In fact, there is not much to sort out at the foot of the mountain. Just check whether the roof is leaking and whether the windows are leaking. If there is a leak, quickly cover it with window paper.
However, the people from Sihe Village came down the mountain in such a large group that people from several nearby villages couldn't help but come out to take a look and ask a few questions.
"Are you all back?"
The village chief of the neighboring Xiahe Village sneaked up on Lin Youliang in broad daylight and asked him like a thief.
Lin Youliang also whispered to the head of Xiahe Village,
"We're all back now. We can't spend the New Year in the mountains! It's cold up there. We can't spend the winter there. We'll either starve to death or freeze to death!"
"Everyone? Aren't you afraid of the Japanese coming to raid?"
"Just hide in the mountains when you come! What else can you do?"
Lin Youliang's expression was very heavy, but the head of Xiahe Village was not completely deceived by him. He hummed twice in his heart and moved closer to him.
"Don't play dumb with me, kid. Did your village steal the Japanese's guns?"
He heard a lot of gunfire here during the summer.
When the Japanese invaded their village, they would also hide in the mountains. It wasn't on the same mountain as Sihe Village, but it was not far away. They didn't stay in the mountains as long as the villagers did. Although they spent more time at the foot of the mountain than the villagers, they still couldn't plant a single crop in the fields.
Whatever he planted was plundered by the Japanese. Whatever he planted was plundered by the Japanese. If possible, he would dig up the Japanese's ancestral graves, drag them out and whip their corpses!
But when it comes to guns, Lin Youliang is like a saw-mouthed gourd.
"Uncle Wang, what are you talking about! If we could have snatched the enemy's guns, would my father still be able to escape? Now it's my turn as a naive person to talk to you?"
Village chief Wang curled his lips and didn't believe it at all.
"I don't mean to take your guns, I just want to tell you that if possible, next time the Japanese come, you should lend a hand.
Our two villages are separated by a river, which we can cross. Let's all work together. Even if we can't kill the Japanese, at least we can take less of their goods and leave. Otherwise, if this continues, we will all starve to death!"
Lin Youliang agreed with this statement very much.
"I think so too, even if you don't tell me. I'm telling you..."
During those days, Sihe Village suddenly had a proper village entrance, including several surrounding villages including Xiahe Village.
Everyone formed an alliance, and the houses at the entrance of the village were no longer inhabited and turned into "watchtowers". Of course, they were not real tall towers, but there were people standing on the roof of each village to watch. If they saw the Japanese coming from afar, they would blow the whistle and everyone would run away and hide.
Once several villages unite, you can basically see everything in 360 degrees.
Liang Shengdi finally went down the mountain in this relatively safe environment.
It's almost winter, and rice definitely can't be planted, but it would be better to kill these old farmers if they were to stay at home and hibernate without doing anything.
Lin Youliang didn't know where he found someone, but he brought a batch of radish seedlings and asked everyone to pool some money to buy them so that they could plant them quickly. Maybe they would still have radishes to eat during the New Year.
Zhang Xiaonv looked at the bare ground in her house, thought for a while, took out some money from her purse, and asked Lin Wenxuan to take it to ask if he could buy two more chickens.
If they didn't have any, they felt like their family was doomed. But if they had more, they wouldn't have enough food to feed them. If it weren't for the sweet potatoes and potatoes they had just received from the mountains, they would have been on a meager diet.
As a result, Lin Wenxuan went out for most of the day, and when he came back, he brought two little chicks home.
Zhang Xiaonu's eyes widened.
"You...you...you bought such a small one? How long will it take for it to lay eggs? Believe it or not, a chicken this small will just lie down in the roost if a gunshot goes off outside!"
Young people are just messing around. If I had known earlier, I would have gone out and bought it! She thought with regret,
"Which village did you buy them from? Ask who bought them from you! Don't get ripped off! How much is one? Where's the change? Give it to me and I'll put it back..."
Lin Wenxuan sighed, "It's just Xiahe Village next door. Where would they get the change? A large sum of money for just two little ones is already a courtesy."
"What!!!"
Zhang Xiaonu's scream almost broke through the roof, scaring the chicks that were pacing on the burnt-smelling Eight Immortals Table, and also scared Liang Shengdi who was feeding her baby in the inner room.
The little girl in her arms didn't even bother to drink her milk and started to whimper and cry.
Liang Shengdi quickly hugged the baby and comforted him.
"Whose family! Whose family! Who is so ruthless as to lie to you that you are young! Let me go..."
Lin Wenxuan quickly stopped his old mother who had started to lose her temper, and tried his best to explain it to her in the most understandable language.
To put it simply, during a war, supplies are in short supply, and money is worthless compared to food.
To be more specific——
They have nothing here, not even food. Who would sell you a laying chicken? In these days of constant bombardment, where it's unclear what year it is, anyone who can keep chickens brooding is considered a landlord with plenty of food. And you're still expecting someone to give you chickens for free?
Moreover, the money that Zhang Xiaonv gave to Lin Wenxuan was not in dollars, but in the legal tender issued by the Nationalist government, which was becoming less valuable every year.
"They say you can't even buy half a pig for a hundred French francs out there. You gave me fifty French francs, and the neighboring village only sold it to me out of respect for the village chief, Brother Youliang. Otherwise, no one would care about me!"
His grandfather and Lin Youliang's grandfather were cousins, so they were related. After his father passed away, the old village chief took good care of them. Now that Lin Youliang was the village chief, he would help whenever he could.
Chicks are precious nowadays, and people want to raise them to lay eggs. If Lin Youliang hadn't talked to their village chief Wang, and if village chief Wang hadn't spoken to him, he might not have been able to bring back these two chicks!
Zhang Xiaonu listened to her son's words in a daze, then looked at the pile of French currency in the purse, and collapsed to the ground helplessly. She wanted to slap her thigh and cry, but she was afraid of scaring the two little chickens to death, so she could only cover her mouth and sob.
"Wuwuwu... What a rotten world! Do we even want to live? I worked so hard to save this money! How come it's worthless now? Wuwuwu..."
Yes, why is it worthless?
Liang Shengdi stood against the wall holding her daughter and looked at her mother-in-law lying on the ground, her face full of confusion.
How come the money she earned from weaving basket after basket is worthless now? And what about her baskets? Weren't they all wasted?
She didn't quite understand what Lin Wenxuan was saying about how much French currency was equal to how much silver. She only knew that money was worthless, and her mother-in-law probably wouldn't be willing to give her more food.
Then can she stop feeding Yulan? Can a baby as small as Yulan eat porridge?
She could still resist hunger when she wasn't breastfeeding, but once she was breastfed, she became extremely hungry. If she continued to breastfeed like this, her mother-in-law wouldn't give her any more food...
Liang Shengdi felt that she would be able to report to the Lin family's ancestors soon.
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