【Quick Wear】My Years as a Mother-in-law

It was another early morning, the wind was howling and the snow was still falling. It seemed that days like this would have no end.

Everyone went out to find food as arranged by the patriarch and automatically divided into ten teams. Yun Xi led a team with three members. After working hard for a day, they only harvested three small potatoes, which was better than the team that got nothing.

The patriarch didn't say anything and put away today's harvest: three small potatoes, five small sweet potatoes and a handful of dried wild vegetables. Although it was not much, at least there was a harvest, which was better than waiting to die.

In this way, from October to December, they worked hard, scouring the nearby mountains. Chief Li calculated the remaining food and estimated it would last three months if they were frugal. But he still urged everyone to look further afield. After all, who knew what the weather would be like in March next year? What if there was another disaster? It was always a good idea to have more food.

In this way, Yun Xi actively ran out every day, and the Guanyin soil in her stomach was slowly discharged from her body. There was still half a laxative left. She added a little to the hot soup every time, and the four little ones almost excreted all the Guanyin soil in their stomachs.

The days passed in a half-dead state, and in the blink of an eye it was February of the following year. The heavy snow that had started in September of the previous year had only just stopped. It had been snowing for a total of six months. It took half a month for the sun to come out and the thick snow to melt completely.

By the time the snow melted, it was mid-February. Chief Li was ready to take his men back to his hometown to see what was happening outside. They couldn't stay in the mountains forever. Spring plowing was about to begin, and it didn't look like there would be any more natural disasters.

Yun Xi called on everyone to go back together. If an earthquake came in this cave, no one would be able to escape.

The cave they were in was in the middle of the North-South Mountain Range. The Li family lived in Lishugou Village, the southernmost part of the mountain range. There was a large area of ​​wild pears in the village. It was not known whether they were wild or planted by people many years ago. In addition to farming, the biggest source of income for the village was selling wild pears. When the wild pears were ripe, the villagers picked them collectively and sold them together and finally divided the money.

Yun Xi had no impression of Lishugou Village. Less than three months after her original marriage, a disaster occurred and she had no chance to wander around the village.

After following Chief Li and his group south for half a month, we finally saw the familiar scenery. Unfortunately, everything had changed.

Chief Li stood on the hilltop, looking at his former home, and was filled with sorrow. "Where is our house?"

"Gone."

Yes, it's gone, all gone. The flood took away everything, and their houses were all built of mud bricks, so how could they withstand it? Even if they could withstand it, they couldn't withstand the snowstorm that just happened.

Yun Xi said to the system: "How tragic."

The system said slowly, "It's tragic. Before the disaster, the entire Jin Kingdom had over 50 million people, but now there are less than 10 million left."

"So little? Will the government give us more land?" Yun Xi asked with a roll of her eyes.

"It will definitely be divided. King An of Jin Guo has proclaimed himself emperor."

Everyone quickly went down the mountain and returned to the village. The next day, the Li family members made adobe bricks on the original site to build a house, while the clan leader Li took a dozen young men to the county town.

Yun Xi also followed behind to see the situation. Their Lishugou Village was neither far nor near from the county town. It took an hour to walk there, and only half an hour by ox cart. There was a pier between the county town and Lishugou Village, and the pier was also prosperous.

Along the way, Chief Li would go into every village he passed by to take a look, but he didn't see anyone. After seeing them, he felt even more depressed.

After finally arriving at the county town, they saw the collapsed city gate and the An County town buried under the mud. They felt terrible. It was as if everyone in the world had died and only their Li family was left.

"Chief, let's go in and dig around to see if there are any seeds that can be used. Otherwise, how are we going to farm?" Yun Xi was shocked when she saw the scene in front of her.

The county town is low-lying, and there is a large hill to the north. During the flood, the hill collapsed and buried the entire county town.

Chief Li's hands trembled. "I remember where the grain store is. Follow me."

After finding the right place, everyone started digging on the hard mud, from morning to night, from night to morning, after half a day and a night, they finally dug through. They found no food or seeds, only a few bones and rotten wood.

Chief Li slapped his forehead and said anxiously, "They must have eaten them all. There was a drought and locust plague before the flood, so they must have eaten them all."

