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

The old man came out of the house wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket. Seeing his little apprentice punching vigorously in the snow, he couldn't help but smile. Not bad, not bad. Even when the weather changes, he can still crawl out of the warm bed. He is capable of doing great things.

After two sets of boxing, Zhou Guo was sweating all over, with wisps of white mist coming out of his head.

After he stopped, he saw the old man standing under the eaves and said, "Master, come quickly. Why are you wrapped so thickly? You are sweating all over after just a few punches."

The old man shook his head and said, "No, I am old now. I can sit and meditate, but not do anything else."

Zhou Guo said, "You are just lazy. Is there no more wine in the wine gourd? I will go to the city to get you some today."

The old man shook the wine pot and said, "It's really gone. Forget it with such heavy snow. I still have a big jar of the ginseng wine you made for me. I can just drink one cup every day."

He was not a drunkard, and he asked his apprentice to run so far to get him some wine in such heavy snow. "I haven't had a drink in such a long time, but I'm still here. I just have nothing to do. I don't have to drink. You've been telling me to drink less, so I'll drink less."

Zhou Guo nodded, and while practicing with the sword, he was thinking that it was inconvenient to always make two pots at a time. He had to go again after finishing drinking. Next time, he might as well drive an ox cart to drag back a dozen jars.

Bury it underground, and dig out a jar when you want to drink it and give the master a surprise.

She gave half of the money to her mother, and still had a lot left.

……

"Ah, it's snowing! What a heavy snow!"

"Really? Is it snowing? Let me see, hey, Sanmao, get up quickly and go play in the snow. Don't you like snow the most?"

Sanmao Zhou Mi huddled in the quilt and said drowsily, "I can't get up. It's too cold. Let me sleep a little longer."

The brothers couldn't get up, but Zhou Suli jumped up, put on his cotton jacket, cotton trousers and cotton shoes, and pulled Li Lai and Li Wang and ran out excitedly. The three of them rushed out screaming.

As soon as I went out and saw a yard full of snow, I laughed happily and ran to the yard to play in the snow.

Zhou Guo made a small snowball and threw it at his head.

"Ouch!" Zhou Su screamed as the liquid splashed all over his face. He shuddered and grabbed a handful of liquid from the ground, rolled it into a ball and threw it towards Zhou Guo.

Zhou Guo quickly picked up one and threw two at Li Lai.

Several people started fighting in an instant, and the sound of laughter could be heard from far away in the yard.

Zhou Gu and Zhou Mai came out of the house and joined the battle.

Zhou Mi buried his head deep in the bed. After a while, he lifted the quilt, sighed helplessly, and began to put on his clothes.

All the younger members of the Zhou family, except Zhou Xing, were in the yard, having fun.

It also attracted the two siblings from the Wang family next door, and the group of people almost blew the roof off the house.

The old man was sitting in the corridor drinking tea, watching this scene, twirling his beard and shaking his head with a smile.

Li and Zhou Xing were cooking around the steaming stove, looking at the white mist in the yard. Snowballs flew over here and over there, and snow flakes were flying everywhere, making it hard to see clearly.

Li's smile never faded. She said to Zhou Xing, "You should go play with your brothers and sisters for a while. I can come here alone. It's rare to have snow, so everyone should be happy."

Zhou Xing smiled and shook her head, looking at the heated scene outside, "Forget it, it's very cold. They are hot-tempered kids and are not afraid of the cold. I am not like that."

Li didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "You are only a few years older than them? You haven't married yet, you are still a child. Look at your eldest brother, he is older than you, and he is also having so much fun."

Zhou Xing felt a little embarrassed, but still shook her head, "Second Aunt, forget it, I'll just cook. I can't beat them."

Li stopped persuading her. Zhou Xing had been a quiet person since she was a child and didn't like to join in the fun.

Zhou Guo could no longer open his eyes, and didn't know where he was. He only knew that snowballs were hitting him one by one. He laughed and grabbed the snow on the ground, pinched it and threw it out. He didn't know who it hit, and only heard screams.

In just one morning, the snow in the yard had been beaten into a mess by them.

Wang Changgen and his sister were called back and they stopped.

After all this commotion, sweat was pouring down everyone's forehead, and heat was slowly rising from their heads, just like when they were cultivating immortals.

Everyone pointed at each other's heads and laughed.

……

Zhou Guo drank the warm porridge with fried sour beans, and ate it mouthful by mouthful with great appetite.

Li said, "The vegetables in the field have been moved into the cellar, and there is enough firewood. Let's make rice cakes today while we have some free time."

"Really?" Everyone was surprised and raised their heads from their bowls.

Li smiled and said, "We have been here for several months and have been busy with no free time. It just so happens that it is snowing and we have nothing to do, so it is just right to make some rice cakes for you as a snack."

When the family was doing well, we would make snacks for the children every New Year. But later on, our circumstances became bad and we couldn’t even have enough food to eat, so where would we get food for snacks?

The Zhou family’s children haven’t eaten it for a long time.

Everyone cheered, "Rice cake is good, let's make rice cake!"

Zhou Guo didn't want to eat rice cakes, but wanted to eat grilled skewers, so he said to the old man, "Master, it's snowing, let's go to the forest and catch a deer. It's also good to drink tea and watch the snow. Let's have a glass of wine."

"Yeah, not bad, not bad." The old man nodded repeatedly, "We'll leave after dinner."

Li said, "Isn't there a deer locked up in the backyard? Why bother going to the mountains to catch it? Just kill it."

Zhou Guo shook his head, "Mom, let's keep the deer. It's just starting to snow, so it's still early. It won't be too late to kill it when the mountain is closed due to heavy snow."

Li frowned, "It's still snowing now. Are we going into the mountains at this time?"

Zhou Guo smiled and said, "It's okay. Hunting is easier when it snows. If the forest is covered with snow after a while, it will be easier to hunt. The small animals will come out and their footprints will be clearly visible on the snow."

She followed her master just for fun, staying at home all day long and getting lice on her head from being so idle.

The snow is still falling outside.

Zhou Guo took off his thick cotton-padded jacket and put on a thinner cloak made of grey rabbit fur. He looked left and right and found the length and size were suitable. With his hands together, he could cover his whole body with it and keep warm.

Li saw this and frowned, "Why did you take off your thick cotton jacket? It's so cold outside, put it on quickly."

Zhou Guo waved his hand and said, "Mom, it's okay. I'm running outside. Wearing thick clothes will make it hard to move and it will be hot. This is just right. Besides, I have a cloak. If it's cold, I can put it over myself and keep warm."

As he spoke, he wrapped his cloak around himself and turned around.

Li opened her mouth, then stopped talking when she thought of her face covered in sweat from practicing martial arts every morning and her little hands and feet that were warm even in the winter.

Never mind. The child is old enough to know whether he is cold or hot.