Read Novel Full Chapter 141
Chapter 141: Listen to Your Mother
In the third room of the Shen family.
Shen Jin rushed back home like the wind, with Shen Yin right behind him. They followed the sound of heart-wrenching coughing straight to Mrs. Li’s room. Mrs. Li, unable to sleep well at night, had no energy during the day. Recently, she had spent most of her time lying in bed, resting her eyes when she wasn’t coughing or wheezing.
“Mom, Mom, look what we’ve brought back!”
Hearing the commotion, Mrs. Li coughed for a while before she could calm down. She looked up at her two sons, noticing that they were empty-handed but their eyes were bright.
She was puzzled until she saw Shen Jin’s eyes sparkling as he pulled a string of coins out of his pocket. He kept pulling out copper coins and spread them all over her quilt.
“Mom, look, money!”
Shen Jin’s voice was subdued, but it couldn’t hide the excitement and enthusiasm in his tone.
Mrs. Li was stunned, and she immediately shifted from her slouched position to sit up straight: “Where did you get this money?”
Shen Jin’s eyes curved into a smile. Before he could speak, Shen Yin excitedly said, “Mom, Brother caught a pheasant. We sold it to the peddler and got 110 coins.”
“How much?”
“110 coins!” Shen Jin answered this time.
Mrs. Li’s breath quickened, and she started coughing again, but she didn’t care. She pointed to the door: “Close the door. Where are Xiao Tie and Tian Ya?”
Shen Yin, a bit confused, went to close the door. Shen Jin shook his head: “I didn’t see them. They are probably out looking for wild vegetables nearby.”
Mrs. Li breathed a sigh of relief: “Good. Listen, don’t let your father know about making money by catching pheasants. Xiao Tie and Tian Ya are too young and might not be able to keep the secret, so don’t let them know either.”
Mrs. Li was wary of Shen San and no longer hid it from her two elder sons. After some thought, she told Shen Yin, “Xiao Yin, stay in the yard. Make some noise if anyone comes.”
Shen Yin nodded obediently, opened the door, and went outside to stand guard in the courtyard.
Mrs. Li then asked Shen Jin for more details about catching the pheasant and how they sold it to the peddler.
Shen Jin explained everything in detail. Mrs. Li sighed, “That peddler is a good person. You should have listened to him and exchanged it for some food.”
Upon hearing that it took her son over ten days to catch a single pheasant, Mrs. Li knew it wasn’t easy. It was partly due to inexperience, but also because they didn’t dare go deep into the mountains where pheasants were more abundant.
When Shen Lie initially taught him how to catch pheasants, he was likely preparing him for the possibility of needing to go deeper into the mountains.
Mrs. Li wasn’t so heartless as to send her nine-year-old son deep into the mountains to catch pheasants for her. So she instructed Shen Jin, “Next time you catch a pheasant, exchange it for food. Don’t trade for fine grains, get some beans or something. You and Xiao Yin dug a hole, right? Hide it there.”
Shen San was unreliable. If he found out Shen Jin could catch pheasants, he wouldn’t care about the depth or danger of the mountains, just about the money. Once he had money, he would exchange it for fine grains for himself.
The old peddler was right; the world was unpredictable. Even after harvesting the beans, who could say if peace would return?
So hiding food was the best strategy. Knowing Shen San’s nature, he wouldn’t endure any hardship, so hiding food at home wasn’t enough; Shen Jin and the others needed to hide it outside.
Shen Jin somewhat understood his mother’s intentions. His father’s face had turned quite ugly from eating wild vegetables, and he had been throwing tantrums at home.
However, Shen Jin still said, “Mom, you should treat your illness first. This coughing could cause serious problems, and I’m a bit scared.”
Although Shen Jin didn’t elaborate, both mother and son knew what he meant.
If something happened to Mrs. Li, who could the siblings rely on with a father like Shen San?
Mrs. Li leaned back against the bedframe and said, “Don’t worry, it’s just a cough. It’s torturous, but I won’t die from it in ten or eight years.”
At this, she started coughing again, so violently that she lay down. After a while, she caught her breath, sat up slowly, and said, “Listen to your mother. If you catch another pheasant, do as you did today. Quietly find the peddler and exchange it for food. Hide the food, it will be more useful than money in the future. Even if I need to see a doctor, they won’t refuse if we have food.”
Mrs. Li deeply regretted not buying grain when the village chief first advised everyone to. Instead, she and Shen San had laughed it off.
The grain-buying initiative was led by Sang Luo and her friends, whom Mrs. Li couldn’t stand, so she resisted out of spite.
Shen Lie later reminded the villagers to buy grain again, without specifically excluding her family. But she was in labor service then, and Shen San feigned illness to avoid it. By the time she returned, the grain prices had skyrocketed. She had a huge fight with Shen San, but it was too late.
Sometimes she felt this was retribution.
Shen Jin brought a cup of water for his mother to soothe her throat, then said, “Mom, I’ll listen to you and exchange for food. But please see a doctor first.”
Mrs. Li smiled, feeling comforted that her children were filial even if her husband was unreliable. Holding back her tears, she said, “Alright. But a hundred coins isn’t enough. Food prices are rising, and so will medicine. I’m okay for now. Save more, then we’ll see a doctor. But listen to me: save food. When times get tough, food will be worth more than silver.”