Yun Xi looked away with her face covered in dirt. "Then let's go dig up the cellars of the rich families' houses. We must dig out some grain seeds, otherwise we will just be savages."

Chief Li knew what Sanniu's wife said was right. After several years of natural disasters and wars, everything that could be eaten was eaten. The few families who were reluctant to eat the grain seeds at the beginning had no choice but to eat the grain seeds in the end.

But if they want to farm, they need seeds. Relying solely on wild vegetables and fruits from the mountains is too unstable.

Patriarch Li took his men to eat something and continued digging. An County was a large county with a wharf ten miles outside the city. Before the disaster, it was very busy with people coming and going, so there were many wealthy families.

Patriarch Li led his men to dig out several wealthy households. The furniture and other wooden products inside were rotten beyond recognition, and there were no gold or silver jewelry. It was estimated that these wealthy families had fled the famine long ago. They did find some iron products such as iron pots and hoes. Although they were badly rusted, they could still be used after being sharpened, so they were all put away.

"The Zhao family cellar is here!"

After countless disappointments, Yun Xi finally found the cellar of the wealthy Zhao family. After opening the cellar door to let some fresh air in, Patriarch Li asked his son and villager Li Liuniu to go in and take a look.

The two men cried out at once in the afternoon, "Food! Dad! There's food!"

"Pull him up quickly!" Clan leader Li burst into tears. Finally, there was good news.

Finally, three bags of grain were pulled up. Chief Li opened the bags and took a look. They were all rice. He said thankfully, "Rice is good, rice is good. We can finally farm."

"Dad, are you still looking?"

"Look! Why not? The more seeds the better."

Everyone continued searching and found a total of five sacks of rice, a bag of corn, a small bag of chili peppers and half a bag of peanuts.

The elder of the Li clan was very relieved and prepared to go back. He had been out for five days and spring plowing could not wait.

"Chief, why don't you pull the blue bricks back? Why do we have to build a mud house?" Yun Xi looked at the blue bricks on the ground and had a sudden idea.

Patriarch Li was stunned for a moment and said dryly, "But what if someone else comes back?"

Yun Xi blinked her big, Caroline-like eyes and looked at him intently.

Chief Li's son retorted, "So what if they come back alive? How will they live in this place?"

"It seems so."

In this way, Chief Li took the lead in cutting down trees, made a few carts, and pulled the green bricks back to the village.

After arriving in the village, Chief Li immediately called everyone to a meeting.

There are fifteen households in the Li family, which means there are three more households because Li Daniu, Li Erniu and Li Daniu split up, otherwise there would only be thirteen households. There were originally about one hundred and eighty people in the fifteen households, but after a natural disaster, there were only one hundred people left.

All the old people and children were gone, and several young and middle-aged people also died. Fortunately, the Li family was united and finally survived.

A full hundred people sat under the old apricot tree at the entrance of the village to listen to the patriarch speak.

Chief Li did not mince words and said bluntly, "I went to the city with the big cow, the second cow, the fourth cow, the fifth cow, the sixth cow, the seventh cow, and the eighth cow from my clan. An County was buried. The dock was quiet, and the other villages were quiet too. No one was seen. At this time, we, the Li family, must be more united in order to survive.

There are only two things I want to say now. The first is building houses, and the second is spring plowing. All the people in the village will be divided into two groups, 48 ​​people will build houses, and 50 people will do spring plowing. As for Yanran and Xia Qing, the twins, they only need to dig wild vegetables.

Building the house was very quick. We didn't need to make adobe bricks. I arranged for four people to go to An County to collect blue bricks and bring them back. We all built a big blue brick and tile house, and also built a ancestral hall.

As for spring plowing, there aren't many seeds. Rice weighs 500 jin, and one acre requires 10 jin of seeds, so 50 acres can be planted. Corn weighs 100 jin, and one acre requires 3 jin of seeds, so over 33 acres can be planted. Chili peppers weigh 1 jin, and one acre requires 2 jin of seeds, so only half an acre can be planted. Peanuts weigh 20 jin, so only one acre can be planted.