Chapter 23
Conditions to Enter the City
There were also many people outside the city gate of Xuanhe Prefecture. However, unlike Qing’an Prefecture, the people outside the city gate were in a much better state.
Moreover, there were two sheds not far away. The servants of the big families in the city were giving free porridge.
In order not to be unconventional, Gu Yundong settled Madam Yang and the others not far away. She took two bowls and asked for two bowls of porridge. At the same time, she asked about the situation here.
However, an auntie said to her, “It’s not easy for you to enter the city. I heard that the magistrate is worried that too many refugees entering the city will cause chaos, so you have to have certain conditions to enter the city.”
“What conditions?”
A girl around her age sized her up and laughed. “It’s useless even if I say it. You definitely won’t be able to meet the conditions.”
Gu Yundong ignored her and asked the aunt, “Go ahead.”
“They said that not only does one have to have a household registration certificate to enter the city, but every person also has to pay five taels of silver.”
“Five taels?” F*ck, this was daylight robbery.
If one person was five taels, wouldn’t the four of them need twenty taels?
They did have a household registration certificate. Her father, Gu Dajiang, had asked them to bring it with them.
The girl beside her saw her surprised expression and immediately laughed. “I told you it was useless to tell you. Why are you still asking? From the looks of it, you’re not even as good as me. It’s already good enough if you have five copper coins on you. You should obediently find a place outside and wait for a kind person to give you some food. What’s the point?”
Gu Yundong suddenly turned his head to look at her. “What’s wrong with you? No one is paying attention to you, but you’re still trying to make your presence known. Do I know you? Are we very close?”
“You…”
Gu Yundong turned around and left. That girl was furious. “Why are you so arrogant? Just you wait. If you can’t enter the city, you’ll still have to spend the night here.”
Gu Yundong had already walked to Madam Yang and the other two. She handed over the porridge in her hand. “Drink this first. We’ll enter the city later.”
The four of them obediently finished two bowls of porridge. The porridge dispensers had already packed up and entered the city.
After the city gate quietened down a little, she got up and pulled the pushcart to bring the three of them to the city gate.
There were many soldiers guarding the city gate. They were afraid that something would go wrong. These people all had murderous expressions and the swords in their hands were cold.
Gu Yundong had been observing just now and realized that the young soldier on the left had a very good attitude. When the families who were giving porridge entered the city, he even reached out to help them.
She walked up to him and handed over the household registration certificate in her hand.
The commotion on her side quickly attracted the other refugees who were still at the city gate, especially the girl who had been mocking her and looking at her. Seeing this, she sneered.
The soldier also looked at Gu Yundong in surprise. He sized up her clothes and expression, then looked at her household registration certificate. Then, he said, “Do you know the rules for entering the city?”
“Five taels per person, right?”
The soldier nodded. “There are four of you, so it’s a total of 20 taels.”
“I have it.” Gu Yundong wanted to thank Qian San. He ‘kindly’ gave her 20 taels of silver.
Coupled with the five taels of silver she had plundered previously, she should be able to last for a few days after entering the city and wait for her to find a way to earn money.
Seeing Gu Yundong take out twenty taels of silver, the soldier looked at her in surprise.
The girl behind looked even more incredulous. Wasn’t she poor? W-why did she have so much money?