Chapter 292

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Protagonist:

Chai Mi

Su Jin was probably uncomfortable sitting, or perhaps that nameless anger in her heart hadn't dissipated, and she started muttering again: "Chai Mi, your mom says you're setting up a stall selling dumplings, earning seven or eight thousand in half a month? Is that true? How is this money so easy to earn? Your cousin and his wife work themselves to the bone all year and can't save a few coins..." Her tone was full of disbelief, and also carried some resentment toward her son and daughter-in-law for not striving.

Chai Mi hadn't answered yet when Su Wan beside her took up the conversation, her face showing a smile and pride she couldn't suppress: "Eldest Sister, how could that be fake? Chai Mi is a child with good ideas who can endure hardship! You didn't see it—when that dumpling stall was set up, there were so many people! Everyone praised our family's dumplings as fragrant!" As she spoke, she gently patted the back of the little baby in her arms, letting the third child sleep even more soundly.

Recently they had been busy, and the third child had grown a little, no longer as hard to coax as in the first two months.

His body had also grown a bit; looking at him, he was a sturdy child, his fate should be quite tough...

Chai Mi smiled and didn't explain much: "Just got lucky, with big fellows patronizing. It is truly tiring."

Su Jin clicked her tongue, turned her head to look out the window, and didn't speak for a long while, only furrowing her brow even more deeply, not knowing what she was thinking.

Liu San glanced at his mother's gloomy face and felt even more aggrieved; he could only drive with his head down, focusing all his attention on the pitted road surface.

Fortunately, none of the few people were very cultured, and didn't have too many extraordinary ideas or thoughts.

At most they felt Chai Mi had made it, had money, and in the future their days could be better.

After more than half an hour, the car arrived at Juren Zhangzi.

Thank Heaven and Earth, it hadn't rained heavily over there.

It was just that the ground was wet.

The car could drive up.

But it was especially difficult.

Of course, it was also fortunate that the road at Juren Zhangzi was that kind of broken stone road; if it were a dirt road, it would probably be difficult.

Chai Mi's second aunt Su Hui's Juren Zhangzi Village was located in the southeast of La County.

That place was close to Shanhaiguan, with mountains everywhere.

And the village was within the mountains.

The car bumped and jolted forward on the stones at the entrance of Juren Zhangzi Village. That broken stone road, soaked by rainwater and slippery, when the wheels pressed on, either slipped or jolted violently, and the carriage immediately swayed left and right.

"Ouch!" Su Jin was jolted so hard she almost bounced off the seat, her eyes nearly hitting the front windshield, and she turned pale, unable to help complaining, "What a broken road! It's going to jolt someone to death! Liu San, drive slower! Don't wreck the car!" Her already furrowed brow was now locked into a knot, as if this bumpy road was also opposing her.

"Just your second aunt, blindly zhang... found a husband's family here." Su Jin cursed in a bad mood: "That matchmaker back then was truly malicious, tricking your maternal grandparents so badly, and ended up arranging such a broken family. It's worse than a mountain ditch. A mountain ditch at least is an earthen mountain, where you could sneak some firewood in winter to burn; this broken place, I've only come once. It's all stones, and there are only two mu of land inside—nothing to eat, nothing grows. I really don't know how they survive."

Su Jin said this, and the few people in the car all sighed.

Chai Mi knew how they survived; the village had nothing, and the villagers went out to work, but in this era there weren't many places lacking workers, and those who could go out were all young people.

As for the livelihood of most people, they relied on weaving some flower baskets or some small items, going out to sell them for money.

Then there was making a living by hunting.

Well, this place could indeed be used for hunting.

After all, everyone really had no way to survive, so they could only go into the mountains to hunt, or dig medicinal herbs to live.

This place was suitable for the opening of rebirth novels...

It really was the best place for a suffering opening.

Damn primitive.

"Got it, Mom." Liu San responded dully.

Su Wan tightly held the little third child in her arms, and with every jolt her body instinctively tensed, gently patting and coaxing: "Oh oh, good baby, don't be afraid, we're almost there." The little child seemed to feel the tension, smacked his little mouth a few times, fortunately wasn't jolted awake, just rubbed uneasily in her arms.

The car turned another corner with difficulty, rolled over the last section of especially bumpy stone steps, and finally couldn't go on.

But it was very close to Su Hui's home.

Just turn a few more steps forward and you'd arrive, but the car definitely couldn't go up anymore; being able to get here was already a great fortune.

