An orphan girl from a farming family: Everyday farming in the mountains during natural disasters

Someone actually followed Li Benfu and his two sons up the mountain and came to the cave!

Xia Qingyue looked carefully and saw that the figures first hid in the bushes not far away and whispered to each other for a few words. Then, as if they had reached some consensus, they stood up together and walked towards the cave.

"Okay, Li Benfu, your family found a good place in the mountains, secretly moved without telling us, and lived a good life in the mountains!"

The person who was speaking was a middle-aged man, and standing next to him was a boy and a girl, his children.

Xia Qingyue recognized the three people in the family. The man was named Zhu Sanbao, thirty-six years old, his son Zhu Manfu, sixteen years old, and his daughter Zhu Manzhen, fifteen years old.

The Zhu family is also from Xiushui Village. In fact, they are relatives of the original owner's family. Zhu Sanbao is the younger brother of the original owner's mother, Zhu Erniang.

Originally, the original owner and his family moved to the mountain and only told their close neighbor, the Li family, but did not tell anyone else, including the Zhu family.

The Zhu family is not a good family. In his early years, Zhu Sanbao lost money in gambling. The creditor brought people to his house to collect the debt and threatened to cripple Zhu Sanbao's hands and feet if he couldn't pay the money. The Zhu family, eager to save their son, took out all their belongings, three taels of silver, but it was not enough, and they still needed eight taels of silver.

In a hurry, Zhu's father and mother thought of Zhu Erniang, who was of marriageable age, and asked the creditor if they could use their daughter to pay off the debt.

When the creditor saw that Zhu Erniang was pretty and had some looks, he agreed immediately.

For Zhu Erniang, this was undoubtedly terrible news. No matter how hard she begged, Zhu's father and mother refused to give in. She was very stubborn and wanted to bang her head against the pillar and die on the spot. Fortunately, she was rescued by Xia Dasong who was passing by.

After understanding the whole story, Xia Dasong said that he was willing to pay off Zhu Sanbao's debt with eight taels of silver, but he could not force Zhu Erniang to marry him.

Zhu Erniang was deeply moved and said that she could not take the money for nothing. She wanted to marry Xia Dasong to repay his kindness.

In the end, under the instigation of the Zhu family, Xia Dasong gave eight taels of silver and hastily sent Zhu Erniang to the Xia family, and the two became husband and wife.

Since he was a child, Xia Dasong followed his father, a well-known old hunter in the village, into the woods to hunt. He is the only son in the family. His mother died of illness in her early years, and his father became ill due to injuries sustained while hunting. He became increasingly weak and passed away three years ago.

Hunters have slightly better living conditions than ordinary farmers who grow crops. Ever since Zhu Erniang married Xia Dasong, the Zhu family would come to ask for money every now and then, making life uneasy for the Xia family. This was one of the important reasons why the original owner's family decided to move to the mountains.

Thinking of these things, Xia Qingyue couldn't help but sigh for the original owner's family. What a miserable fate they had. Good people were not rewarded, and the harm they caused lasted for thousands of years.

Chen Yuzhen's family was greatly surprised to see the Zhu family suddenly appear. They had been so careful and secretive, yet they were still discovered.

No one knows a son better than his father. Li Benfu remembered something and looked at his youngest son Li Weisheng with a stern expression.

Li Weisheng looked at his father and then at the Zhu family, feeling anxious and aggrieved. "Dad, I didn't tell them. I only told Gousheng that our family was going to move to the mountain, and... and I didn't tell them the specific place."

The Li family looked at each other with unpleasant expressions.

Xia Qingyue in the dark couldn't help but hold her forehead. This silly boy is really silly. What's the situation? Why is he telling everything to others? It is said that the speaker may not mean anything but the listener may take it seriously. What's more, there are always ears on the other side.

Facts have proved that secrecy leads to success, while disclosure leads to failure.

"No need to say more, Li Benfu. This cave has a share for our Zhu family. Otherwise, I will tell the whole village that you have found a good place to live happily without telling anyone. Then we will see if they will let you go. How will you survive in the village in the future?"

Zhu Sanbao held his head high and chest puffed out, looking like a villain who has succeeded in his mission.

"Dad, the cave looks quite big from the outside, but I don't know what it's like inside. It's too steep and narrow. It's dark and damp and not suitable for our family to live in. I'll go in and take a look and pick a good place."

Zhu Manfu, who was about 1.6 meters tall and a little fat, said this, then proudly stuck out his tongue and made faces at the Li family, and went straight into the cave with his sister Zhu Manzhen.

Li Weikang and Li Weisheng were extremely anxious, following Zhu Manfu and his sister one after the other.

The Li family was secretly anxious. The current situation was very unfavorable for their family.

The family walked to the other side and talked in low voices.

"The Zhu family is not a good bunch. They've forced Er Niang's family into this state. They'll never change their ways!" Chen Yuzhen said angrily.

Chen's father, mother, and Chen Yuzhen's brother's family of six are from the neighboring village. They were just picked up by Chen Yuzhen today. They knew that the Zhu family had come with bad intentions and were very anxious.

"Don't worry. We all know the character of the Zhu family. Zhu Sanbao threatened us, and he meant what he said. Now we only have three options.

One is to listen to him and let them move in with us..."

As soon as Li Benfu said this, Li's mother Chen Yuzhen and her daughter-in-law hesitated to speak. From their resistant expressions, it can be seen that they did not want to make this choice.

"Second, if you don't obey, we will move away and find a place to stay in the mountains, away from them!"

“How can that be possible? We found the cave, and where can we move to?

The caves on the mountain can’t be found just by looking for them!” Father Li was anxious.

"The third option is to obey superficially and temporarily live with the Zhu family while looking for a new place to stay."

After Li Benfu finished speaking, he looked at his family with a questioning look.

They were standing a few meters away from the bushes where Xia Qingyue was hiding, so she heard their conversation.

Xia Qingyue was worried for the Li family. Their current situation was indeed not optimistic, but she knew very well that they would never have a good life if they were dealing with people from the Zhu family.

While the Li family was discussing, Zhu Sanbao urged impatiently, "Have you thought about it? What are you going to decide?"

Forced into a corner, the Li family finally made a choice, which was the third way Li Benfu mentioned.

"Hahaha, that's right, isn't there a saying that goes, 'He who knows the times is a hero!'" Zhu Sanbao laughed out loud with his head raised.

Zhu Manfu and others walked out of the cave.

"Dad, I've chosen a place for our family to live."

Zhu Manfu smiled happily.

The two brothers Li Weikang came out later with livid faces.

Zhu Manzhen crossed her arms, raised her chin, looked at the Li family with contempt, and said in a commanding tone: "Go and move the things out of the cave now, and wait until our family moves in before you move in."

Li Benfu's eyes were sharp, and he said coldly: "Each family owns half of the cave. It's impossible for your family to occupy all the good things. If you don't agree, then fine, I will go down the mountain now to tell the villagers that if they are willing, they can live here together."

After hearing this, the Zhu family became anxious.

Zhu Sanbao said, "Don't be impatient, Brother Benfu. Manzhen is just a child and doesn't understand anything. Just do as you say."

In the dark, Xia Qingyue gave Li Benfu a thumbs up, saying that this is how you have to fight against the best.

After hearing so much, Xia Qingyue roughly understood the situation and was about to leave, but what Zhu Sanbao said next to the Li family made her hair stand on end and her face suddenly turned gloomy.