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

"Yes, but not entirely..."

"Sir, does that mean that only scholars will be born into a family of scholars, and only the children of farmers will know how to farm?"

"What Shitou said is quite right, but not entirely right. This is because the living environment after birth has an impact on people..."

Shi Tou was praised and looked very proud.

Ji Xiaobei listened for a while and left with satisfaction...

Teacher Ma is good at inspiring people, which is good.

……

"Sir, you have already finished reading, why do you need to write? I don't want to waste your paper. You still have to take the exam to become a scholar!"

"Sir, can I not write? Look at my hands that are used to holding a hoe. I can't hold a thin pen..."

"Sir, I have something to do and I'll leave first..."

"If you don't finish your homework, you won't be allowed to sleep at night..."

The fair and shy Mr. Ma couldn't help but roared...

Three children have already broken out of the door...

Ji Xiaobei followed Lin to the fields.

In the past, Lin was extremely envious of other people’s lush and prosperous fields.

Now the greenery is covered by yellow sand. People are digging out seedlings from the sand, causing heavy losses.

Her fields were still as bare as ever.

She sighed, this year will definitely be another year of famine.

Ji Xiaobei was secretly happy. He was going to get rich with the food he stockpiled yesterday.

Waiting for the government to distribute relief food? Dream on. She has just experienced three terrible years. The government is powerless. Who can take care of the people at the bottom? In the end, they have to rely on themselves.

Aunt Song walked over with red eyes, followed by Ming'er with tears on her face.

"Her aunt..." Lin didn't know how to comfort her. Her family had just rented five acres of land, which had been completely harvested due to floods last year. Now the crops they planted this year were going to fail again.

"Aunt Song, your family should also make preparations early. Stock up some food before the price goes up!" Ji Xiaobei said casually.

"Mrs. Lin, have you stocked up at home?" asked Aunt Song.

Before Lin could speak, Ji Xiaobei said, "Many people in the county are hoarding grain. I followed the crowd and bought two bags of grain!"

Aunt Song obviously didn't expect that people in the county were also hoarding food.

"Bei, I heard from everyone in the village that the county government is going to open a low-price warehouse to store grain next month!" Aunt Song said hesitantly.

"That's possible, but it's better to have some food stored at home to give me peace of mind." Ji Xiaobei said with a smile.

"I'll go back and discuss it with my husband!" Aunt Song walked away with a depressed look on her face.

Her husband has been doing odd jobs in town, leaving home early and coming back late. The household is taken care of by Aunt Song and Ming'er, and there is also a three-year-old boy who needs to be taken care of.

Life is not easy.

Most families in Jijiawan are similar to Aunt Song's family. During the busy farming season, men stay at home to do farm work. During the slack farming season, men go out to do odd jobs to supplement the family income.

There was nothing interesting to see in the fields, so Ji Xiaobei and Lin went back home.

When I reached the entrance of the alley, I saw a few dirty children surrounding Xiaohua with envy on their faces.

"My cousin is so awesome. He can write and he also taught me to read. Do you want to meet my cousin?" Xiaohua said with her hands on her hips in a proud manner.

"I want to..." several children said in unison.

Tiedan asked: "Is your cousin a scholar?" Tiedan's father often went to the scholar's house in the town to work. The scholar was the most powerful person he knew.

"Yes, how did you know? My cousin took the exam for the title of scholar several times! Just think about it, how outstanding a person must be to take the exam for the title of scholar, and to be allowed to take it several times?"

Several children tilted their heads, unable to imagine how powerful he was. Anyway, he was extremely powerful, even more powerful than Tiedan's grandfather.

"Then let us meet him!" Tieqiu tilted his head and looked at Xiaohua expectantly.

"You have to ask our Decai if he is willing?" She pointed at Ji Decai who was groaning with hunger.

They read books for the whole morning and no one was there to let the donkey go.

And last night, it chased and chased so hard, but the donkey ran and ran very fast.

It disappeared in the blink of an eye. It lost its way in a ravine covered with yellow sand and wandered for half a night before it found its home.

Ji Decai said he was very hurt because he didn't eat much of the food he was angry about.

Several children looked at Decai with confusion.

"What I mean is, you go to the foot of the mountain and get some young grass for Decai. My cousin gave me homework today, and I have to do it at home." Xiaohua finally stated her purpose.

When the children heard this, they thought, isn’t this a very simple thing?

They went back, carried their small backpacks, and, led by Tiedan, headed towards the foot of the mountain in a mighty procession.

Ji Xiaobei laughed secretly in his heart. Xiaohua was not so interested in Ji Decai at this time, and she had lost her enthusiasm for letting the donkey go.

This is to delegate the tasks assigned to you at home.

The little girl is small, but she has a lot of clever ideas.

The Ji family had discussed it last night and said that Malacca was a distant cousin and was coming to stay for a while.

But I dare not say that I was an invited gentleman, so as to avoid arousing jealousy.

I heard that there are two families in the east end of the village who have postponed marrying off their children because adding a mouth to feed is no joke.

There was another family who sent their daughter-in-law back to her parents' home after their son died. With one less mouth to feed, there would be some food left at home.

Ji Xiaobei was sitting in the yard, looking at the dim sky. No one knew where this sandstorm came from, and the sky in the distance was extremely turbid.

There was a sound of quarrel coming from Aunt Song's house next door.

"What do you know, woman? Why buy food? The food at home can only last a month. The rumor in town is that relief food will be distributed next month!"

"Even if relief food is distributed, what's wrong with buying some in advance? If no food is distributed, will everyone in the family starve to death?" Aunt Song shouted loudly.

"You're always hanging out with those women, talking nonsense. Where did you hear those rumors? Damn it, I'll beat you to death!"

……

The two men wrestled together, and there was a sound of thumping and knocking the ground.

When a couple fights, are they really using kung fu?

Ji Xiaobei was terrified when he heard this.

The Ji family members stood in the yard and listened, imagining two people fighting each other.

Finally, the sound of a man begging for mercy was heard.

"Damn it, I, Song Chang'e, will spare you today. From now on, I will have the final say in this family." Aunt Song roared like a lion.

Ji Xiaobei: This woman’s name is Song Chang’e. I don’t know which planet she is from, but she is so fierce!

I just mentioned it myself, but I didn't expect that Aunt Song really took it to heart.

There were sounds of footsteps in the alley.

"Xiaohua, it's bad, the water in the river is undrinkable!" Several children threw the grass with yellow sand in their backpacks into the donkey shed where Ji Decai collapsed, and ran away.

"What, the water can't be drunk? Then what can we drink?" Lin was shocked. She hadn't gone to fetch water today, so how could she not drink it?

This is a big deal. Over the years, the village's drinking water has come from that small river. We can survive for a while without food, but without water, people will die.