As expected, Xu Youcai's expression was complicated, his teeth were clenched, but he didn't say anything more harsh.
His roots are in Xujia Village, and he will need the help of his neighbors and fellow villagers to prosper in the future.
Xu Youcai's cousin, Xu Youmao, stepped forward at this moment, forcing a smile with wrinkles on his face, and said: "Oh, Granny Jiang, we are all from the same village, and we all have the same ancestor. Don't say such unpleasant things."
What you see is all a misunderstanding. We are doing this for the good of the village. If you and the village chief just pack up and leave, someone has to take care of these houses and land.
If someone takes it, you won't even have a place to stay when you come back... Don't you think so?
Xu Youcai was tall and domineering, while Xu Youmao was thin and skinny with a head full of wicked ideas.
The villagers left, but the houses they left behind were too many to live in, and the land they left behind was too much to cultivate.
All I need to do is stay here and I can own a piece of the world and become a wealthy landlord.
Jiang Zhi couldn't refute Xu Youmao's words; it seemed reasonable that he was helping to guard the village.
"With Brother Mao here, then we'll have to trouble you!" Jiang Zhi knew when to stop, and didn't comment on their behavior just now. She pulled Xiaoman behind her and said, "We still need to take some things up, so we won't be coming down again!"
The Xu brothers laughed it off: "Alright, take it! Take as much as you can!"
Both of them hoped that the shrew would leave quickly and stop interfering with their money-making.
Among the refugees, a woman was still weeping.
She thought Jiang Zhi would be chivalrous and uphold justice, helping her get her things back. But when she saw Jiang Zhi about to leave, she immediately shouted and rushed over: "You're with these robbers! Give me back my food!"
Jiang Zhi: Don't you look like you're easy to bully? When the men were fighting so hard, I didn't see you rush up to help them! Now you dare to block my way.
Before she could move, Xu Errui and Xiaoman blocked her way.
Xu Errui's voice trembled as he said, "Your food wasn't stolen by my mother, so what does it have to do with us!"
Xiaoman also said, "Your grain is over there, go get it yourself!"
When the woman realized that she couldn't stop Jiang Zhi, she knelt down and kowtowed to her, pleading, "Please, give us back our things! We need to get to the capital, and the adults and children need to eat on the way!"
Jiang Zhi felt a little conflicted. As someone who grew up in a peaceful era, she received high moral education from a young age, and helping others had become ingrained in her very being.
But she knew even better that sometimes good deeds go unrewarded, which is why there are so many stories like the farmer and the snake. Besides, her behavior just now showed that these refugees were no good.
Xu Youcai and his group were willing to let them go because they were concerned about the other villagers; they couldn't possibly let these refugees go.
Just as she hesitated, Xu Youmao chuckled twice and said, "Granny Jiang, why don't you let Errui and Xiaoman stay and guard the village with us? You can have half of this grain."
These people have walked hundreds of miles and still have a considerable amount of grain; they also robbed others along the way.
In the ensuing struggle, no one has any right to be innocent.
Jiang Zhi immediately disregarded everything, grabbed Er Rui and Xiao Man, and left.
She admitted that she was an incompetent coward, unable to conform or become a savior.
Amidst the desperate curses and cries of the refugees and Xu Youcai's arrogant laughter, Jiang Zhi and his two companions fled in disarray.
Oh dear! The chaos and turmoil outside are not suitable for me; I'd better hide away and live a quiet life.
Sure enough, there was a lot of quicklime piled up in the village chief's woodshed. The three of them lined the bottom of a straw basket and filled it with quicklime.
Since Xu Youcai agreed to let her take the things, Jiang Zhi didn't stand on ceremony.
Taking advantage of the rare opportunity, while the Xu family was driving away the refugees, Jiang Zhi and his two companions searched through the kitchens of every household in the village.
The sweet potatoes and taro in the cellar had long been harvested. Jiang Zhi only found a lot of salt stones and some melon, bean and vegetable seeds hanging on the wall. The vegetable seeds alone were enough to plant several acres of land.
Besides that, there was an exquisite hand-operated millstone and a stone mortar for pounding rice. However, these things were heavy and difficult to move. In order to have fine grains to eat in the future, Jiang Zhi was prepared to work herself to death.
