Three days later, Aunt Chen returned from her holiday, bringing with her a string of bad news that quickly snapped Zhou Jiao back to reality from her good mood.
After the drought, frost, and floods in the north, some areas in the south were even more miserable. Besides these, there were continuous occurrences of windstorms, locusts, and armyworm infestations.
Zhou Jiao didn't even need to ask to know that there would certainly be no harvests, another year of disasters. Even though she was mentally prepared, hearing the confirmation from someone else's mouth made her feelings more complex.
Before she could express her lament, Aunt Chen was already whispering in her ear, advising her to cut back on spending. Currently, city officials get 28 pounds of grain per month, and citizens only get 26 pounds, with only 2 ounces of pork provided per person each month.
