Chapter 108: Helping in Times of Need [VIP]

The people coming from outside were not outsiders, but the old man from Wanhe Township and Chen Youfu and others.

Chen Youfu was pushing the cart with his son and brothers at the back. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was indeed the Shen brothers who came out from behind the door.

Although they had been here once before and knew that the Shen family was renovating the house, they never expected it to be so well renovated.

It’s no wonder that the aunts were arguing outside and didn’t dare to knock on the door. It was because the blue brick and tile house with high walls and gates in front of them was more beautiful than those in the city.

"Grandma, why are you here so late? Come in quickly." Chen Yao quickly walked down the stairs and greeted the three uncles behind her.

Shen Qingshan shouted into the house, and Huang Dongsheng opened the side door and pushed the cart into the yard together with Yang Jizon and Tian Baolai.

Huang Xing and her elder sister Miao were busy pouring water for everyone. Thinking that they must not have eaten since they came so late, the three of them hurried to the kitchen to make a bowl of noodles for each of them.

"Ayao's mother, there's no need to bother you. We ate some dry food on the way and are not hungry."

Everyone felt a little restrained when looking at this spacious and luxurious house.

"Grandma, please sit down. The pancakes are ready and will be ready in a moment. It's no trouble at all." Huang Xing asked her daughter to greet the grandmas.

"Grandma and my uncles came to see me. They must have missed me, am I right? Why didn't Grandma Chen and Maizi come?" Chen Yao talked warmly with the grandmas as usual.

Grandma Wang put down the teacup in her hand, held Chen Yao's hand, and looked at the children in the room, her eyes full of heartache.

"Your Grandma Chen and Maizi talk about you all the time. They're staying in the village to look after the house. A few days ago, when your Uncle Fu was delivering goods to Shopkeeper Ren in the city, he told him that you and Baolai had become heads of two villages. We thought it would be hard for you two to be heads of two villages now."

The village suffered a disaster. It is not easy to be the head here. If you don’t do your job well, you will be scolded.

So they have been discussing with Manager Ren these days and want to dig up an acre of cassava and give it to the people in the two villages for planting, and also to help A Yao and Bao Lai.

They don't dig the cassava for free, they buy it with money.

When Manager Ren heard the old people's idea, he was unhappy. This was a disdain for him. He and Shen Yao had a very close relationship, and he could still afford to give them an acre of cassava seeds.

Not only that, Manager Ren also persuaded the old people to use the money to buy the wasteland for growing cassava, otherwise he would always be worried.

If they keep growing the crops like this, they won’t lose their land one day, as that would cut off the source of income for their milk tea shop.

Chen Yao listened to Grandma Wang's words, her eyes fell on the two carts parked in the yard, and she said to Tian Baolai, "Cousin, look how much Grandma loves us. This is truly a timely help."

Tian Baolai stood up and was about to thank his grandmother and uncles, but was pushed back by Chen Youfu.

Cassava has a high yield and is easy to grow. As long as it can fill your stomach, it is a good crop.

"Ayao, we grandmas don't have anything to give you in return. These cassava seeds were given by you in the first place, so it's not appropriate to say thank you or something so polite." Grandma Wang let go of Chen Yao's hand and signaled the old sisters to take out the things.

"These are the cloth shoes and insoles that grandmas made for you kids. We've sewn the shoes with layers of soles. I hope you'll have smooth walking in the future."

Huang Mei, Huang Xing and Miao came in with bowls of shredded pork and egg noodles and heard what the grandmothers said. They handed the noodles over to them.

Pairs of cloth shoes and insoles were taken out and handed to the children. Baozhu was not there, so her share was taken by her mother.

Huang Mei didn't need to measure the shoes with her hands; she knew just by looking at them that they would fit her daughter's feet.

"Grandma, how do you know the children's sizes? The children didn't tell me."

Grandma Wang smiled as she held the bowl of noodles. These kids would come to their village every year, rain or shine, and anyone who paid attention would be able to tell by the footprints they left on the road.

Huang Mei's eyes turned red as she listened while holding her daughter's shoes. Before she could cry, she could faintly hear low sobs in the room.

"Yang Wenying, why are you crying? If you are moved, can you just say something? Can you stop crying? You make me want to cry too." Huang Dongsheng raised his hand and patted Yang Wenying.

Yang Wenying wiped away her tears with her sleeve and held the shoes to her heart: "I am so moved that I want to cry."

The elders looked at the two children playing and seeing how much they loved the shoes they embroidered, their eyes became more loving.

"Good boy, don't cry, don't cry, try it on to see if it fits."

Under the persuasion of the grandmothers, the children tried on the shoes one by one and found them to be suitable.

Chen Yao looked at the new shoes on Yang Jizong's feet and saw the smile on his lips, and she also had a plan in her mind.

The children were trying on shoes on the side. Huang Xing touched Goudan's head and watched him finish a bowl of noodles. She went to the kitchen to get him another bowl. Shen Qingshan was talking about the silkworm room with Chen Youfu and others.

During this period, the silkworm room has always been empty.

Although there was a heavy rain, the Shen family's mulberry forest was not damaged, so the cocoons were produced normally.

The men can handle potato starch and do some physical work.

But they really couldn't do such delicate work as reeling silk. Even if Maizi taught them how to use the reeling machine, they still couldn't spin the silk into a single strand.

Zi and Grandma Chen are doing it.

After Shen Qingshan learned of this, he said to Chen Youfu, "Now that the autumn harvest is over, the villagers need to plow the fields. It will take two months before they can plant winter wheat. How about this? In ten days, I will bring the silk reeling women to the silkworm room to start work."

