Chapter 212 The Locust Plague Arrived
212 The Locust Plague Arrived
In addition, there was the cloth that her young sister-in-law had sent over.
The total value was probably close to three taels of silver.
Yesterday, their family had just bought five taels of silver worth of grain from the Song family at a low price. Today, her young sister-in-law had returned with a gift worth three taels of silver.
This was really…
“Gosh, Eldest Sister-in-law, just accept it!”
“This is what I’m giving Xiaohu as his aunt. It’s not meant for you.”
“Also, there’s one for Second Sister-in-law too.” As she spoke, Qin Xiaoyao grabbed Eldest Sister-in-law Qin’s hand and shoved a small silver locket into her hand.
Eldest Sister-in-law Qin’s face turned red.
“Then I’ll accept it without shame,” she said with some embarrassment.
In the past, when Madam Zhang was still around, Eldest Sister-in-law Qin had actually stood on Madam Zhang’s side to make things difficult for her young sister-in-law quite often.
Yet now…
Luckily, her young sister-in-law didn’t take it to heart. And she was so kind to Eldest Sister-in-law Qin too.
Eldest Sister-in-law Qin had to treat her young sister-in-law better in the future.
“Just accept it. It’s to give him protection!” Qin Xiaoyao said with a smile.
After talking to Eldest Sister-in-law Qin for a while, Qin Xiaoyao went to look for her second sister-in-law.
After giving the other silver locket to her second sister-in-law, Qin Xiaoyao left the Qin family.
When she got home, Qin Xiaoyao told Song Que about Qin Xiaohu.
“You don’t even know how tender that baby’s face looked.”
“It made me want to reach out and pinch him.”
Qin Xiaoyao was still a little excited when she recalled the moment she laid eyes on that baby.
That baby really took after her father.
In the future, he would definitely be a tall man with thick eyebrows and big eyes like her father.
Song Que glanced at his wife.
“With your strength, he won’t be able to withstand your pinch,” he replied with a smile.
Only then did Qin Xiaoyao retract the smile on her face.
“That’s what I thought too. I didn’t even dare to touch him for fear of waking him up.”
“I’ve heard that those little babies love to cry the most and will definitely cry when they wake up. At that point, Eldest Sister-in-law will definitely have a hard time pacifying him.”
Song Que smiled again and did not reply.
“It’s better to wait until he’s a little bigger. When he can walk and call me ‘Aunt,’ I’ll bring him to our house to play.”
“At that point, I can pinch him as often as I want.” A look of longing appeared in Qin Xiaoyao’s eyes when she thought of herself bringing the little bundle of joy around and having fun at home.
A little bundle of joy calling her ‘Aunt, Aunt’ would be so cute.
When Song Que saw this, he simply smiled and shook his head.
It was only because his wife had never experienced it that she found it refreshing.
It would be a surprise if she didn’t find it annoying when she actually had to bring the child up.
How did he know?
Well, Song Que had to take care of Yun’er and Ye’er quite often.
However, if it was their own child, perhaps it might be different…
When he thought of this, Song Que’s eyes were also filled with longing.
At noon, people began pouring into the Song family’s courtyard to buy water.
Qin Xiaoyao and Song Que were collecting money and giving out number tokens when suddenly…
A series of fine buzzing sounds rang out, and then the clear sky began to turn dark.
“What’s that?” someone exclaimed in surprise.
“Is it going to rain?” another person said in surprised delight.
“Ah, no! It’s the locusts! The locusts are here!” The voices quickly turned into fearful shouts.
As soon as the voices rang out, the overwhelming locust army swarmed over.
The people standing in the courtyard were soon attacked by the locusts.
The trees above Qin Xiaoyao and Song Que were instantly covered with locusts.
One could even clearly hear the sound of locusts gnawing on the leaves.
Qin Xiaoyao and Song Que were not spared either. A large number of locusts flew around and pounced on them.
