There are more than a dozen children in the village. Jiang Zhi has been interested in Tian Tao since the last time he sold herbal medicine.
This little girl is eleven years old. She used to work at home with her pregnant mother and rarely appeared in public.
Since she was able to dig herbs, she has been running around diligently with her nine-year-old brother Tian Xiaoquan and eight-year-old sister Xiaoxi, selling money to support the family.
Now the corn is being broken in the fields.
Knowing that her father, Tian Gui, would be responsible for delivering goods at home and would receive more food, she still brought her brother to work.
And seeing that Li Laoshi, who is so picky, can give out good products, you know that the siblings are not lazy in their work.
Jiang Zhi likes this kind of child very much.
As long as that person is willing to climb up, I am willing to help.
Soon the distribution of the remaining corns ended, not long before dawn, and sparse rain also fell.
It rains a lot in summer in Berkshire.
Every evening there is a "night rain" and a burst of "night rain" just before dawn. During the day, there is a few minutes of "winter rain" and "baizhang rain" from time to time. A cloud drifts over and it is a burst of rain.
Rain gear is always with you.
At this time, Tian Gui and others had already taken out their coir raincoats and bamboo hats and put them on their bodies, but they still kept walking.
There were five people in charge of one cart, and whoever got tired would get out. They took turns pushing the cart without stopping, and trotted all the way for most of the distance.
Seeing that the rain was getting heavier and the torches were almost extinguished, Tian Gui called on everyone to lean on the cliff next to them: "Everyone, lean on the cliff to take shelter from the rain, be careful of rocks rolling down the mountain!"
Everyone hurriedly pushed the cart to the foot of the cliff, their faces already covered with rain.
Baomi was not afraid of the rain, so she left the car alone and a few people huddled together to take shelter from the rain.
It is very dangerous to take shelter from the rain under the cliff. The biggest fear is that the loose stones will get wet and slide down from the rain.
Tian Gui and Xu Gen were very experienced people, and from time to time they would raise their heads to observe the movement above. Although it was dark and blurry and could not see anything, they could hear falling rocks and be able to avoid them to some extent.
Xiao Man was already hungry after running all the way. He took out the pancakes, pickles and water from the bamboo tube and said to the others: "Uncle Tian, Brother Genyou, Wu Yang, you guys should also eat something!"
Others took the pancakes and ate them one after another. They were also hungry along the way, so they kept on going and took advantage of the time to fill their stomachs.
It rained for half an hour, and it was just before dawn, and everyone was sleepy.
Several people also changed from standing to squatting. You rely on me, and I rely on your nap.
Young people are good, so Xiao Man fell on Er Rui's shoulder and started snoring.
Tian Gui rubbed his dry eyes and looked habitually towards the dark cliff above his head.
Seeing that the rain was getting lighter, he was ready to wake everyone up and start their journey again.
At this moment, a small amount of sand rolled down at his feet, like dirt from the wall that had been kicked down by a mouse.
Tian Gui's expression changed, "Not good!" There's a slippery slope!
He stood up quickly, threw off his raincoat, rushed to the cart, and shouted: "Get up, everyone, run, the mountain is collapsing!"
This sound instantly woke everyone up.
Xu Genyou was not sleeping either. When he saw Tian Gui running, he immediately looked up and saw fine sand sliding down. He immediately got up and ran to another car, shouting: "Come and push the cart!"
At this time, the rest of the people also reacted and rushed forward to push the cart.
Xiao Man fell asleep in a daze, and Er Rui picked him up and ran away: "What? What are you doing? Why are you running?"
Xu Errui ran for more than ten meters before putting him down: "Run quickly, we are on the cliff!"
Xiaoman suddenly woke up from drowsiness and pushed the car as hard as he could.
In the dark night, you couldn't see the road clearly and could only follow your senses. Just as everyone left, they heard a muffled roar and a faint crashing sound.
"Alas! I just don't know how much it has collapsed, and whether we can pass it when we go back!"
