It was past 8 p.m. when the Ye family went back to their rooms to sleep in order to save on lamp oil.

At that moment, a cry suddenly rang out from outside.

"Oh dear, isn't that Black Dog's mother's voice?" Old Mrs. Ye rolled out of bed.

She exchanged a glance with Old Man Ye, then put on her clothes and went out the door.

A woman in her fifties was walking along the road, crying, with Dr. Zhao carrying a lantern and following behind.

"Black Dog Mother, Doctor Zhao, what's wrong?" Old Lady Ye stepped forward and asked.

“Liu Heigou was starving and stole some poisonous roots, so he got poisoned! I’m going to see him right now,” said Doctor Zhao, shaking his head.

"What?" Old Man Ye exclaimed in surprise, "We'll have to force-feed him manure!"

At this moment, the neighbors heard the commotion and came out.

The old man Zhao Facai who lived next door said anxiously, "I'll go scoop up the manure right now. With Brother Tian here, you have experience with this, let's all go and help."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Old Man Ye and his wife hurriedly followed. Old Man Ye's real name was Ye Youtian.

Zhao Facai went back to his own outhouse, scooped up a large ladle of manure, and hurriedly chased after the man, leaving behind an indescribable smell.

Ye Daquan and Ye Erquan hurriedly chased after her out the door, not forgetting to turn back and call out to Ye Caiping's house, "Little sister, are you coming?"

"I'm not going." Ye Caiping stood by the window.

The Ye brothers turned and ran, losing a shoe in the process in their pursuit of the spectacle.

Ye Caiping covered her nose, closed the window, and shook her head and sighed to her two daughters: "Really, why did they have to eat poisonous roots!"

The memories in my mind are incomplete; they only surface when I'm suddenly struck by a blow.

She had no memory of the poisonous root in her mind, so she had to try to get information out of her two daughters.

Ye Jin'er said, "Many people are starving in these times. We are already fortunate to have rice porridge to eat."

Seeing that they weren't taking the bait, Ye Caiping said earnestly:

"No matter how hungry you are, you can't be like Liu Heigou, stuffing anything into your mouth. Like this poisonous root, let me test you, what does it look like?"

"I know!" Ye Huan'er raised her little hand. "It grows as tall as a person, and its leaves have five, six, or seven lobes. The roots that grow underground are big and long. I heard that when you cook it, it's powdery and soft, but it's poisonous. If you eat it, you'll die!"

Ye Jin'er nodded: "Grandma said that during the famine, Uncle Sanquan was so hungry that he ate poisonous roots and almost died. It was Grandpa who forced him to drink excrement, and he vomited for most of the day before he was saved."

Ye Sanquan is the son of Ye Ershu and Ye Caiping's cousin.

Ye Caiping was so excited when she heard what her two daughters said that it was bitter cassava!

Because the people here don't know how to prepare it, they get poisoned as soon as they eat it!

But she'll handle it!

Thinking about it, Ye Caiping's eyes lit up. With cassava, her family wouldn't have to go hungry!

At that time, I can also get some capital to start a business!

She absolutely must go up the mountain tomorrow!

It wasn't until midnight that Old Man Ye, Old Woman Ye, and the Ye brothers returned, all covered in a foul stench.

"Why are you getting involved in this mess! You have to boil water and wash things, what a waste of firewood!" Old Man Ye cursed as he pushed open the door.

Ye Daquan and his brother followed behind, their heads and faces splattered with excrement. They shrank back and dared not utter a sound, but in their hearts they were thinking: "That's like being forced to drink excrement alive! Who wouldn't love to watch that!"

Ye Caiping walked out of the room, her lips twitching slightly. These two brilliant minds!

Ye Peng also ran out of the house: "Grandpa, is Uncle Black Dog ready?"

Ye Peng originally wanted to be on the front lines of gossip, but Ye Erquan wouldn't allow him to go. This made him incredibly eager to join in.

"He was given the medicine in time and vomited it all up. The doctor said he was saved and prescribed some croton oil. He should be fine after a few days of diarrhea," Old Man Ye said. "Go and boil some water."

Old Man Ye was the one who poured the manure, so he was the dirtiest.

"Mother and I have already cooked it, Grandpa, you should go wash up!"

After an hour of work, Old Man Ye and the others finished washing up, and the family went to bed.

...

The next day, when Ye Caiping got up, her two daughters were no longer in the room.

Ye Caiping removed the cloth strip from her forehead and looked in the mirror.

The wound had already scabbed over with a thick layer of scab, and he had no headache or dizziness, so it seemed to be healing well.

After applying iodine solution to herself, Ye Caiping changed the cloth strip and wrapped herself up again.

Then, taking the household registration certificate, they went to the village head's house.

The village head's house is the only brick and tile house in the whole village, and he also owns a cow.

Besides plowing the fields, this ox is also used as a cart.

Ye Bajin, the village head's son, would drive an oxcart every day to take the villagers in and out, earning a few bucks for running errands.

Ye Li was sitting at the door smoking a hookah. When he saw her, he looked up and said, "You're here. Come on in."

Ye Caiping followed him into the main room.

Some documents were already on the table, and Ye Caiping took out the household registration book.

"Village head, I'd like to ask, what are the conditions if I want to open a female household?" Ye Caiping said.

"A female household?" Ye Lizheng stopped writing, looking surprised. "Well... women cannot open a household independently. They can only open a household independently if all the men in their husband's family have died, or if their husband dies and they are separated from the family with their daughter."

“If a woman is divorced or has a separation, her household registration will be returned to her parents’ home, unless her parents and brothers are all dead.”

Ye Caiping frowned: "Isn't there any other way?"

"At least not here."

Ye Caiping understood that farmers like them, from the bottom of society, had little influence and could only live by following the rules.

But there are always exceptions, it's just that they don't have access to them.

"Why are you asking about this woman? Don't tell me you don't want to get married? A woman can't stay single forever."

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