In the year of disaster in the book, the villain girl is the real winner

Old Mrs. Li's nephew has a livelihood and connections in Licheng.

My nephew said that even if the drought did not continue in the second half of the year, Ningyuan County would be in chaos because the armistice agreement between the Great Zhou and the Western Rong would soon expire.

Moreover, there are already many bandits in Fenghuang Mountain near Shiliu Village.

Sooner or later, Pomegranate Village will be ravaged by bandits.

Let Mrs. Li's brother come to Shiliu Village and tell her to sell her belongings and go to the provincial capital, Licheng, with their family to seek refuge.

Old Mrs. Li believed her brother's words without a doubt.

Old Mrs. Li had experienced the war fifteen years ago, and she still feels scared of the Western Rong troops whenever she thinks of them.

Yesterday morning we discovered that the water flow from the old well was very slow. It was only a matter of time before Shiliu Village ran out of water.

He made a prompt decision to sell his property and go to Licheng to join his nephews.

Anyway, the people of Pomegranate Village have no point in hanging out with them because the He family hasn’t been nice to the Li family.

When He Qiudi heard her say that, she knew what Old Lady Li was planning. She had originally wanted to let the stupid little cat release water into the old well, but for the time being she didn't allow it.

"If you want to buy land, you should do it early. You can plant crops early when you buy it. It is convenient for irrigation while there is still water in the pond, so that you can harvest crops in the fall."

Someone directly exposed Mrs. He's calculations: "Even in a good year, your 15 mu of dry land can't produce more than two dan of grain per mu. In a bad year, it's worth less than one tael of silver. Those five mu of good land can't be sold for more than three taels of silver per mu in a good year. The old well hasn't produced much water in the past two days. Who knows if it will rain in the future? Your dry land may be abandoned this year. You still want to sell it for 40 taels of silver? Even ten taels of silver is too much."

Old Mrs. Li was confronted with a mouthful of phlegm that got stuck in her throat. She couldn't spit it out or swallow it, and she almost choked to death.

She coughed bitterly.

Aunt Li patted her back to help her calm down, and after a while she spat out a mouthful of thick green phlegm on the ground.

Old Lady Li glared at the woman who was dismantling her luggage and cursed, "You want to buy my 20 mu of land for 10 taels of silver? What are you dreaming of? I won't sell the land even if it rots there."

After saying that, he turned and left.

He Qiudi knew that Ningyuan County was located on the border. If there were not people committing crimes every year and being exiled to Ningyuan County and Lan County, the indigenous villagers nearby would have almost all fled long ago.

The land is vast and the people are sparse.

Every household has enough land.

And the taxes are relatively less.

There are many wastelands suitable for farming in Shiliu Village, but they are far away from the reservoirs and irrigation is inconvenient, so there is no wasteland to be reclaimed.

For dry land that you have reclaimed yourself, you only have to pay taxes after three years. The cost is less than one or two taels of silver per acre, but the process of reclaiming land is quite hard, so some people are willing to spend money to buy other people's dry land, but the price will not exceed one or two taels of silver.

The price of good farmland will be higher.

The fertile farmland is close to the reservoir, which makes irrigation easy and requires less manpower. It is fertile and can produce more than three dan of grain per mu.

When the market is good, it can be sold for five taels per acre.

But that was also when the market was good.

When selling land in a disaster year, one can only sell it at a bargain price.

He Qiudi walked up to Grandpa He, greeted him, and told him about his time in Taohua Village.

Seeing that there was no water in the old well, Mr. He calmed down and returned home with He Qiudi.

Nowadays.

A lot of winter wheat in the fields has been harvested and needs to be dried, threshed and stored.

This requires that some people work at home, while others continue to work in the fields, harvesting wheat, tidying up the harvested land, and continuing spring plowing.

The He family has 20 acres of good farmland and 30 acres of dry land.

Infertile land, only one crop is grown per year, but fertile land is grown twice a year, so there is spring harvest of winter wheat and millet.

If we want to harvest all the crops from these fields and plant them again, we will have a lot of time to spare.

