There are three wells in Dahe Village.
Two wells dried up half a month ago, leaving only one well to sustain the life of the whole village.
Now that the last well has dried up, a howl of cries can be heard outside the house.
There is no harvest in the fields, and they can still survive by chewing tree bark and eating grass roots. Without water, it is really a disaster for the sky and the earth.
Li Zheng listened to the crying outside the house and sighed: "Dashan Niang, all the hope of the village now lies in you. I really hope that every word you say is true."
"Uncle Li Zheng, I never make jokes like this." Cheng Wanwan said with a serious face, "However, I also have a grudge."
Li Zheng straightened his body. If Dashan Niang didn't ask for anything, he would still be a little flustered. He was afraid that all this would be false. He had given hope and then let him down. He couldn't bear the pain.
Since Dashan Niang has a request, it means that the fact that there is water on the mountain is most likely true.
"Last year, I split from Lao Zhao's family and was allocated 13 acres of land. Only five acres were good land. The other eight acres were inferior land and could not grow good food."
As soon as Cheng Wanwan was halfway through her words, Li Zheng understood what she meant and immediately said: "Dashan Niang, as long as what you said about the water source is true, I will give you the most fertile piece of land in the village. However, good farmland is also expensive, with the market price being two taels of silver per acre..."
The most fertile land in the village belongs to Li Zheng's family. How can Cheng Wanwan rob other people's things?
She said: "I want the wasteland at the bottom of the mountain. When the water from the mountain flows down, it happens to pass through this land. The wasteland will definitely become fertile farmland in the future. Many experienced farmers in the village should know this truth. I am afraid that it will happen soon. I came to Uncle Li Zheng to buy land. Can I ask Uncle Li Zheng to leave this land to me for half a year? When I have money on hand, I can then buy it. If I can’t get the money within half a year, Li Zheng will Uncle Zheng can sell it."
This request is not a request at all. During the locust plague last year, most people in the village had their families wiped out by high-priced grains. It is the same situation again this year, and no one can spare any extra money to buy land.
Li Zheng immediately agreed: "Based on the price of wasteland, how many acres do you want?"
Cheng Wanwan had a headache. She didn't know much about the unit of mu. Three or four mu could be measured visually, but more than one mu could not be converted. She smiled and said, "I'll go back and discuss it with my sons."
After she left with Zhao Ergou, Li Zheng's eldest son Zhao Anjiang walked in: "Dad, I just heard you talking about water. When did there be water in the mountains?"
Li Zheng repeated Cheng Wanwan's words.
"How is that possible?!" Zhao Anjiang was full of disbelief, "Sister-in-law Zhao has never done anything serious, dad, you actually believe her words?"
Li Zheng's second son, Zhao Anhe, also said: "I think Sister-in-law Zhao just wanted to defraud those acres of land."
"That's more than ten acres of wasteland. What's the benefit of cheating her away?" Li Zheng scolded angrily, "Last time about the jade bamboo shoots, it was Dashan Niang who came over and said, you guys are happy eating jade bamboo shoots, why don't you just Are you so unwilling to trust people? Furthermore, as long as we go up the mountain tomorrow, we will know whether Dashan Niang is lying, so what’s the point of her lying to me for an entire night?”
Li Zheng's wife agreed: "Dashan Niang looks different. I didn't recognize Ergouzi just when she came in. She is cleaner and seems to have gained some weight..."
On the way back, we could just see the wasteland.
This piece of land is at the foot of the mountain and is covered with dry grass. Wasteland is the most difficult to cultivate, so the villagers naturally look down upon it.
"Mom, there are about thirty acres here..." Zhao Ergou counted the money murmuringly, "One acre of land is eight cents of silver, two acres of land is sixteen cents of silver, three acres of land is two taels and four cents of silver..."
Cheng Wanwan's ears were almost calloused. She held her forehead and said, "It will be easier if you do the calculation as I said... One acre of land is eight cents of silver, ten acres of land, that is eighty cents of silver, thirty acres of land." , that is, three eighty, eighty plus eighty, plus eighty, what is the equivalent?"
Zhao Ergou had two heads and two heads. He stretched out his fingers to count, but it was not enough, so he had to squat down and write on the ground. He couldn't write, so he drew eight horizontal lines on the ground, and then eight more, and then another After making eight strokes, he finally counted them carefully and said happily: "Mom, the total is two hundred and forty dollars!"
Cheng Wanwan: "..."
If the amount is larger in the future, the ground under your feet will not be enough.
She really wanted to teach this kid quick calculations, but she couldn't bear to remind herself in her heart that the original person didn't know the words, not even a word!
She had no choice but to guide: "The two hundred and forty dollars, how much money is it in total?"
This question stumped Zhao Ergou.
He wrote and drew for a long time, but he couldn't come up with an answer.
Cheng Wanwan was almost dying of anxiety and said calmly: "Ten coins is one tael of silver, two hundred and forty coins, there are twenty-four ten coins, right, how many taels is the total?"
"It's twenty-four taels of silver!" Zhao Ergou's eyes lit up, "Mom, you are so powerful."
Cheng Wanwan didn't want to look at his stupid look and said, "Twenty-four taels of silver, this is not a small amount of money."
Zhao Ergou also fell silent. Their family only had a few tens of pennies at most and could not afford to buy an acre of land. How dare he dream of more than thirty acres.
He said: "Actually, our family has enough land. My eldest brother and I farm three cows together, which is enough to handle it..."
"I didn't buy this land for farming." Cheng Wan said, "I'll talk about my plans later when I have money to buy the land. Let's go home."
The mother and son walked across the field to the main road. At this moment, many people in the village gathered under the big locust tree.
"There is no water in the well, what did Li Zheng say?"
"What can Li Zheng say? He can't turn into a well and come out."
"It's over for today, but what if we don't have water to drink tomorrow?"
"The closest one is Chengjia Village. It takes an hour to come back and forth. I don't know if the people in Chengjia Village are willing to lend us water."
"A little further away is Osmanthus Village. There are five wells in Osmanthus Village. It is said that only one well is out of water. You can go there and have a look..."
People in the village give each other advice.
Although there was a place to fetch water, it was too far away. It took almost two hours to go back and forth, and we only had two buckets of water, which was not even enough for daily use.
When Cheng Wanwan returned home, there was not a drop of water in the bucket. Fortunately, there was half a pot of boiled water on the table, so he would not be without water all night.
Wu Huiniang said anxiously: "I just accidentally ran out of water when I was cooking. I, I will go to other people's houses to borrow some water for my mother to wash..."
During this time, my mother-in-law loves to be clean. She takes a bath every day and requires them to wash themselves every day. She is a little afraid that her mother-in-law will get angry.
Cheng Wanwan just waved her hand: "It doesn't matter if you don't wash for a day. You are pregnant, so go to bed early."
The sky was getting darker and darker, and the family gradually fell into sleep.
Before going to bed, Cheng Wanwan spent a few pennies to buy two eggs in the mall and secretly placed them in the chicken coop before lying on the bed and falling asleep.
At dawn the next day, Zhao Sidan's excited voice could be heard in the yard: "Rhubarb and Erhuang laid four eggs in total, it's amazing!"
Dahuang is a slightly larger hen, and Erhuang is a slightly skinnier hen. Zhao Sidan came up with the names for them after thinking hard all night.
This name was unexpected by Cheng Wanwan. The names of the four boys were very random. What other tricks could there be for the names of the hens?
