The bare cart was covered with thick straw. Most women who had just given birth had bleeding, so they had to use straw as a cushion to avoid dirtying the mattress.
I still remembered that a woman who has just given birth should not be exposed to the wind, so I covered her tightly with a thick blanket.
Li Jiaofeng was lying on a cart and was pulled back from the clinic. Every time the mule cart bumped, the cracked wound on the lower body hurt unbearably. It was her first time giving birth, and she didn't know if this would happen to a normal woman. She just blamed everything on the evil person who caused her to fall, and also blamed herself for being careless.
She was a smart person. She hooked up with Shen Zhigao not for love, but to have someone to rely on for the rest of her life. After she set her eyes on Shen Zhigao, she asked him about everything in his family. At that time, Li Jiaofeng guessed that Miao's miscarriage and even Shen Zhang's death were not accidents.
How could it be such a coincidence? Only Shen Zhigao and Miao were stupid enough not to have any suspicion at all! However, this situation was beneficial to her at the time, so she naturally didn't have the kindness to remind him. If the incident came to light and Shen Zhigao started to feel sorry for Miao and felt guilty, wouldn't she be helping others?
Another thing is, she prides herself on being smart, and she guessed the truth in advance, so she was on guard. How could she not be able to defeat Zhao Ai Ye?
That’s right, just like Miao, Li Jiaofeng has always suspected Zhao Ai Ye. So Old Lady Shen thought that Li Jiaofeng was only ordering her around and was deliberately making trouble for her, and she was very angry. But in fact, it was not like that. It was true that Li Jiaofeng was pampered and needed to be served, and it was also true that she was unwilling to let Zhao Aiye get close to her.
In Li Jiaofeng's opinion, since Shen Zhigao's child died, the family property naturally belonged to Shen Zhuang, the son born to Zhao Aiye, so it must have been Zhao Aiye who did it. So when Zhao Ai Ye returned to her parents' home these few days, she relaxed a little and was not as vigilant. Who knew that she would fall into the trap.
Fortunately, she had been alert all the time. As soon as she felt her feet slipping, she was prepared and stretched out her hands to cover her stomach. Otherwise, she would probably end up like Miao... Li Jiaofeng had a gloomy look on her face and hugged the child tightly in her arms.
Her arm was aching now. Luckily, her bones were not injured, but there was a large bruise. It hurt when the muscles were pulled slightly, and it was difficult for her to raise her hand. But when they arrived at Old Shen's house, Mrs. Shen came forward with a smile on her face and wanted to hug her grandson, but Li Jiaofeng refused to let go even though her hands hurt.
"Mom, it's cold outside. Don't hold the child around and let him get cold. If you want to see the child, come inside." Li Jiaofeng was determined that she would never be separated from her child for a moment, even when he grew up. She would never let her guard down - wasn't Chen Zhang an example? Her eyes scanned the faces of everyone in the Shen family. Zhao Ai Ye was still at her parents' home and had not returned.
Who is it? She didn't even dare to believe Old Lady Shen now, so she turned around and went back to the house with the child in her arms.
Old Lady Shen was humiliated by Li Jiaofeng, and her face immediately fell: "Boss, your daughter-in-law really doesn't take me seriously at all. I am a grandmother, but you don't want to give me a grandson. Is this unreasonable?"
Shen Zhigao frowned impatiently, his heart was completely on the newborn boy at this moment. Li Jiaofeng was the hero who gave birth to him the boy, and he protected her more than ever: "Mom, Jiaofeng must be scared after this incident, it's normal for you to keep a close eye on the child. You can hold the child in our room, just keep him out of Jiaofeng's sight." This time because of the fall, the child was born a little weak, and he hoped that Li Jiaofeng would recover quickly and give birth to more children with him: Who among farmers doesn't hope to have many children?
Thinking of this, Shen Zhigao said, "Mom, make Jiaofeng a bowl of brown sugar and eggs, and stew some pig's trotter soup to help with milk production in the evening. The boy is weak, and needs plenty of milk to grow strong."
"Where are the eggs left at home? We've been staying in the clinic for two days and have spent all our family savings. Not to mention eggs, we even sold the chickens! You are such a rich person, yet you have to go to the clinic!" Old Lady Shen walked towards the kitchen cursing. But she said so, and at that time she said it was very comfortable to go to the hospital and pay the money. After all, this was not the first time this had happened. Miao did not go to the clinic that year. She first found a midwife in the village and then went to the county town to invite the doctor back, but it was too late.
