Sanyuan and Siwang were happily removing ice when Zhiwang and Zhiwu suddenly arrived carrying several baskets.
Firstly, it's for transporting vegetables down the mountain to sell; secondly...
"Zhixing is back?" Ye Wenxue took out the vegetables she had stored in the cave and arranged them neatly in a basket. She then patted the mud off her hands. "I need to go check on him. Please wait a moment."
Zhiwang nodded, took the cucumber from Dazhuang, and broke it in half before Dazhuang could hand it to Zhiwu.
Zhiwu chuckled, squatted down next to Siwang, and started eating while helping to remove the ice.
Zhiwang looked worried: "I think Xing-ge doesn't look well. Something big must have happened in the prefectural city."
Dazhuang poured some spiritual spring water on the wilted vegetables to make them look fresh and fetch a good price: "I'll go to the bamboo house with my mother later."
He looked at Zhiwang with some guilt: "I promised to teach you to read, but I never thought I would spend less time teaching you and more time making you do chores."
Zhiwang quickly finished half a cucumber, shook his head, and said, "You've taught us enough, we're all very grateful."
Seeing that Dazhuang was about to speak, Zhixing quickly changed the subject: "By the way, Brother Dazhuang, how come your vegetable yield is so high?"
Following Elder Ye's method, the bamboo houses and mountain strongholds planted small plots of land beside and behind their houses, and even dug cellars to grow vegetables, but none of them could compare to the harvest from the valley.
The vegetables we grow don't mature as quickly as those in the valley. For example, we planted some cucumbers in the village cellar, but they haven't flowered yet, and it's even more distant the time it takes for them to bear fruit.
Dazhuang awkwardly turned his head away and continued hoeing the ground: "I don't know either, maybe the soil in the valley is more fertile."
Zhiwang had never farmed before; before entering the mountain village, he had always followed the old beggar around begging.
After the old beggar died, he was bullied and beaten, and he couldn't help but fight back. He happened to be noticed by the eldest brother, Nian, and that's how he became a bandit.
Therefore, after hearing what Dazhuang said, he didn't think anything was wrong. He picked up the vegetables and went to the side of the road to wait for Ye Wenxue to go to the bamboo house together.
Ye Wenxue changed her clothes and was about to go out when she saw Su Jiu hand a packet of herbs to Dazhuang.
"This is medicine for your Uncle Xu. The prescription is written inside. For the next seven days, use a milder prescription."
Dazhuang nodded, asking Su Jiu to help look after his younger siblings.
When Ye Wenxue arrived, she heard Su Jiuying call Shuangshuang, Sanyuan, and Siwang over, intending to continue the lecture.
Shuangshuang, who practices martial arts: "..."
Sanyuan and Siwang, who were shoveling ice: "..."
He entered the house, looking utterly lost and dejected.
As the three passed Ye Wenxue, they cast pitiful glances at her more than once, as if pleading for help.
Ye Wenxue said sternly, "Kids can't be averse to learning."
Siwang was pushed into the house and looked at Yuanyuan, who was fast asleep with a rosy complexion. He almost burst into tears: "Waaah!"
Ye Wenxue picked up a small hoe to prevent herself from slipping while going uphill.
The four people, each carrying two loads of vegetables, arrived at the bamboo house.
Xu Lin's mother had finally earned a tael of silver by grinding tofu and selling it in the mountain village and town. Upon learning that Ye Wenxue might come, she was lingering under the eaves, intending to repay her the silver.
When they first met, Ye Wenxue left two taels of silver at his house, one tael of which was to repay Cheng Xiucai's debt to Xu Lin.
Ye Wenxue didn't say anything about the other two, but in the Xu family's minds, it was equivalent to borrowing from them.
Xu Lin's father was injured when he went down the mountain to sell charcoal, and all the money in his pocket was stolen, leaving him to owe Ye Wenxue money.
Now that he's earned back his money by selling tofu, he naturally wants to pay off his debts first.
Upon seeing Ye Wenxue push open the door, Xu Lin's mother's eyes lit up, and she was about to stuff some silver into her hand.
Ye Wenxue quickly dodged and earnestly made up an excuse to refuse: "This silver... I learned how to make charcoal from Grandpa Xie, so I don't need to pay it back."
Besides, don't you need money to buy medicine for Xu Lin's eyes? And Old Master Xu has earned me quite a bit of money, so a tael of silver is nothing, don't be so formal."
Xu Lin's mother hesitated for a moment, then looked up again, and Ye Wenxue, carrying her son Dazhuang, slipped into the house.
Xu Lin's mother smiled helplessly and made up her mind to make Xu Lin repay Ye Wenxue double in the future.
Before leaving the prefectural city, Zhixing specially bought some fun gadgets and some medicinal herbs from several prescriptions, which are now piled on the table for Baldy and Xu Lin to choose from.
The mountain stronghold's accountant sat at a separate table, happily counting the silver, his eyes gleaming with greed.
Ye Wenxue and Dazhuang brushed the snowflakes off at the door and came in. They greeted Zhixing briefly, then sat down at the table, staring at Xu Lin, whose face was pale, and asked:
How are your eyes?
Xu Lin was clumsily untying a Luban lock, hissing as he touched it: "Hiss, it works pretty well. My eyes sting after applying the medicine, but it's much better than before when I felt nothing at all."
Ye Wenxue felt relieved; it seemed that Su Jiu was quite reliable after all.
Da Zhuang pushed another prescription over and stuffed it into Xu Lin's hand: "Mr. Su prescribed it. He said the medicine is mild and won't cause any stinging."
Ye Wenxue leaned over and took a look. It was basically the same few main ingredients, only two other herbs had been changed.
Xu Lin put away the prescription and sighed, "Zhi Xing is talking right now. Listen carefully, there might be big changes in Longxing Prefecture."
To be honest, the changes in the situation in Longxing Prefecture did not affect the Xu family or the Ye Wenxue family in any way.
Both families are ordinary people who haven't harmed anyone or monopolized anything, so no matter how many generals lead troops, they can't possibly get to them.
But for a bandit stronghold... that's not so good.
Before the drought, the bandit stronghold had been established long ago, but it was frequently raided by constables from the surrounding towns and private soldiers from the royal palace, so the bandit stronghold never really took off and only had twenty or thirty people at most.
The bandit stronghold has developed to its current state due to a combination of natural disasters and man-made calamities, which have displaced many people, forcing them to turn to banditry in order to survive.
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