Transmigrated into the role of the matriarch, I ensured my family had enough to eat and wear during

The two jin of grain that the whole village pooled together for Aunt Liu may seem like a small amount, but it was a real lifesaver.

As long as the whole family tightens their belts and each person eats only a bite or two a day, mixed with wild vegetables and cooked, they can last for three or four days and temporarily save their lives.

Aunt Liu took the heavy bag of grain with trembling hands, tears streaming down her face. All the pent-up grievances and despair welled up inside her, and before anyone could react, everything went black, and she fainted.

The eldest daughter, Yumi, reacted quickly, catching her mother and crying out anxiously, "Mom! Mom, wake up!"

Old Mrs. Yang was also among the onlookers, and among the grains she contributed was half a jin of buckwheat rice.

She originally intended to turn around and go to Tang Susu's house to remind her not to sleep too soundly at night and to close the doors and windows to prevent grain thieves.

But then he thought about it again. Tang Susu usually bought meat with just two copper coins and lived a very extravagant life. There must not be much surplus food at home, so grain thieves wouldn't target her family. So he gave up the idea.

Back at the old house, Old Mrs. Yang was wide awake. She immediately woke the whole family and ordered, "Don't sleep! Go and gather all the grain from the cellar and hide it away properly!"

Apart from Tang Susu who moved out, the Yang family consists of twelve people: the eldest and second sons' families, the elderly, and the children, all living together in cramped conditions.

Old Mrs. Yang knew best that in this year of severe drought, grain was life itself.

She usually forced each member of her family to save a mouthful of food every day. Over time, they managed to save fifty or sixty catties of buckwheat noodles, thirty or forty catties of millet, and about forty catties of cornmeal.

She instructed her two sons to divide the grain into bags of ten jin each, and to hide some in the corners of each room, as well as two bags in secret places in the woodshed and kitchen.

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket. That way, even if a thief comes along, you won't be completely wiped out, and your family will still have a way to survive," Old Mrs. Yang solemnly advised, her tone full of gravity.

That night, almost everyone in Yangqu Village stayed awake until dawn.

The grain thief was not caught, and the weight on everyone's hearts remained unresolved.

The Liu family only had two jin of grain, and even if they were frugal, it wouldn't last until the autumn harvest a month later.

Even if they manage to survive by sheer luck, there hasn't been a single drop of rain in the past two months, and the grain in the fields has long since withered beyond recognition, unable to produce any rice ears at all. In the end, they will still be unable to escape famine.

Just as dawn was breaking, heart-wrenching cries erupted from the Liu family's courtyard, shattering the village's tranquility.

"Father, don't sell me! I don't want to be sold!" Yumi knelt on the ground, crying and trembling, clutching Liu Yingcai's trouser leg tightly.

Little Fish rushed over, hugging his father's leg, crying at the top of his lungs, "Sell me if you're going to sell me! I'm a boy, I can work! Don't sell my sister!"

Aunt Liu sat to one side, tears streaming down her face, sobbing as she pleaded, "Father, please think of another way. We can't sell our daughter..."

Liu Yingcai squatted on the ground, clutching his pipe, sighing incessantly.

His eyes were red and his voice was hoarse: "I don't want to sell either! But we're out of food at home. If we don't sell her, our whole family will starve to death! That buyer has money. Yu will be able to eat and drink well there, which is better than her starving here with us."

He paused, then added, "They gave us five hundred coins, which can buy a lot of grain, enough to last us until the autumn harvest." Although he said that, he was inwardly bitter. If he hadn't been desperate, who would have been willing to sell his own daughter?

Tang Susu had just gotten up to wash up when she heard crying and commotion from next door.

She frowned, turned around and went back into the house, picked up the remaining half of the basket of chestnuts, and walked straight to the Liu family's door.

She leaned against the weathered wooden doorframe, a half-smile playing on her lips, her tone deliberately sarcastic, but her words carried a hidden meaning: "Uncle Liu, are you planning to sell your daughter for grain? That's a good idea. But I'm curious, the village head is clearly biased. Yesterday he organized the whole village to collect grain for your family, but why didn't he think to collect some for mine?"

She changed the subject abruptly, deliberately raising her voice: "Speaking of which, I went to town a few days ago and heard the pig butcher on the street say that his wife can't have children, and he's willing to pay three taels of silver to buy a son to support her in her old age. Whether it's Bao'er or Liqiang, as long as they're healthy, he'll take them."

After saying that, she stopped laughing and her tone became serious: "But even if I'm reckless, I can't bring myself to sell out my family. No matter how hard life is, as long as we have some wild vegetables to eat, we won't starve. At worst, the whole family will die together, but we can't be separated like family."

As soon as she finished speaking, Tang Susu carried half a basket of chestnuts into the Liu family's yard and put it on the ground: "My family doesn't have much money to buy corn, so I'll use these chestnuts to exchange for corn so you can work for me for a day."

She looked at Yumi, who was still kneeling on the ground, and said loudly, "What are you kneeling for? Come to my house right now to do the laundry and cook, don't delay things."

Corn was stunned. She knew that Tang Susu used to be hot-tempered and loved to scold people, but at this moment, this third aunt was undoubtedly her lifeline.

