"Dad, if we want to dig up these glutinous rice and taro, we can't hide it from the villagers. We'll definitely have to report it!"
"But no matter what, it was my sister-in-law and I who found this thing. I think the villagers will understand if our two families get a bigger share, right?"
According to the old man's previous idea, the entire Liu family should receive an extra share.
Now, after hearing his daughter-in-law's words, Grandpa Liu immediately understood.
Yes, their family has already split up. The second son's family and the third son's family are two separate families, so they should be divided into two separate portions.
"Dad will handle this matter. You should have Liu Qing and the others take these leaves and stems back first."
The glutinous rice and taro underground could be shared with the villagers, but the leaves and stems were inedible, so Old Liu unceremoniously took them all.
As for how many households in the village still raise cattle?
What does that have to do with the Liu family?
Old Liu quickly found the village chief, who was moved to tears upon hearing that edible grain had been found.
Upon arriving at the site, they didn't have time to examine it closely.
He picked up the broken wooden stick that Lin Xue had used to dig and started digging.
After he dug out a few glutinous rice taro pieces with his own hands, his happy smile almost stretched to the back of his ears.
"Old Liu, your family has done a great service this time!"
"Don't worry, I won't go back on what we agreed on before. Your second and third sons' families can get an extra share."
The village chief was also a decisive old man. After discussing with Old Man Liu, he nodded to Lin Xue and began to convene a meeting of all the households in the village.
When everyone found out that there were edible crops growing underneath, they were all extremely excited.
At the same time, their attitude towards the Liu family also changed significantly.
Those who were already close became even closer, and those who didn't used to see each other often started greeting each other when they met.
The village chief said that the person who finds it will get an extra share.
Apart from the dissatisfaction of a few villagers and a few households, most people are able to understand.
This time it was Old Liu's family who discovered the grain; who knows, they might find it next time too.
If it's discovered that those who report grain receive no benefit whatsoever, then who would be willing to be the sucker?
Lin Xue also considered that relying solely on their family, they probably wouldn't be able to finish digging in a short time.
Instead of wasting it on the land, we might as well all benefit and have some fun together.
What's more, this glutinous rice taro tastes even sweeter than real taro.
Lin Xue plans to plant some in her space later, and she will be able to harvest a large amount in just a few days.
For her, having just one seed is equivalent to having countless others.
There's no need to argue too much with the villagers.
The men in each household didn't even bother to eat; they took out their farm tools and began digging up the glutinous rice and taro in the area.
The leaves and stems that Zhou had left over from cutting the cattle were also cut and kept by several other families who owned cattle.
It's not that she's not attentive enough.
But when faced with food, who wouldn't want to dig some up with their own hands?
Besides, there wasn't much left, so Lin Xue didn't care about Zhou Shi and let her do the work if she wanted to.
This was the first time Zhou had worked so diligently.
As a pregnant woman, she certainly couldn't do physical labor, so she went back to her own home and continued cooking with her mother-in-law.
The mixed grain rice is already cooking, and my husband has chopped the vegetables, so we just need to cook them.
Lin Xue watched the progress of the glutinous rice and taro in the field and was not in a hurry to cook.
Instead, she took a handful of melon seeds, sat down next to her mother-in-law, and watched her mother-in-law and sister-in-law busy with the cooking.
This kind of stove is simply built with two stones; it's very simple.
Because she was lazy, Lin Xue picked some glutinous rice and taro from the field and asked Grandma Sun to cook them for her.
"Third sister-in-law, these taro haven't been distributed yet. Will the village chief object if we cook them ahead of time?"
Looking at the taro in the pot, Sister-in-law Wang hesitated.
"It's alright. I found all these glutinous rice and taro myself. I dug them up before I reported it, so it has nothing to do with what happened after I reported it."
Hearing Lin Xue's words, Grandma Sun's lips twitched, but she did not object.
She didn't know if others had seen it or not, but this taro was clearly taken by the third daughter-in-law from the pile of taro that others had dug up.
"That's good!"
“This was dug before we reported it, so it has nothing to do with the villagers digging it.”
Upon hearing Lin Xue's explanation, Madam Wang stopped asking questions.
Knowing the inside story, Grandma Sun didn't say much. Her third daughter-in-law had just made a contribution, so what was wrong with wanting to eat some glutinous rice and taro?
If someone makes a fuss, she can just deduct it from her own allowance.
Moreover, the third daughter-in-law is currently pregnant, so it's understandable that she might crave something sweet.
And so, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law each kept an eye on the other two while the others worked in the glutinous rice and taro field.
The villagers, who originally planned to continue their journey after dinner, ended up not finishing digging up all the taro until evening.
This time the harvest was quite substantial, with a total of over 2,000 jin (1,000 kg) dug up.
Qingshan Village has a total of 56 households. Instead of counting by the number of people, the village chief directly divided the more than 2,000 jin of taro equally among the households.
Of course, the Liu Qing and Liu Qing brothers' families each received an extra share.
Each household will receive a total of 40 jin (20 catties).
Lin Xue's family received over 80 jin (40 kg), which seemed like a lot at first, but after this distribution, there really wasn't much left.
Even with such a small amount of food, the whole village was overjoyed.
After all, if you boil this thing with some water, it will fill them up and they can last much longer.
It was already evening, and we could have set up camp here and set off early the next morning.
However, after discussing with several elders, the old village chief felt that the terrain was too open, and if someone wanted to rob them, it would be inconvenient for them to run away.
So the villagers set off again, continuing their journey in search of a new place to settle.
Lin Xue sat on the oxcart, and she and Xiao Douding each held half of a sticky rice taro and ate it.
Everyone else consciously looked away from the two of them, because the aroma was just too tempting. Even though they had already eaten, they felt hungry again.
There's only so much food at home, so we have to be careful. It's one thing for a pregnant woman and a child to eat a little more, but these people have to tighten their belts and save as much as possible.
Fortunately, before it got completely dark, the group finally found a place to stay.
Although we didn't find any more suitable woods for shelter, at least it was a sheltered mountain hollow.
As long as people are stationed at both ends of the night, there is no need to worry about being robbed or ambushed unexpectedly.
It's important to know that the journey of fleeing famine is not safe. Many starving refugees will hide and look for opportunities to rob food from passersby.
Many newly arrived teams suffered losses at the hands of these refugees due to their carelessness.
Along the way, the old village chief had contacted many teams to inquire about the situation along the route.
Even when the villagers set up camp, they tried to keep everyone together as much as possible.
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