I spent so much money to marry Li Jiaofeng, and she's pregnant. If I can't keep the baby and she becomes infertile, it would be a big loss! But what she said was also true. In the past six months, the Shen family had spent too much money. They had to compensate Miao and Shen Qing for money and food, and then paid the betrothal gift for Li Jiaofeng. Now they had to send Li Jiaofeng to the clinic to give birth. The family had already spent all their money and still owed hundreds of coins to their relatives. How could they have money left to buy eggs and pig's trotters!
However, it is also very important for Jin Sun to fill his stomach. "Go back and get some food in your bag and go find someone to exchange for some millet. If you really don't have any milk, make some rice oil for the child."
Ignoring Shen Zhigao's tightly knitted eyebrows, Shen's mother turned and went into the kitchen, scooping a large spoonful of sorghum noodles: "The one in your room, have a bowl of dumpling soup. It's not that I, as a mother-in-law, am vicious. I didn't give her good food during the confinement period. The family really has no money! This money has been spent on her. If she doesn't eat well, you can pay for it yourself or let her mother come to serve her!"
Shen Zhigao finally experienced what it means to be a hero without a penny! He grabbed his hair and sighed for a long time, but in the end he could not think of a solution, so he could only return to his room dejectedly. Old Lady Shen snorted coldly, turned around and saw Shen Zhiwei and his son Shen Zhuang squatting in the corridor, and became even more angry: "Second brother, the guy in your house is not going to come back, right? You can't even keep an eye on the people in the house, do you have any manliness? Hurry up and let him take Juanzi back. There are so many things to do at home, are you going to tire me to death?"
Shen Zhiwei was squatting there with his head almost buried in the ground. Old Lady Shen had just offended the Zhao family like that. How could he possibly bring Zhao Ai Ye back without spending some money? After hesitating for a long time, he said, "Mom, give me some money. I'll go there and bring something..."
Before she finished speaking, Old Lady Shen started howling, "Didn't you hear me? Your sister-in-law didn't even have an egg to eat during her confinement. She just borrowed a few hundred coins from relatives yesterday to pay the clinic fee, and you're still asking me for money. Are you trying to force me to death?"
Shen Zhiwei felt bitter in his mouth. What should he do? Should he go to his father-in-law's house empty-handed, kneel down and kowtow to his father-in-law and mother-in-law, endure being beaten and scolded, and beg Ai Ye to come back? Old Lady Shen knocked on the Zhao family's door just to make herself happy, but she never considered his situation.
Old Lady Shen scolded for a while until she was tired. She glared at Shen Zhiwei and said, "Go tell Zhao Aiye that if he has the guts, he should do the same as that Miao woman and never come back after the divorce! Don't try to trick me. I can't possibly give them a penny!"
Hearing the word divorce, Shen Zhiwei suddenly shuddered and looked up at Shen's mother: "Mom, if Ai Ye really divorces me, will you marry me another wife? Just like my eldest brother married a new sister-in-law, he also spent five or six taels of betrothal gifts."
She had never expected that her youngest son, who had never been able to do anything, would ask such a question. Old Lady Shen choked for a long time before she said, "Where can we get the money now?"
"Then will I remain single?" Shen Zhiwei turned his head and looked at Shen Zhuang who was squatting beside him and didn't dare to speak. He is already a grown-up boy of thirteen or fourteen years old. It is time for him to find a marriage partner in two or three years. Now the family has not a penny to pay back and is in foreign debt. Let alone marrying another wife, it is hard to say whether Shen Zhuang will have the money to marry a wife when the time comes.
What's more, Shen Zhiwei didn't want to divorce Zhao Aiye at all. He shook his head and said, "I won't tell anyone. Ai Ye gave birth to my children and lived with me for more than ten years. He is loyal to me. I will not divorce him."
Only Zhao Ai Ye was on his side.
After saying this, Shen Zhiwei no longer paid any attention to how Old Lady Shen got angry. He went back to his room in silence and closed the door. Old Lady Shen was so angry that she threw a bucket and said, "What's wrong with you? I didn't ask you to divorce me for real! If you try to scare him, won't he come back with his tail between his legs?"
However, the only answer she got was her youngest son's usual silence. But this time the silence seemed to carry some kind of force that made Old Lady Shen even more depressed. She looked at the messy kitchen, and found that everything was missing. No one at home helped her, but no one had any opinions about her. Old Lady Shen just wanted to smash everything she could see.
