eat up all the rice fields tomorrow!"

"

Locust God? What the hell?

Jian Wubing took off his clothes, hugged all the roasted locusts that Xiangzi had put away, and then comforted Chu Qing: "Sir, ignore them, there is no need to rush to be nice to them!"

Chu Qing asked: "No disease, what is the locust god they are talking about?"

Wu Bing raised his eyebrows and looked at Chu Qing, a little surprised: "Sir, don't you know about the Locust Temple? We can't build a Locust Temple here, but every year at this time, the villagers will build a small shed at the foot of the mountain and use bamboo to build it.

Prick a big locust with bamboo strips and treat it as a locust temple. I often go there to worship and ask it to bless the harvest."

Chu Qing has been coming to Daxuan for several years, but he has never seen any locust temples, nor has he heard any relevant information. Of course, he wouldn't take things seriously if he doesn't take them seriously. Maybe he has heard of them? Anyway, I have no impression.

So when I told her something, she listened very carefully.

But from what I hear, it seems that every year when the locusts hatch, people build a temporary "temple" to worship, which is quite a temporary act.

"Does that work?" Chu Qing asked, "I don't usually pray, but now I pray, where is the sincerity?"

"I can't tell. I'd say it works. There are locusts every year. Let's say it doesn't work. Adults say there's no disaster. Who knows." Wu Shi's tone was very disdainful.

He continued: "I think this is a good idea. No matter whether it causes disaster or not, it is not a good thing anyway. It will be very hungry after eating it! Why don't you keep it to gnaw the crops?"

Chu Qing felt that ordinary people had their own values, and it was not a legal requirement, so it was nothing, so he didn't pay much attention to it, so he packed up and went back.

Just after getting up the next morning, Huang Rong came in with face wash, and complained to Chu Qing with a bad face: "Master, you are too careless, please stop your kindness!"

"Ah? What's wrong?" Chu Qing was confused.

People are such mean-spirited people. It is said that Chu Qing has no elders and needs to be filial to him. Although he has children, he doesn't need to worry too much. He should be very carefree.

But she just couldn't feel free, and her heart was filled with emptiness. Even if the big palace maids around her showed some sympathy and complained a few words, she would listen patiently, feeling that it was good to have someone in charge of her.

"It's kind of you to bake some locusts for the children, but do you know that now the whole street is saying that you disrespect the locust god and bring a locust plague to the people!" Huang Rong's voice was high, obviously very angry.

"...What?" Chu Qing was confused.

After cleaning her face, Chu put on coarse clothes and went "shopping" with Zhuo Yao and Xiangzi. She wanted to go to the street to hear what was going on.

Locusts are everywhere, flying here and there, and many vendors selling food use covers made of bamboo strips to hold the food.

Chu Qing and Zhuo Yao sat down at a rice noodle stall: "Boss, three bowls of rice noodles, I want a larger portion!"

The rest of the guards were scattered everywhere, so Chu Qing only had to look after the two of them.

Two people, three bowls, still a big portion. The boss looked at them, didn't dare to ask, and went in to cook rice noodles.

Chu Qing was still dressed in men's clothing, and together with the tall Zhuo Yao, he looked a bit thin.

But there was a lot to eat, three large bowls of rice noodles, shared equally between the two of them.

Zhuo Yao admired Chu Qing's appetite.

While the two were eating, they waved their hands from time to time to drive away locusts that landed on them at any time.

Unlike the locusts flying by the river or in farmland, most of the locusts flying in the market are brown. This is the result of biological selection by the environment.

The green locust, when viewed alone, seemed bright and cute, but when this brown locust flew over and lay on Chu Qing's sleeve, it made people feel ferocious.

Locusts are not afraid of people when there are many of them, and they can land wherever they want.

Chu Qing stretched out his finger and flicked the locust, and the locust fell to the ground and died.

The fingers that draw the bow and shoot the arrow are very strong.

But the people around them became bored. When they flicked it, the locusts would fly up, which would make them tired, and then fall down again, which would make people extremely annoyed.

"What kind of day is this! I don't even stop for breakfast!" the guest at the next table complained.

His companion said: "Isn't that right? Yesterday, locusts fell on the quilt that my wife had dried in the yard, making it full of black spots. They still can't be washed off!"

The conversation between the two resonated with the people eating breakfast at other tables:

"There is a locust plague this year! There are locusts everywhere!"

“I don’t know if it counts as a disaster, it’s up to the government to decide.”

"Isn't this called a disaster? Then what is a disaster?"

"I'm telling you, it's hard to say whether it's a disaster this year. You said there were locusts in previous years, but less, not so many. But if you call it a disaster, it's not a disaster. Remember the year before last, we were

Didn’t you go to the north to purchase goods? That’s called a disaster. The locusts flying in Wuyang Wuyang are like dark clouds, and they swarm over in large swaths.”

"Yes, that time I saw that the crop fields were all rotten, and there were dozens of locusts lying on each ear of corn to gnaw on it."

"This is just the beginning, it may become a disaster within a few days!"

"How to say?"

"Have you ever heard that Lord Cotton ate locusts and tricked the children into eating them with her? Doesn't this offend the Locust God? Just look at it, the Locust God is definitely going to be angry!"

"Oh my God! Eat locusts! How dare she?!"

"Otherwise, a woman should behave herself at home, look after her husband and raise her children, and be an official! I don't understand. Isn't this harming our common people?"

"That's the truth! As an official, she doesn't have to worry about food or drink, but what about the common people? With just these locusts, how much crops can be left in the field?"

"Forget about crops, the price of rice has become so expensive this year. Look at a bowl of rice noodles, it has increased by five cents!"

The owner of the rice noodle shop was upset: "Sir, it's not me who wants to raise the price. Rice is expensive and I can't do anything about it. I haven't even calculated the labor cost!"

The guest waved his hand: "Hey, I know, I didn't talk about you, we just talked about the price of rice. Without these old locusts, how could it be so expensive?"

Xiangzi, who was sitting alone, originally pretended that he didn't know anyone and didn't want to attract attention. Now he finally couldn't help but speak: "Is the price of rice high because of the severe drought this year?"


Chapter completed!