Shen Jin nodded repeatedly, “Alright, I’ll set more traps.”
He was about to leave when Mrs. Li stopped him, “Don’t go deep into the mountains. Also, take these coins and exchange them for food next time you see the peddler.”
Shen Jin looked at the coins, thought for a moment, and nodded, “Okay, I’ll hide them and exchange for some beans tomorrow.”
He pocketed the pile of copper coins again.
…
Meanwhile, Shen Lie and his group were working on another field in Yun Valley, sowing the rice seeds that Chen granny and others had soaked.
It was their third day back in Yun Valley, and Shen Lie still hadn’t had time to make his bed.
On the first day, he carved a bathtub. On the second day, he went out to collect soil and shale. Instead of building a stove, he spent half the night carving the mountain wall for the latrine.
By the end of the third day, after finishing the farm work, he continued working on the latrine. By dinnertime, the latrine was large enough to fit both a bathtub and a chamber pot.
In the afternoon, Sang Luo ground a piece of konjac from last year into powder and made some vegetarian tripe.
This ingredient could make a large bowlful from just a little bit. She had stored a lot last year, intending to supply Dongfu Lou, but the refugee situation prevented that. Unable to transport the large jars, she packed the konjac in bags with lime for preservation. When she had time, she planned to carve some wooden barrels with lids for storage.
After moving to Yun Valley, they initially lived in a big cave, which was inconvenient. Later, they lived separately but were always busy. This was the first time she made vegetarian tripe. She gave each family a small bowl, enough to fry with some wild onions and chives for a side dish.
Of course, she only gave one portion to the Lu family, ignoring Wang Chunniang and directly giving it to Mrs. Lu.
She didn’t return empty-handed, bringing back some wild onions, chives, dried mushrooms, and vegetables for each family. Everyone living in the valley, except for the clueless Wang Chunniang, was decent.
After dinner, the children gathered under a tree to read, while Shen Lie was busy laying shale in the latrine and connecting drainage channels. Sang Luo went to help and heard Shen Lie say they had to leave early the next morning.
“This is the last grain transport. I need to find a way to meet Shopkeeper Xu, so I might be away for two or three more days. Don’t worry if I return late.”
Sang Luo was surprised, “Meet Shopkeeper Xu? Didn’t we agree to check for messages periodically after transporting the grain?”
“Yes, we did make an appointment, but do you remember I told you that I had moved the grain from the first grain storage point?”
Sang Luo replied, “I remember. Why?”
Shen Lie said, “To hide that grain, Dashan and I put in a lot of thought. The method we came up with not only hides grain well but is also excellent for hiding people. Hiding inside, whether to avoid people or the wild beasts in the forest, shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Are you planning to teach Shopkeeper Xu?”
Shen Lie nodded, “Yes, I’m thinking that the situation outside could become chaotic at any time. With this method, as long as we can escape into the forest, the chances of surviving would be much higher.”
Sang Luo was curious and looked at Shen Lie, asking in surprise, “What kind of method is so good?”
Shen Lie thought for a moment and said, “It’s also about digging holes, but we added some other techniques. The entrance is bigger, so people can enter, and grain can barely go in and out. But the entrance can be completely disguised, blending in with the surrounding rocks, grass, and trees, making it hard to discover.”
He felt it was difficult to describe, so he wanted to meet Shopkeeper Xu and personally show him how to do it.
Sang Luo couldn’t quite imagine what it looked like, but since Shen Lie said it was good, it should indeed be much better than the one he taught Shen Jin before. She was curious and asked, “Since that’s the case, you said you’d only be back two or three days late. In two or three days, Shopkeeper Xu might not even receive the message. Do you have another quick way to contact him?”
“Yes, there’s an old servant in the Xu family who disguises himself as a peddler and goes to Shili Village every day. One reason is to look after Xiao Jin and the others, and the other is to facilitate quick contact between me and Shopkeeper Xu in case of an emergency. I just need to wait for him in the mountains halfway.”
“I see,” Sang Luo smiled, “Shopkeeper Xu is always thorough in his work.”
Having a specific way to contact the outside world while hiding in the mountains is actually quite good. It ensures they won’t be completely ignorant of external affairs, and if they encounter any problems in the mountains that can’t be solved, they can find someone to discuss and seek help.
She recalled the situation of Shen Jin and the others mentioned in Shopkeeper Xu’s letter a few days ago and asked Shen Lie, “Since you’re going near Shili Village, you should also teach this method to Shopkeeper Xu. I suppose you won’t leave out Xiao Jin. You should hunt some game on the way and make it into jerky for Xiao Jin to store. Seeing his family’s current situation, it’s not easy for him to store any grain on his own.”
The resources in the valley are limited, and it’s not practical to send anything to Shen Jin, but there’s plenty of game in the mountains. She wanted Shen Lie to help the kids store some essentials along the way.
Shen Lie nodded with a smile, “That’s what I intend to do. The underground storage I taught him before is not as safe as this new one, so I’ll secretly take him to the mountains to teach him. I’ll also get him some meat on the way.”
As for whether Shen Jin would bring it back to his parents, at this point, Shen Lie didn’t want to think too much about it. He could only do his best for Shen Jin and the others. After all, what he could give was limited. If Shen Jin and the others wanted to save from their own rations for their parents, that would be up to them.