bestfiction Chapter 199 Locust Plague
Chapter 199 Locust Plague
That day, Nangong Wenrui and his wife arrived at Heping Village in Jiajin County. Seeing the villagers working in the fields, their backs drenched in sweat from the sun, Wen Yuxia softly remarked, "The sweltering summer is truly unbearable."
Nangong Wenrui asked in a low voice, "Should we go back?"
“No need, we haven’t done anything, it’s not hot,” Wen Yuxia said sympathetically, pointing to the villagers wiping away sweat in the fields. “They’re the ones who are working hard.”
Upon hearing this, Bei Yi turned to look at the villagers working in the fields, his voice filled with surprise: "It's going to rain; dark clouds are drifting towards us from the horizon."
With the rain, the villagers wouldn't be exposed to the scorching sun, and they wouldn't need to carry water to irrigate the crops in the fields. Bei Yi was genuinely happy for the villagers.
Wen Yuxia was also pleased to hear about the dark clouds, but when she looked back, she saw a large, dark cloud covering the horizon, moving very fast.
Nangong Wenrui glanced back at the rapidly approaching dark clouds and said, "Looks like a heavy downpour is coming. Mu Hua, let's find a secluded spot back to the black market to take shelter from the rain and wait for the sky to clear before setting off again."
Wen Yuxia couldn't bear to see the villagers working in the fields being scorched by the sun and then drenched by the torrential rain. She channeled her inner strength and shouted, "The rain is coming! Hurry home!"
Hearing Wen Yuxia's shouts, the villagers turned around to look. An elderly villager exclaimed, "Those aren't dark clouds, they're locusts! It's all over, all over! This year's crops are ruined!"
The old man collapsed to the ground as he shouted, leaving the other villagers stunned. They stared dumbfounded at the vast expanse of dark clouds on the horizon.
"Locusts, really locusts, swarms of locusts!" another villager cried out in despair.
At this moment, Wen Yuxia also clearly saw that what was moving rapidly was not clouds but locusts. The clouds were not moving that fast; the dark mass was the locusts.
"Stop looking! It's locusts! Everyone, hurry home! Close the doors and windows, and watch the children carefully to avoid being bitten!" Wen Yuxia shouted.
The villagers, as if waking from a dream, stumbled and scrambled up the ridges of the fields towards their homes. The crops were gone; they could only worry about themselves first.
The old man who spoke first called out as he ran towards Wen Yuxia and the others, "Young man, come with me quickly, let's go to my house to take refuge."
Originally intending to return to the black market, Wen Yuxia and the others had no choice but to run forward with him. When they reached the old man, Nan Yu grabbed him and lifted him onto the horse, coldly asking, "Uncle, where is your home?"
The old man pointed with a trembling finger to a small courtyard with blue bricks in the distance: "There, over there."
The group rode their horses toward the old man's house. Suddenly, the old man spoke up, saying, "Brave men, please take my son and daughter-in-law with you."
Nangong Wenrui said in a low voice, "Take them with you."
The old man's voice trembled slightly as he said, "Eldest brother, second brother, third brother, come here quickly!" Three men and three women rushed over.
Bei Yi, Bei Er, and Bei San carried the three women onto the horse's back, while Nan Xiang, Nan Shang, and Nan Qing took the old man's three sons.
Nangong Wenrui said with a cold face, "Mu Hua, you go first. I'll hold off the locusts for the villagers."
The locusts were moving so fast that Nangong Wenrui estimated the villagers would be overtaken by them before they even reached their homes. He decided to help them.
Wen Yuxia calmly said, "Together," then waved for Bei Yi and his group, who were leading the old man's family, to leave first. She and Bei Si leaped to the ground, gently patted the horse's rump, and the horse obediently followed Bei Yi and his group away.
Seeing this, Nangong Wenrui remained silent, jumped off his horse, patted its head, and the horse affectionately breathed warm air on his face before quickly riding away.
Before long, swarms of locusts swept in like a tidal wave. Nangong Wenrui, Wen Yuxia, and Bei Yi stood side by side, ignoring the locusts devouring the crops in the fields.
The locusts flying along the villagers' path home were struck by the three men's palm strikes and fell to the ground one by one. With their help, all the villagers returned home safely.
Nangong Wenrui glanced back; there wasn't a soul in sight on the village road. He then led Wen Yuxia and Bei Yi back to the black market to escape the locust plague.
Led by the old man, Bei Yi and the others drove the horses into an unused side room. The old man stayed with them in the side room, and the light in the room grew dimmer and dimmer. The old man asked worriedly, "They haven't returned yet. Do you want to go and check on them?"
