Chapter 48 Chapter 48 There are refugees.
There was a woman, carrying her child on her back. It was the beginning of winter, and the mother and child were still wearing thin autumn clothes with some hay stuffed inside. They came to the door of the Chen family to beg for food.
By this time, the Chen family had finished breakfast. Zhuang Huiniang had gone out to sell coins again. Chen Che'er was working in the kiln, and Chen Da had gone to the fields. Only the old couple and Gou'er and his sister were left at home.
Lu Mu was drying radishes on a reed mat in front of the house. She was startled at first and asked about the mother and son's origins before asking:
"How long have you not eaten?"
The woman said, "Two days."
Because the bean porridge for breakfast at the Chen family was cooked just the right amount, and they ate just enough, with not a single drop left, they asked:
"Do you want some raw radish?"
The woman nodded hurriedly, "It doesn't matter what it is, as long as you have a stutter."
Mrs. Lu grabbed a handful of freshly cut radishes from the straw mat and gave them to her. She was going to dry them and make pickles.
The woman left with the wooden bowl in her arms. Aunt Lu sighed, "Poor thing! I wonder how hardship and suffering her family must have endured to have to leave her hometown."
She had experienced floods in her childhood and knew the hardship of having to beg for food when the fields had no harvest.
"Oh no! Xu Nu has gone to Shengchang to sell coins, leaving only the two daughters from the second house at home. If they encounter refugees begging for food, it would be kind to offer them some food.
But seeing that they are just two little girls, they might have bad intentions. I'll go and get them. After all, there are two adults here, you and I. Even if we give them food, they won't think much of it."
Taking this into consideration, Aunt Lu spoke to Old Man Chen in the house and went to the ridge to meet the person.
The second branch of the Ji family,
Early in the morning, Ji Feng was sweeping the floor with a tall bamboo broom.
Because there were ten hu of flour in the west room, which had become even more expensive due to the price increase, she locked the door to the main room and hung the iron key around her neck before sweeping the house.
"My dear girl, please be kind and give me something to eat. I haven't eaten in days."
I saw a ragged man standing on the ridge in front of the house, looking around.
Ji Feng held the bamboo broom and said, "I have seven or eight people. We are broke because of all the food. How can I give you anything to eat? Go beg somewhere else!"
In fact, there were still some dimes left in the earthenware pot in the kitchen for frying at noon, but Ji Feng would never take them out. Firstly, she was worried about her own things, and secondly, she was afraid of being noticed by others. Although she loved to talk and to have a bright face, she would not reveal everything. For example, when the price of flour was rising, she had stockpiled ten hu of flour, and she kept it a secret better than anyone else.
The man refused to leave because he saw that this was a newly built tiled house, much better than the thatched houses he had seen along the way, so he wanted to beg for some money.
"Dry winter melon, bean porridge, anything is fine. I have a wife and children waiting to eat. Where are your parents? Why don't you see them?"
Ji Feng suddenly became alert, "If I say no, then it's gone!"
As he walked toward the back of the house, he called out, "Aunt, big brother, second brother! There's a beggar coming up ahead. I'm trying to chase him away, but he won't leave. Stop busying yourself and chase him away!"
When the man heard that there were so many people in the house, he wanted to chase them away. The two groups fought each other and then left in a hurry.
In fact, there was no one else behind the house except the five-year-old Xiaozhu, who was pulling weeds in the vegetable patch. She was squatting there and was no taller than the radish seedlings.
"Xiaozhu, don't pull it out yet."
Ji Feng stopped sweeping the floor and took Ji Zhu to wash her hands. She put the bamboo broom in the corner of the kitchen, locked the kitchen door, and lowered the bolt on the main hall door. The two sisters stayed in the east room and did not go out for the time being.
Ji Feng hid behind the window and watched. Later, two more refugees came, holding wooden bowls and calling for help at the door. She did not say anything and asked Ji Zhu not to answer.
Seeing that the door of the house was always closed, the refugees left.
"Erfeng, Xiaozhu?"
Later, when he saw that it was Lu Ai who was calling someone, Ji Feng opened the door.
"You are quite smart. Grandmother is just worried that if you feed others carelessly, people will know that there are two little girls at home with bad intentions. Hurry up and lock the door and go to Grandmother's house to play with Sui'er and the others. I am worried about you two being here alone." Aunt Lu said after hearing this.
