Siheyuan: Struggle in the Red Era

(brain storage)

Sijiu City, Nanluogu Lane.

Chen Zhaodi carried a backpack and prepared to go dig wild vegetables.

It had only been a month since she came here, but Chen Zhaodi felt that she couldn't live like this anymore. If she hadn't come from a poor mountainous area in her previous life, a family that favored boys over girls, and had worked on a construction site for three years, she wouldn't have been able to hold out for so long without being discovered.

Of course, it was fortunate that the original body was only ten years old. Every day, he was driven to get up before dawn to do laundry, cooking and take care of his younger brother. When the adults went to work and his younger brother went to school, he had to go out of the city to dig wild vegetables and collect firewood. In the afternoon, he went home to continue washing, cleaning, lighting fires and cooking. All day long, he had no time to rest. In this way, he could only get two steamed buns and a bowl of water for washing the pot every day to keep himself from starving to death.

With this kind of life, it is absolutely a lie to say how well the adults and children in the family know Chen Zhaodi, or how familiar the neighbors are with her original self. Chen Zhaodi only needs to be like her original self, keep her head down, keep silent, and smile when she meets people, then no one will suspect her. Of course, if she dares to show her discomfort with the steamed corn bread while eating, cannot eat it, dislikes the tattered clothes that rub her skin, the lice that bite her body, the shoes that hurt her feet, or if she is lazy and doesn't work, that is another matter.

After exiting the Chuihua Gate and turning left, she saw Yan Bugui standing in the west wing of the front yard watering the flowers not far away. Chen Zhaodi lowered her head, preparing to go out as usual, but was stopped before she reached the gate.

"Zhao Di, are you planning to go pick some wild vegetables?" Yan Bugui said with a smile, and stopped Chen Zhao Di.

Chen Zhaodi didn't expect that Third Uncle Yan Bugui, who usually never saw her, would actually chat with her? She pursed her lips, quickly raised her head and glanced at Yan Bugui in surprise, then lowered her head and whispered, "Yes, Third Uncle."

Yan Bugui certainly wouldn't sit around and chat with a worthless kid. Yesterday, he heard from the third aunt that this girl dug a large basket of wild vegetables outside the city, so today he asked where this girl dug them. It's September now, how can she dig so many fresh wild vegetables? He had to ask where she dug them, so that the third aunt could go with her. At least they could dig more than this girl.

"It's not safe for you to go digging alone. How about asking your third aunt to accompany you? At least there's an adult with you, and no one will dare to bully you on the road." Yan Bugui turned around and called the third aunt, "Just bear with the fatigue today and accompany this child. Alas, the Chen family is too unreasonable. How can they let such a young girl go out of the city alone? It's so unsafe."

She kept talking to herself the whole time, not giving Chen Zhaodi any room to refuse. The third aunt quickly carried a big basket and ran out of the hanging flower gate with a smile on her face, constantly assuring her: "Don't worry, I'll follow you and make sure the girl comes back safely."

As he spoke, he pushed Chen Zhaodi out of the door.

Chen Zhaodi knew what was going on, but she still hesitantly whispered, "No, I," and obediently followed the push of the third aunt out of the door. After all, she was a timid and submissive person.

The two of them talked as they walked towards Dongzhimen. Of course, it was basically the third aunt who asked the questions, and Chen Zhaodi occasionally answered a few words.

"Zhao Di, the wild vegetables you picked yesterday were really tender. It was hard for you, such a small person, to carry them all the way back from the city. Don't worry, if you can't carry them today, Third Aunt will help you."

"Ah, thank you, Auntie. But no need. I can carry you."

"You kid, why are you being so polite to Auntie? We are old neighbors living in the same courtyard. Don't worry, Auntie will definitely share the burden with you when the time comes."

"It's really not necessary."

"Don't be polite, it's settled then."

Chen Zhaodi weakly refused a few times and then gave up. After all, everyone in the compound knew the original body's temperament roughly, so just a few rejections would be enough.

As for what the third aunt said about sharing, isn’t it just sharing? Sharing the burden with her old Yan family.

Besides, she was able to dig wild vegetables yesterday because she didn't have time, so she just pulled them out of the space. At this time of year, where else could one find such tender wild vegetables outside the city?

That's right, she also has a standard space for time travelers. It's not big, about ten acres in radius. It was originally a mess. She tried her best to squeeze out time to tidy it up this month, but without farm tools, she could only barely pull out the weeds. Yesterday, she was busy in the space for too long and was in a hurry to go home, so she grabbed a basket of wild vegetables she had pulled out from the space and took them back to report. Little did she know that she would be spotted by the sharp-eyed aunt.

Therefore, she did not strongly object to the Third Aunt's forceful move to follow her today. Anyway, they couldn't find any good wild vegetables today, so she let the Third Aunt waste more time and energy today, so that she wouldn't spend every day calculating the things of the neighbors and not even let a child like her go.

Sure enough, the wild vegetables the two of them dug up in the whole morning were not only old, but also only filled the bottom of a shallow basket, which was completely incomparable to Chen Zhaodi's harvest yesterday.

The third auntie became more and more impatient as she dug: "Zhao Di, think about it again. Where did you dig yesterday? Why is there only this much today, and it's so old?"

Chen Zhaodi lowered her head and said softly, "It's this area. Maybe there are other people who have come to dig as well."

The third aunt stood up angrily, pounded her waist, glanced at Chen Zhaodi's backpack, and saw that there were much more wild vegetables in it than what she had dug. She became very angry and turned her head to look around. She saw that many people around were digging wild vegetables. She looked at the sky and was furious. She ran so far this morning and only dug such a few wild vegetables. It was really a big loss.

With a quick glance, he grabbed Chen Zhaodi's backpack and poured the wild vegetables into his own basket, saying, "Zhaodi, my wife Xie Di is still waiting for me to come back home to cook. I have to go back to see her, so I'll go back first. I'll bring the vegetables back to you first, so you can save some effort."

Chen Zhaodi, who was quick in her movements, had no time to react before the third aunt had already walked away with the basket in a few steps.

Chen Zhaodi was stunned and cursed after a long time. At the same time, she cursed herself to death in her past life who thought that the third uncle's family in Qingmanli were human beings.

Can such a person be considered a human being?

You have to know that this was 54, and agricultural technology was completely incomparable to that of later generations. The per-acre yield of crops was low, with wheat yields of only two to three hundred kilograms per mu. The vast majority of the people had just emerged from a state of extreme poverty, and having enough food and clothing was still a luxury for most people. Every grain of food and every vegetable was a treasure for any family. Without them, family members would starve, especially her, the eldest daughter of the Chen family who was well-known to be unpopular in the compound. She ate the least and worked as much as the adults.

Not only does her aunt usually take care of her, but today she was so shameless as to snatch away the wild vegetables she had worked so hard to dig for the whole morning. Is she sure that she is too soft-hearted and doesn't dare to tell others?

It's really disgusting!