Reborn Divine Doctor: The Abandoned Girl's Legend

Chapter 1448: Chapter 508: An Absurd Affair

On this day, Ye Lingyue and the other members of the Huangquan Team took stock of the entire grain warehouse.

Unexpectedly, as she went through the records, Ye Lingyue quickly discovered a problem,

The grain in the North Warehouse was missing.

And it wasn’t lacking in the ordinary sense; the entire North Warehouse was short by fifty dan.

Fifty dan is not a small number; it converts to roughly five thousand catties of grain.

And what was strange was that this fifty dan had just gone missing not long ago.

Ye Lingyue immediately called over the old man who was in charge of watching the North Warehouse for questioning.

But no matter how many times Ye Lingyue asked, the old man kept feigning deafness, pretending not to understand.

"Old man, there’s no need to pretend any longer. I’ve already noticed that you move freely, and your hearing is perfectly fine. We have a doctor in our team, so your act is useless. Tell me, where did this grain go? If you can’t provide an answer, I’ll report this to the County Magistrate immediately."

Ye Lingyue’s eyebrows furrowed, and she shouted angrily.

Under that shout, the old man was so frightened that his knees buckled, and with a thud, he knelt down.

"Master, please spare me. It wasn’t intentional on my part. I had no choice—those grains are lifesaving!"

With that, the old man kept kowtowing for mercy, even hitting his head to the point of bleeding, yet he refused to stop.

The rest of the team exchanged glances, and it was Senior Sister Wan Yun who couldn’t bear to watch any longer. She stepped forward and pulled the old man up forcefully, calming him down.

"Master, there’s no point in saying more. Please follow me to a place, and you’ll understand once you see it yourself."

The old man sighed and, saying this, led Ye Lingyue and the others away from the North Warehouse.

The old man guided Ye Lingyue about four or five miles out of Fang Ah County to a village.

The village was backed by a mountain, with a population of a few thousand, part of the several villages under Fang Ah County.

Upon entering the village, Ye Lingyue felt something was off.

She noticed that all the vegetation in the village, including the plants in the terraced fields nearby, had withered.

The livestock in the pens were staggering, looking famished and thirsty.

The villagers were all sallow and thin.

A few children with shabby bowls in their hands stared at Ye Lingyue and the others with wide eyes.

"Big sister, please give us some food. I haven’t had a full meal in days."

A little girl with pigtails tugged at Ye Lingyue’s clothes.

Everyone’s hearts skipped a beat.

"Old man, what’s going on? You stole so much grain, yet these children are starving. Are you pocketing it?"

Qin Xiaochuan grabbed the old man who managed the warehouse and questioned him sharply.

"Little Yu, what are you doing here? Run along."

A woman rushed out of a dilapidated house upon hearing the commotion and, seeing Ye Lingyue and the others, fearfully picked up the child and fled.

"What’s this about? We’re not demons that eat people."

Guangzi said, dissatisfied.

He was the beloved star of the Moonlight Troupe, always surrounded by admirers wherever he went. So why were the villagers, Earth Tiger included, so afraid?

"Master, please don’t be angry. Let me go—I can hardly breathe." The old man pleaded with Qin Xiaochuan, distressed.

Only after a signal from Ye Lingyue did Qin Xiaochuan release him.

"These villagers think you’re here to collect taxes. The grain didn’t go into personal pockets; it’s stored at the village chief’s house."

The old man shook his head and led Ye Lingyue to the village chief’s house.

Indeed, in the backyard of the chief’s house, a large amount of grain was neatly piled up, and upon inspection, none was missing.

"Village Chief, what’s going on here? Why isn’t the grain being distributed to the villagers?"

Ye Lingyue’s face showed traces of anger.

"Master, you don’t understand. This grain can’t be touched; it’s for paying taxes. If even one dan is missing, the whole village will suffer."

The village chief spoke sorrowfully and then recounted the whole story to Ye Lingyue.

It turned out that the village was called Pan Village, and for generations, it survived on growing sorghum rice.

Because the soil in the area was very suitable for sorghum rice, they could grow two crops a year.

Every year, Fang Ah County collected a certain amount of grain tax from the village.

Originally, the village always had surplus grain, and after taxes, the villagers could still manage to get by.

But three or four months ago, for some unknown reason, the village wells and rivers dried up.

Furthermore, the Fang Ah County area had been dry with little rain in recent months. The village didn’t have enough water for people and livestock, let alone for irrigating grain fields.

With the next round of tax due in a few months, and the village unable to come up with the grain, the village chief feared repercussions from the County Magistrate and others, worsening the villagers’ plight. So he secretly arranged for Old Liu, who watched over the grain, to smuggle some grain from the North Warehouse.

"I never meant to steal this grain for myself. This is county grain, and even losing a single grain could cost me my head. I only planned to get through this crisis, and then privately replace the grain once the drought was over."

The village chief sighed continuously.

Despite having grain stored, he had to let the villagers go hungry; as the village chief, he was heartbroken by this situation.

For survival, many of the village’s young and able-bodied adults had already left Pan Village, leaving behind only widows, children, and old people, which meant no one was left to tend to the fields.

The villagers had to manage on one meal a day, and they were terribly frugal with water usage.

"Grandpa, I’m thirsty."

The village chief’s little grandson snuggled pitifully against him, his lips cracked from dryness.

The chief’s eyes reddened and a few murky tears rolled down.

"With such severe drought, why didn’t you inform the county earlier to waive the taxes?"

Ye Lingyue asked as she took a few water bags from her storage bag. Seeing the water, the little boy’s eyes lit up, but he didn’t dare take it.

Only after the old village chief nodded did the little boy eagerly take the water bag and dash off, presumably to share it with his family.

"Master, you’re outsiders, so you don’t know. The County Magistrate is a scoundrel. He used his bit of power to demand each village pay their taxes on time, and if there’s any delay, he resorts to violence. Recently, I heard a team of Demon Hunters came to the county, and they managed to suppress the Magistrate. But since then, he’s become their henchman. Since their arrival, they’ve increased the taxes, claiming to accumulate merit. This has made life for nearby villages even harder. If a village fails to pay, at best, they’re detained, and in the worst case, they could lose their lives."

The village chief shivered with dread every time he mentioned the Demon Hunters.