After becoming a top-notch peasant woman, she continues to be a top-notch

Zhen Yue: "How is Madam Zheng's family? Where is her land?"

Qiao Chen was stunned, "It seems that most of it was also taken away."

Zhen Yue: "If we stop letting Madam Zheng work, what will happen to her family?"

Mrs. Qiao Chen was stunned. Madam Zheng only had a mother-in-law and a little son at home. If the Qiao family's job was gone, it would be difficult for their family to survive.

Zhen Yue: "Once we stop raising livestock, we won't need Hu Da and Hu Er anymore. Also, the people who helped look after the tea trees and woad in Haozi Mountain can be completely dispensable now."

There was no other way. All the food had been eaten by locusts. They could handle the rest themselves. Besides, they had suffered heavy losses. If they hired so many more people, everyone would think that the Qiao family was really rich.

Mrs. Qiao Chen thought about it and felt better. "Then Madam Zheng should stay."

What was unexpected was that in addition to the locust plague, there was also a drought. It is very hot now, but there was no rain for more than two months during the locust plague.

It rained frequently when we just started sowing seeds, but now there is no rain at all. The water level in the river has dropped so much that you can even see the riverbed.

The water level in the Qiao family's well has also dropped significantly. The water level that was originally more than three meters is now only about one meter.

"I heard that Chidingzhou and Handanzhou are both providing disaster relief, and some dignitaries are distributing porridge in the city. It would be great if we were in the city, maybe we could go and have some porridge for free." Madam Zheng chatted with Qiao Chen and the others.

Qiao Chenshi: "Why is there no disaster relief in Anning Prefecture?"

Madam Zheng shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe they think the losses in Anning Prefecture are not as severe as those in Chiding Prefecture and Handan Prefecture?"

Qian ate the sour fruit and said, "Isn't it amazing? The price of grain outside is soaring." Their family now has a fixed amount of food. Before, they could feed the pigs, chickens and ducks with the leftovers, but now there is not even a hair left.

Qian now admired her sister-in-law's wisdom and bravery. Whenever she went to deliver vegetables, she would take out some money to buy food and store it at home. So she was not too worried about having no food at home. It's just that the daily dishes are very different from before.

In the evening, we had steamed eggs with soybean paste, two large plates of stir-fried vegetables, a pot of pickled radish, and a pot of pickled beans, for more than a dozen people to share.

It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. The family found the food a bit boring, mainly because they hadn't eaten meat for several days. Qian, on the other hand, kept eating the pot of sour radish. She always thought she was pregnant with a son, so she liked to eat sour food.

Zhen Yue gave the steamed egg and rice to little Achu, and he ate it with great relish.

Mrs. Qiao Chen looked at everyone and said, "Why don't we catch a chicken tomorrow and cook it? We haven't eaten meat in several days. Let everyone have a taste." She looked at Zhen Yue as she said this.

Zhen Yue had no objection, "Okay, Third Brother, catch one tomorrow..."

"Ok."

"By the way, my second brother will go ask the Song family and the Zhou family tomorrow if they want pork, chickens and ducks. We have to sell the livestock at home."

Qiao Er: "Okay, I'll go tomorrow."

Qian: "After we sell this, will we not be able to eat meat?" She started to swallow her saliva when she heard that they would have chicken the next day.

Zhen Yue: "Keep a few at home and sell the rest."

I thought that having no food in the first half of the year and now there are signs of drought is the worst thing.

The villagers of Da Nan Village are also living a hard life by tightening their belts. Some families can only afford one meal, and if they are still hungry they can only drink water.

The Hu family was also very worried when they learned that the Qiao family had sold their livestock and stopped raising livestock. The family had lost a major source of income and they didn't know what to do.

Mrs. Hu also sighed, "There's nothing we can do. Most of the food in the mountains was eaten by locusts. The Qiao family's vegetables were also eaten. We can no longer make money by selling vegetables. The livestock also need food, and now even people are running out of food."