Ji Feng thought for a moment and said, "If my sister and I were gone and both doors were locked, everyone would know that no one was home. I'm afraid they'd try to steal the vegetables I grow behind the house."
They didn't have a yard at home because they had to rush to finish building the house. Usually, the yard was built later when they had time, and then it was slowly fenced off. But they didn't have one at home now.
There is no obstruction from the front to the back of the house, it is only a few steps away. There are many vegetables planted in the two vegetable plots in the autumn. She has been tending to them every day. Many of them, such as celery, turnips, and rapeseed, are edible. If someone steals them, how can she not be heartbroken?
Yin said, "I'd better hide in the house with Xiaozhu and pretend that someone is home and doesn't go out. That way we can keep an eye on them. If they dare to steal, I'll shout so that the neighbors can hear and come catch the thief."
"That's good. Now that you're alert, Grandmother will feel relieved." Lu Ai said.
Ji Xu was selling coins in Shengchangli and also met refugees, some of whom were young and middle-aged men, and some were women and children. When he saw them, he stopped shouting, lowered his head, and carried his basket like an ordinary passerby.
"Go away, you beggar! I'm in a business that makes money. If I beg you for nothing, I'll be left starving!"
Not far away, Sun Linlang waved his sleeves to drive away a refugee with an ugly look on his face.
Because the price of rice had increased by five cents, he had hurriedly sold it to the grain merchant the day before and suffered a huge loss. Flour was also expensive, so he had fewer coins and fillings, and his hawking was not as loud as before.
Ji Zhi was also selling rice, but when he encountered refugees, he would run away, only to resume selling after they were far away. "One just left, and here comes another. We don't have any rice left," a woman from the courtyard said as she came to the door.
Seeing the man clearly, his face changed to a smile and he said, "It's Ji Jiaozi. I thought they were just refugees begging for food. Now there are so many strangers coming in, and the family doesn't dare to leave them. It's a good thing you came. Pick up two vegetarian Jiaozi for me."
Ji Xu went from door to door, asking people if they wanted coins or preserved eggs, and eventually sold them all out in a low-key manner.
Seeing that there was no one selling duck eggs in the market, he did not go around to the township market to look for them. Instead, he picked up some meat and vegetables for the coins in the nearby market. The basket was covered with linen, so nothing could be seen from the outside.
They left Shengchangli and waited for Zhuang Huiniang at the fork in the road. When they saw those unfamiliar faces, they agreed to go back together.
She stood there for a while, and then she saw a refugee family building a shack opposite Woshe Valley. They used branches and leaves picked from Niupi Mountain, and the shack was facing the entrance of Shengchangli.
Since Shengchangli was wealthy, they could get rice here, so they naturally built a shack nearby to spend the night.
This valley is just right for sheltering from the north wind, and two families set up their shacks here one after another.
Seeing the refugees fleeing everywhere, she looked pitiful, but it was hard to guarantee that people would have bad intentions in desperate situations. She was worried about her two younger sisters at home, so she reunited with Zhuang Huiniang and hurried back. Zhuang Huiniang also accompanied her to her home first.
"Sister, you're back! Did you have a safe journey? Are there any refugees in Shengchang?" Ji Feng was looking forward to her sister's return and happily opened the door.
"It's okay. There are some there too. Fortunately, nothing happened. I was just worried about you guys." Ji Xu rubbed Ji Zhu's head which was resting on his waist.
Instructed the two sisters,
"If you are not here, just lock the door and don't go to give food to others. Wait until my sister comes back, or when Grandpa and Grandma Chen are with her, and then we can make plans."
"I understand." Ji Zhu responded obediently.
"That's exactly what I did." Ji Feng told her what happened at home in the morning.
When Ji Xu heard this, he was very pleased and praised her especially.
As agreed in advance, I should go to Wang Dianji today to pay the money for the rice I requested in advance.
After Zhuang Huiniang returned home, she came to the house with the old couple Chen to talk about this matter. Originally, they should have picked up an empty basket and set off, but the old couple was found empty-handed.
When Lady Lu saw her, she pulled her to the kitchen, away from the children, and said:
"I heard from Hui Niang that you saw a lot of shacks on your way back from Woshe Valley. If you carry rice back in broad daylight, it will be very conspicuous. Our large family may scare people, but that's not a big deal.
