Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Saved Tax Grain

One of the young men who had just come to buy medicine rushed in hastily, startling the old doctor so much that his heart skipped a few beats. “You…”

Before he could finish speaking, the young man said, “Sir, we can’t leave you behind. Come with us. As long as I, Qi Dafu, have a bite to eat, you’ll never go hungry.”

As Qi Dafu spoke, he reached out to grab the old doctor’s arm.

The old doctor was so frightened that he exclaimed, “You, young man, you, you…”

Qi Dafu grabbed the old doctor’s arm and spun around, lifting the man onto his back.

The old doctor was so scared that even his beard trembled. Several times he wanted to speak, but the young man’s actions were so rough that he was left gasping for air, unable to utter a single word.

Qi Ercai came in at this moment and, seeing his brother’s actions, laughed in exasperation, “Brother, put the old gentleman down first.”

“You, Second Brother, you…”

“Oh, put him down first. Even if you’re taking the old gentleman with us, there’s no rush. Let him at least pack some clothes!”

Qi Ercai saw the anger on his brother’s face and knew he had misunderstood him.

Qi Dafu was about to curse in anger, but hearing this, realized he’d been a bit hasty, and put the old doctor down.

The old doctor steadied his breathing against the counter before finally speaking, “What are you all doing? I didn’t say I was going with you!”

“Sir, stop nagging. Hurry up and pack your things so we can leave together!”

Qi Ercai stepped forward, his voice relatively gentle, “We’re just going to hide for a bit. Once the rebels leave, we’ll bring you back.”

“Yes, yes, we’ll bring you back once everything’s okay,”

Qi Dafu hurriedly chimed in.

Although the old doctor’s eyes weren’t very sharp, he could see that these two young men meant well. He sighed and asked, “Which village are you from?”

“Yongping Village.”

Qi Ercai replied.

But in the next moment, the old man frowned and asked, “The one with Doctor Qin?”

“Yes!”

This time it was Qi Dafu who answered.

The old doctor sighed again, “Fine, fine, it’s fate. You, go to the backyard and pack my clothes.”

The old doctor instructed, pointing at Qi Dafu.

Qi Dafu was momentarily confused but, prompted by Qi Ercai, quickly ran towards the back.

The old doctor spoke to Qi Ercai again, “Is there any room left on your cart?”

Without waiting for Qi Ercai to reply, the old doctor continued, “I have some herbs in the shop that I need to take with me.”

“Alright! You give the order, I’ll pack everything and bring it along.”

Although Qi Ercai wasn’t sure how many herbs the old doctor had, he realized that if they didn’t take them, the old man probably wouldn’t come quietly. If his brother’s temper flared up again and angered the old man, it would be trouble, so he readily agreed.

By the time they all left the medicine shop, almost an hour had passed.

By now, the three Qi brothers were getting anxious.

They had no idea how worried their fourth brother and mother had become waiting outside the city for so long. But they couldn’t just stop midway through packing.

The old man’s clothes were not many, but combined with bedding and such, it added up to quite a bit.

The most was still the medicinal herbs.

But that ’most’ was only relative.

Each of the three brothers carried a backpack filled with various herbs wrapped in oil paper.

The smell was so overpowering it made the three of them feel a little dizzy.

There were a lot of herbs on the cart as well, but they were covered with bedding, and what couldn’t be covered was shielded by the old doctor sitting there.

Although the city wasn’t in complete chaos yet, with the county magistrate fleeing, if anyone with malicious intent appeared, they could be in trouble with all their goodies.

They finally made it out of the city gates without incident and walked quickly for a while, finally seeing Qi Quanjin anxiously pacing by the roadside with Mrs. Qi wiping away tears.

“You rascals, why are you so slow!”

Seeing her three sons, Mrs. Qi’s tears flowed even more freely. Her words sounded as if she couldn’t speak without scolding them.

“Mother, please calm down.”

Qi Ercai rushed forward, not even bothering to unload the backpack off his back, and quickly patted the old lady’s back.

At this moment, Qi Quanjin noticed the old man sitting on the cart and asked, “Second Brother, who is this…”

Mrs. Qi also just noticed there was an extra person.

Upon seeing who it was, Mrs. Qi exclaimed, rather excitedly, “Doctor Yin, you…”

Yin Cheng looked at Mrs. Qi, a bit embarrassed, “Madam, I’m sorry to intrude.”

“Mother, the old gentleman is alone at home. Even his attendant was sent away. Leaving him alone in the city, we couldn’t rest easy, so we brought him out.”

Qi Ercai explained.

Mrs. Qi still hadn’t fully processed everything, but didn’t say anything unpleasant. She just sighed, “The world is in chaos, truly in chaos.”

“It’s getting late, we should hurry back!”

Qi Quanjin glanced towards the city gates.

The number of people, carts, and donkey carts leaving the city had noticeably increased.

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Since Mrs. Qi was a woman, it wasn’t appropriate for her to sit on the cart with the old man, so Qi Quanjin continued to carry her.

The four brothers’ pace wasn’t slow on their way back either.

Just halfway through, the group saw villagers heading to sell grain together.

“Ah, Qi Brothers, you’re back from the city? You left quite early!”

Some men who were familiar with the Qi Family greeted them with a smile.

Qi Ercai hurried forward, waving, “Don’t go to the city; it’s in chaos.”

“What the…?”

Everyone looked perplexed.

The village chief was in the group too. Upon hearing the commotion, he got off his cart and called out, “Ercai, what did you just say?”

Qi Ercai came up to the village chief and explained the situation in the city.

This instantly dispelled the previously cheerful atmosphere in the group.

“What? The, the county magistrate has, has fled?”

“Oh dear! This year’s harvest was supposed to be so good, and I thought we could finally have a bountiful year, but now fighting’s broken out?”

The villagers wailed in dismay.

The village chief also felt uneasy, but quickly calmed down and scolded, “Why the fuss! Hurry up and turn back. While they haven’t collected the tax grain yet, we should hide it! Even in chaos, we need food!”

On hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

This year’s harvest was good, but the government hadn’t come to collect the tax grain yet. They thought it just wasn’t their turn yet, little did they know the tax grain wouldn’t need to be paid anymore.

Though the news of chaos made everyone’s hearts race, the thought of keeping three-tenths of their tax grain left them feeling a touch of joy.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep