W Chapter 62

Chapter 62: Harvesting Vegetables

Chen Cuihua had five children. Her eldest son was eighteen this year and still hadn’t managed to get a wife, not even a ge’er.

They were too poor, and no one wanted to marry into their family.

The second was a daughter, who was betrothed last year.

However, the in-laws weren’t easy to get along with, and they didn’t allow the daughter to come back for festivals, fearing she’d provide for her own family.

She hadn’t seen her daughter in a whole year.

She had been pregnant a few times in between, but none survived. Either they were lost in the womb, or they died after birth.

Now the third child was six, the fourth four, and the fifth two.

The children were all still small, and Chen Cuihua was afraid she wouldn’t be able to raise them, so she didn’t dare eat much herself, saving it all for the children.

Even so, the children didn’t get enough to eat.

There were few able-bodied workers in the family, only three. But they had to pay taxes for everyone, and they didn’t have any money, so they didn’t dare eat too much grain.

They were afraid they wouldn’t have enough to eat in the winter and wouldn’t survive.

Chen Cuihua hadn’t eaten much for several days. While she was sewing clothes for the children in the house, everything suddenly went black, and she fainted.

The three children were starving. They were outside making mud balls to eat, unaware that their mother had fainted.

“Is Aunt Chen home?”

Shen Gui called out several times outside, but didn’t hear a response.

He looked down at six-year-old Wang Zhuzi and asked, “Are you sure your mom’s inside? Why isn’t she answering?”

Wang Zhuzi was still holding a mud ball in his hand. Behind his bare bottom were his two younger siblings, clinging tightly to him.

The children were terrified by the Zhao family brothers’ large frames. They didn’t dare make a sound or move, all trembling, unsure if it was from fear or cold.

Wang Zhuzi shouted nervously, “Mom!”

The sudden scream pierced their eardrums, and Shen Gui covered his ears uncomfortably.

“Hey, don’t yell. Go inside and tell your mom to come out.”

Wang Zhuzi was stunned. So they were allowed to move.

Realizing this, he led his two younger siblings stumbling into the house.

The mud house was dimly lit. There wasn’t much furniture inside, and it was very empty. The children could walk with their eyes closed and not be afraid of bumping into anything.

Wang Zhuzi saw his mom lying motionless on the bed. Thinking she was asleep, he reached out and shook her.

“Mom! Mom! Someone’s looking for you! Lots of people, I’m scared.”

Wang Niuniu and Wang Xiaoniu were even more scared. They clung to the side of the bed, trying to climb up and hide under it.

Chen Cuihua vaguely heard her children’s voices and felt her body shaking.

She slowly opened her eyes. As her vision cleared, she saw the mud stains on Wang Zhuzi’s mouth.

Chen Cuihua suddenly had some strength. She smacked Wang Zhuzi on the back, exasperated, “Why are you so disobedient? I told you not to eat mud, not to eat mud, why don’t you listen!”

Chen Cuihua didn’t have much strength, and the smack didn’t hurt.

But Wang Zhuzi still cried. He could tell Chen Cuihua was angry and unhappy.

“Wuwuwuwuwu, Mom, I’m hungry…”

“Aunt Chen, are you home?”

Shen Gui called out again from outside.

Chen Cuihua didn’t scold her son further. She wondered who would be looking for her and prepared to get out of bed and go outside.

But her legs gave way, and she fell to the ground.

The three children were startled and ran over to help Chen Cuihua up.

“Mom’s okay, you be good, stay inside and don’t come out.”

Chen Cuihua was afraid someone was looking to cause trouble. It was just after the autumn harvest, and some local layabouts would get together to target families like theirs, demanding food or coins.

It was like this every year. This year, her family had decided that even if it meant fighting, they wouldn’t give anything away.

Without money or food, they wouldn’t survive anyway. Sooner or later they’d die, so they might as well fight.

Chen Cuihua coaxed the children to stay inside. After recovering a bit, she went out to see what was happening.

Passing the door, she paused, then grabbed the old sickle from behind the door, took a deep breath, and went outside.

She was dumbfounded when she got outside.

It wasn’t the usual layabouts who had come, but people from the Shen family at the foot of the mountain.

She saw the strong men behind Shen Gui and sat down on the ground in fright.

They were even scarier than those skinny layabouts!

How could she fight against someone that strong!

Seeing Chen Cuihua suddenly sit on the ground with a hopeless look on her face, Shen Gui couldn’t help but worry, “Aunt Chen, are you okay? I just wanted to ask if you’re selling your Chinese cabbage. If you’re not feeling well today, I can come back tomorrow?”

Chen Cuihua, immersed in despair, was stunned. What?

They weren’t here to bully her family?

Chen Cuihua gripped the sickle tightly, “You’re Shen family’s fourth son? Here to buy Chinese cabbage?”

Shen Gui nodded, “Yes.”

Chen Cuihua glanced behind her, still afraid, “Who are they?”

