"That's right, village chief, these kids will take the exam in March next year. At this juncture, all the money has been exchanged for food. What will you do if you can't get the money out then?"
"My Dashi has learned a lot this year. If you want to buy it, go and buy it. My Dashi is going to be a child anyway!" Aunt Chen said in a show off while patching the holes in her old clothes.
Maybe it's because it's not too far from the city. Gujiacun and nearby villages all eagerly hope that their children can pass the Tongsheng examination and become scholars.
Everyone was arguing, and the village chief sighed helplessly: "Everyone, it doesn't matter if the children take the exam a year later. There has been a severe drought for three years, and there was a locust plague last year. Now the villagers don't have much food. , some families don’t even have enough food right now. We have to get there first!”
The village chief's words were sincere, but the villagers did not buy it. Most people firmly believed that although the harvest this year was not good, there was no locust plague after all, so the harvest would not be much worse, and there would still be no problem in surviving the winter. Even if there was really not enough to eat, they would not pay back Is there a court? During last year's locust plague, some families didn't receive any food at all. Wouldn't it be the same this year if they rely on government relief?
After the village chief persuaded them for a long time, everyone agreed to buy some food first in case of emergencies. But when we arrived in town, we discovered that the only rice and grain store was closed.
"Brother, what's going on?" the village chief asked a passerby.
"This rice and grain store has been taken over by Mr. Zhao. Now the city gate has been closed. If you want to buy more, you have to wait until next year." The man looked at the group of people following the village chief and asked doubtfully: " You are not from the town, right! The Zhao family announced the day before yesterday that they will give everyone one day to buy food by themselves, and no matter how much is left, the Zhao family will cover it all!"
After hearing this, Gu Jiu, who was following the team, looked at the rice grain shop with worried eyes. The biggest reason why the people at the bottom are more likely to suffer is the lack of information and the inability to make accurate judgments on things that already have traces. The Zhao family must have guessed something when they bought so much food at once.
Thinking of this, Gu Jiu immediately left the army and started to buy all the food he could buy now.
"Little girl, I have more than sixty buns here. Are you sure you want them all? It's a lot of money." The big man selling buns looked at Gu Jiu and asked uncertainly.
"Yes, will you set up a stall here tomorrow too?"
"No, today is the last day. My wife is about to give birth, and I don't plan to do it even before the end of the year."
After that, Gu Jiu bought meat and went to the vegetable market, but there were only one or two sellers in the entire vegetable market. I originally thought that everyone was wary after seeing the Zhao family's behavior, but after asking about it, I found out that most of the things had been bought by the Zhao family at a high price.
Gu Jiu shopped around a lot, but in the end he only bought twenty kilograms of pork, sixty-two steamed buns, six kilograms of potatoes and ten sesame seed cakes. Gu Jiu was thinking about something. As soon as he returned to the main army, he heard Zhao encouraging everyone to go back.
"Oh, village chief, you are just too nervous. Our Xiaoqi is now a member of the Zhao family. When my mother wants to eat, can she still give it to me?"
"Besides, we don't know how much relief the government provides, so we won't starve to death no matter what!"
Hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement and flattered her: "I came to town a few days ago and saw Xiao Qi! You don't know, I almost didn't dare to recognize that little face and those clothes!"
"That's right, I think we can just go back. There's no food anyway. We might as well go back and do some work while standing here."
"Yeah."
The villagers are used to living a self-sufficient life and are not willing to spend money in the first place. Now that someone is taking the lead, they are even less willing to stay.
"Maybe there is something else to eat, so don't go back in such a hurry." The village chief looked at the villagers walking back and stepped forward to stop them.
"There is a court here, what can happen? Besides, if something happens, wouldn't Xiao Qi still be there? Right, Xiao Qi's mother!"
Seeing everyone's gazes, Zhao's vanity was immediately greatly satisfied, and she immediately patted her chest and assured everyone.
Everyone in the village likes sons, but the Zhao family has only given birth to two daughters in so many years. Those who have sons in the family always like to show off in front of the Zhao family, intentionally or unintentionally. After being suppressed for so many years, it is difficult for them to express their anger. Zhao's The corners of his mouth were never pressed down, and he showed off himself with all his strength.
Seeing this, the village chief stopped stopping everyone and went to the town to try to buy some food. He has been the village chief for so many years and knows a lot of people in this town. It is easy to spend money to buy some food based on his friendship.
Gu Jiu followed the crowd and suddenly thought of a way to leave. In ancient times, the government's control was insufficient. As long as Mr. Gu, Mrs. Gu and others did not take the initiative to sue them, no one would investigate further.
