So, a group of refugees followed Jiang Sanlang to cut bamboo.
Many of the wild bamboo forests here have been bought by Jiang Sanlang and other villagers, so if the refugees want to get a long bamboo pole, they need to get the villagers' consent.
After cutting down the bamboo poles, it is much easier to pick the soapberry.
Now Yingbao often sees a group of ragged adults and children holding bamboo poles to pick soapberries.
In November, the snow finally fell.
Zhou Wuchang took his eldest disciple to the county town before the snow blocked the road, but his second disciple Zhang Min and Ying Bao were still left behind.
This time Zhang Min did not feel uncomfortable, but very happy. He hung out with Wei Zhan, Huzi, Jiang Wu and Xiao Yao every day. They would go to the wild to hunt pheasants and rabbits whenever they had time, and had a lot of fun.
The pheasants and rabbits on the south slope were unlucky and were almost wiped out by them.
Li Xu finally came back at the end of the month. Although he was not on the list, he was not discouraged at all. Instead, he happily returned to Dongchen Village and continued to teach the children.
His mother was not disappointed either. She felt content to be able to live peacefully with her son here for the rest of his life. However, her son was getting older and older, and it would be a bit inappropriate if he did not get married.
But in this small mountain village, there are very few girls who are worthy of her son. An is anxious and turns her attention to the Jiang family.
The Jiang family has good family education and all their children are outstanding, but it is a pity that there is no unmarried girl of the same age as her son in the Jiang family.
After Li Xu came back, Mr. Wu would sometimes visit the school and occasionally give Li Xu a few speeches, but most of the time, he would sit under the wall with the elderly people in the village, chatting while basking in the sun.
At the end of every month when Jiang Jie came back from vacation, Mr. Wu would ask him about his schoolwork, correct his homework, and explain the classics that he did not understand.
The days passed one by one, and soon it was the twelfth lunar month.
Yingbao has been very idle recently. Apart from occasionally looking at prescriptions, she just takes Dahuang for a stroll.
The market is a place she often goes to, and she will go for a walk even on snowy days.
Chen Zhao’s sugar cake business is good. Even if there is no market day, he can still earn one or two hundred coins every day.
Yingbao often saw Chen Wan coming to help her sister.
Now, Mrs. Chen Feng no longer scolds her granddaughter, but sometimes she asks Chen Zhao to spend money to buy salt and sesame oil.
Chen Zhao was naturally unwilling to spend his own money, but he could not resist Chen Fengshi because he and his elder sister and younger brother also needed to eat.
"Yingbao, come and try the cake." Chen Zhao waved to Yingbao. "Today's cake is filled with red bean paste."
Yingbao didn't hesitate to take a cake and started eating it.
It's very comfortable to eat some sweets in the snow.
Chen Zhao’s stall was a small thatched shed, surrounded by straw curtains on three sides, which could slightly block the cold wind.
Yingbao ate the sweet cake while looking at the stalls outside.
This market was well planned by my father. There was a row of straw huts on both sides of the road, so the stalls had a place to shelter from the rain on rainy and snowy days. There were also several huts not far away, which included the oil mill run by my eldest cousin and his wife from my uncle's family, the tailor shop owned by Erni's mother, Leng, a bamboo product shop, and a shop selling water jars and pottery.
Erni paid for the construction of Leng's two thatched houses, and Erbo did not stop her, but he never looked over there and did not allow Huzi to have any contact with her.
"Yingbao, would you like some tea?" Chen Wan suddenly asked.
Yingbao looked at her and nodded.
Chen Wan is thirteen years old this year. She will be fourteen after the Chinese New Year. She has grown into a very beautiful girl.
But when she came to the market to help, she would always wrap her face with a blue cloth scarf, leaving only her eyes exposed.
Chen Wan cooked a pot of bamboo leaf tea on the stove and added jujubes to it. She added two soft red dates to each bowl of tea.
Yingbao drank the tea in one gulp, placed ten copper coins on the small table, and took Dahuang back to the village.
In this life, it seems that many things have changed, including some people.
When I walked into the village, I saw my dad and a group of people carrying stones to build a watchtower.
The watchtower was built very high, more than two meters high, just taller than the soapberry tree.
The interior of the stone tower is also very spacious. There is a spiral staircase leading to the highest point, which can accommodate several people fighting at the same time.
If you stockpile enough bows and arrows and stones, and some food and water, a few people can defend an area.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Two village guards came to Dongchen Village on the south slope, beating gongs and shouting, "The court has issued an order! Every household must pay an additional 10% grain tax per mu! Those who don't have land must pay an additional 20% head tax, and the tax must be paid within three days! Violators will be punished according to the law!"
Jiang Sanlang and others stopped what they were doing and looked at each other worriedly.
"Why is the imperial court collecting grain again?"
"Didn't we just pay taxes last time?"
"Are you going to let people live?"
Jiang Sanlang also looked solemn.
This year's taxes were heavier than in previous years, so he made a special trip to the next township to ask if it was the same. It turned out that the taxes in that township were the same, and the villagers complained.
The world is extremely unfriendly to farmers. All the taxes are imposed layer by layer, which can peel off the skin of the people.
Fortunately, their village is relatively wealthy, otherwise many people would have to flee famine.
No matter how much you complain, you still have to pay the grain.
Fortunately, the people of Dongchen Village had the habit of storing grain, otherwise they would really not be able to pay taxes.
Because the entire Qinchuan County was in great shortage of food, even Jiang Quan came back and said that the price of food in the grain shop had risen. The county government even opened a charity granary for this purpose, set up a pot at the vegetable market to cook porridge and distribute it to the refugees stranded in the county.
Yingbao just felt that the county magistrate was mentally ill.
After such a long time, the flood victims have not been properly resettled and are still allowed to wander around the county.
Or did the county magistrate open the charity granary and secretly sell the grain in the granary in the name of disaster relief
But these were none of her business, and she had no ability to interfere with the county magistrate's decision.
Now we can only take one step at a time. If there is another disturbance by refugees, it will be good as long as Dongchen Village can resist.
January soon arrived.
The Jiang family is very lively.
Not only did Wei Zhan not go home for the New Year, but Mr. Wu also did not leave. Even Zhou Wuchang brought his eldest disciple to the Jiang family and brought a large box of books to give to Jiang Jie.
Fortunately, Jiang Sanlang's family has many houses, otherwise there would not be enough space.
After the New Year, Zhou Wuchang left again with his eldest disciple.
Ying Bao and Zhang Min had already gotten used to it and almost forgot that they were his disciples.
In early spring, when the ice and snow had not yet completely melted, the refugees living on the south slope began to look for wild vegetables to eat.
There are so many wild vegetables outside Dongchen Village. The shepherd's purse grows in patches. Not only are they big, but they are also very tender. You can never dig them all up.
They dig up shepherd's purse, wash it, chop it into small pieces, mix it with rice and cook it together, so that the whole family can eat their fill.
The refugees exchanged soapberry rice for rice from the Jiang family and other villagers. If they ate it sparingly, they would have enough to last until the summer harvest.
During this period, as long as they found a job in Dongchen Village, they would not have to worry about making a living.
Although this kind of life is miserable, it is a hundred times better than their previous life.
Their days in their hometown were truly hopeless.
The harvested grain was taken away by the county government one after another. In order to survive, they had no choice but to sell their land and set out on the road to escape the famine with the grain they bought from the sale of their land.
Finally they discovered this village, which was so wealthy that it made people jealous.
So their leader Lin Wulang decided to stay and not leave.
As it turned out, Lin Wulang was right, and they were finally able to settle down here.