The whole village is starving, but I have a full warehouse of meat in the mall

Chapter 17 If I Sold Four Mountains, Five Taels of Silver Would Be Enough to Eat Until Next Year

"There is a man who runs a grain store in this town but has no son. He offered five taels of silver to buy my Sishan and take him over to break the pot!"

"I have five children at home, all of them are hungry. If I sell four mountains, five taels of silver will be enough to feed them for two years."

"But no matter how bad I am, I am still your mother. I won't sell my child. At worst, we'll starve to death together." She threw the chestnuts in her hand over, "I don't have the money to buy Meihua back. I'll give this little bit of food to Meihua to work for a day in our house!"

She waved her hand, "Meihua, what are you still standing there for? Come over and wash my clothes!"

Zhao Meihua knew that Aunt Ye was not a good person, but now she was willing to do anything to avoid being sold. She got up from the ground, not even bothering to wipe her tears, and immediately followed Jiang Wan.

Aunt Zhao was reluctant to sell her daughter, so after her daughter ran away, she deliberately stood at the gate of the yard, fearing that the head of the household would catch up with her.

Zhao Da sat on some dry firewood, puffing on his pipe.

Aunt Zhao picked up the cloth bag on the ground. It was heavy with four or five pounds of chestnuts.

Hairy chestnuts are not rare, there are many on the mountain, but the chestnut trees near the foot of the mountain have been plucked out by the villagers, so it is not every day that you can see the chestnut trees like yesterday...

Thinking about the forty or fifty kilograms of chestnuts she had just picked up yesterday, her heart seemed to bleed.

"Sister Ye, who is so nagging, can make a living, so why can't we?" Aunt Zhao grabbed the chestnuts and said with gritted teeth, "Even if I have to eat wild vegetables, chew tree bark, or even eat soil, I don't agree to sell my child!"

Zhao Da sighed: "Then let's wait until the rice in the field is harvested!"

If there is a harvest from the fields, there is no need to sell the children. But if there is no harvest, there will not be a single grain of food in the warehouse for most of the next six months. The only way out is to sell the children.

By then, it is impossible that they are the only family selling their child!
Jiang Wan led Zhao Meihua to their yard. Xiaohui had already washed and hung up the clothes that needed washing.

She pulled Meihua to sit down and said, "If your father really wants to sell you, he will take you to town no matter what I say."

The plum blossoms wiped away their tears and remained silent.

Jiang Wan sighed. Although Aunt Zhao loved her children, in this era, favoring boys over girls was a common problem.

The Zhao family has four daughters and one son. The eldest daughter has been married for a long time. The second daughter, Meihua, is the oldest girl in the family, so she bears the most. Meihua is the most miserable child in the Zhao family.

"Eat something first, then get to work." Jiang Wan stood up and walked towards the kitchen, looking at his eldest daughter-in-law and said, "Just make the batter and add the wild vegetables to cook together."

Because there were outsiders present, she did not bring white flour, but buckwheat. She cooked the black buckwheat flour and wild vegetables into a paste. This is how every household here eats it, but their paste is a little thicker, and each person gets a big bowl.

When Xiaohui was cooking breakfast, Ye Sishan came over.

He grabbed Jiang Wan's sleeve, blinked his big eyes and asked, "Mom, is there really someone who wants to buy me for five taels of silver?"

This is not a lie made up by Jiang Wan. After Dahe's father passed away last year, there were indeed people from the neighboring village who wanted to buy a son to take care of them in their old age. They wanted to pay a small amount of money to let Sishan take care of them in their old age.

The original body was a little tempted, but that family was scolded away by Old Lady Ye, so they never mentioned the matter again.

But if the famine becomes more severe, I am afraid that the original body will really sell the four mountains...

Jiang Wan pinched the little guy's face and said, "Yes, so when you grow up and get married, don't forget your mother."

Ye Sishan nodded vigorously: "I will be filial to my mother all my life and let her have rice and meat to eat all her life!"

Jiang Wan couldn't help laughing.

The aroma soon wafted from the kitchen, and the whole family sat down around the table. Zhao Meihua was also forced to sit down, with a bowl of wild vegetable porridge in front of her. "Aunt Ye, this won't do..."

Zhao Meihua waved her hands repeatedly. Aunt Ye had just given their family a bag of food, and she hadn't done anything yet, so how could she eat a bowl of porridge for free?

When their family still had food, she couldn't even eat such thick porridge...

The house was filled with fragrance.

The four boys and one girl ate with great relish. Xiaohui drank up the whole bowl of wild vegetable porridge.

Zhao Meihua was stunned.

Her mother often said that the family next door had a miserable life, and also said that Dahaha’s wife didn’t have enough to eat every day. Is this what it looks like to be hungry?
Why does she feel that their family is living a more miserable life?

"Meihua, eat quickly." Jiang Wan said, "I'll give you some work to do later."

Eating so much food early in the morning doesn't seem to be an easy task.

After a fierce psychological struggle, Zhao Meihua finally succumbed to the delicious food and drank the whole bowl of porridge.

"Here!" Ye Sishan stuffed two sugar-roasted chestnuts into her hand. "Sister Meihua used to secretly stuff steamed bread into my mouth to eat. Now I can finally stuff food into your mouth too!"

In fact, Zhao Meihua herself didn't have much to eat, so all the delicious food at home had to be left for her younger brother. But Sishan was too pitiful sometimes. He would stand under the big tree between the two houses, staring at her with drooling, and his clothes were wet with drool. She had no choice but to break off a little bit of the steamed bread and stuff it into his mouth.

Unexpectedly, her unintentional act was actually remembered by Sishan.

After breakfast, the busy day began again. Jiang Wan asked Meihua to stay and help Xiaohui and Xiaofang dig wild vegetables on the ridges of the fields. They could go back at noon after digging.

Zhao Meihua was full of questions.

That bag of food is enough for her family to eat for two or three days, and you ask her to dig wild vegetables?
Doesn’t Xiaofang also know how to dig wild vegetables? Why do we specifically look for her?
Why did she feel that Aunt Ye was just trying to help her?
Jiang Wan took a few kids up the mountain yesterday and earned half a tael of silver. He wants to make further progress today.

Before I even got to the top of the mountain, I ran into an acquaintance at the foot of the mountain.

She was the original body's sister-in-law, the second daughter-in-law of the old Ye family. She took her daughter Daya and carried a basket to the mountain to dig wild vegetables.

Ye Er's wife came up to him with a smile: "I haven't seen my sister-in-law for many days. I think she looks whiter than before."

The corners of Jiang Wan's mouth twitched. Although there was no mirror, she could see her hands. The palms were rough and the backs were dark, with the typical skin color of a peasant woman. When she made enough money, she would definitely buy some whitening skin care products...

She is in her early thirties in modern times, but people around her say she looks like she is in her early twenties.

But in ancient times, at the age of thirty, she had become an old woman who was about to have a grandchild.

The average life expectancy of ancient people was too short. Some people in their thirties in the village were already called old women...

Fortunately, she still has her father-in-law and mother-in-law above her, so for the time being, people won’t call her Old Lady Ye…

Jiang Wan silently wiped away a tear and said, "Let's hurry up the mountain while the sun is not too high."

The five kids were already walking ahead quickly, so she started to catch up. Mrs. Li also quickened her pace and said casually, "Sister-in-law looks fatter. It turns out that eating meat nourishes people."

(End of this chapter)