Chapter 77 - 77: Jiang Xia’s Plan
A man’s voice could be heard all of a sudden and it stunned Jiang Xia. When Jiang Xia looked up, she saw a man with combed hair and neat clothes standing in front of her.
Meeting Jiang Xia’s gaze, the man squatted down and repeated the question with a gentle expression.
“The drought has led to a decrease in food production and famine. This is a natural disaster. Even if the higher-ups are willing to manage it, they are powerless.”
Jiang Xia studied the man for a moment and revealed a child-like smile. “Although natural disasters cannot be avoided, man-made disasters can.”
Jiang Xia was trying to act like an innocent child while saying this.
She was now going to talk about the drawbacks of society and how the higher-up arrangements can help. She had to pretend to be a naive young girl or she would be arrested and criticized. That is not the life she wanted!
“Man-made disaster?” The man frowned and asked.
“That’s right! In order to put on the good side in front of the leaders, some village chiefs falsely reported their grain production. For their reputation, they are willing to hand over grains that could end up saving other villager’s life. Some people in our neighboring villages have starved to death!”
Seeing the man’s shocked face, Jiang Xia continued, “Our village chief was reprimanded the last time just because he wanted to leave some food for the villagers. The higher-up told them that he had given too little food compared to the other villagers and told us to make up for it.”
The expression on the man’s face changed from shock to anger, and the people around him frowned slightly.
Most of the girls who were waiting in front of the Shen family house started to sympathize with Jiang Xia when they heard about her encounter.
“The higher-up working with your village chief is so bad! If the villagers really starved to death, who will be doing the rest of the plantation?” A well-dressed girl spoke first.
“That’s right!” Another girl echoed and the discussion started to spread gradually.
The man who spoke just now became quiet as if he was thinking about something.
Jiang Xia stood up and patted the dust off her body. She pulled Jiang Gu to her side and smiled sweetly at the crowd before saying, “Brothers and sisters, my sister and I will leave first. Goodbye.”
“Oh, okay.” The girl who spoke to Jiang Xia first was stunned for a moment before she replied.
Then, the group of people watched as the Jiang Xia sisters walked away.
Just as she was about to leave the crowd, Jiang Xia heard a voice coming from behind her. “Little girl, which village are you from?”
Jiang Xia pretended not to hear him and quickly left with Jiang Gu.
In the eyes of the crowd, Jiang Xia had left, but in reality, Jiang Xia and Jiang Gu had quickly circled around and returned to an alley near the Shen residence.
This alley was hidden and Jiang Xia had discovered it when she was strolling around previously.
“Jiang Xia, are we not going home? Why are we back here?” Jiang Gu asked in confusion.
Jiang Xia made a shushing gesture to Jiang Gu and focused on the Shen Residence door.
As expected, the man who had asked her questions earlier appeared in front of the door and knocked on it.
Jiang Gu tried to tilt her head to look in the direction Jiang Xia was looking at.
“Eh? Did that uncle go to the Shen family?” Jiang Gu said as she looked at Jiang Xia with widened eyes.
“Sister, do you know something?”
Jiang Xia raised her eyebrows. She had her suspicion before. She assumed that under today’s circumstances, about 80% of the people who could stay around this area had something to do with the Shen family. Although the man previously did not show any signs of being close to the Shen family, his eyes would occasionally glance at the Shen residence, especially when she mention the leader.
“I’m just suspecting.” Jiang Xia said as she rubbed Jiang Gu’s head. When their life gets better, Jiang Xia would definitely want to provide Jiang Gu with a lot better treatments.
Just as the two of them were talking, the door of the Shen Residence opened and the man was welcomed in.
Jiang Xia was finally relieved. She assumed that if the young master liked to eat wild vegetables, he would enjoy strawberries too, which was why Jiang Xia ate the strawberries right outside the house.
However, Young Master Shen did not come. Instead, she met someone who had some dealings with the Shen family.
Jiang Xia was happy with this situation too as she did not need to face Young Master Shen personally and could still bring the message in.
Even if the man was not a good person and did not convey those words or thought that she was criticizing the system, she did not expose her identity and address, and the man could not find her..