Even the Trees Were Robbed Clean Away
It is now autumn, and many places in Dongshan Prefecture have failed to harvest anything. Grain prices are soaring.
Zhou Wanwan's grain stores are always sold out as soon as they open; the supply simply cannot meet the demand.
She's short of food too!
Master Luo was a prime target, so naturally he received extraordinary treatment.
Late at night, the Old Scholar Tree led Zhou Wanwan and rushed towards the Luo residence.
Master Luo sipped his tea and said with a smile, "I don't believe I can't handle a little girl."
The person in charge also laughed loudly:
"The master is indeed the master; didn't you see how that little maid's face changed?"
Now he not only doesn't get a single penny from our family, but he also has to raise our child.
Master Luo smiled faintly and said, "She's just a six-year-old child after all. I refuse to believe I can't do anything about her."
Luo Shuang snorted coldly:
"If my sister hadn't done such a shameful thing and caused such a disaster, things wouldn't have turned out this way."
She prides herself on being a talented woman, but unfortunately, nowadays, I doubt any man would be interested in her.
Master Luo sighed and said, "Your sister is quite capable; she's managed our family's accounts for so many years."
Luo Shuang looked at him and said:
"Dad, who doesn't know how to manage those accounts? I've been learning these things since I was a child, I can manage them too."
Don't worry, I won't let you down.
Master Luo nodded.
Zhou Wanwan only came to the courtyard after they had fallen asleep:
"My goodness, this courtyard is so luxurious! It looks very ordinary from the outside, but inside it's all like a Jiangnan garden."
This is practically a replica of a Suzhou garden!
Zheng Xing'an looked at the garden and said:
"It's really beautiful, with a yard full of exotic flowers and plants. I've never seen a yard this beautiful."
This Master Luo has quite a good eye!
A camphor tree stood nearby, and I couldn't help but say:
"You actually think Master Luo has good taste?"
These things weren't managed by Master Luo, they were all managed by Luo Xue. Master Luo only knows how to eat, drink, and have fun every day, how would he know anything about these things?"
Zhou Wanwan laughed and said, "I didn't expect Luo Xue to know how to take care of flowers and plants?"
The camphor tree nodded and said:
"All the flowers and plants in this yard were bought by her, and she especially likes them."
Not only that, this little girl is also very good at business, it's a pity that her father still kicked her out."
It's really a pity.
Those huge trees barged in, and tens of thousands of them quickly emptied the Suzhou garden.
The camphor tree looked at the empty courtyard and said, "Oh dear! Oh dear! It feels like a dream. I closed my eyes, and everything was gone."
Zhou Wanwan smiled and said, "This isn't a dream. Thank you for your hospitality. Would you like to come with us?"
The camphor tree quickly nodded and said, "You're leaving! Why don't you take my old companions with you? I can't bear to part with them."
The trees here were all clamoring to come along, so in the end, Zhou Wanwan had no choice but to take them with her.
The next day, when Master Luo woke up, he found himself in a tree pit.
He climbed out of the pit, looked around, and found that there was nothing left but desolation.
Luo Shuang also climbed out of the tree pit and burst into tears. "What happened? Was our family robbed by bandits?"
Master Luo's legs went weak with fear. "They even robbed the trees clean! Just who are these people?"
No matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn't figure out what was going on.
Looking at the room full of gold, silver, salt, and grain, Zhou Wanwan couldn't help but sigh, "The salt merchants are indeed wealthy; this is far more than 100,000 taels of gold!"
Looking at the grain, Zheng Xing'an asked, "Will this grain still be sold at a low price?"
Zhou Wanwan shook her head and said:
No, all the porridge will be distributed free of charge to relieve the disaster victims.
"And this salt, too, was all separated and distributed free of charge to the disaster victims."
The reason is that there are more and more disaster victims now, and this year's harvest is almost nonexistent.
Apart from the sweet potatoes Zhou Wanwan gave us, almost all other food supplies were lost.
Even if a lot of sweet potatoes are planted, it's still not enough, because sweet potatoes have to be paid in taxes.
After paying taxes, there wasn't much left.
Zheng Xing'an sighed and said, "I wonder when this will end?"
Zhou Wanwan looked at her and said, "What if I told you that this kind of life would last for three years or even longer?"
Zhou Wanwan remembers that the longest drought in history was seven years.
Old Madam Zhou told her it would be three years; by then, they wouldn't be able to survive.
Whether a drought would occur in the years that followed was something no one could have predicted.
Zheng Xing'an looked at Zhou Wanwan with a face full of fear and said, "Miss, don't scare me. If it really takes three years or even longer, I'm afraid only one in ten will survive."
Zhou Wanwan looked at her and said:
I wasn't trying to scare you, it's all true.
So all these years I've been stockpiling water and food, just so that more people can survive.
We don't know how many people we can save, but we can only do our best.
These are all ill-gotten gains; let's give them to the disaster victims!
Zheng Xing'an looked at Zhou Wanwan and said, "If the drought is really that serious, what should we do in the future?"
Zhou Wanwan chuckled and said, "You don't need to be in such a hurry. Things will work themselves out."
Zhou Wanwan had actually come up with a solution.
This method was discovered by our Old Ancestor. Old Ancestor found that when they went to the seaside, they would draw seawater into their bodies, and the salt would come out, turning the water into ordinary, drinkable water.
If that's the case, then all we need to do is send a large number of trees to the seaside to obtain salt and water.
This is also the most practical method at present.
After finishing these tasks, Zhou Wanwan went directly to the White Deer Academy.
Today, everyone at the White Deer Academy is lined up neatly.
The boys and girls split into two groups, with the boys' group clearly outnumbering theirs.
There were only about 300 girls on the girls' side and over 1,000 boys on the boys' side.
Upon seeing Zhou Wanwan, all the women kept their distance.
Zhou Wanwan stood alone at the front, with no one around her.
Zhou Wanwan looked at her sister, who was a meter away from her, and said, "You don't need to stay so far away from me. I'm not going to eat you."
The older women all shook their heads. After they went home last night, their parents repeatedly warned them not to offend Zhou Wanwan.
They didn't know what had happened, but they all knew that Zhou Wanwan was not someone to be trifled with.
But there are always those who aren't afraid of trouble.
A woman scoffed coldly:
You certainly won't eat us.
But I'm afraid you'll throw mud at us, making us lose face like Luo Xue did yesterday."
Luo Xue slowly walked over and stood next to Zhou Wanwan, saying, "I'm not trying to embarrass myself. Zhou Wanwan is my mistress now, so please show some respect."