Due to the impact, it was quite painful.
When the locusts landed on a person, they would crawl around and even bite.
The people in the courtyard quickly started shouting and frantically swatted away the locusts on their bodies.
However, there were so many locusts, so how could they be swatted away?
Some of the scrawnier people were even almost knocked down by the locusts.
...
For a moment, there were screams of fear everywhere.
Even though Qin Xiaoyao had experienced the apocalypse, she was still quite badly frightened by this scene.
She didn’t dare to stay any longer and shielded Song Que.
She quickly pulled Song Que and ran towards the house.
As she ran, she shouted to the people in the courtyard.
“Don’t worry about your things. Let’s hide in the hall in my house!”
The people quickly came back to their senses. They abandoned the water buckets and other stuff they had brought and rushed toward the hall of the Song family’s residence.
When she saw this, Qin Xiaoyao finally felt more at ease.
She quickly led Song Que into the house and closed the door and windows tightly.
Countless locusts flung themselves against the doors and windows, making pitter-pattering sounds.
When she saw Song Que’s somewhat pale face, Qin Xiaoyao quickly took two steps forward and gave Song Que a hug.
...
“It’s alright.”
“Next, we’ll use the cloth to seal the doors and windows so that the locusts won’t be able to get in,” she said as she comforted Song Que.
Song Que finally recovered himself when he felt his wife hugging him.
Yes, the locust plague had brought back memories of his previous life.
It reminded him of his painful past when he was staying in the thatched hut in Brook Falls Village in his previous life.
At that time, Song Que and Ye’er were alone and helpless.
The thatched hut was still full of gaping holes everywhere, and a large number of locusts slipped into the thatched hut, pouncing on him and Ye’er.
If they did not struggle and kill the locusts on their bodies, they might end up like the livestock in the village, becoming food for the locusts.
Even at night, when the locusts were no longer flying around, Song Que and Ye’er still had to endure the harassment and bites of a small number of locusts.
He could also hear the sound of locusts gnawing on the thatched roof.
That was right. Those ravenous locusts did not even spare the dry straw.
At that time, what he was most worried about was that the locusts would completely devour the thatched hut at home.
If that happened, he and Ye’er would not even have a place to hide.
In the end, the locusts did not completely devour the thatched hut, but they did destroy most of it.
Song Que didn’t even know how he had managed to survive with Ye’er…
It had happened so long ago, so long ago that it was practically in his past life.
Song Que thought that he had almost forgotten about it.
However, now that he was facing these locusts again, he realized that those memories had long since been deeply embedded in his bones.
Thinking of this, Song Que hugged Qin Xiaoyao back tightly.
“Ye’er, Ye’er…” he mumbled.
Qin Xiaoyao was caught off guard.
“Ye’er is fine. Just now, when we rushed into the room, I saw Mother bring him into the house.”
“I’ve sent cloth to every room in our house. Mother and Ye’er will be fine,” she said hurriedly.
Only then did Song Que relax.
When Qin Xiaoyao felt that Song Que’s mood had lifted somewhat, she released him.
“I’ll leave the sealing of the doors and windows to you. I have to go to the courtyard to take a look, in case someone is trapped by the locusts and hasn’t come into the house,” she said to Song Que.
Right now, the sky outside was filled with a black mass of locusts, and there were also locusts flying everywhere on the ground, so the visibility was far from normal.
When Qin Xiaoyao ran into the house with her husband, she had asked the people in the courtyard to run to the hall in her house.
However, it was hard to tell how many people actually heard her and how many could successfully run into her hall.
Qin Xiaoyao wasn’t such a goody two shoes, in truth. However, they were all her neighbors. If someone really died in her courtyard because of a locust plague, there would be trouble in the future.
Song Que subconsciously pulled Qin Xiaoyao back.
Although he didn’t say anything, the expression in his eyes were clear.
He didn’t want Qin Xiaoyao to go outside.