Chapter Thirteen: There Should Be No Suffering
Wang Cuihua looked on in shock and couldn't help but ask, "I haven't been to this village for two years, how did it become like this?"
"Let's go visit Lan Hua's family first." Wang Cuihua was reluctant to stay here, especially after seeing the child lying naked on the ground, looking like he was seriously ill. She couldn't bear to see such a sight.
Wang Cuihua led the way, and Shen Zhiyi and Tang Huaya followed with heavy hearts.
As the three walked across the paddy field ridge, a weak female voice suddenly called out to them: "Cui, Cuihua, are you Wang Cuihua?"
"It's me. And you are..." Wang Cuihua asked in confusion. Seeing the thin, dark-skinned woman, she seemed to recognize her features. "You wouldn't happen to be Lan Hua, Zheng Lan Hua, would you?"
"Yes, it is me, I am Zheng Lanhua," the woman said, her voice trembling with suppressed sobs.
Just then, a strong male voice came from the other side of the field: "Everyone, work hard and no one is allowed to slack off!"
Zheng Lanhua reached out to pull Wang Cuihua to squat in the wheat stalks, but she couldn't move her. She could only whisper, "Quick! Hide quickly, don't get caught."
Although they didn't know why they had to hide, they still subconsciously listened to what he said. The three of them quickly squatted down in the wheat field and, imitating Zheng Lanhua, searched for something in the soil.
Zheng Lanhua visibly breathed a sigh of relief only after the three men disappeared from the field.
"What are you all doing? There's nothing to do in the field right now, are you all just lying there looking at the soil?" Wang Cuihua asked, puzzled.
“You outsiders probably don’t know this yet, but once you become a tenant farmer in Master Lin’s household, you have to stay in the fields except at night.”
"They say there's wheat inside the chaff that's blown down by the wind, and it's a waste to leave it on the ground, so we have to pick it up."
"They also said that insects in the soil would affect the growth of wheat."
"besides……"
As others spoke, Shen Zhiyi and the others learned about the various strange requests made by that Master Lin.
In summary, the goal is to keep everyone busy, even if there's no work to be done in the fields.
To Shen Zhiyi, this sounded more like forcing them to work obediently for her, leaving them no time to cultivate the land, thus making it impossible for them to escape her control.
That's quite vicious.
"So what are your thoughts?" Shen Zhiyi couldn't help but ask.
"What can we do? We can't redeem the land," someone chimed in.
"Why can't it be redeemed?" Tang Huaya asked, her face full of confusion.
“It was sold for three taels of silver per mu, but it costs ten taels of silver to buy it back. Who can afford that?” someone immediately complained.
Shen Zhiyi frowned as she listened and asked, "Didn't you read the contract carefully back then?"
"We saw it, but none of us can read. Tiger said what price to sell it for and what price to buy it back, but now he's run away, and Master Lin isn't honoring his promise. Sigh." The speaker's sigh was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, and some people were already silently wiping away tears.
"Where is your village chief?" Shen Zhiyi asked the crucial question.
“Tiger is the village chief’s son. He ran away, and the village chief ran away too!” Zheng Lanhua said softly.
Shen Zhiyi now understood that the entire village's land had been sold to Master Lin by the village chief's family, who then disappeared. When the villagers went to Master Lin to argue with him using the deeds, he refused to acknowledge the original deeds, leaving the villagers to suffer the consequences.
Looking at this group of spineless people before her, Shen Zhiyi knew she shouldn't meddle, but a voice inside her was screaming—
Hardworking people should not be treated like this.
"Do you have someone in charge now? Someone whose words you all listen to?" Shen Zhiyi asked.
"Why are you asking this?" someone asked warily.
“Just answer the questions properly. You’re all in this state, do you think anyone would waste their breath trying to harm you?” Wang Cuihua said impatiently. “We’re from Xiaba Village. Do you know the chili peppers from Xiaba Village? They’re sold all the way to the county. Even the county magistrate praises them! The county magistrate is still in our village, you know that now!”
Although his words were incoherent, they quickly silenced the people in Yugou Village.
“It’s no use. We went to the county magistrate, but it’s clearly written in the contract that the land is still not coming back.”
"Perhaps, the county magistrate... has another way?"
Two voices clashed, each defending their own points, causing Shen Zhiyi's temples to throb wildly.
Until Zheng Lanhua, who was standing next to her, unusually shouted, "Stop arguing! I can't live like this for another day!"
“But what else can we do for the orchid?” a woman advised.
Zheng Lanhua listened, tears streaming down her face. As if she had made up her mind, she instantly knelt down before Shen Zhiyi, kowtowing several times, and said, "You must have a way, right! Please, please save the people in our village who still want to live, please!"
Shen Zhiyi then realized what was happening and tried to step back, but Wang Cuihua immediately grabbed Zheng Lanhua and lifted her up, saying, "Speak properly, why are you kneeling!"
These menacing words stopped several people from kneeling down.
