Chapter 130 Unexpected Gain
thing behind, just pure help. 。Each family felt guilty and could only send some dried vegetables, peanuts, melon seeds to Li's house again. 。Before the year even arrives, the entire village of QingSh...“From now on, every day when the sun is good, we should all come down and move around. It doesn't matter if it's practicing swordplay, archery, or even just swinging a stick randomly, the point is not to be idle. Also, Fourth Brother should teach everyone how to hunt more. It would be best to supplement our food supply and save some rations. After all, we have to hold out until next year. We don't know what awaits us outside the forest.”
Uncle Zhao also said, “Yes, we need to have people on guard day and night from now on. It’s best to build a shed on the mountaintop above the cave as an observation post, and someone should guard the opening of the forest across the ravine. Everyone takes turns, don’t just idle around.”
Li Lao Si and everyone else nodded, having a direction made it easier to make arrangements.
In the village, there were thirty-three able-bodied men, including Wen Hai. They worked in three shifts a day, each shift lasting four hours. The remaining eight hours were spent sleeping or hunting and training.
Even the half-sized kids have chores, responsible for shoveling snow and chopping wood.
Women are responsible for taking care of the elderly and children, each doing their part.
A group of people stayed on guard, while the rest were divided into two teams. One team went to the mountaintop to build a shelter and set up an observation post, while the other team went into the woods to hunt.
As a result, the group of people who went into the forest to hunt returned empty-handed. Instead, as the sun began to set, they brought back Liu Biaotou and Liu Yang's family members.
The three of them carried three large bags, their faces pale with exhaustion.
Everyone was surprised, more curious, wondering what they had brought back.
Jia Yi rushed to the entrance of his own cave and shouted loudly, "Big brother, come down quickly, look at the good things I brought you!"
Jiarren was riding his younger sister on his neck, strolling around in the cave. He rarely got to skip writing practice.
Hearing the shouts, the siblings lifted the curtains and peeked out, both overjoyed.
Jiarren quickly took off his carrying pole and put his younger sister on it, then climbed down the bamboo ladder.
Jīayì pulled his younger sister in for a kiss and then dragged his older brother towards the grass hut.
Inside the grass hut, Liu Biaotou had already opened three packages.
Mr. Wen exclaimed in surprise, "Where did you find so many books"
Jiarou's eyes lit up, and he dashed straight to the bookshelf, touching this and flipping that, almost delirious with joy.
A scholar may be wealthy, but it's not just about feasting and socializing at the academy. The most precious things are brushes, ink, paper, and books.
A book of enlightenment costs one or two silver coins.
There are so many books here, over three hundred! To buy them all would cost at least seven or eight hundred taels of silver!
Liu Biaotou laughed and said, “Staying near the bandits’ courtyard would be pointless. We might as well take a walk around. We were going to check the official road when we unexpectedly encountered several boxes filled with these books on the way. They must have been looted from the Guo family by the bandits. This stuff isn't silver or food, so they just left it behind.”
Mr. Wen nodded and pointed to a seal on the back of a book, "This is indeed Mr. Guoshan's private seal."
He thought for a moment and said, "That's it. Jiaren should learn this first. When leaving, take what you can, and hide the rest. We'll let the Guo family come to collect it later."
Jia Ren nodded vigorously, so happy that he wished he could lie down on the pile of books.
These are all rare and valuable books. Otherwise, the Guo family wouldn't have brought them even when fleeing for their lives.
If he hadn't had this opportunity, as a farm boy, he probably wouldn't have seen these books in his whole life.
Seeing him like this, everyone burst into laughter, like a mouse that had fallen into a rice vat.
Finally, all these books were sent to Li's mountain cave because there wasn't enough space in the small cave.
Mr. Wen brought home a collection that had taken him half a day to sort, and Jia Yin joined in the fun too, wanting to see this cultural artifact from this time period and compare it with what she knew from her past life.