"Let's walk a few steps, no other way." Liu San said as he stopped the car.

Afterward they got down to take things from the carriage; fortunately, when they came out, the things on top were covered with plastic cloth, though the carriage had some water, and the rice brought had gotten wet.

But it would be fine after drying it for a while.

"Mom, go slow." Chai Mi said as she also got out of the car to help move things.

"Xiu'er, wait here by the car; in a while, my cousin and I will come back."

Chai Xiu nodded.

Chai Mi and Liu San and the others first went to Su Hui's home, then returned again, took all the things from the car, and only then went to Su Hui's home again.

What met the eye was...

Just a sense of decline.

Of course, Chai Mi didn't have much disdain or looking down on them.

It was just that her second aunt's home was indeed somewhat declined.

Low three stone houses, holes everywhere, fortunately sealed with mud.

The roof was a thatched house.

The door was a very primitive kind of wooden door, the kind with a door bolt.

This kind of door could be considered an antique in later generations.

And when this house was built, there was no wall behind it; it was simply under a large mountain slope, somewhat similar to the yaodongs in Shaanxi, but it wasn't a yaodong; rather, to save money, the back wall was the mountain slope.

This saved the cost of one wall.

And generally, for this kind of house facing north and south, the back wall would be over ten meters long; without the back wall, the engineering and materials would be reduced by a lot.

Su Hui's family built the house this way back then just to save money.

Of course, the disadvantages were also infinitely amplified.

Because it's just earth, and not the clay kind.

Although warm in winter and cool in summer, it's unavoidable that those clumps of earth will fall off at times, posing some safety hazards; of course, the biggest problem is that it's relatively dirty.

Not easy to clean.

Of course, because the rooms inside this house have earthen floors, so...

There's no question of cleaning or not cleaning.

This is even worse than the cowsheds of later generations, but in this era, in Juren Zhangzi Village, it's still quite common.

The people here are generally impoverished.

As for the windows, don't even mention them—they're completely just open holes.

There are basically no windows at all.

Hot in summer, just like this.

When it gets cold in winter, they'll seal them up with mud.

Most importantly, the electricity here is also very problematic.

Often there isn't any.

Conditions are what they are, but fortunately Su Hui has a good mindset—she eats until she's very fat.

Exactly why she eats so much to get that fat is unknown.

Estimated at over two hundred catties.

Su Hui actually looks more like Chai Mi's eldest aunt Su Jin; both are rather fat.

That is, their figures are rather bulky.

In contrast, Su Wan is very thin and frail.

Of course, Su Wan does more physical labor, so after giving birth, plus Chai Mi not letting her work, she has a little meat on her now.

She used to do a lot of work—how could her body get fat?

Although thin people look a bit better, in the countryside, someone Su Wan's age should actually be a bit fatter.

Once past a certain age, people naturally get a bit fatter and their figures become bulky—that's very normal.

Su Hui is exactly this type.

Her family has no land to farm; Chai Mi's second aunt's husband Yao Shoucai is the village accountant and can earn some salary. Her life is passable.

Although Juren Zhangzi Village is very small, with only a dozen or so households, the sparrow may be small but has all its internal organs—whatever village chief or accountant, they all have them.

The salary is also about the same as other villages.

Although in this era, an accountant like Yao Shoucai earns only over a hundred yuan a month, for his life in Juren Zhangzi, it's basically enough.

After all, Juren Zhangzi is extremely remote and backward; living conditions for every household are very poor.

Without much contrast, Su Hui in Juren Zhangzi is actually considered a relatively well-off household.

At least her family still has a house.

At this point, someone must be asking: don't other families in Juren Zhangzi have houses either?

Yes, yes, the actual situation is that other families basically don't have many houses.

They just live in shacks thrown together.

This situation wasn't resolved until many years later.

By the early twentieth century, the village finally had roads, and every household had houses built through poverty relief.

Otherwise, this place would truly be dirt poor beyond measure.

Poor in a refreshingly unworldly way.

At this point, someone must start arguing back.

Saying: such a poor and impoverished place, why don't people move out?

Because within a hundred li, it's all such places.

Here it's seven mountains, one water, two parts fields—typical hilly terrain. Although the mountains aren't particularly large or high, there are especially many.

One mountain after another, mountains everywhere. The common people, generation after generation, had nowhere to go here.

