Chapter 51: Entering the Town

The three of them felt that they had to discuss this matter with Old Yan.

After hearing his younger brother’s report, Yan Huaiwen immediately said, “Find a few people and go investigate again. If possible, try to enter the town.”

Yan Lao’er nodded and was about to leave when his brother called him back. “Tianyou, be careful. If things look bad, return immediately.”

Li Xuemei clenched her hands tightly at the side.

Yan Yu went to find his little friends who were leading chickens on leashes.

Since households couldn’t spare grain to feed their chickens, they let them out to forage. To prevent them from getting lost, they tied long ropes to their legs and had the children watch over them.

Meanwhile, Yan Huaiwen gathered the village elders for a discussion.

Yan Xiangheng and a few young men from the village were sent out to find people.

Fortunately, everyone knew not to wander too far. They stayed nearby, picking firewood and pulling weeds, and soon returned.

Yan Lao’er chose to bring along Qi Si, Qi Wu, and Santie.

The Qi brothers were sturdy and made him feel safer, while Santie was quick-witted.

Why not bring Qi Da?

Someone had to stay behind to look after the family.

The group moved swiftly, their pace honed by recent hardships.

After traveling for a little over an hour, they spotted the town Yan Lao’er had mentioned from afar.

It was already Shen hour (3-5 PM). Though the hottest part of the day had passed, the heat remained stifling.

Yan Lao’er noticed that fewer people were entering the town, while more were leaving.

Just as they had guessed, those leaving the town were in a hurry, their faces filled with sorrow. Entire families were either driving carts or pushing wheelbarrows, carrying their belongings on their backs, all heading in the same direction.

The four of them observed for a while. Seeing that the yamen officers truly paid no heed, they gathered their courage and blended in with the crowd entering the town.

Once inside, their anxiety grew.

More than half of the shops on the streets were closed.

A grain store, crowded with people, was boarding up its entrance. As a shop assistant closed the door, he shouted impatiently, “Move aside! Move aside! I told you, there’s no grain left! Why won’t you listen?”

Outside, people pleaded desperately.

“Shopkeeper, please! Sell me just a little grain—my family is starving!”

“I’ll pay a high price! A very high price!”

“I will too! Please, don’t close the door! I saw plenty of rice and flour in your store just the other day…”

The assistant snapped in frustration, “If you saw it the other day, why didn’t you buy it then? Was it too expensive for you? Now you can offer all the silver you want, but there’s no grain left! Move aside and let me shut the door!”

“You must still have grain!” someone accused angrily. “All the grain stores in town are closing at the same time—this can’t be a coincidence! You greedy merchants must be hoarding it to sell at higher prices!”

Hearing this, the assistant stopped boarding up the door. “Oh? Fine then! Come in and see for yourselves! If there’s even a single grain left, I’ll eat this door plank!”

“The harvest was bad this year. We’ve been selling from our old stock! Why are all the grain stores closing at once? Because we’ve sold out! If we’re only selling and not receiving new stock, of course, we’ll eventually run out! The disaster is severe everywhere. Even our boss can’t secure more grain. You want to buy grain? Our boss wants to buy grain too!

“Now, disperse! There’s no point in crowding here. I told you—there’s no grain left!”

Taking advantage of their hesitation, the assistant swiftly secured the remaining planks over the entrance.

The crowd lingered outside the grain store for a long time, but eventually, they had no choice but to disperse.

Yan Lao’er and his group had heard enough and continued exploring.

Further ahead, they saw another large crowd.

They hurried over, only to realize they had arrived at the yamen’s entrance.

This startled them greatly, and they hid within the crowd, afraid to be noticed.

Amidst the commotion, they could hear people pleading desperately, their cries filled with grief, begging the magistrate to waive taxes and open the grain stores.

Yan Lao’er stole a glance.

Whoa! These people were clearly not ordinary commoners.

The leading figures were well-dressed, looked well-nourished, and most notably—they were fat.

In these times, anyone with that physique was certainly wealthy.

As for those making the loudest commotion, they were all dressed similarly in short jackets—clearly household servants.

Suddenly, a stir ran through the crowd.

The magistrate, maintaining a dignified posture, stepped out.

At his appearance, the crowd instantly fell silent.

“Everyone, esteemed gentry, please listen to me,” he began.

Yan Lao’er quickly glanced at him again.

Oh, so this was the magistrate? Nothing special.

“I have already submitted a request to the provincial governor to waive taxes and open the grain stores for relief. But I have yet to receive a response! Without official approval, how can I dare to distribute grain on my own? Please return home. If I receive good news, I will immediately open the stores for relief. You have my word.”

“Honorable Magistrate, we do own some land, but the villagers keep coming to us for grain. We truly cannot sustain this!”

“Honorable Magistrate, it’s not that we are disrespecting the law, but life has become unbearable. Our fields have yielded little. If we pay the taxes, we will starve. If we do not, we will be punished according to the law. Please, please grant us an extension until autumn. We will repay it then—can we not delay it just for a while?”

“Please, have mercy, Magistrate!”

“Please, have mercy!”

Yan Lao’er understood now.

These people had two requests.

First, they were pleading for the grain stores to be opened, which was for the sake of the villagers. They couldn’t just turn away those who came begging, so they had to share their own grain. But this year’s harvest was disastrous—there wasn’t enough even for the landlords.

Second, they were asking for a tax deferment. They wanted to delay payment until autumn, hoping to survive the famine before paying what they owed.

Both requests were reasonable.

However, the magistrate had already stated that he couldn’t release the grain without orders from above. Since no response had come, it was unlikely their first request would be granted. So, the focus shifted to the second request—asking for a delay in taxes.

“You… You are making things difficult for me!” The magistrate looked pained. Without saying anything further, he turned around and left.

Yan Lao’er was stunned.

What was that?

Was that a yes or a no?

Yet, the people outside the yamen seemed to understand. One by one, they dispersed.

Yan Lao’er figured he had heard enough and hurried back.

He needed to ask Old Yan if he could make sense of this.

His brain wasn’t built for such convoluted matters…

——

When he reported back, Old Yan understood immediately.

Yan Huaiwen sighed heavily. “Even if they are allowed to defer their taxes until autumn, it won’t make a difference.”

The drought in Qishan Prefecture had lasted two full years.

The grain submitted by the county offices was barely enough to distribute.

A massive influx of refugees had fled to the provincial capital. With the city itself struggling to survive, the refugees scattered into neighboring prefectures like locusts, consuming anything they could find.

Those who fled early were lucky. The ones left behind suffered horribly.

Eating grass roots and tree bark was considered fortunate. Many starved to death, some even resorting to cannibalism…

Yan Huaiwen closed his eyes, unwilling to recall the grim details from the disaster reports.

By the time the imperial decree waiving taxes arrived in the autumn, these local landlords might survive this year, but whether they could endure the next was uncertain.

Yan Lao’er muttered, “So… when the magistrate turned away, that meant he agreed?”

Then why not just say it outright instead of being so cryptic?

Yan Huaiwen patiently explained, “In officialdom, most prioritize self-preservation. By neither confirming nor denying, he avoids any accountability if trouble arises later.”