TFWYH – Chapter 376 Hell on Earth

The trees were stripped bare, and some birds and small animals were covered with locusts, lying weakly on the ground — clearly already dead.

“The locusts have quieted down. Yue’er, come with me to the kitchen and let’s make some flatbreads for everyone. We’ll just make do for the next few days,” Tang Wan said, turning to Ling Yue.

Ling Yue nodded and slipped out with Tang Wan.

Madam Jiang hesitated as if she wanted to say something, but in the end said nothing.

Tang Wan would look after Ling Yue.

As soon as Tang Wan left, Ling Yu also said, “Mother, I’m going to the yamen. You all stay here and wait until the insects are completely settled before going out.”

Madam Jiang nodded. “Alright, I understand. Take Yan Cheng with you.”

“Mm.” Ling Yu called Yan Cheng and left.

The locust plague would last a long time, but its fiercest phase was only at the very beginning.

Xiangxi Town had first suffered an earthquake, then a locust disaster — calling it a living hell would not be an exaggeration.

Many people failed to take precautions in time and were bitten and injured.

At this time, however, the wounded who had been taken in by Su Yuan escaped disaster.

Everyone felt extremely fortunate and became even more sincerely grateful to Su Yuan.

In truth, Su Yuan had a splitting headache over all this.

He had only just taken office when so many incidents occurred; he felt like the official hat he had barely begun wearing might soon be knocked off.

But then he thought again — it wasn’t only Xiangxi Town that suffered, but also other towns and even Weng City. With Yi Zhanhong taking the pressure above him, he should be fine.

Although Su Yuan had taken in the injured, he did not cover their meals. He only had Madam Su distribute porridge once a day.

Everyone understood. Being rescued and given a place to stay was already very good.

They couldn’t expect someone to provide both food and lodging — he wasn’t their father, after all. Why should he?

Of course, a few people wanted to stir up trouble, but more people were worried they might lose even this shelter, so the troublemaking voices were suppressed.

The huge estate was packed. The servants’ quarters were filled to capacity, with three to four injured people per room. Su Yuan also thoughtfully provided firewood and had people fill the large water vats outside the courtyard every day for shared use.

Not only the servants’ rooms, but every usable building — good or poor — was filled with people.

Larger rooms held ten to twenty people; smaller ones held fewer.

In extraordinary times, everyone could only squeeze together and wait for government relief to arrive.

After the earthquake, many people had already lost their homes. Now with the locust plague, even more were worried about what they would eat next.

But the most troubled places were not the towns — it was the villages.

Where the locusts passed, not a blade of grass remained.

The villagers of Huanshan Village fell into an unprecedented crisis.

By the time the locusts completely quieted down, five days had passed.

Only then did the villagers come out to start catching locusts to use as future food.

Some villagers even went to the village head to discuss fleeing the famine.

Old Shen looked at the dozen or so people before him, each representing a household.

Huanshan Village had only a little over fifty households to begin with, and now more than ten families were preparing to leave.

That didn’t even include those who hadn’t come.

Old Shen felt deeply helpless.

Whenever there was a natural disaster, it always came down to two words — fleeing famine.

But fleeing famine was never easy.

All kinds of people were on the road — robbers, murderers, even cases of people exchanging children to eat… there were far too many horrors.

In Old Shen’s mind, fleeing famine was a terrifying thing; it was safer to stay in the village.

You couldn’t blame him for thinking that — when he was young, he had fled famine with his parents from another village to Huanshan Village.

So he knew better than anyone how dangerous that journey could be.