allonlinenovel Chapter 135: What is scarier than ghosts is poverty
Chapter 135: What is scarier than ghosts is poverty
It is human nature to eat melons. The two people's explanation gave a general idea but not a complete picture, and the onlookers soon began to talk about it.
Some people who had been to the market in Yongding County or had heard about the incident from others and knew some of the inside story began to explain it to the people around them.
The news spread from one to another, and soon there was an uproar in the crowd, not knowing that they had experienced such a terrible thing.
Some people cursed the gangster and the scholar, while others praised Magistrate Ma as a good official. There was a lot of noise at the moment.
This is the effect we want.
"Come on, come on! Fellow villagers, please line up here!"
Seeing more and more people rushing over here and more and more people talking about this matter, Zheng Yuan and Duan Minmin knew it was about time.
The two men nodded at the three girls who were scooping ice powder and began to direct the onlookers to line up in three rows.
The ice powder giveaway activity has officially begun!
There was free food, and a bowl of ice jelly cost only three cents. How could everyone not be obedient? They consciously lined up in three lines.
The children received the order and acted quickly, passing out bowls of ice jelly and returning them one by one, in a busy and orderly manner.
While Zheng Yuan and Duan Minmin were maintaining order, they would occasionally talk about what had happened before in the crowd. They never mentioned their own grievances, but only praised the onlookers and Magistrate Ma for being so observant and skilled in solving cases.
Those who received the free ice jelly originally thought that it would be just pure ice jelly, but they didn't expect it to be full of ice and sugar, which shows their sincerity.
And they felt grateful for the food they ate, so they put down their bowls and spontaneously went to the back to tell the people who kept coming over to tell them about their stories.
In this way, in a short while, even a dog passing by on the street would know their grievances and the mighty power of the county magistrate.
Delivering ice jelly is much faster than selling it.
Although I prepared six full buckets of ice jelly today, they were almost empty after a while.
The common people were simple and honest people. Knowing that the food was given for free, few of them came for a second bowl. So by the end, almost everyone who came had a taste of it.
There was only a little bit left, so Zheng Yuan called Erhe and Sizhu to deliver it to Zhao Youwang and the breakfast shop owner, and it was completely given away.
The people who had finished drinking the ice jelly did not disperse quickly. They discussed in groups of three or five.
Those who have eaten it before naturally praised them for their kindness and honesty, and said that the ice jelly they gave away was no different from the one they sold. Those who had been reluctant to spend three cents before, but after eating this ice jelly, they lamented that it was no wonder that it was sold for only three cents a bowl, which invisibly stimulated customer consumption.
Zheng Yuan and Duan Minmin took the children to clean up the mess. After expressing their gratitude to the people around them again, they took the children back.
The children had never seen such a big scene before. They felt like everyone on the whole street was praising them. They only realized what was happening on the way home and were so excited that they were drooling.
Zhao Youwang and Li Xixi had naturally also heard about this matter. Thinking of the previous incident when the officials came to give them silver, they were even more impressed by them. In the surrounding area, they had never heard of anyone who could enter the county government office and walk out so openly and receive silver.
Li Xixi looked at them with even more passion in her eyes. Zheng Yuan and Duan Minmin didn't want to pay much attention to her, so she pulled a few girls aside to talk to them.
The girls were young and didn’t have any other thoughts. They just treated her as a friend from the same village and enthusiastically invited her to join their group chat.
We laughed and talked all the way and got home just at noon.
When I got home and hadn't put my things away yet, a group of people came running towards me from the direction of the Chen family's old house, making a lot of noise.
Before I could figure out what was going on, a group of people entered the yard.
"Big Tree Lady, please choose me. Look how strong I am!"
"And me, and me. There aren't many people in this village who are stronger than me!"
"Yes! Yes! Otherwise we would carry some wood back for you right now!"
As they were talking, the group of people were about to walk out the door. Zheng Yuan and Duan Minmin reacted and hurriedly chased after them to stop them.
At this time, Old Mrs. Chen also ran in, and before she could even catch her breath, she hurriedly stopped a group of people.
"Hu~Hu~Gangzi's mother, I told you guys that the place is full, why don't you believe it! Hu~Hu~"
Zheng Yuan and Duan Minmin hurried over to support Old Lady Chen and help her calm down. It was also embarrassing for the little old lady, who ran all the way after the group of people.
What's going on?
It turned out that early this morning, those people in the village who were not selected wanted to come to Zheng Yuan's house to beg for mercy, but the whole family had gone to the market and the door was closed.
They had no choice but to surround the old lady and beg her to recruit a few more people. The old lady naturally disagreed, and the group of people argued for a long time. When they heard that Zheng Yuan and the others had returned, they let the old lady go and came over here.
When she felt that she had calmed down, the old lady spoke up: "I'm not trying to embarrass you. It's just that the list is full. Jiaming and his wife don't need that many people."
A group of people turned their heads pitifully and looked at Zheng Yuan and Duan Minmin pleadingly.
Life in the village is just too hard, so naturally everyone wants to seize the opportunity to make money right at their doorstep.
Seeing that they wanted to speak, the old lady was afraid that these people would blame everything on the two of them because they didn't get elected, so she spoke before them.
"They have already handed over all the responsibility for this matter to me. I am the one who decides which people to choose and which not to choose. Please don't make things difficult for them here."
Knowing what the old lady was thinking, Zheng Yuan and Duan Minmin took the old lady's hands on both sides and rubbed them soothingly.
"My dear uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters-in-law, we really don't need that many workers at the moment. Since my mother has already decided on the people, we will follow the list she has decided on. We also know how you feel. We are all from the same village, so we are naturally thinking about you all."
"Although we don't need so many people to work here, we are now collecting wild walnuts from the mountain. We charge one cent per pound for shelled walnuts, and five cents per pound for peeled walnuts. If you have wild walnuts collected last year, you can bring them to my mother and we will buy them."
It just so happens that a large amount of walnuts are needed to refine walnut oil, which saves them from having to buy them on the street, and also provides these villagers with some income.
Hearing this, a look of joy appeared on the faces of the group of people again.
Those who brought back a lot of fish last year were naturally happy, while those who didn’t have that much or didn’t have any at home could hardly hide their disappointment. But they were also thinking about going back to the mountain to see if there were any fish that had escaped the nets of the mountain rats, or where to go to collect some more.
The wild walnuts on this mountain are not eaten by many people unless there is a disaster. There is not much flesh, and it tastes bitter and astringent when dried.
"Big Tree Mother! Peach Mother! Are you telling the truth?"
"Of course it's real. Just go and collect them. We will take them no matter how much. When the time comes, please send them to Chen Fangping's house. My mother will weigh them for you there."
"Chen Fangping's family?"
The group came back to their senses from their joy, with confusion and a hint of fear on their faces.
The old lady squeezed their hands tightly.
"Why send it to Chen Fangping's house?"
"The yard at home is too small to do our work, so we rented the yard to do our work."
The two didn't say much.
"Okay then, let's go back and harvest the pecans."
Although the villagers were somewhat afraid of the house, poverty was more terrifying than ghosts. They said they didn't have much trouble renting the house to do work.
The group of people dispersed in a noisy manner again.