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Chapter 15: The Locust Arrives

When several families in Shenjia Village began to collect grain, many families were waiting and watching.

Maybe he was inspired by this atmosphere, or maybe he was really afraid of something happening, so he joined several families who collected grain in advance the next day.

Several men from the Shen family were responsible for cutting rice in the fields. Shen Yuhui followed Mrs. Shen, and Mrs. Song and Mrs. Zhao carried the cut rice to the threshing floor for shelling and drying.

When Shen Yuyu was holding the rice, he put a lot of it into the space when no one was paying attention. When he got to the threshing floor, he took it out without anyone noticing.

The Shen family discovered Shen Yuyu's little tricks and helped her cover it up.

Shen Yuyu snickered in her heart, feeling that it was a wise decision to reveal a little bit of information about the space, and it was indeed much easier to do things.

At noon on the third day, the scorching sun was still hanging high in the sky. Soon, dark clouds came from the sky and blocked the scorching sun.

People who were drying grain in the threshing floor hurriedly pulled the grain home, fearing that the heavy rain would wet the grain they finally recovered.

In just a quarter of an hour, heavy rain poured down.

Some people were lucky to have harvested the grain, otherwise the rice would have sprouted on the ears after the heavy rain.

The people who had confiscated the grain were panicking, but they couldn't save their face and could only be stubborn and said: "It won't rain for a while. If the rice is full of water, it can produce a few more kilograms of grain. If you collect the grain in advance, you will regret it later. Bar."

The heavy rain did not last long, and it gradually stopped in the middle of the afternoon, but the sky was still gray, which made people feel a little heavy.

Before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, the sky became darker and there was a buzzing sound.

Shen Yuyu stood in the yard and looked up, seeing large numbers of flying insects flying in from a distance.

She reacted and reminded loudly: "The locusts are coming. Close the door quickly and seal the cellar entrance tightly!"

Shen Ming took Dalang and Erlang to the cellar, covered it with a lid, covered it with several layers of oilcloth, and covered it with a layer of soil.

The rest of the people hurried back to their respective houses and closed the doors. When they saw any locusts flying in, they quickly swatted them away and then gathered in the main room.

Mr. Shen stood by the window with a pipe in his hand and sighed: "Hey, how can this person who has confiscated food live?"

He had tried to persuade everyone who needed to be persuaded, but in the past two days, he had seen that the number of households collecting grain was less than one-third of the households in Shenjia Village.

"It's not your turn to worry about what happens. I told you in advance that when the time comes, you will want to help anyone who comes to borrow food." Old Mrs. Shen reminded.

"I know it well." Mr. Shen frowned, took a puff of cigarette, and said in a serious tone.

How can he not know this? There are hundreds of households in Shenjia Village, big and small. If one family borrows money, it will come to the next family. How can they borrow so much food?

If he lends this food to others, then the boys in his family will be hungry. Although he is kind-hearted, he may not be able to carry it clearly, and it is precisely because he can see clearly that he feels uncomfortable.

The fields in Shenjia Village were in chaos at the moment, with cries and cries accompanied by the sound of locusts flapping their wings.

After the locusts attached themselves to the rice stalks, they began to gnaw at extremely fast speeds. The people who confiscated the crops wanted to snatch the grains from the locusts' mouths, but the fields that had just rained would sink when they stepped on them, and they had no time to harvest. .

There were all kinds of cries in the field. At the end of the field, Shen Lizheng slapped his mother-in-law on the face.

"It's all because of you. If you only collect half of the grain, now it's better, not at all."

Shen Lizheng's mother-in-law was slapped to the ground. She looked at the man who hit her in shock, and yelled in a broken voice: "It's not what you said. I'm afraid that there will be no locust plague and all the food will be harvested. We will only harvest it." I stole half of the grain from the fields, and now you’re blaming me. You didn’t agree to this in the first place.”

Shen Lizheng's face turned green and white, and he kicked his mother-in-law who was sitting on the ground. She also stood up and started fighting with him.

The same situation also happened to other people. Seeing Li Zheng and his mother-in-law fighting, they seemed to have found an outlet to vent and a reason to evade responsibility, and they all shirk responsibility to their relatives around them.

The people who had collected the food and wanted to come out to take a look at the situation were dumbfounded when they saw the miserable situation outside!

At this time, if you don't grab a few more bundles of food and go home, why don't you start a fight with your own people?

People who could have harvested food for a few days missed the opportunity because of this. The locusts ate up everything here and moved to the next place.

The rioters looked at the empty fields and began to sit on the ground and cry.

Some people began to feel lucky that they had listened to the advice and harvested the grain in advance.

Shenjia Village was not the only place affected by the locust plague. Half of the entire fiefdom of King Changding was affected by the locust plague. The people were crying and howling, and the county government gates were closed tightly. They did not dare to show up until they received instructions from above.

---Shen Family---

Shen Yun told what happened outside just now, and everyone was a little silent.

Seeing everyone's silence, Shen Yue also understood their mood, but she also knew that there was not much time left for them to feel sad.

She said: "Tomorrow morning, my third uncle and I will go to the county to inquire about the situation. Others should not go up the mountain and exercise at home. If anyone wants to come to ask for food, just call them out!"

Listening to Shen Yu's serious voice, everyone nodded heavily.

Although there was a locust plague just today, and every household would not be out of food rations, there was no guarantee that someone would not be evil and blame them for the confiscation of food.

After saying the things, they dispersed, but I don't know how many people can sleep peacefully tonight.

Early the next morning, after a simple breakfast, Shen Yun drove the ox cart and set off from home.

There was no notice from the school in town, so Shen Rong and Erlang, the eldest son of the Shen family, had to go anyway, so they just happened to hitchhike.

This was Shen Yu's first visit to the county town. The bustling scene on the streets made people unable to imagine that there was a locust plague yesterday. The impact of this disaster has not yet spread here.

"Third uncle, let's go to the county government office." Shen Yuyu said sitting in the back.

"good."

At this time, many people who came from the villages and towns below had gathered in front of the county government office. However, the gate of the county government office was closed tightly, and no one opened the door no matter how many people outside shouted.

More and more people gathered outside, and some people began to incite the crowd to work together to break open the gate of the county government office.

"We have suffered a disaster, but the county magistrate is hiding inside without seeing anyone. He may still be enjoying spicy food. Let's break the door open and ask him to give us an explanation." Someone stood in the middle of the crowd and shouted.

"Yes, yes, yes, open the door and let the county magistrate open the warehouse to release grain." More and more people responded and began to push forward excitedly.

The door was overwhelmed and began to make banging noises.

Suddenly, the door was opened from the inside, and several government officials with long guns stood at the door to block the people who wanted to squeeze in.

"Quiet, everyone, listen to what I have to say." A voice came from behind the Yamen servant. Shen Yuyu stood on the bullock cart and looked in. It was the round-bellied county magistrate wearing a black gauze hat.

This chapter has been completed!
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