"Cough, cough!" Zhao Ergou coughed a few times, changing the subject. "The mud here is so dry and hard, how did Dawang sink? Let me go take a look!"
He immediately stood up and ran off, afraid that Cheng Loanloan would ask more questions.
Cheng Loanloan didn't want to make him feel awkward, so she turned to her eldest son and asked, "Dashan, do you know anything about your second brother?"
Zhao Dashan looked confused, scratched the back of his head, and shook his head, saying, "I don't know."
Zhao Sanniu thought for a moment but couldn't come up with any reason.
Zhao Sidan blinked, "Mother, I know. Second Brother asked me before if I wanted a second sister-in-law, and he even said he wanted to take me to meet her."
Cheng Loanloan: "..."
Ergou truly was a 'gou' (dog/rascal); he was already thinking about getting married at such a young age.
But Ergou was also very responsible; he wanted to marry anyone he liked and bring them home.
She herself was twenty years old at the time, and she had a crush on a boy from the next class but didn't dare to confess. Later, she missed out until she was thirty-three and never met the person she had a crush on when she was young again. Thinking back now, she still felt a little regretful.
After resting, everyone continued with their work.
Zhao Ergou pulled Cheng Loanloan to the muddy area and whispered, "Just now, when Dawang sank, I felt the mud here was very soft. When I dug it up, I found bamboo shoots in the mud, and the bamboo shoots here are also bigger and thicker than over there. Let's dig here."
Cheng Loanloan squatted down and felt around with her hand, immediately sensing that this patch of land had a very high water content.
It hadn't rained for over a month, rivers and ponds were dry, and the soil exposed to sunlight was basically dry and hard. Here, it was like an oasis in the desert, with a lot of weeds growing along the edges.
It was just that this place was deep in the jungle, so it wasn't strange for weeds to grow, and not many people would pay attention to it.
In middle school, Cheng Loanloan's knowledge of geography was a bit shallow. She hesitated, guessing that there must be an underground water source beneath this spot.
If a water source were discovered, even if it didn't rain, the drought could be alleviated, and the fields wouldn't be unable to yield a harvest.
However, this plot of land was about two hundred square meters, and there was no way to determine the water source... she needed to think for a moment. How should she determine the location of the underground water vein?
After noon, the villagers successively discovered that the mud here was wet and soft. The work of digging bamboo shoots suddenly became much easier, and the bamboo shoots growing in the moist soil were also much thicker. Initially estimated at about two thousand jin, they ultimately dug up at least three thousand jin, and every household had food to store.
After digging four or five mu of land, it was already midnight.
The entire village didn't feel tired; they helped each other transport the bamboo shoots back before sunrise. When the first rays of dawn appeared in the sky, the villagers finally fell asleep.
Cheng Loanloan made a rough estimate based on her intuition; her four sons had indeed dug up one hundred jin of bamboo shoots. Fortunately, there was a cellar at home, and bamboo shoots wrapped in mud could be preserved for at least a month.
When the sun had risen, Wu Huiniang began to cook. Braised rabbit with bamboo shoots, served with cornmeal cakes and wild vegetables, a hearty breakfast was laid out on the wooden table.
The four calves smelled the aroma and didn't bother to sleep anymore, sitting at the table with sleepy, half-closed eyes.
Zhao Sanniu was about to pick up his chopsticks when Cheng Loanloan lightly tapped his hand, "Wait a moment, take a bowl to your grandpa and grandma first."
Zhao Sidan blinked and said, "Mother, you are so good to grandpa and grandma."
"Because they are your father's parents, they are elders," Cheng Loanloan seized the opportunity to educate her children. "Your father died on the battlefield, sacrificing himself for the country. Of course, I will repay his parents on his behalf."
Zhao Sidan nodded vigorously. "I will also be filial to you, Mother, in the future!"