Chapter 255 - 255 Robbing
After she entered her restaurant, she reminded Sun Hongliang to be careful.
She also told him that the daily leftovers could be taken out to be distributed to the beggars.
After that, she walked to the backyard and looked at the little beggars who had nothing to do. She thought of Manager Liu and the others in the manor, so she walked over and asked, “Does anyone want to continue learning martial arts?” “Mistress, where do we learn?” Zhu Zi immediately stood up and asked.
“It’s in our manor. If you want to learn, pack your luggage in the afternoon, and I’ll send you there in the evening.
“You’ll also have to do farm work in the village. No one is allowed to be lazy, or I won’t take you in again.” Zhou Ying’s face turned serious as she asked, “Do you all understand?”
“Understood. Mistress, we will definitely work hard.”
“Alright. Go back to pack your luggage if you want to go.” Zhou Ying reminded them and turned around to the warehouse.
To be honest, the food inside here couldn’t last long. Fortunately, there was still a lot of meat, which could last longer.
At noon, Zhou Ying discovered that the number of guests in the restaurant had more than doubled, and there were people of all ages.
After asking around, she found out that not only was Hongyun Restaurant closed, but all the other eateries in the town were closed except for two.
She went out and found that even the grain and oil shops were closed; only some shops that sold supplies were still open.
She followed the queue and walked to the small official stand in town, discovering that only mixed grain and flour noodles were being sold. Judging by the color, she could tell that the contents inside were of terrible quality.
The price it was going for wasn’t low either—three coppers per pound.
Moreover, it was sold in limited quantities. Every strong laborer could receive a pound of noodles daily; children only received half a pound. This amount could only keep the people from starving to death.
While she was there, she heard people complaining.
“Sigh, I’m afraid I can’t stay in Dongyang any longer. There’s no more porridge or water, and the noodles are getting expensive.”
“There’s nothing we can do as Dongyang’s residents aren’t faring too well either. We’d better find a way to save up some food and head south.”
“How do we save up when they sell it in such a small quantity?”
“There’s still food on the mountain here. “We could forage for food there now and stock up on dried noodles.”
“Uncle, do you think Dongyang has run out of grain?”
“I’m 80% sure. I heard that the harvest here wasn’t bountiful last year, and it was only because there were many rivers that they had a little more than expected.”
“Then what should we do? I heard that the people of Yangshu village found water on the mountain, along with many wild vegetables and wild game. Should we go and try hunting?”
“That means we’ll have to go deep into the mountains. Leaving aside the fact that we couldn’t hunt those animals, we’ll be killed by the bugs in the forest. If the situation worsens, we can only go south.”
Zhou Ying stayed around and listened. After knowing that most people intended to leave, she was relieved and went home.
However, it was too early to relax. Three days later, Zhou Ying came to the restaurant in the morning and saw Fang Qing and the others with swollen faces. She was stunned and asked, “What’s wrong with you guys?”
“Mistress, our restaurant was robbed last night,” Fang Qing mumbled as he covered his mouth.
“How are you all? Are your injuries serious?” Zhou Ying asked.
“It’s fine, as they’re all external wounds. I’ve used the medicine that Doctor Gu prepared in advance. We’re fine.”
“That’s good to hear. Do you know who did it?”
“It’s those refugees. We’ve injured two of them, but it seems they’re going south overnight.” Zhao Cheng was full of self-blame when he said this. “Although they didn’t steal any food, they scattered two bags of rice and one
bag of black flour..”