Chapter 21
“Are so many people going to starve?” Yun Mian was lying on the little gray wolf that had grown a little bit bigger. She still couldn’t imagine the tragic scene that the system uncle described.
The system imitated her and lay on top of Pingping's head. It replied, "Yes, not only Zhaojiagou, but also hundreds of villages outside Zhaojiagou, tens of thousands of people will starve."
To put it even more cruelly, in the dozens of households in Zhaojiagou alone, more than a dozen people starved to death, most of them were elderly people, and the remaining few were mostly young girls.
Just the range of numbers it said scared Yunmian a little. The little girl subconsciously hugged the dog and asked in a low voice: "Then, if I give all the money I earn to them, will I still be hungry?"
In her young and fragile worldview, four dollars in this world is already a lot, enough for her to buy a school bag, a bunch of candies, and eat full meals with her mother for several days.
If this money is distributed to everyone, will they no longer have to go hungry?
Yunmian is very money-conscious, but compared with death, money always seems insignificant.
“…It’s a good idea, but Mianmian, four dollars is actually not much at all. It can’t even make you and your mother live a good life.” The system had to reveal this reality to the host.
It took Yunmian a while to accept this fact. She lay sullenly on the dog's soft belly, her eyes blank and she began to stare blankly.
A few seconds later, she was pulled up by her ears by a passing mother: "Mianmian, why do you always look so boneless? You lie on the dog's belly every day, don't you think it's dirty?"
Watching her mother walk away mercilessly after she finished speaking, Yunmian puffed up her cheeks and bravely whispered, "Mom didn't know such a terrible thing would happen, otherwise she would definitely not scold me!"
The system that had long discovered that Yunjin was hoarding food bit by bit: "...That's not necessarily true?"
Perhaps for Yunjin, hoarding food is hoarding food, and worrying is worrying, but these do not conflict with the matter of teaching her daughter a lesson.
After all, teaching Yunmian a lesson is always something that can be done easily when one is in a hurry.
Yun Mianmian, the little boy whose mother grabbed his ears to rescue the little gray wolf and successfully lost his dog's pillow, puffed up his face and sighed sadly, looking even more depressed.
There is a saying that goes "Human power has its limits." Yun Mian has not learned it, but she and the protagonist Zhao Xiaoli have both come to a profound understanding of this truth through the increasingly approaching reality and increasingly tortured hearts in the vibrant spring.
Zhao Xiaoli might be even more tormented, because she didn't know Yunmian had a plot introduction, and all the pressure of keeping the secret was on her shoulders. She was suffering in her heart every day, but she really didn't know what to do.
After the Chinese New Year, when Yunmian was taken by her mother to Zhaojiagou Primary School to officially become a primary school student, Yunmian and Zhao Xiaoli met at the school gate. Yunmian was almost scared by Zhao Xiaoli's appearance.
Yun Jin probably also saw Zhao Xiaoli, and a flash of surprise crossed her face, but she still took Yun Mian to talk to the teacher to see what else they needed to prepare for school besides paying tuition.
Zhao Xiaoli naturally also saw the expression that flashed across the mother and daughter's faces. When her mother asked her worriedly, she lowered her eyes sullenly.
"I say, little girl, you kept crying and shouting at home that you wanted to go to school. Your father and I saved up our money to pay for your tuition. Why do you look so sad these days? You are only five years old. How can you look so sad every day?"
If you don't know, you might think that their family is abusing their child. Just because of Zhao Xiaoli's listless and bitter face, every time they meet the other two sisters-in-law, they will inevitably make a sarcastic remark. Li Jiaxiu feels so angry when she hears this!
Even though she was scolded, Zhao Xiaoli did not argue. She had no idea how many times she had been scolded like this during the days after the Chinese New Year.
She also thought about spreading the news of the locust plague, and sharing her worries with her parents so that they could share the burden with her. But every time she thought about this, her mouth seemed to be sealed with cement, and she couldn't open her mouth no matter what.
