Font Size:
As several households in Shen family village began to harvest their crops, many people were still watching from the sidelines.
Perhaps it was the atmosphere that drove them to action, or maybe they were truly afraid that something might happen. The next day, several more households joined in and began to harvest their crops ahead of schedule.
Several men from the Shen family were responsible for cutting the rice in the fields, while Shen Yu’an followed Grandma Shen, Song Shi, and Zhao Shi to carry the cut rice to the threshing ground for de-husking and drying.
While helping to carry the harvested rice to the threshing field, Shen Yuan packed some of it into her personal space when no one was looking. Later, she retrieved them carefully when no one is looking to avoid being caught.
The Shen family members noticed Shen Yuan’s actions but helped to cover it up for her.
Shen Yuan chuckled to herself, thinking that it was a wise decision to share the secret of her personal space. It certainly made things much easier.
On the third day at noon, the scorching sun was still high up in the sky, but soon dark clouds drifted over and blocked the hot sun.
People who were drying their crops in the threshing ground quickly pulled their grains back home, fearing that the hard-earned crops would get wet in the heavy rain.
In just a moment, a heavy rain poured down.
Some people were relieved that they had brought their crops back home, otherwise the rice would have germinated in the husk after the heavy rain.
The fear of losing their crops made them uneasy, but they couldn’t back down and could only stubbornly say, “The rain will stop soon. The rice will soak up the water and produce more yield. You’ll regret harvesting early.”
The heavy rain didn’t last too long, and by the afternoon, it gradually stopped. However, the sky remained gloomy, weighing down on people’s hearts.
Just as they thought they could breathe a sigh of relief, the sky became even darker, and a buzzing sound could be heard.
Shen Yu’an stood in the courtyard and looked up. A swarm of insects was flying towards them from afar.
She quickly realized what was happening and shouted, “The locusts are coming! Quickly close the doors and seal the cellar tightly!”
Shen Ming took his sons and went to the cellar. He covered the opening with a lid and several layers of oiled cloth, then covered it with soil.
The others hurried back to their own doors and closed them. Some of the locusts managed to fly in, and they frantically tried to swat them away before they congregated in the main room.
Grandpa Shen stood by the window with his smoking pipe, sighing, “Ah, how can we survive without our harvested crops.”
Despite their efforts to persuade others in the past two days, fewer than one-third of the households in Shen’s village harvested their crops.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not up to you to figure it out. But I’ve already told you, don’t lend any grain to anyone who comes knocking on our door,” Mrs. Shen reminded him.
“I know what to do,” Grandpa Shen said with a furrowed brow, took a puff of his cigarette and said with a heavy tone.
How could he not know what to do? In Shen’s village, with hundreds of households of all sizes, once one family borrowed grain, others would follow suit. There wouldn’t be enough to lend to everyone who came knocking on their door.
If he lent grain to others, his own children would go hungry. Although he had a kind heart, he was not unclear about the situation. It was precisely because he saw through it that he felt distressed.
Meanwhile, the fields in Shen’s village were in chaos, with cries and the sound of locusts flapping their wings constantly ringing out.
The locusts attached themselves to the rice stalks and began to biting and eating at an incredibly fast pace. Those who have not harvested the crops wanted to snatch the grains from the locusts’ mouths, but the rain-soaked fields would make them sink and they wouldn’t be able to harvest in time.
There were cries of all kinds mixed together in the fields, and at the edge of the Shen family’s land, Shen Lizheng slapped his wife in the face.
“It’s all your fault. You insisted on only taking half of the grains, and now we have nothing left.”
Shen Lizheng’s wife, who was slapped to the ground, was shocked as she looked up at the man who had hit her. She screamed in despair, “You were the one who said that you were afraid that there will be no locust disaster and didn’t want to take all the crops. We only took half of what was in the fields. Now you blame me? You were the one who agreed to it in the first place!”
Shen Lizheng’s face turned pale and then blue, and he kicked his wife who was sitting on the ground. She stood up and began to fight with him.
Similar situations occurred among the other villagers. Seeing Shen Lizheng and his wife fighting, they seemed to have found an outlet for their frustration and a reason to evade responsibility, so they began to push blame onto their own family members.
As for those who harvested their grain and decided to come out to assess the situation, they were shocked by the scene outside.
At this moment, instead of trying to quickly grab a few bundles of grain and take them home, they were fighting with their own family members and fellow villagers.
People who could have harvested enough grain to feed themselves for several days missed their chance, and the locusts moved on to the next place after devouring everything in sight.
The brawlers looked at the empty fields and began to cry and wail.
Some people were relieved that they had heeded the advice to harvest their grain early.
At the same time, the plague of locusts was not limited to Shen’s village. Half of the Changding King’s fiefdom suffered from the disaster, and the people were crying. The county government’s gate was tightly closed, and they dared not take action before receiving orders from above.
—Shen’s Village—
Shen Yun recounted what had happened outside just now, and everyone fell silent.
Seeing everyone’s silence, Shen Yu’an understood their feelings, but she also knew that there was not much time left for them to grieve.
She said, “Tomorrow morning, Third Uncle and I will go to the county to find out about the situation. The rest of you should stay at home and exercise. If anyone comes to the door asking for food, just chase them away!”
Although today’s locust disaster had just occurred and everyone still had some food, it was difficult to guarantee that someone wouldn’t become desperate and blame them for the unharvested crops.
After finishing their discussion, everyone dispersed. However, it was unclear how many people would sleep soundly tonight.
Early the next morning, after a simple breakfast, Shen Yun set off from home with a cart pulled by the cow.
There was no notice from the town school, so Shen Rong, Shen Dalang, and Shen Erlang still had to go and decided to catch a ride with them.
This was Shen Yu’an’s first time in the county town, and the lively scene on the street made it hard to imagine that there had been a locust plague yesterday. The impact of this disaster had not yet reached here.
“Third Uncle, let’s go to the county office,” Shen Yu’an said from the back seat.
“Okay.”
At this time, there were already many people gathered in front of the county office who had rushed over from the towns below overnight. However, the county office gate was tightly closed, and no one responded to the calls from outside.
As the crowd outside the county office grew larger and larger, some individuals urged others to forcefully open the gate.
“We’ve suffered a disaster, but the county magistrate is hiding inside and not showing himself. Who knows if he’s still enjoying his food and drink? Let’s break open the gate and make him give us an explanation,” someone shouted from the middle of the crowd.
“Yes, that’s right. Let’s break open the gate and make the county magistrate open the granaries and release the food,” more and more people echoed, getting excited and pushing forward.
The gate couldn’t bear the weight, and there were banging sounds coming from it.
Suddenly, the door was opened from inside and several guards(soldiers) holding long spears blocked the crowd from rushing in.
“Quiet, everyone, listen to me for a moment,” came the voice from behind the guards. From her vantage point on the cart, Shen Yu’an looked inside and saw the plump county magistrate wearing a black gauze hat.