Jiang Zhi had previously discussed group purchasing of timber and bricks for house repairs in the village with the group of eight.
When to repair a house is a big deal. The reason why the group purchase has been delayed is that the various households have not yet decided what kind of house they want to repair.
If someone wants to build an adobe house, they have many family members and work hard for a year or two to break and dry the adobe bricks. In the end, they can hire a few people to build the bricks and repair the house. It costs almost nothing.
Some people are planning to build rammed earth walls. The whole village will carry soil, and it will only take ten days to half a month to build three to five rooms. They will be warm in winter and cool in summer, but they won't look very impressive.
Villagers help each other without pay; the biggest expense is food.
As long as you harvest the crops, sell the grain to the grain store, and then help the village chief with some work, or find some jobs in town, you can raise enough money.
So those families started making wooden doors and windows, waiting to start construction after the grain was sold.
Building wooden houses like Jiang Zhi's is rare; it requires a lot of materials and is expensive, which is exactly the kind of business the Wang family wants.
Tian Gui and Xu Genyou are among the few people who are eyeing the wooden houses.
Compared to other villagers, they followed Village Chief Jiang from the beginning and earned the most money.
Xu Genyou has a lot of land, and he earns more than one tael of silver just from selling tender corn. He also works a lot, so he will have no problem building a few houses next year.
People on the mountain were talking about the Wang family wanting to take on some work, and the same thing was being discussed in the village.
It was already completely dark. Xu Gen didn't light a lamp, but instead, in the dark, he added chopped sweet potato vines and corn leaves to the old mule kept outside his shed, and also put out a handful of peanut vines.
The night was so dark that no one could see his furrowed brows and troubled expression.
Inside the shack, Liu Shi also looked distressed, sitting at a long wooden table, muttering to herself, "How could he say such a thing?"
Several large bowls were placed on the wooden board, filled with a paste of coarse wheat flour.
Aside from this bowl of porridge, there were other dishes on the table: a bowl of pickled vegetables and a large pot of stewed fatty pork, which looked very oily.
Xu Genyou's three children sat nearby, all staring longingly at the few slices of meat.
The first two were sons, the oldest being ten years old and the youngest a seven-year-old daughter, whose family circumstances were similar to Tian Gui's.
Liu was reading aloud, the children were waiting, and when Tian finished tidying up the stove and came over, Xu Genyou was gone again.
This person has a problem: he can't sit still. Even before eating, he has to find something to do.
Tian didn't call him, but sat down at the wooden table and said to Liu, "Mother, this meat is fresh today. Since your teeth aren't good, I specially stewed it until it's very tender."
Liu was clearly not hungry. She was upset, but she didn't have a temper with her virtuous eldest daughter-in-law. She just pushed away the bowl in front of her and said, "Let Daqiang, Heizi and Chunxi eat first. I'm not hungry!"
Ms. Tian knew that her mother-in-law had only eaten a bowl of porridge that morning, so how could she not be hungry? Besides, it was rare for the family to have meat, so she could eat it no matter what.
I don't want to eat right now, but it's all for my brother-in-law!
It turns out that today Xu Errui and Wu Yang went to Lihua Town to deliver medicine, and Xu Genyou also went to sell some things, so he naturally ran into his younger brother Xu Genbao.
After the younger brother left Xujia Village in the first year of junior high school, the two did not see each other often, and at first they would exchange a few words of concern.
However, Xu Genyou was beaten by the Wang brothers when he tried to borrow money, and they haven't even apologized to this day, which has made Xu Genyou resent his younger brother.
In addition, she came to visit again along the way, wanting the Wang family to repair Aunt Jiang's house, but was refused. Wang Xiaoju then gave her a good scolding outside the village, which angered the honest man.
But today, Wang Xiaoju sent someone back with a message saying that she wanted to take back her land.
The corn is already tasseling and will be ready for harvest in about twenty days. Wang Xiaoju's demand to take over the land is blatant robbery.
Although her mother-in-law and husband both said it was impossible, Ms. Tian still felt uneasy.
Having been Wang Xiaoju's sister-in-law for four years, she knew that her sister-in-law was the type who wouldn't give up until she got something for herself.
