Yingbao hugged A Niang tightly and rubbed her head on her chest.
Luckily it was a dream.
Fortunately, I'm back.
Chunniang patted her daughter's back and said softly, "Bao'er, are you hungry? It's already noon. You slept so deeply that I couldn't wake you up."
Yingbao nodded, "I'm hungry."
"Then mother will bring lunch, and you should go and wash up quickly." Chunniang said.
"Yeah." Yingbao turned around and saw her two younger brothers sitting next to her, sucking their fingers and squinting at her with silly smiles.
She let go of her mother, ran to her two younger brothers, touched their round little heads, and said with a smile: "Xiaojie, Dawu, can I teach you to read later?"
Xiao Jie took his finger out of his mouth and slapped it wetly on the little sister's face, and let out a cry, as if in response.
Xiao Wu suddenly turned his head and slapped the little brother on the forehead, then grabbed the little brother's chubby hand and bit it.
"Ouch, Xiao Wu, why did you bite your brother?"
Yingbao quickly carried Xiaowu away.
Xiao Jie burst into tears and raised his bitten little hand to complain to his mother.
Chun Niang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She touched Xiao Jie's little fleshy hand and blew on it. "It's okay, it doesn't hurt, Xiao Jie. Xiao Wu is just playing with his brother."
Xiao Jie rubbed his eyes and stopped crying. He crawled over and sat with his younger brother and sister.
Yingbao tapped Xiaowu's forehead and said softly, "You can't bite your brother in the future, understand?"
Xiao Wu blinked and threw himself into his sister's arms. He turned his head to glare at his brother Xiao Jie, and quietly stretched out his little feet to kick him, trying to kick him away and not let him get close to his sister.
…
Jiang Sanlang lay on the kang for two days. He took his medicine on time every day and ate the steamed eggs made by his little girl. He was very happy and even took off the cloth wrapped around his head.
Now is the busy farming season. The wheat in the dry fields needs to be harvested, the rice seedlings in the paddy fields need to be planted, and the land on the other side of the south mountain needs to be sown with millet.
At this time of year, even Muramasa's donkey was exhausted.
Yingbao has been busy lately, taking care of her younger brother, allowing her parents to work in the fields with peace of mind.
In addition to taking care of her younger brother, she also has to find time to cook for her parents and steam a bowl of egg custard for her younger brother to supplement his nutrition.
Things in the cave can only be done at night.
All the seeds bought from the peddler have been planted in the cave, waiting to sprout.
She took special care of the foreign seeds and planted them separately in the black soil beside the pond.
And those thirty golden ears seemed to have really mutated. Not only did they not collapse, but they grew bigger and bigger. They were crystal clear and golden in color, and very beautiful.
As for the three piles of grain harvested previously, they had not all been threshed yet. Yingbao decided to wait until her own wheat was transported to the threshing ground, and then quietly let the wheat from the cave out, pile it together with the wheat at home, and thresh it together.
Yuanbao's school also had a farm holiday.
He and Huzi often came to play with his little cousin. Occasionally, with the approval of his little cousin, they would ride on Yoyo and run around the village for a long circle, attracting countless envious and jealous eyes.
Xiaojie and Xiaowu were also very excited to see Yoyo and kept crawling towards her.
Yingbao found two small backpacks, tied them up with ropes, and placed one on each side of Youyou's back. She also fixed the backpacks to the leather saddle so that they would not drift off.
Then she put her two younger brothers into each of the backpacks and took them for a stroll.
Xiaojie and Xiaowu were so happy that they held onto the edge of the backpack, looked out, and giggled.
Hu Zi looked at it with envy and kept pulling Ying Bao. He also wanted to sit in the backpack.
Helplessly, Yingbao had to put the two younger brothers in one backpack and let Huzi stay in the other side.