Old Mrs. He wanted to dry, thresh and shell the wheat and millet at home. She did not go to the fields to work today, but took care of the housework.

The fifth brother He Huaijin and the sixth brother He Huaibi took a day off from farming and came back to the He family to help with the work.

Seeing He Qiudi coming back, the two brothers came to greet him from the dining room.

"Seventh sister, you are finally back." He Huaibi smiled and said, "If you hadn't come back after lunch, I would have gone to Third Sister-in-law's home with Huaijin to pick you two up. I heard from Sanlang that you also hunted a lot of things in Taohua Village."

He Qiudi laughed and said, "That's right. Taohua Village is low-lying, and the wells there show no signs of running out of water. There is also water in the ponds in the mountains. The nephews of the Jin family took Sanlang and me into the mountains to play, and Sanlang hunted two pheasants."

He Huaibi was surprised and asked, "Really? Sanlang did it all by himself?"

"Sixth Uncle, why don't you believe me? I really hunted those two pheasants by myself. Not only did I not ask my aunt to help, I even didn't ask my cousin to help." He Sanlang said proudly.

He Huaibi quickly reached out and touched his head: "It's Uncle Six's fault. Our Sanlang has inherited his father's talent. He will definitely be very powerful in the future and can become a divine hunter."

He Sanlang said with inflated confidence.

"That's for sure."

He Qiudi asked, "Sixth brother, have you tried the roasted lamb leg that Sanlang brought back? It tastes pretty good, but it's cold. Not as delicious as yesterday."

He Huaibi replied, "Mother said she would heat it up. Let's go to the kitchen. Mother said they would have braised mutton and mutton stew for lunch."

He Qiudi swallowed his saliva and said, "Then I'm going to learn from my mother how to make braised mutton and mutton stew."

When He Qiudi entered the kitchen, he saw strips of smoked venison hanging on the crossbar above the stove.

It seemed that Grandma He made most of the deer hunted that day into bacon.

The whole kitchen was filled with the aroma of meat, making people drool.

Old Mrs. He was treating the lamb legs with hot water in an iron pot. In another open space, a charcoal stove was set up, ready to roast the lamb legs.

Looking at the half-eaten roasted lamb leg, He Qiudi smiled guiltily and said, "Mother, Sanlang's grandmother gave us a whole roasted lamb leg. On the way back, we were hungry and tired, so we cut it into pieces and ate a lot."

Old Mrs. He gave her an unpleasant look.

"I understand. I can't get angry with you and Sanlang just for half a leg of lamb. I heard from Sanlang that the Jin family roasted a whole lamb yesterday?"

He Qiudi: “Yeah.”

He Sanlang suddenly interrupted and said, "Grandma, if my aunt and I can catch a goat in Pomegranate Village, can you roast a whole one for us to eat?"

Old Mrs. He smiled helplessly: "Okay. While your fifth uncle and sixth uncle are at home, if you and your aunt can hunt a goat, I will make you a whole roasted goat."

Because of what Old Lady He said, after lunch, He Sanlang asked He Qiudi to take him into the mountains to hunt.

He Qiudi hadn't slept well for two consecutive nights, so he didn't agree to go into the mountains and stayed at home to take a nap.

As a result, He Huaibi took Grandpa He's bow and arrow and took He Sanlang into the mountains. The two encountered a lone wild goat. Under their siege, the poor wild goat was shot through the belly. It ran across two hills before being successfully captured.

He Huaibi carried the goat back, but Old Lady He said she wanted to kill the goat and take it to the city to exchange it for money the next morning.

When He Sanlang heard this, he burst into tears.

"Grandma, you clearly promised us that if you hunt wild goats again, you would roast them whole for us to eat."

Old Lady He said calmly, "I mean if you and your aunt hunt wild goats again, you can roast them whole. But this wild goat was hunted by you and your uncle, and you didn't participate in the hunt, so it doesn't count."

She played tricks by playing word games.

He Sanlang cried even louder and walked towards He Qiudi's room, wiping his tears as he walked: "Aunt, aunt, I feel so sad..."