Now they say they want to take back the land, and even if they don't, they'll still have to ask for something from the family.
What does Wang Xiaoju want?
Tian, who stayed at home all year round, didn't know what her sister-in-law wanted, but Xu Genyou did.
Today, my younger brother pulled me aside in town and talked for a long time, saying that his in-laws were having a hard time, and that he didn't dare to speak up when he found out that his older brother was being bullied last time.
He started crying as he spoke, cursing himself for being inhuman, for letting down his mother and older brother, and for causing his brother to get beaten.
Seeing his own flesh and blood crying in front of him, Xu Genyou felt a pang of sorrow, and his resentment dissipated.
My younger brother can eat whatever he wants at home, whether it's hot or cold, but he doesn't feel that way when he's staying at someone else's house.
Because he failed to return to the village to take on business before, the Wang family will not give him a friendly look.
But letting her younger brother return to the village was better than having to put up with other people's attitudes, no matter how poor her family was.
Besides, these poor days will eventually pass, but his younger brother refused. Genbao said he was too embarrassed to come back and only wanted to help him stand up for himself in the Wang family.
Help? How can I help?
Xu Genbao said that since the village needed to buy timber anyway, and he had influence with Aunt Jiang, he should keep the money for himself and not let outsiders benefit from it.
After saying all this, he stuffed a pound of meat into his hand, saying it was to honor his mother.
This is the first time in more than half a year that I've thought of my mother, so I brought the meat back, but no one can eat it.
However, I made it clear to Genbao that the village buys timber in a group, and my opinion alone is not valid.
Moreover, the things the Wang family did to Aunt Jiang can't just be left unsaid. They were chasing after her on the road, intending to beat her up. Even though they didn't get the better of her, they still had bad intentions.
As for the fact that he was slapped by the Wang brothers and forced to kneel on the ground, he kept it to himself for the time being, out of consideration for his younger brother's apology.
Xu Genyou didn't agree, and there was no news from Er Rui either, so the matter was dropped again.
The villagers continued doing what they were doing, but the people in the mountains were experiencing some unusual things.
The sun had just risen above the mountaintop when Jiang Zhi and her people were already standing by the terraced fields.
Chunfeng, Qiaoyun, Errui, Xiaoman, and Xu Dazhu gathered together, each holding a pair of bamboo tweezers, and listened intently to Jiang Zhi's words.
Last year, Jiang Zhi only took Qiaoyun with her when she was demasking the rice plants. The two of them secretly processed dozens of plants.
Now, she has made it public and wants everyone to help.
Sure enough, just like Qiaoyun's worldview collapsed last year, the others this year were no less disastrous.
Xiaoman, who was not married, was completely bewildered.
Chunfeng covered her face and laughed, while Errui and Xu Dazhu kept a straight face and awkwardly tried to pick the stamens.
These emotions didn't last long. Jiang Zhi said, "This method will be done every year from now on. It's the same principle as pollinating corn. You should know how pollinated corn grows."
Corn pollination is nothing unusual; the villagers all know how to do it, and the results are immediate. Once they understood this, the group immediately began to pick the stamens.
This time there were many people, so the process was much faster than last year when it was just Jiang Zhi and her mother-in-law sneaking around.
Pull out every other row, and mark the pulled rice stalks with straw rope.
………………………………
The hottest time of the year has arrived. After the village was burned down by bandits, the lush bamboo groves that used to grow in front of and behind every household in Xujia Village are gone, and the few tender bamboo shoots that have grown are not enough to make a difference.
The low shacks of each family were steaming under the scorching sun.
During the day, everyone worked their own jobs, but at night, they would all gather under the drying shed outside Jiangzhi's warehouse to chat and gossip.
Among the crowd, Xia Xiucai, a rare sight, appeared. He was still dressed in a scholar's long gown, standing out among the group of farmers with their sleeves rolled up and trousers rolled up.
At this moment, Xia Xiucai was not talking about poetry and songs, but was talking to someone about judging cattle!
Xu Gensheng vigorously fanned everyone with a palm-leaf fan, while Xu Genqing, holding a teacup, immediately offered it to Xia Xiucai as soon as he finished speaking, saying obsequiously, "Scholar, have a sip of water before you talk!"
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