There are more than a dozen children in the village. Jiang Zhi took a liking to Tian Tao after seeing her when she sold herbs last time.

This little girl is eleven years old. Before, she stayed at home with her pregnant mother to do chores and rarely appeared in public.

From the moment she was able to dig for medicinal herbs, she would diligently travel around with her nine-year-old brother Tian Xiaoquan and eight-year-old sister Xiaoxi to sell them and supplement the family income.

Now we need to harvest corn in the field.

Knowing that her father, Tian Gui, was in charge of delivering goods and that she would receive more grain, she still brought her younger brother to work.

Moreover, the fact that even someone as stingy as Li Laoshi could produce good goods shows that the siblings hadn't been lazy at work.

Jiang Zhi really likes this kind of child.

As long as that person is willing to climb up, I'm willing to lend a hand.

The remaining corn was quickly distributed, and not long after dawn, a light drizzle began to fall.

Bavaria gets a lot of rain in the summer.

Every evening there is a "night rain," and just before dawn, there is also a "night rain." During the day, there are occasional short showers of "winter rain" or "hundred-foot rain," with a shower occurring whenever a cloud passes by.

Rain gear is always with you.

At this moment, Tian Gui and the others had already taken out straw raincoats and bamboo hats and put them on, but they still did not stop walking.

Five people were responsible for one vehicle. Whoever got tired could step down and they took turns pushing the vehicle without stopping, running for most of the way.

As the rain intensified and the torches were about to go out, Tian Gui urged everyone to move closer to the cliff: "Everyone, stay close to the cliff to avoid the rain, and watch out for rocks rolling down the mountain!"

Everyone frantically pushed the cart to a stop at the bottom of the cliff, their faces already soaked with rain.

Corn doesn't mind getting wet in the rain, so they don't care about the car and several people huddle together to avoid the rain.

Seeking shelter from the rain at the foot of a cliff is very dangerous, the biggest fear being that loose rocks will get wet and slide down.

Tian Gui and Xu Gen were among the experienced ones who would look up from time to time to observe the movements above. Although it was dark and they couldn't see anything, they could hear falling rocks and thus take cover.

Xiaoman was hungry after running all the way. She took out the flatbread, pickled vegetables, and water from the bamboo tube in her basket and said to the others, "Uncle Tian, ​​Brother Genyou, Wuyang, you should eat something too!"

The others took the pancakes and started eating. They were hungry after walking all the way and hadn't stopped to eat, so they took advantage of this break to fill their stomachs.

The rain lasted for half an hour, just as dawn was breaking and everyone was sleepy.

Several people went from standing to squatting, leaning on each other as they dozed off.

Young people are great; Xiaoman even leaned on Errui's shoulder and started snoring.

Tian Gui rubbed his dry eyes and habitually looked up at the dark cliff above.

Seeing that the rain was gradually subsiding, he prepared to wake everyone up and continue on their way.

Just then, a small clump of sand rolled down to their feet, like a piece of wall soil that had been kicked down by a rat.

Tian Gui's expression changed drastically. Oh no! There's a landslide!

He jumped to his feet, threw off his raincoat, rushed towards the handcart, and shouted, "Get up! Everyone run! The mountain is collapsing!"

The sound instantly woke everyone up.

Xu Genyou hadn't slept 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 vehicle, shouting, "Come and push the vehicle!"

At this moment, the others also realized what was happening and rushed forward to push the car and run.

Xiaoman was half asleep when Errui suddenly picked her up and ran off: "What? What are you doing? Why are you running?"

Xu Errui ran more than ten meters before putting him down: "Run! We're on a cliff!"

Xiaoman was startled awake from her drowsiness and pushed the cart as fast as she could.

In the darkness, unable to see the road clearly, they could only follow their instincts. Just as everyone left, they heard a muffled rumble and a crashing sound as the building collapsed.

"Sigh! I just don't know how many sections collapsed, or if we'll be able to get through on our way back!"

In the darkness, someone was worried.

