Crossing the farm gate, the whole family reunites in the disaster year

Old Man Cui also noticed that Silang and the others were timid and sighed in his heart.

With so many children, it is impossible to not be partial to one.

Dalang is a simple and honest man who doesn't talk much, but he is an excellent farmer.

Although Sanlang did not grow up under his nose, he admired this child from the bottom of his heart.

As for the children of the second wife.

Old Man Cui ate a mouthful of food in silence.

He really looked down upon his second daughter-in-law, Feng.

Normally, he shouldn't interfere in his daughter-in-law's affairs, but Feng was really rampant. In the early years, he tried to bypass Feng and educate Erlang.

At that time, Silang had just been born. Feng, who had given birth to two sons in a row, was very confident. She even looked down on her elder sister-in-law Yu and would not give in if Yu ate an extra piece of meat.

Hearing that working as a sailor could earn more, she encouraged her second son to go out and work on a ship. After her second son left, no one could take care of her.

After knowing that Erlang often followed her to the fields, she instructed him to steal public grain. If he was caught, she would say that she had two sons and should take an extra portion.

Later, the old couple were too lazy to care about the affairs of the second wife. The second wife thought it was no big deal, so why should they complain?

I heard that the three acres of land that the second branch of the family received when they divided the family property did not produce any harvest in the spring, so Feng Shi used it to exchange for grain.

It makes me sad when I think about it.

There is no land to farm, and I don’t know what these children plan to do in the future.

Old Man Cui put down his chopsticks and sighed.

Shilang and the other two immediately put down their chopsticks and sat on the stools nervously.

Did you eat too much and make grandpa unhappy?

Seeing how frightened they were, Old Man Cui had no choice but to pick up his chopsticks again.

"Don't put down your chopsticks, eat your food." He put a piece of meat in Shilang's bowl and asked casually, "What are your plans for the future?"

The three of them didn't dare to eat anymore. They thought that at most they would be scolded by grandma, but they didn't expect that it was grandpa who was talking to them. This was even more frightening than grandma.

Unable to sit still any longer, he immediately stood up from the stool.

When Xiaoqi saw his brothers and sisters standing up, he slid down from the stool by kicking his little legs and stood up obediently. His body was blocked by the table, and only his two little tugging fingers could be seen.

"What are you doing, hey?" Old Man Cui said anxiously and angrily, "Hurry up and sit down. I'm just asking."

To survive, there must be both income and expenditure. Why do you act like you are trying to harm them?

Cui Chengliang led them back to their seats and patted Shilang's shoulder soothingly: "Your grandfather is concerned about you as an elder. He's afraid you'll go astray. He has no other intentions."

Silang glanced at his grandfather nervously, and Old Man Cui snorted coldly with a dark face.

"My second brother and I plan to go to the county town to find a job after we recover from our injuries."

He had gone to the county town to inquire before, but now there are too many people who can’t eat, and there are so many people in the county town looking for jobs that it’s not their turn at all.

Several children hung their heads, waiting to be scolded.

Lin smiled and looked at Silang: "Weren't we just talking about this this morning? Are you not going to partner with Third Aunt?"

Silang raised his head in surprise. He thought Third Aunt was just saying that.

"what's up?"

Old Man Cui couldn't help but be curious, and even Old Lady Cui pricked up her ears. Could it be that the Lin family had some secret to making money?

"It's nothing, just some hard-earned money."

Lin told the story of the brick kiln in a gentle voice, including how she planned to sell it.

Old Mrs. Cui knitted her eyebrows together. "Whole ones are hard to sell. Wouldn't it be a waste of money to spend money on broken ones?"

This time, Old Man Cui did not interrupt her.

Lin asked Silang to bring over the basins and bowls.

"Mother, how much do you usually pay for a basin this big?"

The basin was even bigger than her face. Old Lady Cui said with certainty, "It'll cost at least fifteen cents. This bowl costs six cents."

Lin placed the pottery basin in Old Lady Cui's hands and asked her to take a closer look. "If a basin this big only cost three cents, would you buy it?"

"Three coins?!" Old Mrs. Cui looked over and over, "This basin isn't broken."

Lin turned the basin, revealing a crack on the edge that was no bigger than a little fingernail.

"You call this a crack?" Old Lady Cui thought it was the kind where half of the piece was missing. "I'll definitely buy it for three cents. If it's of this quality, I'll have to go back to the village and ask them to buy it together."

What's the difference between this price and getting it for free? Everyone in the village has cracked and chipped bowls and pots. For twenty cents, everyone in the family can have their bowls replaced with new ones.

Lin smiled and nodded. "So I want to try it with Silang. The brick kiln only makes ten cents for a cart of defective bowls. Even if we can't sell them, we'll only lose ten cents."

Ten cents is indeed not a lot of money, but Old Mrs. Cui has never done business in her life, so she can't tell whether it is good or bad, and subconsciously looks at Old Man Cui.

Every time Old Man Cui thought about something, he would take a few puffs of his cigarette. Just now when Old Lady Cui was talking, he had already lit a cigarette and was puffing non-stop.

He put down his pipe and asked, "Is it the brick kiln in Shanghe Village?"

Lin nodded. The two villages were close to each other, so it was not surprising that Old Man Cui knew about this.

Cui Chengliang looked at Lin seriously.

She tilted her head slightly towards Old Lady Cui, with a gentle and confident smile on her face, as if she could find a way to deal with anything, and nothing could take the smile away from her face.

Lin followed her gaze and looked at him, and Cui Chengliang quickly lowered his head to avoid her gaze.

Just now in the yard, she rejected me coldly. I was obviously still a little embarrassed, but when she mentioned the brick kiln, I subconsciously looked at her.

She was like a magnet, making him want to get closer.

"The brick kiln in Shanghe Village..." Old Man Cui recalled the past. "More than 20 years ago, there was a fight between Shanghe Village and our village."

"The dry riverbed at the foot of the mountain was once a river, which is also the origin of the names of the two villages. Shanghe Village occupies the upper reaches, and we occupy the lower reaches."

Cui Jingwen laughed out loud, but was warned by Lin and quickly covered his mouth.

Old Man Cui glanced at him and continued talking about the past.

"The brick kiln workshop had just been built, and the river was full of red debris. It had no effect upstream, but it kept piling up in our river, and in the end the whole river was a light red."

"...At that time, the village head was leading people to argue with them, but they were beaten out of the village. The water was not drinkable, and even crops couldn't grow when it was used to irrigate the fields. In the end, it took the intervention of the government to get them to stop pouring dirty water into the river. However, the relationship between the two villages was not good for several years."

Lin seemed to be thinking about something.

Silang clenched his fists and said, "They're going too far. Aunt San, let's not make this money anymore."

Old Man Cui smiled and said, "I'm just telling you what happened. You can do business if you want. After so many years, this matter is long over."

"But they are so bullying."

"Then we must do it even more." Lin looked at Shi Lang, "They can make money by polluting our water source, so why can't we make money by stepping on them?"

Silang stared at Third Aunt blankly. What did this mean?

Shouldn't we stay away from them when they do bad things?

But Old Man Cui understood, thought for a moment, and then clapped his hands and laughed.

At that time, the village was full of resentment, but no one had such a solution. The hot-blooded men went to Shanghe Village to make trouble, while the weak-willed ones swallowed their anger and quietly cleaned the river.

After all, I have been dealing with crops for a long time, so my mind is not so complicated.

"I agree with this. If you want to do it, just do it." Old Man Cui laughed.