Chapter 22 It's good to have many sons
The night was deep.
The chirping of insects and birds is endless.
When she first arrived here, Cheng Wanwan couldn't fall asleep at all. But she has gotten used to it in the past few days. She falls asleep peacefully and wakes up naturally at dawn.
Early in the morning, the village headman summoned everyone in the village, except for the elderly, children, and pregnant women, to gather under the big locust tree in the middle of the village.
Many well-informed people already know what happened.
"I heard that grain has been discovered deep in the mountains."
"It looks similar to sweet potato, and it's called jade bamboo shoot. It can fill your stomach."
"I go up the mountain three times a day, how come I never discovered this treasure on the mountain?"
The village head stood on the high ground and coughed. Everyone present automatically quieted down. Anything related to food was of utmost importance.
"It's not raining, and there's not much work to do on the ground. Everyone, put aside your work in the fields and come up the mountain with me!" the village head shouted. "Bring everything you can store grain from your homes, and all able-bodied people, come together. We must dig out the grain in the shortest possible time!"
Someone asked, "How will the harvested grain be divided?"
"We'll take whatever we dig up," the village head said sternly. "However, we are all one family in Dahe Village. There are some elderly, weak, women and children in the village who are unable to work, and we can't just watch them starve to death. Everyone who participates in digging for jade shoots, each family will contribute ten catties, and we'll collect about two hundred catties to distribute."
Upon hearing this, everyone felt a surge of excitement.
The head of the village was very fair. He asked each family to pay ten kilograms, which meant that each family could dig at least one hundred kilograms.
These days, a hundred kilograms of grain can save a life. If a family tightens their belts and eats sparingly, it can last for a month.
The entire village followed the village headman up the mountain in a grand procession.
As they walked uphill, the women and older women inevitably chatted with each other, and some rumors began to circulate.
"I heard that this jade bamboo shoot was discovered by the Zhao family. As soon as Old Man Zhao found it, he immediately told the village head."
"But they have a troublemaker in their family. Zhao Youcai's wife, Sun, secretly sent a maid to Guihua Village yesterday to tell her family about the jade bamboo shoots on the mountain."
"When the village head and Old Man Zhao went up the mountain together, more than a dozen people from the Sun family were digging for those so-called jade bamboo shoots. That's the hilltop of our Dahe Village. Why should we let people from Guihua Village dig it away?"
"How did you deal with it in the end? Is the jade shoot coming back?"
“Our village head is kind-hearted. Seeing that the Sun family’s grandsons were skin and bones from hunger, he let them take more than ten catties of bamboo shoots back with them. It was only because the Sun family let it slip that the village head suddenly summoned the whole village to go up the mountain to dig for bamboo shoots. If we had been a step too late, the people from Guihua Village would have dug them up.”
"The people of Guihua Village are despicable. It was one thing for them to set traps on the mountain before, but now they dare to come and steal our grain."
"..."
The crowd was talking at once, which made Sun very angry.
The jade shoots on the mountain were discovered by her daughter. What's wrong with letting her family dig some up?
If Chunhua hadn't gone with them, how could her sister-in-law, with her temperament, have told the village head that these people were not qualified to go up the mountain to dig for bamboo shoots? A bunch of shameless ingrates, they benefited from the Zhao family's fame and then turned around and cursed her!
Sun wanted to retort, but since they were all from the same village and would see each other all the time, if their relationship got too bad, she would get scolded by the old lady.
She raised her hand and pinched her little girl, Donghua, hard. The girl was only eight years old, and the pinch made her eyes well up with tears.
"When Donghua saw some delicious food, she couldn't resist going to her uncle's house to show off. Who would have thought it would turn out like this?" Madam Sun explained to everyone, then lowered her head and scolded, "If you dare to open your mouth and spout nonsense again, I'll tear your mouth apart!"
Donghua was so frightened that she didn't dare to breathe.
It was clearly her mother who told her to go to Guihua Village to deliver the message, so why are you scolding her for talking nonsense?
But her mother's expression was so terrifying that she didn't dare to cry.
Grandma said that when she was still in her mother's belly, her mother thought she was a boy, but she was born a girl, and her mother didn't like her at all.
She clutched her arm, which was being pinched painfully, and silently followed behind the crowd.
The villagers were somewhat resentful; if Donghua said a few more words, she feared she would be hung up and beaten.
Cheng Wanwan shook her head in the crowd.
It's understandable that she sided with her family, but it's also reasonable that she angered others. If she were in her shoes, she might not have been able to handle it properly either.
But she would never let her child take the blame.
In the end, it all came down to poverty, compounded by a year of famine. Everyone wanted to be well-fed, and everyone had their own selfish desires.
After walking for about half an hour, we finally arrived at our destination.
Three or four acres of dry pond may not seem like much, but underneath the mud are layers upon layers of jade shoots; one shovelful is enough to dig out quite a few.
However, the soil here is too dry and hard. It takes about the time it takes to dig out a single jade shoot. If you want to take it out of the mud intact, it will take even longer.
Cheng Wanwan and her four sons went down to a shady spot. She instructed them, "Dig as much as you can, don't overdo it, and be careful not to cut your hands."
Zhao Sanniu patted his chest: "Don't worry, Mother, I'm thick-skinned."
He picked up a shovel and started working enthusiastically. Zhao Dashan and Zhao Ergou were not to be outdone and worked quickly. Zhao Sidan squatted on the ground and peeled the mud off the bamboo shoots. After cleaning them, he put them into his basket.
As an adult, Cheng Wanwan had no right to slack off, so she resigned herself to squatting down and working alongside them.
Soon after, her palms started to sting, and in that short time, three large blisters appeared on them.
Zhao Dashan said, "Mother, why don't you go and rest for a bit? We'll do the digging."
Cheng Wanwan frowned: "You four, show me your palms."
The boys were tough and unharmed.
Cheng Wanwan became withdrawn.
The original owner was too lazy and didn't work for a long time, so her skin was more delicate than that of a teenage girl.
She got up and went to the side to rest.
This was the original owner's usual practice, and the villagers didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
Having many sons is a good thing. With four sons growing up, each one is a top-notch laborer. It's no wonder that Sister-in-law Zhao can enjoy a life of leisure.
Other people's sons might forget their mothers after they get married, but Sister-in-law Zhao is a tough person. Look at how badly Da Shan's wife was treated after she entered the family. When the wives of the second, third, and fourth sons enter the family in the future, they will definitely have to follow the rules and be filial to their mother-in-law!
Many women in the village were green with envy.
Especially Sun, who had no sons, was most jealous of those in the village who had many sons. She glanced at her two daughters beside her, and the more she looked, the more upset she became. Her face instantly darkened.
The two sisters, Chunhua and Donghua, were too frightened to speak. They worked silently, blisters forming on their palms. When the blisters broke and bled, neither of them dared to utter a sound.
Cheng Wanwan rested in the shade for a while before getting back to work.
She stood up to help when a voice rang in her mind.
[Ding! Found a natural, wild, century-old ginseng!]
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