“Those behind me are my third sister’s husband and his brothers, here to help collect the Chinese cabbage.” Seeing Chen Cuihua’s sallow complexion and her weak state, Shen Gui knew she was very hungry.

His wife had been like this for a while. After she married, she didn’t dare to eat much, saving it for Xiao Chun and Xiao Xia.

Chen Cuihua knew the Shen family at the foot of the mountain, were a rare reasonable family in the village.

She quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Gui asked again, “Aunt Chen, are you selling your Chinese cabbage?”

Chen Cuihua came back to her senses, a smile appearing on her face.

“Selling, selling. How much do you want?”

Chinese cabbage wasn’t worth much. Every household grew it, and they were all piled up in cellars for winter food.

This was the first time in Chen Cuihua’s thirty-odd years that she had seen anyone in the village buy Chinese cabbage.

Her family didn’t see a few copper coins all year round. Now that there was a rare opportunity to earn some, she wouldn’t let it go.

Shen Gui said, “I’ll take as much as you can sell, Aunt Chen. I’ll pay the town price, two coins for three catties.”

One Chinese cabbage weighed about three catties. The price of Chinese cabbage was the cheapest of all vegetables.

Although Chinese cabbage was cheap, Chen Cuihua’s eyes still lit up.

Even at such a cheap price, she usually couldn’t sell it even if she wanted to.

She couldn’t get much for Chinese cabbage when she traded it for other things. It was just too cheap.

Afraid that Shen Gui would change his mind, she quickly got up from the ground and asked uncertainly, “I have two hundred catties of Chinese cabbage. I’ll sell one hundred and eighty catties. Can, can you take it?”

These were originally meant to be stored for her family to eat over the winter, otherwise they would have nothing to eat in the winter. But if she could exchange the money for some coarse rice and mixed noodles, who would want to eat Chinese cabbage?

It wouldn’t fill you up.

Shen Gui nodded, “Yes.”

Chen Cuihua was extremely excited. Her vision was blurring, but fortunately, she managed to grab the door frame in time to prevent herself from falling.

“It’s in the cellar, all in the cellar. I’ll go get it for you, you wait here.”

Chen Cuihua’s hands were trembling with excitement as she walked towards the cellar.

Shen Gui suggested, “Let my third sister’s husband and his brothers move it, it’ll be faster. I’ll tell them to be careful not to damage anything in Aunt’s cellar.”

Bringing them out sooner meant getting the money sooner, and it would save her effort. Chen Cuihua couldn’t ask for more, and she nodded repeatedly, “Okay!”

One hundred and eighty catties of Chinese cabbage was only about sixty heads, enough to fill two and a half of the large pickling jars.

Shen Gui had ordered forty-odd jars, so this definitely wasn’t enough.

After weighing them, he skillfully paid the money and prepared to go to the next house.

Chen Cuihua held the one hundred and twenty-odd coins in her hands, stomping her feet in excitement.

They were real copper coins!

She could use these coins to buy some coarse grain flour, which would allow her family to last another ten days.

Coarse grain flour was better than Chinese cabbage. No matter how much Chinese cabbage you had, it wouldn’t satisfy your hunger.

Besides, she didn’t have much Chinese cabbage.

Regaining her senses, Chen Cuihua quickly closed the door and went back inside to hug her three children, waiting for her husband and eldest son to return from work in town.

Throughout the afternoon, Shen Gui and the Zhao family brothers traveled all over Xiao Liucun and the surrounding three villages, collecting over two thousand catties of Chinese cabbage.

Xiao Liucun had the most. The other two villages combined didn’t have as much as Xiao Liucun.

People in those two villages basically wanted to keep it for their families to eat over the winter, so they could have some vegetables. They didn’t care about the small amount of money, so few families were willing to sell.

Only in Xiao Liucun, people would rather have more sips of mixed grain porridge and more bites of stewed potatoes to fill their stomachs than have vegetables to eat in the winter.

Shen Gui’s afternoon of collecting vegetables stirred up a wave in Xiao Liucun.

Many people closed their doors to discuss it, saying that the Shen family had made a lot of money, otherwise, why would they be building a house and collecting vegetables?

Some families didn’t care. The fact that they earned money was their business.

Some were even happy because of it. If the Shen family made a lot of money, they could earn a little money behind them.

Hiring people to build houses and collecting vegetables, weren’t those ways to earn money?

But some people felt uncomfortable seeing the Shen family quietly become wealthy.

They felt that heaven was unfair. Why could the Shen family earn money and build a house, but their family couldn’t?

Everyone had different thoughts, but they all closed their doors to say it at home, so the Shen family wouldn’t hear it.

When Shen Gui was collecting vegetables, everyone’s attitude was pretty good, after all, no one would refuse money.

In the evening, after Shen Gui’s family had finished dinner, Shen Chengshan took the Zhao family brothers to the village chief’s house.