“Since you’ve decided to leave, it means you have to clear the land.” Shen Zhiyi calmly stated the facts, noticing the determination on Zheng Lanhua’s face first, and continued, “But during the clearing period, you still have to work as a tenant farmer to earn a living until everyone has secretly cleared the land.”
"As for what to plant on the wasteland, I... we need to see it before we can give advice. If the wasteland near the village isn't suitable, then we'll have to go somewhere else." Shen Zhiyi looked carefully at the people around her who were listening to her.
"So we need everyone to work together and split into at least two groups. One group will stay in the wheat field to cover for the other group who are going to clear the land. If anyone complains, the others will probably be in trouble." Shen Zhiyi said this and then fell silent. Such a big idea was not something she, an outsider, could make.
The villagers of Yugou Village squatted in the wheat field and heard about this new "way of life" through one accurate message after another, but everyone had some considerations and hesitations.
In this atmosphere, Zheng Lanhua was the first to step forward and declare, "I do!"
Her courage and perseverance acted like a signal, constantly attracting like-minded people to approach her.
They may have hesitated or felt pessimistic, but when someone steps forward, a thought of "give it a try" arises simultaneously, accompanied by the idea that "if she can do it, so can I," and this thought spreads.
"I'd love to!"
"Me too!"
"Me too!"
With each sentence building upon the last, the wheat fields here seemed to come alive.
Everyone made the decision, but Shen Zhiyi didn't get involved in how to divide the quantities.
Perhaps because they shared the same excitement and common goal, they quickly reached a conclusion, with Zheng Lanhua leading the way to appear before Shen Zhiyi and the others.
“Miss, we’ve made up our minds,” Zheng Lanhua said, a smile appearing on her small face for the first time.
“Okay, then let’s go check out the wasteland near the village,” Shen Zhiyi suggested, as she didn’t have much time to waste here.
“Okay, I’ll take you there now.” Zheng Lanhua said, skillfully finding a path leading outside through the wheat stalks, while Shen Zhiyi and the others followed behind.
Occasionally, a few supervisors would be encountered, but they were all concealed, and several thatched huts also provided cover, making it not difficult to check the soil quality of the wasteland.
The wasteland in Yugou Village is also sandy loam soil, and it looks much better than that in Xiaba Village. It can also grow chili peppers, but we still need to prioritize it, otherwise different opinions will arise in the village.
All the seeds we needed have been used up. We'll have to wait for the second crop of chili peppers to come out before reserving seeds for Yugou Village, which will keep pace with their land reclamation efforts.
With the same heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed), watermelon seeds can also be grown into seedlings, making it entirely possible to intercrop chili peppers and watermelons.
Shen Zhiyi had a plan in mind and a method for doing things.
“I’ve looked at the wasteland enough. I will report the situation to the magistrate truthfully.” Shen Zhiyi said earnestly, “When you’re clearing the wasteland, it’s best if each household counts how much they want to clear. Be careful not to get caught. If it’s too cold to clear the wasteland, don’t do it recklessly. Staying alive is the most important thing! Any difficulty can be overcome.”
Zheng Lanhua's heart skipped a beat. She felt as if she had been seen through. She had once thought of ending it all, but now that there was hope in front of her, how could she bear to die?
“I understand, don’t worry, young lady,” Zheng Lanhua said.
Only then did Wang Cuihua find an opportunity, and she said unhappily, "Things can all be resolved, so don't keep looking so gloomy! Where's your husband? I haven't seen him for so long!"
She originally wanted to say, "What a lousy man she married," but then Wang Cuihua remembered that there were two little girls beside her, so she restrained herself considerably.
“He ran away with the family’s life-saving money, as if he’s dead out there,” Zheng Lanhua said bitterly.
Wang Cuihua suddenly choked, unsure of what to say.
Zheng Lanhua, however, didn't take it to heart. Her angry tone subsided, and she said, "I'll send you out of the village first, so you don't run into that young master of the Lin family."
"What, he still dares to bully people?" Wang Cuihua said coldly.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Zheng Lanhua retorted instinctively, but seeing Shen Zhiyi and Tang Huaya present, she could only patiently continue, "The young master of the Lin family is a lewd man who likes to flirt with girls. I heard that the maids in his house who disobeyed him were all beaten to death. There are several in our village, sigh..."
Although Zheng Lanhua spoke cryptically, Shen Zhiyi sensed something else in her words; the "teasing" she mentioned was probably not as simple as she understood it.
Suddenly, she thought of Xiao Cui, who had been sent back. Why would she choose to drown herself in the lake when she could swim?
With so few clues at hand, she could only silently memorize this information.
"Then let's hurry up and go," Wang Cuihua said hastily, grabbing one of them in each hand, afraid that Shen Zhiyi and Tang Huaya would walk too slowly.
The group sneaked out of the village, but this time they weren't so lucky as to encounter an oxcart and had to walk back. However, each of them had their own thoughts, and the journey back became rather dull.
As the setting sun dipped behind the distant mountains, several figures could be seen at the entrance of Xiaba Village. Tang Huaya's eyes shone with determination as she said, "Everything will be alright!"
"It will definitely get better!" Shen Zhiyi said with renewed conviction.
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