Chapter 88 The Land Cannot Be Lost
The wood chips fell to the ground, and Sui Hui panicked. She shouted outside, "Gong Ma, Gong Ma, go find the master quickly."
Nanny Gong was sent by the old lady to take care of Sui Hui during her pregnancy. Although the two of them had never had any conflicts, Nanny Gong would not listen to her when it came to matters concerning the outer courtyard.
"What happened? The master is on duty during the day. If I run out to look for someone and delay the master's work, the old lady and the eldest lady will not forgive me."
Sui Hui took a deep breath, suppressed her panic, and calmly ordered, "You stay home and watch the stone. I'm going out for a while."
"Fifth Young Master needs to be fed when he wakes up."
Sui Hui had no time to care. She put on a thick windproof coat and went out. She first went to the eldest lady to ask to leave the house. When the eldest lady heard that her brother had run away, she hurriedly sent a servant to tell the master.
Sui Hui and Mr. Hu's men ran to Sui Wen'an's residence one after another. The house was clean and there was no sign that anyone had lived there. The mattress on the bed and the clothes in the wooden box had all been taken away, and the kitchen knives and food in the kitchen had also disappeared.
The village chief came and called several families living nearby. They all said that they hadn't seen Wen'an for two or three days.
"He often goes out hunting before dawn and comes back after dark. It's not uncommon to not see him for two or three days." The old lady across the street said. She inquired, "But what happened?"
The village chief was also puzzled. He looked at the young woman in front of him with a sad face and asked inquiringly, "Did something happen to Wen An? I tried to persuade him not to come home too late last month."
Sui Hui shook her head. She walked around the courtyard and wanted to take something that Sui Wen'an often used with him, but apart from pots and pans, there were no other small items.
Only then did she realize that her elder brother must have planned to leave a long time ago.
Sui Hui left the village and headed towards Juntun. Along the way, she asked where Zhao Xiping lived and followed the direction pointed by passers-by into Shisantun.
"Excuse me, Auntie, but does Zhao Xiping live here?"
Aunt Sun looked up at her, pointed into the alley, and said, "That's the house with the big-tailed chicken standing on the haystack. Do you know Sui Ling? Are you sisters?"
Sui Hui shook her head.
"You two look a bit alike." Aunt Sun stared at her again and said, "Mr. Zhao is not at home, but his wife is. You should go over there."
Sui Hui walked over. The gate was closed and she heard voices in the yard. She raised her hand and knocked on the door.
"Who is it? Here I am. Liang Ge'er, go open the door and see who it is."
Sui Liang ran over and opened the door. When he saw the person outside, he looked alert and subconsciously wanted to close the door.
Sui Hui couldn't hold back her smile. She whispered, "Has your cousin been here?"
Sui Liang shook his head.
"Liang Ge'er? Who is that?" Sui Yu came out of the wing room. Seeing the person outside, her expression faltered and she reluctantly asked, "Why are you here?"
"Sister Yu." Sui Hui walked in. She took two steps and then stopped. Standing inside the door, she asked, "Has my eldest brother come to see you?"
“I came here twice last year.”
"Haven't you been here lately?"
Sui Yu shook his head.
"He left. I don't know when he left or where he went. He just left me a message. I thought he would come to see you before he left."
Sui Yu shook his head, "You overestimate my importance."
"No, Big Brother cares about you a lot."
Sui Yu chuckled and asked, "Anything else?"
"Congratulations on escaping slavery with Liang Ge'er."
"Thanks."
Sui Hui nodded and walked out. Thinking of the baby who was still breastfeeding at home, she walked faster.
Tong Huaer came from the alley holding A Shui. She recognized Sui Hui at a glance, stopped walking, and stared at the person who was walking towards her in a hurry.
"You're living a good life." She was full of resentment.
Sui Hui looked up in confusion. She didn't recognize the person for a moment and asked doubtfully, "Are you talking to me?"
Tong Hua raised the corner of her mouth, smiled strangely, and stared at her silently.
Sui Hui shuddered with fear. There was undisguised malice in those dark eyes. She lowered her eyes in a hurry and her steps became unsteady.
"Auntie, the fifth young master is crying so hard that he's about to collapse. The master asked me to come find you and ask you to go back quickly."
Lord Hu sent his servant to look for him.
Sui Hui felt like she had seen a savior when she saw him. She breathed a sigh of relief and trotted past the person standing in the middle of the road.
"She looks a bit like Sui Ling, right?" Aunt Sun said to her neighbor while sitting in front of the door.
"They must be sisters."
"She said no."
Sui Hui pretended not to hear. Before walking out of the alley, she looked back. The woman holding the child was still staring at her with an expressionless face, which looked scary.
She quickly turned around and left.
Sui Hui was wondering if she had recognized the wrong person when she saw the woman holding the child, but then she felt vaguely that she looked familiar. Before she could remember what she was thinking, her thoughts were interrupted.
"Auntie, please come with me quickly. The adults are not very happy."
It would be an understatement to say that she was not very happy. When Sui Hui walked into the side courtyard, she saw Lord Hu standing under the eaves with a gloomy face, and her heart skipped a beat.
"Any news about your elder brother?"
Sui Hui shook her head. "No, he didn't tell anyone before he left, and he didn't go looking for anyone."
Lord Hu held the wooden plank in his hand, examining it again and again. Sui Hui went inside to feed her child, and he followed her in, pausing at the inner doorway. He glared down at her, saying, "You're incompetent and unwilling to settle down. You're a worthless person. You'd better pray he dies out there. If he tries to emulate Zhao Xiping and earn military merit to free someone from slavery, if he succeeds, I won't suffer, and neither will you three siblings."
