We can save some. But we still need to store some grain, because after next year, even if we have money, we won't be able to buy grain. That's the most crucial thing, and this autumn is the only chance.

When he got home and found no one there, he asked his older brother, "Brother, when the grain is harvested this fall, will we still go to buy some?"

"Of course we have to buy it," my older brother said, not knowing why I asked that.

"How much do you want to buy?" I asked again.

"We'll definitely have to buy more than before. Now that Dad and Uncle Li are back, and they're leading troops, their consumption will definitely be greater than ours. They'll need to eat dry food, so we'll probably have to buy more than before." My older brother thought I didn't understand, so he explained.

"Then we'll have to hide it well. We'll be staying in the military area, so we can't carry bags of food upstairs. And we need to make sure no one's home or training ground is usually occupied. Otherwise, if someone breaks in, who will we look for?" I said.

"You don't need to worry about that. I heard about it from my parents a few days ago," the fourth brother said.

"Ah, how come I didn't know?" Third Brother said.

"I overheard it when I got up in the middle of the night. They were saying something like, 'The boys in the family have big appetites. They're growing up, we can't go hungry.' They also said something about how things aren't like they used to be during wartime," the fourth brother said.

"Oh," Fourth Brother responded.

The moving day was fast approaching, and since the two families were moving together, the military sent a truck to pick up their luggage.

Actually, it wasn't much: a few large wooden crates, luggage packed in bundles, some jars of pickled vegetables, and a lot of dried vegetables. The two families divided up the pickled and dried vegetables like these.

At the same time, because their family was small, they only took one-third of these items. As for the grain, Aunt Zhou's family paid two-thirds for it when it was bought, and that two-thirds was also used when it was distributed.

But Aunt Zhou said, "The grain grown in the training ground must be divided equally. It can't be divided like this, otherwise they won't want any of it."

Knowing Aunt Zhou's temperament, Mom didn't mince words and said, "Okay, we'll listen to Aunt Zhou."

Before we moved, my dad told me that the houses he and Uncle Shen applied for were right next to each other. The whole house and yard covered an area of ​​only 150 square meters. The main house had three rooms, two bedrooms and a dining room. However, Uncle Shen's family divided one bedroom into two smaller rooms.

There are two side rooms on the east side, a few square meters smaller than the main house, a kitchen, and a woodshed, but he was asked to partition off a small room inside for bathing.

He also said that when Uncle Shen saw what he was doing, he set one up at home too. There was a toilet in the southeast corner of the yard, a little distance from the gate, and a chicken coop was built there to raise a few chickens.

Upon hearing this, Mom said, "We can use the remaining space to grow some vegetables or something; we definitely can't eat at the cafeteria every day."

"Okay, I'll open the land when I have some free time," Dad said.

"No need, let Mianmian and the others come. You wouldn't believe it, they haven't been practicing martial arts these past few days. I asked them and they told me that when they heard they were moving, they cleared out the whole yard, leaving only a narrow passageway, and planted potatoes all over it," Mom said with a smile.

"You can do that?" Dad asked in surprise.

"Yes, I even went over to take a look."

"That's not bad. Do you think we should tell Mianmian about that place?"

"Tell me, we're both soldiers, always on missions, always facing life-or-death situations. Besides, Mianmian isn't the type to go around spreading rumors."

"Okay, I'll go get her."

Just then, I heard my dad calling me from outside: "Is Mianmian asleep?"

"Dad, what's wrong? It's not here yet?"

"Take it out for a moment, Dad has something to tell you."

Hearing "Oh," I quickly climbed out and ran outside to say...

"Dad, what is it?"

"Follow me"

"oh"

So, I followed my father to their room. I saw him at the corner of the kang (a heated brick bed), taking out the bottom few bricks, then taking out a brick that had been on the floor. Then, I don't know where he went, but where the table had been, there appeared a square hole, about 80 centimeters deep. My father moved the table away and said:

"Mianmian, come down with me to take a look. Mom will keep an eye on things from up here."

"oh"

Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on it.

And so, I followed my father down the stone steps, one by one. After about thirty steps, we saw a stone door. My father placed his hands on the stone protrusions of the door and gently turned them. The door opened, revealing many rosewood chests inside. My father casually opened a few chests and told me...

"What's inside: two boxes of gold bricks, two boxes of large yellow croakers, two boxes of small yellow croakers, two boxes of silver bricks, two boxes of complete sets of gold and silver jewelry, two boxes of complete sets of jade jewelry, two boxes of jewels, six boxes of processed medicinal herbs, and ten boxes of genuine antique paintings and calligraphy."

"Dad, didn't Mom say our ancestors weren't old scholars? How did we end up with so much wealth?"

"He is indeed an old scholar, but unlike other old scholars, in my great-great-grandfather generation, our branch has been passed down to a single generation."

Seeing that he only had one son in the family, the old man was afraid that he would not be able to keep the family business, so he began to slowly sell off his property and built a secret room in this house to hide things there.

When he felt he didn't have many years left to live, he had his family sell off their publicly owned properties to pay for his medical treatment. The money was mostly spent on top-quality medicine, antiques, paintings, gold, and jewelry. By the time he passed away, all that was left was the large four-courtyard house he had lived in.

Upon hearing that it was a four-courtyard siheyuan (traditional courtyard house), I quickly asked, "And what about the main courtyard?"

"Sell it, use the money for his funeral, and then use the rest to make a living in this courtyard."

"Ah, that's a four-courtyard siheyuan (traditional courtyard house)!"

“Even if we didn’t sell, we couldn’t keep it. Our Li family was a prominent family in this city back then. How could a family of several people possibly protect such a large house?”

"That's true."

"Alright, go up now. You know this place, but don't tell anyone else, understand? And don't open this place anytime, or someone will find out, understand?"

"I understand, Dad."

"You're back?" Mom asked.

"Yes, Mom."

"Alright, since your dad told you, then Mom will also tell you. We won't take you there now; it's too late and not safe outside. During the day, you're always out and about with the Zhou family kids, so it's not convenient to take you there alone."

"Mom, you don't mean there are any treasures in the courtyard of the martial arts training ground, do you?"

"yes"

"My goodness, we practice martial arts there every day, how come we didn't notice?"