Jiang Zhi also learned something from Xu Genbao.
Previously, Xujia Village had announced its intention to buy building materials, but apart from merchants selling pigs and cattle, there had been no concrete news about other items.
Jiang Zhi thought it was a price issue, after all, Xujia Village was very poor.
Now I realize that it was the Wang family who were behind this.
The Wang family declared in Lihua Town that this business deal belonged to them and no one else was allowed to compete for it.
In a close-knit community, there are certain rules.
These words effectively put the Wang family in control, and even timber merchants from the surrounding area were hesitant to come to Xujia Village.
Jiang Zhi was very angry, but she didn't say much in front of Wang Xiaoju.
She was just kicked out of her parents' home, and now he's talking badly about her parents' home in front of her.
Humans are not plants or trees; we are connected by blood.
Even hatred shouldn't allow others to insult and slap her in the face; Jiang Zhi wouldn't act as a transferee of hatred.
So she calmly said, "We'll think of another way!"
Wang Xiaoju's cheeks were flushed red with shame and embarrassment; she wished she could crawl under the table.
Seeing that Jiang Zhi no longer mentioned the Wang family, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief and gave her a grateful look.
Zhang Juntou gave Jiang Zhi a very pleasant reception.
He didn't get much money from those poor thugs.
They only gave him a beating, collected five taels of silver from the Wang family for tea money to pay the soldiers below, and then released him.
Fortunately, the gift package that Song Lizheng prepared for himself was quite good, so his effort to beat people up wasn't in vain.
The head of the village, who was in charge of Pear Blossom Town, died on the night of the war and has not yet been elected.
Song Lizheng is only temporarily serving as the acting head of the county government. Although he has already been officially registered in the county government, Magistrate Zhang said that he needs to be observed for a year before he can officially take office.
Zhang Juntou doesn't concern himself with such matters, but it would be good if he could mention his name more often and say a few kind words to Magistrate Zhang.
Upon seeing Jiang Zhi, Zhang Juntou grinned, his face crinkling with wrinkles: "Village Chief Jiang, is it time to harvest the grain in the fields again?"
Jiang Zhi now cultivates dozens of acres of land, which he also wants to share.
Zhang Juntou received a share of the first crop of green grains, and he also received some of the second crop of corn and sweet potatoes.
Jiang Zhi smiled and said, "I won't forget. I just wonder how my mosquito coils are doing. Has anyone been asking about them?"
Zhang Juntou chuckled: "Some people ask, but more questions than actual purchases!"
Ever since Jiang Zhi gave him some mosquito coils last time, he would light them when he stayed overnight on patrol.
If anyone asks about mosquito coils, just mention that you can sell them to others if you want to buy them, since you get a commission anyway.
Hearing that there were many questions but few sales, Jiang Zhi nodded, saying there was no rush.
We can barely supply the Huo family's sales volume. Without raw materials, we can forget about adding any new sales channels this year.
Zhang Juntou's place is a constant flow of people; as long as there's a road, there will be customers. It's a good thing as long as someone asks!
Zhang Juntou knew that Jiang Zhi usually lived in the mountains and was the type to only visit when there was a reason, so he was sure she had something to say this time.
Sure enough, when Jiang Zhi asked about the security situation in the surrounding villages, Zhang Jun pouted and said, "Of all the destroyed villages along the road, only your Xu Family Village is safe now; the other villages are still in chaos."
If you're struggling to make ends meet, why bother making quilts? Don't go there. The only option is to head into the mountains; there are a few villages there that are okay.
Two of my men in the camp are from the mountains; I'll have them take those guys with them in a few days!
Zhang Juntou couldn't remember Xu Genbao's name, but since Village Chief Jiang asked him to find a village, he just pointed to any village.
Jiang Zhi knew that Zhang Juntou's praise of Xujia Village was genuine, and he wasn't saying it on purpose for her to hear.
I learned from passersby that many villages along the official road had suffered from the ravages of war.
The village chiefs of other villages are also trying their best to settle the disaster victims, but they are powerless to do so. They have no money and no manpower, and everyone is struggling to get by.