Bei Yi gently shook his head and said softly, "No need, the locusts can't hurt them." Bei Yi and the others knew that Wen Yuxia and the others had a way to avoid the locusts, so they weren't worried about their safety at all.
The old man, who had experienced locust plagues in his youth, said dejectedly, "Alas, this year's harvest is going to be terrible."
Nangong Wenrui could clearly see the locust plague outside from within the small world. He described the situation to Wen Yuxia with a blank expression.
The dozens of acres of land they had just seen had been completely devoured by the locusts, and now the locusts had landed on another field, swarming every single crop.
The crops were devoured in an instant; the unripe ears of rice disappeared without a trace, leaving only a small stalk of rice in the fields, and the grass on the hillside was also eaten by locusts...
From Nangong Wenrui's narration, Wen Yuxia seemed to see a barren land. A trace of sadness appeared on her face. Alas, after the locust plague, the villagers, with no crops to harvest, still had to fight against the locust eggs in the fields.
The locusts came quickly and left quickly. As Nangong Wenrui, Wen Yuxia, and Bei Si emerged from the small world, they heard the villagers' mournful cries.
The villagers who emerged from their houses turned deathly pale at the sight of their ravaged crops. They collapsed to the ground, pounding their fists on the earth to vent their rage.
The old man who led Bei Yi and the others home to escape the locust plague was the village chief of Heping Village. He suppressed his grief and said in a hoarse voice, "Fellow villagers, the crops are gone, but we still have land. Hurry up and clear out the locust eggs so we can plant another round of vegetables."
Having experienced locust plagues before, he was very knowledgeable and instructed the villagers to drive all their chickens, ducks, and geese into the fields to eat the locust eggs.
Wen Yuxia looked at the poultry foraging in the fields and sighed deeply. There were so few poultry. When would they be able to finish eating the locust eggs? She whispered, "Brother Rui, please help them!"
Nangong Wenrui nodded slightly and flashed back to the small world. Soon, a large flock of ducks appeared out of thin air at the entrance of Heping Village. The villagers were all stunned when they heard the "quack quack quack" of the ducks and saw countless ducks rushing to the fields.
Nangong Wenrui, who had done a good deed anonymously, appeared quietly beside Wen Yuxia and whispered, "I have already had a large number of chickens and ducks purchased. Let's go to the village there and take a look!"
Wen Yuxia nodded, and the group rode their horses toward the next village. When they arrived at the neighboring village, they found it was also shrouded in gloom.
Nangong Wenrui immediately sprang into action. He returned to the small world, went to the location where he had arranged for the purchase of chickens and ducks, stored them inside, and instructed his men to continue purchasing. He then accurately delivered the chickens and ducks to the village entrance.
The sudden appearance of stray chickens and ducks at the village entrance surprised and delighted the villagers, who gathered around to watch them peck at insect eggs in the fields.
The crops were gone, but God sent them a large number of chickens and ducks, which undoubtedly became the village's lifeline.
Hearing villagers asking the village chief how the chickens and ducks would be distributed, and hearing the village chief say they would be distributed per capita, Wen Yuxia and her husband exchanged a smile and quietly left with Bei Yi and the others.
Along the way, the villages they passed through were all desolate. Seeing the villagers kneeling helplessly by the fields, weeping in sorrow, Wen Yuxia's eyes welled with tears.
Every time Nangong Wenrui arrived at a village, he would teleport back to his small world, release the poultry he had collected at the village entrance, and watch the villagers' sorrow turn to joy. Nangong Wenrui felt a great sense of accomplishment.
A mere tens of thousands of poultry might mean nothing to him, but to the villagers in these villages, they were a life-saving food source.
Just as Nangong Wenrui was thinking this, he sensed the small world shaking continuously. He looked at the small world with his mind in surprise.
The once-dried-up rivers in the miniature world were now full of water, and Nangong Wenrui even saw fish swimming happily in the water.
"Mu Hua, the rivers in the small world have returned to normal," Nangong Wenrui said excitedly.
The Nangong family ancestor had only said that if the owner of a small world consummated their marriage with someone possessing a storage treasure, the small world would return to its original state. He and Wen Yuxia had been married for nearly a year, and only mines had appeared in the small world.
Wen Yuxia said happily, "Doing good deeds can also restore the small world to its original state."
Nangong Wenrui was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. The Nangong family members weren't bad people, but they were definitely not good people either. Going back dozens of generations, it seemed that neither the head nor the young head of the Nangong family had ever done anything good.
