Zhao Youliang seemed to have regained some courage and said, "Then...then I'll give it a try?"
The mother and son were discussing something, and no one noticed the contempt in Zhao Xiaoyue's eyes not far away.
Mom and brother are really fanciful. They don't even look at what they look like, and then look at what Shen Zhiqing looks like.
If she were An Hongdou, she would never give up the white swan Shen Zhiqing and pick up a toad like her own brother instead.
At night, An Hongdou lay in bed calculating the time.
The black market opens every seventh day, and today is only the 25th, so it will take another two days.
In the middle of the night, An Hongdou vaguely heard someone say something about a fight. After confirming that it was not a family matter, she continued to sleep with peace of mind.
Fighting was quite common in the village, nothing to be surprised about. She was so sleepy that nothing was more important than sleeping.
It was not until dawn that An Hongdou realized that the fight yesterday had happened in Ergouzi's family.
Ergouzi got what he wanted this time and beat up his sister-in-law, but he didn't end up well either. He was hit on the head with a sledgehammer by his eldest brother, causing a crack in his head. He was sent to the town hospital overnight, and it is still unknown whether he can save his life.
An Hongdou was really shocked.
How could... such a thing happen?
Ergouzi's brother is so cruel. He is his biological brother, not an adopted child!
An Hongdou didn't mean to find out about this, but with Wang Dahua, a gossip expert, at home, she inadvertently heard a lot of things.
An Hongdou didn't go to work again today. Out of sympathy for her daughter, Mrs. An simply enslaved her son, and it was still Fourth Brother An who went for her.
The other three sons have already married. No matter who she lets go, not to mention how her sons feel, her daughters-in-law might be unhappy.
So, only the fourth bachelor can be of any use.
Every time this happened, Old Lady An felt particularly melancholy.
It is said that raising children is to prepare for old age, but since her son got married, even if she asks them to do some work, she has to be fair and just, otherwise the daughters-in-law will probably have their own little calculations in their hearts, one louder than the other.
Nowadays, only the fourth brother can use it fairly easily.
Unfortunately, it won’t be useful for long. After a while, the fourth child will also start a family!
However, Brother An and his family are not idle either. The busy farming season has passed, and building a house has to be put on the agenda.
And today is the day when the construction officially starts.
Old Mrs. An was still complaining to An Hongdou, "You are the same girl. There is an open space next to our house. It would be great if you could talk to your second uncle and build the house here. It would be close and we can take care of it. But you insisted on building the house at the entrance of the village. It's still a long way from the village. What if something dangerous happens?"
An Hongdou said calmly, "Mom, there's a lot of space over there. Besides, if we build the wall higher with stones, there won't be any danger. Even if a wolf really jumps in, with your daughter's skills, it's hard to say who will be in danger."
Old Mrs. An said angrily, "You've grown up and have your own ideas. Anyway, it's no use for Mom to say anything now."
She wanted to be closer to her daughter, but the location of the house made her feel that her daughter wanted to be farther away from her.
Seeing that the old lady was sulking, An Hongdou hurried over to coax her. After all, she was her own daughter, and with just a few words, she was able to comfort her.
"You're the only one who can talk." Mrs. An glared at her unhappily and said, "The work starts today. Even if you don't get paid, you still have to provide for their meals. Mom and your sisters-in-law will prepare lunch. Just do what you need to do."
An Hongdou went out a little later and happened to hear Wang Dahua talking to Lin Cuihua in the yard. "Although it doesn't cost any labor to build a house, and my brother-in-law paid for the tiles himself, it will take more than ten days to build the house. I don't know if our family's food can last for so many days. My sister will move out once the house is built, but it will be hard for us. The remaining food will last until the autumn harvest next year. I think this is a bit uncertain."
People say that her third sister-in-law is the most innocent, but An Hongdou doesn't think so.
Look at how easy it is to stir up trouble behind the scenes.
With just a few words, he stirs up resentment in other people's hearts, watches others take the lead, and reaps the benefits without any effort. Is this something that a simple-minded person can do?
An Hongdou was really angry this time, and immediately walked out and said, "Since Third Sister-in-law thinks so, I can't take advantage of the family."
"Little sister?" Wang Dahua didn't expect that An Hongdou would hear this. She turned around and looked at her with surprise and strong guilt in her eyes.
An Hongdou spoke in a loud voice, which attracted the old lady An who was preparing food in the house to come out.
"What's going on?" asked Mrs. An.
Wang Dahua immediately shook her head, "No... nothing much. I was just thinking that feeding so many people would cost a lot of food, and I was a little worried that our family wouldn't have enough food to last until next year's grain distribution. So I talked to my sister-in-law here to see if there was any way to help."
Mrs. An didn't hear Wang Dahua's instigation behind her back, nor did she think it was a big deal. She immediately replied, "What can we do? We can't even find wild vegetables this season. We'll just have to make do with what we have. When there are wild vegetables next year, we can just dry some and we'll be able to get by."
"I have a way to save our family's food." An Hongdou said.
Wang Dahua smiled and said, "Of course, our little sister is very capable. If you go to the mountains, you won't even have enough food or meat to eat."
Wang Dahua thought An Hongdou's idea was to go into the mountains. She was happy when she heard An Hongdou say, "We still have a lot of meat left from the sheep we made into bacon. Add to that the wolf we shared yesterday. I think there should be a lot of families in the village who didn't get much meat. If we take all this out and exchange it for food, they should be very willing."
The smile on Wang Dahua's face instantly burst, and even Lin Cuihua, who was standing next to him, had a somewhat stiff expression.
Although it was sad to eat the food, at least there was still some food left in the family. At worst, as Old Lady An said, we could dig more wild vegetables next spring to fill the gap, and we would not starve to death.
But meat is not something you can eat whenever you want.
The number of chickens and ducks raised at home is limited, and they are kept for laying eggs. I have never heard of anyone killing the chickens and ducks just because they produce meat.
Even if they went to town to buy meat, they still needed meat tickets, and those country folk didn't have such things.
"Little sister, this... this is not necessary. Besides, the wolf meat is shared by our family. It is not just for you." Of course, Wang Dahua did not mention the sheep, because it was taken secretly by An Hongdou from the mountain.
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