Zhao Xiaoli tried other methods, such as writing it down, gesturing it out, and even suppressing her inner thoughts and speaking them out half-truthfully... In the end, without exception, none of them worked, and her parents even looked at her like she had a psychopath.
She has now completely given up the idea of telling others about the impending danger of the locust plague, and instead begins to use childish words to guide her parents and close relatives to stock up on food before the price goes up.
However, the result was that she was scolded by her mother in various ways...
Zhao Xiaoli only had a few hundred dollars and a large piece of gold, but she hid them for several months and didn't dare to give them to her parents.
She had been worrying about this and that all the time during this period. When she saw Yunmian at the primary school gate, she even felt as if she had returned to her previous life, when she was in her seventies or eighties with white hair.
However, when she finished registering and saw Yun Jin holding Yun Mian's hand and instructing her about something, her eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had suddenly thought of some brilliant idea.
"Mom! Mom, let's go there!!" Zhao Xiaoli used all her strength to pull her mother towards Yun Jin and her daughter without saying a word.
Li Jiaxiu: “…” She wanted to hit her daughter again and couldn’t control the itch.
Didn't the little girl know that the family split up because of Yunmian's accident? After that, even if the Zhao family and Yunjin met on the road, they would not give each other any glances. Although she and Yunjin had the experience of beating children together, wouldn't it be awkward to approach them so suddenly?
But after Zhao Xiaoli registered, she seemed as if her Ren and Du meridians were opened up. Not only did she no longer look sad, but she immediately stood up straight and had a lot more strength. Li Jiaxiu was caught off guard and was actually dragged in front of Yun Jin by her daughter.
Li Jiaxiu: “…”
She stood there awkwardly, forgetting for a moment how to place her hands and feet. Facing Yun Jin's calm, inquiring gaze, she forced herself to greet him, "What a coincidence! Are you also here to send Mian Mian to register for school?"
Zhao Xiaoli looked at Yunmian silently and pretended that she didn't know her mother. Only in this way would she not be embarrassed by the other party's deliberate questions.
But maybe asking questions even though you already know the answer is sometimes a way to break the awkwardness. Seeing Yunjin's calm attitude, Li Jiaxiu quickly relaxed a lot and started chatting with Yunjin about the child as a breakthrough point.
Perhaps because they had once had an unforgettable experience of spanking their children together, the two mothers quickly became friends.
While Zhao Xiaoli and Yunmian were imagining their future primary school life, they were also listening attentively to the conversation between the two mothers.
Soon I heard the key word: store food.
Li Jiaxiu complained speechlessly: "I don't know what's wrong with this little girl Xiaoli. She's been like a madman recently, yelling at home every day about not spending money recklessly and buying more food to store."
As she spoke, she took Yunjin's arm affectionately and said worriedly, "Her father and I have been considering whether we should go to Huangjia Village next door to invite a fortune teller to see if this girl ran around during the New Year and accidentally got something dirty."
She whispered this into Yun Jin's ear. After all, this was a taboo and it would have a bad impact if more people heard it.
In other words, Yunjin is tight-lipped and the villagers have never heard her say anything bad about anyone behind their back, so everyone often likes to share some secrets with Yunjin that cannot be known by more people.
Hearing this, Yun Jin's eyes flickered. He thought of Zhao Xiaoli's panicked escape a few months ago after she said that. His peripheral vision caught the almost identical eager gazes of the two little girls. After a moment of silence, he whispered to Li Jiaxiu, "I don't think so."
"What do you mean?" Li Jiaxiu was very curious and of course also had a little maternal love for her daughter. She looked at Yunjin expectantly, wanting to hear her other opinions.
The system watched from the side for a while, then suddenly flew over the host's head and squatted like a bird: "Here it comes, your mother's deceiving skills are about to be used again!"
Yun Mian slapped her paw on the top of her head in dissatisfaction: Don’t say that my mother is fooling people, my mother never lies!
The next second, Yun Mianmian, who firmly believed that her mother never lied, heard a familiar voice slowly say, "I just heard from the older generation that children's eyes are clean and can see many things that we adults can't see. But if it was really something dirty, why would it let you stock up more food?"