Jiārén was afraid that his younger sister would be mischievous and pull, tear things apart. Seeing her carefully looking through the pages with a serious expression, he didn't stop her.
As a result, in less than half an hour, Mr. Wen pointed to the person behind him who suddenly burst into laughter.
He quickly turned back to look, and his younger sister was lying on top of the pile of books, snoring softly...
When Jia Yin woke up, the sky was already late. Tao Hongying was really making dough, and Zhao Yuru was chopping wild pork, preparing to make dumplings.
Grandma Li sat by the bedside, carefully handling the duck eggs in the altar. Seeing her granddaughter wake up, she hugged her in her arms and smiled.
"Little piggy, are you awake You were sleeping on the pile of books just now, your saliva almost soaked them!"
Jiayin blushed, hugged her grandmother's neck and wriggled around, plump like a little caterpillar, making Lao Tai Li laugh nonstop.
"Alright, alright, I know you're embarrassed, Grandma won't say anymore."
Mrs. Li continued to count her duck eggs, there were only seven or eight left on the stand.
Jia Yin poked her head out and tugged on Grandma's sleeve, pointing pitifully at the altar.
Li Lao understood, hesitated for a moment, pursed her lips, and glanced back. In the cave, there were only two busy daughters-in-law.
Mr. Jia Ren Tongwen moved some books to the small cave, while Jia Xi and Jia An went out to play. Li Lao Er, Lao San, and Lao Si were all downstairs.
She gritted her teeth and leaned close to her granddaughter's ear, saying, "Just take out twenty. Not too many."
Jia Yin nodded vigorously, with a wave of her hand twenty clean eggs appeared on the platform. Lao Tai Li quickly covered them and put them in the furthest corner, blocking them with a grain bag.
Just as she was about to let out a sigh of relief, her granddaughter stuffed another peeled, boiled egg into her mouth. Looking at her granddaughter's little mouth, it was also puffed up.
She could only glare at her granddaughter once, then hugged her, stealing bites while pondering.
The pickled eggs are ready. I'll boil four for the folks at Xiaoshandong. Jia Ren is studying with Mr. Wen, so it’s good to show our support. We can’t forget Zhang, the village head, Zhao Shu and the other elders either.
Respecting teachers and elders is always a good thing.
The granddaughter took out these things, none of them were wasted. She shouldn't have bad luck, right
Jia Yin may not know how conflicted Grandma was. After eating an egg, she felt a little better in her stomach and went to the stove, squatting beside her mother who was wrapping dumplings!
This is dumplings, she hasn't had them in almost two years!
Just then, Li Lao Si climbed up from below and entered the room. Seeing his daughter, he scooped her up in his arms.
"My dear girl, look what daddy brought back for you!"
Jia Yin was thinking about food, her mind full of "eat eat eat", when suddenly she saw her father take out two fluffy white rabbits from his arms. She blurted out, "Are we going to roast them or stew them"
The cave was silent for a moment, then laughter boomed.
"Haha, our little Funi must be hungry!"
"This little girl thinks about food for everything she sees!"
Tao Hongying couldn't stop laughing, her face flushed. Zhao Yuru was wiping tears from the corners of her eyes too.
Li Laosi scratched his head with a chuckle, "My dear girl, this rabbit is too small! It's not even enough to fill a tooth gap! Your father brought it back for you to play with!"
Jia Yin was extremely embarrassed and quickly gave her father a strained smile, "Thank you, Father!"
Li Laosì blinked twice, feeling that his daughter seemed to dislike him.
Jia Yin was on the verge of tears. There were so many rabbits in her small courtyard, it felt like there were at least eighty if not a hundred! Feeding them every night was exhausting.
While she was thinking about how to lighten the load in her space, her father brought back two more.
Could someone please tell her how to act happy...t if they are really refugees fleeing the famine We’re so close, it wouldn’t take much effort…”The general grew impatient, and with a sideways glance, snarled, "Are you ordering me Are you the general...