Natural disaster at the beginning: I will lead the system to build a safe zone

Since she was planning to go to Cangwu City, Shi Anan didn't intend to let these three people go so easily. Otherwise, it would be quite annoying if they kept coming to find her.

Ignoring their struggles and cursing, Shi Anan ordered the security team to capture them alive and prepare to take them back to Cangwu City, just in order to test Zhao Zhong's attitude.

After riding fast for several days, the group finally arrived at Cangwu City.

At this time, County Magistrate Wu's finger was basically disabled because he had not received treatment, but Shi Anan did not think it was too much. For such a selfish person who did not treat the people as human beings, it would be useless even if he had this hand.

Shi Zhengde and Shi Wanqing's conditions were not much better. Even though they had experienced so many disasters, one of them relied on women for food and the other on men, and their pampered bodies did not get much better. They had been lying on the horse's back and were about to faint after being jolted around for several days, but she hadn't let them get off.

The atmosphere in Cangwu City is more serious than expected. There are very few refugees near the city gate now, because the gate of Cangwu City has never been open to the public from the beginning to the end.

Most of the refugees went to Guangming County after hearing the rumors about the county. After living a stable life there, they naturally would not come back.

Some refugees either died or found their own way out.

Therefore, the gate of Cangwu City, which is so big, seemed a bit deserted. Therefore, when Shi Anan and his companions appeared at the gate, they were discovered by the guards on duty.

"Who are you coming?" The guards of Cangwu City shouted at them while standing on the city wall.

"Shi Anan from Guangming County is here to visit and would like to meet Lord Zhao. Please inform him." Shi Anan replied loudly.

Originally the guard wanted to refuse, because Lord Zhao was very busy and not everyone could see him.

But when he saw Shi An'an and the others were riding horses and carrying weapons, as if they were here with bad intentions, and the people she was holding looked like they were from Cangwu City, the guards immediately changed their minds as they thought it would be bad if things got delayed because of his presumptuous decision.

"Wait for me, I'll go and report first!" After thinking about it, the guard hurried to report.

Shi Anan and the others didn't have to wait too long. After the guard came back, he said, "Come with me, but you are not allowed to ride horses or carry weapons!"

When Mu Shan, who followed him, heard that they were not allowed to bring weapons, frowned and wanted to object, but Shi Anan shook his head at him: "You take the others and wait outside the city, Xiao Yi and I will take the three of them in, and we will come out tonight."

If we can't reach an agreement after such a long time, there is no need to continue the discussion.

Mu Shan disagreed: "Miss, this is too dangerous, what if..."

Shi Anan interrupted him: "It's okay, are you still not confident in Xiao Yi's kung fu? If even he can't protect me, you guys can't protect me either."

Xiao Yi silently squeezed Shi Anan's hand to show his approval.

Having said that, Mu Shan could only compromise: "Then Miss, you and Mr. Xiao, please be careful."

Shi Anan and Xiao Yi escorted County Magistrate Wu and the other two followed the guards into Cangwu City. Although Cangwu City was a little popular, it was not as lively as Guangming County.

Occasionally, there were a few common people walking on the road, but they were in a hurry. Not to mention the people doing business at the stalls, I didn't see any.

Shi Anan felt a little strange and curiously asked the guard leading the way: "When I came to Cangwu City before, it seemed quite lively. How come there are no people doing business now?"

Even though the guard was leading the way in front, he was still a little wary of Shi Anan and the others. He didn't expect Shi Anan to suddenly start chatting with him, which surprised him a little.

But the guard still replied: "Because of the situation in Jiangnan, Lord Zhao ordered the whole city to be under martial law, so there are naturally fewer people on the road. Besides, this year, everyone is living a hard life, and there is nothing to sell."

On the way to the City Lord's Mansion, Shi Anan got a lot of information from the guards and had a slight understanding of the current situation in Cangwu City.

First of all, Zhao Zhong is indeed respected by the people of Cangwu City. The guards’ praise for Zhao Zhong also shows how popular he is.

But come to think of it, although both of them closed the city gates like County Magistrate Wu, one was for the people and the other was to exploit the people. They are essentially different and the effects must be different.

Secondly, the information we learned was that the current situation in Cangwu City was really not very good. Although there was abundant food supply before, it would eventually run out.

Although closing the city gates prevents the influx of refugees and provides a safer environment for the people in the city, it also means that they are cut off from the outside world. I just don't know if Lord Zhao has any good way to take both into account.

Or maybe, closing the city gate was just a temporary emergency measure, but if the King of the North was not repelled, he couldn't just keep the city gate open for a day.

These matters can only be discussed after meeting Zhao Zhong.

Although Zhao Zhong was so popular among the people, if Shi Anan used force because the negotiations failed, it might cause rebellion among the people of Cangwu City. Causing chaos was never her original intention, so she tried her best to negotiate. The lack of food in Cangwu City was also one of her starting points.

If Zhao Zhong really cared about the people, he would never miss an opportunity to obtain food.

As they were thinking this, they had already arrived at the City Lord's Mansion.

Because I had reported it before, Zhao Zhong came very quickly, and he didn't come alone -

"Shi Lang! What's wrong with you?" A woman who was originally following Zhao Zhong suddenly rushed over after seeing Shi Zhengde.

Shi Anan:?

What's going on? He called her so affectionately. Is there a confidante of Shi Zhengde in Zhao Zhong's house?

Shi Anan's eyes rolled around, revealing an expression of enjoying watching melons.

On the other side, Shi Wanqing widened her eyes and asked in disbelief: "Daddy, who is she?!"