To everyone's surprise, Xiaoman shook her head vigorously when she saw the two heavy items: "My grandfather is a stonemason. Aunt Jiang, if you need it urgently, just move the millstone. My grandfather can make a stone mortar himself when he finds a stone later."
Is this for real?
However, it's not uncommon for rural people to be stonemasons and carpenters. Just look at Xiaoman's shed; it wouldn't be surprising if they knew how to repair houses.
There are quite a few things to bring this time: quicklime, a stone mill, and a spinning wheel for Xiaoman (the 24th of the lunar calendar). Each of these is a large item.
By the time they had all moved back to the charcoal shed on the mountain, it was already afternoon.
Qiaoyun had already cooked a pot of porridge and thoughtfully roasted two sweet potatoes in the fire for her mother-in-law and husband.
Now, every sweet potato she eats is one less available, so she doesn't dare to eat any more.
Back at the charcoal shed, Jiang Zhi collapsed to the ground, unable to get up. Even the youngest heart has to admit defeat.
Her body couldn't lie; she felt her back was about to break again.
Clearing land and farming have never been the poetry and distant places she dreamed of; just a few days of rural life had exhausted her.
Fortunately, I won't need to do such heavy physical labor for a while.
On the night the three returned to the mountain, a section of the cliff suddenly collapsed in the dead of night.
The path below the cliff was instantly buried by a large amount of rocks that had been cascaded down, and it would take at least half a month to clear it again.
The mountains where Xiaoman's and Jiangzhi's families lived thus became a secluded paradise.
Other families who want to communicate with them have no choice but to either shout at the crossroads or take a long detour, walking for an hour to get there.
After a short rest, construction began on Jiang Zhi's small single room the next day.
On the leveled open ground, four pits were first dug out, and then oak tree trunks as thick as a bowl were inserted as pillars. They were filled with gravel and compacted. Once the pillars were stable, the next step was to build the roof and walls.
The walls were built with stone slabs and yellow mud, topped with a gable roof. The central beam was made from the longest tree trunk, secured with mortise and tenon joints cut from two tripods.
This shed, which was originally intended to be a small single room, was gradually transformed into a proper house with a roof covered in tree bark.
To prevent it from being blown away by the wind, layers of stone slabs were laid on the bark.
As usual, images from the internet.
Jiang Zhi stuffed dried moss, which he had dug up from the ditch, into the crevices of the tree bark.
Moss is a valuable resource. In wilderness survival, moss is used to build shelters, as it provides wind protection and insulation, making it a natural heat-insulating material.
Xiaoman looked at the little house and exclaimed in admiration, "Aunt Jiang's house is even better than those thatched huts in the village. Look at this sturdy roof, we don't have to worry about heavy rain anymore."
Jiang Zhi was also very satisfied. Although the whole process was a bit tough, after watching so many videos, she finally built a perfect shelter for herself, and a sense of pride welled up in her heart.
The image is from the internet; I can't find the setting of leaning against the mountain wall in the book.
Now that we have a house, we need furniture.
Without a bed or table, Jiang Zhi still used yellow mud and stone slabs to build a cabinet and stove in the room, and also built a kang (a heated brick bed).
The reason it's said that building a kang (heated brick bed) was done incidentally is because it was also Jiang Zhi's first time doing it.
The kang (heated brick bed) on the plate was small and exquisite, unlike those large kangs with rows of shared beds.
The kang (heated brick bed) was a rare sight in Xujia Village, something no one had ever seen before.
No one has ever seen a stove for cooking connected to a bed for sleeping.
Even Xiaomanye, who considers himself well-informed, came to see it.
Touching the thick mud-brick kang (a heated brick bed) and looking at the chimney extending from the wall, Grandpa Xiaoman fell silent.
Having lived most of his life, with the earth already reaching his neck, he was only accustomed to digging a hearth in the middle of the house to burn firewood and warm himself in the smoke and fire. He felt unfamiliar with this kind of earthen bed.
He looked at it for a long time before asking the most classic question for a southern child: "Won't cooking rice in the summer bake you alive?"
Jiang Zhi laughed and said, "In the summer, if you don't use this stove, or if you block the chimney, no heat will get through."
Grandpa Xiaoman still looked bewildered: "What heat? You mean heating the kang (heated brick bed)? Doesn't that require fire?"
Jiang Zhi burst into laughter: "Trying it directly with fire is like frying dried beans!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com