Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside
Chapter 62 - 062 He’an Prefecture

Chapter 62: Chapter 062 He’an Prefecture

Scholar Zhong had never thought of adopting Ma Cuilan, and was stunned upon hearing her pleading cries.

Seeing Scholar Zhong dumbfounded, Ma Cuilan’s tears flowed even more violently as she kept knocking her head against the ground, saying while kowtowing, "Scholar sir, Cuilan truly has nowhere else to turn to, please adopt Cuilan."

Ma Cuilan had already sustained injuries on her head, and the violent kowtowing caused her freshly bandaged wound to bleed again, which the surrounding disaster victims found hard to bear.

Some women stopped her, not allowing her to kowtow any further.

Some women spoke on her behalf: "Scholar Zhong, please adopt this girl. She’s an unmarried young woman, and she has encountered such a predicament. She cannot continue to travel alone; she needs to find a kind and generous family to take her in."

"The officials always emphasize how they treat the people as their children, don’t they? You are a scholar, and in our eyes commoners, you are just like the officials in the government office. You cannot ignore this girl at a time like this."

"Yes, Scholar Zhong, this girl Cuilan is quite pitiable. Please adopt her."

More than a dozen women took turns persuading Scholar Zhong with flattery, stirring him greatly. He felt that, as a scholar, as noble as officials, he should indeed protect Ma Cuilan who had no one to rely on.

Village Chief Ren, seeing Scholar Zhong swayed, said in a timely manner: "Scholar Zhong, you are not like the rest of us mud-legged folks, you come from a family known for its good deeds, you are a scholar with distinguished achievements, especially caring for the people, and your family members are all kindhearted. Moreover, since you have no daughter, it would be perfect for Cuilan to become your daughter."

Village Chief Ren sighed, "Alas, my household has many mouths to feed, and we are not wealthy. If my family were as well-off as yours, I would definitely adopt this child Cuilan."

In the Great Chu Dynasty, the village chief could directly enter the government office and see the County Magistrate, being considered a minor official in the local area, a person of considerable importance in ten miles around, and often, village chiefs would not even regard scholars highly, since scholars could not become officials, and to achieve distinction, one had to pass the scholar exams.

Thus, when flattered like this by Village Chief Ren, Scholar Zhong became quite dizzy with elation, and with a smiling face said, "Village Chief Ren, you overpraise me. I also cannot bear to see a child suffer, and am just lending a hand."

Village Chief Ren was overjoyed and quickly told Ma Cuilan, "Child, what are you standing there for? Hurry and thank Scholar Zhong. He agrees to adopt you as his daughter."

Ma Cuilan, quick to catch on, immediately began to sob and said to Scholar Zhong, "Cuilan... no, your daughter is grateful to you, father, for taking her in. She vows to always be filial to father and mother, to respect her elder brother and sister-in-law, and to take good care of her nephews and nieces. She will diligently help around the house and not cause any trouble for the family."

After speaking, she kowtowed three loud times to Scholar Zhong, officially acknowledging him as her father.

The surrounding disaster victims were happy to see the matter resolved, especially Village Chief Ren and Ma Cuilan.

Village Chief Ren was completely relieved, for if Scholar Zhong had not adopted Ma Cuilan, with her temperament, she would assuredly have caused trouble on the road, and he did not wish to be involved in any more of Ma Cuilan’s issues.

Ma Cuilan achieved her goal, becoming a young lady of the Scholar’s Family, which one could say was like climbing onto a branch and transforming into a phoenix, a status that was much more distinguished than when she was at the Ma Family.

Village Chief Miao, seeing the matter settled, was very happy. Knowing that Scholar Zhong enjoyed compliments, he praised him with a few ingratiating words, making Scholar Zhong feel completely at ease. Then, in front of all the disaster victims, he had the villagers from Miao Family Gully escort Miao Liushun and gave him twenty strokes with a plank, thus the matter was considered closed.

