The eldest sister-in-law became rich by farming in the mountains

She quickly adjusted her mood, lowered her eyes, and slumped her shoulders. She looked weak, pitiful, and helpless.

"Mother, how can I not be afraid? But now that my father-in-law and the others are gone, I have to stand up and cannot let all the burdens fall on your shoulders."

In fact, she just wanted to make money quickly to have enough food to eat.

Although the magic tofu is delicious, it has almost no calories and is quickly digested in the stomach.

Now her body is so weak that if she doesn't take good care of it, she is afraid that she won't live past the age of twenty.

Although she had many complaints at the beginning, she cherished the opportunity to live her life again.

When Jiang heard this, her heart suddenly softened. She raised her hand and touched Xu Yingtao's withered hair. In the end, she could only sigh and swallow the words she had not said out loud back into her stomach.

She also wanted to shoulder the burden of the family alone, but apart from twisting hemp rope, she didn't know anything else. She was timid and had no opinion of her own. In the past, the family had the support of the man and the eldest son, but now she had three half-grown children. She had no confidence at all and was just trying to hold on.

But to her surprise, the eldest daughter-in-law, who seemed even more timid than her on weekdays, was the first to straighten her back and wanted to share the burden with her.

This sudden strength and responsibility filled Jiang's heart with complex emotions - relief, gratitude, and an indescribable sadness.

"You have just recovered from a serious illness. Can you still bear it?"

"I can bear it."

Xu Yingtao also found it miraculous that the longer she was awake, the weak feeling she felt gradually dissipated, as if her body was repairing itself automatically.

In the end, the two of them went out with a big bowl of mixed tofu.

As soon as the two left, Xie Li continued to fight with the bowl in her hand, but the smile on Xie Bai's face gradually disappeared.

"Brother, what's wrong with you?" Xie Li noticed the change in her brother's mood. Even though her mouth was almost numb from the spiciness, she still expressed her concern with a big tongue.

Xie Bai was silent for a while and shook his head.

As the only male in the family, he can't carry anything on his shoulders or hands, and now he has to rely on his sister-in-law who is of similar age to support the family. Thinking back to the impulsive words he said to his sister-in-law before, he regretted it.

However, time cannot be reversed, he can only try his best to make up for his mistakes.

Seeing his sister eating happily, Xie Bai said nothing more. He silently put on the backpack and went out.

The autumn harvest has just passed and the rice in the fields has been harvested. Every household has been busy threshing and drying the rice these days.

Xu Yingtao walked all the way from the foot of the mountain. Looking at the yellow grains of rice on the drying mats on the dam, tears almost flowed from the corners of her mouth.

Although it had been less than half a day since she came here, her desire for rice had reached its peak.

Nothing can make people feel happier than eating a bowl of sweet rice.

This further strengthened Xu Yingtao's determination to make money - she had to eat rice for every meal from now on!

This is the hottest time of the day, and the villagers are taking a nap in the shade of their houses.

When the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law arrived at the village chief's house, Village Chief Zheng was lying on a recliner in the main hall drinking tea, his mother-in-law Mrs. Zhou was sitting beside him sewing and mending, the eldest daughter-in-law, Xiao Zhou, was sewing shoe soles, and the youngest daughter-in-law, Mrs. Zhao, was sifting beans. The rest of the people were nowhere to be seen, probably taking a nap.

Seeing Jiang appear at the door, Mrs. Zhou put down her sewing basket and stood up to greet her: "Why are you here? Come in and sit down."

He then set his sights on Xu Yingtao: "This is your eldest daughter-in-law, right?"

She really wanted to compliment her politely, but the girl was pale and thin, her hair was like dead grass, and she was as skinny as a bean sprout. She really couldn't compliment her in good conscience.

Jiang nodded and said, "You can just call her Cherry."

While they were talking, Xiao Zhou had already poured two bowls of water and brought them over, while Zhao pulled out a stool from under the table and placed it next to the two of them.

This was Xu Yingtao's first time visiting the home of the village chief of Nanxi Village, and she was quite surprised to see the scene.

This family's attitude is a little too friendly.

Jiang was fine at home, but when she went out to meet people, her socially anxious nature was instantly exposed. She awkwardly handed over the big bowl in her hand: "Aunt, this is a new food that Yingtao has come up with. I'll serve it to you to try."

Mrs. Zhou subconsciously wanted to refuse, but when she saw the crystal green thing in the bowl, she forgot to speak for a moment.

"Come on, what are you going to get?" Village Chief Zheng sat up with a stern look on his face. "Everyone in the village knows about your family's situation. Hurry up and bring it back for the kids to eat."

Jiang suddenly didn't know where to put her hands and feet.

