Madam, She Has a Tender Heart

In front of various businesses in Fengting Town, as long as they open the door every day, many people will be there, begging for money from customers. There are even more people in small restaurants and bars.

There are many people in front of Su Qing's shop every morning, noon and evening.

There were originally four vegetable shops in the town, but one of them was later closed. This time, due to the fluctuation in salt and food prices, another one was closed. Only Su Qingyu and Su Ergu's shops were still open.

Su Qingnao didn't know whether Second Aunt Su was making money or not, but she had been trying to get away from Su Qingnao, so she might be able to hold on for a while longer.

There were usually no leftovers in Su Qing's shop, so she dealt with all the ones that were not sold out that day. But since there were people begging at the door, Su Qingliu, Granny Zhou and others saw how pitiful they were, so they would give their daily leftovers to the people begging at the door.

But later, when more and more people came, everyone stopped thinking.

The constant influx of foreigners has seriously affected the lives of the people in Fengting Town. The merchants were unable to drive away or beat the beggars at their door. Many people felt sorry for them and couldn't do anything, so they just let them squat at the door.

It's just that as a result, customers don't dare to go to the store to do business.

All businesses are suffering.

The salt shop was only open for half a day. Even so, there is still a long queue at the door of the salt shop, and even if it is closed, the queue of people still does not leave. There are people lining up even before dawn.

The prices of grains in grain stores are also rising quietly, but not as horribly as the price of salt. Because the residents of Fengting Town have most of their autumn food in their hands, there is no chance of them queuing up to buy food.

When Xu Shaoyan came, Su Qingnao told him about the changes in Fengting Town these days, and she couldn't help but feel sad and confused.

Their town has neither drought nor floods. In addition to the heavier taxes, the fields have a good harvest of both summer and autumn crops. This influx of many down-and-out foreigners can only be attributed to the lack of food in other places.

Su Qingyao misses the era of information explosion very much. Not only in China, but also in the other side of the world, news spread everywhere as soon as it happened. But here, with inconvenient transportation and limited information, she didn't know the origin and couldn't make a judgment.

Xu Shaoyan traveled for many days and arrived at Fengting Town. He thought that Fengting Town was peaceful and peaceful, but he didn't expect that it was not peaceful either. The eyebrows were lightly furrowed, and the beautiful fingers were rubbing the brows again and again, with a look as clear as jade.

Su Qingyu looked at it and smiled: "I remember you have a wife and children, right?"

Xu Shaoyan turned his head to look at him, still holding his forehead with his hand, and raised his eyebrows, looking confused.

"You are very confusing outside." Su Qingyu also raised her eyebrows at him. He also looked him up and down.

Xu Shaoyan glanced at himself and was about to ask her. When he realized it, he couldn't help but smile.

After taking a look at Su Qingyu, I saw that the person in front of me was completely different from the first time I saw her. She was as beautiful and dignified as an orchid in an empty valley. How could she still look like the flat, dark and thin country firewood girl she had when we first met?

"I've been walking all this way, and it's been a chaotic situation outside. I thought Fengting Town had a good time in the world, but I didn't expect that it wouldn't be peaceful either."

"Is there chaos outside?"

Xu Shaoyan nodded: "Well, it's very chaotic. Do you think there are many people at the door of the merchants in Fengting Town now? No. You will know when you look outside. Where there are temples, there are more people there."

"Ah, you all go to the temple to beg? That's right. Rich families often give alms there. If you get alms, you should be able to survive."

Xu Shaoyan didn't look at her and shook his head: "No. It's the farmers who stuffed their sons into the temple. They line up every day to beg the temple to take them in."

"Ah? Why? Put your son in the temple instead of your daughter? Don't want any male children either?"

Xu Shaoyan smiled: "Which temple do you think wants women?"

Oh, too. But isn’t there a nunnery? Can you let go of men?

"It's better to live than to die. The north has launched another military conscription. All the vassals have also responded. In these years of continuous war, the land in the north has been barren, the water conservancy is in disrepair, many places are depopulated, and thorns cover the wilderness. Taxes have also been increased, and the people cannot survive. , had no choice but to escape into Buddhism..."

"ah?"

"Now Buddhism is developing rapidly and has enclosed a lot of land. I heard that the number of monks and nuns now reaches 50,000 or 60,000..."

Su Qingyu's head was buzzing.

She remembered that there had been several incidents of exterminating Buddhas in history. On the one hand, the population has dropped sharply due to the war in recent years, and on the other hand, there are more and more Buddhist disciples who are not doing farming, which has seriously affected the national finance, taxation and corvee collection, and the contradiction between national power and religious forces has increased. In history, there is a famous event in which the emperor initiated the extermination of Buddhism by the Three Martial Arts Sect. Blood flowed into a river, and the blood left in front of the Buddhist gate could not be washed away even for half a month...

Seeing that Su Qingyu was silent, Xu Shaoyan turned to look at her. Seeing that her hands were still trembling, he asked with concern: "What's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?"

Su Qingyu came back to her senses and shook her head, still in a daze.

Xu Shaoyan glanced at her again, confirmed that she was okay, and comforted: "Don't worry too much. Guangning Mansion is still peaceful now. There are many people coming from prefectures and counties, and there will always be some measures in place. The influx of people in Fengting Town is currently under control.”

Su Qingyu hummed dumbly.

After a long while, I asked him: "Not only the price of salt has gone up, but the price of food has also gone up. Is it because there is a bad harvest in the north?"

Xu Shaoyan frowned again: "Well, a locust plague occurred in Dingzhou, Weizhou, Cangzhou, Ezhou, and Yanzhou. The locusts passed through the border, and there were not even one out of ten left. Now many northern disaster victims have poured in from all states and prefectures."

"Locust plague?" Su Qingyu turned to look at him in surprise.

"Um."

Su Qingnao recalled that there was a time in history when locust plagues were most common. In the 289th year of the Tang Dynasty, there were forty-two locust plagues, with an average of one every seven years. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, various disasters came one after another, and the conflicts caused by various natural disasters also accelerated the demise of the Tang Dynasty.

When Su Qingyu first came here, she thought she had traveled to the Tang Dynasty, but now she is living in the Shuo Dynasty. This dynasty, which had never appeared in history, puzzled her. It doesn't work for her to pretend to be a dabbler with her historical knowledge.

"Fortunately, apart from the north, there are many places with high yields, otherwise it would be even more difficult. I am here this time to collect some grain and transport it to the north. I am also ready to transport the goods from your village. Now that the price of grain and salt has risen, the price will naturally also rise. You can't settle it based on the previous price, I won't let you suffer..."

Su Qingyu nodded. After working together so many times, she also trusted him. I am even more grateful to him for constantly sending him news from the outside during this period. I don’t care too much about the price. He readily agreed to clear out all the goods in Zhuangzi's cellar.

She didn't move the food.

The situation is not good now. Food can save people's lives, but she doesn't want to touch it, and she has to find ways to collect more food and store it.