Chapter 157 Punishment is Everywhere
But Shen Qingqian blinked at her helplessly. Although she also felt that Wu was making a big deal out of nothing, that was just how the Shen family was. They valued girls very much and would not let any girl suffer any harm as long as conditions permitted.
"Mom is right. Although my sisters need to learn how to do housework, they still need an adult to watch over them." Shen Xiao also agreed.
Because of the new tools, Mr. Qin specially asked him to go to work later today.
Shen Shan and Shen Yong also echoed, expressing their concern for Shen Qingyu and giving her a lot of instructions.
They don't only care about the sixth sister. All the sisters in the family are their responsibility. However, because the sixth sister is the youngest, they can't help but favor her a little.
Seeing that the matter was almost discussed, Shen Qingqian finally spoke: "Aunt, although we now have two tools, we still lack a lot, such as hoes, shovels, spades, etc. The people in the opposite yard said that the court will not take care of these, so we have to buy them ourselves. Can the family come up with the money now?"
The punishment of convicts in the Jin Dynasty was omnipresent. They were asked to open up wasteland but were not given tools, and they were asked to work in mines but were not even given baskets. If they wanted to complete the task, they had to bring their own things.
However, most of the prisoners did not have much on them, so the officers in charge would "kindly" remind them that they could help get things, but they would have to deduct the prisoners' food rations.
In other words, even in such a situation, there are still people who want to make money from fugitives.
But there are such people in every era, and to these people, exiles are people abandoned by the court. Even if their fate is known to others, they have nothing to fear as long as they have a legitimate reason.
What Wu borrowed from the courtyard opposite these days was what the people bought themselves, but it was all money they earned in other ways. Only a few people who had no other choice would let the officials deduct their food rations.
After all, the rations given to exiles by the imperial court were extremely limited.
Just like the case of the Shen family, each person over the age of fifteen is given a whole-grain cake and a handful of miscellaneous grains every day, while those between the ages of ten and fifteen are only given a whole-grain cake, and those under ten are only given a handful of miscellaneous grains.
Coarse grains are a mixture of various types of rice, millet, sorghum, etc., but the amount of rice and millet is very small.
These are distributed per person every month. If it is not enough to eat, you have to find a way yourself.
The Shen family now has enough to last until the beginning of spring, and winter is about to come. Moreover, reclaiming land is a punishment from the court to them, so it must be put at the top of the list. Even if they can't achieve any results, they have to show their attitude, so they haven't thought about their livelihood for the time being.
"Let's buy it ourselves," Wu frowned. "We can certainly scrape together the money, but if we spend it on this, it will be difficult for us to do anything else after the spring."
No matter what time it was, money was the foundation of a family. Wu Shi now only had the twenty or so taels of silver left over from her last exchange for gold, plus some valuable jewelry she had brought with her when she left.
But she didn't want to touch those things unless it was absolutely necessary. After all, they were her most important dowry.
Shen Qingqian was just about to say that she still had some golden melon seeds and silver peanuts when Sheng Ze's voice came from the doorway, "Aunt, if you don't mind, I have some silver here."
Everyone looked towards the door and saw the Cheng brothers standing there. Cheng Yun was still smiling, while Cheng San looked calm and relaxed.
"Third Brother Cheng, please come in," Chen Xiao hurriedly went to greet him and casually declined, "We don't need your money. Besides, you have to leave a way out here. We will think of another way."
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