"Without oxen, are we supposed to carry soil basket by basket again? I'm not doing that!" Fan Dazhu said unhappily as the topic was diverted.
Upon hearing that they had to carry soil, everyone else in the room fell silent.
Their family originally owned a cart, but it was given to their second uncle when the family divided the property. When their second uncle borrowed the ox, he lent them the cart along with it, which was very convenient.
Starting tomorrow, things will go back to the old ways—no oxen, no carts, just carrying soil on our backs. Who can handle that?!
"Dad, how about we buy another cart? You see, there weren't many carts in the village to begin with, but almost every household has one now that they've made money."
Whether it's spring plowing or the busy farming season, we'll need one. Why don't we just get one ourselves? That way we won't have to borrow one from all over the place, right?" Fan Sizhu sincerely believed that his family needed one.
Mother Fan was the first to disagree: "Buy, buy, buy! All you ever think about is buying things, but where would we get the money to buy them!"
Sun Jinhua also had some money, but she remained silent and coldly stared at her mother-in-law.
She was determined not to spend the money she had.
No one was willing to spend any money, and buying a cart remained just a dream. The room fell into a deathly silence, and the meeting ended in discord.
The next day, as soon as the sky began to lighten, everyone in the village who could work went to the fields.
Only the elderly and children remained in the village.
For several days in a row, the villagers of Shanshui Village went to the fields at dawn and did not return to the village until dark, just in time to finish the busy farming season in early October.
As soon as the busy farming season ends, the villagers immediately go up the mountain to dig up kudzu roots to increase their food reserves for the coming days!
Of the more than 30 households in Shanshui Village, only six or seven households that followed Shuiqing's family in planting potatoes in the first half of the year had a harvest. The other 20-plus households only had busy farming seasons and no autumn harvest.
In other words, so far they haven't had a single harvest!
The rice harvest in the fertile fields was completely lost; the corn stalks were snapped by the wind; in higher areas, some beans could still be salvaged; but in low-lying areas, everything was submerged in floodwaters, and the roots of all crops and vegetables rotted away...
If it weren't for the old village chief and the village elders reminding them of the abnormal weather last year, which led them to stockpile a lot of flour with rice, and the rabbit harvest that helped them when they were almost out of food this year, they would have really gone hungry.
Even though they weren't starving, they always had to be careful with their food. Now that they had food to fill their stomachs, how could they possibly let it go!
Previously, when farming, the elderly and children would stay at home, but when digging kudzu roots, the whole family would go out together!
The village was unusually lively.
The herbal medicine shop was unusually lively at this moment.
Everyone gathered in the courtyard, sitting upright in pairs on long benches, looking at Shui Qing at the front with puzzled expressions.
Shui Qing glanced at the people sitting upright, silently checked the numbers in his mind, and after confirming that nothing was missing, announced loudly: "This is the first day of payday. Those whose names are called, come up to collect your wages. It's okay if you can't write; just put your fingerprint after your name after you receive your wages."
Hearing that it was for wages, it was like cold water being poured into a hot oil pan, immediately bursting into a cacophony of noise!
"Pay wages today? But the medicinal herbs haven't been sold yet!"
"We've made several batches of yam, but the Polygonum multiflorum needs to be steamed and dried nine times, and it will take more than half a month to process. The same goes for dried tangerine peel. Our herbal medicine shop hasn't made a single penny yet."
"Isn't it only after the medicinal herbs are sold that wages are paid?"
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