Chief Kuang felt like he was going to lose all his hair. "We can't stop over there. If we don't keep digging for supplies, where will we get the food to distribute to these refugees?"

"There's nothing we can do about it. Besides, there's not enough to go around. We can't handle this wave after wave of people coming in. Even if we dug up all the warehouses buried underground, it still wouldn't be enough to help so many people."

"Let's set up a checkpoint at the provincial border and divert people to several nearby provinces and cities. Otherwise, we won't be able to handle it here, and it will be even more troublesome if unrest breaks out."

"Commander, look at our warehouse, we only have a few bags of food left. Even if we let more refugees in, there's nothing we can do."

"How about this: we'll provide relief to the corresponding number of people every time we exchange supplies? The only problem is we don't know how much grain the villagers here have stored to exchange with us. If we could find a warehouse that stores staple grains, things would be much easier."

Seeing everyone offering their suggestions, Chief Kuang knew that he was truly powerless to do anything about it.

“If all else fails, we can work in lieu of supplies. We can find some able-bodied young men from among these refugees to help with the digging, and then pay them accordingly after they’ve dug it out. That would be better than just giving away supplies for free,” Political Commissar Wang suggested, adding, “But we still need to set up checkpoints. We can’t let any more refugees in. We really can’t handle this situation here.”

"This is the only way. We must control the personnel arrangements carefully. We can't hire people from the same place. We need to manage them in a decentralized manner. If we open the warehouse, these people might try to steal it."

This is not just Chief Kuang's unfounded worry. You have to understand that when it comes to interests, human nature is inherently selfish.

Everyone quickly sat down together and devised the best solution to resolve the matter.

The Si family in Xin San Village is also having a conflict. Huang Yun has been banging and knocking since early morning, venting his dissatisfaction.

Si Zhengwei couldn't understand what she was complaining about. She was the most comfortable person in the entire Xin San Village. Usually, the three of them, father and son, didn't have to do any farm work. They only needed to take care of the housework.

"Even if those are iron basins, they'll break if you keep hitting them like that." Si Zhengwei couldn't stand it anymore when he saw Huang Yun hitting two iron basins together, and he spoke up to her.

"Now you're really worried about how many iron basins you've used, why don't you just keep ignoring me?" Huang Yun seemed to remember something that made her angry, and slammed the iron basin in her hand again.

"This is utterly unreasonable. What's wrong with you now, or have we done something to offend you?"

"I'm dissatisfied with everything. I've had enough of this dilapidated thatched hut. Look at me, my body is covered in bites, and I have to clean those chicken coops every day. Now I smell like chicken droppings." Huang Yun finished speaking, raised his sleeve, smelled it himself, and then turned his head away in disgust.

“Where else can we live if we don’t live in thatched huts? Look around this village, everyone lives like this. Even if we want to build houses, we’ll have to wait until we’ve taken good care of these crops before we have the energy to do these things.”

"People live in thatched huts, and they have to build separate huts for chickens. People are living worse than animals these days."

"Then what can we do? If you don't like it here, you can move to the chicken coop." Si Zhengwei was also defeated by her idea and casually replied.

"So, now that you have someone to back you up, you can act like a scoundrel?"

"Who's being a jerk? Didn't you yourself think the chicken coop was better than where you live now?"

"Don't you have a good son? Can't you let him build one of our houses first?" Huang Yun said bluntly when she saw that Si Zhengwei still didn't understand her intentions.

"So that's what you were thinking. Don't you see that our family is doing much better than others? It's all thanks to A-Cheng's help. People should be content, especially since we all have hands and feet. Others don't have the help of relatives, but they still manage to get by."

Sometimes, when Si Zhengwei thought about how his negligence had caused Si Cheng so much suffering in private, and how there were other things he didn't know about, he felt ashamed to face his eldest son.

"Besides, didn't Acheng bring over more than ten chickens this time? Look at other families, they have to write IOUs to redeem them, and each family only received two or three chickens. Isn't that enough for you?"

"Then it's better not to send them at all. Taking care of these chickens every day is like taking care of ancestors."

"Then you don't need to serve me anymore. Tomorrow I'll do these things at home, and you go to the fields. Don't think I don't know that you usually have Si Ming and Si Liang do the sweeping of the chicken coop."

"I only ask them for help when I'm too busy. Do you think I don't have much to do at home?" Huang Yun's tone softened immediately when she heard that she was to go to the fields. She didn't want to be like the other women in the village, busy in the fields and then busy at home every day.

“Since you’re working so hard at home, you should go work in the fields. Besides, which woman in the village doesn’t live like this? Your kind of ‘rich man’s disease’ can only be cured by more exercise.” Si Zhengwei hadn’t originally intended for Huang Yun to work in the fields, but seeing her constantly complaining even about doing such a small amount of housework, he couldn’t help but get annoyed.

Seeing that their parents were about to start arguing, Si Ming and Si Liang quickly stepped forward and pulled Si Zhengwei back.

"Dad, the weeds in the field have grown back. Let's go and pull them back to feed the chickens. Didn't my older brother and the others say you were going to feed them some wild grass?"

Speaking of this, Si Ming and Si Liang couldn't help but recall the disgusted look on their mother's face every time they dug up earthworms and brought them back, and she would even walk away from them.

Fortunately, this time my older brother sent over hens that were laying eggs. If they were chicks, I would have to chop up the earthworms and put them in the chickens to feed them.

"Let's go, and we'll carry two more buckets of water up with us." Si Zhengwei didn't want to stay here any longer, because he knew Huang Yun definitely wouldn't go down to the fields with them.

The water buckets used in the village now are all large wooden buckets, which is because there are experienced carpenters in their team who can make them.

The wooden buckets were already quite heavy, and the weight of the water added to them was unimaginable. So the father and his two sons took turns carrying two buckets, each seven-tenths full, up the mountain. Although the village wanted to build a waterwheel like Pinghe Village and had skilled carpenters, they couldn't find pig iron to forge the parts, so the project had to be put on hold.

The land allocated to their family was located near the top of a mountain, and by the time they carried the rice, they were panting heavily in the field.

“Amin, you guys are so tired all the time, so don’t continue helping your mother when you get home. That will only encourage her to be lazy.”

"Mom isn't feeling well, and it's no big deal for us to do more." Si Ming felt that the tasks at home were all easy and could be completed quickly.

“Look at the women in the village, they all work in the fields and then busy themselves at home. Now, she only has to cook a meal at home and she has so much to say. Her body just doesn’t get enough exercise.”