Farming and reading family

This is a fable, not an allusion.

It tells the story of a cricket that does not store food. In winter, it asks ants to borrow food. The ants refuse to lend it to the cricket, so the cricket freezes to death.

The four children listened attentively, but Chen Ke blushed with embarrassment, feeling that he was the cricket that did not store food.

It was rare for the family to have such a happy chat together, and before we knew it, it was time to go to bed.

Gao E mended their clothes, and Chen Ke moved wooden boards to block the cave, so that the family could sleep peacefully.

There was another dense chirping of insects outside.

Gao E woke up with a start in the middle of the night. Hearing the sounds of collapse and collision in the yard, she subconsciously wanted to go out and take a look.

"Don't go out." Chen Ke reminded in a low voice.

Gao E was frightened and broke out in a cold sweat, thinking that if there really was something outside, wouldn't it be even more dangerous for them to go out like this?

Chen Jidi woke up and started crying out of fright, and Chen Ke hurried over to comfort him.

Several people were very nervous, but the noise outside was getting quieter and quieter.

The family spent the whole night in fear, and only dared to go out to check when there was still no movement at dawn.

The yard was in a mess. The bamboos piled up by my eldest brother and the remaining bricks were scattered on the ground.

There were also large piles of feces on the ground.

"This is a wild boar." Chen Ke felt helpless.

It looks like there's more than one.

Gao E looked at the mess in the yard and thought that the wall had to be built. "Let my third brother go find Master Qin today."

Chen Ke nodded.

When Chen Qing and the others arrived, Chen Ke had not finished cleaning up yet. He was worried about them when he heard that a group of wild boars had come into the yard at night.

Chen Jie hesitated to speak, wondering if his second sister-in-law really had a way to lure wild boars?

Then won’t they get rich?

Lei pulled Chen Jie's sleeve and told him not to talk nonsense.

With the help of my eldest brother and others, the yard was cleaned up quickly.

"Third brother." Chen Ke called out after he finished cleaning up.

"Hey." Chen Jie immediately came over.

"Master An and his team are coming today, but we can't help them much. You drive to find Master Qin and tell him that he wants to build a wall for the courtyard." Chen Ke and Chen Jie discussed.

Chen Jie knew that it would cost a lot of money to build a wall around such a large yard, but compared to the safety of his second brother's family, he had to spend the money.

"Okay, then I'll go find Master Qin right away." Chen Jie nodded.

This time Chen Qing didn't say anything. After all, the safety of his second brother's family was more important.

As for those bamboo poles, just put them aside for now. Farmers will need them someday.

In the morning, Master An brought five people over, and including the coachman who helped drive the carriage, there were a total of nine people.

Work can be done faster when there are more people involved, and this cave dwelling high up is much more lively.

Taking advantage of the lunch break, Gao E took out a blade and asked Master An to make a small thing for her.

When Master An heard it was a simple task, he already had some square wood, so he took out his tools and quickly made one.

Gao E immediately took the chestnuts and tried them, and they really worked.

Master An's eyes widened: "Can this be used to open chestnuts?"

Gao E nodded: "Just a little gadget."

In Master An's eyes, this is no small thing. His wife loves to eat chestnuts. He always cuts a hole in them, steams them in a steamer, and then peels them, which is time-consuming and laborious.

"Can you give me one when this is done?" Master An looked at the five blades on the side.

"Of course." Gao E didn't think it was anything important.

Upon hearing this, Master An became more excited and quickly made the remaining five, then took his own one happily.

Seeing Master An so excited, Mrs. Lei thought that what her second sister-in-law made must be a good thing, and maybe it could be sold for money.

After Master An went over there to do his work, Mrs. Lei mysteriously pulled her second sister-in-law aside.

"What's wrong?" Gao E looked at the mysterious Lei.

"Second sister-in-law, look at how excited Master An is. You will definitely be able to sell this thing for money." Lei said seriously.

"This thing is not difficult. Most people can make it after seeing it. Who do you think is willing to spend money to buy it?" Gao E said with a smile.

Lei thought about it, but she was still a little bit unwilling to give up: "Rich people are willing to buy it."

"How much do rich families have? Besides, how much can we sell it for? If we run back and forth to the city, it won't even be enough to pay for horse feed." Gao E analyzed.

When Lei heard this, she had no choice but to give up. She also knew that this was the reason.

But I just want to make money.

The doors and windows were installed before dark, and I happened to meet people delivering bricks from the brick kiln.

"What are you doing..." Master An saw that there were a lot of bricks delivered.

"Our house was attacked by wild boars yesterday, so I wanted to build a wall around the yard," Gao E said helplessly.

"Do you still want the door?" Master An thought that the business might come again.

"I'll build the courtyard wall first." Gao E knew that if all these things were added up, the money would never end. "I'll definitely have to trouble Master An when I need it."

"Okay." Master An was happy today. "Next time I won't charge you for shipping."

"Thank you." Gao E nodded.

By dark, a lot of bricks were piled up in the yard in front of the cave, and Chen Qing fetched water to water the bricks.

The people in Batou Village started talking when they saw truckloads of bricks being sent to the old village.

You might say Chen Xiucai is short of money, but those truckloads of doors, windows and bricks would cost a lot of money.

If he was rich, why would he and his family move to the old village?

Many people were talking about it, and naturally some curious people ran to Chen's house to ask Chen Fansheng, which made Chen Fansheng not know how to answer.

When the second son moved into the cave house, he thought he was just being angry and it was just a temporary measure. He guessed that the whole family would move down in due time.

But what he wanted was to move to the city and rent a house to make it convenient for his studies.

He knew how much silver the second brother had brought with him when he went to the capital, but the second brother had not taken out any of it.

Besides, the second son is a scholar, and the government will give him some money and food every month, so he can live a good life anyway.

Who knew that this family first sealed the cave house and now wanted to build a wall around the courtyard. Are they determined to live there?

And these days they have meat almost every meal at home. Isn’t this just living a normal life?

Even if there were mountains of gold and silver in the family, they all ate it up.

Thinking of this, he could no longer sit still. Seeing that it was completely dark outside, he went to look for his son with his hands behind his back.

The fishing had to be postponed again. When Chen Qing and the others finished packing and were about to go home, they saw their father coming up with his hands behind his back.

Several people didn't dare to speak and just stood aside.

Although they all came to the second brother's house to help, and their parents asked them to help, they knew in their hearts that their father was very unhappy.

Now he couldn't help but start to criticize the second one.

"You go back first." Chen Fansheng saw the eldest and second sons standing there and refusing to leave.

The third child came over immediately and said, "Dad, it's dark and the road is hard to walk on, and you don't have a light. Let's walk together later."

He thought that if his father really got angry, they could still persuade him.

Chen Fansheng looked at Chen Jie angrily. He knew what his son, the one he raised, was up in arms when he saw him. "I want to talk to your second brother about something. Why are you all just messing around? Go back now."