With Tang Cuihua as cover, Xiao Jiu successfully transferred all the grain to his personal warehouse.

This meant they wouldn't have to pay rent in July, but the rent, including both the county town and the town, added up to fifteen yuan a month, which the Tao family gave to Tang Cuihua.

“Children, since you’ve found us a place, you’ve taken on the risks. You should keep this money. It’s better for you to keep it than for outsiders to benefit from it. After thinking it over, we still think you need to give us a clear answer: Where did you put all this grain? Where is this safe place?”

Regarding this, Xiao Jiu and Cuihua had already discussed a plan: "We found the homes of landlords and wealthy people whose property had been confiscated and destroyed. The grain was hidden in different places, not all in one place. Don't worry, the grain won't be lost. We've marked them all. We can't take this money."

But the Qian family not only gave it to her, but also gave her two years' worth of money in one go. If Xiao Jiu hadn't winked at her, Cuihua wouldn't have dared to accept the money.

When only the two of them were left, Cuihua returned the 360 ​​yuan to Xiaojiu.

Xiao Jiu knew that Cuihua wouldn't accept the money, so she generously took it.

"Sister Xing, I'll take this money. But don't be shy about giving me food and drinks from now on. I have enough to get us through these next few years safely."

Cuihua watched Xiaojiu leave confidently, her heart filled with mixed feelings.

"Reborn, the sisters are all living better lives than in their previous lives, and they have all changed each other's destinies. The only regret is that they are no longer the same people they were in the first life..."

"But so what? She's still my sister. Isn't she working hard for the future of this family? Otherwise, even if I worked myself to death, I couldn't manage it all by myself. I couldn't even handle that big family in Taoyuan Village who's dragging us down."

As the conversation progressed, Tang Cuihua couldn't help but recall the corpse that had inexplicably appeared in Tang Youjin's outhouse.

The plot that didn't exist in the previous life has miraculously appeared in this life, and it has also indirectly helped her get rid of the annoying eldest son's wife. Which sister is behind this?

only--

A corpse! It's a corpse! It shouldn't be something her seemingly innocent and kind sisters would do!

After the most important issue of food was resolved, Xiao Jiu could clearly feel that her parents were relieved and no longer kept thinking about going to the city.

The sun is blazing, the drought has cracked the ground, and the water level in the river is dropping rapidly. Even the water level in the villagers' wells has dropped significantly, which has frightened many people. After all, in this sweltering heat, even if seeds are sown, they won't germinate without enough water.

It is estimated that a considerable amount of grain will also be lost.

Because of this situation, not only have the production teams been slow to take action, but they have also been unable to make ends meet due to the increased reporting and tax payments. This has led to various forms of dissatisfaction among the villagers, as they have had to reduce their expenditures.

If it weren't for the vegetables they grew on their own land, which, combined with the two meals a day provided by the production team, barely kept them from getting sick, the production team's canteen would probably have been smashed up by these starving ghosts.

Seeing that it would be impossible to plant crops this season, people in various places have been trying to find ways to pray for rain.

But how can you expect rain to come just by asking?

Even later artificial rain and snowfall require a thick layer of clouds to complete the task.

She didn't care about how much other people drank; all she knew was that the two families under her care could eat white flour dumplings once a month, white rice once a month, white flour steamed buns once a month, and meat once a month. Every few days, those who weren't in good health could also eat eggs and duck eggs. She could even occasionally bring some fruit for her family to try.

Even so, with the cafeteria severely lacking in oil and fat, both families still lost weight at a visible rate.

Even Xiao Jiu lost five pounds, because in this situation, if everyone else loses weight and you don't, then you're in big trouble.

So even if you crave something delicious, you can't get fat, or you'll be in big trouble.

The only ones who probably won't go hungry are the people in the cafeteria.

Those who run the canteen are probably all royalty and nobles. How could ordinary villagers have such an opportunity?

That day, the canteen made sweet potato leaf and corn porridge again, and when the villagers saw it, their mouths turned up in disgust!

"Every day it's sweet potato leaves, every day it's porridge, there's not a single dry thing. This is clearly trying to starve us! If you don't know how to manage, then don't manage. At least share the grain we grow with us! When we were eating at home, we never suffered like this!"

Little did you know that while you can still eat some porridge now, by the second half of the year, you might not even be able to eat any porridge at all.

Xiao Jiu has rarely gone hungry in her life, but in the past six months, there have been times when she felt so hungry that her stomach ached. In these situations, she would just fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, and even hypnotize herself into believing that she wouldn't be hungry anymore once she fell asleep.

But if she gets really hungry, she'll treat herself to something special, like roasting a few shrimp that won't make her fat, or grabbing a handful of peanuts.

Having something to eat can alleviate that unbearable hunger.