The Shen family didn’t have a place to live, so they were borrowing a room from the village chief.

Ten coins a night for one room, and they were borrowing two. This made Village Chief Zhu very happy. He hoped the Zhao family brothers could stay in his house forever.

Shen Chengshan also mentioned in passing that Ling Xing could talk to the County Magistrate. He just said it casually, but Village Chief Zhu immediately understood the meaning.

After thinking for a moment, he assured Shen Chengshan, “Brother Shen, don’t worry. With me in Xiao Liucun, nothing can go wrong.”

The Zhu family’s ancestors were among the first to build the village, and their roots were deep in Xiao Liucun. With Zhu Rushan’s clear words, Shen Chengshan naturally felt relieved.

Early the next morning, Shen Gui took the Zhao family brothers to tidy up the Chinese cabbage.

In addition to this, they also had to clean the cave.

A hundred meters from their home at the foot of the mountain, there was a large cave with a large space and a flat terrain, very suitable for storing pickling jars.

Ling Xing and Shen Hui were busy with their stall. Ling Yue was busy reading. Xu Youfang was making velvet flowers with her daughter and daughter-in-law. Shen Chengshan was busy with the house building. Shen Lai was leading Xiao Chun and Xiao Xia to identify herbs and training with Wu Xue. The whole family was very busy, throwing themselves into their own affairs, working together for the future of the family.

The auspicious day finally arrived. Zhu Rushan led thirty-odd people to the Shen family’s house. They cleared out the things in the house and began to demolish the mud house, lay the foundation, and build a new house.

They would first build three main rooms, and some of the Shen family had to borrow rooms in other people’s houses.

Ling Xing took Ling Yue and Shen Lai to Xie Qingya’s house to stay for a while, also paying ten coins a night.

Xie Qingya refused, but Ling Xing persuaded him to reluctantly accept it.

Ling Xing couldn’t help but laugh. He had never seen anyone hate money so much, accepting it so unhappily.

Xu Youfang took Shen Yan and her grandson to the Liu family, not far from the village chief’s house, to befriend the village chief’s family.

Cao Manyue took Xiao Chun and Xiao Xia to live in the Li family next to the Liu family, so they could look after each other.

Both families were quite happy. They didn’t have to provide food, just a place to sleep at night, and they would get ten coins.

The period they would be staying was long, as the house would take a while to build.

Shen Hui, Shen Gui, Shen Chengshan, and Wu Xue still lived at home to watch over the house, otherwise the bricks and tiles in the yard would be stolen.

Coincidentally, the kitchen and the room Shen Gui lived in hadn’t been demolished yet, as they would be done one by one. The three men and the dog shared the two rooms.

The Shen family provided three meals a day for the workers, as well as a wage of twenty coins.

Xu Youfang was staying in other people’s houses and didn’t want to make velvet flowers, so she brought Shen Yan and Cao Manyue to cook every day.

This would save money on hiring someone to cook.

However, it was hard work cooking for thirty-odd people. Ling Xing was at Xie Qingya’s house, and wasn’t afraid of his recipes being leaked, so he still set up his stall as usual. He would help Xu Youfang cook lunch and dinner.

If the family needed any vegetables, Xu Youfang would tell Shen Hui in advance, and he would bring them from town the next day.

On the day the foundation was laid, the villagers, who were working enthusiastically, suddenly smelled a meaty aroma.

Attracted by the smell of meat, everyone stopped involuntarily, sniffing their noses.

“Good heavens, is the Shen family really making meat for us to eat?”

“It’s meat, right? I smell meat.”

“It’s definitely the smell of meat, I dream about this smell.”

When Shen Chengshan asked Village Chief Zhu for help in recruiting people, he had mentioned the condition that they could eat meat every other day.

Everyone actually knew, but no one took it to heart.

Meat was so expensive. They had often built houses for people during the slack season, but no one had ever given them meat to eat.

Providing one meal was already very good.

The Shen family was providing three meals, which was an almost unheard-of treat for them.

They didn’t really care about the meat.

But today they really smelled the smell of meat.

Wang Shuanzi, carrying bricks, wiped the sweat from his forehead. He whispered to Wang Tiesheng, “Dad, I saw Second Brother Shen carrying a basket of meat back when I was carrying bricks earlier. I thought they were eating it themselves. Now it looks like they’re going to give it to us.”

Wang Tiesheng’s eyes widened. A basket of meat?

How much money would that cost!

But he quickly calmed down.

“It’s probably not all for us to eat. They should just cut a little bit, to add a meaty flavor.”

When Wang Shuanzi heard this, it made sense. He had worked hard before, and they had said that if he worked well, they would eat meat in a few days.

Everyone looked forward to it for several days, working hard, and finally they waited for that hard-earned meat.

As a result, it was a large pot of vegetable leaves, and they couldn’t fish out ten slices of meat.

There wasn’t even a meaty flavor. He even suspected that the slices of meat were added later as decoration.