But she couldn't bear to do it, and she collapsed on the ground and cried loudly: "What kind of life is this for me... My daughters-in-law are lazy and my sons are not filial and look down on me... I really can't live anymore..."
Shen Zhuang was frightened by her crying, took two steps back, and ran away without looking back. No one came out to check on her, and no one helped her. She just sat on the kitchen floor and cried. After a long time, Old Man Shen knocked on the window in the house and said, "Don't embarrass yourself!"
…
There was no sound insulation in the farmyard, and the Shen family's affairs spread out within two days. It's so funny to tell others that she threatened her son-in-law with divorce and asked him to go back to his parents' home. But who in the village would care about his family now? It is not worthy of being used as a condiment for after-dinner conversation, because this starch sausage workshop is about to start production!
"Qing brother is really capable. He has only been saying this for a few days, and the deal has been made. The money has been allocated!" Now when the villagers get together, everyone talks about the workshop! "I don't know how he got to know you. I've been to the county town a few times, but I don't have the courage. I tremble when I ask for directions!"
Aunt Guixiang found a blind man who was good at calculating, and chose three days before starting construction. In the past two days, truckloads of bricks and tiles were delivered to Lantang Village. Because of Shen Qing's words, Zhao Shitou wanted to live on that piece of vacant land all day long and would not let anyone take away even a brick or tile. Nowadays, the workshop's recruitment of workers and Aunt Guixiang's family's iron-fisted approach are the most discussed issues in the village.
"Qing'er is capable, but Wu Guixiang is too eager and too pretentious." Wang was also there with Lianbao in her arms. She looked unhappy when she talked about this: "That day, Lianbao wanted to touch the tile, but Zhao Shitou hurriedly chased him away and refused to let him touch it. What? Can I steal his tiles? My family also uses good bricks and tiles. If a child touches it, it will only break one or two tiles. He is so pretentious, isn't he just trying to please Qing'er?"
After Wang finished speaking sourly, the people around her looked at each other, but no one agreed with her and they changed the topic to something else.
What a joke, who doesn’t want to please Qing Ge’er now? Zhao Shitou has the opportunity, but they don’t, otherwise they would have tried to please him just the same! Besides, if your baby wants to be touched, should he be allowed to be touched? A tile costs more than ten dollars. If it breaks, will you be asked to pay for it?
Besides, Wu Guixiang is the village chief's wife, and Zhao Shitou is the future village chief. Why are you gossiping about them behind their backs? No one wants to offend others by saying one more word!
"I heard that now they recruit men to build houses first and build workshops before spring ploughing. When the men go to ploughing, it will not delay the harvest. Then they recruit some women and men to work in the workshops. What kind of work do you want? They don't recruit men and only recruit women and men? I've never heard of this." Men have always been the backbone of the family. How can they not recruit men?
Someone else said, "I heard from the village head's wife that this year they are encouraging everyone to open up wasteland and plant sweet potatoes. Maybe they are worried that all the men will go to work in the workshops, and the work in the fields will be delayed?"
The starch sausage is mainly made of starch, which can be sweet potato starch, corn starch, or potato starch. The main reason is that sweet potatoes are cheap, not picky about the soil, and easier to grow than other starches. This starch sausage workshop is a long-term business. It is worthwhile to open up some land just for growing sweet potatoes.
"It's just that this land is hard to cultivate. The land in Dongshan has been bought by some nobleman. I heard that construction will start after the Lantern Festival. They want to build roads and build farms. Many people from the city have come here several times." Originally, there was still vacant land for cultivation in Dongshan, but now that it has been bought by this nobleman, only the south and north are left: "Our boss walked around nearby yesterday. The land suitable for cultivation is all small. Can we get even a little bit? It's not worth the trouble."
Someone laughed and said, "If your man likes it, you'd better open it quickly. If you don't, there will be many people who will open it in the future!"
The man who spoke first thought for a while and said: "That's true. I'll go and register it with the village chief later. Two mu of land is still land." He registered the wasteland he had reclaimed with the village chief. Although he had to pay taxes, it was definitely his own land. It is not uncommon for some people to have their land occupied by others after they have been cultivated for one or two years in order to save a little bit of tax. Although people in the village generally don't do such bullying things, there are always some bad guys in every village.
Wang's face turned red with embarrassment and no one paid any attention to her. But someone turned around and asked, as if on purpose: "Lian Daren, your family is close to Qing Ge'er, do you know what the workshop does? How do you recruit people?"