I'm just worried about your three daughters' families. If those refugees, or some people in Bengu who look sweet on the outside but are mean on the inside, see that you have a lot of food at home, it will be troublesome if they become interested in you."
She had experienced chaotic days due to floods when she was young. Now that they had food to beg for, the refugees behaved well. However, if they had no food to beg for in the future, they would inevitably become malicious and she had to be on guard.
"I had originally planned with your grandfather to return from Shengchangli after dark, but we're walking through the refugee shacks, so there's no way we can hide there."
Lu Ai was in a dilemma for a moment, because Woshe Valley was the only way to connect Shengchangli and Benguli.
"Thankfully, my mother thought so much of this for me. I was thinking about this on the way back just now. I remember a few days ago, because the Qiao family occupied the mountain, my aunt and I took a detour to collect firewood from another hill. From that mountain, we could still see the smoke from the Gan family's kiln in the distance. At that time, I pointed at it and remarked to my aunt, "We actually walked to Shengchangli."
"Yes! We can take the mountain road. The mountain tops are connected. Although it is a bit far, we can avoid the refugees in Woshe Valley. At night, the people in Benguli are asleep, so no one will know about this." Zhuang Hui Niang remembered it when she mentioned it.
"It's a rare way to have the best of both worlds," said Aunt Lu. "Let's wait until nightfall and then take the mountain road to carry the food back."
At the appointed time, when the night was dark, Ji Xu, the old Chen couple, the eldest Chen couple, and Chen Gou'er who had finished work, prepared torches and baskets and other things, and set out from their homes to Shengchangli.
The road in Woshe Valley was not very wide, and many pairs of eyes were visible from the shacks due to the firelight.
Seeing that Mr. Chen, the leader of the group, was full of courage, and seeing that the bamboo basket was light and empty, they all retreated and went to sleep.
The front yard of Ganjia Kiln,
Wang Dianji had been waiting there for a long time. He had packed two hu of rice from each family into a bag, totaling thirteen sacks, which he had stacked in the front yard so that they could carry the rice up the mountain from here.
"Can you still lift it? Use the shoulder socket to exert more force."
Aunt Lu came to help, but seeing how much she was struggling, she advised, "Just leave it alone. It will be the same if your father Chen comes back again."
"Not bad." There was a bag of grain in each basket at the end of the shoulder pole. Ji Xuwei squatted down, gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and tried to pick it up.
When they were packing their belongings before leaving, Lu Mu prepared a backpack for her, saying that she was weak and only needed to carry one bag. Ji Xu refused and said:
"Of those thirteen bags of grain, ten belong to my family. Your three bags are more than enough for just two people. The whole family is going, even Uncle Chen is going. I understand that it's to save me the trouble. How could I choose to do the easy work myself?"
Because Chen Da had difficulty walking, he could only carry one bag of rice in a basket. Ji Xu and Chen's aunt and daughter-in-law each carried two bags, and Old Man Chen and Gou'er each carried three bags. One of the bags was packed in two sacks, so that both ends of the shoulder pole would be equally heavy. In this way, the thirteen bags of rice could be transported back in one trip without any extra walking time.
It was the first time that Wang Dianji met the Chen family. He didn't know what kind of people they were like and wanted to find out more, but now was not the time to idle around.
He coldly watched the family treat Ji Xu kindly, feeling quite satisfied, but he still had some concerns:
This kid, Chen Gou'er, happened to be hired from outside. If I accept him as my apprentice and teach him painstakingly, and he just walks away from working in the kiln, who will serve me? How can a slave like me stop the common people?
"Watch your step." Wang Dianji thought about this as he walked out.
I saw a group of people, with Old Man Chen leading the way and Chen Da following behind, and they gradually disappeared into the back mountain.
The light of the torches flickered, and the shoulder poles of several people creaked.
After walking about two or three miles, Chen Gou'er, who was in front of us, said, "Sister Xu, do you want to rest your shoulders?"
He was used to working in the kiln, so he didn't feel the burden was heavy. Instead, he felt at ease carrying the grain. He was just afraid that Ji Xu would be tired.
There were still seven or eight miles to go, and Ji Xu's right shoulder ached from the weight of the shoulder pole. However, thinking that the grain racks could be filled with this much food, he managed to hold on for a while. If he put it down and tried to carry it again, he would lose even more strength. So he said:
"I can still walk."
