Dressed as a farmer's widow, she brought her daughter to stock up on food and reached the top

Taohua and Shiliu looked at each other and nodded heavily.

"Thank you all for your generosity. I will return the rice to you all when my mother comes back."

"Those who have withdrawn should leave immediately."

Ma Ergun had not expected that the people who came with him were actually helping these girls, and he immediately shouted, "Don't be fooled by these girls. They are just pretending to be pitiful to gain everyone's sympathy. Fortunately, Zhou Dazhu discovered it early. Now if you don't retreat, you will give all this food to these girls for nothing.

You...don't regret it later and say we didn't warn you."

With the help of the enthusiastic villagers, Taohua and Shiliu quickly returned the milk apples and bracken. They also asked Li Shenghui to write down which households had contributed the milk apples and bracken, and how many kilograms each weighed. This would be converted into rice when Yang Xiuying returned.

The seven little girls gradually calmed down, and only four families, Zhou Dazhu, Ma Ergun, Ma San, and Deng Defa, withdrew.

There are three families in the village with bad reputations. Zhou Dazhu loves to argue with the villagers and cannot bear any loss. He is scheming in everything he does. After drinking a few mouthfuls of horse urine, the whole village belongs to him; Ma Ergun is a famous lazy man in the surrounding area; Deng Defa is a gambler. Once he lost money and almost sold his wife.

It was a good thing that these three families withdrew, so that they would not cause trouble in the future. Taohua and Shiliu thought that they must deal with the matter before A Niang came back. A Niang was already worried enough about the treasure, and they did not want her to be distracted by these things.

If only Dad could get a treasure pot, Mom wouldn't have to spend so much time trying to make money.

With the help of the village chief and enthusiastic villagers, the growth of milk apple and bracken is progressing smoothly.

Just as the three families who had caused the trouble were about to leave with the returned milk fruit and fern

Jingle bells…jingle bells…

The sound of cowbells can be heard in the distance

The villagers standing on the hillside looked down.

“There’s an oxcart!”

"An ox cart is entering our village."

The children at the entrance of the village were very excited to see the ox carts coming into the village. Throughout the year they only saw ox carts from the neighboring village passing by the village entrance, but in just a few days, two ox carts had entered the village.

Futian Village is the poorest village in the surrounding area. Spring plowing and autumn harvest rely on manpower. Everyone is satisfied with having enough food to eat and cannot imagine having a plowing ox.

But now Yang Xiuying drove a ox cart into the village.

The seven little carrots jumped for joy

"It's mother!"

"Mom is back!"

"Mom is driving the ox cart!"

"Our mother has returned with the rice."

Ma Ergun's face changed immediately when he saw Yang Xiuying coming back driving the ox cart. The ox cart looked heavy, and it must be loaded with rice. He held the bag of three pounds of milk fruit tightly in his hand.

Three pounds of milk fruit can be exchanged for one pound of rice. Milk fruit is dry and astringent, while rice is fragrant and smooth. Anyone would exchange it for milk fruit. Milk fruit is everywhere in the mountains, it just takes some manpower.

When Deng Defa saw Yang Xiuying driving the ox cart, his face changed again and again, and he already had an idea in his mind.

When Zhou Dazhu saw Yang Xiuying bringing back the rice, a smile appeared on his face. It seemed that the story of exchanging milk fruit and fern for rice was true.

Fenglailou's new snacks and new dishes do require milk fruit and fern. Rich people just like to eat some exotic foods. As long as he cooperates with Zhao Cunliang and snatches this job from Yang Xiuying, he will have a lot of money in his pocket.

Zhou Dazhu looked at Zhao Cunliang who had been hiding in the crowd. The two exchanged glances. Then he looked at Yang Xiuying who was driving the ox cart and smiled.

There has never been a case of a woman making money in this world. Even if there is, it is easily snatched away.

Zhao Cunliang looked at the heavy ox cart. This cart must have at least more than 300 kilograms of rice. From now on, all this rice will be his. When he takes over, Fenglailou will not give him rice, but black flour. One kilogram of rice will be exchanged for six kilograms of black flour. From now on, he will live a rich life.

Yang Xiuying got off the ox cart and looked at the peach blossoms and pomegranates.

"Hey, why is everyone here?"

Taohua and Shiliu told Yang Xiuying the whole story, focusing on the fact that Zhou Dazhui, Ma Ergun, and Deng Defa were clamoring to return the milk apples and bracken.

The fourth little sister saw that her two sisters had let slip that Ma Ergun wanted to break into the house and catch chickens, so she stepped forward and told the story again.

Yang Xiuying patted the fourth child's head and said with a smile, "It's normal for them to be suspicious since this is the first time they've encountered such a thing."

When Ma Ergun heard this, he was about to leave, but turned back with the milk fruit in his hand.

Yang Xiuying was a widow after all, and she didn't dare to offend anyone. It was up to her whether to exchange the rice or not. Three kilograms of milk apples were only exchanged for one kilogram of rice. This was too cruel. If she made a fuss later, the widow would be scared. It was up to her to decide how many kilograms of rice to exchange for one kilogram of milk apples.

"Since they don't believe us, we won't give them the rice." Yang Xiuying said, looking at the village chief. "Village chief, the rice has been brought back. Please distribute it to everyone according to the registered quantity."

Ma Ergun was about to step towards Yang Xiuying when his legs froze.

This widow dared not to change the rice for herself, and even handed over the distribution of rice to the old village chief.

Wouldn't this mean getting into trouble with the old village chief?

In the village, I only bully those helpless, lonely and weak people like Yang Xiuying. How could I dare to offend the village chief?

The men in the village unloaded the rice from the oxcarts with smiles on their faces. It was their first time exchanging rice for the milk apples and bracken they had handed over, mostly picked by the women and children in the village. The men probably didn't hold out much hope, but they didn't stop them. Seeing the women and children enthusiastically picking milk apples and bracken, they figured if they couldn't exchange them, they'd just eat them themselves. No loss anyway.

Now as I carry heavy bags of rice, I feel lucky that I didn't say anything too much.

Li Shenghui placed the registration form next to the big rock in front of the dam. He also brought pen and ink and marked each one.

Ma Ergun and Deng Defa looked at everyone lining up to get rice, which tasted even sourer than chewing a pickled cucumber.

Looking at the white and smooth rice in the opened sack, pouring it into the bags brought by everyone bit by bit, I felt sour and hungry. The rice smelled delicious, not to mention after it was cooked.

Ma Ergun looked at his honest elder brother, who was carrying a sack full of rice on his shoulder, and his eyes turned red with jealousy.

It was obvious that his elder brother was not as good as him in every way. His brain was not as sharp as his, and his life was not as good as his. Even if he was at the very worst, he still ate black noodles, while his elder brother had to eat two thin meals a day made of wheat bran.