Jiang Qinyu had just finished wiping all the salt out of the jar, washed her hands with water from the basin next to her, picked up a twig, and started drawing on the ground.
"Preventing attacks on villages by mountain animals during disaster years is essential, so this area at the foot of the mountain definitely needs to be heavily guarded. But we also have to be wary of the bandits from Qinggang Mountain whose leader escaped after we robbed them. All the roads leading into the village also need to be guarded..."
"In addition, drought conditions can easily cause fires, so we have to be careful. Therefore, firebreaks must be set up here, here, and here..."
"Then there's the height of the trap. There can't be nothing underneath; you have to put something lethal to trap any animal or person that falls in..."
Jiang Qinyu drew and explained at the same time, leaving Chen Shao and Liu Yazi completely bewildered.
"Sister-in-law Lu..." Chen Shao swallowed hard. "How do you know so much?"
Liu Yazi was looking at Jiang Qinyu with eyes full of admiration. "Sister-in-law Lu, you're amazing! If Brother Zheng were still here, you two would definitely be the most amazing people in our village!"
"Shut up!" Chen Shao slapped him on the back of the head and frantically winked at him, "Do you need to tell me how powerful Sister-in-law Lu is?"
Liu Yazi opened his mouth to refute, but he wasn't stupid. He immediately understood what Chen Shao meant, looked at Jiang Qinyu awkwardly, and stammered, "Yes, yes, Sister-in-law Lu is indeed amazing..."
He really has a sharp tongue. Why did he have to bring up Lu Yanzheng? Now look what happened, even Lu's sister-in-law's smile has vanished.
In fact, Jiang Qinyu was surprised by Lu Yanzheng's influence in the village after hearing Liu Yazi's words.
Meng Tianze, Village Chief Li, and even many of the village elders all say that Lu Yanzheng is amazing. But Chen Shao and Liu Yazi were just kids six years ago, yet they also say that Lu Yanzheng is amazing. How amazing must he be?
The original owner had only met Lu Yanzheng once, and it was just a fleeting glimpse. She only remembered that he was very tall, but she didn't have much of an impression of his appearance.
When the government came to forcibly conscript soldiers, the Lu family was celebrating a wedding, so Lu Yancai ran away beforehand, while Lu Yanzheng and the other villagers were taken away.
However, in order to prevent a popular uprising, the government did not take away all the males. Each household would keep one or two adult males, and those under the age of fifteen were not forcibly taken away, otherwise the population of Dingshui Village would be even smaller.
Six years later, in Dingshui Village, teenagers like Chen Shao and Liu Yazi make up half of the village's able-bodied men.
"Sister-in-law Lu, you just got back, you don't know our village is going to build a watchtower, do you?" Chen Shao quickly changed the subject, talking about another matter, "We've already finished the foundation today!"
Jiang Qinyu was genuinely surprised to hear this. "A lookout tower is going to be built in the village?"
“Yes,” Liu Yazi added, “Aren’t we afraid that the person from Qinggang Mountain might get away and cause us trouble? Besides, it’s too chaotic outside these days. If we build a watchtower in the village and send people to keep an eye on things, we can prevent people from stealing our grain again.”
Jiang Qinyu gave them both a thumbs up, "As expected, you young people are quick-witted."
She had actually told Village Chief Li before that she wanted to strengthen security patrols in the village, but at that time she hadn't thought of something like a lookout tower.
“Sister-in-law Lu isn’t old either.” Liu Yazi scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.
Chen Shao rolled his eyes. "Are you stupid? Sister-in-law Lu is only in her early twenties, of course she's not old. She was just being polite."
How come I never noticed before that this person is so bad at speaking?
Liu Yazi was unwilling to be called stupid, so he immediately started arguing with Chen Shao.
Watching the two bicker, Jiang Qinyu suddenly remembered that her classmates used to do the same thing when she was in school, and she couldn't help but smile.
Meanwhile, Ma's aunt came over and pulled Ma aside, whispering something to her. When Ma returned, she looked at Chen and hesitated to speak.
"Say what you have to say, no one's stopping you." Chen had finished tidying up and gave Ma a disgruntled look.
Madam Ma smiled ingratiatingly, "Mother, it's nothing serious. My aunt and her family are fleeing famine tomorrow and want to borrow some grain from us. What do you think..."
"What? They're fleeing famine?" Chen's voice suddenly rose. "Didn't our village stop fleeing famine?"
Ma had no idea about the details; whatever her aunt had just told her was, "There were still a few families in the village who wanted to go, but my aunt's family was running out of food, so she asked me for help. Mother, you..."
“No way!” Chen refused outright. “Not to mention that we don’t have much food at home, even if we did, I wouldn’t lend it to you.”
In times of famine, food is life itself; who would lend their life to someone else?
Thinking that her aunt had been a great help in getting her married into the Lu family, Madam Ma continued to plead, "But Mother, I only have one aunt. I don't know if we'll ever see each other again after this separation, I..."
“If you want to lend it, that’s your business. It has nothing to do with our family.” Mrs. Chen remained unmoved.
Madam Ma caught a glimpse of Jiang Qinyu out of the corner of her eye, and her eyes darted around. "Mother, we don't have much to eat, but my sister-in-law does! The village was able to hunt so many animals this time in the mountains, all thanks to my sister-in-law. Everyone's saying that the village will definitely give her a big share this time..."
"Don't even think about taking advantage of your sister-in-law!" Madam Chen retorted angrily. "No matter how much she gets, it's all earned by her own abilities! If you're so capable, go earn it yourself, and stop trying to take advantage of others all the time!"
Besides, why would the Ma family need to flee famine? In her opinion, the Ma family was simply lazy and didn't want to suffer with the villagers, preferring to go out and beg for food!
Her voice was a bit loud, and Jiang Qinyu heard it and looked over. Seeing that Ma and Chen looked like they were about to start arguing, she quickly got up and came over.
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