Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

midsummer.

evening.

In the village, white smoke began to float from the chimneys of every household.

A family located at the foot of the mountain west of the village is no exception.

Unlike other families, this family's yard is particularly large. In the yard grows an apricot tree as thick as an adult's calf. The apricots on the tree are still green. When the wind blows, one or two yellowish apricots occasionally appear among the treetops.

Several children under the tree raised their heads, stretched their necks, and looked at the tree excitedly.

"Uncle, look a little higher up, behind that leaf, do you see that one? It's big and yellow."

"And there's one on your head too!"

“I want the big one!!”

The children were talking at once, but the boy on the tree showed no impatience at all. He smiled and picked the fruits while carefully asking for directions.

At this time, an old woman in her fifties came in from outside with firewood on her back. Seeing this scene, she said to the young man on the tree, "Don't pick too many, Lao San. One is enough for each person. I have to keep the rest to sell for money."

The boy agreed, and the children under the tree stopped making any noise.

After the old woman gave her instructions, she turned around and saw a girl of about seven or eight years old sitting alone on the doorstep. She frowned and said to her little son on the tree, "Remember to pick a fruit for him, too."

After saying that, he shook his head and went into the house.

This is Lao Zhou’s house.

The head of the Zhou family is the old father Zhou Deli, and his wife is Huang.

The couple had three sons. The eldest, Zhou Dafu, married Xu and had two sons and two daughters.

The eldest son is Zhou Gu, the eldest daughter is Zhou Xing, the youngest son is Zhou Mi, and the youngest daughter is Zhou Tao, who is five years old this year.

The second son, Zhou Dacai, married Li and had two sons and one daughter.

The eldest son is Zhou Mai, the daughter is Zhou Guo, and the youngest son is Zhou Suli.

The third youngest son, Zhou Dacang, is sixteen years old and has not yet married.

The second child, Zhou Dacai's family, is a little special. His second daughter has been a little unusual since she was born.

When I was still in the confinement period, I didn’t cry or make a fuss. I would eat what I was given and sleep when I was tired.

At that time, everyone said happily that this child really saved the adults a lot of trouble and was very easy to take care of.

Gradually, as the child grew older, everyone discovered that something was not quite right. The child didn't cry or make a fuss, but she didn't speak either. She was dull, like a wooden stake. She seemed not to hear what others said and didn't respond at all.

The second son and his wife were stunned by this as if they had been struck by a bolt from the blue. They never expected that their well-behaved and innocent daughter was actually a fool. What should they do?

The whole family was panicked.

The anxious old lady immediately took her granddaughter to a nearby temple to pray to the gods.

I don’t know how much money the old lady gave, but she went home happily with her granddaughter that afternoon.

When she came back, she smiled and said to her family, "Don't worry. The master said that this girl is destined to be very lucky and wealthy. She is very unusual, but she is slow to catch on. We just need to wait patiently."

Now everyone can finally put their minds at ease.

Mrs. Li looked at her little girl's silly look, still a little worried and asked: "Mother, did the master say when this child will become smart? How long do we have to wait?"

Yes, everyone looked over again.

The old lady waved her hand and said, "He said that when the time comes, things will open up naturally. I think so too. This kind of thing cannot be rushed. Who knows what God thinks."

The main thing is that there's nothing we can do about it. We should be thankful to know that she will get better, and we can't demand anything else.

Old man Zhou put his hands behind his back and nodded, "If that's the case, let's give the child a name now."

Because newborn babies are afraid that they will not be able to stand, they are usually not formally named until they are three years old.

"The master said that this girl will be rich and powerful in the future, so we need to give her a name to show her respect."

No one understands why a good fate should be suppressed by a name, but just do what your father says.

Zhou Dacai said without thinking: "Then let's go with Zhou Tao, they are both fruits."

Everyone said yes.

The old lady frowned and said, "No, this girl is different from her sisters and brothers at home. She is destined to be rich and powerful, so she must have a different name."

"Then what to call her? What's the difference between the names?" Xu was a little disapproving. She was just a little girl, and it was good enough to be called Guozi. Many girls in the village didn't have proper names, and one of them was picked. She couldn't be called Liangzi like the boys in the family, right?

There was no scholar in the Zhou family, so they couldn't think of a good name, which made everyone worried for a while.

Finally, it was Zhou Da Cang who clapped his hands and said, "I think we should call her Zhou Guo. She is similar to Daya, but different."

When everyone heard this, their eyes lit up and the old lady had nothing to say.

Finally it was decided that the little girl of the Zhou family, who is silly now but will become rich and powerful in the future, will be named Zhou Guo.

In a blink of an eye, seven or eight years have passed, and Zhou Guo is still stupid and dull, with no signs of coming to his senses.

My family went from believing it completely at first to being skeptical later on, and gradually they all lost hope.

At the beginning, the old lady was waiting and looking forward to it every day. Although she told her family members that there was no rush, she was actually more anxious than anyone else. If she didn't come to her senses, the child would have to get married. Would she be able to convince the right person by the time the time came?

Don't delay the child.

Only Li firmly believed that her daughter was not a fool and would wake up one day. As a mother, she knew it better than anyone else. From the beginning to the end, she did not believe that her fair, plump and beautiful daughter could be a fool.

Moreover, when the child was just born, his eyes were black and shiny, and they were moving around, showing his intelligence.

The days passed one by one.

Zhou has a large family.

With such a big family, they open their mouths to eat every day.

Relying on the few acres of land at home, the men would go to the county town or landlords to do odd jobs during the slack season. At the end of the year, with some rice bran and wheat bran mixed in, they could at least fill their stomachs.

The children who live at home are also growing up every year.

But such days have become increasingly difficult in the past two years.

God is not on our side. Every year there are various disasters and the crops in the fields have been poor year after year.

Not only that, the taxes to be paid have increased in the past two years, and the little savings that the family had saved with great difficulty in previous years have been drained out.

This year is not much better.

It has not rained for nearly four months. The few times it rained stopped before the fields were fully irrigated and the river is about to bottom out. There is no doubt that the harvest will be poor this year, and we still have to pay taxes. Even if the family tightens their belts and saves money on food, it still won't be enough.

In the evening, the whole family sat around the table and drank porridge.

It’s called porridge, but the amount of rice in the bowl can be clearly counted, and the rice has not been husked.

Although the wheat has been harvested, we still have to eat food sparingly, and we have to save some for paying taxes.

You don’t have to work at night, you can just eat and sleep, so there’s no need to eat so well.

None of the children complained. They all held their bowls and drank with relish.

Zhou Dacang also drank happily with the children.

Old man Zhou looked at the row of children, big and small, and stirred the porridge in the bowl. He couldn't help but sigh. He had two meals a day, and eating this at night was not enough to make him full.

When he sighed, his sons and daughters-in-law, who were busy eating, raised their heads.

Huang glanced at him and said, "Eat quickly. It's already this late. If you wait any longer, you won't be able to see."

There was no oil lamp at home, so it was time to go to bed when it got dark.

The eldest, Zhou Dafu, frowned and looked at the children. He said to Old Man Zhou, "Dad, how are we going to pay the miscellaneous taxes this year?"

After that, he asked Huang, "Mom, how much extra money do we have at home?"

Zhou Dacai and Li also looked over.