Cheng Loanloan picked up the wild vegetables she had pulled earlier and walked a few steps to her family's field.
She squatted on the edge of the field, pulling vegetables. Under the scorching sun, beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, and the back of her clothes was drenched.
She didn't know how long she had been pulling until the marketplace system notified her that she had gathered three catties, and only then did she stop.
When she stood up, she immediately felt dizzy and lightheaded.
She remembered that she still had an untreated wound on her head and hadn't taken any fever-reducing medicine. If it got infected, in ancient times, it was a matter of life and death.
Three catties of bitter lettuce sold for 30 wen. She spent 20 wen at the marketplace to buy disinfectant and fever-reducing medicine.
After all that hard work earning money, with only 10 wen left, Cheng Loanloan didn't dare to spend carelessly anymore.
She rubbed her aching, tired back and walked into the house.
Just as she reached the door, she heard lively chatter coming from inside the room.
"Eldest Brother, the wild vegetable porridge is really delicious!"
"My stomach is finally full!"
She walked into the courtyard and saw four people sitting by the dining table in the main hall. They were the original owner's four biological sons.
The eldest son, Zhao Dashan, just turned eighteen this year. He married a wife last year and was considered the pillar of this household.
The second son, Zhao Ergou, was sixteen this year. He was relatively intelligent among her sons.
The third son, Zhao Sanniu, was fourteen this year. He was very robust, and his build didn't look much different from the second son's.
The youngest son, Zhao Sidan, just turned ten this year. He was small in stature, and it was obvious at a glance that he was undernourished. At this moment, he was holding a cracked bowl, his small tongue licking the bowl clean, sweeping the last bit of porridge into his stomach.
Cheng Loanloan hadn't expected that such a small amount of wild vegetable porridge would be divided among five people, and that each person would wear a satisfied expression.
She clearly realized that this family was truly too poor. Otherwise, the original owner, who always favored her maiden family, wouldn't have gone back to her maiden family to demand repayment of a debt.
Seeing her return, all four sons stood up.
Zhao Dashan: "Mother, you're back."
Zhao Ergou: "Mother, I've carried back two buckets of water."
Zhao Sanniu: "Mother, I've chopped the firewood."
Zhao Sidan: "Mother, I dug up some wild vegetables."
Cheng Loanloan pursed her lips.
Even the eldest son was only eighteen. In modern times, he would have just finished high school, still a child doted on by his parents.
But in this era, the youngest son, only ten, was already shouldering a portion of the household chores.
[Ding! Unpolluted natural wild ferns detected!]
Cheng Loanloan looked again. The wild vegetables the fourth son brought back were indeed wild ferns. The marketplace system notified her they were 30 wen per catty.
She had dug three catties of bitter lettuce, which was only worth a small amount of those ferns... Her heart was tired, and her body was even more tired!
She bent down and picked up the wild ferns, then walked into the room.
The four people exchanged glances. Before, whenever they finished their chores and came back, Mother would always scold and criticize them in various ways. Especially today, Mother had even been angered and beaten at the Cheng family's house. Shouldn't she be even more fiercely scolding them now? What did it mean that she didn't say a word?
Cheng Loanloan sold the wild ferns and spent 10 *wen* at the marketplace to buy five catties of rice. The remaining money in her hand was 30 *wen*.
She was extremely lucky. Dahe Village was located on the north-south border. The north ate a lot of noodles and corn, while the south ate a lot of rice.
She was from the south, and her favorite food was plain rice.
She carried three catties of rice out and placed it on the table in the main hall.
"This is... white rice!"
"How can there be white rice!"
Last year, Dahe Village was struck by a locust plague, resulting in a meager harvest. They barely survived until this year thanks to official relief, and not a single household in the entire village had white rice to eat.
Even without natural disasters, after the autumn harvest, all households in the village would carry their rice to the market town to exchange it for corn or buckwheat. One catty of rice could be exchanged for two or three catties of corn… Food had to be plentiful enough for the entire family to eat their fill and last until the next harvest.