In Xujia Village, people have their own grain loans and have been paid wages, so they can settle down with peace of mind. In addition, there is a patrol station, so there is no need to worry about security. It is a win-win situation.
After receiving the news from Zhang Juntou, Jiang Zhi told Xu Genbao's family as soon as she returned.
At this time, Jiang Zhi's new cotton quilt was also finished. Wang Xiaoju and Xu Genbao did not rest, but continued to help their elder brother and sister-in-law gin and fluff cotton, trying their best to make up for the brotherhood they had hurt by their previous mistakes.
When the family learned that Zhang Juntou had agreed to let the patrol battalion take them over, they were overjoyed.
Although Liu and Xu Genyou also resented the couple for almost causing their family to be robbed, they still hoped that they could get back on the right path. Now that the two were willing to endure hardship and correct their ways, they were given a chance.
In addition, Xu Genbao's land is still managed by his elder brother Xu Genyou. This time, a written lease agreement has been drawn up, and the rent payable will be in full.
Jiang Zhi mediated Liu's retirement, with the two brothers contributing food and money respectively, so that neither of them would suffer a loss.
So, a few days later, after the two soldiers from the patrol battalion had their leave, Xu Genbao packed his luggage, cotton bow and thread, took Wang Xiaoju with him, and left the child behind to go into the mountains.
Time flies, and after several rains, it's time to harvest Jiangzhi's second crop of corn.
Meanwhile, the rice in the fields had turned yellow, creating a golden expanse everywhere.
With the harvest season fast approaching, everyone had sharpened their knives for cutting rice and corn stalks, but this year they've encountered an unusually heavy rainfall.
As if playing a joke on us, the sky has been overcast for more than ten days without clearing up, everything is damp and there isn't even a breath of wind.
Just when the leaves had dried a little and I was about to get to work, a downpour hit, soaking me to the bone.
Seeing the rice ears and corn cobs drooping lower and lower, Tian Gui and Xu Genyou were so anxious that they ran to the fields several times a day.
Harvesting grain now is a race against time; if we don't hurry, the rice and corn will sprout on the stalks.
Xu Errui ran barefoot through the mud and water, wearing a bamboo hat, on the mountain path. He needed to go and discuss what to do with his mother.
He has been staying in the village for the past few days, ready to harvest the grain whenever the time is right.
However, with the continuous rain, if the harvested crops have nowhere to be dried, they will sprout even faster than they would on the stalks.
Each household lived in a shack, with no dry place to shelter from the rain except for the storage room and the outdoor drying shed.
If wet grain is piled up overnight, it will rot and sprout, rendering the grain unusable. How could people not be anxious?
On the mountain, Jiang Zhi was not idle either; there were still many things to do.
The rice in the terraced fields should be harvested soon.
Moreover, because it is a hybrid rice variety, special care must be taken to dry it during harvesting, otherwise it will affect the germination rate next year.
So the only option was to dry it using a kang (a heated brick bed).
This was no ordinary grain. To prevent any accidents, Jiang Zhi stayed up all night, constantly turning it over, not daring to sleep.
The cotton on the hillside also needed to be harvested quickly. Although the last batch of cotton bolls had not yet opened, the temperature dropped rapidly in the mountains, so Xiaoman and Chunfeng dared not leave any and pulled them all out.
The whole cotton stalks are piled up in clusters in a recessed area at the foot of the cliff where they can be sheltered from the rain, and they will slowly bloom in the wind.
Xu Dazhu placed bamboo sieves all over his house, and cotton was drying inside them.
This little bit of cotton requires one person to work. When it rains, you have to quickly bring it in, and when the rain stops, you have to quickly take it out to air it out. This process repeats itself over and over again.
It's easier to find a way to manage the limited land on the mountain, but the crops at the foot of the mountain are a real worry. Not only Xu Gen and his group have their worries, but Jiang Zhi does too.
This is not just a matter of a hundred or two hundred catties from the mountain. Down the mountain, there are not only dozens of acres of corn, but also more than ten acres of rice paddies!
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