Then a strange sight appeared in the village: a two-year-old girl was leading a big deer. There were two backpacks hanging on both sides of the deer, and three boys were sitting in the backpacks. One of the boys was obviously bigger than the girl.
There were a few children surrounding the big deer, staring at Huzi, Xiaojie and Xiaowu with envy.
When the teacher saw this, he shook his head and sighed.
The morals of the world are deteriorating, with yin prevailing and yang declining.
What's wrong with these kids in the village? Why are they always hanging around a tiny little girl
A few days passed in a flash.
The wheat in the village has basically been harvested, and some has already been threshed, leaving only the grains to be dried.
In the past few days, the head of the village has brought people to check it out and announced that this year's taxes will be increased by 10%.
The villagers complained, but there was nothing they could do.
As a result, many villagers hurried to dry the wheat, hoping to transport the grain out and sell it as soon as possible in exchange for more money.
Because the court is now implementing the Two-Tax System, which is to collect taxes based on the amount of land, and convert the tax grain into silver for collection.
Therefore, the people had to sell their grain first before they had money to pay taxes.
This means that the grain market will quickly become saturated after the summer harvest, and grain prices will be drastically reduced by wealthy merchants.
Therefore, people must sell their food before the price drops to minimize their losses.
Jiang Sanlang's wheat has been harvested and is drying on the threshing floor, ready to be dried for a day or two before threshing.
But he was not in a hurry at all. Anyway, his family had money to pay taxes, and he had no plan to sell the grain he collected this time.
Didn’t Uncle Chen say that the price of grain would definitely go up this winter? So not only did he not sell the grain, he also wanted to buy some from other villagers and store it.
Of course I won’t buy too much, just enough for my family to get through the year.
As he was turning over the wheat to dry, he suddenly saw Chen Ergou and his wife from Xichen Village running over. They knelt down before Jiang Sanlang, howling and begging:
"Sanlang, please, go to the county town and ask for mercy for my donkey, wuwuwuwu..."
Jiang Sanlang was startled and quickly stepped back to avoid him, saying coldly: "Did you ask for help in the wrong place?"
Chen Er walked forward on his knees, crying and saying:
"Sanlang, it's all my donkey's fault. I shouldn't have listened to that damn Chen Sanshi's instigation. But you're fine, right? Can you go to the county magistrate and ask him to let my donkey go? Wuuuuuuu... please..."
Jiang Sanlang was speechless and angrily asked, "You said I have nothing wrong?"
He lowered his head and pointed at a large bald spot on the top of his head: "Are you blind? Who caused such a large scar here?"
Chunniang also said angrily: "My husband was almost killed by your Chen Luer and his gang, and you actually said it was nothing?"
Chen Ergou's eyes twinkled and he thought to himself, "Aren't you full of energy now?"
He blew his nose and cried, "Then...then can you lend me some money so I can redeem my son."
Although his son had committed a crime, he was not yet eighteen years old. The county magistrate said that as long as his family paid fifty taels of silver, he could redeem his son.
If he cannot pay the ransom, Chen Lu'er will have to remain in the county jail.
But where did he get fifty taels of silver, and his family couldn't even afford a hundred coins.
He borrowed money from everyone in the village these days, but no one was willing to lend him money.
When many people saw him coming, they quickly closed their doors and windows, and refused to respond no matter how many times they called him.
Later, Chen Laoshuan told him that Jiang Sanlang from Dongcun had recovered and was alive and well, and did not look like he was seriously injured at all.
Moreover, Jiang Sanlang received fifteen taels of compensation that day. Fifteen taels of money was the hard-earned money of the people of Xicun.
Chen Laoshuan also gave him some advice, saying that Jiang Sanlang's family is rich in gold, and the money he could get from some of his wealth would be enough for fifty taels. He should go and cry and beg for mercy. Old man Jiang is very proud, so he might lend him the money.
Jiang Sanlang was almost so angry that he laughed, "How dare you come to me to borrow money? Who gave you the face?"