Mo Huaixiang said: "I don't need to take care of me, but she can't take care of me. I agreed that she will come to help you wash clothes and cook, sweep the floor and feed pigs, and pound rice every day. You can collect 100 kilograms of rice in their family. If you don't let her take care of you, wouldn't you want to regret it?"

After Mo Huaixiang said this, Ning Sanmei became nervous and looked at Gu Yezhou and said, "Sir, I... am I not doing well?"

"Okay, it's great! I just said that my illness is almost cured, so don't worry too much about my illness. That's it. There's no other meaning, don't think about it."

Ning Sanmei breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, the two dimples on the corners of her mouth were very cute, and she said to Mo Huaixiang: "I'll just say that, my husband agreed to let me stay by his side to serve him, and eat and live here..."

Mo Huaixiang looked a little strange: "You have been living here with Mr.?"

"Yes, can't it be?"

"Hmph, that's your business, I don't care!" Mo Huaixiang twisted her delicate body and turned aside with a breath.

Ning Sanmei didn't know why she was unhappy to stay with her husband. She looked at her and then looked at Gu Yezhou. She stuck out her tongue and shook the big black braid that was hanging in front of her slightly bulging chest, saying, "Sister Huaixiang, go back, just have me here. I'll go down to cut the pig grass and feed the pigs." After that, she carried the basket and wanted to go downstairs.

"Wait!" Mo Huaixiang pulled Ning Sanmei, "I have something to say to you. Let's talk to you." The second girl entered the warehouse room, closed the door and muttered for a long time before she came out.

Mo Huaixiang said to Gu Yezhou: "Okay, I've already explained it. Sir, you can study with peace of mind and don't worry about anything else. I will come to ask you to see a doctor in the evening." After that, the two girls went downstairs to the stilt house. After a while, the sound of chopping pig grass came downstairs.

Gu Yezhou glanced at the children and the old man, smiled apologetically, returned to his study room, and then read the book. After a while, he heard the pounding sounds below stop. After a while, he heard Ning Sanmei coming up. After a while, he heard the sound of banging outside and the sound of straw turning. He was tired, so he came out and saw Ning Sanmei sitting on a short bench under the corridor smashing straw. He walked over and squatted down to look at her: "What are you doing?"

Ning Sanmei laughed: "You don't remember this? You're ready to make straw sandals!"

"What are you doing for straw sandals?"

"When the county town is running, I will sell it."

"Does anyone want it?"

"Of course some people want it. Who has the money to buy cloth shoes like you? You can't wear them for long. Straw sandals are comfortable and throw them away if they are rotten."

"How much can a pair of straw sandals cost?"

"A penny three doubles, and a penny ten doubles."

"How much does a liter of rice cost?"

"White rice is usually fifty cents per liter of rice."

Gu Yezhou didn't have this concept. He didn't know whether it was expensive or cheap, so he asked again: "Then, is this the price the same before the drought?"

"Of course not. At that time, it was much cheaper, and a liter of rice was less than ten cents."

Gu Yezhou stumbled his tongue and said, "Isn't that the price has increased by more than five times?"

"Yes. So this day is getting harder and harder. Looking at the harvest this year, I'm afraid that by the end of the year, the rice price will double! Alas!" Then it started to smash again.

After smashing the straw, Ning Sanmei began to weave straw sandals.

Gu Yezhou asked: "How many pairs can you wear in a day when you weave shoes?"

"Thirty or forty pairs."

"That means that if you sell all the straw sandals you weave in a day, you can only earn ten cents? Isn't it enough to buy three or two white rice?"

Ning Sanmei nodded and sighed: "How can I sell them all? Thank you for being able to sell ten pairs. There are too many people selling straw sandals. Now how many farmers are willing to pay for straw sandals? If you don't have that money, you can buy bran cakes?"

Brand cake is made of rice bran, and it is related to grain, which is more nourishing than wild vegetables such as shepherd's purse.

Gu Yezhou asked again: "How often should I get to the county town to go to the field?"

"Five days. Why? Do you want to go too? You didn't want to enter the county town before."

Gu Yezhou could guess that the scholar who had resurrected himself through the corpse must be worried about meeting an acquaintance in the county town, and he felt embarrassed to see his poorness. He smiled and said, "It's time and time."

"Okay! If you want to go, we will go together then."

"Thank you!" Gu Yezhou stood up, "I'll go out for a walk and relax."

Ning Sanmei immediately stood up worriedly: "Doesn't the injury on your head matter?"

"It doesn't matter," Gu Yezhou walked around the place a few times, "Hey, it's okay."

