Traveling through the mountains and farming

When Li Changren returned to the gate of his own courtyard, he heard Zhang's two brothers from her mother's family shouting loudly about borrowing grain.

When grain merchants came to the village to collect grain a few days ago, Zhang's two brothers also sold grain, but Li Changren did not know the specific amount.

But listening to this scene of borrowing food, it was so similar to what he had just done.

Li Changren laughed secretly in his heart, but pretended to be helpless on his face and pushed open the gate.

As soon as he stepped in, Zhang's two brothers got up from their stools as soon as they saw him, rushed over like lightning, and one of them hugged one of his thighs and began to cry one after another.

The eldest brother Zhang Daniu hugged his left leg and cried, "Changren, you must not forget that when you asked to marry our sister, you promised to take care of our family!"

The second brother Zhang Erniu, who was holding his right leg, immediately cried and continued: "Yes, now is a difficult time for our family. You must fulfill your promise. We are still short of three stone of rice for the autumn tax. You must help us."

In fact, their family could barely pay the autumn tax, which was similar to Li Changren's situation.

They also wanted to borrow grain from Li Changren to pay taxes and keep the grain for themselves.

They are indeed a family, and they have the same idea as their sister Zhang.

Li Changren built up his emotions and started his performance.

He squatted down, hugged his two brothers, and began to cry:

"Oh my, my two brothers-in-law, how could we be so stupid to sell all the grain together? You still need two stones of grain for the autumn tax, but I still need three stones. You must help me. I just went to borrow grain from my uncle, but I couldn't get any. You have two brothers to support each other, but I am the only one in my family. I can't be dragged into military service."

After saying that, Li Changren hugged them even tighter and pretended to cry sadly. He looked really pitiful.

Zhang's two brothers were dumbfounded when they saw this. They didn't expect Li Changren to use this trick. They immediately forgot to cry and just stood there in a daze.

After a while, the two men realized that this trick didn't work, so they stood up and lifted Li Changren up at the same time.

Zhang Daniu started to act like a rogue, "Brother-in-law, no matter what, you have to help us get through this difficult time, otherwise we won't let you go."

"Yes, we absolutely can't let this go!" Zhang Erniu echoed.

"Okay, my two brothers, you go back first. I will discuss this with the head of the family and give you an answer tomorrow."

At this time, Zhang next to her came over and said.

When Zhang's two brothers heard their sister's answer, although they were somewhat reluctant, they had to give up for the time being.

The two men let go of Li Changren, walked up to Zhang, whispered a few words to her, then turned and left.

After getting rid of the restraints of his two brothers-in-law, Li Changren breathed a sigh of relief and brushed off the dust on his body.

Zhang also ran over to help him tidy up his clothes and asked him if borrowing grain went smoothly.

After hearing Li Changren say that Uncle Li promised to find a way, she knew there was a high probability of success.

Then she suggested that they wait for Uncle Li to lend them grain, and then they would give her mother's family the grain they wanted to borrow.

Li Changren immediately said resolutely: "No, we borrowed the food from our uncle's house for our own use. If we give it to your brothers, what will our family eat?"

Zhang took Li Changren to sit in the yard, then went into the house, brought him a glass of water, and said slowly:

"We have borrowed four dan from our uncle's family. We have lent out two dan, and we still have two dan left, which is enough for us to get through a month or two. We should be able to buy food by then."

"It's hard to say. I think it's best for us to keep the food for ourselves, in case we still can't buy food when the time comes." Li Changren insisted with a frown.

Hearing that Li Changren still refused to lend food to her family, she did not make a scene. Instead, she sat next to Li Changren with tears in her eyes and said softly with a hint of grievance:

"Master, ever since I married you, I have been doing my best to take care of the family. I know that food is scarce at home, but my two brothers really have no other choice. If they can't pay the autumn tax, one of them will be punished to serve in the army. I can't just stand by and watch them die."

Then she continued in a tearful voice, "I have never asked you for anything on a normal day. Just have pity on me this time and let me help them. Think about it, my parents didn't agree to marry me to you, and it was my two brothers who helped to put in good words so that I could marry you smoothly."

After saying that, she leaned over the table next to her, her shoulders trembling slightly, and made a pitiful look to let Li Changren know how difficult it was for her.

Li Changren looked at Zhang's pitiful appearance and his heart softened. He agreed to give two stone of grain to her parents' home as soon as Uncle Li agreed to lend him grain.

Little did he know that Uncle Li had already been working very hard to allocate him a stone of grain.

~

Lin Wan, who no longer had to worry about the autumn tax, took out the bag of seeds she had bought when she first went to the city after returning home.

Then he took the two siblings to plant three sweet potatoes and four potatoes in the vegetable garden in the backyard.

On her way back from the village, she had calculated that after paying the autumn tax, their grain would be enough to feed them for more than nine months.

But she was worried that something might suddenly happen, so she planted three sweet potatoes even though it was a little late in the planting season.

Prepare to cultivate seedlings first and then see the situation when the time comes.

Lin Wan had just washed her hands. Thinking that it was still early in the morning, she prepared to continue taking the two siblings into the mountains to pick sour dates and other fruits.

When they were picking mushrooms yesterday, they left a lot of sour jujubes and sea buckthorns unpicked.

So, the three of them set out again, carrying their backpacks, toward the mountains on the west side of the valley.

Li Ke was still searching for mushrooms through the grass and fallen leaves. When he came across a place with a lot of mushrooms, Lin Wan and Li Chongle would help pick them.

In this way, they came to the place where they picked sour dates yesterday.

After a night, some more fruits fell to the ground. Li Chongle asked his sister to pick up the good ones on the ground, while he began to pick the ripe ones from the trees.

Lin Wan was picking sea buckthorn not far away. After they had picked all the remaining sour dates and sea buckthorns, they began to look for other fruits nearby.

Because they haven't finished filling their backpacks yet, they don't want to go back now.

"Sister-in-law, I see some hanging melons over there, let's go pick them."

Li Ke smiled and shouted to Lin Wan who was lagging behind. He didn't even plan to wait for her and ran forward.

"Run slower, don't fall, the melon won't move away."

Lin Wan smiled and scolded while quickly following with the backpack on her back, and the child disappeared in a flash.

Li Chongle followed Li Ke closely, worried that she might fall.

"Oh, what is this? It's stuck to my hair. Brother, please help me get it off. I can't see it." Li Ke in front shouted anxiously.

Li Chongle quickly walked to Li Ke and put down the backpack he was carrying.

While carefully helping Li Ke remove the things stuck on his hair, he whispered:

"Be careful, there are a lot of these white fluffy things on the trees around here."

Lin Wan, who was behind, also heard Li Ke's shout and hurried forward.

He anxiously asked loudly, "What happened? Did you fall?"

Li Chongle replied loudly: "It's okay, sister-in-law, she got some white powder on her, and I helped her get it off."

The two siblings had no idea how excited their sister-in-law would be when she saw this white fluffy thing.