Delivered at midnight!

Of course, the township head thought so too. But seeing the food in Liujiatun today, people didn't show any surprise or disgust, which meant that this was pretty much what they usually ate.

The township head felt ashamed. When it was his turn to get his food in line, Li Cuihua even scooped out the sauce for him with her spoon, and when she handed him the flatbread, she asked, "Is one enough?"

"That's enough, that's enough."

Five people stood around the table, and Wang Hongxi quickly brought over chairs. "Please sit down, don't be shy. Does anyone eat spicy food? I'll go get some chili peppers to fill your mouth."

"No need to trouble yourself, you should eat quickly too, we still have to organize labor this afternoon."

"It's alright. The township head is here to inspect, so I can take a break. I haven't had a single day of leisure since spring planting started. This drought isn't entirely without its advantages; at least the weeds aren't growing too vigorously."

"Wang Hongxi, you're too cunning."

Wang Hongxi ignored him completely and started drinking her bowl of porridge with relish.

After dinner, everyone automatically went back to work. Of course, those who went to the fields had an hour's rest time. As Liu Maocai said, it didn't matter whether people rested or not, but the old oxen needed to rest.

Those who went to the fields didn't go home; they all stayed in the threshing ground helping to turn over the sweet potato slices, which made the work faster.

The village chief and team leader can handle other things. They just need to do their jobs well. There's no time to deal with them. The sweet potatoes are harvested, but we still need to hurry up with the sorghum harvest.

The township head, seeing the enthusiasm of the men, women, and children in Liujiatun working, knew that there was a reason why they weren't going hungry.

After the five of them finished eating, Wang Hongxi led them into the office for a drink of water.

The township head had no intention of staying any longer, but someone couldn't resist. Zhang Hongqi looked at Wang Hongxi earnestly and said, "Brother Hongxi, could you lend us some sweet potatoes? We'll pay you back next year with an extra 20%."

"We are."

Liu Maocai heard this as soon as he entered: "Borrow grain? You mean borrow lives? Zhang Hongqi, you've got some nerve, adding another 20%?"

"Liu Maocai, how dare you speak like that?"

"Can't you understand what I'm saying? Every grain of rice in Liujiatun belongs to every single person in Liujiatun. If you want to borrow it, we can go to the threshing ground right now. Everyone's here, let's go and discuss it. Let's see if we can lend you the grain. Let's go!"

"You're the village chief and team leader, can't you handle this little thing?"

"Such a small matter? You're really making a big deal out of it. How about I borrow the relief grain you distributed last time? I won't borrow too much, just 500 jin per village will do. We'll increase it by 50% next year, how about that?"

"Liu Maocai, stop making trouble. If we had grain, would we be here to borrow it from you?"

"No food? The relief grain that should have been distributed to our village was all taken by you. Didn't you ever think about why we voluntarily refused to receive any? You saw what we were eating today. This is what we eat during the busy farming season. If it were the off-season, we would only have two meals a day, and nothing dry. What are we doing this for? Do you take our kindness for granted?"

The township head was even more embarrassed and regretted coming today.

"Why do you need relief grain when you have grain yourself?" Zhang Hongqi shouted, his voice hoarse with frustration.

“We have grain, this grain just came down. Who knew we were starving when we were drinking water with our throats between our teeth? We didn’t want to cause trouble for the country. We thought that as long as we didn’t starve to death, we could give you what we deserved. But you shouldn’t have tried to take our grain again. Do you believe that if the villagers heard this, you wouldn’t be able to leave Liujiatun? Do we owe you or do we owe you something?”

The people in the room fell silent. Yes, food is life itself.

Wang Hongxi stood up, still smiling, and said, "Our village has 173 people. Everyone here knows how much grain they should receive. So I want to know how much of Liujiatun's grain and Liujiatun's life you all received?"

"That was something you were the ones who gave up."

"Oh? So you've been ungrateful for your good intentions."

"Wang Hongxi, is that you?"

"Village Chief, I know you don't want everyone to go hungry, but you can't just keep harassing Liujiatun like this, can you? We paid our share of last year's grain tax, how much did you pay? You bunch of devils!"

“Our village has been in debt for the past two years, totaling 14,000 yuan. You all have to sell your pots and pans to pay the grain tax.”

Liu Maocai looked at the township head and said, "Township head, which part of the work will you be inspecting this afternoon? The village head is going to be holding the plow, so I'll accompany you."

"No need, we're leaving soon too, we can't delay the autumn harvest."

"Then we won't send it. We'll invite the leaders to inspect the area after the autumn harvest."

The group left dejectedly. Wang Hongxi played the good cop, Liu Maocai the bad cop; they worked together flawlessly with just a glance. How perfectly in sync they were!

Finally, after getting rid of those annoying people, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. These plagues were finally gone.

Zhang Hongmei finally witnessed the importance of unity. Good heavens, these people had been led by the nose the whole time.

This is just a minor issue; everyone should continue with their normal routines.

Zhang Hongmei got so tanned over the past month. When she smiled in the mirror, it was quite frightening!

Next comes the sorghum harvest. These 400-plus acres are no joke. Luckily, the sorghum leaves were usually knocked off, so they're not too tough.

Everyone's clothes have white stains, which are sweat stains left on clothes after sweat dries.

Zhang Hongmei was still shoveling sorghum, and every day she couldn't even lift her arms, and her legs were numb.

Every night when they went back, they still had to harvest the sweet potatoes from their private plot. However, Zhang Hongmei didn't do much. Da Shan and the other three dug them up, Shi Tou San Ya and a group of children helped pick them into the basket, and Liu Mao Cai and Da Shan's father carried them back.

The yield here is even worse, not even comparable to what's grown in the fields. There's nothing we can do; we're lucky if we can get anything at all.

Another month has passed since they started working from dawn till dusk, and people are now wearing thick clothes.

Er Ya sat at the table listening to Zhang Hongmei explain the meaning of classical Chinese texts to her. School had actually been in session for ten days, but the crops in the village hadn't been harvested yet, so she had to go late.

The adults in their family told them not to neglect their studies, but the two of them couldn't bear to see their family members getting so tanned and thin, while they themselves had to take food from home every month.

With only a month left until the entrance exam, Er Ya was very anxious, fearing that she would not pass. So she used every spare moment to get Zhang Hongmei to help her fill in the gaps in her knowledge.

"Hongmei, are you in high school?"

"Of course, I'll wait for you in the city."

"So you're going to live in the city, right? It can't be the same as it is now, can it?"

"Well, it depends. If I do very well on the exam, I'll apply to the school. I don't know if it will be approved."

"Hongmei, how come you're so smart? All the difficult problems become so simple in your hands. I envy you."