Although Changzhi was sloppy, he was in very good spirits, his eyes were particularly bright, and there was excitement in them. He had gained a lot of experience this time. Changzhi disliked his sloppiness and said, “Dad, I want to take a shower first. I can’t stand it anymore.”

These seven days had been so miserable. His whole body stank and he felt like vomiting just by smelling it.

Zhulan called out to the eldest brother, “Go and boil some hot water for your brother to take a bath.”

The eldest brother looked at his younger brother with pity, this kid had never suffered any hardship, and now he has suffered a great sin.

Zhulan thought that there was nothing left from breakfast. This kid must have just returned home after entering the city. His stomach was rumbling loudly. “Li Shi, go and make noodles.”

Li Shi, “Ok!”

Half an hour later, Changzhi took a bath, ate noodles, and finally returned to his original state.

Zhulan saw that the boy had lost a lot of weight. “Tell me, where did you and your master go? Why do you look so miserable?”

Chang Zhi was still in shock. “Mom, I followed Master to celebrate his friend Mr. Qi the great calligrapher, birthday. I never thought Master and Mr. Qi were good friends.”

He got a lot of credit this time, and his handwriting has improved a lot!

Zhou Shuren asked, “Did you encounter bandits on your way back from the birthday party?”

Chang Zhi shook his head, “They are not bandits. Mr. Qi’s home is on the northeastern border. There were two battles on the border a few days ago. Master was afraid of a big war, so he brought me back. Many residents of the northeastern border also brought their families south. There are all kinds of people. Master has experience in traveling, and we dare not show off our wealth. We rushed home without changing clothes. Today, many people gathered outside the city gate and want to enter the city!”

Chang Zhi was speechless as to why Mr. Qi settled down in the frontier. He did it for the sake of artistic conception. At the same time, he admired Mr. Qi’s courage. Master advised Mr. Qi to leave, but Mr. Qi didn’t leave!

Chang Zhi continued with a worried look, “Dad, there are so many guards at the city gate. They don’t let people from the south enter the city unless they have local household registration. Fortunately, Master kept it well and didn’t lose it, so we were able to get in.”

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren looked at Boss Zhou, and Zhou Shuren asked, “Didn’t you meet him outside the city gate when you came back yesterday?”

Boss Zhou shook his head and said, “Dad, we came back through the South Gate, and there was no one outside the gate.”

Zhou Shuren realized that he was confused, and Changzhi came back through the north gate.

Second Zhou was very worried, “Dad, is the war really going to start?”

With the war breaking out in the Northeast, he didn’t want to recall the days of turmoil. During the chaos, human lives were worth less than nothing; they were even less valuable than beasts. At least beasts could be eaten, but once human lives were lost, they were gone forever. Just thinking about it was terrifying.

Everyone in the room was very scared except Zhulan and Zhou Shuren.

Zhou Shuren cleared his throat and said as the head of the family, “It won’t hit us, so you can all rest assured. However, don’t even think about buying meat or vegetables for a while.”

It was likely that the city gates would be closed during this period. It seemed that Pingzhou City wouldn’t allow people to move south. The city was blocking people from entering, and their attitude was surprisingly firm as if they had been prepared for this. But then, considering it, if Pingzhou City was prepared, why would the northern states allow people to move south?

Boss Zhou stood up and said, ‘Dad, since only the northern city gate is closed for now, there should still be farmers coming in to sell vegetables. Li Shi and I will go buy some meat and vegetables, so we don’t miss out and end up with nothing if we go too late.”

Zhou Shuren said, “Go ahead, buy as much as you can. I think the city will be closed tomorrow.”

Boss Zhou, “Ok!”

Chang Lian stood up and said, “Dad, I’m going to my jiěfū’s house to get some information.”

Zhou Shuren waved his hand, “Your jiěfū must be very worried right now and won’t have time to deal with you, so just stay at home!”

Boss Zhou, who had just left, came back again, “Dad, the servants of the Jiang residence came to tell me that my third brother doesn’t need to go to the Jiang residence anymore, and also told me to try not to go out these days.”

Zhou Shuren, “Where are the people?”

“He left in a hurry after delivering the message, and didn’t even take the money I gave him.”

Zhou Shuren was silent. It seemed that many things were not simple. “I know. Just do your thing!”

“Ok!”

Zhou Shuren then said to Second Zhou: “You send Rong Chuan and Mingyun to the academy.”

Second Zhou, “Dad, let’s ask for leave!”

“No, the garrison of Pingzhou City has been prepared for a long time. The city is safe. Moreover, Rong Chuan and Mingyun’s classmates include many children of officials. We can also get some information from them.”

Then he said to Rong Chuan, “Go to the academy and take a close look to see who is missing. Come back and tell me.”

Rong Chuan responded, “Yes.”

Changzhi also stood up, “Dad, I’m going to Master’s house.”

“Go ahead!”

Dong Shi was a little anxious, but she didn’t dare to speak to her father-in-law. After her father-in-law got up and left, she hurriedly said to her mother-in-law, “Mother, I want to send a message home.”

Zhulan did not stop them. “If you want to deliver the message, go ahead. However, I think there will be many people delivering the message, so you may not be able to deliver it.”

The two daughters-in-law looked at each other and realized that it was true. At this time, everyone who should have received the news had received it, and they all wanted to send the message out.

However, the two looked at each other and decided to go and take a look.

Zhulan said, “Wait for Second Son to come back and take you there. People are in a panic right now, and some people with bad intentions will inevitably take the opportunity to rob and cause chaos. It’s better to have a man with you.”

The two daughters-in-law were a little scared and did not dare to go out alone.

Zhulan waited for the two daughters-in-law to go out, leaving only the children and Xue Han in the room. The little girl was a little scared, “Mom, are we really going to fight?”

Zhulan nodded, “Yes.”

Xue Han held her mother’s hand tightly, “Will the attack reach us?”

She had never experienced war, but she knew that war would kill many people, especially ordinary people.

Zhulan said comfortingly: “No.”

Since the Imperial Court planned to deploy troops to the northwest, there wouldn’t be chaos in the Northeast; otherwise, they would be facing enemies on both sides. However, even though the Northeast may not be greatly affected this time, many people would still die.

An hour later, Li Shi and Boss Zhou came back. They didn’t get any meat, but only a few baskets of wild vegetables.

Li Shi was very worried, “Mom, luckily we went there quickly, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to get any wild vegetables.”

Boss Zhou continued, “There are many housekeepers of big households in the market who have reserved all the meat. Fortunately, my father-in-law’s family sent a lot of meat when I came back yesterday, otherwise, we would have been without meat.”

Zhulan thought to herself that she was indeed lucky. The meat sent by the Li family was quite a lot, enough to last for a month or two. She estimated that this civil unrest would not last long.

Zhou Shuren came back at noon. The Zhou family had no shortage of food, so they still had three meals a day.

Here’s the translation:

Li Shi truly admired her mother-in-law from the bottom of her heart. Last year, when the grain at home hadn’t been sold, they had moved it all to Pingzhou City. She and the head of the household had just gone out to inquire and found that all the grain in the shops had been sold out, with prices extremely high. Every household was afraid they wouldn’t have enough to eat, but they were not worried at all.”.

For lunch, they had wild vegetable soup. She cut one pound of the two pounds of meat left over from yesterday and fried it with some wild garlic.

This was the first time they had such a simple meal since moving to Pingzhou.

After lunch, Zhou Shuren and Zhulan were the only ones left in the room. Zhulan asked, “Did you find out anything?”

(End of this chapter)

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