Sui Hui lowered her head and dared not say a word.
Master Hu looked at her again, broke off a piece of wood with one hand and threw it on the ground. He strode away, saying before leaving, "You are not allowed to leave the house again."
After he left, Sui Hui took a handkerchief and wiped the tears from Shitou's face. She whispered, "Your uncle must come back alive."
…
On the eighth day of April, the government distributed seeds and ordered them to be sown in spring that day.
Sui Yu led the camel and went with Qin Dashun to the Agricultural Bureau to get seeds. This year, they planted ten acres of millet, five acres of wheat, and the remaining five acres of sorghum and soybeans.
"My husband is not at home this year, and it is too hard for me to cultivate his 20 acres of land by myself. I wonder if the government will send someone to help in this situation?" Sui Yu asked when she received the grain.
The agricultural official waved his hand and said, "Go find your village chief. This matter is not our responsibility."
"Oh." Sui Yu got a sign and went to the granary to move grain.
The grain seeds from twenty acres of land could be transported back in one trip by camel. On the way back, Sui Yu asked Qin Dashun about the location of the village chief's office.
"It's about farming, right? You should go find the village chief. He will register the situation. When the time comes, he will assign someone to help you based on who finishes the work in the field first." Qin Dashun said.
"Aren't they serving their sentences doing the work?" Sui Yu wondered.
"It's not every year. Only when the weather changes will the government send people to help with farming. At other times, it's the village chiefs who are responsible for finding people to help with farming." When they arrived at the door, Qin Dashun went to help Sui Yu unload the grain and seeds. Before leaving, he said, "Don't worry, take your time to plant. I'll finish the work in my field and your sister-in-law and I will go to help."
"I'll go find the village chief first and see what he says."
"That's fine."
Sui Yu pulled a bundle of hay for the camel and threw it into the pen. She locked the door and went to find the village chief. Just as Qin Dashun had said, the village chief asked her to plant the grass first, and he would send someone to help if anyone in the village had free time.
After completing the registration, Sui Yu left quickly. Thinking that her and Sui Liang's household registration had not been issued yet, she went to the government office again.
"Sui Yu, right? I remember you. Wait a minute." The person in charge of household registration stood up and rummaged through the shelves, finding two bamboo slips and handing them over. He said, "It was already prepared a long time ago, but you haven't come to claim it yet."
Sui Yu thanked her and left happily holding the two bamboo slips as if they were treasures.
When she got home, Sui Liang had already returned. The two little camels and the black pig were full and lay quietly in the pen.
"Sister, aren't we raising sheep this year?" Sui Liang asked.
"Won't you cry again when you sell it?" Sui Yu laughed at him.
Sui Liang followed him into the kitchen, humming and groaning for a while, and then muttered softly, "You said you would buy me a sheep this year."
"I'll go and make inquiries after the crops are planted."
"I've already inquired. The shepherd is selling lambs. He has lots of lambs in his flock." Sui Liang added firewood to the stove and said excitedly, "I'll raise one sheep this year. Next year, when it gives birth, I'll have three. The year after that, I'll have five... no, the year after that, I'll have six... seven or eight sheep. When I grow up, I'll have a flock of sheep myself."
"If a sheep gives birth to one lamb, you'll have two sheep next year, four sheep the year after, and eight sheep the year after that. If a sheep gives birth to two lambs, and both are ewes, calculate how many sheep you'll have by the time you're twelve." Sui Yu tested him. "If you can count on your fingers, or if you don't have enough fingers, break a stick."
Sui Liang fell silent. He sat in front of the stove and counted his fingers. The more he counted, the more confused he became. He squatted on the ground and broke a wooden stick, double-checked it twice, and said, "Nine sheep. Raise them for two years and you'll have nine sheep. Sister, let's go buy some sheep and stop farming."
"Shall we follow Uncle Niu's example? When your brother-in-law is not at home, we won't farm the land and let it go to waste?" Sui Yu laughed twice and waved her hand, saying, "Raising sheep is one thing, but the land still needs to be farmed. If everyone thinks this way and doesn't farm the land, the soldiers and horses will all go hungry when a war breaks out."
Sui Liang said "Oh" and continued to play with the sticks, muttering, "By the time I'm twelve, how many sheep will I have?"
"Take your time to calculate."
Sui Liang still hadn't figured out the exact answer until the meal was ready. He tried it three times, and each time he got a different number, which gave him a headache.
"It's not good to have too many sheep. I can't count them all."
Sui Yu burst into laughter when he heard this, and then he said, "Let's just farm. Farming doesn't require counting."
"Farming is so tiring." Sui Liang sighed. He offered the cat official a mouthful of food and said, "It's better to be a cat. Eat and then sleep."
"Are you still raising sheep?" Sui Yu asked.
Sui Liang nodded heavily.
The next day, Sui Yu took Sui Liang to find a shepherd and bought three lambs from him.
After buying the sheep, Sui Yu led the camel to load the grain and plant the seeds in the field.
Tong Huaer ran into Sui Liang in the alley that evening, dragging a bleating lamb back. She asked, "Where's your sister?"
"I'm sowing wheat seeds. I'll come back to cook first."
The next day, Tong Huaer left A Shui to Uncle Lao Niu and went to the field to help Sui Yu plant wheat.
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