Because of the hot and dry weather, and the lack of food, one feels weak and powerless all over, a feeling as uncomfortable as heatstroke.

Every day, countless villagers go down into the river to catch shrimp and fish. Those fishy-smelling river clams used to be pig feed, but now they have become a lifesaver.

The water level in the river dropped from waist-deep to knee-deep, but not a single drop of rain fell.

The land was so dry that it was covered with huge cracks, and everything that was planted died and nothing could grow.

My own little vegetable garden would probably have died long ago if it weren't for the daily irrigation.

When the cafeteria food wasn't enough, people would eat cucumbers, tomatoes, raw eggplants, or various boiled vegetables from home. Basically, anyone who could relieve stomach acid was willing to try it.

"Sister, have you noticed something? The policies keep changing, right? But ever since the advanced cooperatives were established, it seems like the grain yield in the fields is decreasing."

After thinking about it carefully, Tang Cuihua realized that it made perfect sense.

From the initial mutual aid groups of a few people, to the primary cooperatives of a dozen people, to the advanced cooperatives of half the village, and now to the people's communes, the number of people has increased, but the amount of grain harvested has decreased. Why is this?

In reality, everyone knew the truth: "They're just going through the motions!" That one sentence summed up the reason.

"This reservoir has been under construction for a year now. When will it be finished? Look at this drought, we can hardly survive!"

Didn't the father and son from the Taoyuan Village chief's house go to build a reservoir?

People from each village were also assigned to repair the reservoir, but they received wages. However, those who committed crimes not only had to do the hardest and most tiring work, but they also often didn't have enough to eat and didn't even receive wages, because they were there to be punished, not to enjoy themselves.

When the commune realized that this was not a solution, it heard about the method of producing 10,000 catties per mu from somewhere and called on the commune members to start turning the soil. They used the hot summer sun to dry the soil, and after drying it, they dug seven feet deep to turn up the red and yellow soil underneath. Then they mixed the soil together with the black soil that had been composted with manure.

Xiao Jiu found this laughable. Could it be that the yield of three or four hundred catties per mu is because the soil is not properly dried?

Look at all those huge cracks in the ground now. How difficult would it be to shovel into this kind of dry soil and then turn it over?

If we dig another seven feet, what will happen to all the villagers' hands?

In this sweltering heat, you can break out in a sweat without even moving. If you did that, wouldn't someone die?

Yet there are still people here bragging, saying that turning over the soil was just one method, and the second method is to mix the river water with rainwater. Why mix them? Because rainwater comes from the sky, and river water comes from the ground, so this is called the unity of heaven and earth.

Emma's fallacy was actually believed by some people, who even encouraged the members to do it. But the members were bewildered: "Where's the water? Where can we get the water?"

"That's right, the river is almost dry. There's not even enough water for people to drink. And you're using it to irrigate this hopeless land? That's just exhausting us. You won't be able to grow any crops. Don't you see what kind of weather it is? In this kind of weather, we'd have to water it every day. With the little grain you're giving us, is it enough for us to go through all this trouble? Aren't you afraid people will die?"

"Who told our commune's Secretary Cao to boast so much at the county-wide yield summary meeting, saying that our commune's minimum yield is 5,000 jin, we don't even look at 8,000 jin, and we'll just smile if we reach 10,000 jin!"

When Xiao Jiu heard this, she felt that the lines sounded familiar. Wasn't this a line from the TV series "The Old Farmer"?

Is it possible that the reality is as exaggerated as depicted in the TV series?

They dare to smile even at 10,000 jin? What a load of bull!

This guy really dares to brag!

"Good heavens, if he hadn't blown his own horn out of proportion, would our commune have been used as a model for other communes to come and learn from? They even harvested, threshed, and weighed the grain on the spot?"

Xiao Jiu became interested. To be honest, during those days he only felt that a lot of people from the village came to observe and learn, but he had never heard his family mention it. Mainly because there were regulations from above that forbade discussion. He never expected that there was such a big juicy story waiting for him!

Good heavens! What a difference there is between a yield of 10,000 jin per mu and a yield of 300 jin per mu! Even if this Party Secretary doesn't think things through, he should at least have some common sense, right?

"The people who came to observe that day only saw what was happening outside, but they didn't know that all the wheat in our village's fields had been uprooted and buried in that so-called experimental field. Under such circumstances, it would be impossible for the yield not to be high, right? On the day of the event, everyone doubted that the claim of 10,000 jin was just hype, but after the on-site harvesting, threshing, and weighing, it actually exceeded 10,000 jin. Heaven knows how interesting those people's faces were. You didn't see it!"

So what they call "seeing is believing" isn't necessarily true. Look at this boast! The whole village has to lie to them. But with this year's drought, you claim a yield of 10,000 catties per mu? What about next year? What about now?