"You can't be careless. I want to help you stay at home. There is still food at home, so you can't lose people. Otherwise, let Sister Huaixiang accompany you?" After that, Ning Sanmei got up and walked to the corridor, shouting: "Sister Huaixiang--!"

After shouting a few times, Mo Huaixiang's pretty figure appeared just outside her house's corridor, and shouted: "I'm here! What's the matter?"

"Sir, are you going out for a walk, do you have time to spend with me?"

"Okay! Sir, come here, I'll come down now."

Gu Yezhou said: "There is no need to be so troublesome. Okay, she can accompany her." After that, he got off the stilt house.

When I arrived outside the fence yard of Mo Huaixiang, Mo Huaixiang was already waiting there. Her big eyes blinked, deliberately thrusting the already towering and spectacular pair of breasts again, and looked at him playfully: "Where do you want to go for a walk? Sir."

Gu Yezhou's eyes fell on her peak, and then quickly changed his sight and said, "Let's go and be in the village."

"Okay!" Mo Huaixiang followed him along the stone road in the village and walked slowly. The villagers passing by were carrying baskets and hoes from time to time along the road. When they saw him, they all bent down respectfully and shouted: "Sir!"

Gu Yezhou nodded. When the other person passed, he asked who Mo Huaixiang was. He also remembered all these people with great care.

Their village is not big, and it will be finished in a short while. Mo Huaixiang saw that Gu Yezhou was in good spirits and said, "How about we go to the top of the mountain again?"

"OK!"

The two walked up the village again, left the village, and walked for a while, and then they reached the top of the mountain. They stood on the top of the mountain and looked up and saw mountains and peaks at their feet. There was no cloud or mist in the mountains, only the villages that were steaming. The farmhouses in Gong'e Village were scattered below one by one. It was supposed to be lush mountains, but most of them turned yellow now, and the grass under their feet had lost its luster and began to transform into dead grass. The layers of terraces under the village were all without water, and they cracked into pieces. Some rice grew sparsely and swung in the wind.

The desolate scene in front of you is the result of this severe drought that lasted for two years.

The ancient Yezhou sat down on a rock. In the mountains, some villagers bent down to dig out wild vegetables that can be eaten by shepherd's purse, bracken, kudzu root, etc.. Few people were seen in the fields. I guess they were completely disappointed with how much grain the rice fields could produce under this drought, so I simply ignored it.

Gu Yezhou asked: "Where is my five acres of land?"

Mo Huaixiang pointed to a dry stream bed in the middle of the terraced ravine and said, "Here, right next to the stream, the five pieces under the tall old elm trees are connected together!"

Gu Yezhou looked carefully and said, "It's close to the water flow. If you don't encounter the severe drought in the past two years, there will be no problem with irrigation and the harvest should be good."

"Of course, your family's five acres of land are of high quality. The normal annual harvest is enough for you to eat for more than a year, and the bumper harvest is enough for two years, and there is still a surplus."

"It's a pity that there is a severe drought now. The growth of the crops is so I'm afraid I will continue to eat braised vegetables."

Mo Huaixiang tilted her head to look at him. Seeing that he looked faint, she knew that he was in a bad mood, so she deliberately pulled away his attention and asked with a smile: "Can you still remember why our village is called Gong'ezhai?"

Gu Yezhou shook his head.

"Let me tell you, it is said that a long time ago, no one lived here, but it was a barren mountain. Later, two brothers passed by here and saw a large male goose on the top of the mountain, standing on the rock on the top of the mountain. They were about to catch it, but when they arrived at the rock, the male goose disappeared. They thought it might be a good omen, indicating that it was a treasure land. So the two brothers built a house here and settled their house. They also intermarried with people from other villages, and gave their village a name called Gong'e Village. It's strange that the terraces they dug were harvesting every year. Life quickly got better. When others knew about it, they moved here to live. In this way, the village gradually grew bigger and appeared like this."

Gu Yezhou said: "There are great harvests every year, but now, how come it has become a severe drought?"

"Yes! No one expected it."

The two chatted until noon, and then left the top of the mountain and returned to the village.

The children and the elderly still did not leave, and looked at them one by one. Ning Sanmei said that after they left, some of the children took out shepherd's purse and cakes to eat, while others had not eaten yet. Gu Yezhou hardened his heart and entered the study room, closed the door, waited for a while before taking out the rice ball and eating it quietly.

In the evening, the child who had been waiting for a whole day seemed to know that there was no hope. After half of his departure, the old man also left.
Chapter completed!