After New Year's Eve, it's the start of a new year!
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, everyone wore their best clothes. Qiaoyun wore silver earrings and velvet flowers, and Errui made her a chinaberry bracelet. Even the little wild boar had a red ribbon tied around its head.
Neem fruit, slightly toxic, promotes qi circulation, relieves pain, and kills roundworms. Fresh neem pulp, mashed into a paste, can be applied topically to treat frostbite.
Image from the internet: Chinaberry bracelet
After dinner, everyone should go out for a walk.
"Take a walk, and all illnesses will be cured! Go out empty-handed, and return home with wealth!"
Grandpa Xiaoman naturally led Grandma Xiaoman around the edge of the field.
Grandma Xiaoman rarely goes out, but now she looks at the wheat on the slope with great joy.
A night rain moistened the land, and the wheat seedlings grew lush and green, their long leaves glistening with water droplets.
Having plenty of land is great; this land is sure to yield a thousand catties of wheat.
But when she thought of the land down the mountain, Grandma Xiaoman started to worry again. That was good land and couldn't be wasted: "Old man, what about our land down the mountain?"
Grandpa Xiaoman wasn't idle either. He reached out and pulled a weed from the wheat field: "There's never any free time. Leave it all to Errui's mother to arrange! We'll take care of the ones on the mountain."
"Ah! That's good!" Knowing that it was Errui's mother who was in charge of the land at the foot of the mountain, Xiaoman's grandmother immediately stopped worrying.
After living on the mountain for a year, she had completely come to respect Jiang Zhi. Everyone now had food, drink, and clothes, all thanks to others.
"Sigh! Such a capable person, he really suffered a lot in the past few years!"
Xiaoman's grandmother has accepted Jiang Zhi as she is now, and is actively trying to whitewash her past behavior in her mind.
Grandpa Xiaoman's wrinkled face was also full of regret: "Grandpa and Grandma Errui are too biased. They dragged their own family down because of their married daughter, and they taught Xiaotian to be ignorant... Errui's father was severely beaten but he was able to hold on for more than ten years. It seems that it was all thanks to Errui's mother's herbal medicine... Alas! It's a pity about the eldest child, who is six years old!"
"Yes! I once told that old woman to think more about her grandson, but she said that Xiaotian has no parents and if she doesn't protect him more, no one will care for him..."
While the elderly couple were rambling on about old grievances, Jiang Zhi was completely unaware, wandering aimlessly in the mountains with her little wild boar.
At this moment, a damp mist enveloped the forest. Whether it was rain or dew, it glistened on the edges of the leaves and would cascade down with the slightest movement, soaking people completely.
The little wild boar followed beside them, grunting and whining, turning over the grass stems and tree bark.
The cold air made Jiang Zhi's nose red, but her mind became increasingly clear.
For the first year after arriving, I struggled to survive and tried every means to hide my true identity.
The new year has arrived. Magistrate Zhang has proposed making medicine, and the medical sheds will be dismantled in six months. These are all opportunities.
To rebuild their home and renovate their houses, money was the most important thing... Jiang Zhi considered things clearly in her mind.
At this moment, smoke was rising from every shack in Xujia Village.
No matter what, they still have to celebrate the New Year, take out the best grains they've stored up at home, cook the most sumptuous meal, endure the chaos of war, and look forward to a bright future.
The people in each shack, like tenacious weeds, rose up once again with hope and vitality.
Xu Genbao has already separated from his elder brother Xu Gen, but they can't build a separate shack now, so they still live together, but they cook their own meals.
"Genbao, are you going out?"
Xu Genyou saw that his younger brother and his wife were about to leave early on the first day of the Lunar New Year, so he quickly called out to them.
In the days since the family split up, the two families haven't spoken to each other, and Xu Genbao is being kept very close by his wife.
Hearing his older brother call him, Xu Genbao nodded: "Let's go to Xiaoju's house in town..."
Xu Genyou glanced at the grain and clothing beside the couple and sighed, "Genbao, it's good that you go and seek refuge with your father-in-law. He's also struggling financially, so you should help him out as much as possible..."
