Although she cooked all the meat and vegetables they bought and shared them with everyone the night before she left, which was very much in line with her usual extravagant style, she still couldn't understand why her little cousin only paid attention to the neighbor's children and ignored the Yun family's brothers and sisters.
Later, she discovered that the neighbor's children that her younger cousin had paid special attention to last night were the ones whose houses were destroyed in the flood at the east end of the village.
She had a suspicion that her little cousin might have deliberately had the children invite all the adults in the family over for a meal and tea.
So the adults and children in these families escaped disaster?
Moreover... after returning home last night, her mother repeatedly reminded her to take good care of her younger cousins from the Jiang family.
So when she saw the Jiang siblings go out today, she followed them out of curiosity.
Seeing that her younger cousin had agreed, Yun Manwan took the lead and headed east, saying as they walked, "Actually, there's not much to see. Those houses were all washed away and buried under the mountain."
She had nothing to do early in the morning, so she went out with the adults to take a look.
Although it was a tragedy that the houses were washed away, the villagers were very curious about what it would look like if the houses were buried by the mountain, and they all wanted to come and see for themselves after getting up early in the morning.
The sky cleared up in the latter half of last night, and apart from the potholes, the rest of the ground was half dry.
The group walked only a few steps eastward, and the view stretched as far as the eye could see.
Without Yun Manwan's guidance, the brother and sister could already see that the houses at the foot of the mountain that were still vaguely visible when the carriage came yesterday were now gone. Not far behind, they could see that a small part of the mountain had also disappeared, leaving obvious traces of a landslide.
Looking at the shape of the hill, Xiao Youran suddenly asked, "Second sister, do you know why this place is called Three Sheep Village?"
Yun Manyan glanced at her again and said, "I heard from the villagers that there are three mountains behind here, with very steep terrain. Except for the eastern mountain, which has collapsed halfway, you can barely climb halfway up. The other mountains are impossible to climb for hunting. The three mountains stand upright like three sheep horns, so they are called Three Sheep Mountains, and our village is called Three Sheep Village."
As expected, Xiao Youran pursed her lips.
She lifted her foot and walked towards the mountain.
Jiang Youchen stopped her, "Little sister, the mountain is slippery, let's go in a couple of days."
He was also worried that if the mountain was not stable enough, and half of the slope slid down, what would happen then?
Xiao Youran stopped in her tracks, then asked curiously, "Second Sister, does this hilltop belong to someone?"
Yun Manyan shook her head, "I really don't know. After we moved our household registration back, we haven't been allocated any land. The clansmen are not very willing to give up their land to us."
She was naturally aware of the predicament her group had encountered upon their return.
Several adults nearby walked over and, upon hearing this, looked embarrassed. "We were in the wrong. We'll discuss it further when we get back. After all, your family has four men; you need land to make a living."
Jiang Youchen and Xiao Youran turned their heads and saw two men who had eaten, drunk tea and kowtowed to each other in the main hall of the old house last night, but they did not recognize the two men next to them.
The one who spoke was older, with a gray beard, and Xiao Youran didn't recognize him.
Yun Manyan bowed to him and said, "Grandpa Clan Chief."
The old clan chief chuckled and looked at the Jiang siblings, saying, "You must be the young master and young lady from Tiankuang's family who came yesterday? I heard about it last night. If you hadn't cooked something delicious and invited Dashan and the others into the house for dinner, we probably would have had to dig people out of the mud this morning."
Da Shan said to Xiao Youran with a grateful look, "My little benefactor, we went to Tian Kuang's house early this morning to deliver some food, but we heard that you were still not awake, so we had to go back. We came out now to see if there are any adjustments we can make to the clan's land holdings, and try to allocate a few acres of poor land to you."
Little Youran stared wide-eyed at the small hill in front of her and asked, "Grandpa Clan Chief, uncles, does this hill have an owner?"
The old clan chief shook his head and said, "These mountains are all sand and rocks, very barren, nothing can grow on them, and they are also very steep, so even if you go up there, there's not much prey. All three mountains are clan property, and nobody wants them."
Xiao Youran blinked and asked, "You just said you'd give us some of your land. It's really not easy to ask everyone to give up some of their land. How about we, or rather, Cousin Tiankuang's family, share this hill?"
The clan chief and the others exchanged glances, then frowned and said, "I'm afraid our little benefactor can't make this decision, can he? We'd like to, but we'll have to discuss it with your great-aunts, won't we?"
Xiao Youran nodded, "Okay, then we'll go back and discuss it with my aunt and uncle."
Jiang Youchen had a gut feeling that his younger sister was up to something again. Seeing that her sister had done something really good the last two times, he didn't object and took her hand to go home.
Upon entering the old house, Zhou was still busy cleaning up the house after the flood. When she saw Jiang and her brother come in, she happily went to greet them, "Little Youran, you've come."
Jiang Youchen weakly called out, "Great-aunt."
Clearly, Zhou just waved her hand dismissively, not even rolling her eyes at him. Her daughter, following behind, continued to greet Xiao Youran warmly, asking, "Have you had lunch yet?"
Jiang Youchen: ...
I knew it; wherever my sister was, I felt completely invisible.
Oh well, you'll get used to it.
Xiao Youran said with a smile, "Thank you for your concern, Aunt. We have already eaten. We just ran into Grandpa Clan Chief, who said he wanted to discuss with you about dividing the three hilltops behind the mountain into your family's estate."
Only then did Zhou notice the four people who had followed her in. She quickly wiped her hands on her clothes before going out to greet them, saying, "Clan leader, brothers, this way please."
The clan chief nodded casually, but in his mind he was still recalling whether he had mentioned giving all three mountain peaks to his family when he spoke with his little benefactor earlier.
The difference between one hilltop and three hilltops is huge.
After everyone took their seats, Yun Manwan had already excused herself and left, and Jiang Youchen was also leaving with her younger sister.
Zhou quickly called out to her, "Xiao Youran, Chen Ge'er, sit down and listen too."
She had a gut feeling that the Jiang siblings were also their benefactors. The fact that the Yun family patriarch had changed his mind and wanted to divide the mountain among them must be related to the siblings.
Xiao Youran climbed onto the armchair next to Zhou Shi without any hesitation and sat down.
Jiang Youchen had no choice but to sit next to her younger sister.
As usual, the old clan chief began with a few polite words, "Tian Kuang's mother, it's not that we're stingy, but as you can see, it's been raining for more than half a month, and the crops in the fields have yielded nothing. Everyone is in a bad mood, and it's really a bit unreasonable to ask you to give away the land we have. So it's not easy for me to be the old clan chief."
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