Next to the Li family's house lived another family in a mud-brick courtyard, impoverished to the extreme.
Generally speaking, in this village other than the grand residence of the old scholar, only Lizheng's house was somewhat decent in appearance, everyone else was poorer than the next.
An old woman sat in the dusty courtyard, smoking a pipe stuffed with crude tobacco, puffing away.
The smoke was very strong and harsh, probably the cheapest tobacco leaves.
Feeling the gaze from the outside, the old woman lazily lifted her eyelids, took a cursory glance, and then continued puffing on her pipe, paying them no mind.
"Seems like most of the villagers are elderly." Bai Youwei whispered to Shen Mo.
Whether it was the old scholar, Lizheng, or the Ma family, they were all people around seventy or so.
