Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

After the meal, Li Kuiqi sent his servant back to inform the head manager to organize people to come and collect the grain. He planned to stay there, firstly to put Zhang Xixi and the others at ease, and secondly because he wanted to personally guard the sweet potatoes.

This food is more important to him than his life!

Zhang Xixi went to check on the cellar. She was surprised to find that her father and the others had moved quickly enough; the cellar had already been lined with river sand. Since it was usable, they decided to start using it.

Zhang Xixi asked Zhou Fu and Sun Xiuxiu to move all the sweet potatoes in the yard to the cellar.

Li Kuiqi saw this and quickly stopped her, saying, "Young lady, my boss should be sending people over by the day after tomorrow at the earliest. You don't need to move it to the cellar!"

Zhang Xixi gestured for Zhou Fu and the others to continue moving the sweet potatoes before replying, "Boss Li, are you planning to take all the sweet potatoes away and not leave any for us?"

Li Kuiqi muttered to himself, "You know what, I've actually thought about that!"

Zhang Xixi didn't hear Li Kuiqi's mutterings clearly and asked, "Huh! What did you say!"

Li Kuiqi waved his hand and said, "No, I meant how many sweet potatoes you want to keep!"

Zhang Xixi pondered for a moment and said, "Just fill the cellar."

Li Kuiqi hurriedly ran over to take a look at the cellar. The cellar was quite large; if it were full, it would weigh at least 70,000 to 80,000 jin!

"Young lady, there aren't many people in your family, you can't possibly finish all these sweet potatoes!"

“Mr. Li, I still have so many workers to support, and they need to eat too. Besides, my sweet potato fields yield about 5,000 catties per mu, and there are a total of 200 mu. Are you sure you can take them all?”

Li Kuiqi did the mental calculation: two hundred acres of land would yield one million catties of sweet potatoes. A horse-drawn cart could carry at most seven or eight hundred catties, and it was thousands of miles from here to the Northwest.

It would take more than twenty days to travel by horse, and even longer to transport goods by horse-drawn cart, probably more than a month. And now, we can't travel by water.

I don't know what method the head manager plans to use to transport these sweet potatoes, but the more grain the better, so we should try to get them.

“Sister, you keep what you need, and leave the rest to me. We are really short of food. Don’t worry, we will find a way to take the food away.”

Zhang Xixi said with a smile, "Of course, you're the only buyer I've found."

Li Kuiqi smiled and said, "That's good!"

Zhang Xixi then looked at Zhang Wenbo, "Brother, please help entertain Boss Li."

Zhang Wenbo nodded and said, "Little sister, go ahead and do what you need to do!"

"Then I'll go to the sweet potato field first."

When Li Kuiqi heard Zhang Xixi say she was going to the sweet potato field, he quickly said, "Brother Zhang, don't worry about me, I'll go check on the sweet potatoes too."

Zhang Xixi thought for a moment that there were no secrets in the village, so she decided to let Mr. Li explore on his own.

"Big brother..."

Zhang Wenbo quickly interrupted Zhang Xixi, "Little sister, I'm fine too, I'll go to the sweet potato field with you!"

It's definitely unusual for my sister's sweet potatoes to grow so quickly in just one month. To avoid anyone letting it slip, it's best to stay with Mr. Li.

In the sweet potato field, Wang Daniu and his men were working hard, chatting and laughing. The sweet potatoes were big and good, and looked very appealing!

The owner usually treats them well, and with such a good harvest, they are genuinely happy for her!

When Zhang Xixi and the others arrived at the field, Zhang Wenbo kept a close eye on Li Kuiqi. Fortunately, the villagers and Wang Daniu knew their limits and did not reveal how the sweet potatoes were grown in front of outsiders.

Of course, Li Kuiqi didn't ask, because he wasn't curious about farming at all. He came to the field simply because he felt at ease seeing the sweet potatoes growing there.

Because if anything happens to their master, these servants won't be able to escape, not to mention his son is in the Northwest!

Zhang Xixi looked around and found a corner piled with sweet potatoes, all covered with sweet potato leaves, and two bedding rolls next to them.

"Wang Daniu, you guys kept watch last night!"

Wang Daniu quickly replied, "Master, I was afraid the sweet potatoes in the field would be damaged, so I arranged for someone to guard them."

"Well done. You'll have worked hard for the next few days too. Everyone who comes to keep watch will get an extra ten coins when the accounts are settled at the end of the month."

Wang Dadong grinned and said, "Thank you, boss. We will definitely protect the sweet potatoes."

Zhang Xixi then instructed, "Tomorrow, have the people who cleared the land come and dig up sweet potatoes. After they're dug up, pile them up in the field and cover them with more sweet potato vines."

"Okay, boss."

Zhang Xixi went to check on the nearby pasture again. The grass was growing very fast. Since she was already there, she decided to cut some grass to take home.

"Zhou Fu, how are the workers doing these past few days?"

“Master, Wang Daniu and the others are working very hard. All your relatives have come too. Although they are not as hardworking as Wang Daniu and the others, none of them are deliberately slacking off.”

"That's fine. We won't be clearing any more land starting tomorrow. We also have other things to do at home. What do you think is the best way to deal with the livestock?"

Seeing that Zhou Fu wanted to say they would take care of the livestock, Zhang Xixi quickly added, "You and your wife have other things to do and can't take care of the livestock."

Zhou Fu thought for a moment. Compared to the other children in the village, his two children only had to herd horses and mules, which was relatively easy. Right, the other children in the village!

"Master, my two children can look after two cows, and the rest can be looked after by the village children. The reward is four baskets of hay. What do you think?"

Zhang Xixi agreed, saying, "Take care of one cow and five baskets of hay. When the two friends come back, have them tell them to tell their friends."

Zhou Fu hesitated, "Wouldn't it be... dangerous to send the children?"

Zhang Xixi said seriously, "Many children in the village need to go out to cut grass, so let's treat this as a transaction between the children."

"Okay!"

Zhou Fu continued moving sweet potatoes, and Zhang Xixi also brought over a basket and carried the sweet potatoes one basket at a time into the cellar.

A short while later, Zhou Yujie woke up and got up with his two children.

Erbao: "Mom, is everything done?!"

Da Bao: "Mom, did you bring any good food?"

Zhou Yujie: "Sister-in-law, you're back!"

"We just got back not long ago, and everything's taken care of. As for good food, Mom was in such a hurry that she didn't buy anything."

Da Bao was disappointed for a moment, then smiled again. It's good that Mommy is back. I really missed Mommy after not seeing her for a day!

Zhang Xixi then asked, "Why aren't you reading books here?"

"Sister-in-law, let us help."

"Mom, we want to do some work before we go to read."

Zhang Xixi placed the basket in front of the two children. "Okay, you put the sweet potatoes in the basket. Call me when it's full, and I'll carry it to the cellar."

Zhou Yujie then picked up the basket full of sweet potatoes in front of Zhang Xixi and walked towards the cellar.

This kid is still so mischievous!