Chapter 85 Go and have a look
Sangluo has no fields or land, what can he sell to the county?
Li doesn't believe in wild vegetables from the mountains, but city people are not fools, and they know that they can't make a lot of money from wild vegetables.
What else is that in the mountains?
But they went into the mountain every few days, what could they find? Could Sang be as good at hunting as Chen Lie? They wouldn't have been so hungry that they had to drink wild vegetable soup.
Li thought about it over and over but couldn't figure it out.
Shen San said nothing, and pondered over this matter with his eyes closed in the darkness.
The couple did not sleep well that night. When the rooster crowed at four o'clock in the morning, Li woke up. As she was worried about something, she did not go back to sleep. She pricked up her ears to listen to the movements in the yard of the Chen family next door.
After waiting for an unknown period of fifteen minutes or longer, I heard a noise coming from next door, the sound of the gate being bolted and opened, and the sound of the threshold being removed and a cart being pulled out.
Li sat up suddenly, fumbled for her clothes, put on her clothes and got out of bed. She walked quietly to the yard, quietly unbolted the door, opened the door a narrow gap and looked out.
The end of September is different from August. The sky now obviously gets brighter later than before. It is still dark outside at this point and you can't see the road clearly.
If they wanted to catch the county's early market, they couldn't go late, so Qin Fangniang and the others would light a torch. Because Qin Fangniang pulled the cart, the torch was usually prepared by Feng Liuniang or Gan.
When Li put her face to the crack of the door and looked out, Gan and Feng Liuniang had already arrived at the gate of Chen's courtyard as agreed. They were each carrying a basket. No one knew what was in the basket, but there shouldn't be much because the baskets were not even full.
As soon as the Chen family's cart was pulled out, the backpack was placed on the Chen family's cart. Then Li watched Chen Youtian and the three women pulling a cart with nothing on it except the three backpacks towards the side of the mountain.
It is exactly the direction where Changfang Mountain is located.
The cart was left on the side of the mountain road, and several people went up the mountain. Seeing this, Li quickly walked out of the yard, turned around, closed the gate quietly, and ran towards the cart.
When we got closer, we saw that the baskets of the three families contained some wild vegetables and some vegetables grown in the fields. Well, one of the baskets contained a dozen eggs in a small basket.
So the things sold are mainly obtained from Sang Luo.
As she thought this, she couldn't find anywhere to hide, so she ran back like a thief.
Just as we hid ourselves in the yard, we saw a fire on the mountain path. Chen Youtian and his men came down with torches, each of them carrying a load on their backs. From a distance we couldn't see clearly what they were carrying, but we saw them putting it on the cart.
Li kept staring at the group of people as they drove the cart quietly out of the village.
When he returned to the room, Shen San actually woke up and asked, "What did you see?"
Li whispered to the man what she had just seen and said, "They really are moving things from Sang's to sell in the county."
Shen San didn't say anything for a long time.
Li took off her coat and got back into bed. She didn't lie down, but just sat there and said, "Didn't a few families in the village want to go to the county to buy grain?"
Shen San turned his head to look at his wife: “Are you saying let someone go to the market to take a look?”
Li nodded: "Yes, I don't believe that other families in the village are not curious."
Originally, they all had the same hardship, they all worked in the fields to make a living, so why are the Chen families different now?
Shen San shook his head: "The price of grain has risen to 150 wen per bushel. Who can still afford it? No one is going there."
Li choked, and was more in disbelief: "It has risen to 150 wen per dou? Who said that? Did Qin Fangniang and the others bring back the news?"
She clearly didn't believe it: "Are you afraid that we will go to the county and deliberately said a high price?"
Last year, one hundred and fifty coins could buy nearly three dou of rice.
Chen San said, "This is true. It's not just the news from Qin Fangniang and the others. People from several neighboring villages have also gone to the county. No one can afford the price now. Didn't you see that Zhou Cunzheng and his family didn't go to buy anymore? Everyone should tighten their belts. As long as God doesn't make it difficult for us next year, except for families like Zhou Laizi, we can drink some water and still have enough food to last until autumn."
Li's attention was finally diverted from staring at what Sang Luo was doing for a living. He couldn't believe that the price of grain could rise to this level. How many people had to suffer from the disaster outside for the grain price to rise to this level?
She murmured, "When we fled here from the famine, the price of food here wasn't that expensive, right?"
Shen San nodded: “When I first arrived here, it was ninety-eight coins per dou.”
Li's lips trembled: "So what is this now..."
Shen San pulled the quilt and lay down: “Who knows, go to sleep.”
Li couldn't sleep and tossed and turned until dawn.
When I was making breakfast in the morning, I subconsciously put 10%, 20%, and 30% less rice than usual. I scooped it out and poured it back little by little.
After a few years of good life, the memories of fleeing famine that she had almost forgotten finally became vivid again.
When she was washing rice in the kitchen, feeling a little uneasy, Shen Jin came running back from outside the yard with Shen Yin and Shen Tie. Li took a quick glance and subconsciously looked at Shen Jin's hand.
No farm tools were taken.
Thinking of this, Li suddenly realized something, her eyes lit up, and while the kids were still slurping their vegetable porridge during breakfast, she chatted with them in a gentle voice, then suddenly changed the subject and asked, "Have you three brothers gone to play with Chen An and Chen Ning recently?"
Shen Jin paused while slurping the bowl in his hand, and the bowl fell down, revealing a pair of eyes that looked warily at his father, then at his mother. Seeing his father pause and look at him, there was also something strange on his mother's face that he couldn't describe.
