Sun Miao'er stood to the side, quietly observing Fu Yuchi's expression. "What does Master think?"

"Hmm." Fu Yuchi nodded, his mouth pausing as he drank the soup. He wasn't good at expressing himself, but he was generally easygoing. Even though this was a rare delicacy, he could only nod to show his approval.

Sun Miao'er felt relieved after receiving the compliment and said, "Master, the cloth in my yard is almost dyed. I'll go take a look. Please eat first."

The cloth, bound with fine threads, had been soaking in bamboo leaf water for over half an hour, and was already stained a vibrant green. Sun Miao'er took out the bundle, cut the threads, and gently unfolded the cloth. The original white cloth had now turned a bluish-green, but because it was linen, which was thicker than gauze, the effect wasn't as good as the gauze-dyed cloth she had seen before.

The pattern on the cloth spreads outwards. The bound parts are still white, but the parts soaked in the liquid have turned bluish-green, creating a beautiful contrast between blue and white.

She spread the cloth out flat on a bamboo sieve to dry, hoping to use the remaining heat of the sun to dry the dyed cloth. However, it looked late, so she would probably have to wait until the next day.

Many families are already preparing to harvest wheat in the fields. The early wheat, with its full ears of wheat, sways in the wind, creating undulating golden waves. At the edge of the field, several farmers put their children in bamboo baskets. The men are responsible for cutting wheat in the fields, while the women bring food and help out. It can be said that the whole family is involved.

“Oh dear, how are we going to get through today? Manager Wang came by a couple of days ago and let us know that this year we have to pay 1.2 dou of grain per mu of land.”

Sitting on the edge of the field, complaining incessantly, was Granny Li. Granny Li was the cousin of the village chief, and she lived a fairly good life in the village. Her husband had a long-standing relationship with the Wang family in the city, so every year, by virtue of this relationship, they could pay less grain. The Wang family did grain business in Pingnan City, and half of the land in Fushui Village belonged to him. Xiao Ning worked for the Wang family, and the other half of the land belonged to the Zhao family, who had wanted to buy Sun Miao'er.

The remaining small portion consists of ancestral lands passed down through generations in the village, such as the Sun family's several acres of medicinal herb land, the wasteland in the south of the village where Village Chief Li lives, and the cornfield of Aunt Ge's family. Most villagers in Fushui Village still make a living by working as tenants for landlords, handing over the required amount of grain every year at the appointed time.

Sun Miao'er stopped and stepped forward to say something, trying to get some information out of her, "Hello, Aunt Li, I think this year's harvest is very good!"

Granny Li wiped the sweat from her face, her expression troubled. She turned to look at the endless wheat field and muttered, "What a load of rubbish!"

“How so?” Sun Miao’er replied. She knew very little about the village. Apart from her own land, she was not clear about the villagers’ daily lives and livelihoods. If she wanted to make a good living in Fushui Village in the future, she would need to learn about these things.

Granny Li sighed repeatedly, "Things aren't peaceful outside. My husband went to the city last month and heard that fighting has broken out in the north. Those landlords are not easy to deal with. As soon as they heard that fighting had started, they were afraid that it would spread to our south. They all want to take advantage of the autumn harvest to make a fortune. Who knows what will happen next year!"

Sun Miao'er held the wheat stalks in her hand. They looked plump, but when she touched them, she realized that half of each stalk was hollow. She held her breath and didn't say anything, only listening to Granny Li continue talking.

"These ears of wheat look good but are useless. At the beginning of the year, the wheat field was infected with disease, and the ears that grew were all hollow. This acre can barely yield one dan (a unit of dry measure), and they want us to hand over one dan and two dou (another unit of dry measure)? Isn't this going to kill us?!"

Several women nearby shook their heads in agreement. This year's harvest was poor; in previous years, they only needed to hand over eight or nine bushels of grain. Now, the price had increased so much that even if they pooled their resources, they couldn't possibly collect that much.

Sun Miao'er comforted her, "Auntie, worrying won't solve anything right now. The master wants to collect grain, but we can't just conjure it up from the fields. Besides, the war in the north is intense, and the people there are probably suffering even more. Maybe the higher-ups will reduce taxes, and then we won't have to pay so much grain!"

“Sun family girl, your family doesn’t farm, so you don’t know how hard it is. My family has a good relationship with the Wang family, and we harvest eight or nine out of ten crops every year. But this year, our relationship won’t help us… Alas, let’s see if God will open his eyes!” Granny Li said, feeling heartbroken, and sat down at the edge of the field to wipe away her tears.

Yes, the Sun family later fell into poverty. In the past, they lived a relatively stable life while the old man was alive, relying on the land left by their ancestors. But after the old man passed away and Sun Yuanyong died, the Sun family never recovered. Sun Yuanhu was lazy and preferred to work outside rather than honestly farm the land.

Sun Miao'er thought that farming depended on the weather. If the heavens were on their side, the villagers could make a living. If the heavens were not on their side, the villagers could only wait to accumulate debts, day after day, year after year. The only beneficiaries were the landlords in the city, while these poor people toiled in the fields, never seeing any improvement in their lives.

If she could find some other way out for the people of Fushui Village, they wouldn't have fallen to such a state. Thinking this, Sun Miao'er quickened her pace. When she got home, candles were already lit inside.

Xiaoman sat in the kitchen as Grandma Sun cooked porridge and prepared dinner. "Miao'er, have you eaten?"

"I ate at Master's place, and I learned a lot from him today." Sun Miao'er rinsed the iron pot clean, and seeing that Grandma Sun's expression was getting better day by day, her previous worries also lessened a lot.

Grandma Sun looked pleased. "It's good that you can learn something, Miao'er. You have to understand Grandma's intentions. Grandma knows that it's inconvenient for a girl like you to have a male teacher, but you have to remember that other people's gossip can't drown you. Only when you live well is it truly good. Learn more things now to protect yourself; it will benefit you for the rest of your life."

In fact, even if Grandma Sun hadn't said it, Sun Miao'er understood all these principles. It was fortunate that it was her; if it were the original owner of this body, given her personality, she probably wouldn't have agreed to Grandma Sun's idea. So it's no wonder that the Sun family has been declining step by step and can only wait for her to come up with a way out.

"Grandma, on my way back I heard that tenant farmers are having a hard time this year, and rents have all gone up."

Grandma Sun tapped her index finger on her cane. “It’s not surprising. Our family used to own land, and we should have been living much more comfortably than those tenant farmers. But Yuanhu is such a disappointment. He’s let our land go to waste. If we had just grown some grain on those few acres of land, instead of medicinal herbs, we wouldn’t have ended up starving!”

"Yes, sister, but the corn in our field looks so good! Will I be able to eat it soon?"