Chapter 227

When Xu Ran reached home, he found that there was nothing outside. The horse was led in and the door was closed.

It seemed that Tangtang and Guoguo moved quite quickly. Xu Ran knocked on the door and it was soon opened. The person who opened the door said, “Dad, there you are. Come in quickly. We are packing up.”

Xu Ran nodded and walked in. Then he was a little shocked to see the yard was full of people and things.

Tangtang said behind his back, “Dad, we are waiting for you to come back and assign the rooms. Then these things can be moved into the right room.”

“Why don’t you let your Daddy do that? You don’t have to wait for me.” said Xu Ran.

“This is what Daddy said. He said that you are more appropriate, so he asked you to come. Godfathers are waiting in the room.” said Tangtang.

Xu Ran rubbed his nose and felt a little weird in his heart. Did Tongtong think that the room was not enough to assign? Or was he just being shy?

After thinking about it carefully, Xu Ran felt that it must because he is shy.

It is true that they have to live here for a long time. It is not proper to separate the couple, but if they don’t separate, It is estimated that it would be much harder for Liu Tong to arrange.

Thinking about this, Xu Ran understood what was going on here. He went to the middle of the yard and clapped his hands and said, “Every one, listen to me please. There are eight rooms on both sides of my house upstairs. And seven of them were taken. Tangtang, Guoguo, you two can live in one room, then  Baozi and Qingshu can also live in a room together, so we will have seven rooms left, so it’s done. One room for Godfathers, and another for Big Brother Qin and his husband… ”

Nine rooms were completely enough, and the things were started to be placed in the rooms one by one.

Everyone picks up their stuff so the things in the yard were quickly removed .

But it started to rain heavily again soon. And there was the sound of a gong outside. Xu Ran guessed that must be the village chief  looking for people from the village.

Even though the rain was getting heavier, Xu Ran still decided to go out and take a look. By the way, he had to explain for the extra members of his family. He was afraid that if the village really got infected with the plague, they would be blamed.

Xu Ran went to grab an umbrella and called Liu Tong, Zhuo Yun and Qin Shuwu to come. He started to remind them, “Tongtong, take your brothers and friends to clean up the house first, then change their clothes and throw them off. Don’t be reluctant to part with this. After all, they’ve all run through teh town, okay?”

Liu Tong nodded. “Got it, I’ll go now.”

Then, Xu Ransaid to Zhuo Yun, “Zhuo Yun, everyone in the village knows that you often come to my house. I’m not worried about this. You should be responsible for taking care of the children. Don’t let them go out recently.”

Zhuo Yun nodded. “Mm, I got it. The children are very sensible, and they know what to do at this moment.”

After he finished talking to Zhuo Yun, Xu Ran said to Qin Shuwu, “Brother Qin, I don’t think anyone saw it when you came here today. They would probably say that we went to the town to buy things even if they saw us. You must tell them that you came here with Zhuo Yun. You came over after the rain stopped a few days ago. You are in-laws and it’s normal to come together. Remember to remind the children what and how to say and not let others find an excuse to convict us.”

Qin Shuwu also got serious when he saw Xu Ran’s face. Of course he knew the seriousness of the situation. Qin Shuwu said, “Okay, I know I will remind them. I’ll have to be bothering you these days.”

Xu Ran waved his hand and said, “It’s not bothering at all and you used to help me a lot before. The village chief is calling, so I’ll go out first. You go and tidy up the room first. Be sure to throw away the things you can’t use any more.”

Xu Ran left with his umbrella and Qin Shuwu said from behind, “I know, don’t worry!”

Xu Ran didn’t know where the village chief want them to gather. He was about to look for them after he went out when he saw a person in a coat and a bamboo hat walking towards him. Xu Ran couldn’t see clearly who it was because the rain was too heavy. He also walked forward and found that it was Xu An.

“Xu An, why are you here? Isn’t the village chief calling for a gathering?” asked Xu Ran.

Xu An said, “I’m afraid that you don’t know where to gather, so I came over to see you. Why did you come alone?” What is Liu Tong and other people?”

