A little madman moved into the courtyard house next door.

Arriving at Li Xiaocao's house, Xiao Sanfeng looked around at the two-room mud-walled thatched hut. Next to the thatched hut was a small thatched shed.

The small hut had only a thatched roof and was supported by a few wooden stakes on all sides, and had no walls.

There was an earthen stove in the small thatched shed, and some firewood was piled up.

Li Xiaocao pointed to the thatched hut and said, "This is the room where my grandma and I live, and this is the room where my older brother lives. My brother's name is Li Xiaomu, and he is 13 years old this year. He is an apprentice at the commune's blacksmith shop and doesn't usually come back, so you will live in my brother's room."

A voice came from inside the house: "Little Grass, is it the classmate the brigade arranged?"

"Grandma, this is your older brother. I'll take him to put his things away first, then we'll go back inside."

"Grandma is fine. You take your classmate inside first."

After following Li Xiaocao into the house and putting down her luggage, he asked, "Xiaocao, how old are you this year, and what grade are you in?"

"Brother, I'm nine years old. My family can't afford the tuition, so I don't go to school."

Why isn't your grandma going out to work?

Li Xiaocao said sadly, "Grandma is sick and has been bedridden for half a month."

"Little Grass, your house only has two rooms. Where are your parents?"

"Grandma said that my mother fell ill and died not long after giving birth to me. In the summer when I was 3 years old, the Juma River flooded. My father went into the river to retrieve things washed down from upstream, but he was also swept away by the flood."

Xiao Sanfeng thought for a moment, and realized that this little grass was like a bitter pill to be swallowed – it was extremely bitter!

My parents died early, and my grandmother is ill.

Her brother started working as an apprentice at a blacksmith's shop at the age of 13, which sounds like the kind of unpaid labor.

To become an apprentice, one must serve the master for free for three years. This three-year period is a probationary period. Only after the probationary period is completed and the apprentice is approved can the formal apprenticeship ceremony be held, and the apprentice officially begin learning the craft.

After the apprenticeship ceremony, the kind master will give you a small salary until you complete your apprenticeship.

Xiaocao's life was truly a tragedy.

I'm currently staying at this house, which was arranged by the brigade, but it's still a favor.

There's a sick person in their family, so let's take some things and go visit them!

Xiao Sanfeng used his divine sense to enter the space, took out a piece of paper wrapped with half a pound of white sugar, and took it out disguised as a luggage bag.

Holding the sugar in his hand, Xiao Sanfeng said, "Xiao Cao, take me to see your grandma!"

"Okay, brother."

Following Li Xiaocao into the next room, we saw a small earthen stove with a small clay pot on it. The temperature in the countryside is quite low at night, so cooking indoors helps to warm the room.

Next to the small earthen stove was a small table with bowls, chopsticks, and a small earthenware jar for salt on it.

Inside was a simple wooden bed with a dark linen mosquito net hanging on it.

The walls inside the house were blackened with soot from long-term cooking.

An elderly woman with white hair was lying on the bed. Xiao Sanfeng stepped forward and said, "Grandma, my name is Xiao Sanfeng. I'm a student from Beijing who's here for labor education. I'll be staying at your house for a while."

The old lady said, "Hello, hello, my home is simple. I'm so sorry to have troubled you, child."

"My family used to be from the countryside, and our situation was similar to yours. I also grew up with my maternal grandmother."

"They're all poor, unfortunate children!"

Xiao Sanfeng handed over the white sugar and said, "Grandma, I'm sorry to have troubled you by staying here. Here's half a pound of white sugar; please keep it and help Xiaocao recover."

The old lady immediately declined, saying, "Child, white sugar is very precious, how can you give it to me! You should take it back and keep it for yourself to mix with water."

"Grandma, seeing you reminds me of my own grandmother. It's fate that I'm staying at your house. Please accept this candy!"

Li Xiaocao knelt down immediately and kowtowed to Xiao Sanfeng, saying, "Brother, my grandmother really needs this precious white sugar to nourish her body. I don't have any money to give you, so I'll kowtow to you to thank you!"

Xiao Sanfeng quickly helped Li Xiaocao up, saying, "Xiaocao, how could you kneel and kowtow to me? You're making me feel so embarrassed."

The old lady said, "Child, you've given such an expensive gift, it's only right that Xiaocao kowtows to you in return. Just accept it without any guilt!"

"Alright, Little Grass has already kowtowed once, so I can't kowtow back to you."

After chatting for a while, Xiao Sanfeng went out. He went back inside and was about to make the bed when Li Xiaocao came over to help.

………………

In the afternoon, Xiao Sanfeng went out for a walk and got a preliminary understanding of the situation in Lijia Village.

The Li family village is mainly populated by people with the surname Li, but there are also some people with other surnames such as He and Xu.

Lijiacun Brigade is nestled against the mountains, with Qidu Brigade just outside and the Juma River beyond.

The mountains are home to pheasants and rabbits, as well as larger wild animals like wild boars and wolves. However, these are now collective property, and private hunting is prohibited.

The main crops grown in the production brigade are wheat, corn, and sweet potatoes.

In the past two years, the brigade cadres, driven by a desire for prestige, have been falsifying grain yields. Wheat yields were reported as 10,000 jin per mu, and corn yields as 10,000 jin per mu. With yields inflated, the grain quotas also skyrocketed.

Several consecutive years of drought have led to a continuous decline in grain production. After all the wheat and corn produced in the fields were harvested and delivered to the government for grain production, less than half of the quota had been met.

There was no food in the brigade, and the collective canteen could not continue operating. So the commune members were told to go home and cook for themselves.

The iron pots and kitchen knives used to be collected and put into steelmaking. Now, apart from cadres who have iron pots, other commune members only have earthenware pots or clay pots to cook with.

After handing over the grain to the state, there was no more grain; the commune members only had a little sweet potato for sustenance. When sustenance wasn't enough, they made do with wild vegetables. If it weren't for the mountains behind the production brigade, the commune members would have all starved to death long ago.

…………

Not far from Li Xiaocao's house was another family, the man named He Yongqiang and the woman named Xu Huizhi.

Yes, that's He Yongqiang, Xu Huizhen's ex-husband in the drama "Little Woman".

He eloped with his sister-in-law right from the start, which angered his adoptive father, who had raised him since childhood and was also his uncle. He also abandoned his wife and children.

He Yongqiang is the second villain in the story of the little woman.

He Yongqiang divorced Xu Huizhen in the first half of 56, and his eldest daughter, He Chunfen, was born less than ten months later. His second daughter, He Lixia, was born in 58. And the little rascal, He Xiaoxia, is now a month old.

Holy crap, I came here for some labor education, and I actually ran into this family of bastards.

Forget it, as long as he doesn't cause trouble for Xiao Sanfeng, he won't go looking for trouble either.