On the other side of the wasteland, hundreds of villagers were busy helping Song Sanshun build walls and transport soil.
Various materials were delivered in an endless stream and piled up in the open space.
Song Sanshun and his wife have moved all their belongings to this wasteland, even the vegetables in the vegetable garden have been dug and picked, and two fruit trees have been transplanted here.
Song Laoliu and a group of villagers helped him build a shack for temporary residence, and then built a wall around the shack to prevent it from being harassed by wild beasts at night.
Besides, Sanshun's family has two dogs, which bark whenever there is any noise. After living there for a few days, the couple got used to it.
Chang'an still lived with his uncle and aunt. When he had nothing to do during the day, he would run around in the wild with a few other children.
Little Chutou would peel ramie seeds for her to eat, and would also dig up thatch roots and reed roots for Chang'an as snacks, doing his best to be a competent and good apprentice.
Goudan and a few other children ran to the woods to pick fruits and bird eggs, and they would give some of the spoils to Chang'an.
Although it hadn't rained for more than half a year, the forest was still lush and green. Many village women picked elm leaves and mulberry leaves in the forest, took them back and mixed them with wheat flour to make cakes or porridge, which saved a lot of food.
There are still a lot of wild leeks in the mountains, and they are now in bloom. Some people pick the leek flowers and mash them to make leek sauce, which tastes very delicious.
At this time of year, the stems and leaves of most wild vegetables are old and hard and are completely inedible, but many girls and wives still take baskets and look around for edible leaves while the weather is still cool.
However, some people would cut down the tall wormwood and thorns, spread them on the ridges of the fields to dry, and use them for burning stoves. This also led to fewer and fewer wild green plants, and at a glance, the fields seemed bare.
Chang'an found a field of ramie in the wasteland, picked a lot of ramie fruits, and also picked a lot of wild vegetable seeds, such as shepherd's purse, horsefly grass, amaranth, etc., and put them all into the small bag that his aunt had just sewn.
After the new house was built, she scattered seeds in the yard, so she no longer had to go to other people's fields to dig wild vegetables.
Just as he was masturbating, he suddenly saw someone running towards him: "Oh no! Brother Sanshun, your well has collapsed and someone is buried inside!"
Song Sanshun, who was fetching water and mud, paused and asked calmly, "Who was buried?"
"It seems to be your stepmother's younger brother!" The visitor wiped his sweat, picked up the ladle, scooped a ladle of water from the bucket and drank it.
Song Sanshun breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the bucket and left.
The visitor stretched his head to take a look at the well and was amazed.
Others might not find water in any of ten wells they dug, but Song Sanshun found water in two wells in a row. It was truly magical.
"Don't you want to go and take a look?" the man asked behind Song Sanshun.
Song Sanshun glanced at him and said, "Why would I go to see someone who has nothing to do with me?"
I have severed ties with my biological father a long time ago. I must be mentally ill to go to see my stepmother and stepbrother. What's more, that guy has a grudge against me, so he deserves to be buried.
"After all, he is your stepmother's biological brother, so he can be considered as your uncle." The visitor's words had hidden meanings, and there was a hint of anticipation for a good show.
Song Sanshun looked at him and said, "Wang Fulin, I don't have time to perform a variety show with you. Go and have fun somewhere else. Don't delay my work here."
The skinny man named Wang Fulin smiled awkwardly: "Sanshun, I'm telling you this with good intentions. Why are you being so rude?"
Song Sanshun ignored him and picked up a shovel to stir the mud and water.
Seeing that Song Sanshun refused to listen, Wang Fulin snorted and walked away in boredom.
In the evening, Qian's wife quietly told Wu and Song Sanshun: "Oh, this is really retribution. The old woman's brother was buried in the well, and he was dead when he was pulled out. Her nephew is making trouble with her and said he would sue her if she doesn't pay 50 strings of cash!"
Wu was surprised: "How did he get buried in the well?"
"Hey, the old woman said that the well was blocked, so she called her brother and nephew to clean the well. I don't know how Zhao managed to dig the wall of the well down. Tsk tsk, it's really unlucky. Who will dare to drink the water from that well in the future?"
Because there was no well here a few days ago, Qian's wife went to Zhao's wife to buy water twice, and this happened. It really proves the saying that evil will be punished by heaven!
Fortunately, Sanshun and his wife dug a well here, otherwise they would not know where to get water.
"What did my father say?" Song Sanshun felt a little happy, but when he thought of his father's erratic nature, he thought that he would probably cause trouble for him soon.
Mrs. Qian sneered: "What can he say? He just wants to put the blame on you, saying that you two deliberately caused the well to collapse."
As expected, I was right in making the decision.
Song Sanshun felt cold in his heart and could not feel any sympathy for the so-called father.
Qian looked at him and said, "Don't worry, brother. The clan leader was there and reprimanded him at the time."
After a pause, Qian suddenly laughed: "Hey, let me tell you something funny. The old woman's nephew said that if I don't give him 50 strings of cash, he will live in the new house and won't leave. He also said that he would bring his whole family to live with him."
Mrs. Wu curled her lips and said softly, "Evil will be punished by evil." It seems that it was right for her family to move out of the old house.
"Of course." Qian went to the well and looked: "Eh? There's still water?"
Mrs. Wu nodded: "This well is deeper than that one, and it produces more water." It is barely enough for the whole village to drink.
She didn't know that the well at the old house had no water.
"Then I'll borrow your bucket to carry water back." Qian said.
"Okay, the bucket is right next to you, you can use it." Mrs. Wu took out a small wooden bucket for fetching water and handed it to Mrs. Qian.
The family of three went to bed early after dinner and spent the next month listening to the villagers' gossip.
The nephew of the old Zhao family really moved into the new house. A few times, they wanted to come to Song Sanshun to fetch water, but Song Sanshun chased them away with a carrying pole.
The well at the old house no longer produced water. Even though Song Baqi asked someone to dig it up, he could not find the cause, so he had to give up in the end.
On several occasions, Old Zhao and Song Baqi ran to Song Sanshun to make a fuss, wanting to get the thirty strings of money back. After being ridiculed by everyone, they finally left in embarrassment.
Not long after, all the clothes, bedding, etc. in the Song family's new house were pawned by Zhao Quan, Mrs. Zhao's nephew, for money, and finally even the furniture in the house was taken away.
Mrs. Zhao was furious, but she and her husband were powerless and could do nothing about her brother's wife and her nephew Zhao Quan and his wife.
Another month passed, the weather turned cooler, and the drought became more severe. Many fields had almost no harvest, and the vegetables in many people's vegetable gardens had withered and turned yellow.
It was time to pay the autumn tax, and the farmers were suffering and complaining.
Song Sanshun's house has been built. The yard is twice as big as the old house, and even the courtyard wall is higher than that one.
The courtyard wall was covered with soapberry thorns and bramble thorns, so densely packed that even birds dared not land on them.
There are several vegetable plots in the yard, and a lot of vegetables have already been planted, including radishes, cabbages, leeks, green garlic, lettuce, coriander, etc. Even if Dahei and Baihuahua don't go out for a walk, they can have fun in the yard.
That day, Chang'an and his aunt were watering the vegetable garden when they suddenly heard someone knocking on the door outside the yard: "Sanshun! Sanshun! Open the door quickly!" The voice was old and hoarse.
Chang'an was startled when he recognized his grandfather's voice, and quickly ran over to hug his aunt's arm.
Mrs. Wu patted her niece soothingly and asked loudly, "Who?"
The man outside the door paused for a moment and said, "It's Xiuying, right? I'm your father-in-law."
Wu said with a sullen face: "I don't have a father-in-law!"
End