According to my original intention, I want to sell it by myself, so the price is higher, but I have no store in Qinghe County, and I have no manpower, so I have to sell it to others now. Du Mei frowned and sighed.

"Although the price is low, the rent of the shops on South Street is extremely expensive, and if you only rely on making such a little difference, I am afraid that it will not be able to cover the rent and labor." Shen Zhanghua put himself in Du Mei's shoes and sincerely persuaded him.

"That's all there is to it." Du Mei thought that what he said made sense, so he nodded.

"There's another thing, I'm very sorry for you. I promised you before, ducks and locusts, a reward of one liter of rice or ten cents per acre of land, but now that the victims are flooded in other places, there is still a shortage of food for soup kitchens, and I can't fulfill it for the time being. Shen Zhanghua said a little guiltily.

"I'm not in a hurry, it's just Uncle Maoda, if you have money and food, give it to him earlier, he has nearly two hundred ducks at home, and it's scary to eat food. A few days ago, he sent me a bookkeeping book, and I copied a copy of it, and sent it to you another day to see. Du Mei was worried about Qian Maoda's entrustment, and when she talked about it today, she would help mention it.

"Don't look at this, you just report the number of acres, and the number is there." The county government has its own account, and the deduction of Baishan Town is all the work done by the two of them, and Shen Zhanghua understands it very well in his heart.

"Uncle Mao Da is six hundred and fifty-three acres, and I am four hundred and eighty-six acres." Du Mei has a particularly good memory, and he is sensitive to numbers, and he will not forget what he has read.

"County Cheng, you write it down first, and when the money and food for disaster relief come down, you will pay them first." Shen Zhanghua commanded in a low voice.

"Haven't the food for disaster relief come down yet?" Du Mei asked suspiciously.

"This year's locust plague is particularly serious, and there is a drought in the south, so the Holy One has to pay money and food to the disaster area first." Shen Zhanghua shook his head, his eyebrows tightened.

"Wait for the top layers to be allocated, the food for disaster relief will not reach our county government without a small half a month, and the county lord has now given up all the grain stored in the county government, I'm afraid it will not be able to survive seven or eight days." At the mention of this, the county Cheng was full of sadness.

Today, there are 15 porridge shops in Qinghe County, but for the more and more people who have been displaced here, it is a drop in the bucket, and there are often cases of snatching food and money on the streets.

The government officials in Qinghe County are limited, and they are exhausted every day to arrest these troublemakers. For this reason, the county jail was overcrowded, and even worse, some people were deliberately arrested and sent to prison for a full stomach.

Later, the official couldn't, so he had to catch it every time he was beaten and released. As the punishment was not severe, they soon discovered that among the thieves were not only outsiders who took risks for their livelihoods, but also locals who took advantage of the opportunity to fish in troubled waters.

Early this morning, Shen Zhanghua decided to change the soup soup once a day to twice a day in the morning and evening, if you can eat a full stomach, who will still do the business of stealing chickens and dogs, so the streets are a lot more peaceful today. As a result, the stock of food that could have been maintained until the arrival of relief food will soon be bottomed out.

"I have some surplus food in my barry, if you need it urgently, you can borrow it for the time being." Du Mei had dealt with Shen Zhanghua several times, and he had also saved her mother, and she knew that he was a good official she could trust.

"Is that true?" Shen Zhanghua's brows were tightly locked for many days, and because of Du Mei's words, he gradually relaxed.

"I have limited manpower, how much do you want? I told them to do more every day. "Du Mei is a person with a cheerful temperament, she saw Lao Lin and Lao Wang yesterday that they were having a hard time, and now Shen Zhanghua is cooking porridge, doing a great thing, she has food in her hands, there is no reason not to help.

"According to ten days, fifteen porridge shops, two meals a day, how can you get more than ten or twenty stone of grain." The county man counted with his fingers, and he peeked at Du Mei out of the corner of his eye, for fear that she would regret it too much.

"I still have this bit of food, do you want multigrain noodles? Steam more steamed buns and starve. Du Mei toiled the rice in the shop and raised his eyes and asked.

At present, although the price of food in her shop has not increased significantly, it is still subject to purchase restrictions. The people of Sheshan Town gradually got used to it, and the panic about the lack of food was much lighter than that of the side.

"This ...... Naturally, this couldn't be better. Shen Zhanghua listened to Du Mei's proposal, was very happy in his heart, and quickly exchanged a look with the county Cheng.

"Ah, if you add coarse grain steamed buns, the rice of the county government can last a few more days." The county man looked happy.

"Then tomorrow I'll send some cornmeal, sorghum flour, and white flour. Because the japonica rice needs to be cooked on the spot, it needs to wait for three to five days. Dume pondered. It's well organized.

"If the countryside can buy some pumpkin and corn ballast, mix it in japonica rice to make porridge, it will be thicker." The county was told by Du Mei that he had an idea.

"It's easy, I'll go back and talk to the patriarch and ask him to help. But life in the countryside is not easy, I want more, I'm afraid I don't. Although Du Mei should go down, he also told them not to have much hope.

