Going straight into the depths of the mountains, walking on and on, then passing through a vast forest full of thorny bushes, they finally saw a mountain valley.
The dry lake was filled with withered leaves.
"These are lotus leaves!" Old Man Zhao said with certainty. "When this thing blooms, it produces lotus seeds. Compared to water chestnuts, lotus seeds are even more precious. Only nobles or high-ranking officials in the capital can afford them."
Zhao Dawang said respectfully, "A-jia, you know so much."
"People, you see, as long as you travel to many places, you will naturally learn more," Old Master Zhao stroked his beard. "There's a good saying: 'Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling a thousand miles.' This is why A-jia doesn't let you read books."
Zhao Er's mouth twitched. "Father, are you sure it's not because we don't have money to read books?"
Zhao Dawang and Zhao Erwang burst out laughing.
Old Master Zhao glared at them fiercely, then leaned against a large tree nearby and jumped into the lotus pond. He walked from one side to the other, seemingly just walking, but in fact, he was measuring how many mu it was.
After walking a full circle, Old Man Zhao had a number in his mind. This pond was about four and a half mu wide. Because there had been no rain, the quantity would certainly not be much. Each mu could probably only yield seven or eight hundred jin, so the total would be around two or three thousand jin. The soft, wet mud had turned into solid mud, so digging out the water chestnuts would not be an easy task. Even if a family of over ten people came here to harvest, it would take at least half a year.
Old Man Zhao stood below, and after a long while, he slowly spoke, "Dawang, go call the village head to come here."
"Father, you're not planning to call everyone in the village to come here and harvest water chestnuts, are you?"
Zhao San frowned and said, "This was discovered by our family, so it belongs to our Zhao family. Why should we tell others?"
"Such a large pond, several thousand jin of food. Our family only has a dozen people; we can't eat it all, and we can't harvest it all either," Old Man Zhao disagreed, saying, "Besides, if Chunhua could discover this place, others can too. Going west from here leads to Huagui Village. If the people of Huagui Village discover this pond, then what will be left for Dahe Village?"
Zhao San's face showed his displeasure. Although Sun Shi said nothing, her tightly pursed lips revealed her thoughts.
Old Man Zhao sighed, "Alright, alright, let's just harvest a little first. Tomorrow morning, I'll bring the village head here."
Sun Shi let out a soft breath.
She still wanted to hide some to take back to her maternal home. Her maternal home was in Huagui Village. If she could reveal this news, her maternal family would not go hungry.
The eleven members of the Zhao family began to harvest water chestnuts.
On this side, Cheng Loanloan led the four children down the mountain.
It was just noon. She gave two lotus roots to Wu Huiniang, washed and cut one, and took the other to the village head's house.
Along the way, the garden soil was dry, and the strong young farmers sat powerlessly in the fields, sighing continuously.
Cheng Loanloan also sighed, but such natural disasters as droughts were something no one could change.
She could only try her best to ignore it and continued walking forward.
"Dashan's mother, why are you here?"
The village head's wife was sitting in the courtyard sewing. Seeing Cheng Loanloan arrive, her eyelids twitched.
The last time Zhao Cheng Shi came here, she wanted the village head, Li Zheng, to preside over the family division, and at that time, it caused such a ruckus. Today she's here again, and who knows what she wants to do.
Cheng Loanloan smiled as she walked in, "Auntie, is Uncle Li Zheng home?"
"He's gone to the town," Li Zheng's wife sighed. "It hasn't rained for a month or two, and the County Magistrate in town is so worried his hair has turned white. Today, he summoned all the village heads for a meeting, mainly to discuss land matters. Li Zheng has been anxious for over half a month and hasn't been sleeping well."
The implication of her words was that Li Zheng was busy and troubled by many things, so Zhao Cheng Shi shouldn't cause any more problems.
"Then I'll come back tonight."
Cheng Loanloan didn't say what it was about and turned to leave.