Within Yue Jiuyue's walls, life was peaceful and serene, just like any other year, with people working at sunrise and resting at sunset.
Lin Chaodong, who had spent the day digging a cave, brought back some outdated and unpleasant news.
"When I was digging a cave today, I saw several people from our village who wanted to wade through the water to leave. I asked them about it and they said that the first people to go into the water were swept away by the flood as soon as they went in. The rest of them were so scared that none of them left."
There was a family where several brothers of my generation were all swept away by the flood. Only the elderly, women, and children remained, constantly weeping. I heard the elders were gone, and the sisters-in-law, brothers' wives, and children were all sick. The village head was worried they might catch a disease, so he told us to hurry and dig a cave so we could settle them down as soon as possible.
Lin Chaodong's tone was sorrowful. Although he was not close to those so-called brothers, the fact that a group of living people were swallowed by the flood made him feel the terror of the flood, even though he had not witnessed it with his own eyes.
On the surface, the flood seemed relatively gentle. The group was tied together with ropes to prevent being separated. How could it have swept everyone away so quickly? You see, the first ones to go into the water were the village's best swimmers; otherwise, they wouldn't have suggested leaving.
"well!"
Yue Jiuyue sighed, unsure what to say, and simply frowned in silence.
"Sigh! Don't think about it too much, let's eat quickly, and then get some sleep. We'll be busy tomorrow!"
Although Liu felt heavy-hearted listening to the story, she was more concerned about her own family. Other people's affairs, even tragedies, were best left unsaid; life had to go on. Everyone had worked so hard today; weren't they tired? How could they have the energy to care about others?
"Oh! This will take forever!"
Liu's words reminded Lin Chaobei of his own sorrow.
Terraced fields! Terraced fields! Terraced fields! Terraced fields on three hilltops—when will they ever be finished?!
He channeled his grief and anger into his appetite, downing a bowl of leftover chicken soup from lunch in a few bites, and then scooped out another bowl.
He shouldn't have believed his mother's nonsense!
To be precise, he shouldn't have taken any chances with his stingy sister-in-law!
A proper meal would certainly be much better than wild vegetable dumplings, but it's still just a wild vegetable pancake with a little sweet potato flour and two eggs. You can't tell the difference between the two. If it weren't for the chicken soup from lunch (although water was added, it's still chicken soup), he would have revolted.
"What's wrong?"
Lin Chaodong was confused, looking at Lin Chaobei and then at the others with a head full of questions.
It's just tilling the land, right? We're not expecting to plant all the land on the three hills this year, nor are we expecting to plant twenty or thirty acres of wheat. We'll have to plant other grains next year. From what their mother said, they plan to hire villagers to help with the farming next year. So, what's there to worry about?
"That terraced field that Mom mentioned, all three of us didn't manage to cultivate a single acre this afternoon!"
If he didn't need to build any terraces, he could cultivate two acres of land in just one afternoon!
Well, it's a bit of an exaggeration, but he just wanted to show how troublesome it is to manage terraced fields.
"Uh... well, there's no rush anyway, let's take it slow."
Lin Chaodong offered a perfunctory reassurance to his fourth brother, but in his heart he was wondering what these terraced fields actually looked like.
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