Chapter 34 Autumn Harvest

"Mom, do you really want Third Brother to get a divorce?"

"Hey, even if they get divorced, it will be hard for your third brother to find another wife."

Shen Ruoqing understood, "Mom, children and grandchildren have their own blessings. You are just worrying too much, that's why you are so angry. After all, the child is Third Brother's, why do you always worry so much? Let Third Brother sign a receipt for the 70 yuan, and consider it a loan. Next time, Mom will hide the money well, I believe Third Sister-in-law won't dare to steal it again."

"Just let her go like this?" Old Mrs. Ji was a little unwilling.

"So what do you want, mom? Don't get mad at yourself. It's not worth it if you get sick from anger."

"Let Mrs. Du do all the housework!"

"My third sister-in-law has been rushing to do the housework during this period."

"Then she shall not be allowed to eat."

"Okay, okay, Mom, then I'll punish Third Sister-in-law by not letting her eat for a day. I don't think this is a good idea. Without food, people won't have the energy to work. It's better to let Third Sister-in-law eat something worse and then watch us eat something good."

Old Mrs. Ji rolled her eyes at her and said, "Do we have so much fine grains at home? Everyone eats fine grains every day. Don't let me go bankrupt."

Shen Ruoqing thought this little old lady was quite interesting and cute.

After one day of observation, Du was discharged from the hospital as he was fine.

Perhaps because she had calmed down for a day, Mrs. Du returned to her previous submissive appearance and knelt down as soon as she entered the door.

"Mom, I know I was wrong."

Old Lady Ji snorted, "Don't kneel before me. This is a new society, and that kind of thing doesn't work anymore. If you put a big hat on me, I'll be tortured to death. I think you want me, an old lady, to go to the cowshed."

Mrs. Du seemed to be frightened, neither kneeling nor standing up: "Mom, I didn't mean that."

"So what do you mean? Forget it, it's your third room's business from now on, and I, an old lady, can't control it anymore."

Old Mrs. Ji went back to her room and ignored Mrs. Du who was kneeling there.

Shen Xiangxi was really scared by this. Mom, what does this mean? Are you going to separate their three rooms?

He became anxious now and followed Old Mrs. Ji into the house. Their family could not be separated.

"Third sister-in-law, aren't you getting up yet? The gate to the yard is not closed. What will happen if others see it? Then they will put the blame on my mother." Shen Ruoqing said calmly.

Only then did Mrs. Du get up.

Shen Ruoqing also entered Old Lady Ji's room.

Shen Xiangxi stood there and slapped himself: "Mom, it's all my fault. I didn't manage my wife well and made you angry."

After Shen Xiangxi slapped himself a dozen times, Old Lady Ji finally stopped him: "Alright, write the IOU. All the housework will be done by you three rooms for three months. If this happens again, don't blame me for being merciless. As for the child, it's your own child anyway, you two can do whatever you want."

"Thank you, Mom. Thank you, Mom!" Shen Xiangxi finally let go of his heavy heart and hurried to write an IOU.

"I just know that mom has the best heart."

"What's good about that? You're just sweet-talking. If it weren't for the bad times, she, Mrs. Du, would have made such a big mistake. She would have either divorced or separated the three rooms. I was wrong. I didn't expect Mrs. Du to be capable of this." Old Lady Ji waved her hand. She still had some mother-son affection for Shen Xiangxi.

In the end, the third room decided to keep the child.

This was also something Shen Ruoqing expected.

Old Mrs. Ji just sighed and didn't care anymore.

After getting the spiritual spring water, Shen Ruoqing replaced all the drinking water at home with spiritual spring water, and also replaced the water used for irrigating the fields with spiritual spring water. Shen Ruoqing discovered that the spiritual spring water was also helpful for crops.

Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye it was time for autumn harvest.

Due to insufficient watering, the grain yield decreased. It was a good day for harvest, but no one could smile.

In the past, wheat ears were full, but now they are dry and flat. When everyone harvested all the grain under the scorching sun, they felt even bleaker.

"Captain, is the harvest this year much lower?"

Looking at this small harvest, I'm afraid it will be difficult to pay the grain, let alone keep any for myself.

"Captain, what are we going to eat next year?"

"This little bit of food is not enough to get through the winter. Isn't this leaving us no way to survive?" The speaker was a widow. She had two children and was counting on the autumn harvest to get through the winter. But with the current harvest, there might not be much left after paying the grain. What should they do? Captain Tang raised his hand and motioned for everyone to be quiet.

"Paying back grain is an old rule. You have to pay it whether you want to or not. Even if I am fired as the captain, there will still be people going door to door to urge you to pay back grain!"

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Someone cursed, "You are all bad guys. Why should I share the food I worked so hard to earn with others?"

"Don't worry, everyone. Although most of this grain has to be handed over, we still have a lot of sweet potatoes planted... There is always a way out. This year's grain production has decreased, and we can still apply for relief grain. This grain must be handed over."

Then people whispered to each other. In fact, everyone knew that the grain had to be paid, but no one wanted to accept such a cruel fact.

“Can relief food really come?”

"I have to tighten my belt. I can't stand eating sweet potatoes every day."

"We are lucky enough to have sweet potatoes to eat. I heard that in some places, even sweet potatoes are not available."

Captain Tang ordered people to drive tractors to pull large bags of grain to the commune that day.

Listening to the rumbling sound of the tractor, many people's hearts were bleeding, because these were their food rations! The remaining food was distributed the next day.

The Shen family only received 300 kilograms of food rations and 20 yuan. Only 100 kilograms of it was unhusked millet. However, the sweet potatoes were still in the field and had not been dug out.

"What can we eat with these 300 kilograms of grain?" Wang pouted, "It looks like we'll have to eat sweet potatoes every day this year?"

Old Lady Ji glanced at her and said, "You won't be short of food anyway, so stop talking."

They also have their own plots of land, where they grow a lot of corn and sweet potatoes. With the sweet potatoes they received, they should be able to survive the winter if they eat less. Other people in the village also grow their own plots, but not as much as they do because there is not enough water to irrigate the crops.

There is a food shortage all over the country now. The situation in the rural areas is still a little better. If things get worse, they can still find a lot of food in the mountains.

Shen Ruoqing now also had a bitter face. Thanks to her efforts, her family finally had cornmeal to eat. Sometimes they had to mix cornmeal with white flour. Now, looking at the appearance of Old Lady Ji, her family was going to have to eat worse again.

"Mom, my brother said that we can directly exchange vegetables for food, such as flour, cornmeal or rice."

Exchanging vegetables for food now was a sure-win business, so of course Mrs. Ji agreed. That night, the Shen family exchanged vegetables for two bags of food.

(End of this chapter)