Yun Jin deliberately lowered her voice, and slowly said as Li Jiaxiu's eyes gradually widened, "I guess your ancestors are probably warning you. The snow this year is unusually heavy. We have never seen such heavy snow in previous years, right? Maybe God has already warned us once, and seeing that we didn't pay attention, the ancestors are using the children's mouths to warn us."
Li Jiaxiu was stunned by this possibility. Although she was about 70% convinced, she still hesitated and asked in a low voice: "What if it's not the case? If we use all the money in the family to store food, what if there is a good harvest this year? Then those old grains and wheat can't be sold, and they will rot at home?"
They are all women in charge of the family, and everyone knows how difficult it is for each other. She couldn't make up her mind to buy and stockpile food just because of Zhao Xiaoli's weird words.
Zhao Xiaoli was so anxious watching from the side, but she couldn't say anything. She could only open her mouth repeatedly in vain. In the end, she didn't care about exposing anything and looked at Yun Jin for help again.
Anyway, she had been exposed to Yun Jin eight hundred years ago! The life and death of the whole family was more important now!
Yun Jin lived up to Zhao Xiaoli's expectations and the system's evaluation. She lowered her voice to perfectly maintain the low and mysterious atmosphere in broad daylight: "Then let me ask you one last question. Has Xiaoli always wanted to tell you something during this period of time, but she just couldn't say it, or you just couldn't hear or understand what she said?"
Li Jiaxiu: “!!!”
"Yes, yes, yes! That's right! That's it!!" She excitedly clenched Yun Jin's arm, her voice trembling with nervousness: "We thought she was possessed by evil spirits, so we wanted to find a fortune teller to take a look. Turns out, it was the spirit of the ancestors appearing?!"
As she stared at him anxiously, Yun Jin nodded affirmatively: "That's right. When I was a child, my second uncle's youngest daughter experienced it once. It was a warning from our ancestors that there would be an earthquake disaster. Fortunately, our family moved out in advance, otherwise we would have been buried under the house!"
Li Jiaxiu: “!!!”
So that's how it is!
It’s so smart and powerful!!
It turns out that her daughter was not possessed by evil spirits these days, but was blessed by the ancestors!!!
Li Jiaxiu's no longer clear eyes suddenly showed many huge exclamation marks. After thanking Yun Jin gratefully, she turned to look at her daughter with eyes that were shining.
"See, I'm not talking nonsense, am I?" the system asked slowly above Zhao Xiaoli's head.
Yunmian: “…”
She had been in a daze for a long time, ever since her mother said that, and she was still in a daze and unable to come back to her senses.
Mom is lying?
Mom is lying! !
It turns out that what the system uncle said was right, my mother's skill is to deceive people...
The system is in control of the overall situation, confidently waiting for the host to show an expression of doubt about life. It is even ready to take pictures and save them.
but……
"Mom is so awesome!" Yun Mian's fair and clean little face was full of longing, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at her mother with admiration. Even without saying anything, the pride would overflow from her expression.
system:"……??"
Host, do you want to see how thick your filter is for your mother? !
"Mianmian, tell me honestly, is it true that whatever your mother does is right? Do you think she is amazing in everything she does?" The system became serious.
Yun Mian nodded confidently: "Yes! My mother is the most powerful in the world!"
As she stood with her hands on her hips and a proud expression, the system spoke quietly: "What about when she hit you with a broom?"
Yunmian: “……!”
"I won't pay attention to you. I won't pay attention to you all day long, humph!" The angry little girl ran to the classroom with her schoolbag in her arms, leaving Zhao Xiaoli and the two adults behind, leaving Zhao Xiaoli and Li Jiaxiu completely confused.
Yun Jin guessed some of the situation, a smile flashed in his eyes, and he didn't chase after him or say anything more.
After she and Li Jiaxiu left, Zhao Xiaoli glanced at the busy school gate and rushed into the classroom carrying her tattered little schoolbag.
