Chapter 25: If the open approach doesn’t work, then the covert approach
Zhao Dashan led Cheng Wanwan to the back of the house.
The area was overgrown with weeds, but due to prolonged exposure to the sun, most of these vigorous weeds had dried up and died.
The Qi Ai plant was no exception; its leaves withered and its roots and stems turned yellowish-brown.
Cheng Wanwan lowered her head and smelled it. The fragrance was rich, and it was indeed what is commonly known as mugwort in modern times. This was exactly what she was looking for.
She said, "Cut down all the artemisia in this area and throw it in the yard."
Zhao Dashan scratched the back of his head: "Mom, the mugwort won't burn properly, it produces a lot of smoke when burned. I'll go cut some other dry grass."
“Who said I was going to use it as firewood?” Cheng Wanwan said with a smile. “I just like how much smoke it produces. I wouldn’t want it if it didn’t produce much smoke. Hurry up and cut it up and put it in the yard. I have a big use for it.”
Zhao Dashan quickly harvested the wormwood with a knife. There wasn't much wormwood to harvest from the large patch, so he piled it up in the yard.
Cheng Wanwan took out a basket, pressed the wormwood into it, and filled it completely.
Zhao Ergou got up and asked curiously, "Mom, what are you doing?"
"Come up the mountain with me after lunch." Cheng Wanwan placed her basket at the door. "You'll see when we get there."
Lunch consisted of plain white rice, stir-fried bamboo shoots, and wild vegetables and mushrooms—simple, refreshing, and all six of us were quite full.
After the meal, the mother and her five children went up the mountain.
Yesterday, everyone in the village spent the day on the mountain, and today very few people are going up the mountain.
As they ventured deeper into the mountains, they saw no one. But when they reached the vicinity of the dried-up pond, Zhao Sidan keenly heard voices: "Mother, it seems there are people at the place where we're digging for jade shoots!"
Cheng Wanwan's eyes narrowed.
The people from Dahe Village were busy all day and night yesterday, so it's impossible for them to be up the mountain now. It must be the people from Guihua Village.
What are the people from Guihua Village doing here?
She gestured for the children to stay put, then pushed aside the thorns and tiptoed over.
Dozens of burly men stood in the lotus pond that had been dug up, their faces ashen.
"Damn it, those bastards in Dahe Village leave no way for people to live!"
"This hill is between Dahe Village and Guihua Village. This thing should be half of each village."
“The village head of Dahe Village is shrewd; he won’t give us half. If we can’t do it openly, then we’ll do it secretly.”
"Anyway, there have been a lot of thieves stealing grain lately. We can disguise ourselves as thieves and steal all the grain from Dahe Village!"
"..."
Cheng Wanwan's gaze suddenly turned cold.
She tiptoed back and said coldly, "Let's go back first today."
The people of Guihua Village are up to something, so it's not a good time to look for a water source.
The mother and her five children hurried down the mountain with grim expressions. When they reached the halfway point, Zhao Sidan exclaimed, "Mom, look! There's a bird's nest over there!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Sanniu threw down what he was holding, spat into both hands, and scrambled up the tree. In no time, he had taken the bird's nest, which contained seven eggs.
Zhao Sidan licked his lips: "We'll have bird eggs to eat today."
Cheng Wanwan took the bird eggs and put them into her basket. Actually, there were many eggs in the mall, and you could buy two for one coin, but she just didn't have a reasonable excuse to take them out.
Perhaps we could pretend to find a wild hen and then use that hen to lay eggs?
She silently looked at both sides of the road. It was very deep inside, making it very suitable for operation. One chicken might be difficult to catch, so it would be better to release two.
Without hesitation, Cheng Wanwan spent 100 coins to buy two chickens in the mall and placed them directly in the grass.
"Cluck cluck!"
The sound of roosters crowing came from the forest.
Zhao Ergou's eyes turned green: "It's a chicken, there are chickens nearby!"
The other three boys immediately held their breath and focused, their four pairs of dark eyes searching through the jungle.
Zhao Sidan pointed into the jungle and then made a gesture. The four children rushed over in unison.
The roosters crowed even louder.
"Two chickens!" Zhao Sidan's face flushed with excitement. "We caught two chickens!"
Zhao Dashan scratched the back of his head: "These two pheasants look like they're raised at home, how come they're in the deep mountains and forests?"
Zhao Ergou slurped his saliva: "We can have chicken tonight."
Zhao San Niu was eager to try: "These two chickens are so fat, I'll break their necks so they don't escape halfway."
Cheng Wanwan: "..."
She released the two chickens not so that the boys could eat them, but so that they could eat the eggs!
She said, "These two pheasants seem to be hens. A hen can lay one egg a day, so two hens can lay two eggs a day. If you raise these two hens, you will have eggs to eat every day."
The four boys' eyes began to light up.
Having eggs to eat every day is something I never dared to dream of before.
Zhao Sidan swallowed his saliva: "Mom, will these two chickens really lay eggs?"
Cheng Wanwan wondered if she should buy an egg and throw it under the chicken's rear end, pretending that the two chickens laid it themselves.
Suddenly, the two chickens sat down on the ground.
The four boys also squatted down, staring intently at the two chickens.
Zhao Sidan asked, puzzled, "What are they doing?"
Zhao Dashan shushed, "It looks like they're laying eggs."
Zhao Sanniu's eyes widened: "It's born! It's born! It's really born!"
Zhao Ergou was also filled with disbelief: "They had two!"
Cheng Wanwan was covered in sweat.
These four kids are making a big fuss over nothing.
If someone who didn't know the situation heard it, they would think she had given birth.
The two chickens tried to run away after laying eggs, but Zhao Sanniu caught them and tied straw ropes around their feet before stuffing them into his basket.
The mother and her five children returned to Dahe Village in high spirits.
Cheng Wanwan told her four sons to take the baskets back home, and then she walked towards the village head's house.
As she walked to the center of the village, she saw the village headman standing on the cracked ridge of the field, inspecting the conditions of the land, surrounded by many people asking him questions.
"Village head, what exactly did the county magistrate say?"
"If there's no food in the fields, will the county magistrate send relief grain from the imperial court to our Dahe Village?"
"I heard that the price of millet in town has risen to twelve coins a pound. Is that true or not?"
"..."
The village head was in a real bind.
He didn't know how to answer these questions. Lying was not his style, but telling the truth might cause panic among the villagers.
Just then, Cheng Wanwan walked over and said with a serious expression, "Village head, I just went up the mountain and saw more than thirty people from Guihua Village wandering around the hilltop of our Dahe Village."
The village head frowned: "What are all these people doing here?"
"The leader was a fat man. From what he said, he wanted to gather a group of people to steal grain from our Dahe Village."
Cheng Wanwan did not hide anything and told everyone she had heard. This was not just a matter for the village head, but for everyone in Dahe Village!
Upon hearing her words, the surrounding villagers were all in an uproar.
"The people of Guihua Village are utterly shameless!"
"The two villages fought over twenty years ago, and our Dahe Village won. Do you think they'd dare to come back?"
"Didn't Sister-in-law Zhao say that the people from Guihua Village wanted to steal grain? They couldn't beat them openly, so they resorted to underhanded tactics!"
"Then let's go teach them a lesson!"
"..."
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