Xu Ran thought that they were really considerate to think about it, and he even came over with such a heavy rain.

Xu Ran answered, “Let’s talk as we go along. Liu Tong and the rest of the family were tidying up at home. This plague thing is true. I asked Tongtong to clean up the house and prevent it. Bro Xu An, you should also do that after you got home. Don’t be reluctant to throw away the things you don’t need. Food must be well cooked before you eat it. You have to wash your hands before you eat, and the house needs ventilation. Then you wouldn’t be infected easily even if the plague comes to the village.

They had to talk aloud Because of the heavy rain, even though they were walking next to each other. Fortunately,  Xu An heard everything he said, so he didn’t have to repeat it.

Xu Ran told Xu An what he knew about infection control, and asked him to tell Wu Mei about that because Wu Mei  was quick-witted and she should know how to deal with it.

They might need to say it again when they meet Xu Fa and Xu Zhen later.

After thinking about it for a while, Xu Ran thought that he’d better asked everyone to come to his house. It would be better if everybody knows that. In that case, he did not have to explain why Qin Shuwu and his family were there.

This could be considered as a few witnesses. They saw with they had been at his home before the plague came.

Xu Ran and Xu An chatted as they walked. They soon arrived at the gathering place. It was in the middle of the village where they had previously set up a stage.

The village chief was standing on a stool, with a bamboo hat. He didn’t even wear a coat and his clothes were almost wet.

Xu Ran walked in and found that he was the only one who used the umbrella. The others were all wearing straw hats. Some of them were even standing in the rain, but Xu Ran couldn’t mind other people’s business.

When the village chief saw that almost everyone was here, he struck the gong a few more times to these people to ask them to be silent.

“The reason why I aked you to gather here on such a rainy day was because there is a very important thing to say. The rainstorm hasn’t stopped after summer. Everyone has heard before that there were floods in many places. Everyone knows that most of floods will be accompanied by the plague. I don’t know how the other places are doing, but the news that someone has been suffering from the plague was spreading in Our town today. The town is probably under lockdown by now. I’ve gathered all of you here to say two things. One, don’t go to town these days, and two, don’t ever take in any outsiders, no matter who they are!”

As soon as the village chief finished talking, the people below were in a mess. Some people immediately ran home while others started to ask the village chief about the plague.

Shouting was definitely not enough in such a heavy rain, so the village chief started to strike the gong again.

After controlling the situation, the village chief began to answer these people’s questions one by one. The younger generation did not know what the plague was, but the old man in the village, even if they had not experienced it, they must have known or heard about it. The village chief asked a few old man to tell them the seriousness of the plague.

Most of the people were frightened and feared that they would be dead in the next moment.

The village chief also took the opportunity to put forward the matter of not letting outsiders into the village. Xu Ran felt that this was not very appropriate. The village chief couldn’t stare at them all the time, so he didn’t know even if there were other people coming to the village.

Xu Ran thought about it and turned to told Xu An , asking him to tell the village chief about it. He had someone in his own home so it was inappropriate for him to talk about it.

After hearing what Xu Ran said, Xu An ran over to the village chief. The village chief nodded and turned to the people below, “From now on, we have to select two teams to patrol in the village. One team at night, and one during the day. In order to prevent some people sneaking into the village, we also have to check how many people in your family now one by one.From now on, people in the village can only go out, and those who went out will not be able to return until the plague is over.”

people started to make a fuss again after the village chief finished.

The village chief striked the gong and said. “Be quite!  If any of you volunteer to patrol, please stand to the left. If there is no one,I’ll make the arrangement.”

A few people stood out, but it was not enough for a team. So the village chief mentioned some people by name to do that, including Xu An,  Xu Fa and Xu Zhen.

However, Xu Ran was not included. After all, as a scholar, it was not suitable for him to do such things.

After that, the village chief said, “All of you go back to your own home first，and we’ll check house by house later. The villagers who are leaving now must leave immediately, or the village will be under lockdown later.”

People dispersed right away afterthe village chief finished talking, and Xu Ran also left with the crowd.