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Both the Shen family and the Zhang family were building houses at the same time, but the Zhang family’s house was slightly smaller.
The fifty-three people who came to register were divided into two groups.
Twenty people were assigned to the Zhang family, and the remaining thirty-three people went to help build the house for the Shen family.
The houses of the Shen family and the Zhang family were considered neighboring, with only a road separating them.
Zhang Xiangyang was attracted to the layout of their household’s house under construction, so he directly had Shen Yu’an draw a picture based on for their house.
Just as they had finished arranging the people, shouts could be heard from outside.
The Shen family members went out to take a look and realized that the green bricks they had purchased in town had arrived.
A total of ten carts filled with green bricks were brought in. Shen’s grandfather asked them to help unload and stack the bricks next to the wall of the house where they currently lived.
As soon as the bricks arrived, everyone started bustling around, working at their own pace.
Building a house starts with laying the foundation, and Shen Ming is skilled at construction. In fact, he was one of the main builders of the houses in Shen’s village.
He directly led the group of over fifty people who had come to register and set them to work.
…
On the other side, the group of people from Shen’s village who were heading to the capital finally arrived at the Fourth Prince’s territory.
However, they arrived at the Fourth Prince’s domain much earlier than the Shen family’s group arrived at Longxian Village.
However, along the way, due to the absence of the Shen family members, the people from the village also suffered some casualties due to carelessness.
Upon finally arriving here, many people couldn’t help but burst into tears, covering their faces.
If the Shen family were here at this moment, they would have noticed that many familiar faces from Shen’s village were either missing or greatly changed.
Old Lady Wu, with disheveled hair, walked in the procession, looking extremely skeletal and displaying signs of madness.
On the first night after the Shen family and the people from Shen’s village went their separate ways, Old Lady Wu’s grandson was forcefully taken away from her embrace.
Her son and daughter-in-law blamed Old Lady Wu for the incident and treated her with constant physical abuse and verbal insults. They only gave her food and water occasionally.
In just under a month, she had transformed from someone who could jump and curse into her current state.
Most families couldn’t gather together anymore, and it was unknown where they had gone.
Shen Li Zheng, looking disheveled and agitated, shouted, “Hurry, let’s go and see if we can enter the city.”
A sense of great hope arose in everyone’s hearts, hoping to quickly put an end to all of this.
However, when they arrived at the city gates and saw a large crowd of refugees blocked outside, the people from Shen’s village were dumbfounded.
Wasn’t the Fourth Prince known for his benevolence? Why didn’t he open the city gates to let the refugees in?
Anxiously, they went to inquire about the situation.
The answer they received was that there were too many refugees outside the city, and the city couldn’t accommodate all of them. They had no choice but to wait outside for an opportunity to enter.
The only thing they could be grateful for now was that although the Fourth Prince didn’t let them into the city, he also didn’t drive away those who were outside. Every day, they would send people to distribute porridge.
The people from Shen’s village found a place in the crowd and sat down, each holding their belongings tightly.
As they had heard, in the evening, someone came out to distribute porridge.
There were many refugees outside the city, and as soon as the city gates opened, they rushed forward, snatching up the limited porridge, leaving nothing behind.
The people from Shen’s village, who reacted a beat slower, naturally didn’t manage to grab anything.
Fortunately, they still had some food supplies left, so even if they didn’t get any of the distributed porridge, they wouldn’t go hungry.
They gathered together, and the originally over a hundred people were now reduced to less than a hundred.
Wang Xiaogu carefully helped Lin Chunyan down from the cart, his tone filled with reluctance.
“Sister-in-law, let me help you down,” Wang Xiaogu said.
Lin Chunyan supported her stomach with one hand, her dusty face filled with a proud expression.
Even though it was a simple task of getting off the cart, she deliberately placed one hand on Wang Xiaogu’s hand, exerting all her strength on him, and then got off.
She walked as if she were a proud peacock, and after getting down, she sat on the blanket that Wang Laopo (Wang Zhicai’s mother) had laid on the ground.
She took a sip of water, feeling extremely content.
Since the Shen family left the group and she no longer saw Shen Yu’an, she felt that life had become much more enjoyable.
She took advantage of Wang Laopo’s desire for a grandchild and used her unborn child to manipulate the Wang family.
Even though Wang Xiaogu didn’t like her, he had no choice but to obey her.
The people from Shen’s village waited outside the city gates for several days, but there was still no news of them being allowed into the city.
One night, Lin Chunyan was awakened by a commotion nearby and saw Wang Zhicai returning with a joyful expression after going out to relieve himself.
She sat up and asked, “What happened that made you so happy?”
Wang Zhicai looked at Lin Chunyan in the darkness, and there was a significant change in his usual demeanor as he spoke gently to her.
“It’s good news! Go back to sleep.”
Lin Chunyan lay down as Wang Zhicai held her, not waiting to hear what the good news was.
As Wang Zhicai lay there, he couldn’t suppress the smile on his lips, his inner ambition surging.
By noon the next day, the soldiers inside the city gate came out and posted a notice with an official seal on the outside of the gate.
The soldiers were immediately surrounded by a crowd.
The refugees looked at the posted notice and started asking questions in a clamor.
“What does it say?”
“Sir, what does it say? Does it mean we can enter the city?”
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at the officials, hoping they would provide a definite answer.
The soldiers, after posting the notice, impatiently said, “What are you all shouting about? If you want to know, read it for yourselves.”
After speaking, the officials disdainfully pushed through the crowd of dirty refugees and left.
The refugees formed layers as they gathered around the bright yellow notice, trying to read it.
However, most of them were illiterate and could only anxiously stare at the notice.
Suddenly, someone from outside the crowd squeezed in while shouting, “Make way, make way! My son is a scholar!”
Upon hearing that a scholar had arrived, the people in the crowd quickly made way for Wang Laopo and Wang Zhicai to enter.
They were followed by the other people from Shen’s village.
Wang Zhicai, appearing amiable but actually arrogant, walked into the encirclement of people and faced the notice.
After reading the contents clearly, he suppressed his excitement and loudly recited the contents of the notice.