Seeing Miao Liushun punished and having lectured him with an officious air, Scholar Zhong, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of being an Old Master, happily led Ma Cuilan back to his own resting place.

After Scholar Zhong and Ma Cuilan left, Village Chief Miao also led the villagers of Miao Family Gully, carrying Miao Liushun back to their village’s resting grounds, and Village Chief Ren also left.

The disaster victims, seeing no more drama to watch, dispersed one after another, only Third Grandma still couldn’t snap out of it, standing there.

Third Grandpa looked at her, snorted, and said, "You see clearly now, don’t be blindly kind-hearted again. Girls who have suffered are scheming, there’s no need for your sympathy."

That Ma Cuilan never thought of having their family adopt her, it was merely using their family as a stepping-stone, to stir up the situation and take the opportunity to latch onto a family with better conditions.

Third Grandma had tearful eyes, lowered her head to wipe away her tears, nodded, and grunted in agreement with Third Grandpa’s words.

Third Grandpa knew she felt terrible inside, because of the childless incident and the matter with Fuyan, she couldn’t bear to see young girls suffer, he sighed, took Third Grandma’s hand, and said: "Let’s go back, it’s time to cook." With him around, he would surely outlive her, not letting her have a desolate end after death.

After Scholar Zhong brought Ma Cuilan back, the Zhong Family People caused a scene, but in the end, they couldn’t drive Ma Cuilan away.

In the following days, the weather grew colder and colder, and to survive, everyone could only accelerate their pace. In less than two days, they arrived outside the city of Tongshan Prefecture, but the garrison army of Tongshan Prefecture also set up roadblocks, not allowing the disaster victims to enter the city.

Having no other option, the disaster victims could only move forward, passed through Pingning Prefecture, and entered the Jianghuai region.

Jianghuai was close to Jiangnan, and the disaster was not as severe, the river water had only gone down by half, without drying up.

When Third Grandpa and others saw the flowing river water, they were overwhelmed with tears, but the officials in Jianghuai, fearing that the disaster victims would make trouble, dared not let them stay. Just like the Central State Six Prefectures, the city gates were firmly closed, not allowing the disaster victims to enter the city or providing any disaster relief.

The disaster victims once again fell into despair, cursing heaven and earth, swearing at the officials of Jianghuai and other places. After the curses, they hit the road again, rushing towards Jiangnan, hoping that the officials in Jiangnan would open the city gates for them, to give them a way to survive.

Hurrying along, passing through four prefecture cities of Jianghuai, they arrived at He’an Prefecture, where unexpectedly, they were stopped by a large garrison army and were not allowed to continue south.

The disaster victims did not know what had happened, they could only stop and camp out in the outskirts of He’an Prefecture.

Though curious about why the government would not let them continue south, now in the middle of December and the depth of winter, the cold was bone-chilling, and to survive, they had to suppress their curiosity and begin looking for firewood to keep warm.

Gu Jinli and a few other families found a wind-sheltered place, worked together to chop branches and find wild grass, and finally managed to set up a shelter for the night as darkness fell.

When they finished setting up the shelter and started a fire, boiling water, Qin Er Lang and Brother Qin also returned from gathering information.

Upon seeing them return, the few families immediately welcomed them into the shelter, didn’t wait for them to sit down, and immediately asked, "Brother Qin Er, Brother Qin, what’s the situation in the Prefecture? Why aren’t we allowed to continue south?"

Qin San Lang replied, "Disaster victims from the Northwest, Northeast, and those moving south, some of them have rebelled and taken over a dozen prefecture cities. The situation is now in chaos, and the court has no choice but to commit all efforts to disaster relief."

"Jiangnan is the granary of Great Chu, and in order to protect Jiangnan, the court has deployed heavy troops to He’an Prefecture and Linhe Prefecture, intent on stopping the disaster victims at the north of Huai River, and not allowing them to cross Huai River into the interior of Jiangnan."

That is why the disaster victims were stopped.