The moon and stars are sparse.
After filling her stomach, Aunt Wu walked with extra strength under the moonlight.
She led her two grandsons around a bend and saw many people ahead carrying their own belongings, walking towards the end of the village.
It goes without saying what these people are there to do.
Grandma Wu quickened her pace and pulled her grandson through the crowd.
The intense potato-digging work two days ago really exhausted Wan Shu.
Tonight, she didn't have the energy to cook anything delicious. The six of them simply drank some porridge, ate some stir-fried wild vegetables with pork cracklings, and then planned to wash up and go to bed.
"Knock knock knock—" The knocking sounded on the door.
Wan Shu rubbed her sore feet, not wanting to move, and ordered Wu Ping, who was closest to the door.
"Wuping, open the door and see who it is."
Children around ten years old are full of energy. Wu Ping, who had been digging potatoes on the mountain for two days, just like her and even worked more than her, was still lively and energetic.
Upon hearing Wan Shu's instructions, he dashed out in a flash and then dashed back in just as fast.
"Mother, there are so many people outside! There's Aunt Wu, Aunt Wang, Uncle Erniu..."
Why are so many people here so late at night?
Puzzled, Wan Shu went outside and saw that, apart from a few stingy families, almost all the households that had come with her to dig potatoes that afternoon had sent someone over.
Some of them were carrying cloth bags, some were carrying eggs, and others were carrying mushrooms and wild vegetables.
Aunt Wang stood at the front, placed five or six eggs in her hand in front of Wan Shu, and showed a simple smile.
"Sister Shu, we are so grateful to you for giving us so much food today. You are so generous and kind, we can't let you suffer a loss. Please accept this."
Aunt Wu followed closely behind and handed the cloth bag to Wan Shu.
When Wan Shu opened it, he found that it was the cheapest mixed grain powder sold in the county, and the quantity was not much, only about one or two pounds.
A small gift carries great meaning.
Wan Shu knew exactly how precious those one or two pounds of mixed grain flour were to Aunt Wu's family.
Aside from the Wang clan chief's family, the others who were willing to go up the mountain with her to dig potatoes were mostly poor people in the village. However, even so, after confirming that the potatoes were indeed not poisonous and were of excellent quality, they still gritted their teeth and brought her what they considered to be the best thing.
This is the villagers' gratitude and affection for her.
Not accepting the money would seem distant, and Wan Shu also didn't want to leave the villagers with the impression that she was selfless.
There's an old saying that goes, "A little kindness is appreciated, but too much kindness breeds resentment." She couldn't let the villagers think that everything she had was free.
But if she accepted it all, it would easily give others cause for gossip. Besides, she didn't lack these rations, so there was no need to snatch food from the villagers' mouths.
She thought for a moment, then waved for Er Ya to go to her room and bring out a cloth bag for storing grain.
She reached into Aunt Wu's cloth bag, grabbed a handful of mixed grain powder, and put it in.
She only took one of the eggs that Aunt Wang gave her.
“I know everyone’s kindness and I appreciate it, but these days every family is struggling, so this is just a small token. Please take the rest home and leave it for your children.”
Life is indeed tough these days, and everyone knows how precious food is.
Seeing that Wan Shu's words were sincere and her expression didn't seem to be polite to them, they didn't stand on ceremony with her either. They insisted that Wan Shu accept the gift, and just stood in the courtyard praising her incessantly.
"The wealthy wife is kind-hearted and honest!"
"Having a wealthy wife is a blessing for our Qingshui Village!"
In contrast to the harmonious and warm scene at the Liang family's house, the Li Dagen family's house at the village entrance was in complete chaos.
Countless villagers, like Aunt Zhao's family, who had learned that potatoes were non-toxic and had paid to learn how to make fern powder, all crowded outside the Li family's door to curse.
"Li Dagen! You have to give us an explanation today!"
"Why is it that we paid money, but in the end we received less grain than those who didn't pay?"
"You liar! You call yourself the village head, yet you cheated us out of our money! You have to give us an explanation today!"
Li Dagen and Liang Yaozu spent the whole day teaching each other how to make fern powder, and only just now did they have time to calculate how much money they had earned that day.
There were 40 households that paid to learn how to make fern powder, at 20 coins per household, which is 800 coins in total.
Although it was half of what they initially expected, with these 800 coins, Liang Yaozu wouldn't have to worry about his tuition fees this year.
Moreover, before they even told the villagers about this method, their family had already secretly produced 50 jin of dried fern powder.
Li Dagen had always taken advantage of his position as village head to gain a lot of benefits. His family was never short of food. With these 50 jin of dried fern powder, even if there was no autumn harvest this year, the Li family and the second branch of the Liang family would not go hungry.
The two were secretly enjoying themselves when suddenly a large group of people rushed in from outside the door, cursing them.
They were completely bewildered until Liang Youqian sneaked in and told them that the potatoes were really not poisonous and that every household that went up the mountain that day had received at least 100 jin of grain. Only then did they understand what was going on.
Li Dagen's eyes widened suddenly: "What? It really isn't poisonous, and every household got a hundred jin!"
A look of panic flashed across his face: "It's over, it's all over now! The family that paid was already very unhappy about only getting five catties of dry food. In the end, I had to persuade them and tell them that even the lowest grade of mixed grain flour in town costs six coins a catty, and five catties of such fine flour only costs twenty coins, so they were making a profit, and only then did they reluctantly go back."
"They were already dissatisfied, and now that they know other families are getting 100 catties of grain for free without paying a single penny, aren't they going to tear our roofs off!"
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