When Su Muya heard Shi Wanqing calling Shi Zhengde "Dad", she wondered if she had heard it wrongly. She stopped immediately when she was about to walk to Shi Zhengde's side and asked hesitantly, "Shi Lang, she..."

Zhao Zhong, who followed closely behind, looked stern and asked, "What's going on?"

The melon owner, Shi Zhengde, was feeling really guilty at this moment. Why was Su Muya here?

But since he had been caught, he had no choice but to admit it. Shi Zhengde hesitantly explained, "Mu Ya, this is my first wife's legitimate daughter, Shi Wanqing."

"Wanqing, this is Dad's new wife, you should call her mother."

Zhao Zhong added coldly, "It's not marriage, you are the son-in-law."

Hey!

Shi Zhengde actually became someone else's son-in-law!

Shi Anan was eating so much water that she almost couldn't catch it. Shi Zhengde, who is so concerned about his reputation, is actually willing to be a son-in-law. Is this true love for the girl or is there something special about him?

She couldn't control her curious eyes, which fell on the disappointed woman next to Shi Zhengde.

Compared to Shi An'an's mere curiosity, Shi Wanqing's reaction was much more dramatic: "Dad! Why would you marry into someone else's family, and to a woman whose origins are unknown? Are you worthy of my mother?!"

"How dare you! What do you mean Ya'er is a woman of unknown origin? I think you are the woman of unknown origin!" Zhao Zhong couldn't help himself when he heard Shi Wanqing belittling Su Muya.

His friend has only one daughter, and now she is entrusted to his care. Naturally, he would not bear to see anyone being wronged on his own territory.

Moreover, in his opinion, this matter must have been caused by the careless Shi Zhengde.

Zhao Zhong questioned Shi Zhengde: "How did you discipline your daughter? She was so disrespectful to her mother. If you don't know how to teach me, I'll teach you. Also, since you have already met your daughter, why do I see that Ya'er seems to be unaware of it? Did you hide it from Ya'er?"

He turned his head and looked at Su Muya, who had been keeping her head down and not speaking, and lowered his voice: "Ya'er, tell your uncle, did Zhengde tell you at home that he had found his daughter?"

When Su Muya heard Zhao Zhong's question, she raised her head with some sadness, and replied with red eyes: "He didn't say that."

In fact, Su Muya was not unaware that Shi Zhengde had been married before, but he said that all his wife and children were dead. However, she did not expect that he had a daughter.

If it were just that, it would be fine. If Shi Zhengde told his daughter the first time he found her, she would not react. But not only did he hide it from her, he also indulged his daughter in disrespecting her.

She actually knew about Zhengde's accident in Liangzhou City and her father's behavior after the accident, but she didn't want to admit that she had really misjudged him.

After hearing Su Muya's answer, Zhao Zhong's cold gaze fell on Shi Zhengde, as if waiting for his explanation.

Shi Zhengde wiped the sweat from his forehead and gritted his teeth. It was a good thing that he hadn't run into him earlier or later. Now he depended on Zhao Zhong for everything, and he must not offend him.

Thinking of this, Shi Zhengde replied: "My Lord, this is my fault. I didn't think of how to explain it to Mu Ya before, and because I was delayed by too many things recently, I never had the chance to introduce them to each other, which led to this mistake."

"Wanqing, you should apologize to Mu Ya quickly."

Shi Wanqing pointed at herself in disbelief: "Let me apologize? Why should I apologize?"

At this time, she also realized that her father pretended to have a good relationship with Lord Zhao because of nepotism, and Lord Zhao even looked down on him.

Since she was of no use, Shi Wanqing said without hesitation: "My mother is from an aristocratic family. This woman is nothing. If you want to rush to be someone's son-in-law, it's up to you. I will not recognize her as my stepmother!"

Shi Zhengde had already been humiliated today, so how could he tolerate his daughter, who had always been in his hands, suddenly turning against him: "How dare you! That's how you talk to me!"

Shi Wanqing rolled her eyes and ignored him. Instead, she pointed at Shi An'an and said to Zhao Zhong, "Master Zhao, not only am I his daughter, but she is too. It's just that her mother is Shi Zhengde's concubine, so she is just a concubine's daughter."

Only then did Zhao Zhong shift his gaze to Shi Anan, who was watching the show on the side. Shi Anan didn't expect that Shi Wanqing still wanted to drag her into this at this time.

She said to Zhao Zhong, "Master Zhao, I have nothing to do with this father and daughter anymore." Then, Shi Anan took out a document from her bosom and said, "Here, take a look. We signed the document severing our father-daughter relationship two years ago."

Zhao Zhong glanced at the paper and did not ask about Shi Zhengde. Instead, he asked another question: "You are from Guangming County. Is it you who want to see me?"

Shi Anan nodded: "Yes, we are from Guangming County. We came to see Mr. Zhao this time to do business with you, but we didn't expect to be here for a long time."

Zhao Zhong got the answer and nodded silently, then turned to Shi Zhengde and his daughter and said, "I have something to do today. You should handle your own affairs. I don't want to hear any more. But you and your husband don't have to come to the government office anymore."

"Mu Ya, although it's not appropriate for your uncle to say this, I still want to say that my opinion on Zhengde is the same as your father's. He is really not a good match. If you still want to continue living with him, your uncle will not stop you. If you want to divorce your husband, your uncle will also make the decision for you and handle everything properly. Think about it yourself."

Su Muya nodded in confusion, indicating that she already knew.

On the other side, Shi Zhengde and Magistrate Wu were dismissed from their posts and became anxious: "Lord Zhao..."

But Zhao Zhong was determined not to listen to them anymore, so he called the guards and asked them to take the person out.

After everyone was taken away, Zhao Zhong looked at Shi Anan and Xiao Yi and said, "Come with me to the study."