Chapter 32 Someone Starved to Death
The sun began to set.
Cheng Wanwan took her four sons home.
She had a very fruitful day; she found three or four catties of porcini mushrooms after just a casual stroll. Her wealth has been fluctuating around one hundred and twenty taels.
With the major water problem solved, she was in a very good mood.
But after descending the mountain, a piece of bad news made her unable to smile at all.
"Grandma Zhao at the village entrance starved herself to death," Wu Huiniang said, her face deathly pale. "Grandma Zhao still had some grain at home; if all else failed, she could eat tree bark and grass roots. A living person can't truly starve to death. To save food for her eldest grandson, Grandma Zhao didn't eat a single grain of rice for three days straight. When she died, her stomach was completely empty..."
Zhao Dashan shook his head: "I saw Granny Zhao in the fields a few days ago. She said that Dahe Village has angered the gods and will suffer continuous disasters this year. Even if they don't starve to death, they will die for some other reason. Granny Zhao is old, and she probably doesn't want to live anymore..."
Cheng Wanwan remained silent for a while.
Even if they've long since given up on life, they probably still want to die a well-fed ghost.
Elderly people starve themselves to death so that they can leave food for their descendants.
This was the first time Cheng Wanwan had truly experienced the pain of hunger since arriving in this era, casting a shadow over the entire Dahe Village.
Before it got dark, Old Mrs. Zhao came over and called Zhao Dashan out: "When you were this big, Second Aunt Zhao held you. Go over there and burn some incense later."
Zhao Dashan silently agreed.
When Grandma Zhao saw Cheng Wanwan picking vegetables in the yard, she walked over and whispered, "Didn't you ask about the girl from the Sun family in Guihua Village last time? I asked around in the village, and several old women said that the girl from the Sun family is about to get engaged to Zhao Yougui's eldest son, Zhao Shagen. What's going on?"
Cheng Wanwan said dryly, "I misunderstood this matter. We still need to consider Er Gou's marriage."
Grandma Zhao nodded: "I'll have the matchmaker inquire about it later..."
As she was speaking, Zhao Sidan came out with a basket of chopped wild vegetables and dumped them in the yard. Two chickens rushed out from the corner and began to flutter and eat the wild vegetables.
The old lady asked in surprise, "Didn't you slaughter your chickens a long time ago?"
Zhao Sidan grinned and said, "Grandma, you don't know yet, do you? These are the two pheasants we caught on the mountain last time. They're egg-laying pheasants, they lay two eggs a day!"
Grandma Zhao stared at the two large hens with suspicion.
She had lived most of her life, and this was the first time she had ever seen a wild pheasant that looked exactly like a domestic chicken.
But if someone lost two such fat hens, the whole village would probably know about it by now.
In other words, this might really be a pheasant.
"Grandma, will the eggs laid by pheasants hatch into chicks?" Zhao Sidan blinked. "Right now we only have two chickens. The big chicken lays chicks, but in a few months we'll have lots and lots of chickens, and I can eat lots and lots of eggs every day!"
Grandma Zhao smiled helplessly and said, "Only with a rooster can there be chicks."
Cheng Wanwan paused for a moment. Yes, why didn't she think of raising more chickens? Next time she went up the mountain, she could secretly buy a rooster from the mall and then hatch chicks.
A delicious aroma wafted out from the kitchen.
Cheng Wanwan stood up and said, "Mom, please eat here. There's enough food."
Grandma Zhao turned and walked out, saying, "It's as if I came here just for a bite to eat. I have a lot of things to do at home. I'm leaving."
She disappeared quickly at the gate of the courtyard.
Cheng Wanwan was speechless. Was the old lady afraid that she would make some excessive demands at the dinner table?
Dinner was exceptionally lavish, featuring a mushroom and egg soup, a wild vegetable and egg pancake, and a bowl of hand-pulled noodles for each person. Everyone looked completely satisfied.
After they finished eating, before it was completely dark, Cheng Wanwan stood up and said, "Ergou, come with me to the village head's house."
Knowing what was going to happen, Zhao Ergou immediately got up and followed them.
This is the most relaxing time of day. Women sit at their doorways chatting, men smoke their pipes and talk about life, and children laugh and play in the village. The evening breeze blows, and it seems that all worries have disappeared... But as soon as you reach the edge of the village and see the coffin in Granny Zhao's house, all your worries come back.
If it doesn't rain for even a day, this could happen again.
Cheng Wanwan walked into the village head's courtyard. Several skinny children were sitting in the yard picking wild vegetables, and the village head's wife was sewing clothes. When she saw Cheng Wanwan coming, she was a little surprised: "Why is Aunt Dashan here?"
Cheng Wanwan smiled and said, "I've come to talk to Uncle Village Head about something. Is Uncle Village Head here?"
“He’s inside.” The village head’s wife ran a needle through her hair. “Your village head uncle didn’t sleep a wink last night; he’s going to check the weather in the fields later…”
Observing celestial phenomena is for the purpose of predicting the weather.
There wasn't a single cloud in the sky as we walked along, so there's a 100% chance it won't rain tomorrow.
Cheng Wanwan stepped over the threshold and went inside. The village head was sitting at the table, holding a book in his hand, a book about celestial phenomena.
This was the first time she had seen a book in the half-month since she arrived in this era, and she was surprisingly moved.
However, this feeling of being moved did not last long.
The village head frowned and called out, "Tiezhu, come here. What's the pronunciation of this character?"
Zhao Tiezhu strode over and said confidently, "This is the character 'gao' (高), pronounced 'gao' (高)."
The village head frowned even more: "If the clouds rise higher, it will rain. What do you mean by 'rising higher'?"
Cheng Wanwan didn't understand what he was saying either. She leaned over to take a look and immediately felt embarrassed. It was the word "thick," meaning the clouds were getting thicker and it might rain.
One word distorted the meaning of the entire sentence.
The village head chuckled and said, "Auntie Dashan, the few characters I know from reading books were all learned from Tiezhu. This child is smart and will have a bright future."
Zhao Ergou said with envy, "Tiezhu is so smart."
Zhao Tiezhu proudly raised his chin: "I can also write."
He picked up a pen and wrote three words on the paper: "This is my name, the name my grandfather gave me."
His name is clearly Zhao Tiezhu, but he wrote it as Zhao the owner of the lost property...
Cheng Wanwan resisted the urge to correct him and turned her head to say, "Uncle Village Head, I have something very important to tell you."
The village head put down the book in his hand, his face becoming serious. Last time, when Aunt Dashan came over, she told him about the jade bamboo shoots. This time, he felt that the jade bamboo shoots were more important than the jade bamboo shoots.
“I found water on the mountain.” Cheng Wanwan carefully recounted what had happened. “The water in the valley between the two mountains has never been tapped. It must be very abundant. If we can divert the water from the mountain and introduce it into the rice paddies, we won’t have to worry about not having enough grain to store this year.”
The village head suddenly stood up: "Auntie Dashan, you can't say things like that carelessly. I'll believe you..."
The Zhao family has lived here for over a hundred years and has never found water on the mountain, so it's understandable that the village head doesn't believe it.
Just as Cheng Wanwan was about to continue speaking, someone rushed in through the door: "Village head! Something terrible has happened! The last well in the village has stopped producing water!"
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