"Hehe, I only wanted to please my wife, but I didn't expect to get such a big benefit," Nangong Wenrui said, looking at Wen Yuxia with doting eyes.
Buying poultry to help the villagers was Wen Yuxia's request. Nangong Wenrui spent the money to please Wen Yuxia, but unexpectedly, it worked out in the end.
Having discovered another secret to restoring the small world, he secretly decided that when he returned, he would ask his grandfather to write the rule of doing good deeds into the family genealogy.
After leaving that area, Nangong Wenrui and Wen Yuxia continued their journey to other affected villages. Along the way, they encountered many refugees displaced by the locust plague.
Feeling compassion, Wen Yuxia said to Nangong Wenrui, "Brother Rui, we not only need to deal with the insect eggs in the field, but we also need to help these villagers."
Nangong Wenrui nodded in agreement. Wen Yuxia then distributed relief food from her spatial storage at various intersections, while Nangong Wenrui used his small world to reach the disaster-stricken villages and release poultry into their fields.
Bei Yi and his group loudly told the refugees who had fled their homes to return to their villages, "Villagers, once you receive the relief grain, hurry back to your villages. Young Master Nangong has already sent a large number of poultry to your villages to deal with the insect eggs."
"Villagers, once you receive the relief grain, return to your village immediately. Young Master Nangong has already sent a large number of poultry to your village to deal with the insect eggs."
……
Upon hearing that there was a way to deal with the locust eggs in the fields, the villagers turned and ran towards their homes. Those who had been queuing to receive their grain stopped and hurried back the way they had come.
The more villagers Wen Yuxia and her husband helped, the more vibrant their little world became, demonstrating the power of kindness and good deeds in bringing benefits to it.
Nangong Wenrui decided to establish a department specifically to help villagers affected by natural disasters. This department would not only teach people in various regions how to prevent locust plagues, droughts, and floods, but also fund the reconstruction of their homes.
Wen Yuxia smiled slightly and said softly, "Brother Rui, I'll cover one-third of the expenses for the relief department."
Having lived two lives, Wen Yuxia also wanted to accumulate good karma for herself. Helping the court make money was accumulating good karma, and helping the people was also accumulating good karma. She wanted to get involved in anything that could accumulate good karma.
Nangong Wenrui understood Wen Yuxia's thoughts. He nodded slightly and murmured "Mmm," agreeing to Wen Yuxia's request to provide funding.
Because the couple happened to be at the scene of the locust plague, and because of their help, not a single villager from the more than thirty affected villages in Jiajin County had to flee their homes.
In the fields, along the edges of the fields, on the hillsides, and on the mountains, the locust eggs laid in the ground were all eaten clean by the poultry that Nangong Wenrui had released.
Upon learning of the locust plague, the magistrate of Jiajin County rushed to the scene to assess the damage. However, what he saw upon arrival left him speechless.
Contrary to expectations, there was no wailing or weeping. Instead, there was laughter and joy, and the villagers were happily sitting together, joyfully distributing their poultry!
The county magistrate was greatly astonished; such a strange sight was far beyond his imagination. He immediately wrote a report on the villagers' situation after the locust plague and submitted it to the prefectural government. The prefectural officials dared not delay and quickly forwarded the report.
The emperor unfolded the memorials before his desk, quickly glanced through them, then frowned slightly. A figure instantly flashed into his mind, and he issued an edict summoning Xia Yichen to the palace for an audience.
After receiving the imperial decree, Xia Yichen quickly arrived at the palace. After paying his respects, the emperor eagerly asked, "Yichen, was this strange incident in Jiajin County the work of Mu Hua?"
He knew that Wen Yuxia and her husband were traveling, and besides Wen Yuxia, he really couldn't think of anyone else with such abilities.
In fact, Xia Yichen had already received the relevant information and was fully aware of the whereabouts and actions of Wen Yuxia and her husband. He smiled and nodded.
The reply came: "Your Majesty, it was indeed the work of Mu Hua and his wife. They not only appeared in various disaster-stricken villages, but also distributed food to the villagers and persuaded them to return to their homes."
Then, Xia Yichen vividly recounted to the emperor the shouts made by the people of Bei Yi.
Upon hearing this, the emperor looked surprised and muttered to himself, "It's unbelievable that the Nangong family would actually do good deeds!"
Upon hearing the emperor's remarks, Xia Yichen couldn't help but chuckle softly: "Hehe..." His laughter contained both appreciation for the righteous deeds of Wen Yuxia and her husband, and agreement with the emperor's assessment.