The next morning, when it was time to go to work, Jiang Xiuqi announced a message: "Tonight, we'll distribute the grain. After dinner, everyone go back to get your bags. The canteen will be cooking for the last day. This year's harvest isn't good either, so be prepared and eat sparingly. Okay, go to work."
The farmers are especially excited today because of the distribution of grain.
Actually, everyone had discussed it privately. To be honest, their team's living conditions were considered good. At least no one had starved to death there. Other places were a different story.
Today we're planting on flat land, so of course we've come across some wild vegetables. The kids all collect them. In the past, these things were kept by the canteen, but the canteen is closing down today. So, Jiang Xiuqi told everyone to divide them equally after work, so that no one would be shortchanged.
After Jiang Qiao finished giving Wang Datou Meimei acupuncture, he would also run over to help.
However, her help consisted of diluting the water from the empty house into a bucket while watering the plants.
For no other reason than that she hoped these seeds would sprout and grow quickly, so that everyone could have something to eat.
The cafeteria served fish again for lunch. Last night it was stewed fish, so for lunch we had fish soup. Although there was less meat, it was still very nutritious.
However, when they saw the grain they received that evening, they lost their excitement.
"Only this much?"
The amount of grain we received was not much; it was a mixture of ripe and unripe grains, mostly potatoes, sweet potatoes, dried sweet potatoes, and various beans.
Jiang Xiuqi sighed, "This is already considered good. Other teams don't even have this much. They basically live on wild vegetables now. After paying their grain tax, they don't even get half of what we get."
Jiang Xiuqi was right, and everyone understood that, but seeing the food they had received and thinking about the days to come, they all felt bitter. How were they going to get through this?
"Don't worry, we're doing pretty well. After we finish planting, we'll all go up the mountain together. How much you manage to get depends on your individual abilities. It's all yours, the team won't take a penny. So, focus on planting well these next two days, and we'll distribute the seedlings later."
Jiang Qiao and Gu Zhengfeng also came over to collect the food for Gu Hanting and the other two. Seeing the bag of food, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, Jiang Qiao sighed. No wonder the villagers thought it was too little. It was indeed too little, but with some careful planning, they could make it until spring.
After finishing the work in the fields, Jiang Qiao followed everyone up the mountain. To be honest, there were almost no wild vegetables left on the mountain. People who wanted to pick them had already picked them. What was left was grass, and it was all withered grass. Even the withered grass had been cleared away by others.
Every household needs to heat their kang (a traditional heated bed), and how can they do that without straw? The team does have straw, but some of it has to be handed over to be kept as a substitute for food, and the rest is used as livestock feed.
Each family gets some stubble to keep for firewood, but it burns very quickly and isn't enough for a family's cooking needs. So now there's no grass growing taller than knee-high on the mountain; it all grows close to the ground.
Gu Zhengfeng didn't come today. It wasn't that he didn't want to come, but he hadn't finished his business yet. He had to go back to the county town to take his people to the fishing village that Jiang Qiao had mentioned for an inspection.
He brought two of his men with him this time, but it was inconvenient to bring them home, so they stayed with the troops in the county town.
Jiang Qiao wasn't brought along because they weren't needed yet. But when the time really comes, Jiang Qiao will definitely be there.
This time, everyone in the team went into the mountains, and everyone dared to go further in. However, there was hardly any prey to be seen in the forest now; not that there was none, but that there was very little.
"Sigh, there's almost nothing left." This was Qiao Jie's sigh.
"Don't rush, let's go further in, maybe we'll find something. Grandpa Qiao, you and Grandpa stay on the outer perimeter, collect some if you can, it doesn't matter if you don't find anything. I'm here too, the three of us siblings will go in with the others first."
Gu Zhixuan led his younger siblings and followed the main group into the area. They had food at home now, but that didn't mean they would have any in the future. He knew all too well how much risk his sister and uncle had taken to get all that food.
He's not a child anymore. After going out into the world, he realized there were people who were suffering even more than them. So he cherished everything he had even more and was determined not to let anything happen to his sister and uncle. That meant the two boys needed to work harder.
Deep in the old forest, there are not only wild vegetables but also wild fruits and nuts. As soon as everyone saw these things, they rushed towards them like madmen. The more they could pick, the more food they would have for their families in the future.
"Don't rush, spread out a bit. Why are you fighting over your own people? There's still plenty inside. The other teams are busy with the autumn harvest—"
Jiang Xiuqi was also worried about everyone's safety. "Adults, spread out in all directions, and keep the children in the middle. Make sure nothing happens to the children. Everyone around, stay alert. If anything happens, shout immediately. Don't lose your weapons. There are wolves in the old forest, so be careful."
Jiang Qiao and her two older brothers didn't compete with the other children. Instead, they walked into the depths of the forest like the adults.
She had never been to this place before; it was too far away, and the mountain that she and her grandfather had climbed back then wasn't this place either.
She wasn't very familiar with this place, but luckily there were a lot of people this time, and there really wasn't much left in the outer areas. She should take advantage of the moment and collect as much as possible, otherwise, once it snows, there won't be anything left to collect.
Jiang Qiao has things in her space, but in order to have an excuse to take them out, she can only do what everyone else does. However, she doesn't work as hard as everyone else; she chooses to take out things she likes to eat.
The deep forest is much better than the outside, since it rarely sees sunlight. Some things that can't be found outside are different inside. There are plenty of tender wild vegetables, and in a low-lying area, we even found mushrooms, which are rarely seen these days.
"Ah, a ghost—"
Just as everyone was focused on preparing for winter, someone suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream, which startled everyone.
They were already terrified to enter the old forest, but hunger made them temporarily forget their fear. However, when this sound came out, everyone looked around in fear, and the timid children were immediately frightened into tears.
"What happened? What's wrong?"
"Captain, Captain, there's a ghost over there—"
A member of the commune stumbled over, looking terrified.
Jiang Xiuqi glared and shouted, "Where did this ghost come from in broad daylight? Don't talk nonsense. Are there ghosts these days? You must be seeing things. Let's go take a look."
When Jiang Qiao and the others arrived, they saw a person hanging in the tree, floating among the branches. It looked like a ghost, but the key thing was that the person's face was completely disfigured, and its whole body was rotting. It was impossible to recognize its appearance. Judging from the hair, it should be a woman.
"My God, who is this? What would they do to be so foolish as to come here and hang themselves?"
Seeing the scene before them, no one could bear to look anymore; it was too horrible, their faces were infested with maggots.
Jiang Xiuqi quickly sent someone down the mountain to notify the police. After all, someone had died here. Whether it was suicide or not, they had to inform the police. However, he strongly suspected it was murder. How did this woman climb such a tall tree and then hang herself?
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