After all, the people in this village had benefited a lot from Old Tu.
“No, Aunt Ju, it’s alright. I just have something to discuss with Uncle.” Aunt Ju was really about to fetch some grain for her, so An Jiuyue stopped her quickly.
She had just bought so much food. How could she take someone else’s food? Besides, life was not easy for anyone here.
The people were already satisfied that the grain in the fields was enough to fill their stomachs after paying taxes. In fact, this was supposed to be a year of great harvest. However, they would have to eat porridge to survive because of the heavy rain.
“You’re looking for him? He’s not at home. He went to visit his relatives in the neighboring village and will only be back at night,” Aunt Ju replied.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
An Jiuyue felt that there was no difference between telling the Junior Officer or Aunt Ju—at least she alerted them about this. Hence, she recounted what she saw.
“I went to the town today. On the way there, I passed by the Cascade River and went closer to take a look. The river water levels have risen high. We don’t know when it will stop raining so I was afraid that…”
“Will there be a flood soon?”
There had been villages near the Cascade River that were hit by floods in the past. Many people had died.
“I’m not sure either, but we have to be careful, right? Of course, it’d be great if there’s no flood, but if it really occurs, we have to be prepared.”
An Jiuyue said honestly.
“To tell you the truth, Aunt Ju, I just came from the Chief’s house. I didn’t get to meet the Chief and only saw Aunt Kang. When I told her about it, she gave me a good scolding and chased me away, accusing me of jinxing everyone.
“I wanted to drop this matter since I live on the mountain and the floods will not affect me. However, there are so many people living in the village. I can’t ignore this.
“That’s why I came to look for Uncle. I wanted to tell him about this.”
Aunt Ju’s face darkened when she heard about this. “That old lady is ignorant! Jiuyue, don’t lower yourself to her level,” Aunt Ju said, criticizing Aunt Kang.
An Jiuyue told them about this matter out of kindness! How dare she scold her for it!
“Don’t worry. When he returns, I’ll tell him to take this matter seriously.”
An Jiuyue felt relieved.
“Aunt Ju, my two children are still at home. I’ll go back now.”
She said, standing up as she got ready to leave. However, before she left she suddenly recalled something and turned towards Aunt Ju.
“Aunt Ju, even if we highly doubt that a flood will occur, I think we should still protect our food stock just in case. There are a few caves in the mountain. Why don’t—”
“I know, I know. He knows all this too,” Aunt Ju replied hastily.
In the past, they would store the food in mountain caves and assign some people to guard it whenever there was heavy rain.
An Jiuyue finally felt relieved and prepared to leave.
Aunt Ju stopped her just as she was about to leave.
“Aunt Ju, is there anything else?” An Jiuyue turned around and asked.
“I heard from the villagers that you want to sell Rong’er?” Aunt Ju thought for a long time before asking hesitantly.