Quick Wear: Passerby A's Daily Life of Eating Watermelons

"A patrol team in the village is definitely not enough. Now is a special period. Every household must send one person to patrol non-stop for twelve hours a day. And don't even think about running away. There is nowhere to run. There are troops everywhere outside. The capital has become a vortex now. People from all sides are gathering here. It's not as safe as staying here."

After Father Jiang finished speaking, the others started talking in fear. After everyone had finished talking, Father Jiang selected some people to form the second and third patrol teams, and let the rest go home.

After the villagers returned home, Jiang's father arranged the patrol time and route, explained everything and went home with Bai Ze. After returning home, he told Chen and the three children not to run around. You know, their village is famous for its delicious peaches, and you can't be sure who will take the opportunity to come back and rob. There have been bandits coming here in the past two years.

In the following days, everyone stayed at home. Children who wanted to go out to play were beaten. They were not allowed to cry too loudly to avoid attracting enemies. Jiang Yue read a book in the house, thinking that the emperor's death was only the beginning of the troubled times. It would take about ten years for the Ninth Prince to quell the chaos, but he had waited enough.

Jiang Yue knew some news because Bai Ze tipped him off. The emperor is now dead. The second prince acted like an idiot after he came to power. He wanted to kill his brothers directly, and then he was killed by his younger brothers. Now only four of the emperor's thirteen princes are left. The ninth prince escaped at the border. After the sixth prince ascended the throne, the other two princes fled the capital. Then the sixth prince issued an arrest warrant for the two princes on the charge of murdering the prince.

None of the remaining two are simple. They have the support of powerful forces behind them. After a few wars and foreign invasions, a balance will be reached. It seems that the Ninth Prince will return to Beijing to report on his work soon. This can be regarded as a conspiracy of the Sixth Prince to see if the Ninth Prince is still worthy of trust. The Ninth Prince listened to the advice of his advisers and accepted the imperial edict. On the way back to Beijing, he was assassinated several times. If it were not for the halo of the protagonist, he would have died on the way.

Half a month later, the martial law in the village was relaxed a lot. After all, they were all civilians, and no one could accept the long-term high-pressure environment. After half a month, Jiang's father sent people out to investigate and learned that the sixth prince had ascended the throne and the other princes had fled. With the emperor, at least the capital city was peaceful.

Afterwards, Jiang's father and Bai Ze went to the capital again to deliver peaches, explore the way and buy some food and other necessities for the villagers. Time passed slowly and it was the autumn harvest after a few days. After the autumn harvest, taxes had to be paid. Originally, they were exempt from tax, but this preferential policy was cancelled after the new emperor took the throne.

After paying the tax, some families still wanted to take advantage of the high grain prices to sell some grain, but Jiang's father and Bai Ze persuaded them together, saying that it would be difficult to buy again after selling now. Some people would not listen to the advice, but good words could not persuade a damned ghost. Jiang's father was not a saint. Persuasion was a favor. It was up to you whether to listen or not. Anyway, Jiang Yue's family's granary and basement were full, and the rest was not sold. Instead, they bought some livestock to raise, and ate meat when they were fattened, and made bacon when there was no grain to feed.

After the autumn harvest, people start planting vegetables, such as cabbage, radish, and onion. Planting cabbage does not mean that people can sit back and relax. Families with large numbers of people will go out to do odd jobs during the slack season to earn money for the New Year. With Jiang Yue, the grain yield has improved, but the limitation of seeds is there, so most families are poor. Jiang Yue's family is currently living off their savings, and they have not yet earned back the money they spent on buying land and a house.

After planting vegetables, the family had dumplings. The next day, Jiang Yue accompanied his father to go fishing for a day. The twins wanted to go too, but because they were too young, Chen was afraid that they would fall into the lake, so she suppressed them. When Jiang's father and Jiang Yue went there, there were already people there. When they saw Jiang's father coming, they greeted him. Because the lake belonged to the Jiang and Bai families, it would be reasonable to prevent others from fishing. But Jiang's father was not a stingy person. He just stipulated that no fish could be caught and any fish smaller than the palm of a hand had to be released. Even so, many people were grateful.

Nowadays, eating a fish is considered meat. This part of the village is not so bad. There are mountains, water, and peach trees. There are still a few families raising chickens and ducks. Everyone can eat an egg occasionally to nourish the body. The most important thing is that the rent asked by the Jiang family is not high. In the first five years, they only collected 10%. You should know that the rent outside is generally 50%. Before the Jiang family moved, the rent was 40%. Don't think that 40% is very high. 50% is the lowest outside. If you use the landlord's cattle or farm tools, you can get 70% or 80%.

Moreover, most people cannot afford to buy a cow. Silver is one thing, and they cannot afford to feed the cow after buying it. Feeding a cow is not just about feeding it with grass, but also about feeding it with grain. How much does a cow eat? There is a saying: "The cost of one cow or horse is equivalent to the food of five people." It costs ten to fifteen strings of money to buy a cow, but every month to feed a cow, one string of grass must be eaten. "Gold-eating beast", no doubt!

After fishing for a day, Jiang's father didn't catch any fish because Jiang Yue caught all the fish. They kept some big ones and released the rest. After two years, there weren't many fish in the lake. After returning home, Jiang's father gave Bai Ze two fish and boasted to Bai Ze that he caught them. Bai Ze, who was always watching Jiang Yue in her mind, said, "You are right. You caught them."

Because Bai Ze was now in high-power mode, he didn't need to stay inside the puppet for control. When Jiang's father got home, he boasted to Chen for a long time. If it weren't for the five taels of silver, Jiang Yue would have exposed him. They had boiled fish for dinner, which was so delicious with a bowl of rice.

Time passed slowly, and it was November in a blink of an eye. After harvesting the cabbages, they started to pickle the vegetables. The quality of salt nowadays is not very good, so Jiang Yue asked the puppet to process it after buying it. When the weather turned cold in December, the pickled vegetables were ready, and the rest were stored in the cellar.

After storing the vegetables and grains, they began to store wood and charcoal. Firewood is used for cooking, and charcoal is used for heating the house. Most of the firewood is bought by the Jiang family, and a small part is collected by hired workers. Although there is not much work, the pace is quite slow. When they finish their work, it is almost the New Year, and the villagers also start to go to the city in groups to buy New Year's goods.

During the New Year, even those who were fighting had to stop for a while, otherwise the soldiers would have no morale. The capital city also became lively again after a long time. The vendors on the roadside stalls were shouting hard, hoping to sell more goods to have a good New Year. After finding a place to park the carriage and parking it, Jiang's father took his family to a stall and had breakfast.

Each person ordered two meat buns, a bowl of wontons, and a portion of beef. Beef is rare and unavailable in normal seasons. Jiang's father wanted to buy one more portion, but the store refused to sell it to him as the quantity was limited and there was no need to worry about selling it. After the meal, Jiang's father and Chen each held a little child, and Jiang Yue followed beside them. Chen looked at Jiang Yue from time to time, fearing that she had been abducted.