Chapter 309 - 309 Clear Headed
“Right, but was the white sweet potato your family gave to the Bai family squeezed from your reserve?” Zhou Ying asked again.
Mrs. Bai was stunned for a moment. She opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say.
She wasn’t happy, but she wasn’t stupid.
After listening to Zhou Ying’s analysis, she knew she was overthinking it.
Although Tienie’s aunt and family were assigned to their family, they did not consume their food because they worked for it. To put it bluntly, their family didn’t owe her anything.
Instead, the food that Mrs. Bai had given to her maternal family had been squeezed out of her own family’s mouths.
Zhou Ying knew she had changed her mind, so she didn’t persuade her anymore. Instead, she asked, “By the way, Auntie, are you not digging for arrowroot this year?”
As soon as Mrs. Bai heard her change the topic, she immediately heaved a sigh of relief and answered, “I wanted to, but the mountain has been turned over by the refugees several times. They’ve already dug it clean, so we can only wait for next year.”
“That’s right. If it wasn’t for the intervention of the village constable, the mountain would have turned bald a long time ago.” Zhou Ying nodded in agreement.
After that, the two of them chatted for a while. Mrs. Bai collected all the soles she had been working on while chatting, got up, and returned home.
When she entered her house, she saw the village chief drying some more sweet potatoes in the yard. She immediately put her shoes aside and said, “Father, I can handle this. If you have time, you should teach Ticniu how to read.”
The village chief was surprised that she was no longer pulling a long face, and he finally heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s fine. It’s cold now, so don’t flip the potatoes over too often.”
As for why she suddenly had her head cleared, he didn’t bother to ask. It was fine if the family was harmonious and there were no conflicts.
Just as he stood up, he saw a teenager running in. “Grandpa Chief, hurry up and come help take a look. Our family is fighting.”
“You’re Zhang Laosan’s grandson, right? Tell me why your family is fighting.” The village chief sized him up and said.
“My grandfather wanted to give 800 pounds of white sweet potatoes to my aunt’s family, but my mother doesn’t agree. She said that if they were to give it, they would split up.”
“This bastard, even if he really wants to help your aunt, he shouldn’t just leave your family to starve.” When the village chief heard this, he was dumbfounded. “But I don’t think I can veto your grandfather on this matter alone. I’ll go over first, but you should quickly go and find your eldest grandfather.”
“Alright, please hurry up.” The boy turned around and ran away after saying that.
Seeing this, the village chief simply tidied up his clothes, then went out with his hands behind his back.
After listening to their conversation, Mrs. Bai had mixed feelings. It seemed that she had been too narrow-minded before.
Previously, her father-in-law had given her maternal family 200 pounds of white sweet potatoes, which was considered good enough.
Although nothing major happened in the village after that, there were still many conflicts because of the matter of helping out relatives who were outsiders.
However, Zhou Ying didn’t take it to heart and just let it pass.
On the other hand, Manager Liu found out that the First Prince’s men were involved through the people who collected the white potatoes.
However, he didn’t alert anyone. Instead, he asked someone to watch them carefully and see what they were up to.
In the blink of an eye, it was Qiu Niang’s son’s one-month-old birthday. Zhou Ying gave two pounds of white cotton and a piece of blue cotton cloth to Qiu Niang; it was just enough to make a small cotton coat for the child.
The next step was to harvest the remaining white sweet potatoes. This time, Gu Chengrui and Zhou Ying went together.
After collecting everything and leaving enough food for the people in the manor, he dug a cellar and buried the rest with sand, covering them with a layer of wheat straw.
Two days later, at night, Gu Chengye and Gu Chengzhi came with a cart full of stuff.
There were about 300 pounds of sweet potatoes, 200 pounds of radishes, and 200 pounds of cabbage each. There were also four to five winter melons and pumpkins..