In mountainous areas, it is common to encounter landslides and road blockages.

Each time a landslide occurs, it needs to be cleared before passage is possible; if there are multiple landslides, it can cause blockages for several days.

The road ahead became more difficult, because in the chaos, Xiaoman forgot to take the basket she was carrying, and the flint and torch inside were left behind.

It's still dark, and the ground is full of potholes.

Standing still and waiting for dawn was not realistic, so the group could only push the cart forward, one step at a time, by the faint light of the morning star.

By the time dawn broke and the county town nestled at the foot of the mountain could be seen in the distance, the ten people from Xujia Village were already exhausted, covered in sweat, and panting heavily.

"Quickly, the city gates are open!" Tian Gui encouraged everyone.

Thinking that they would be able to rest soon, everyone was full of energy again and jogged all the way to the outskirts of Pingchuan County.

At this time, the area outside the city was full of farmers like them, carrying loads on their shoulders and pushing carts, coming into the city to buy and sell goods.

Occasionally, wealthy people dressed in fine clothes would go out, but they would avoid this group of sweaty, mud-covered men.

Two carts, covered with straw raincoats, were pushed to the city gate, where they were immediately stopped by the guards: "Halt! What's inside?"

The guards were used to Xu Errui and his men's disheveled state, and were only interested in the two wheelbarrows that were well covered up.

Tian Gui bowed and said with a humble smile, "Sir, we've come to sell some vegetables!"

"What kind of vegetable needs to be covered up so tightly!" The soldier yanked off his raincoat, revealing the green corn cobs.

"Ah, it's corn! You're stealing grain! Men, arrest them!" The soldier saw the tender corn and immediately shouted to stop the thieves. Several long spears rushed over and trapped Tian Gui and the others.

The others at the city gate also saw the cartload of corn and immediately started discussing it. However, they didn't accuse it of theft, but instead said, "The corn is only knee-high at this time of year, where did this corn come from?"

"Yes, where did it come from?"

"You wouldn't believe it! Corn grows earlier in Yuzhou Prefecture than here! It must have been sent from Yuzhou Prefecture."

Another person disagreed: "It was Jincheng Prefecture that received it earlier, not Yuzhou Prefecture! I have already seen the new grain delivered from Jincheng before Yuzhou Prefecture received it."

"No, no, no, you're all wrong. It should be Mianzhou Prefecture. It's the most remote part of Ba County. You can get to the north as long as you cross Mianshan Mountain..." Someone added a new place name, and the area involved became wider, attracting everyone to gather around.

The topic has shifted from stealing grain to where corn can be grown so early.

At the city gate, however, came the same old story: stealing grain!

Xu Errui forced himself to explain to the guards that these were crops he had grown himself.

The guards didn't believe it: "Look at your corn, it's only just started to ripen. The corn hasn't grown yet, who would be willing to eat it now?"

"You must have stolen something and now you want to take it to the city to sell. Come on, let's go to the county government office. If you say another word, don't blame me for tying you up."

This guard was also from a farming family and knew how important crops were to farmers at this time.

They dared to steal so much corn; they've caught a big thief and done a great service.

Tian Gui, Xu Gen, and several others turned pale with fright and secretly lamented their misfortune. They had gotten themselves into trouble by selling grain and might even end up in jail. What would happen to their wives and children?

Although they heard Li Laoshi boast every day that he could freely enter and leave the county government office and befriend the clerks and officials there.

But Li Laoshi is a man of unreliable words, so they can't completely trust him.

Xu Errui and Xiaoman were worried. They weren't afraid of going to the county government office, but they were worried about how to explain themselves to Magistrate Zhang.

Mother has already made arrangements: when going to town to sell tender corn, don't go to Rice Market Lane, but go to the same families who bought wood ear mushrooms last time, and also find Miss Huo the second daughter of the pharmacy.

We must not let Magistrate Zhang find out.

People's livelihood!

Magistrate Zhang, who cares most about people's livelihood, would definitely choose to produce grain rather than sell it for money!