With tears welling up in his eyes, Zheng Qian nodded heavily and said, "Uncle Facai, I will definitely help you guard the granary well."
Zheng Qian was selling himself because his younger sister was seriously ill, and the clinic in the city said it would cost five taels of silver to save her life.
She was so young, Li Dazhuang couldn't bear to watch her die from her illness.
Their parents had both passed away early, leaving only the two of them to depend on each other.
Gu Lili nodded and said, "I have urgent business to attend to right now, so I'll leave this place to you. A woman named Gu Lili will be coming here to collect the grain in a little while. All this grain belongs to her. After they've collected the first load, you can go see your sister. After that, you'll need to stay here until they've moved all the grain away. Then you can go back and take care of your sister. If anything happens to me, I'll send someone to write to you. Just check this courtyard once a day to see if there are any letters!"
Zheng Qian hadn't expected her job to be so simple, and judging from his tone, Uncle Fa Cai didn't seem to be planning to take her along.
Zheng Qian was extremely grateful for this.
After giving Zheng Qian instructions, Gu Lili hurriedly headed out of the city.
Back outside the city, Gu Erniu was getting impatient and anxious.
Seeing Gu Lili return, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Erniu, hurry up, we've bought the grain, let's go get it!" Gu Lili shouted.
Gu Erniu's father immediately got on the oxcart and followed the directions given by Gu Lili, all the way to the newly purchased courtyard.
While waiting for Gu Lili, Gu Erniu specifically asked Sizhu's father to teach him how to drive an oxcart.
So, the journey has been relatively safe.
Once in the courtyard, Gu Lili explained her purpose, and Zheng Qian joined them in moving the grain.
However, Zheng Qian felt a sense of déjà vu as he looked at Gu Lili's figure.
Just as Gu Lili had predicted, there was indeed a lot of grain that would require several trips to haul.
Gu Lili also purchased two large buckets and many sieves, since she planned to open a sugar factory in the future, which would come in handy.
The situation was rather urgent, so Gu Lili even bought a roll of plastic to set up a temporary place to malt.
Gu Lili hasn't bought a pot yet. Her plan is to borrow pots from her neighbors to make sugar. It's a good idea to pay her neighbors to make sugar.
As for the issue of the secret recipe being leaked, Gu Lili was not worried at all.
After all, there was no glutinous rice in this era.
After loading the car, the group rushed home.
Gu Lili and Zheng Qian agreed that they would take some of the wheat and water buckets back today, and then come back to get the glutinous rice tomorrow.
Zheng Qian locked the door and hurried home.
I'm going to take my sister to see a doctor, and then come back to guard the granary.
Because they had so much stuff to carry today, Gu Lili and the other two had no choice but to walk back.
Aunt Zhang happened to see Gu Lili receiving the deposit.
No one would suspect anything if so much grain were brought back.
By the time I got home, it was completely dark.
Tie Zhu's father helped carry the grain into the yard. Gu Lili paid the fare, made an appointment with him for the time to go tomorrow, and then went to the kitchen.
"Sister, whose oxcart is this?" Gu Sigou stared wide-eyed at the oxcart parked in front of his yard.
He had a vague idea that this might be their car, and his heart started racing.
Gu Huanhuan, standing next to her, was also staring at the oxcart with sparkling eyes.
Gu Lili looked at his silly expression and chuckled, "This is our family's. Once we're done with this busy period, I'll have your second brother drive the oxcart and take us to Grandma's house."
Upon hearing Gu Lili's affirmative answer, Gu Sigou and Gu Huanhuan couldn't help but jump up with joy.
The two happily climbed onto the oxcart, touching and looking at it from all angles, clearly enamored with it.
Even the old ox's buttocks couldn't escape Gu Sigou's little hands.
The two felt as if they were dreaming; just a few days ago, they hadn't had enough to eat.
Now, not only have we built a new house, but we've also bought an oxcart, and we have so much grain at home.
It all feels unreal.
"You two come down for dinner, you'll have to help with the chores later." Gu Lili's voice brought the two back to reality.
Looking at everything before them, they were certain they weren't dreaming. The two jumped off the oxcart and trotted after Gu Lili to go eat.
Gu Erniu unloaded the oxcart from the ox, then took some of the wild vegetables that Gu Sigou had found to feed the chickens and ducks and fed them to the ox before going into the kitchen to eat.
Gu Huanhuan had already cooked the rice. The four siblings hurriedly ate a few mouthfuls and then prepared to soak the wheat.
Fortunately, the wooden bucket that Gu Lili bought from her spatial storage was big enough.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a bathtub; Gu Erniu was stunned when he saw it.
Gu Lili's idea was to use it to soak wheat, and then use it for bathing when she didn't need it anymore.
Gu Lili and Gu Erniu poured the wheat into a large bucket, then went to the stream to fetch water and poured it into the bucket.
By the time the wheat was soaked, it was already quite late. Luckily, it didn't rain today, so I could leave the wheat anywhere; otherwise, there really wouldn't have been anywhere to put the bucket.
Gu Lili told the three of them to go to sleep. Gu Erniu was afraid that someone would come to steal their food, so he didn't put up any barriers at the entrance of the shack tonight.
Gu Erniu led Big Black to the grain, and Gu Lili gave Gu Erniu a flashlight so he could check the situation.
The night passed quickly.
Gu Erniu and Gu Sigou didn't sleep well. They kept looking at the cow and then at the grain in their yard.
I didn't fall asleep until dawn.
As dawn broke, Gu Lili called out to the three of them to get up.
Because they had things to do these past few days, Gu Lili and the other three did not go for a workout.
After washing up, Gu Lili asked Gu Huanhuan to make breakfast while she took Gu Erniu and Gu Sigou to the bamboo forest at the foot of the mountain to cut bamboo.
With so much wheat needing to ferment, it was difficult to store it anywhere, so Gu Lili decided to temporarily build a plastic greenhouse.
It can keep you warm and protect you from wind and rain. Moreover, if the temperature inside is high, the wheat will germinate faster.
This plastic greenhouse is also easy to dismantle; once they move to their new home, it can be dismantled and placed next to their new house.
At that time, it can be used to grow vegetables and sprout wheat.
As dawn broke, Gu Lili and her companions returned with a large quantity of bamboo they had chopped.
Although Gu Sigou was the youngest, he always followed behind Gu Lili and Gu Erniu, carrying bamboo with great effort.
Although he didn't quite understand why his older siblings were cutting so much bamboo, he knew that he had to do his part for his family.
"Sister, Second Brother, Fourth Dog, dinner's ready!" Gu Huanhuan called out with concern as she looked at the three of them, who had just returned covered in sweat.
Gu Lili looked up at the sky and realized that the sun had already risen.
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