Time flew, and with the end of the drought, it seemed to accelerate, making every day no longer miserable. Harvest season arrived but not with much joy; the country's grain production was down, and the Imperial court still distributed relief grain.
Grain-buying fleets never stopped, but most of the grain was transported to the south, which suffered heavy flooding. Fortunately, the nationwide deployment of doctors and a sufficient supply of pre-prepared herbal medicines prevented an epidemic from breaking out.
The Zhou family's grain had been gathered, including fine grains that were water-irrigated—though not much of it—and mostly coarse grains. This year, they even profited from vegetable cultivation, and while there were still losses, they managed to limit them to a third, which was not bad at all.
