Chapter 546 Food is the most important thing for the people
Without further ado, Brother Li explained the situation to the two employees of the Li Family Medical Clinic, gave them three days of paid leave, and then closed the clinic.
Li Erxiong rented another carriage from the carriage shop, and together with the carriage that Li Sanniang used when she was on duty every day and was driven away by Lao Shi, the group of more than ten people, along with their families, headed out of the city.
The Li family has now taken Xiao Huang and its three puppies away, placing them in baskets.
As Dewdrop said, "No one is home, leaving Little Yellow and its babies alone. How pitiful they must be."
Originally, Brother Li Er planned to hire two people to help Sister-in-law Li Er in Wujia Village to harvest wheat, but then Brother Shi said directly, "I will go and help, there is no need to hire outsiders."
Li Erxiong naturally declined, since the Li family all knew that Qiuxiang and Lao Shi were only sent by the Bad People to protect Li Sanniang, and were not servants of the Li family, nor were they related to the Li family.
So, how can one just ask others for help whenever they want?
However, since Lao Shi insisted, Li Er Xiong couldn't refuse. In the end, seeing Lao Shi's expression, Li Er Xiong bowed and thanked him in advance.
At this point, the Li family, along with Wu Qiaolan and her daughter Baoya, boarded the carriage and returned to Wu Family Village.
Li San Niang grew up in an orphanage in modern times. Although she often did manual labor, she lived in the city and had never done farm work, let alone physical labor like harvesting wheat.
However, Li Sanniang, who got off the carriage at the entrance of Wujia Village with Luzhu'er in her hand, felt relaxed as she looked at the farmers busy on the threshing floor. With the wind blowing, Li Sanniang felt that bringing Luzhu'er to the countryside to watch the wheat harvest was indeed the right decision.
This wasn't Lu Zhu'er's first time visiting Wujia Village, but it was certainly the first time she'd seen people bustling about on the drying ground.
The little boy stared wide-eyed at everything with wonder. The farmer toiled under the scorching sun, sweating profusely. He was not only drying wheat, but also the future livelihood and destiny of his family.
While explaining to Luzhu what kinds of food wheat could be made, Li Sanniang told Luzhu how important the wheat harvest was to farmers.
At this moment, Li Sanniang guessed that the invitation sent by Bi Qionglan must be related to wheat, and it might even be about hybrid wheat.
In any era, food is of paramount importance to the people.
Only when people satisfy their own hunger and have food to eat can a society maintain its most basic functioning.
To discuss etiquette without considering one's physical needs is a joke.
The saying by Guanzi, "When the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they are well-fed and clothed, they know honor and shame," means just this.
Li San Niang had just asked Li Er Xiong about the place mentioned in Bi Qionglan's invitation. It was somewhere about ten miles away from Wu Family Village, and it should be the village closest to the Beijing outskirts camp.
Having made up her mind, Li San Niang followed the Li family to the Wu family.
An old man sitting under a tree at the village entrance recognized Li Erxiong and quickly greeted him.
After all, Brother Li Er often came to the countryside to collect medicinal herbs, and he was related to Wu Family Village. He could be considered Wu Family Village's son-in-law. Therefore, almost everyone in the village knew Brother Li Er and had a great liking for him.
After all, the money earned from selling medicinal herbs is still money, isn't it?
"Li the Pharmacist, you've arrived?"
The old man looked around at Brother Li and saw that there were men, women, and children all there. He looked puzzled and asked, "Is Pharmacist Li's whole family here?"
When the old man saw the tenth brother, who was a head taller than everyone else and was standing next to Li San Niang, he suddenly realized: "Ah, he's here to help Wu Si's family harvest wheat!"
Then the old man noticed Li's father, who had a beard and looked quite different from the others. The old man stood up, bowed, and asked, "Are you Doctor Li from the Herbal Medicine Hall?"
Because Li Erxiong married Li Ersao, and because the Li family made a living by practicing medicine, in Wujia Village, whenever anyone had an unbearable illness, they would basically call a donkey cart to go to Chang'an City to see Li's father for treatment.
Firstly, since the Li Family Medical Clinic was opened by the father of Li Erxiong, whom they knew, they were considered acquaintances. In the eyes of the people of Wu Family Village, since they were acquaintances, they should not be deceived or bullied.
After all, Li Ersao is a daughter-in-law of the Li family. How could she possibly harm her in-laws?
Secondly, it was because Li's father understood that it was not easy for the villagers to earn money, so whenever someone from Wujia Village went to see a doctor, he would only charge the cost of the herbs and not charge a consultation fee.
However, the people of Wujia Village were not shameless. Every time someone came to see Li's father for treatment, they knew that Li's father did not charge them for the consultation, but he would bring some vegetables grown in the fields or some mountain products, whether they were wild fruits or wild vegetables, it was always a token of his appreciation.
Therefore, the people of Wujia Village held Li's father in high esteem.
Humans eat grains and other foods, so who can guarantee they won't get sick?
Building a good relationship with your doctor is very important.
While Li's father was exchanging pleasantries with the old man's son, the old man's son had already sent someone to the Wu family's land to call for the Wu family members. At this moment, Wu's grandfather and his eldest grandson also rushed over with sickles.
After another long exchange of pleasantries, it was almost time for lunch.
The Wu family was kind-hearted; they not only killed the two chickens they kept in the yard, but also made soup dumplings mixed with wheat flour, making it a rather sumptuous meal.
Li's mother was certainly not the kind of family that would come to beg for money. In fact, when the Li family came, they brought gifts with them.
Not only did they not take advantage of the Wu family, but they also openly provided subsidies to the Wu family because of Li Ersao's relationship.
After having a meal and drinking barley tea roasted by the farmers themselves, and chatting for a while, under the still scorching sun, everyone in the Wu family except for Wu's mother prepared to go to the fields to harvest wheat again.
Even the three children of the eldest brother of the Wu family, the oldest not yet fifteen and the youngest only seven or eight years old, had to carry baskets and follow behind their grandfather and father to pick up wheat.
"This late-season wheat was planted on a piece of wasteland near the foot of the mountain that had been cultivated for less than two years. The seeds were given to us by the officials, who brought a female agricultural official with them."
At the time, we never expected that the wheat would be harvested so late. We just thought that since the seeds were free, we would just have to harvest one less crop of beans.
If we could get wheat, that would be a great thing.
We country folk may not have much else, but we certainly have plenty of strength.
Therefore, they listened to the female agricultural official's advice, and each family contributed two or three laborers to plant this late wheat on the land that had been left uncultivated for two years.
Old Wu, with his trousers rolled up, sat on a wooden stool and said this to Li's father beside him.
Holding a palm-leaf fan, Old Man Wu continued to say to Father Li with a joyful tone, "I never imagined that this wheat would be so drought-resistant!"
The old man harvested quite a lot in the field at midday; I reckon the yield is about the same as the wheat we carefully tend in our best fields.”
Although Li's father was a doctor and had never farmed before, how could he not understand farmers' love for crops and the importance of crop yields to them?
An extra handful of wheat means an extra mouthful of food, which could save a life!
"If that's really the case, then that would be a wonderful thing!"
Even an extra bushel of grain would be good.
Old Wu grinned and replied, "That's right!"
We're not done yet, though.
The female agricultural official sent someone to tell us that she'll be coming to our Wu Family Village tomorrow to weigh the produce.
It was agreed beforehand that we, the fourth official and the sixth, would be from the same family.
After all, these wheat seeds were free in the first place. What's owed to the officials, we should certainly give them. We're not unreasonable or heartless people."
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