Since it had been agreed from the beginning that the Jiang family would receive more grain, the Chen and Liu families each received 300 jin, and the Jiang family received 400 jin.
Wang Fengqin was a little embarrassed, but Old Liu looked very serious. "We agreed on this a long time ago, so we can't go back on our word."
Liu Xiaoyun nodded in agreement, "That's right, Sister Fengqin, please accept it. You've always taken good care of us, this food is what you deserve."
If it weren't for Yi Mian distributing food to them, teaching them how to make Guanyin tofu, and introducing them to so many wild vegetables, how could they have survived to this day?
Seeing that she couldn't refuse, Wang Fengqin had no choice but to agree.
However, when it came time to divide the corn and sorghum, the Jiang family only took a few dozen kilograms.
Firstly, they wanted the Chen and Liu families to receive a larger share so they could celebrate the New Year properly; secondly, Jiang Yimian really didn't like eating this coarse grain.
She still had a lot of flour in her space, and she secretly added it to the flour jar every day. As a result, even after eating it for several months, the amount of flour in the jar did not decrease.
This made Wang Fengqin and the younger children think that the vat could automatically generate new faces, so she didn't dare to say anything and just nodded silently.
The last 300-plus jin of sorghum and corn were divided equally between the Chen and Liu families, with each receiving 150 jin and the Jiang family receiving a smaller portion.
Although each family didn't receive a lot of grain, the Chen and Liu families were overjoyed, and their rice jars, which had been nearly empty, were refilled with white rice.
Even the empty flour jars were replenished with a considerable amount of sorghum flour and corn flour.
Several hundred kilograms of grain, plus vegetables from the small garden and some dried vegetables that had been prepared early, were enough for them to get through the winter and wait until the new grain was ripe next year.
The gloom of food shortages that had plagued several families for months was swept away, and they were in high spirits as they continued their preparations to plant wheat and rapeseed in the terraced fields.
Both of these crops can be harvested before rice planting next year, which is perfect for planting in the terraced fields. This will not only improve soil quality but also increase grain production.
So, those who had only had a few days of free time started getting busy again.
Only after they planted broad beans and peas in the areas of the small vegetable garden that were originally planted with corn and sorghum did everyone finally have some free time.
Apart from Old Liu, who still goes to the terraced fields every evening without fail to check on the newly planted wheat and rapeseed, everyone else is basically in the small depression.
Only when Jiang Yimian occasionally finds wild vegetables or medicinal herbs will the others go out to help pick them.
The four fluffy little yellow chicks from the Chen family have grown up and are now in the chicken coops of the Liu and Jiang families.
Every day, Xiao Nuan'er and Xiao Ye would gather rabbit grass in the small depression, and now they have an extra task to do.
Jiang Yimian looked at the two chickens that had grown up in the coop and suddenly felt that they were cuter when they were little, especially the rooster, which would crow loudly every morning, which was really disturbing her sleep.
Once again woken up by the rooster crowing in the early morning, Jiang Yimian glanced at the sky just beginning to brighten and decided not to go back to sleep. She went to the chicken coop, threatened the rooster, and then went out with her basket on her back.
Before she knew it, Mimi had followed her out of the cave.
Jiang Yimian looked at the much-grown tiger cub at her feet with a sense of helplessness.
Mimi, oblivious to everything, followed closely at her feet, and when she didn't move, she rubbed her furry head against her feet.
Jiang Yimian was speechless. She squatted down and ruffled the little guy's head before saying with dissatisfaction, "I'll let you come with me since you're being cute. Don't run around."
The little guy has grown quite a bit. Although he still looks a lot like a cat, someone who knows his stuff would recognize him as a little tiger at a glance.
Ever since she sensed the presence of other people in the woods last time, she has been extra careful when she goes out these past few times. Although she hasn't encountered anyone, she has remained vigilant.
The man and the tiger walked in the forest for more than half an hour, and it was already broad daylight.
Jiang Yimian looked at her empty basket and immediately regretted coming out before dawn. Wasn't this a waste of time?
It was still dark outside, and the dense forest made it even darker, so she couldn't see anything clearly. She could only get a few sparrows for the little tiger to fill its stomach.
Just as I was hesitating whether to go back and have a meal, I heard a few voices deliberately lowered.
Jiang Yimian's expression hardened, and she was about to leap up a tree to escape when the little tiger suddenly became excited and disappeared in a flash.
She knew something was wrong, and before she could chase after them, the voices were already right in front of her.
"Shh, let's keep our voices down so no one else notices. Several people have come up the mountain recently. They're probably guards from the city gate who are rushing back to their hometowns. I don't know where they came from. They're all skin and bones, and they look quite frightening."
A sallow-faced man spoke softly.
Another young woman nodded repeatedly, "Who says otherwise? I reckon there will be even more people on the mountain in a few days. Those damned bandits have blocked the road, and we can't even find our way back to the village."
The two sighed, and the man looked around carefully, taking out the cake from his arms. He had just given half to the young woman when he heard a voice beside him.
Are you from Jincheng Prefecture?
The two were startled and almost dropped the pancakes they were holding. They only breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the girl in front of them was just over ten years old.
The young woman stared at Jiang Yimian for a while. Seeing that although the other woman was wearing coarse linen clothes, they were washed clean, and she looked fair and clean, not like a refugee, she hesitated before asking, "Young lady, are you from a nearby village? Why did you come into these deep mountains alone?"
If it weren't for finding a way down the mountain and bypassing the mountain stronghold, she wouldn't have come into these deep mountains even if her man were with her.
Jiang Yimian nodded casually, then asked in a well-behaved manner, "I'm from a nearby village. I've been hiding for more than half a year. My family is out of food, so I came to the mountain to find something to eat."
The young woman nodded in understanding and sighed, "This is my husband. We are both from Huaihua Village. We fled famine with the villagers, but we were stopped by the soldiers as soon as we reached Jincheng Prefecture. We spent more than half a year in the woods outside the prefecture. Recently, the soldiers sent us back, saying they wanted us to go home and farm."
We thought the village wasn't far, so we ran back, hiding and dodging along the way. Who would have thought we'd be blocked by bandits down the mountain? We had no choice but to go into the mountains to find a way back.
There were also people in their village who didn't want to flee the famine and secretly hid. It's estimated that this girl hid with her family and was lucky enough not to be discovered by the refugees.
The man glanced at her but didn't say anything more.
Jiang Yimian noticed that the other person was constantly looking around, clearly afraid that others might come, so she nodded secretly. As expected of someone who could run all the way to Jincheng Prefecture and return safely, it was rare to see someone so careful.
Seeing that Jiang Yimian didn't speak, the young woman assumed that she was hungry. After hesitating for a moment, she broke off half of the pancake in her hand and handed it to her, saying, "You must be hungry. We don't have much food left, so please make do with this."
If her daughter were alive, she would probably be about the same age as this girl. Unfortunately, her daughter didn't have the good fortune.
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