Chapter 438 Strange things happen every year
There was a thick layer of snow on the bamboo branches in the small courtyard. I heard a soft cry, and then they all fell down again.
Linglong looked at the snow on the ground and walked sideways, wrapped in a cloak.
"Linglong, why did you come back?"
The young ladies in the courtyard gathered around her. Some handed over the heater in their hands, and some took feather poles and patted the snow on her shoulders.
"It snowed too much, so I was delayed for a while. These things were rewarded by my employer, so I took them back to share." There was a smile on Linglong's face. Her employer has never been a stingy person. Now that the New Year is approaching, she naturally rewards her again. A lot of stuff came down.
"Come in, come in." The little girls hurriedly greeted her into the house, leaving only snow mixed with mud in the yard.
Nanzhi's belly was getting bigger and bigger, but fortunately, she no longer felt the nausea, but her stomach was a little heavy, which made her usually not have a good appetite.
"Auntie, are we going to watch the lanterns tonight?"
Shen Zhiyu looked up at her fair face, her eyes full of expectation.
Every household in Yancheng hangs up lanterns on the second day of the twelfth lunar month, and the four street intersection markets are filled with different lanterns. Just seeing them from a distance can make people’s jaws drop.
There are skilled lantern makers who can make all kinds of lanterns, from dead things to living things, from koi carp to snow rabbits, and even more powerful ones can make Chang'e flying to the moon and fairies descending to earth.
In previous years, his father was always too busy to pay attention to him, so he always went with his uncle and the others. This year, finally, both his mother and father were here, and he also wanted to take them to have a look.
Besides, grandma hadn’t gone out for a long time, and he wanted her to take a look at the new things outside.
Life is getting more and more prosperous, and with her parents taking care of her, Shen Zhiyu is now as fair and fair as the little fairy boy in the book. On weekdays, just following Lin Zihan and the others out to play wildly can make many little girls blush. The more daring women would always tease him secretly and want to accept him as their future son-in-law.
"Okay, when your father comes back, we will go together in the evening."
Looking at her son's increasingly handsome face, Nanzhi felt that it was all a lie to say he was unhappy.
She was not a very good-looking child, and Shen Wenchen was not that kind of handsome son, but he was a good picker, so he picked the best of two people.
"Okay!" After receiving Nanzhi's agreement, Shen Zhiyu just cheered and ran out of the house with a smile.
Xiaomi was waiting for Shen Zhiyu in the yard. Seeing the joy on his face, she guessed the result.
Only then did his face relax, no longer nervous as before.
He was still afraid that his wife would not agree.
"Brother Xiaomi, let's go out to watch the lanterns together at night!"
"good!"
Xiaomi nodded, feeling happy.
It wasn't until the sky darkened and a lantern was lit outside the door that Shen Wenchen came back with a head full of white snow.
"What's going on?" Nanzhi patted the snow on his body for him, and asked a little worriedly when he saw the tiredness in his brows.
"Nan Nan, do you still remember the letter Yuntian sent back before?" Shen Wenchen rubbed his eyebrows and then asked.
"Remember..." Nanzhi nodded, and then he seemed to think of something, and his expression froze, a little dazed.
"Did something happen in the fields?"
Seeing his wife worried, Shen Wenchen sighed inwardly and explained softly: "Today we went to Zhuangzi. Most of the food in Zhuangzi was spoiled. There were also rat infestations in the surrounding villages. Many villagers only had food in their homes. There’s not enough left over for the winter.”
"How could there be a rat infestation?" Nanzhi was a little confused. He had never heard of a rat infestation before.
"Yancheng has not had a rat plague in nearly 20 years. This time it happened suddenly and no one knew about it." Shen Wenchen's tone was dull, with a deep sense of helplessness in it.
"We also took a look and found that most of the fields outside the city had turned black and exuded a foul odor, and the vegetables planted were rotting in the ground. Even the roots of the trees near the fields were rotted into mud.
I'm afraid we're going to run into trouble. "
People have to eat to live, but Yancheng itself is an economic city based on trade. There are countless gold, silver, jewelry, silk brocades, but when it comes to food, it basically comes from the south.
Now that something happened in the Ejiang River, there was also a problem with the land in Yancheng. What the people eat has become a problem.
What he didn't tell Nanzhi was that the villagers said that the infested rats would lurk day and night every day and rush into the forest in droves before the first rooster crow. Even if they hunted rats at night with torches, As soon as the rooster crows for the first time, those lively mice will deflate like water bladders with holes.
This thing was so weird that he had to suspect that all of this was the reason why the world was destroying itself.
Ejiang is thousands of miles away from Yancheng, but the same strange thing happened within a month and a half.
I'm afraid that all of this will reach the point of no return.
Looking at his wife's bulging belly, Shen Wenchen's heart felt as if he had been pricked by a needle.
He is a villain after all, so why can't there be some way?
"Then, what should we do? Should we buy more food?" Nanzhi looked panicked. Now Shen Wenchen is the lord of a city, unlike before when he only had to take care of his family.
To seek their positions, they must protect the people of a city.
"I have sent a letter to Kyoto and sent people south to buy food. You don't have to worry too much." Shen Wenchen pursed his lips and gently stroked Nanzhi's bulging belly.
He didn't want his wife and children to get hurt.
At least, we can't let them worry about food and drink.
Of course, people have selfish motives. Before he came back, he asked people to buy some food from the grain store and stock it up. At least Nannan Hezhiyu could not be hungry.
"Should we tell everyone directly and ask everyone to prepare more food?"
"No, this will only make everyone scared and cause trouble easily."
"But the New Year is about to come..." Nanzhi murmured, and then suddenly said: "The New Year is about to come now, and every household will prepare some New Year's goods. Should we sell some food?"
Shen Wenchen raised his eyebrows, surprised.
"I run a restaurant. If I sell some food at a low price under the name of Sanweiju, will it attract people to buy it?"
"No, you will only mess up the price of food in the market. If the food in the restaurant is sold out in the future, the food shop may not be willing to sell it at a low price. I'm afraid it will have to go up."
"Then what do we do?"
Seeing his wife looking a little angry, Shen Wenchen felt relieved and just took her into his arms.
"There is a way, but it will make you suffer for a while."
Feeling the man's chin rubbing against her shoulder, Nanzhi turned to look at him.
"What, are you going to marry the daughter of a merchant family to raise money?"