"It should be fine after this period of time is over. The Qiao family can't possibly stop raising livestock forever. We can wait until these hard times are over. Besides, our family has gained so much, it's enough."

Boss Hu and Second Boss Hu also knew about it, they were just worried.

It took only half a month to sell all the livestock, mainly because the Zhou family wanted a lot of them. Their family ran a restaurant, and because of the locust plague, the Zhou family’s farm was also affected. Even if they wanted to buy some things, the other party might not sell them.

The pork, chicken and duck from this Qiao family are all good, so of course I ordered almost all of them.

Qiao San gave Hu Da and Hu Er a reward of one tael of silver each, "It's not easy for everyone. When the day comes, if we raise livestock again, we will ask you for help first."

"Thank you, Brother Qiao Sandi. We know about it."

Because it didn't rain and there were still some things in the fields, the Qiao family had to go to the river to fetch water and also burn the fields, for fear that there were still insect eggs left in the fields.

Qiao Dashan, Qiao Chao and others went to fetch water early in the morning every day. The weather was very hot and the sun came out very early. In a short while, Qiao Chao was sweating profusely.

Qiao Dashan was busy for a while, then he put his hands on his waist and looked at the fields. "If this continues, the autumn planting will be delayed."

If it doesn't rain for a long time, not only will the crops suffer, but people will also be unable to bear it.

"Uncle Chen fainted!" There was a sudden shout. Qiao looked towards them and saw Uncle Chen, who was working in the Chen family's land not far away, collapsed to the ground.

Qiao Chao and the others hurried over to help. He first took the people to a shady tree, then some fanned them, some gave them water to drink, and some even pinched their Ren Zhong points.

Not long after, Uncle Chen finally woke up in a daze, but he still didn't look well.

"Hurry up and carry the man back and get a doctor."

Everyone worked together, and Uncle Chen was carried back to the Chen family. Uncle Chen's wife, Aunt Liu, almost lost her legs when she saw him being carried back by the villagers.

Qiao Chao: "It should be sunstroke."

Aunt Liu: "What should we do then?"

Qiao Chao: "Someone has already gone to find a doctor. Please fan him more. I don't know what to do." He is not a doctor.

Soon the doctor came, and it turned out to be sunstroke. There have been many people suffering from sunstroke recently. When the doctor came, he also brought medicine with him. He gave her acupuncture and prescribed medicine, "Three times a day, boil three bowls of water into one bowl of water. Two hundred coins."

The doctor took out the medicine.

Aunt Liu was immediately shocked when she heard it, "Two hundred coins! Why is it so expensive?"

Doctor: "The locust plague not only eats food, but also some medicinal herbs." Without the medicinal herbs, they will become expensive.

Aunt Liu went into the house and took out some money. As soon as the doctor left, she started crying, "What should I do? We don't have much food at home, and now the medicine is so expensive!"

Someone on the side advised her, "Hurry up and boil some medicine for Uncle Chen. There is nothing we can do about it. Everything is expensive now."

"Yes, I heard that the price of grain has reached over 100 coins per pound. Alas!"

"When will the imperial court send people to provide disaster relief?"

Some people complained, and Qiao Chao left as he saw that nothing was wrong. It seemed that Uncle Chen was not the only one who had been sunburned recently, so it seemed that everyone should be more careful.

When Qiao Chao got home, he told Zhen Yue about this. Zhen Yue thought that it was indeed hot that day, and there seemed to be some mung beans at home. "Let's cook some mung beans for everyone to drink tomorrow, and put them under the well to freeze."

Qiao Chao: "It seems like there isn't much sugar left at home?" We had planted some beets behind the house, but they haven't grown yet.

Zhen Yue: "It's okay, just don't add sugar, drink it like this." It's mainly to relieve the summer heat.

"Alright."

Zhen Yue: "If possible, I'd like to buy some medicine for heatstroke and keep it. It looks like this weather will be hot for a long time." She was also afraid that something might happen to someone at home, so she wanted to stock up on whatever was needed, otherwise she would feel insecure.