Shen Jin's first reaction was, could it be that he was cutting hemp for Shen An and was discovered by his mother?
Beat him again? Or throw him to plow the fields?
Although Shen Yin had never been beaten for this, he had seen his brother being beaten and had also been punished to do farm work, so he was as vigilant as Shen Jin. However, he was still young and didn't quite know how to deal with this situation, so he subconsciously went to see Shen Jin.
Shen Jin put down the bowl, looked at his parents, and asked tentatively: "Why is mom asking this? Didn't you and dad not allow us to go?"
Li choked and smiled: "If I told you not to go, then you didn't go?"
The two brothers shook their heads in unison: "No!"
The sound is quite uniform.
Chen Tie looked at his third brother, then at his fourth brother, and obediently buried his head in the bowl, drinking vegetable porridge. He resolutely refused to look at his parents, and only raised his two ears high.
Li pursed her lips. It didn't matter whether they believed it or not. She had to coax them first. So she smiled and said, "Your father and I just don't want you to work for others. We didn't say you can't play. How old are you? Your family doesn't even want you to do heavy work. Why are you going to do heavy work for others?"
Shen Jinxin said that if I hadn't helped to open up the land at the beginning, Shen Anli would have been a ghost.
But he was smart enough not to say it out loud, instead he followed his mother's lead and asked, "So I can go play over there, right?"
Li smiled and said, "Yes, there's nothing wrong with playing. Why should I care about you?"
Seeing her two sons smiling happily, Li casually said, "Chen An and Shen Ning don't come to our house anymore. What are they doing at home? Does Sang take good care of them? Are they well fed?"
Shen Jin was not prepared for his mother's rhetoric and said with a smile, "Yes, the eldest cousin's wife treats Shen Jin and Shen Ning very well."
Li and Shen San looked at each other calmly and asked, "How good can it be? I have to work every day. Can I live as comfortably as you guys?"
Hey, these words touched Shen Jin's heart. He said, "What's so tiring about that? Shen Ning just feeds chickens and ducks and plants the vegetable garden behind the house, and Shen An follows the eldest cousin's wife into the mountains. But the eldest cousin's wife will buy delicious food for him, such as Hu cakes, snacks, and candies, so I am willing to work."
If Shen Jin hadn't been afraid of his father's displeasure, he would have almost hoped to be assigned to the group together.
He still has a sense of crisis and doesn't act rashly, otherwise it would be unfair to get beaten.
Going into the mountains...
Li lowered her eyes, as if disdainful: "What can there be in the mountains? It's just some wild vegetables. Picking some mushrooms on a rainy day is great."
Shen Jin didn't care about this topic and didn't respond. He just slurped his vegetable porridge.
Li gritted her teeth, but couldn't ask too obviously, so she could only change the topic and induce in another direction: "Our two families have separated, Shen An and Shen Ning are not willing to pay attention to you, I think they are better with Ershan, Xiaoya and Huzi."
Shen Jin pursed his lips, and the vegetable porridge in the bowl no longer smelled as good.
Li looked at his reaction and said with a smile, "You don't know the reason, right? It's because Xiaoya and Huzi's families are doing business together with your eldest cousin's wife, so they have a good relationship. You often go there to play. Have you ever seen what your eldest cousin's wife usually makes for Xiaoya and Huzi's family to send to the county to sell?"
Shen Jin: ????
Li looked at him and asked, "Have you seen it?"
Shen Jin hurriedly shook his head: "No, we're just playing outside."
Li went to see Shen Yin again, and Shen Yin also shook his head: "They were all playing outside in the yard."
Looking at Chen Tie again, Chen Tie put down the bowl of porridge and followed the example of his two brothers.
He is the youngest and his eyes look particularly sincere.
Isn't it sincere and true?
Only then did Li and Shen San believe it.
Li gritted her teeth and turned to tempt the children: "Then why don't you go in one day and see what your eldest cousin's wife is busy with."
Seeing Shen Yin and Shen Tie looking confused, and Shen Jin's eyes wide open, as if asking why we had to watch this, Li lowered her voice and said with a smile, "Your eldest cousin's wife made things and sold them to buy Hu bing, snacks, and candies for Shen An and Shen Ning. If you also want to have Hu bing, snacks, and candies like Shen An and Shen Ning, then go and see what your eldest cousin's wife makes, and then go home and tell mother quietly."
"I told mom, if mom can do it, you can be like Shen An and Shen Ning, and you can also eat snacks and cakes in the county."
The three brothers looked at each other.
Li smiled and said gently: "If you are worried that Shen An and Shen Ning will be unhappy, you can watch it quietly. Just go in and take a look when they are not paying attention."
"It won't affect your playing together."
Chen Tie: I don’t understand.
Shen Yin: I seem to understand, but I also seem not to understand. Look at the third brother.
Shen Jin: ...
Shen Jin was a little confused.
I didn't even remember to drink the porridge in the bowl.
Seeing the three brothers like this, Li knew that the two younger brothers were still ignorant and could not be relied upon, so she asked Shen Jin, "Did Xiao Jin understand?"
Shen Jin hesitated, said "oh", and nodded.
Li was satisfied and patted Shen Jin on the head: "Just remember it. Then take your brother out to play after dinner."
Shen Jin nodded his head after being tapped, picked up the bowl and drank the remaining half bowl of porridge slowly, mouthful by mouthful.
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