Seeing this, Xu Yingtao smiled and took over the conversation: "Grandpa, there are still a lot of things left at home. They are not expensive food. Thanks to you for taking care of them, our family can get through the difficulties time and time again. This is just a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it."

Except for Jiang, everyone else in the room was shocked.

This girl looks inconspicuous, but she is rare in her articulation and elegance.

Seeing that the Zheng family still refused to accept it, Xu Yingtao continued to smile and said, "To be honest with Grandpa, Grandma and the two aunts, I plan to make this food the day after tomorrow and sell it at the market, but I'm really unsure, and I hope everyone can help us taste it."

At this point, the Zheng family naturally had no reason to refuse. Mrs. Zhou hurriedly asked the eldest daughter-in-law to go to the kitchen to get a few pairs of chopsticks, and the family began to taste the food immediately.

As a result, Village Chief Zheng was so spicy that he held the teapot and drank water quickly. Mrs. Zhou and her two daughters-in-law all looked amazed.

"Sister-in-law, how is this food made? It's so delicious!" Zhao has always been outspoken and says whatever she thinks.

As soon as she said this, she was glared at by her mother-in-law.

This old lady, she has already said that she wants to do business, how can she reveal the recipe casually?

Zhao also realized that she had said something wrong, so she lowered her head and said no more.

Xu Yingtao pretended not to see the quarrel between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and continued to smile: "If you think it tastes good, I will send it to you in the future. To be honest with you elders, my mother and I came here today and wanted to shamelessly ask grandpa and grandma for a favor."

Mrs. Zhou was already embarrassed because of her daughter-in-law's wrong words, so she quickly took advantage of the situation, put down her chopsticks and asked, "Do you want to borrow money?"

Xu Yingtao: “…”

It can be seen that this family's love of borrowing money has been deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Jiang waved her hands and said with a red face, "No, no, no, Auntie, you misunderstood. We are not borrowing money. We just don't have any good bowls at home. We can't afford to do business, so we want to borrow some from you."

Mrs. Zhou wiped her mouth and said, "You thought you needed capital to do business? Fine, I'll get it for you right away."

After saying that, Zhou got up and went to the kitchen. Soon she came in carrying a pile of bowls.

Xu Yingtao took a quick look and saw at least ten of them.

"Take it." Mrs. Zhou put the bowl in Jiang's hand and asked again, "Do you really not need to borrow money?"

Jiang almost shook her head like a rattle.

"Well, don't take this old bowl back for now. I don't think it will be used many times with this big hole. You can just give me two less bowls someday."

This is a different way of helping them.

Jiang Shi didn't feel comfortable taking advantage of the Zheng family anymore, so she refused again and again. Xu Yingtao couldn't stand it anymore, so she took over the conversation: "Mom, just accept it. This is also a token of my grandfather and grandmother's love. I'll send more delicious food next time."

Such a good family should have frequent visits to each other.

"Your daughter-in-law has a straightforward personality." Mrs. Zhou was talking to Jiang, but she was actually praising Xu Yingtao.

As soon as the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law left, Mrs. Zhou coughed heavily. Although the two daughters-in-law were still not satisfied, they immediately put down their chopsticks.

Normally, whenever they had food, they would feed the man and the child first. But today, because the food was so delicious, they couldn't help but eat a few more bites.

"It's almost time to rest. Go wake up your men and children and have them try this, too. What is it called?"

It was not until then that Mrs. Zhou remembered that she had forgotten to ask the name of the food.

"Leave some more for me." Village chief Zheng, who had been drinking water from a kettle, suddenly spoke.

Mrs. Zhou was very surprised: "I thought you couldn't eat spicy food."

Village chief Zheng's face turned red. He really couldn't eat it at first, but the taste was so good, sour and spicy, and it was very memorable. He wanted to eat it again.

On the other hand, on the way home, Jiang also asked similar questions to Zhou Pozi.

"We also call this food tofu?"

Xu Yingtao thought seriously for a moment, then shook her head and said, "Calling it tofu is inappropriate, why not call it green jelly?"

She did not intend to use the name of the divine tofu from her time and space.

Not to mention that Shenxian Tofu has nothing to do with tofu, the word "tofu" alone is likely to cause dissatisfaction among major tofu workshops.

The market is so small, if the magic tofu sells well, the real tofu will naturally be unpopular. Then some unreasonable people will think that you are taking the name of tofu and snatching the business of the tofu workshop, and they really want to make trouble for you. These orphans and widows will be completely powerless to deal with it.

It is better to nip potential risks in the bud at the beginning.

Jiang didn't have any opinion anyway, so she just responded to whatever Xu Yingtao said.

After being some distance away from the Zheng family, Xu Yingtao asked the question in her mind.

