I was divorced because I got pregnant during the lean years, so I went back to my parents’ home and

Lin pulled Xiaohua down and said, "Do you look like a girl? Why are you so high..."

Xiaohua stuck out her tongue, made a face, ran out and got on the donkey cart.

The door of the house is too narrow. A donkey can come in, but a donkey cart cannot.

Shitou led the skinny little donkey in, smoothed its fur in the dark, and then led it to the backyard to feed it grass.

Under the oil lamp, Lin looked dazed as she looked at the tall pile of grain.

Xiaoju and Lin were in a similar state, not very sober.

Ji Xiaobei was so tired after walking all day that he almost did a split. He said directly, "Don't be suspicious. The money I used to buy the grain is my own. The grain price in the county changes every day. It's rising like a rocket."

Lin and Xiaoju both looked at her in surprise.

"It's just that the price has increased a lot. I bought old rice, so it won't affect our food. Tomorrow I'll ask Shitou to dig a big hole in the backyard, no, in my house, to store the food."

Mrs. Lin had experienced famine, and she turned pale with fear after hearing what her eldest daughter said.

"North, there's going to be famine again!"

"I don't know. Anyway, the wealthy families in the county are hoarding grain, so I bought 7 kilograms and saved some to eat, which will last until next year," said Ji Xiaobei.

Lin's attention was drawn to this and she no longer worried about where the money came from.

"My girl, you can't leave the grain like this. What if others find out..." As she spoke, Mrs. Lin stood up, her eyes shining.

"In our house, there is a cellar in the backyard. It was dug by your father. People in the old house don't know about it. You can store things in it." Lin was a little incoherent.

"Mom, my dad dug it. My grandma and the others really don't know?" Xiaoju wondered why her dad would dig this if he had nothing to do.

"It's like this, your father said there might be a famine in the future, so he told me to store my belongings in the cellar, but over the years, I haven't saved anything, so I haven't used anything!"

Ji Xiaobei said: "Then let's hide 6 bags and eat the remaining one bag."

Just as a few people were about to go out, they heard a donkey's bray.

Shitou was leading the donkey towards the house.

"Just tie it up in the yard, why bring it into the house?" Lin kicked a stone and when she came back, she didn't see anyone. The donkey would be returned tomorrow, so what was the point of serving it?

Shitou tied up the skinny donkey with a wronged look and followed it to the backyard.

Lin moved away a pile of rotten branches in the back room, revealing a large wooden board. She peeled off the board and saw dark holes inside.

Shitou and Xiaoju were both extremely shocked. They had lived here for so many years and had never known there was a cave here.

"It's very spacious in here. It can easily hold six sacks. I'll go down and clean it up." Lin went down holding an oil lamp.

Ji Xiaobei was so tired that her whole body was falling apart. She slumped down at the entrance of the cave and watched them put all the food in and restore the cave to its original state.

Seeing that her eldest daughter was exhausted, Lin hurriedly made two dumplings and added two large spoonfuls of scallion oil, which was very fragrant.

Ji Xiaobei and Shitou ate one each.

The whole family was very tired, so they went to rest.

Shitou took off his new pants, brushed off the dust, folded them and put them under the pillow.

Such new pants cannot be worn casually. They must be saved for the New Year.

Shitou was worried about the little donkey and couldn't sleep, so he simply gave up and got up to run the steps he had owed. He gritted his teeth and ran two more laps, sweating all over, before he stopped.

He collapsed beside the skinny donkey, feeling that everything was still hazy. He had gone there in a donkey cart, but how come when he arrived at the county town, the donkey cart became his own?

I also bought a mountain of food, it felt like a dream.

It was almost dawn, and before he could accept all this, he fell into a drowsy sleep.

Ji Xiaobei slept until dawn without having any dreams. She felt lost, as if something was missing.

Lying on the bed, I connected the refrigerator with my consciousness. After opening it, I found a note left by my old mother.

She wrote back: I used the gold and silver beads to buy food, so you don’t need to give me more money. I can support myself here…

She put the gold hairpin in the refrigerator, drank half a bottle of mineral water, and then started to get dressed.

Their family was busy for half the night yesterday and were still asleep when the sun rose.

Little did she know that the idle people in the village had already been walking around her house several times following the wheels of the car.

It had rained the day before yesterday. Jijia Bay is low-lying, the road surface is wet and soft, and the tire marks are deep and heavy.

Wang Erya went to dig wild vegetables at dawn, but unexpectedly she picked up several smooth donkey dung balls.

She curiously followed the tire tracks and found her way to Ji Xiaobei's home.

She saw a car parked at the door and a few donkey dung balls at the door. She quickly bent down to pick them up and put them in the backpack.

She was secretly surprised. Was this donkey cart coming to their house?

Then these donkey dung balls belonged to her family, huh! She felt that she had taken a great advantage, so she ran away holding the backpack.

In the morning light, there were already old women digging wild vegetables at the foot of the mountain.

"Who came to our village last night? Look at the tire tracks..."

"Some relative is coming over, right? Why is he coming so late at night? It can't be a big deal!"

……

Wang Erya came over and said, "I know, it's Ji Xiaobei's family!"

Wang Erya's sister-in-law Lian Ye asked hurriedly, "Erya, is the man from Ji Xiaobei's family here to pick her up?"

……

Xiaoju got up and also came to dig wild vegetables. She felt that the old women and wives looked at her with something strange in their eyes, with surprise, confusion and inquiry.

She picked up the basket and was about to leave.

"Hey, Xiaoju, who's here at your house?" Wang Erya pulled her sleeve.

She used to pick wild vegetables with Wang Erya, but ever since the two families had a quarrel over garlic, she never picked wild vegetables with her again.

"The donkey cart was borrowed from a relative in the county town," said Xiaoju.

"I told you, isn't it your brother-in-law who comes to pick up your sister?" Wang Erya walked over and said with a sneer.

"Do you have relatives in your county? I've never heard that you have relatives in your county..."

"They have relatives who will tell you!"

……

Several maids discussed in low voices.

Xiaoju looked indifferent. She ignored them and walked away with the basket.

She secretly admired her sister in her heart, thinking that her sister was so smart and what she said was right. The villagers were indeed talking about her donkey cart.

Her elder sister asked her to tell it to others to avoid making irresponsible assumptions and spreading gossip.

The donkey cart was borrowed from a relative in the county town, and everyone in the family had agreed on the story early on.

If someone insists on digging deeper, just say that he is a relative from Ji Xiaobei's husband's side.

Mrs. Lin's maiden family is from Linjiayuan, and she has not visited there since Ji Daniu left.

At home, the chicks in the cage were chirping.

Xiaohua is completing her daily check-in item - running.

She ran around the house again and again, and every time she ran to the donkey cart, she would touch the wooden body of the cart and count a number.

She ran 8 laps, counted eight ones, and touched the car body eight times.

Shitou followed Xiaohua and ran 8 laps, then gritted his teeth and ran 8 more laps, then threw himself directly onto the donkey cart, gasping for breath.