From today on, she and Yunmian officially became first-grade students at Zhaojiagou Primary School. The destiny that was predetermined in the previous life seemed to be slightly disturbed invisibly.
Zhao Xiaoli didn't know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, but when she turned her head to see Yun Mian looking up at the blackboard seriously, she inexplicably felt that perhaps everything was moving in a better direction.
Whether it was herself who had lived for eighty-seven years, or Yunmian and her mother who died early in her previous life and had never been able to leave Zhaojiagou in their entire lives.
We are all slowly moving towards a better, smoother and longer-term path.
That's enough.
On the first day of becoming a primary school student, Yunmian received pats on the head from the teacher and received praises such as "study hard and be smart", which made her so happy that she felt dizzy.
After returning home, the elementary school student Yun Mianmian transformed into the serious teacher Xiaoyun.
"An An, come and repeat after me. This word is pronounced 'tian' (天). The thing that is so high above our heads that we cannot touch it even if we stand on tiptoe is the sky. Do you understand?" Teacher Yun, holding a small wooden stick, knocked on the "blackboard" and taught seriously with a stern face.
Opposite her, there were three puppies, a reluctant system, and their smiling mother, all of whom were the students she was going to teach in this class.
However, like all teachers, Teacher Xiaoyun prefers students who study hard and are well-behaved and obedient, such as her most awesome mother, Yunjin, in the world!
"Mom, you're awesome! You know this word too!"
"Little Gray Wolf, don't disturb my mother's class!"
"Uncle System, please be serious. My mother is so serious. Don't be absent-minded, otherwise the teacher will be angry!"
The whole class can be described in one word: extremely chaotic!
On one side, three puppies are barking and running around restlessly, and on the other side, Teacher Xiaoyun is partial to her teacher everywhere. She compares the mother with other naughty students in every three sentences. As one of the "students", the system feels like its CPU is about to explode!
But Yunjin really lived up to the repeated praise from Teacher Xiaoyun. Even if the "classmates" around her were noisy and chaotic, she would still follow them carefully, with a short pencil and scrap paper in her hands, and learn every stroke.
And her speed in recognizing words surprised the system.
It’s like…she should have been able to recognize words originally, but for some reason she suddenly forgot them. Now that she has learned them again through teaching, she has learned them very quickly.
When Teacher Xiaoyun finished her teaching class, Yun Mianmian clung to her mother's arms and found all kinds of excuses to accompany her to learn the knowledge that the teacher had taught her today.
"Xiao Li, I'm going to tell you a secret, don't tell anyone else. I found that my mom is so smart. She learned everything she learned yesterday in one go! Do you think I can be as smart as my mom in the future?" Yun Mianmian, who was carrying a small schoolbag, had eyes full of longing for a bright future.
Zhao Xiaoli shook her head: "I don't know, but if Aunt Yunjin is so smart, you have to work harder, Mianmian."
"Why?"
"Because if you don't learn the knowledge taught by the teacher, you can't continue to be your mother's teacher when you go back. What will happen if Aunt Yunjin can't study? The school doesn't accept adults as students."
The power of this sentence is like an epiphany!
Yunmian, who had been a little slack after the novelty of school wore off after a few days, was now startled awake when she thought about not being able to tell her mother more new knowledge after returning home and delaying her mother's studies. She rekindled her enthusiasm for learning and forced herself to increase her concentration and comprehension ability by 200%, for fear that she would miss even a word the teacher said.
As a result, Yunmian would receive praise from the teacher almost every day, and sometimes she could take the pencils or notebooks awarded by the teacher home for her mother to use.
Before I knew it, I had saved my family some money.
Perhaps from ancient times to the present, the only thought that every student has about the time spent sitting in the classroom listening to lectures is that it is too long. But when Yun Mian took off her slightly thick long sleeves and put on simple short-sleeved shorts, she was shocked to realize that she had actually been in school for two or three months.
