The other villagers ignored her and instead seriously discussed the conditions Si Cheng had presented. Considering their situation, these conditions were already quite good, not to mention that they didn't know how the world would change in the future. "We think these conditions are already very good, especially since she has two sons."
"I disagree. The amount is too far off. If it really doesn't work, let's halve the previous terms." Gao Shuzhen was getting anxious when she saw that the village was about to settle the matter in just a few words.
"Dongxing, what do you think of these conditions?" The elders ignored her and instead turned their attention directly to Gao Dongxing.
At this moment, Gao Dongxing was filled with hatred; this was far from what he had hoped for. However, he couldn't show it in front of his elders, as he still wanted to survive here. He knew the situation outside; if the mother and son were driven out of Gaojia Village now, they would surely die.
"I have no objection, it's just that we're having a bit of a hard time right now, could you lend us a hand?" Gao Dongxing couldn't bring himself to call him "brother," so he left the form of address vague.
Yunqi pointed to the load of sweet potatoes and potatoes in the yard and said, "We know you're just starting out in farming, and we were worried you wouldn't do a good job. So we're giving you this load of grain as a way of sponsoring you to settle down here."
The mother and son looked at the load of sweet potatoes and potatoes in the yard and didn't know what to say. It was so different from what they had imagined.
"Is this all you're going to give a beggar?" Gao Shuzhen said disdainfully, curling her lip.
"These beggars are really hard to deal with these days. Last time we weren't home, didn't my mother already help us get rid of them? These are just some things, take them or leave them. If you don't want them, we can take them back later." Yun Qi wasn't afraid of being called unfilial at all now. After all, things would be chaotic for a while, and once everyone settled down, who would remember this time?
"Since there are no objections, let's write it down in black and white, and then we won't make a fuss anymore." Village Chief Gao was thinking about how to resolve this quickly, since every family still had a lot of farm work to do.
Gao Liang took out paper and pen, and an elderly man from the village presided over the writing down of all the regulations. Si Cheng added a clause at the end, stipulating that unless there was a major incident, they should not go to Pinghe Village to disturb their lives, nor should they ask them for anything extra.
When Gao Shuzhen and her son saw this, they knew that he had figured out their private plans, but they had no choice but to sign it under the watchful eyes of several elderly people in the village.
When Gao Shuzhen left, she still had Gao Dongxing carry the load of sweet potatoes and potatoes away, and she didn't even glance at Si Cheng again as she left.
When everyone saw Gao Dongxing carrying the load and leaving without even thanking Si Cheng, they all shook their heads.
Village Chief Gao walked at the very back. He comforted Si Cheng for a couple of minutes before changing the subject to medicinal herbs.
"Everyone has been busy working in the fields since they came back. We were thinking of going to your village in a while to discuss exchanging some medicinal herbs, but we don't know if the village still has any herbs in stock." Village Chief Gao also knew that Yaojia Village had come to Pinghe Village specifically to exchange medicinal herbs, and he was worried that Pinghe Village didn't have many herbs left.
"There is still some available, but if you want to exchange for it, you should do so as soon as possible, because everyone will definitely come looking for it after the busy farming season." Si Cheng didn't dare to make any promises, but since he owed Village Chief Gao a favor, he reminded him that if he wanted to exchange for medicinal herbs, he should go as soon as possible.
"Then we'll take a look in the next couple of days. Please go back and let the village know that they can reserve some of those snake repellent packets for us. The villagers who came back this time have been full of praise for this medicine and have been clamoring to go and exchange it." Village Chief Gao quickly placed the order in advance because he knew that as long as Si Cheng went back and told them, they would definitely reserve some for them.
He wasn't so worried about the other medicinal herbs, because the two villages were so close that he could easily go and buy them if needed.
"Tell them when we get back to the village, but you should also go as soon as possible." Si Cheng readily agreed, knowing that the apprentices from Yunnan Medicine had been working overtime to prepare the medicinal herbs.
After seeing Village Chief Gao off, Gao Zian approached his nephew with a guilty expression, "Acheng, I really didn't know your mother would go so far. Our Gao family is sorry for you."
"Uncle, this has nothing to do with you, and it's been so long since it happened. It's all resolved now." Si Cheng really didn't blame his Uncle Gao, because his Uncle Gao would visit him whenever he had time. This was a rare experience of family affection for him during his childhood, and he was very grateful to his uncle.
"Now you know how outrageous your sister is, right? Let's see if you'll bring any more of your family's things over to them. With their insatiable greed, even if you move your whole house over, they might still complain that it's not enough," Aunt Gao said as she wiped the table in the yard.
"She wasn't like this before, I don't know how she changed." Uncle Gao was still somewhat unwilling to believe that the kind and lovely younger sister from before had become like this.
"She's been gone for so many years, how do you know she won't change?" Aunt Gao continued to retort, she had had enough of being bullied recently.
"Auntie, I'm starving! Let's eat first." Yunqi interrupted her aunt when she saw her still scolding her. She was already hungry, and the long delay made her feel like she was starving.
"Look how long this has taken, hurry up and eat first." As soon as Aunt Gao heard her niece say she was hungry, she knew it was getting late, so she quickly brought out all the food from the kitchen.
After the meal, Si Cheng led Yun Qi to say goodbye to the Gao family. "Here are some peanut and soybean seeds. Would you like to plant some? Most people in our village have planted them. Both of these plants are quite drought-resistant, and the peanuts can be pressed into oil later."
"Plant, or we'll run out of oil!" Aunt Gao said, giving Gao Zian a fierce glare.
Gotsian shrank back and stood to the side, not daring to say anything.
Yunqi could roughly guess from their behavior that his uncle must have moved all the oil from the house to his sister's place again. Otherwise, Sicheng would have sent over a batch of oil when they were stockpiling supplies, and Gao Liang would have brought some back when they were hauling supplies from the county town. There was no way that so much oil would run out so quickly.
Yunqi has a lot of oil in her space, but she won't take it out. Her uncle should be taught a lesson. Yunqi already felt a bit disgusted with him when he brought Gao Shuzhen and her son home to find her mother last time. She only sent the seeds this time because of her aunt and cousin.
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