When Xiao Jiu went to the factory to deliver meals, she saw many workers gathered in the office area, and many people were also resting in the dormitory area. There was no sound in the factory's work area, which meant that production had stopped.
Sure enough, when they found their mother, she was quite surprised: "Why are you here? We're going back in a couple of days."
Then he pulled the small bottle aside and said, "Grain prices have risen sharply, and the market is bad this year. We can't even cover our costs, so we've stopped production. The factory is currently discussing closing down for the holidays."
“Mom, what about the grain your factory buys…” Zhao Lingli nodded and pointed to the troublemakers.
"They're eyeing this grain. Since production has stopped, they're clamoring for us to sell the remaining grain to the workers at a low price. They bought it at a high price, why should they sell it to them at a low price? How dare they think that way?"
"What about those fermented grains? Does anyone want them?"
The raw materials for producing alcohol are very cheap, such as corn, straw, and potatoes. Grain-based alcohol is mostly made from sorghum, which produces a lot of lees. Although these are waste residues after grain refining and are edible, they have a strong odor and cause air pollution. Even if they are made into animal feed in the future, they will need to be further processed, otherwise the animals will also get drunk after eating them.
Zhao Lingli immediately whispered, "Nobody wants that stuff. Some of it is made from cheap, sprouted or moldy grain. We haven't reached that point yet, so nobody's asking about it. We have enough grain at home, so we don't need that stuff. Your dad and I can't stay home for long during our holidays, and we need to keep an eye on the house we rent in the county town. If it gets lost, where are we supposed to go to cry?"
So nowadays, when the couple spends weekends, Zhao Lingli and Tang Cuilian go home, while Tao Changyi stays in the county town and stays at the rented house every night. He's not afraid of being robbed during the day, but someone has to be there to watch over things at night.
Zhao Lingli was touched when her daughter thoughtfully brought her food, especially when she saw that there was oatmeal in it, which surprised her.
"This is made by brewing with boiling water. It's perfect for when you're hungry at night. A hot cup is so delicious. My dad brought it to our place so you can drink it secretly. This small bag contains sorghum flour buns. Remember to steam them before eating, otherwise they'll be too tough to chew and will irritate your throat."
"This cereal..."
“It was sent back by Sister Cuimei; it was given to her by the family of the person she saved.”
"Oh, then I have to share some with your sister Cuilian,"
Xiao Jiu didn't say anything, tacitly agreeing, because it was prepared for three people; this was their family's unspoken rule—everything they prepared was for three people.
"Alright, everything's fine now. You can go back now, but be careful on the road!"
Xiao Jiu took the bus to town as usual and then walked home, but she didn't expect to be so unlucky this time. She was actually followed. The person looked young and had a buzz cut. He walked like a soldier. She frowned and sped up, but the person also sped up.
It was obvious they were coming for him. It was the end of the year, the time of freezing cold, and there were hardly any people on the road.
No matter how fast she was, she couldn't outrun the long legs behind her. The other person covered her mouth and dragged her forcefully into the grove.
Xiao Jiu knew that if she were subdued by this man, she would most likely not survive; in this day and age, there were quite a few women and children who had been raped.
Thinking of this, she took out a knife from her spatial storage and stabbed it hard into the man's groin. As the man let out a scream and released her, she instantly hid in her spatial storage.
Listening to the shouts and curses outside, as well as the ghostly howls, Xiao Jiu worried that if such a person were let go, would he harm more children?
Thinking of this, a fierce glint flashed in her eyes. Anyway, many people would starve to death during the famine, and this kind of scum should not have the right to live.
So she listened to the sound, came out of the space, and the moment the man turned his head, a sickle struck his neck perfectly.
He stared wide-eyed at her, a child, in disbelief: "You...you...,"
"If I don't kill you, you might go and prey on other young girls. If you die, we'll all be safe. It's worth it!"
When she pulled the sickle out, blood was still gushing from his neck. She just stood there, watching him slowly breathe his last.
After the man died, Xiao Jiu put his body into her spatial storage, thinking she would discard it when she had time.
She was able to remain so indifferent because there was a classmate from the countryside in junior high school who was stabbed eight times and then raped on her way home. Her parents only had her, and they cried so much that they fainted several times. The school even called on everyone to donate money to their family because of this.
She didn't want that tragedy to happen again. She had the ability, so why didn't she deal with these beasts?
Even so, her trembling hands, which she could barely hold, betrayed her inner nervousness.
Even when her grandfather came to pick her up at the village entrance, she was a little nervous. "What's wrong? You look so pale."
"No, it's nothing. I'm just a little tired from walking. I'm going home to rest now."
"Okay, then you should go back quickly. Your grandma will make you some wild vegetable porridge tonight."
"I'm not eating anymore. My mom gave me a piece of wild vegetable cake, I'm not eating it."
