novelaction Chapter 472 Men of unknown origin
Chapter 472 Men of unknown origin
The men looked at each other and then burst into laughter.
The leader was also amused. He looked at the things in her yard and said, "Don't worry. As long as your things are not gold, silver or jewelry, we won't be interested. What are you transporting?"
Seeing this, Zhou Guo finally let go of the worry she had been having. She played dumb and stood up and said, "Wait a minute. I'll treat you to something to eat."
She walked over and picked up a dozen pine mushrooms. Before she put them down, several people looked at the mushrooms in her hand and their faces changed. They said happily, "Oh, this is amazing! Isn't this a pine mushroom?"
Zhou Guo was stunned. He didn't expect that they knew each other. He said, "Yes, this is what we picked up from the mountain. We want to take it to the capital to sell."
When they heard this, they were even more surprised, "You, all those cars of yours have these things?"
Zhou Guo nodded, "Yes, these are what our villagers picked up together in the mountains. They belong to our entire village. We will bring them in and sell them tomorrow, and we have to give the money back to the villagers."
A few people looked at the young men in the temple, and then looked at Hu Zi, Zhou Cheng and the other older men, thinking that they were all villagers. They couldn't help but ask, "Why are all the people doing business in your village kids..."
Before he could finish his words, he remembered what Zhou Guo said at the beginning. All the able-bodied men in the family were drafted into the army, so there were naturally no adults left. These were probably the oldest group of boys in the village.
No one spoke for a moment.
Zhou Guo didn't say anything else. He took out a bamboo knife and started scraping the mud, slicing the meat, stringing it onto branches, then took the small oil bottle on the ground, brushed it with oil, and grilled it over the fire.
Seeing how familiar she was, the others didn't take it seriously. They just sniffed the aroma intoxicatedly and said, "I didn't expect to know about pine mushrooms here. They smell so good. They're even delicious when roasted like this!"
A square-faced, bearded man opposite said, "Hey, girl, there are so many of us, and there are only so few flowers. Can't you give us more? How many carts do you have?"
The leader stopped them quietly, saying, "These are things that people have worked hard to pick up in the mountains and sell for money. If you want to eat them, you have to pay for them. There is no reason to eat them for free!"
The round-faced man liked Zhou Guo and his brother very much, and agreed, "That's right, if you want to eat, you have to pay. Even if you go to the street to eat a bowl of noodles, you still have to pay. You can't bully children just because you are old. Are you really a bandit?"
The square-faced man looked around and said, "I didn't say I wouldn't pay you!"
As he spoke, he took out a silver ingot from his pocket and handed it to Zhou Guo, "Here, take it. How many pounds can this money buy?"
Zhou Guo was stunned, looking at the silver, it seemed to be five taels. He was so generous, he must look down on their meager money.
She smiled and waved her hands, saying, "Uncles, no need. The world is so big, and we are lucky to be able to gather in this dilapidated temple. It is fate that we have met. Although pine mushrooms are delicious and rare, they are just mountain products after all. I will treat you to this mushroom tonight."
Hu Zi was very smart and took a basket down from the car directly.
Several people were stunned by her words. Looking at the basket of mushrooms in front of them, some of them even swallowed their saliva. Zhou Guo glanced at him and found that it was none other than the round-faced man who looked like her father. No wonder he had a big belly and a round face, it turned out that it was caused by eating too much.
One person laughed and said, "I didn't expect such words to come out of a little girl's mouth. This is incredible."
Everyone laughed.
The leader smiled and nodded, "It's such a kind gesture from the little girl, so we would be honored to refuse it."
The group was roasting food by the fire, including dry rations, dried meat, and pine mushroom slices. The aroma wafted out of the temple.
A few beggars in the backyard couldn't resist the smell. Thinking that Zhou Guo and his group were all children, they felt soft-hearted and came up to ask for some food. However, they saw a few men drinking and grilling food, so they quickly retracted their heads when they popped up.
After being a beggar for a long time, they meet all kinds of people every day. They can tell what kind of people they can mess with and what kind of people they can't mess with just one glance, and they will shrink back obediently.
The square-faced man saw it, frowned, and was about to speak.
Zhou Guo hurriedly said, "It's okay, it's okay."
After explaining the origins of these people, everyone felt relieved.
After she roasted a few flowers, the round-faced man next to her took over what she was doing with another person. He stuffed a few strips of meat into her hands. Zhou Su also stuffed a few strips into her hands and ate them with relish.
Zhou Guo also ate one and nodded secretly. It tasted very good, even better than what her family made at home. It seemed that her dream of getting rich by selling dried meat would not come true.
The leader saw her eating and looking at each other, and asked with a smile: "Where are you from, girl? Why did you come here to do business?"
Zhou Guo said: "From Yunzhou."
"Oh?" Several people were surprised. "How did Cheng Ding come to Yunzhou? Can't Yunzhou be sold?"
Zhou Guo sighed and told the story of people robbing goods outside the city gate. "The villagers originally wanted to go to Yunzhou to sell their goods, but they were afraid of being robbed. They were afraid that if the goods were gone, they would be gone too."
Several people frowned, "Yunzhou is in such a mess? The government doesn't care?"
How would Zhou Guo know? She didn't know anyone in the government office. She smiled and said, "Our old man has already taken a team with him. With him here, there will be no problem."
Several people were stunned, "Grandpa? Didn't your grandpa pass away?"
Zhou Guo had no choice but to tell him that they were originally refugees, sighing as she spoke. She was not without her guard, but looking at the man's kind face, she couldn't help but let her words come out. Besides, it was not a secret, so she just said it.
After hearing what she said, several people couldn't help but listen in silence. Even Hu Zi and his group pricked up their ears. They didn't expect that they were also refugees. This was really true, all refugees have different fates!
After that, Zhou Guo threw the question back and asked them where they were from and what they did.
Several men looked at the leader. They had asked the little girl so many questions, including information about her family members. They couldn't just not answer any of them, so they answered a few unimportant questions.
They said their family was a big landlord and that they came this time to look at Cheng Dingxin’s shop.
Zhou Guo didn't believe it, but nodded anyway. Looking at his appearance, he didn't look like a landlord at all. Maybe he was a high-ranking official who was on a secret visit.
Look at the questions they asked later. They were all about the resettlement of these refugees, how many acres of land were allocated, this year's tax revenue, what they thought of Yunzhou, whether business was good for them, the small vendors, and whether miscellaneous taxes should be collected. These were all people's livelihood issues.
It would be good if this could put an end to the chaos outside Yunzhou.
The basket of mushrooms was eaten up and the night was getting dark.
Zhou Cheng and his group had fallen asleep long ago.
Zhou Su was lying on her legs, sleeping with his arms and legs spread out.