As he was walking, there was a rustling of tree shadows, and a huge black shadow jumped out from the forest.
Everyone thought it was some wild beast running out from the mountains. They stopped for a moment, their hearts in their throats.
When the black shadow slowed down and came closer, Tian Shefu's face appeared in the light of the fire, his cold and hard features still expressionless.
"I thought it was a tiger or a wolf, but it turned out to be a farmer."
Aunt Lu said that ever since she was allowed to go and chop firewood at night, she felt that Mr. Tian was a good official, but he was not very humane and was not easy to talk to.
Lu Ai said politely, "We are walking slowly here. Mr. Tian will go first. We will move aside to make way for him."
The mountain road was narrow and blocked by their loads of grain. Ji Xu was not familiar with carrying loads and did not give them much space.
When Zhuang Gaiyi passed by, he happened to touch her grain basket, which became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Her shoulders could not hold on any longer, and the grain basket slipped off and fell down.
"I'll do it."
She was about to pick it up when Zhuang Gaiyi bent down first.
Ji Xu thought he was just helping her lift the basket, but he saw Zhuang Gaiyi carrying two bags of grain on his shoulders and striding down the mountain as he spoke. The bags of grain seemed to have no weight on his shoulders.
After working for half the night, ten bags, or twenty hu, of rice were placed in the west room.
Feng and Zhu had been up all night waiting for her, and now they were finally relieved to see her return safely. Ji Feng said, "I've left hot water in the pot for you to wash up. You can wash up and go to bed."
The weather was cold, so Ji Xu wet a towel and wiped her body. When she undressed, she found a large red patch on her right shoulder and two blisters. During the day, she called Ji Feng to get a sewing needle to pick them out for her.
Ji Feng knelt down, breathing out the cool breeze softly, her eyes focused as she spoke, "Sister, that farmer Tian actually brought back two bags of grain for our family last night. I heard Xiaozhu say he used a whip to beat people, but I didn't expect he had such a kind heart."
This was something Ji Xu had not expected. She only carried the empty basket and the shoulder pole for the second half of the journey, otherwise she might have had two more blisters on her shoulders.
I think Mr. Tian is a man of few words and not a nosy person, so he would not tell others about them carrying grain at night.
This time, the family has enough rice stored, enough for the three sisters to eat until the summer next year. No matter whether the price of grain rises or not, at least these twenty hu, bought at thirty-six coins per hu, are definitely a good deal. Moreover, with so much grain in hand, they feel at ease.
When Jizhu saw this, she exclaimed, "Sister, there's so much rice at home!"
Ji Feng would touch here and press there, and would lock the door when leaving the house, keeping a close eye on the iron key around her neck.
That day, Feng Da was unloading the shafts of a cart in the yard. Aunt Xu heard the noise and immediately came out of the main room and asked:
"Well, it hasn't risen any more!"
Feng Da was afraid that his mother would get upset, so he was speechless for a moment. Xu, who was anxious, urged him angrily, "Hurry up and tell me!"
Feng Da sighed and replied, "It's gone up another five cents. Now rice is sixty cents a dou."
Mrs. Xu covered her chest and staggered, frightening Feng Dalai so much that he had to help her into the house.
Xu was sitting at the head of the bed, with a hot towel on her forehead, her eyes were mostly gray, and she was crying out in sorrow.
"It's gone up again...and up again...How much money have we lost? Blame me, blame me. If I had listened to that girl, I wouldn't have let our family lose so much money in vain."
Her family had sold all the grain they had harvested this autumn and last year to grain merchants from other places. Although she had enough food left,
But that was Bao Yu's repeated refutation. She used words to fool Bao Yu. In fact, the grain she had left for her family was very tight. She thought that the more she sold, the higher the price the grain merchant would give her. In a few days, the grain price would definitely fall. Even if it was not enough, it would still be cheap to add a little more. Now, she lost money and her stored grain was gone.
"Don't worry, mother. After all, we made some money from the sale. We still have some rice left. We can eat it frugally. If it's not enough, we can buy some. By next autumn, when we harvest the rice and sell the wild fruits, we'll be back on track."
Feng Da comforted him.
Having said that, Aunt Xu still beat her chest in anger.
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