At the same time, under the scorching sun of midsummer, Zhao Xiaoli pulled Yunmian and ran towards the mountain where they had gone when they were reborn, amid the noisy chirping of cicadas.
"What are you going to do?" Yun Mian's face turned red with heat, and sweat stuck to a strand of hair and dripped down her chin in curls.
She was not afraid of cold, but was particularly afraid of heat. Moreover, this summer was hotter than the summers in Zhaojiagou in the past ten years. The branches in the forest were wilted by the scorching sun.
It is vacation time now and their elementary school will also be on vacation. Yunmian originally planned to stay at home for the next two days, but Zhao Xiaoli couldn't stay idle.
Facing the doubt in her eyes, Zhao Xiaoli panted and let go of her hand. After a moment's pause, she said, "Have you noticed anything wrong recently?"
Yunmian: “???”
What's wrong?
The little girl wiped the sweat off her forehead and cheeks and said blankly: "What's wrong? I didn't notice anything. Could it be that we have too much homework recently?"
Zhao Xiaoli: “…”
She stopped talking, but instead squatted down with Yunmian in her hand, then reached out and pulled aside the grass at their feet.
The moment the lush green grass leaves were pulled apart, countless khaki or turquoise grasshoppers and straw hatworms all jumped up quickly as if frightened. Two of them almost brushed Yun Mian's cheek and flew away. In their sight, they jumped into another pile of weeds and quickly disappeared.
Yunmian opened her mouth slightly and asked in surprise, "Why are there so many jumping insects?"
She also remembered that when she first came into this world, Zhao Xiaoli stood in front of her and asked softly if she could help catch springtails. It was late autumn, the time of the year when there were the most springtails in Yunmian's original memory.
Why are there more bugs than last fall even though it's only summer?
"Do you know what it has another name?" Zhao Xiaoli quickly grabbed a grasshopper, pinched its green wings to restrict its movement, and lifted it up and suspended it in front of Yun Mian's eyes.
Faced with her question, Yun Mian shook his head honestly.
Zhao Xiaoli stared at the tiny, inconspicuous grasshopper in her hand and answered in a tense voice, "They are also called locusts."
Locusts?!
Yunmian suddenly thought of the plot that Uncle System had once shown her!
During the Chinese New Year period, Zhao Xiaoli was frowning every day.
"Is it very powerful?" Yun Mian asked, and then he picked up a bug from the grass and held it in his hand. He lowered his head and turned it over and over to observe it.
The green color of this little grasshopper was very tender, and even its wings were the same fresh green as young leaves. After being caught, Yun Mian accidentally broke half of its slender legs. Now it was lying in the palm of her hand, without any ability to resist.
Just a slight pinch and it will die.
And when it grows a little more mature, you can catch it and roast it over a fire. Although it is not fragrant, the taste is crispy in my memory. It is also one of the favorite things for children in Zhaojiagou in autumn.
Like the insects in bamboo shoots and the cicadas that chirp in summer, it is a favorite little thing for children to catch, play with and eat.
"It's very powerful." Zhao Xiaoli replied in a deep voice: "Don't underestimate it because it's so small and inconspicuous. But when there are many, many, many of them, they can quickly eat up all the trees on this mountain, and not even a grain of food planted in our fields will be left for us."
In her previous life, she had witnessed a terrible locust plague with her own eyes. Even at the doorstep of her home, if she pulled aside a clump of grass, countless grasshoppers would burst out.
But what left the deepest impression on Zhao Xiaoli was the scene of the villagers kneeling in the fields in despair and pain.
Today's update is here! I missed a small section just now and I've added it now.
Thanks to the little angel who cast the mine:
. 5;
1 Little Snow;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution:
66 bottles for a meal of three bowls;
I and Luo Chen 20 bottles;
Wait for 15 bottles of beacon fire;
Want to eat something 10 bottles;
Annora 9 bottles;
Long Zeyu 5 bottles;
Today, I ate 1 bottle of Flammulina enoki, Gua, Tui Zi, Yun Duo Duo, and Deng Xia Xiong;
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