"Mind your own business! You should worry about yourself. My father and brother both want me to go back!"
Genbao's wife beamed with joy and raised her chin at Xu Genyou.
It was her reason to be happy, since Genbao's wife's family was from Lihua Town.
She left on her own during the chaos of war, and only after returning did she learn of the disaster that had befallen her family, so she didn't visit them. It wasn't until the New Year that her family sent a message to her.
Knowing that her father and brother were both alright, the couple immediately decided to go to her parents' home after Lunar New Year's Eve, without even celebrating the first day of the new year.
Even if they suffer a disaster, it's still better than the Xu family not even having a house.
When the mother-in-law, Liu, learned that her youngest son was going to stay with his father-in-law, she hid to the side and secretly shed tears.
Before leaving, Xu Genbao kowtowed to Liu Shi: "Mother, I will leave my land to my elder brother to manage, and the harvest will be your food. I will come back to see you in the future."
The couple left with their child, and the land they were allocated was left to Xu Genyouzhong.
With tears welling in her eyes, Liu said, "My son! Do you think it's easy to live by relying on others? You'll regret it later!"
Upon hearing this, Genbao's wife jumped up and down: "My father and brother will not mistreat us!"
After kowtowing, Xu Genbao lowered his head and left with his wife. Aside from the hardship here, he couldn't stand staying here any longer.
A few days ago, news came from Xu Changshou's family. Magistrate Zhang did not punish them, nor did he return to Xu Family Village. Instead, they were sent to other severely affected villages to live as outsiders.
They lost their perfectly good farmland and became refugees. They even had to split up their family property because of Xu Genbao, who wanted to give false testimony. Now they have become the laughing stock in the village. Taking advantage of his father-in-law's request for him and his wife to live together, he left.
Li Laoshi only ate some glutinous rice balls on the first day of the lunar new year on the mountain before leaving. He had some free time for the next few days, and then Jiang Zhi returned to the village on the fifth day of the lunar new year.
This time, she came to farm.
She didn't plow the land before the Lunar New Year because time was too tight, but now that spring has arrived, planting is imminent.
Even though the government is sending seeds, we shouldn't take it too seriously.
She had already heard from Xiang Dejin that the seeds the government could send were sorghum, millet, and some miscellaneous beans.
Moreover, the land I want to cultivate is different from what others do; I will follow my own plan.
As soon as Jiang Zhi entered the village, she noticed the changes. Several families from the Xu family's main branch started to greet her.
The newcomers were even more affectionate, calling out "Sister Jiang!" and "Aunt Jiang!" all the way.
This surprised Jiang Zhi.
Li Laoshi, who came over, was beaming, but pretended to be serious and said, "Sister Jiang, these people did it voluntarily!"
"What do you mean?"
When Jiang Zhi saw the fields belonging to her family and Xiao Man's family, she would understand why.
All the fields have been dug up, and the clods of earth have been broken up into small pieces; all that's needed is to sow the seeds.
Xu Errui kept asking Li Laoshi who had done the work. Li Laoshi proudly replied, "I told them whoever needed herbs had to help dig the ground, and I'd hire them for any future jobs, with meals and pay included! I only said one sentence, and they were all scrambling to dig!"
He was really pleased with himself. He could just pick some herbs and have people do the work, so Sister Jiang was free, and of course he didn't have to do any work himself.
Xu Errui and Xiaoman chuckled and praised, "Honest Brother is really capable."
Li Laoshi was quite pleased with the two men's disrespectful way of addressing him: "Hehe, what's a little bit of this? We won't have to do any work from now on."
He's good for nothing, but he's number one at being lazy and shirking his responsibilities.
This is like taking a trivial matter for a grand purpose; Jiang Zhi was both amused and exasperated.
Li Laoshi's unauthorized decision, however, led her to find a way to get the work done.
After all, the mountain road from the mountain to the village is so long, and running back and forth would be exhausting.
When we move back to the village, it will be at least two years before doing farm work becomes a problem.
Now it seems that it's not a bad idea to let Li Laoshi keep an eye on things.
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