Traveling through the famine, I stockpiled supplies like crazy

Chapter 220 The Taoist Priest and Lu Chuan Go Down the Mountain 3

After Lu Chuan finished reading the letter, he put it away, told the Taoist priest about it again, and then said

"Let's look inside the house first! See if there's anything we need. If there is, we can take it away directly."

After saying that, he walked into the yard. After entering the yard, he found that although the yard had not been inhabited for a long time and looked rather desolate, there were no signs of other people entering.

Lu Chuan used the key to open the door and looked around. He saw that most of the furniture in the room had not been taken away. Only some personal clothes and gold, silver and other treasures were taken away.

The house was fully furnished and ready for move-in. Lu Chuan thought that if he had the chance to come to the county again in the future, he would not need to stay in that expensive inn.

The two walked around the yard again and found a deep well in the backyard with a lot of water in it!

Lu Chuan found a bucket, brought up a bucket of water, scrubbed the pot, boiled a pot of hot water, and each of them filled two bamboo tubes with water. Then, after putting out the fire, they closed the door and left.

There is nothing missing in the house, and Lu Chuan himself has never thought of taking anything inside. Maybe Manager Li and his family will come back in the future!

I didn't need anything special, so I walked around and left.

After coming out, Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest went straight to the pharmacy, bought the medicinal materials that Grandpa Zhao needed, and then started their return journey.

When I was leaving the city gate, I found that if I wanted to enter the county town, I needed a household registration to enter. This was because they were afraid that some bad guys would take advantage of the current chaos in the world and sneak into the city to do evil.

Fortunately, the Taoist priest brought Lu Chuan over yesterday, otherwise he really wouldn’t be able to get in!

When the Taoist priest and Lu Chuan walked onto the official road, they found that many carriages were heading south.

Lu Chuan guessed that it should be a wealthy family in the north! You know, rich people nowadays are very careful about their lives, and they would think of escaping at the slightest sign of trouble.

After all, they are not short of money, and who doesn’t want to live a good life!

Even if it's a wasted trip, it doesn't matter. It's not like I can't afford to mess around at home.

But if you leave too late, it will be all over. This is a life-threatening matter and you can't be careless.

The Taoist priest and Lu Chuan walked along the official road and encountered four or five horse-drawn carriages driving forward.

It was lunch time and I happened to run into a family taking a lunch break.

When Lu Chuan saw a man walking out alone, he quickly stepped forward to talk to him and said, "Brother, I saw a lot of carriages coming from the north. What happened?"

Originally, the man didn't intend to talk because he knew he was a stranger, but Lu Chuan secretly stuffed a piece of silver into his pocket.

The man weighed the bag and said with satisfaction, "It hasn't rained in the north for more than a year. Now there's not even any drinking water. That's why everyone is heading south."

When Lu Chuan heard the man say that it hadn't rained for more than a year, he quickly asked, "Didn't it rain during the Chinese New Year in your place?"

"No, since it rained a little after the Chinese New Year two years ago, there has been no rain for more than a year. Farmers have no way to grow crops, and the people have no water to drink. So they all started to flee south."

"Are there any other refugees here?"

“Yes, there are many farmers and common people behind us. They don’t have ox carts or horse carts, so they are walking behind us!

We should be here in about a month. We are still considered to be the last ones to leave! Those who left earlier should have settled down here by now.”

After Lu Chuan got the information he wanted, he chatted with the man for a few more words. After receiving the money, the man answered Lu Chuan's questions very readily.

He also advised Lu Chuan, "While the large group of people fleeing from the famine in the north has not yet reached this side, I advise you to head south as soon as possible! Otherwise, the government will take control and it will be difficult to escape."

After expressing his gratitude, Lu Chuan went over there to meet the Taoist priest.

He told the Taoist priest what he had heard, and the Taoist priest frowned and said:

"It's not that easy to escape from famine. Do you think you can survive if you escape? When the government intervenes, I'm afraid it will be difficult for them to escape even if they want to take the official route."

Lu Chuan asked in confusion, "They are all citizens of Yuanqing Country. Don't they even have the right to flee famine?"

"You have never been exposed to these things, so you don't know what's going on. What does it mean if the people flee? If a city is deserted, there will be no economy. Wouldn't that just give other countries an opportunity to take advantage of it?

This is equivalent to handing over the city to someone else. Do you think the people in the court will do this? Wait and see! There will be trouble!"

Seeing Lu Chuan deep in thought, the Taoist priest continued, "But these have nothing to do with us. Since we have decided not to flee, we must find a way to survive here.

It will take more than a year for the rain to come! We will have a hard time in the future. We should hurry back and find more water sources! Those two reservoirs won’t last long.”

After saying that, he ignored Lu Chuan and continued walking forward.

Seeing this, Lu Chuan hurriedly followed, and then the two of them started to hurry on their way. They definitely wouldn't be able to get home tonight, but they had to find a suitable cave to live in.

While walking on the official road, Lu Chuan discovered a problem. There was no one to be seen in the fields. At this time last year, people were still carrying water to irrigate the fields!

This year, there is no water at all and it has not rained, so farmers have no desire to farm.

Even if you plant it, it will be in vain. You may not get a harvest, so it will be a waste of effort.

Even if there is a harvest, it will be impossible to keep it. Everyone is not stupid, so they might as well not plant it.

It was not until after one o'clock in the afternoon of the next day that Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest returned home.

"Open the door quickly, we are back." the Taoist priest shouted loudly.

Upon hearing this, Grandpa Zhao hurried out to open the door, and Xu Han poured out the chrysanthemum tea that she had brewed in advance and brought it into the main room.

"Come and have some tea and rest for a while. There are steaming buns in the pot! They will be ready soon. I'll go get them."

After Xu Han finished speaking, she walked out of the main room. Seeing this, Lu Chuan followed Xu Han into the kitchen.

As soon as he entered, he hugged Xu Han from behind, buried his head on Xu Han's shoulder, and said, "Wife, I miss you so much! Are you okay at home? Are you feeling unwell?"

Xu Han held Lu Chuan's hand on her waist and said, "I'm fine, and the baby is also very well behaved. He doesn't bother me at all. I enjoy everything I eat now, and I don't have any morning sickness at all."

"That's good. My wife has been working hard at home these days. She must be tired after cooking so many meals!"

"I'm fine. I have Grandpa Zhao to help me! I'm not tired at all. How about you? You must be exhausted from traveling these past two days!"

"Your husband is in good health! Nothing is wrong."

"That's good. You haven't eaten yet at this hour! Go wash your hands and I'll serve the buns."