It's worth it to escape being sold, even if it means working for the Tang family and suffering some grievances.

She immediately stood up, wiped the tears from her face, and ran outside with Tang Susu.

Upon seeing this, Aunt Liu rushed to the front door and blocked it tightly, fearing that her husband would chase after her and sell their daughter again.

She looked down at the half-full basket of chestnuts on the ground, reached out and weighed it in her hand, and was shocked—this basket of chestnuts weighed seven or eight pounds!

Nowadays, chestnuts on the mountain are so scarce that villagers are scrambling to get them. These seven or eight pounds of chestnuts can be a great source of food.

Thinking of the seventy catties of grain and two baskets of chestnuts stolen from her family, Aunt Liu felt as if her heart had been ripped out. But watching her daughter's safe figure disappear into the distance, she gritted her teeth and made up her mind: "Aunt Yang's family also has plenty of mouths to feed, and they can grit their teeth and get through it, so why can't we? Even if we have to starve, eat tree bark, and eat pig swill in the future, I will never mention selling my daughter again!"

Liu Yingcai sat on a pile of straw, puffing on his pipe one cigarette after another. His expression was obscured by the swirling smoke.

After a long silence, he sighed heavily: "Let's leave it at that for now. We'll see if we can harvest the grain in a month, and then we'll discuss whether to sell it or not."

He knew in his heart that if they really couldn't collect grain, not only his family, but other families in the village would probably have to sell their children to survive.

When Tang Susu brought the corn home, Miao Yulan had already washed all the dirty clothes in the house and was drying them in the yard.

She led the corn to the main room and sat down, getting straight to the point: "I know you don't want to be sold, but if your father is really determined, nothing I say will make a difference."

She paused, her tone tinged with emotion, "In this world, daughters are inherently more unfortunate, especially in an era like ours where men are superior to women. In years of famine, daughters are always the first to be sacrificed. You are the eldest daughter of the Liu family, with three younger siblings. It's not unreasonable that your father chose you."

Yumi lowered her head, her eyes reddening again, but she didn't cry out loud.

Tang Susu said no more, and turned to Miao Yulan, saying, "Yulan, let's make wild vegetable dumplings for breakfast, using the black flour that Mother brought before."

These black dough dumplings mixed with wild vegetables are very filling and are now the staple food for the whole village. The Tang family's meal is in line with the villagers' and doesn't stand out too much.

Miao Yulan responded and turned to go into the kitchen.

Yang Xiaobao sidled up to Tang Susu, tilted his little face up, and asked earnestly, "Mommy, can I really sell for three taels of silver? Can three taels of silver buy lots and lots of meat?"

Tang Susu was amused by his serious expression, reached out and patted his head, then added, "Yes, our little treasure is very valuable. But when you grow up and get married, don't forget your mother."

Yang Xiaobao nodded firmly, clenched his little fist, and solemnly promised, "When I grow up, I will work hard to earn copper coins and buy lots and lots of meat for Mom to eat!"

Tang Susu looked at his youthful face, and the corners of her lips couldn't help but turn up slightly.

Soon, the aroma of wild vegetable dumplings wafted from the kitchen.

The whole family sat around the table, and Tang Susu insisted on pressing the corn back into her chair so she could eat it with them.

Corn repeatedly declined, saying, "Third Aunt, I haven't done any work yet, I can't just eat your food for free."

This wild vegetable dumpling contained more flour than she had eaten before her family's grain was stolen, which was considered a feast for her.

"Just eat what I tell you to eat. Why are you being so formal?" Tang Susu stuffed a warm wild vegetable dumpling into her hand. "You need to eat well to have the energy to work."

Yumi looked at everyone at the table, including the pregnant Miao Yulan, who were all eating with great relish, each of them having eaten two or three pieces, and there were still quite a few left in the basket. She was very surprised.

She then realized that her family's life was far worse than Tang Susu's.

After the meal, Yang Xiaobao ran to Yumi, took out a handful of roasted chestnuts that he hadn't finished eating yesterday from his pocket, and handed them to her: "Sister Yumi, here, have some. You used to secretly give me dough balls to eat all the time, now I can finally repay you."

Yumi paused, then her eyes welled up with tears.

She remembered how she used to see Xiaobao hungry, lingering at her doorstep with his clothes soaked with drool. Feeling sorry for him, she would secretly break off a piece of her dough and give it to him.

She thought this little thing had been forgotten long ago, but she didn't expect that Xiao Bao would remember it.

She took the chestnut and whispered "thank you".

Then, Tang Susu assigned tasks: "Yumi, you go with Yulan to the fields and dig up some shepherd's purse. It's not hard work, you can finish before noon and go home."

Yumi was full of doubts. She knew that the seven or eight pounds of chestnuts were enough for the Liu family to eat for three or four days, and even Xiaobao could do simple chores like digging shepherd's purse, so there was no need to specifically ask her to do it.

In an instant, she understood—her third aunt wasn't asking her to do chores at all; she was clearly just looking for an excuse to save her, so that she could stay here legitimately and not be forced to sell her by her father anymore.