Some villagers who had eaten early were outside enjoying the cool air. The aroma of meat from Lao Zhang's house had already drifted outside, and some villagers murmured, "Is Lao Zhang's family eating meat again?"
A villager said, "The Zhang family is not short of money now. They can earn one or two taels of silver a day. Now they are very rich."
Another villager chimed in: "Zhang Hulan has really changed. She used to be such a bad person, but now she treats her parents really well."
But some villagers also said: "She spends money so lavishly that no amount of money will be enough. Zhang Hulan is just stupid. She doesn't know how to save the money. She has three children to support her. What will she do when the money is gone?"
The villagers said some good things and some bad things, but Zhang Hulan could not hear them. Even if she heard them, she would not bother to pay attention to them. She would rather go to the mountain to dig more kudzu roots.
Shanzi and his grandmother were also eating.
In the morning, He ate one of the white flour buns that Shanzi left at home, and saved the rest for Shanzi to eat when he came back.
Shanzi said, "Grandma, just eat the steamed buns. You don't have to save any for me. In the next few days, we should have six steamed buns every day, and we can save food at home."
He said, "Then you better do your job well and don't embarrass your Aunt Lan."
Last night, Zhao Guoliang said that it was Zhang Hulan who specifically asked Shanzi to go, just to help their family. After Shanzi came back, he said that the yamen runners did not let him go in the morning, and it was Zhang Hulan who spoke for him. The grandfather and grandson were very grateful to Zhang Hulan.
"Don't worry, grandma. I won't embarrass Aunt Lan."
…
The next day, Zhao Cheng and his companions went to each village individually, and each of them was accompanied by a yamen runner.
After Zhang Hulan and the others left, Zhao Guoliang gathered all the villagers and showed them the Jerusalem artichokes and lotus roots. "Everyone, take a look. If you see these two things in the mountains, dig them up and bring them back."
A villager asked: "Li Zheng, is this something edible?"
Zhao Guoliang nodded, "They are all edible. Tiger Orchid found them on another mountain yesterday and brought them back for us to look for."
A villager said: "This Hu Lan is really capable. It's thanks to her this time, otherwise our life would be very difficult."
"Yes, otherwise we would probably all have to flee."
Zhao Guoliang said: "Just remember this, everyone owes Hu Lan a favor."
But sometimes there are always some discordant voices, "Tsk, what favor do you owe her? Didn't the county magistrate pay her wages? One tael of silver a day. Besides, didn't the county magistrate say that relief food will arrive in a few days, so everyone won't starve to death."
One villager said, "Luo Er's wife, you can't say that. If Hu Lan hadn't helped find water, you wouldn't be where you are now. You might have already fled the famine. Now Hu Lan has helped us find food to eat. This is a life-saving favor. We should all thank Hu Lan."
Another villager said, "Others can earn one or two taels of silver a day, that's their ability, if you have the ability, go and earn it too."
"That's right. As the old saying goes, when you drink the water, you should remember the well digger. You are drinking the water that was brought down by others, and you are still here to speak ill of them. Aren't you afraid of choking to death while drinking the water?"
"That's right, if you have the guts, don't drink the water, don't eat the kudzu root, just wait for the relief food from the imperial court, and see if you'll starve to death."
"You guys..." Luo Er's wife was scolded by the villagers, and she was so angry that her face turned blue and red.
Zhao Guoliang said, "Luo Er, you can't be ungrateful."
Luo Er glared at his wife, "You stinky bitch, if you dare to talk nonsense again, go back to your mother's house."
Luo Er's wife was scolded so much that she dared not speak anymore. Zhao Guoliang said, "Okay, let's all go up the mountain. Although the county magistrate said there would be relief food, who knows when it will arrive? And the county magistrate also said the day before yesterday that even if the relief food arrives, each person can only get a few kilograms of food. How long can a few kilograms of food last? So we have to find a way to find more food to save our lives."
The villagers began to go up the mountain. Most of them knew that they could not rely on relief food and it would be safer to rely on themselves.
Zhang Hujun still didn't go to the mountain. He wanted to set up the stove for Zhang Hubing today.
Around noon, Zhang Hubing and Xiang Chunhua came back.
As soon as he got to the house, he shouted, "Sister-in-law, our stove is not ready yet. Please cook more rice and we will eat with you at noon."
Li didn't say anything, Wang started to scold her: "Your sister-in-law owes you? Can't you cook without hands?"
"Mom, our stove hasn't been built yet..."
"The stove is not set up yet. Can't we use the stove here? Wait until we have finished cooking and then you can cook for yourselves. You still want to eat for free? No way."
Zhang Hubing muttered, "Cook it yourself, we are not incapable of doing it..."
Xiang Chunhua pulled Zhang Xiaobing over and asked, "Xiaobing, did you eat yesterday?"
Listen to what you are asking? My grandson is at home, how can I not feed him?
Wang really wanted to scold Xiang Chunhua, but after thinking it over she held back.
Zhang Xiaobing said, "Mom, I ate. I ate meat. Two lumps of meat. They were as big as this."
Zhang Hubing's eyes widened: "Did you eat the meat? Did you leave any for me?"
Wang said, "I'll keep it."
Zhang Xiaobing looked up at Wang. Didn't they finish eating all the meat yesterday? Where was the meat left? Did grandma secretly leave some for dad?
Zhang Hubing's eyes lit up, "Where's the meat? Mom, give it to me quickly."
Wang pointed to the toilet and said, "We all defecated in there. Go and smell it, maybe there's still a greasy smell."
"yue..."
Li almost vomited. She didn't expect her mother-in-law to have this side.
Zhang Xiaobing thought of his father crawling in the toilet and smelling shit. Hey... so disgusting...
Daya and the others all covered their mouths and laughed secretly. Grandma's words were so disgusting.
Wang didn't care about Zhang Hubing and his wife anymore. Seeing Li retching, she said to Zhang Dahua, "Dahua, help your mother go into the house to rest."
Wang was still mumbling, "He was fine in the past few months, and had no problem eating anything. Why is he vomiting now?"
Li really wanted to say, "Isn't it you who caused the trouble?"
Xiang Chunhua went into the house and looked around. After finding that the food was not missing, she came out and asked Wang: "Mom, where is the food distributed yesterday?"
"What are you dividing? What are you dividing?" Wang was puzzled.
Xiang Chunhua asked, "Doesn't everyone in the village have a share of the kudzu root they dug? What about ours?"
"Everyone gets a share? That's because they did the work, so everyone gets a share. What did you do? Why should they give you a share?"
Xiang Chunhua said, "I heard that it was Xiaobing's aunt who told the village head about the kudzu root. Without Xiaobing's aunt, how would the villagers know that kudzu root is edible? Why didn't they give us some?"
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