Xiao Jiu now has her own room. Her brothers sleep in the large room to the west of the main hall, her parents sleep in the room to the south of the west wing, and she sleeps in the one to the north. Because she is so nervous, she doesn't even go into the private room anymore.
"Is this what they call a guilty conscience?"
Xiao Jiu was on the verge of tears, never expecting that person to be so easy to kill; one swipe of the scythe and he was done for.
This matter troubled her for three whole days. Her nightmares were all about monsters coming to capture her. She hadn't done anything wrong, and in a moment of impulse, she killed a scumbag, yet this still made her so nervous.
Although she knew that in this era, hooliganism was punishable by death and execution, she ultimately had no law enforcement authority, and the perpetrators hadn't succeeded, so it just ended there…
Just when everyone was starting to worry about how to spend the Laba Festival, my eldest sister's house caught fire. This time, she was caught completely off guard by the arson.
Who would have thought that my older sister and her friends came to visit the Tao family during the day, and were invited to stay for dinner by my grandparents, planning to go back the next day.
That very night, the house caught fire. When I rushed home the next day, even with the help of my neighbors, it was still a complete mess.
There were even signs that the house had been ransacked, and all the cabbages and radishes stored in the cellar for the winter were gone.
Even a fool could tell who did it. The eldest sister led a group of people to Li Qingqing's house, but they had no evidence and no way to prove that the vegetables in their cellar belonged to them. The eldest sister was so angry that she vomited blood. When her grandparents found out, they felt even more guilty.
"If I had known it would turn out like this, I wouldn't have kept them for dinner. Look at the mess this has made! How could an elder be so awful!"
Fortunately, the family's food was hidden in the personal space of the two older sisters, but the family did lose three to five days' worth of food, as well as a winter's worth of vegetables.
Because their home was severely damaged, and even their clothes and bedding were burned away, the sisters had no choice but to go to town to stay in this cold weather.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Xiao Jiu pretended to accompany her sister, but actually secretly returned to Taoyuan Village and sneaked into Li Qingqing's house.
Not only did she collect all the radishes, cabbages, sweet potatoes, and potatoes from the cellar, but before leaving, she also abandoned the dead man in their latrine.
Although what they did was somewhat unethical, it was their family's fault for doing such a thing. They provoked them time and time again, leaving the sisters homeless. If it weren't for the Tao family having bedding in town, they would have been freezing. They didn't have much money to begin with, and now there's a shortage of supplies. They don't even have cotton coupons to buy cotton. They don't know how they'll get through this winter!
So Xiao Jiu could be said to have no psychological burden at all, and returned to the town with a full load of supplies.
The deep winter night was cold and windy, with occasional barking of dogs. Xiao Jiu was quite frightened. When there were people around, she would immediately hide, and when no one was around, she would rush forward with big strides. Finally, she arrived safely at the small courtyard she rented in town.
Her sisters were still asleep, completely unaware that she had carried a ladder and jumped into the yard.
Under the cover of night, Xiao Jiu replenished the cellar with some vegetables, sweet potatoes, and potatoes, and also added some corn and sorghum to the grain bin.
Because they had no clean clothes, the older sisters tried to stay home as much as possible. Xiao Jiu couldn't bear to see them like this, so she took the opportunity of going home to sneak into the black market in town and exchanged fifty catties of sorghum for twenty catties of cotton and fifty meters of cloth. The cloth included cotton fabric for making thermal underwear and long underwear, as well as floral and blue fabric for making cotton-padded clothes. After that, she quickly ran back to give it to her sisters.
Tang Cuihua was stunned: "Where did this come from? It's new cotton, and the cloth is new too."
"Oh dear, sis, don't worry about it. Go home and cook. It's so cold, how can you not wear warm clothes? I have to go back now, I'll come see you later."
Tang Cuihua suddenly grabbed her arm, "Are the vegetables in the cellar yours? And the grain in the kitchen is significantly more than yesterday, Xiao Jiu, you…",
When they checked yesterday, there weren't that many, how could it have increased overnight...?
And this cotton, such hard-to-get cotton, where did she, a little girl, get it from?
There were already two sisters in the family who owned warehouses, so when Tang Cuihua looked at Xiao Jiu with an incredulous gaze...
She looked up and met her gaze directly: "Sister, our goal is to survive these three years. Does anything else... matter?"
That one sentence turned Tang Cuihua's doubts into certainty. Watching Xiao Jiu's departing figure, she murmured to herself.
"No wonder, no wonder she's always been different from other children. Perhaps she comes from another world too?"
After the excitement and joy, a vague unease crept in. These nine sisters, each with the potential to defy fate, why did they feel like their lives were going backwards?
She had finally managed to settle down, but it was burned down to the ground, leaving nothing but an empty shell. Her younger sisters had to come and live in town with her. If it weren't for the Tao family, they probably wouldn't even have a place to stay.
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