In the darkness, someone is worried.
In mountainous areas, it is very common to encounter landslides and block roads.
Every time it collapses, it needs to be cleared before moving forward. If it collapses too much, it will need to be blocked for several days.
The next road was not easy to walk, because in the panic just now, Xiao Man forgot to take the backpack he was carrying, and dropped the fire sickle and torch inside.
It's still dark, and there are potholes everywhere.
It was unrealistic to stand there and wait for dawn. Everyone could only rely on the dim light of the morning star in the sky to push the cart forward one step at a time.
By the time the county town at the bottom of the mountain could be seen in the distance at dawn, the ten people in Xujiacun were already exhausted, sweating profusely and panting.
"Hurry, the city gate has been opened!" Tian Gui encouraged everyone.
Thinking that they would be able to rest soon, everyone was full of strength and jogged all the way to the outside of Pingchuan County.
At this time, the outside of the city was full of farmers like them carrying carts and going into the city to buy and sell things.
Occasionally, well-dressed wealthy people would go out, but they would stay away from these sweaty, smelly mud-legged people.
The two carts were covered with raincoats and pushed to the city gate. They were immediately stopped by the guards at the city gate: "Stop, what are you doing here?"
The guards were no longer surprised by Xu Errui's embarrassment and were only interested in the two well-covered wheelbarrows.
Tian Gui bowed with a humble smile: "Master Jun, let's sell some food!"
"What kind of vegetables need to be covered so tightly?" The sergeant lifted up his raincoat and exposed the green corn stalks.
"Ah, it's corn! You are stealing food! Come on, arrest them!" When the sergeant saw the young corn, he immediately shouted to catch the thief, and with a roar, several spears came around and trapped Tian Gui and others.
Other people at the city gate also saw the cart of corn, and immediately started talking. However, they did not say it was stolen, but said: "The corn is only knee-high this season, where did the sticks come from?"
"Yeah, where did it come from?"
"You don't know! The corn from Yuzhou Prefecture is earlier than ours! It must be sent from Yuzhou Prefecture."
Another person denied: "It was Jincheng Prefecture, not Yuzhou Prefecture! I have seen that Jincheng's new grain was delivered, and Yuzhou Prefecture only accepted it."
"No, no, no, you are all wrong. It should be Mianzhou Prefecture, which is the most remote part of Ba County. You can reach the north just by crossing Mianshan..." Someone added a new place name, and the area involved became wider, attracting people. Everyone gathered together.
The topic here has changed, from stealing grain to where can we get such early corn.
At the gate of the city, there is an old topic: stealing green grain!
Xu Errui bit the bullet and explained to the guards that these were crops he grew.
The guard didn't believe it: "Look, your corn has just become pulp, and it hasn't grown up yet. Who would be willing to eat it now?"
You must have stolen from others, and now you want to send it to the city to sell it. Come on, follow me to the county government office to talk. If you talk any more, don't blame me for tying you up. "
This guard also came from a farmer's family and knew how important crops were to farmers at this time.
If you dare to steal so much corn, you have achieved great success by catching a big thief.
Tian Gui and Xu Gen were so frightened that they turned pale and complained secretly. They were in trouble for selling green grains and might even go to jail. What would happen to the mother-in-law and children at home?
Although they had been told by Li Laoshi every day that they could come and go as they pleased in the county government office, and they were brothers to the government servants and petty officials inside.
But Li Laoshi couldn't completely believe what he said.
Xu Errui and Xiaoman became worried. They were not afraid of going to the county government, but they were only worried about how they would explain themselves in front of Magistrate Zhang.
My mother has already arranged that when she goes into the city to sell young corns, she will not go to Mishi Alley, but to the same families who bought fungus last time. The other one is Miss Huo Er who is looking for a medicine shop.
Magistrate Zhang must not be allowed to know.
People’s livelihood!
Magistrate Zhang, who cares most about people's livelihood, must choose to make food instead of selling it for money!