She really knew. After an experiment at Shen Qing's house that day, Shen Qing divided the remaining starch sausage among Aunt Guixiang and Aunt Lian Er. Aunt Lian Er took it home and fried a large dish of it that night. It tasted really good, but she refused to tell me how she made it when asked, and she didn't even mention anything about recruiting workers, as if she was on guard against her!
But now that she was being asked about it, if she acted like she knew nothing, she would be laughed at, so she said, "To cook, we need to hire some good cooks."
"If he's good at cooking, no wonder they want to recruit women and boys." The woman thought about it and felt that she was average in the village, but she didn't know if she could be selected. He looked at Wang and said, "I really envy you. With your family's relationship with Qing Ge'er, you must have a share. I heard that the money given is not small."
The smile on Wang's face disappeared completely. She sat for a while and then didn't say anything more to the group of women. She carried Lian Bao home. When I arrived at the door of the house, I saw Second Aunt Lian and Old Lady Lian affectionately escorting Aunt Guixiang out.
Aunt Guixiang came here to recruit people to build a workshop. She asked every household, and tried her best to give a quota to every family except the Shen family. Of course, if someone doesn't want to go, she won't force them.
The ones selected are all honest men who are hardworking, not cunning and do not slack off. Of course, those who are close will be given two more places, for example, both brothers Lian Dalian can go.
This is a great thing for the Lian family, otherwise old lady Lian would have wrinkles all over her face from smiling so much. Wang should have been happy to hear the news, but she felt so uncomfortable!
Aunt Guixiang from Wang Liuzi's family did not let Wang Liuzi go, but called Wang Liuzi's uncle. This was because of what Zhao Youdang said that night, otherwise she didn't want to even enter the Wang family. However, everyone knew what it meant to use an old man instead of a young man. Wang Liuzi was angry and ashamed, squatting aside without even raising his head.
Zhao Youdang’s guess was actually not wrong. The workshop hadn't even been opened, and not even a shovel of soil had been moved, but Aunt Guixiang had only taken a trip around the village and already knew how many families had decided to get closer to the Shen Qing family and stay as far away from the old Shen family as possible.
Shen Qing didn't know what was going on in the villagers' minds, and he was too lazy to worry about it. He went to the county town several times, filled the space in the jade pendant with food, and asked the Gold Tooth man to rent out three of the four storefronts in the county town's mansion, leaving the remaining one on the corner to open a fried starch sausage shop.
Now that he has this space, Shen Qing really feels the convenience. Not to mention traveling back and forth to the apocalypse to get supplies, even if he wanted to buy some materials needed to make starch sausage, he could first transport them to his house in the county town, and then load them into the space and bring them back to the village. It is convenient and safe. There is no need to make multiple trips by truck to deliver the goods. It creates a large target for others to target. If someone wants to imitate you when your business is established in the future, it will be difficult to trace it back to you and find out what materials you bought.
However, although the production process of starch sausage is not difficult, it is still hard for people of this era to imagine. Even if they know some ingredients, they may not be able to make it. Shen Qing is not too worried.
Even in the future, if the local sweet potatoes are out of supply, he can go to other places to buy sweet potatoes and bring them back. It would be nice to stockpile some sweet potatoes in the space and use them slowly. He could even do business!
Transportation is inconvenient these days, and the profits from doing business are huge, but the risks are also great. No matter what natural disasters, man-made calamities, bandits or outlaws you encounter on the way, this trip will be considered as running for others. But if there was space, there would be no need to worry about these things. In the future, even if he and Song Kaiji no longer went to the end of the world, they could still make a lot of money by doing business here.
Thinking of this, Shen Qing actually felt that it would be better if this space could be bigger.
What he didn't know was that when this space was first in Zhang Sujuan's hands, it was only the size of a bedroom. Touching the jade pendant on his chest, Shen Qing missed Song Kaiji again.
He planned to wait until the workshop started construction and everything was on track before returning to the end of the world to find Song Kaiji. He didn't give Song Kaiji a definite answer before he left. I haven't been back for a few days. I wonder what Song Kaiji is thinking? Will you think that you will never go back and cry like an abandoned puppy?
Shen Qing himself didn't even notice how happy a smile was on the corner of his mouth. A few girls and boys who were selecting cotton thread at a roadside stall looked up and saw it, and were almost stunned.
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