"Mom, why are the Zheng family's grandfather and grandmother so kind to our family?"

They are all farmers who make a living from the land. They can hardly save much money throughout the year, so it is impossible for them to lend them a few taels of silver.

When they visited the family just now, Xu Yingtao also clearly felt the Zheng family's friendliness towards them, which was indeed somewhat unusual.

Jiang sighed softly: "This is all thanks to my father-in-law."

In the early years, the imperial court fought against the Northern Tatars, and countless soldiers died in the northern border. Later, due to insufficient manpower, the government began to recruit soldiers from the public. It was at that time that many young and strong men from families in the village were forcibly conscripted.

Village chief Zheng and Jiang’s father-in-law were also among them.

That battle lasted for seven years. Seventy-eight men from Nanxi Village went there, but only twenty-two returned.

Jiang's father-in-law, along with 55 other people, was buried on the battlefield forever.

However, not all survivors were lucky.

Some of them were missing limbs, some locked themselves up at home all day and never went out. Three of them even committed suicide by hanging themselves or jumping into the river for unknown reasons.

Hearing this, Xu Yingtao sighed silently.

As long as one is a human being, facing the violence and killing in war, he or she will suffer psychological trauma to a certain extent, and thus develop various psychological problems. These people are obviously suffering from post-war traumatic stress response.

She used to live in a peaceful era, and war was very far away from her. Her knowledge of war only stayed in movies, TV shows or books. Although she had not seen it with her own eyes, she felt a chill all over her body just by listening to Jiang's description.

I don’t know what the situation is now.

Jiang continued, "After the village chief took over the old village chief's position, he took extra care of our family. At that time, the family had not yet been divided. I once heard my mother-in-law accidentally mention that my father-in-law died in order to save the village chief."

Xu Yingtao suddenly realized that it was because of a life-saving grace.

If so, then it all makes sense.

"Let's go faster."

When passing by a courtyard, Jiang suddenly quickened her pace, as if she was intentionally avoiding something.

Although Xu Yingtao was confused, she did not ask any more questions and followed Jiang's steps closely.

But as luck would have it, at this moment a woman holding a broom suddenly walked out of the house.

The woman looked to be about forty years old, with a pair of slanted eyes and a pointed chin, and her appearance was full of shrewdness.

She opened her mouth with sarcasm: "I was wondering why I could smell a poor smell from so far away. It turns out that it's a poor ghost. Why, you want to come to my house to ask for money again?" As the woman spoke, she swept the ground with a broom and kept muttering that it was really unlucky.

Xu Yingtao had just experienced the friendliness of Village Chief Zheng's family, and the sudden hostility caused her to feel a huge gap in her heart.

She couldn't help but frown. Who is this crazy woman?

Xu Yingtao began to quickly search through her original body's memories, and vaguely remembered that this woman was Jiang's sister-in-law Chen, and logically she should call her aunt.

As I recall, my original self had just married and once when she went to the river to wash clothes, she was ridiculed by Chen in a sarcastic way. She was so scared that she didn't dare to go to the river for two days.

Xu Yingtao couldn't help but rub her hands together, thinking that this was a person who bullied the weak. She would have to learn from him for a while.

Jiang denied in a low voice: "Sister-in-law misunderstood, we were just passing by."

"Misunderstanding?" Chen squinted at the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, her eyes finally fell on the pile of coarse porcelain bowls, and sneered, "I've seen beggars, but I've never seen beggars with a pile of bowls. Sister-in-law, you are thick-skinned, and now you are begging with your eldest daughter-in-law. It's simply a case of the upper beam being crooked and the lower beam being crooked!"

Jiang's face turned red instantly and she couldn't utter a word for a long time.

Chen continued to be aggressive: "If you ask me, Xiaosong is all gone, and this yellow-haired girl can neither give birth nor farm. Keeping her will only waste food. I will show you a way out. Why don't you sell this girl? The money you get can not only pay off your debts, but also feed your two children."

"Sister-in-law!" Jiang was so angry that she was shaking. Her voice was unusually loud. "Cherry is my daughter-in-law. How can I sell her out?"

"It's up to you whether you want to sell it or not." Chen spread her hands in front of Jiang, "Pay back the two hundred coins you owe my family first."

When it comes to paying back the money, the color on Jiang's face instantly fades.

Xu Yingtao blocked Jiang behind her and smiled with her eyes curved.

"Don't worry, auntie, we will pay you back as soon as possible. As a junior, there are things I shouldn't say, but auntie just said that if the top beam is not straight, the bottom beam will be crooked. You are also a mother-in-law. Now you are speaking ill of your sisters-in-law and instigating them to sell their daughters-in-law. Aren't you afraid that your daughters-in-law will follow your example and become enemies and your family will be in turmoil?"