Chapter 35 Relief Food
When the officials arrived and examined Pang Hu's body, they concluded that Pang Hu had hidden in the deep mountains to avoid the government's search, and was eventually attacked and killed by a wild beast, which could be considered as reaping what he sowed.
When Wei Chunlan and her family, who were imprisoned in the cell, learned of Pang Hu's death, they almost fainted from crying. The only good news was that, according to the confessions of the bandits, Wei Chunlan and the others had not colluded with the bandits, and they were soon released.
They dared not stay in the village, fearing that they would be implicated by Pang Hu and retaliated against by the villagers. After being released from prison, they took their families and disappeared without a trace.
Zhou Chengli was not as lucky as them, because there were eyewitnesses who saw them entertaining the two bandits brought back by Zhao Lao Er, so they could not clear their names no matter what, even though Zhou Chengli's leg was broken by the bandits.
Zhou Chengli leaned against the cell, his eyes vacant and numb. Even though his leg had been treated, it could not be restored to its original state. He walked with a limp, which he could not accept. Why would someone with such talent become a cripple?
"Don't think too much. After we get out of here, I'll find you a better doctor. You'll be able to recover to your former state." Zhou Lao Er's hair was completely white. No one would guess that he was only nearly forty years old. He would look like he was in his fifties or sixties.
"Father! I was wrong! I shouldn't have married Zhao Yuzhi! Then I wouldn't be involved in this!" Everything Zhou Chengli is experiencing now is inextricably linked to the Zhao family. He has found that everything has gone wrong since Zhao Yuzhi entered the family, and no amount of affection can withstand such damage.
Zhou Lao Er didn't speak, but his regret was no less than Zhou Chengli's. He had divorced Wei Shi to arrange the marriage with Zhou Chengli, allowing her to take their two children with her, but this was the result.
Now he couldn't help but wonder if they would have avoided this mess if Wei had stopped the marriage back then. But as he thought about it, he felt somewhat fortunate, at least he could have saved his other two children, and the second branch of the Zhou family wouldn't have all ended up in jail.
Less than half a month later, all the edible plants in the village had been picked clean, and it was clear that the village was about to collapse when the imperial court's disaster relief grain finally arrived.
Upon receiving the news, the village head immediately led his men to the government office to collect the grain. By then, a long queue had already formed at the entrance of the government office, stretching as far as the eye could see. Even though they arrived early, it took them most of the day to get the village's relief grain.
These relief supplies relieved the people's urgent needs, at least preventing them from becoming refugees and resorting to cannibalism.
The most serious water shortage problem was solved half a month after the food was delivered, when lightning flashed and thunder roared, and a torrential downpour began in an instant.
The heavy rain lasted for three days, thoroughly soaking the cracked earth and refilling the dried-up riverbeds.
Countless people came out of their houses and stood in the rain, cheering. After their excitement, they quickly took out their pots, pans, and bowls to catch the water, fearing that the rain would bring back the drought.
After the heavy rain, the air became fresh. The people who survived the drought did not dare to stop and were busy planting vegetable seedlings in front of and behind their houses.
With the drought receding and the weather turning cooler, which means winter is approaching, they need to seize the opportunity to plant everything they can, hoping to harvest a batch of vegetables before winter.
The Wei family was no exception; their once empty vegetable garden was renovated, and row after row of vegetables were planted.
"Let's go mushroom picking while they're all in the fields. There was such a heavy rain a few days ago, there must be mushrooms now!" Sister-in-law Wei pulled Song Yushu and the others up the mountain.
However, they were too late. The villagers, who had experienced drought and food shortages, would not let go of any food. At this time, the foot of the mountain was full of children who came to pick mushrooms. They looked thin as sticks, but they were as agile as monkeys and picked all the edible mushrooms.
However, since they had come all this way, they couldn't go back empty-handed, so they went to a less crowded place to look for mushrooms, so that at least each of them could put a few mushrooms in their baskets.
"Did you bring a hoe?" Song Yushu stared at the bamboo grove in the ravine, wanting to see if he could dig up some bamboo shoots.
"Wasn't that clump of bamboo dug up before?" Sister-in-law Wei said, handing over the hoe in her hand.
"It's been raining these past few days, so the plants should be growing back underground. It would be great if we could dig up one or two to make a dish," Song Yushu said, carefully searching with his hoe. When he saw any bulges or cracks, he would swing the hoe down.
After digging in several places, Song Yushu finally found a bamboo shoot in one spot. He filled in the hole he had dug and dug up another one before deciding to stop.
"I've been eating sweet potatoes and cabbage every day lately, and my mouth is really getting tired of it. I'm so glad I can finally have something different!" Sister-in-law Wei treasured the two bamboo shoots and happily put them into her basket.
"Such a large patch of kudzu vines has grown here!" If Song Yushu hadn't dug out a section, he really wouldn't have noticed it, since all the leaves on the kudzu vines had fallen off and hadn't grown back yet.
“Old Teng, this area is so big, we can probably dig up a lot of kudzu roots. Chengzhu, go back and get another hoe,” Song Yushu thought Zhou Chengzhu was not strong enough, so he asked her to go back and get the tools.
Sister-in-law Wei now trusted Song Yushu completely, and without saying a word, she started digging.
The two worked for an hour to dig up a basket of kudzu roots, filled the pit they had dug, and then went down the mountain.
“Aside from the village doctor collecting some for medicinal purposes, nobody else digs these up. Are you planning to dig them up and sell them?” Wei’s father asked doubtfully.
"Kudzu root is edible."
"This is edible? There's plenty of this stuff on the mountain, otherwise..."
"Let's talk to the village head, but they probably won't believe us if we just talk. Let's cook the kudzu root before we take it over."
Song Yushu understood what Wei's father meant. Although there was relief grain now, not much of it was distributed to each household. Even if they could grow vegetables now, it would take a long time for the vegetables to grow. Every household was still tightening their belts to make ends meet.
These vegetables were grown to last through the winter, as the drought this year is severe and many people will likely starve to death this winter.
Kudzu vines are abundant in the mountains; you can dig them up to fill your stomach and satisfy your hunger.
An hour later, the village head broke off a piece of cooked kudzu root and ate it. He found that apart from being a little bitter when it first tasted, it was soft and glutinous. Although the taste was not as good as sweet potato, it was very filling.
"This stuff is edible! You've really helped me a lot this time!" The village head excitedly pulled Wei's father along. Although the drought was over, the harvest was almost nonexistent this year due to its effects. The little bit of relief grain was not enough to last through the winter. He had been worried that many people would starve to death this winter, but he never expected such a pleasant surprise.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