Her family's life is good, and some families in the village have now eaten up all the wheat harvested in the spring and sold it, and now they can only eat pumpkin, corn and wild vegetables to fill their stomachs. Even if they are sure of their lives, because of the locust plague and the fear that the autumn harvest will reduce the yield, they do not dare to sell too much idle grain in front of them.

"No matter how many, some are always good." The county clerk counted two pieces of money and handed it to Du Mei.

"I will accept it on behalf of the patriarch, and when the time comes, I will return more and make up for less." Du Mei did not shirk, put the money in his purse, and if he wanted to give it to the patriarch this time, it would not be good to ask the patriarch to advance money to collect grain.

"Thank you, Meizi, you've helped me a lot." Shen Zhanghua's heartfelt thanks.

"What is this, I just happen to have it." Du Mei waved his hand, unimpressed.

Du Mei saw that the sun was starting to turn west, so she hurriedly said goodbye, Shen Zhanghua kept sending her outside the gate, and the county Cheng handed her the bamboo basket. After leaving the county office, Du Mei went straight to the Song Mansion to get the ox cart, planning to go back to Sheshan Town and discuss with Niu Er again.

The alley of the Song Mansion is inhabited by some wealthy merchants, and the front street is very lively, but the back is deep and quiet. At this time, it was afternoon, and in the whole alley, except for the tireless screaming of the trees, no one could see.

Du Mei carried the basket and walked while thinking about how to say to Niu Er, and lent Shen Zhanghua twenty more stones of japonica rice for disaster relief. Thinking that Niu Er and Hei Jiaolong were locked up in the county government prison because of the ice incident, they suffered a lot, they didn't know Shen Zhanghua, and they must have complained about him.

Just as she was thinking about it and had no clue, she felt a strong wind mixed with the cold of metal coming straight towards the door in front of her.

There was a crisp sound of iron colliding, and at the same time, Du Mei's eyes flickered, and a crimson figure grabbed her, buckled her waist, and flew up, drifting straight to the high roof.

When she was carried away by Feixuan, the bamboo basket in her hand was hit by something, and the huge force shook her hand, and the bamboo basket made a dull sound when it fell, and then it was like raining and falling out a lot of copper coins.

"Who are you?" Du Mei had woken up from her brief stun, and she found herself in a very ambiguous position being held in a man's arms, and she struggled.

"Amei, if you don't want to be hunted down, you'd better behave!" The man turned his head to look at her, that bewitching face, who else could it be besides Murong Xi!

"Flower thief, where to escape!" There was shouting from behind, and it was obvious that there were four or five people chasing after me.

"You color blank, you are being hunted down, pull me, what's the matter!" Du Mei is very angry, a flower thief, she understands.

"Hehe, don't believe what your ears hear." Murong Xi took Du Mei with him, and he made a leap in luck, and he left those people behind in a few ups and downs.

"According to you, what the ear hears is not credible, but what the eye sees is always true." Du Mei remembered that she met him at the Chunxiang Pavilion, although this guy saved her, but she thought that he was going to the Chunxiang Pavilion to have fun, so even if it was a life-saving grace, she still couldn't change her opinion of him.

"I can't believe what I see!" Murong Xi denied it without question.

"Phew, quibble! Let me go, or don't blame me for being rude! Du Mei only then remembered that she still had the small dagger hidden in her sleeve, and she hurriedly touched it out and held it tightly in her hand.

The sun shone on the blade, and the cold light flashed, causing Murong Xi to look down.

"How could you have this!" Murong Xi asked suspiciously.

"It's none of your business, stop it!" Although Du Mei held the dagger, he couldn't do anything.

Suddenly, Murong Xi whistled, and slowly fell to the ground with Du Mei, which looked like a bamboo forest, and the sunlight shone on the hilt of the knife again through the gap, and the sapphire emitted a dazzling light.

"What is this place?" Du Mei held the dagger and looked at the strange place, his palms were full of sweat.

"This is my garden, don't worry, I can't eat you!" Murong Xi's body shook, leaning on a large bamboo, the bamboo tip seemed to be unable to bear his weight, and tremblingly leaned to the other bamboos, making a gurgling sound.

"What's wrong with you?" Du Mei only saw Murong Xi's face at this time, his face was not good, and beads of sweat rolled down one after another.

"It's okay, I'll ask the butler to take you away later." Murong Xi took a deep breath, cheered up, and walked away.

"You ......" Du Mei jumped to her feet in anger, she was in a hurry to have something, but she was inexplicably captured by this guy.

"You're bleeding from your back!" Before Du Mei finished speaking, she saw a blood stain on the green bamboo he was leaning on just now, and blood slowly flowed down the bamboo pole, which was shocking to watch, and she couldn't help but exclaim.

"It's time for you to give me back the favor you did last time." When Murong Xi said this, he had a smile on his face, but his body involuntarily softened.

Seeing this, Du Mei couldn't care about anything else, rushed straight up, and hugged him.

At this moment, Hula seemed to emerge from the ground, and a man in black appeared in the south, east, west, and north, and these four people were holding bright swords in their hands, staring at Du Mei and Murong Xi in her arms.