As Jiang Wan and her group were diligently training, the lives of the people in Yao County became increasingly difficult.
Winter had arrived, and the weather had begun to turn cold.
The citizens had been crammed together for nearly a month, facing constant inconvenience. The winters in Jiangnan were severely damp and cold. Without charcoal for heating, the chill seemed to penetrate to the bone, rendering any amount of clothing useless.
The villagers from the small mountain village found it not cold at all; the winters in Jianzhou were truly freezing, but these Jiangnan residents cried out that they couldn't bear it.
The county was sealed off, and the fuel within the city was limited. There wasn't even enough firewood for cooking, let alone for heating.
As the temperature dropped sharply, many elderly people and children soon fell ill from the cold.
Illness required a doctor, and after the doctor examined them and prescribed medicine, the people faced a dilemma.
How were they to find firewood to boil the medicine?
Some desperate citizens began dismantling their furniture to burn.
However, many more from outside the city had no furniture to burn.
With no other recourse, the people gathered outside the county yamen, clamoring for Magistrate Cheng to provide a solution.
Magistrate Cheng had no good solutions. He had already ordered the citizens to chop down the trees in the city for firewood a few days prior, even having the flowers and plants in his own backyard uprooted.
But these resources wouldn't last long.
After all, the entire county had tens of thousands of residents, and such a population consumed a massive amount of resources daily.
Seeing that Magistrate Cheng could offer no plan, the people surrounded the yamen and refused to leave.
News of this reached the Cheng residence, causing Madam Cheng to feel dizzy and faint. Fortunately, she had attendants nearby, so no accident occurred.
Chen Yuezhi rushed over to check on her and advised, "Don't worry. Lord Cheng is an official appointed by the court; the people wouldn't dare to act rashly. They are desperate, which is why they've resorted to this, but they certainly wouldn't dare to do anything to Lord Cheng. You are pregnant now, you must not get anxious, do you understand?"
"Even if the sky were to fall, your most important duty is to protect yourself. Matters outside are for the gentlemen to resolve. What business is it of a woman to worry about things beyond her purview!"
Madam Cheng was in a state of panic. "I don't want to worry, but given the current situation, if it drags on for a few more days, chaos will surely erupt in the city. As the magistrate, my husband will be the first to be resented by the people."
Chen Yuezhi understood the chaos outside even better than Madam Cheng. She attended lessons with Divine Doctor Jin daily, and Divine Doctor Jin was very well-informed. Therefore, even without personally inspecting the city walls, she knew that many refugees had already gathered outside the walls of Yao County.
With internal and external troubles, it was as if Magistrate Cheng and other officials were being roasted.
Chen Yuezhi patted her hand. "As I said, take care of yourself. You must believe that there is always a way out of difficulties; this current predicament is only temporary, and a solution will be found."
However, before Magistrate Cheng and the others could devise a solution, trouble arrived.
After the people who had been sitting outside the county yamen all day received no satisfactory response, someone shouted, "Since Lord Cheng can't come up with a solution, let's go to his residence and take some things to burn to tide us over!"
Thus, the anxious hearts of the people seemed to break open, and they swarmed towards the Cheng residence.
Fortunately, Xiao Mazai received the news and immediately notified Jiang Wan. Jiang Wan rushed to the main gate and shouted to the two gatekeepers, "Quick, get inside and close the main gate!"
Although the gatekeepers didn't understand what was happening, they complied and entered the residence.
The heavy main gate was closed.
Jiang Wan calmly instructed the two, "Go to the backyard and find my brother and the others. Have them gather all the female members of the household in one place, and they are to guard the entrance, ensuring their safety, especially Aunt Cheng, so she isn't frightened!"
The gatekeepers immediately agreed and ran towards the backyard.
Soon, all the female members of the household, including maids and servants, were brought to Madam Cheng's courtyard.
The women all entered the house, while the Da Lang brothers, the guards, and all the household retainers stood guard in the courtyard.
The atmosphere was tense.
Outside the residence, a large crowd of people had arrived at the Cheng residence's gate. Seeing the main gate tightly shut, the enraged citizens rushed forward and began banging on the door.
"Open the door, open it quickly! We need firewood, we need to eat, we need medicine! Open the door! Open it quickly!"
The sheer number of people made the main gate shake with their pounding.
Jiang Wan stood in the courtyard, listening to the commotion outside. An inappropriate thought crossed her mind: fortunately, everyone was short on supplies now; otherwise, under normal circumstances, the commoners would be throwing rotten vegetables and rotten eggs at the Cheng residence's gate.
However, letting them continue to make such a fuss was not a solution. Jiang Wan had Xiao Mazai investigate the situation. There were over a thousand people gathered outside, and Jiang Pan was leading the yamen officials in trying to persuade them.
But with only twenty or so people against a thousand enraged and out-of-control citizens, their persuasion was utterly powerless.
Fearing that the main gate of the Cheng residence would be pushed down by the crowd, Jiang Wan pushed off the ground and, using her momentum, climbed onto the roof.
The people were fervently trying to smash open the Cheng residence's main gate and did not notice a child suddenly appear on the roof.
Jiang Wan amplified her voice with her abilities and shouted, "All of you, stop!"
This shout was truly thunderous.
The people present felt their ears ringing, and some even felt a dull ache.
Seeing that the people had stopped and were covering their ears, Jiang Wan was pleased with the effect.
Once she confirmed they had recovered, Jiang Wan quickly said, "This is the residence of an official appointed by the court. Are you not afraid of being thrown into prison for gathering here to cause trouble?"
Upon hearing this, many of the people began to feel intimidated.
They had acted out of desperation, incited by someone, and had rushed to bang on the door without considering the consequences.
The common people did not contend with officials, and the reverence for officials was ingrained in the hearts of the people in feudal society.
Therefore, many people wanted to slip away quickly before the authorities arrived to arrest them.
But suddenly, someone in the crowd said, "We are not here to cause trouble; we are only here asking for a way to live! Magistrate Cheng can no longer provide a solution. Can he really let so many of us starve to death?"
Upon remembering the hardships of recent days, some people echoed the sentiment and shouted along.
Jiang Wan glanced in the direction of the voice and quickly identified the speaker.
It was a dark-skinned man with a somewhat shifty gaze and tattered clothes. With just one look, Jiang Wan confirmed that this person was not from Jiangnan.