Cai Damei didn't return until evening, looking exhausted.

Ye Yunniang helped Cai Damei into the room and brought out a bowl of bean porridge that had been kept warm on the stove, along with some side dishes.

Cai Damei drank a bowl of porridge, then waved her hand and refused to eat anymore.

Ye Yunniang cleared away the dishes and went into the kitchen, quickly bringing out tea.

"Mother, how is Auntie?"

"He was so angry that the doctor gave him acupuncture. He needs to rest well and can't get angry in the future."

Cai Damei couldn't help but sigh as she recalled Cai Xiaomei's lack of energy and spirit.

Marrying an unvirtuous wife will ruin your family.

The business built up by two generations of the Zhou family is gone.

"Mother, what exactly happened?"

Wells are being cleaned; everyone in Jiangcheng knows there's been a drought this year.

Buy and stockpile grains in advance with caution.

Some people don't care; they just think it won't go six months without rain. Buying expensive grain now is foolish; they should stock up on grain.

Zhang Cai'er's family was an indifferent family.

But things changed in the direction that people least wanted to see.

After months without rain, the summer grain harvest has suffered a severe failure. Without rain, the rivers are dry, the land cannot be cultivated, and the autumn harvest seems hopeless.

Under strict government control, grain prices continued to rise. Purchase limits were reduced from 5 jin to 1 jin, and then to half a jin yesterday.

Even these are hard to buy.

The Zhang family couldn't buy any grain.

Zhang Cai'er couldn't bear to see her family members go hungry, so she secretly sent grain from her home to her parents' house.

Zhou Lingling was the first to notice something was wrong.

The 30 jin (15 catties) of rice that was just poured into the rice jar was gone in just two days.

Only Zhang Cai'er and Zhou Lingling usually go into the kitchen. Since Zhou Lingling wouldn't steal, it's obvious who it was.