CHAPTER 63: CHAPTER 63: THE SIN OF GENDER 63

Qin Shuangshuang and Fang Yaoyao had a more important task, which was to persuade Fang Zhongyi to go with them to the border city no matter what!

On the road, Qin Shuangshuang and Fang Yaoyao discussed that if Fang Zhongyi stubbornly refused to go to the border city, they would throw a tantrum and roll on the ground. No matter what, even if they had to drag him, they would drag Fang Zhongyi to the border city!

To their surprise, Qin Shuangshuang and Fang Yaoyao thought it would be difficult to persuade Fang Zhongyi. However, as soon as they started talking, before they could use any of their pre-planned tactics, Fang Zhongyi sighed and readily agreed.

Fang Zhongyi agreed so readily that Qin Shuangshuang and Fang Yaoyao felt like they had punched into empty air, leaving them inexplicably disappointed. They had been prepared to throw their dignity aside and roll around on the ground, but they succeeded so easily!

Looking at his daughter and the apprentice he had raised as a daughter, who wore a confused yet inexplicably disappointed expression, Fang Zhongyi’s long-standing depression suddenly lifted.

It’s undeniable that Fang Zhongyi, due to his abilities, always felt a sense of responsibility towards the Fang Family Village, like leading everyone out of difficulties in times of crisis and upholding moral standards.

However, today, when dealing with Xiao Xia’s family, although everyone appeared very angry, Fang Zhongyi still felt that many people had a restless look in their eyes and dissatisfaction with him for not allowing them to eat human flesh, which was chilling to him!

Fang Zhongyi was also disheartened. Unlike others who feared going to the border city, Fang Zhongyi had skills and wasn’t afraid of not surviving wherever he went. Naturally, he didn’t fear the border city.

After settling things with the Qin Family Village and Fang Zhongyi, the next issue was the journey. Although everyone wanted to set off as soon as possible, migrating the whole village wasn’t something that could be done overnight.

While packing, people were reluctant to leave anything behind, even a broken bowl. If possible, they wished they could carry their houses with them. But realistically, not everything could be taken, and they had to travel light and simple.

As a result, just the matter of deciding what to take and what to leave took several days! For a long journey, carrying everything would be exhausting. Luckily, there were four or five families in the village that raised cattle. During the famine, while people had no food, they could still find some dry grass to feed the cattle.

Although people had planned to slaughter the cattle for food except for Uncle He, who treated his cattle like family, before they could do so, Qin Shuangshuang brought out some dried meat, saving the village’s cattle, proving useful now.

The families with cattle had carts, and they loaded the things they needed to bring onto the carts, with the majority being dried meat and wild vegetables, which were placed at the bottom of the carts, with each family’s items covering them on top.

The Qin Family Village’s decision to move the entire village naturally caused a big stir, and nearby villages soon became aware and mocked them as fools and idiots. They couldn’t believe anyone would voluntarily seek death by going to the border city, convinced that the Emperor would eventually compromise if they just held out a bit longer.

The people of the Qin Family Village, although angry at being mocked, chose to ignore it to avoid unnecessary troubles.

The commotion in the village not only alerted the surrounding villages but also caught the attention of the County Magistrate, who had been monitoring the refugees’ movements.

Initially, the County Magistrate was worried, fearing the Qin Family Village might attempt to go to the Capital City by force!

After disasters, refugees often chose to head towards the Capital City. In the past, many villagers had planned to go there but were stopped by the County Magistrate because the Emperor had ordered that refugees were not allowed to go anywhere other than the border city.

The County Magistrate rushed over anxiously, only to find it was good news. It turned out that the Qin Family Village was responding to the court’s order to migrate and voluntarily heading to the border city. The County Magistrate was especially pleased to see that everyone in the village seemed willing, without a hint of reluctance, which delighted him.

If the Emperor’s orders were not executed promptly on his watch, it could affect the County Magistrate’s future career. Seeing the Qin Family Village being so sensible, the County Magistrate not only immediately issued thirty taels of household silver per person, a special grant from the court for those willing to go to the border city, but, in his excitement, he couldn’t help but generously provide five ox-carts and a whole cartload of food for the villagers to eat on their journey.

Receiving so much at once made everyone overjoyed. Thirty taels of silver! Excluding daily expenses, it would take a family two good years of farming to save that much, and now they were getting thirty taels per person, which was something they couldn’t even dream of!

Qin Shuangshuang, over the years, had saved up over a thousand taels of silver from selling herbs she gathered, which were now converted into national silver notes issued by a court-established silver bank and hidden on her person, so she wasn’t impressed by the few dozen taels. Fang Zhongyi, who was even wealthier than Qin Shuangshuang, naturally wasn’t swayed by the few dozen taels either.

What this master-apprentice pair valued more was the cartload of grain that couldn’t be bought even with money now. They calculated that with this much grain, along with the dried meat and wild vegetables Qin Shuangshuang had previously saved, it would be enough to feed the whole village for four to five months if they had two meals a day.

After bustling around for six or seven days, everyone finally set off on their journey. Before leaving, Fang Zhongyi went to the Fang Family Village to gather all the villagers and informed them of his plan to go to the border city, asking if anyone wished to go with him.

Although Fang Zhongyi’s words usually held more sway in the village than those of the village chief, this time, few responded to his call. In the end, only seven families, who were closest to Fang Zhongyi, decided to pack up and go with him to the border city.

As for the Qin Family Village, about ten women who had married into the village managed to persuade their natal families to move entirely with the Qin Family Village to the border city.

After finally getting everything ready, they set off in a grand procession with ten or so carts given by the County Magistrate and those already existing in their village, along with a crowd of people leaving the Qin Family Village in a spectacular formation.

The entire Qin Family, who had been living in the dilapidated temple, came to witness the scene. Watching the departing crowd with their usual disdainful gaze, they seemed to view them all as fools!

From afar, Qin Shuangshuang watched her family, who seemed to believe they were the only sober ones among a crowd of drunkards, and she sneered coldly!

The Qin Family Village people were still there, and the Qin Family, living off them, with so many people eyeing them would not dare to really make a move. But now that everyone was leaving, only a few of them were left, with so much grain hidden in their home. The surrounding villagers and common people were so starved that they couldn’t be distinguished from demons in Hell. Qin Shuangshuang didn’t need to imagine the fate that awaited the family after they had all departed!