Actually, it was only after Reform and Opening-up that the county organized large-scale production and built roads; otherwise, not even stone roads would exist.

Before, when Su Hui first married in, she was brought in on a donkey.

Chai Mi and Liu San moved the last of their things into that low stone house; a mixed air of earth, firewood smoke, and a faint musty smell rushed at them. The room was dimly lit, with only daylight coming through the open "window" and the main gate. The floor was packed earth, uneven and pitted.

Many people have never seen a pure natural earthen floor.

This kind of floor, relatively speaking, because it's been used for so long, doesn't kick up dust.

Because of pouring tea and water, and being stepped on all the time, the floor is actually hard. Although there's some dust, it's not much.

A bit like a dirt road pressed by a large truck, hard enough to shine.

Of course, because it's earth, the reflection is poor, the room will be especially dark, and seem especially small.

Second Aunt Su Hui came out from the inner room; her huge body almost blocked the narrow doorframe, her face full of simple smiles, her voice loud: "Aiya! You're finally here! Come in quickly, come in quickly! Was this broken road hard to suffer?" As she spoke, she enthusiastically went to take Su Wan's youngest child from her arms, "Oh my little darling, were you scared on the road? Let Second Aunt take a look!"

Su Wan carefully handed the child over; Su Hui held her skillfully, gently rocking her.

Fortunately, Chai Xin was just as Chai Mi said—tough, hard on others, and durable.

Although only three months old, and this road was terribly bumpy, she was fine.

Once in Second Aunt Su Hui's arms, she was instead jumping around lively.

Not at all shy with strangers.

Except not too familiar with Chai Mi...

"It really was a great suffering!" Su Jin rubbed the blue bump on her forehead from being jolted, speaking in a bad mood as she introduced herself; she looked around, her brow tightly furrowed, "Second, how is this... still like this? How many years, not changed at all? Can people live here? Hot to death in summer, frozen to death in winter, when it rains won't it leak like a sieve?" Her gaze swept over the mud-plastered walls, the crude earthen stove, and the few half-woven willow baskets piled in the corner; her tone was undisguised disdain and heartache.

Su Hui, however, didn't care at all about her eldest sister's complaints, still laughing cheerfully: "Hey, Eldest Sister, just make do! Warm in winter and cool in summer, quite good! Look, I'm living fine, aren't I?!" She patted her round belly and laughed self-mockingly, "Shoucai's salary is enough for us two to get by; what, expect to build a big tiled house? The whole village is like this; we're used to it!"

Although Su Hui's face was beaming, she still felt dissatisfied in her heart.

However, she also didn't say too much.

Chai Mi also felt that Eldest Aunt speaking like that was, to some extent, a bit awkward.

She could only first put the things away properly together with Liu San, then Chai Mi sneakily called Second Aunt to the side; originally planning to give one hundred, seeing the current situation now, she directly stuffed two hundred yuan.

Saying it was for Second Aunt and Second Uncle to buy something to eat and use.

Su Hui also didn't decline too much, and just accepted it.

But towards Chai Mi, she also became even more warmly attentive.

At this time, Second Uncle Yao Shoucai also came out from the inner room; he was a thin, silent little old man, wearing a washed-white old jacket, his face bearing the unique honest simplicity and awkwardness of a farmer, rubbing his hands as he greeted: "You've all come, quick... quick sit. The place is small, don't mind the shabbiness." He pointed at the only few worn-out wooden stools and a similarly worn-out small table in the room.

Su Wan helped Su Hui busily pour water, using coarse porcelain bowls with chipped rims. Although Su Jin complained verbally, she still sat down, took the bowl, and sized up Yao Shoucai: "Shoucai, you being an Accountant, the village is poor like this, and you have no way either?"

Yao Shoucai sighed, his voice low and deep: "Eldest Sister, the village is too small, too remote. No land, no roads. Young people who could leave have all left; those remaining... weave some baskets, earn a few coins where they can, otherwise rely on the mountain to eat from the mountain, go into the mountains to try their luck, dig some medicinal herbs, trap a rabbit or pheasant or something. Every household is struggling; me as an Accountant... I just keep accounts, distribute the meager subsidies allocated from above, a drop in the bucket." His tone was full of helplessness and resignation to reality.

"It's also pretty good. At least it's free and easy." Chai Mi said with a smile: "People, living this lifetime, actually don't know what they're busy for... anyway, this society, people won't starve to death; eating a bit better or a bit worse is all about the same."