Now all we need to do is find a suitable opportunity to get Mr. Gu to nod and agree to sign and pledge. This disaster might be an opportunity.
Time flies by in the blink of an eye, and soon it’s time to harvest.
"Sister, our corn grows better than other people's! The village chief said that one acre of our land can equal four acres of other people's!"
Gu Jiu heard this and looked down at the corn in his hand that was seriously missing kernels. If this is all considered, then Gujia Village will probably have a hard time surviving this winter.
If you eat one hundred grams of rice in one meal, even if there are only two meals a day, then one person can eat twelve kilograms of grain in a month; not to mention that each family has a large number of people. Take the original owner's house alone and ignore Gu Qi. There are eleven people, and two children count as one adult, and they can eat one hundred kilograms of grain in a month.
But now everyone can only produce 20 to 30 kilograms or less per acre of land. Putting aside the seeds that must be left behind, even one meal a day will be difficult to sustain until the beginning of next spring.
If so, her chances of leaving would be even greater.
As soon as the grain was harvested, everyone fell silent. In the past, they could still deceive themselves. As long as they didn't come to the fields to see it, they could tell themselves that the crops were growing well, but now they can't.
After a while the mountain started to get crowded. Not only Gujia Village, but also people from nearby villages rushed into the back mountain eagerly.
"Xiaojiu, why do I think everyone has gone to the back mountain?" Ye Qingyi asked as he looked at the hurried crowd on the way back carrying the corn.
"Yeah, but our top priority is to take all the food back home." For so many years, no one knows what is in the back mountain, and now they won't get much benefit at all.
But there is something really good about that foggy area.
After the grain is recovered, it undergoes a series of procedures such as threshing and grinding to turn it into flour.
Gu Jiu gasped, looked at his palms that had been bruised, and couldn't help but sigh for the Nth time today. Why doesn't this village even have a cow? The stone mill actually had to be pushed by someone!
"Girl Jiu, are you still pushing me away? There are so many people waiting behind here?" Aunt Chen shouted at Gu Jiu dissatisfiedly at the top of her voice.
Gu Jiu looked at Aunt Chen, then at the large and small corn kernels. He thought about the eighty pounds of corn at home that had not been ground at all, and instantly felt even more tired.
"Xiao Jing, why don't we stop here today?" Gu Jiu looked at Gu Jing who was gearing up to continue, struggled several times, and finally gave up.
She really couldn't help it. This thing weighed more than a hundred pounds and was pushed around and around, turning her brain into pulp.
"That's right, let's go quickly! All the grinding and chirping are taking away my time! Auntie has to dig wild vegetables later!" After hearing what Gu Jiu said, Auntie Chen quickly stepped forward to help Gu Jiu and the others pack the food. , and quickly poured his own.
"Sister, don't we have to finish grinding the grain before the third winter?"
Gu Jiu: "..." How about we all cook it, and it will still be edible.
After returning home, Gu Jiu persuaded again and again, and finally unanimously decided to grind half of it into flour and half of it to cook.
"Sister Ye! You have taken back all the food, so you can help the family! Don't worry, I will never let you work in vain!" Ms. Zhao stood at the door and said to Ye Qingyi.
Her Xiaoqi got into Mr. Zhao, and she was also invited back by Gu Youcai in a good manner. She thought that with this, her status in the family could surpass Dafang, but she didn't expect that Dafang still didn't use it during this harvest. go!
Her Xiaoqi can eat white rice, but she still has to do this work? That won't work!
Ye Qingyi looked at the stones that Gu Jiu and Gu Jing had picked up and shook his head at Zhao: "Second sister-in-law, I'm really sorry, we still have a lot of work to do here."
"Oh, what kind of work can you do? After you finish this afternoon, I will give each of you three nests!" Mrs. Zhao patted her chest and said grandly. You must know that the harvests are not good now, and you can only get one nest after working for an afternoon. She is offering three times the price!
"How about it? I, Zhao Xiu'er, am so generous! If you don't hurry up and agree, I will find someone else!" As he said this, he made a gesture of leaving.
Ye Qing nodded: "There are many people in the village who have poor harvests. My second sister-in-law will definitely find a lot of them when she goes there at this time."
"You... don't know what is good or bad." Mrs. Zhao was so angry that she turned and left, cursing as she walked: I will starve to death by then, so don't come to beg me! Do you really think it has to be them? I'm going to look for someone outside right now, but I don't believe I can't find anyone?