After receiving a positive answer, Chen Youfu nodded and gave him a wry smile: "Brother Qingshan, I'm not afraid of you laughing at us. We are not afraid of hardship, but we are afraid of not making money. As long as the raw silk is not delivered, we are very worried. Even if you tell us that you can deliver it later, we still feel..."

Shen Qingshan understood and patted Chen Youfu on the shoulder to reassure him that he would definitely bring people to the silkworm room to start work in ten days.

After finishing the story, Chen Youfu and the old people were about to leave, and no one could stop them.

"Grandma, look at how many rooms my house has. You can stay here for one night before leaving. It's so dark now, it's not safe for you to travel quickly." Chen Yao held Grandma Wang's hand.

Yang Wenying also held another grandmother's arm and prevented them from leaving.

"Don't worry, Uncle Youfu and the others will be there to protect us on the way, nothing will happen."

Grandma Wang lowered her voice again and told Chen Yao, "Ayao, we have to go back. Wanhe Township is no longer a deserted village. We can't rest assured that the crops in the fields and the silkworms in the silkworm room are only guarded by Maizi and Grandma Chen."

Several old people echoed.

After eating and drinking his fill, Goudan stood out from the crowd and said, "Sister Ayao, I am here too. I will protect grandma too. When are you going to our village? Maizi, Li Nu and I will miss you so much."

Chen Goudan ran to the cart and helped unload the sacks. After everything on the cart was unloaded, Goudan brought the backpack on the cart to Chen Yao.

Chen Yao looked at the purple-red mulberries in surprise: "Are there many fruits this year?"

"There are too many. We can't finish them even if we eat them every day. The grandmas will make them into dried mulberries and store them." Goudan complained in a low voice, but his father still heard it and hit him on the back of the head.

Chen Yao looked at Goudan and asked him and Maizi if they were willing to come to the village to study.

Chen Goudan refused. He was already a man and had to work with his father to earn money. Even if the quarry could no longer redeem the people with money, they still needed a lot of money.

"Sister Yao, I will tell Maizi about this. If she wants to come to study, I will send her over."

Everyone knew that they could no longer keep them, so they sent them out of the village together.

As the torches moved along the road, everyone turned back until the light disappeared.

On the way, several grandmothers took off the velvet flowers on their heads, looked at them again and again in the light of the fire, and carefully put them in their arms. How could they bear to wear such beautiful velvet flowers?

Chen Yao and Yang Wenying gave Maizi and the grandmothers a velvet flower each.

"You silly boy, you didn't want the hairpin that Sister A Yao gave you, but you were thinking about eating it. If you want to eat this pancake, why don't you go back and ask grandma to make it for you?" Chen Youfu sighed as he looked at the packages on the cart.

It's outrageous that they eat and take things at the same time.

Chen Goudan chuckled and said, "Grandma can't make it this way. Besides, I want Grandma and Maizi to have a taste of it too."

After seeing off the people from Wanhe Township, Huang Xing and Huang Mei urged Chen Yao and Baolai to go wash up and go to bed.

They could only sleep for a few hours before they had to get up and go to the government office to borrow official cattle.

It was three o'clock in the morning.

On the mule cart, Chen Yao leaned on Yang Jizong's shoulder to catch up on her sleep, while Tian Baolai sat in the front driving the cart.

Seeing that she was in pain from being tossed about, Yang Jizong pulled her into his arms and let her lie on his lap.

In the light, I saw the dark circles under Chen Yao's eyes, and I felt really sorry for her. She must be worrying too much as the person working here.

Thinking that A Yao would have to get up so early every year to go to the government office to borrow the official cattle, Yang Jizong secretly made up his mind that when he became the prefect of Ezhou, he must let the villagers raise cattle.

This way, A Yao wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the government office to borrow cows from the villagers.

Yang Jizong had no idea that Chen Yao's dark circles were not caused by these things, but because she wanted to make a pair of slippers for her family. She tried to make a pair at night, but not only did she fail, she almost poked a hole in her hand.

When the three of them arrived at the side door of the government office, the village heads from various villages had already lined up.

When it was Chen Yao and Tian Baolai's turn, Chen Yao felt a little sad when she saw her cousin pressing his fingerprints.

The old ox is still the same old ox, but the people who come to borrow the ox are no longer Village Chief Zhao and his son.

The three of them followed the officer to lead the cows back. When they were going home, Chen Yao asked her cousin to drive the mule cart back first, and she and Yang Jizong would lead the cows back.

Tian Bao glanced at the two of them, then tactfully drove the mule cart away.

There were few people on the street at this hour. Chen Yao held Guan Niu in one hand and Yang Jizong in the other. "Zi'an, will Wenying go with you?"

"I go to various villages to teach people how to grow winter wheat. Why does she follow me?" Yang Jizong even suspected that A Yao had not slept well, as she would ask such a question.

Chen Yao let go of his hand and patted her chest: "It's good that Wenying doesn't leave. I was really reluctant to let her go."

Yang Jizong felt a little uncomfortable after hearing this. Why, just because she couldn't bear to let Wenying go, she could also bear to let him go?

Chen Yao was stunned by his sudden questioning and nodded before she could recover.

As soon as she nodded, she noticed that Yang Jizong's face was extremely ugly, and she quickly led the official ox to make amends: "Zi'an, I don't want you to leave either."

Yang Jizong glanced at her sideways, also leading the cow. "Oh, liar, you obviously want to leave Wenying more. And you're right, Wenying is more capable than me, and you've been eating and sleeping with her for so long, how can I compare to her?"