Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 39 Dog Officer
Lu Jia never expected to meet Shen Qingzhou here, and her tension instantly eased.

How did you get here?

"I just happened to be passing by."

"What a coincidence?"

Lu Jia looked at He Qu and Tang Yu, who were dressed in the same coarse clothes as that day, and of course did not believe it.

But none of that matters right now. What matters is that Li Chang and his group are still entangled with the group of farmers blocking their way.

Shen Qingzhou pulled her behind him, and He Qu and Tang Yu stepped forward at the same time, pulling Xie Yi and Li Chang over as well.

Upon seeing this, the men blocking the way turned and ran.

He Qu shouted, "Where do you think you're going?!"

He and Tang Yu immediately chased after them.

Those men were so hungry they barely had any flesh on their bodies; how could they possibly walk fast? Let alone outrun guards like He Qu and his men.

After walking a few steps, someone fell down on the ridge of the field, and then one after another, people fell down.

Even those who didn't fall down immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly to Shen Qingzhou and the others, pleading, "Heroes, spare our lives! Heroes, spare our lives!"

He Qu, brandishing a stick, asked, "Where are you from? Why are you robbing us on the road?"

The group of people were timid and hesitant, and none of them uttered a complete sentence.

Shen Qingzhou stepped forward: "Are you farmers from around here, carrying hoes?"

Hearing this, the men nodded tremblingly. The man kneeling at the front said, "We weren't born bandits, we were just so hungry that we had no choice but to resort to this!"

“Nonsense,” Xie Yi said. “Shawan has so much fertile land and rice paddies. As long as people are willing to work, how could they possibly go hungry?”

"Young man, you may not know this, but while there are many fertile rice paddies in Shawan, most of them belong to landlords. Those who own land will naturally not starve, but most of them do not own any land."

“People like us have worked and farmed for generations. We don’t own any land and can’t buy food. In the winter and spring, we can only wait to go hungry.”

The expressions of Lu Jia and the other two became serious.

Although they lived in poverty, they had always lived near the dock and had been taken care of by Old Master Zhang in the early years, so they were not really that poor.

Even though they were short of money in the last two years, the three of them were hardworking and their work at the docks was enough to make a living.

She knew very well that, by the Xiang River, even farmers without land could earn money to buy rice through work.

Lu Jia never imagined that, just a few dozen miles away from the bustling Shawan Wharf, someone was actually starving!
She didn't believe it: "Why can't we buy rice?"

The people kneeling on the ground had tears in their eyes: "There are rice shops in Shawan, but the rice is all hoarded in their hands. They are waiting for winter and spring to drive up the price of rice and make a lot of money. How could they possibly sell it casually?"
"Even if we sell it, the price of old rice is more than three or four times higher than when the new rice first came out. We need to eat three meals a day, how can the little money we make from working be enough to make a living?"

Once they started talking, the others eagerly chimed in.

Lu Jia pursed her lips. Xie Yi, standing beside her, said, "Even if you can't buy rice, you can grow some other grains to survive. We grow sweet potatoes, taro, and sorghum in Shawan. Why don't you grow those?"

The men gave a wry smile: "Young man, how could you know our plight? To grow miscellaneous grains, you either need land or you have to clear wasteland on the mountains. But if we had land, why would we need to go out to work?"
“If we were to clear this land, it would be covered with bamboo. In the spring, the bamboo shoots would grow as soon as they were exposed to the wind, and they would shoot up very tall in ten days or half a month. Moreover, the bamboo roots below the ground are so dense that it is impossible to grow crops. We can’t clear them all, and even if we do, they will grow back like crazy the following year.”

"You can grow some sweet potatoes and taro in the soil, but the yield is limited. How many sweet potatoes and taro can you grow to fill your stomach in the two or three seasons of winter, spring and summer?"

Looking at them kneeling and wiping away tears, Lu Jia suddenly realized that despite living at Shawan Wharf for ten years, she didn't know much about the place.

It is said that the Tanzhou area is rich in water and soil, and apart from droughts and floods, there is no possibility of famine. The rice seedlings in the Shitan Town in front of us are green and stretch for dozens of miles, which strongly demonstrates that the local food supply capacity is sufficient.

But the people crying out in front of them were not just one or two, but a whole group. God hadn't given them a famine, but these profit-driven grain merchants had actually created one!

She asked, "How long has this been going on?"

"It's been like this every year for the past few years. It was better when the docks weren't as bustling as they are now. We weren't rich, but we weren't starving either. But in the last seven or eight years, we've gradually run out of food. This year, most of the ships from Tonghuomen came to Shawan, and everyone was hoping things would get better, but it's even worse than in previous years! In previous years, the shortage would only last for two or three months, until the summer months. But this year, the price of rice skyrocketed in February and March!"

Lu Jia only knew that the ships from Tonghuomen were docking in Shawan, which was a great thing for Shawan, but unexpectedly it brought suffering to the people.

Shen Qingzhou said, "Who will lead the way? Let's go to your house and take a look."

The group got up and went to lead the way.

In the village, which was not long after dark, apart from a few large courtyards that looked like those of wealthy families, the rest was completely dark.

Shen Qingzhou and the other two lit their tinderboxes, which at least allowed them to quicken their pace. When they reached the deepest part of the village, in a mountain hollow, several crooked brick houses covered with thatched roofs came into view.

Shawan County is hilly with almost no high mountains, mostly low mounds of loess. The clay bricks used for building houses are not complicated to fire; a temporary kiln can be built and fired for a day or two.

Therefore, it is not uncommon for even the poorest families who cannot afford to eat to live in brick houses.

In this mid-spring season, dense bamboo groves cover all sides of the village, and scattered along the ridges of the fields beneath the bamboo forests are many thatched huts, which are tenants hired by the landlords to guard the rice paddies.

Upon entering one of the brick houses, someone grabbed a handful of firewood and lit it, finally bringing light into the room. But upon closer inspection, it was even worse than complete darkness!

Two of the original four walls had collapsed, perhaps due to two months of continuous rain. In the corner between the remaining two walls, a simple stove was built and two small stools were placed. There was nothing else.

There was another doorway leading to another room, but you didn't even need to step inside to see that there was just a bed board spread out inside, with a cotton quilt of indeterminate color rolled up inside.

Shen Qingzhou asked, "How many people like you are there in the whole town?"

"It's not that many, maybe 30% or 40% in each village, they all have no land or farmland." The farmers smiled bitterly, "If it were any more, we wouldn't be able to hide it from the higher-ups."

"That damned county magistrate!" Lu Jia sneered and cursed. "That newly arrived imperial envoy doesn't seem to be any better either!"

"He's been in Shawan for so long, and all he does is stay in the county government office, being served by those corrupt officials and living a life of luxury, while the farmers below are suffering so much, and he just won't come out to take a look!"
"damn thing!"

He Qu and Tang Yu both coughed for Guo Yi.

But when Shen Qingzhou recalled Guo Yi, who could eat two bowls of rice with just a dish of chopped chili peppers, she felt that Lu Jia was right. He was indeed eating and drinking well every day.

(End of this chapter)