During famine years, I had a divination slip in hand, and my whole family ate chicken, duck, fish, a

The old man was freezing, looking like a little grandson.

The cold wind pierced through my cotton-padded coat, I waded through the snotty water, hunched my neck and tucked my sleeves in, my heart pounding with anxiety, wishing I could rush all the way to the county government office to see what was going on!

The elderly couple had never suffered like this in their lives.

This can be considered retribution for forcibly separating Chunlian and that young man, and for marrying her off to someone else.

Ye Qingqing sat cross-legged on the warm earthen bed, leisurely drinking porridge and eating with Xiao Huanhuan and Xiao Laidi.

Turning around, I saw Kaoshantun.

One after another, horse-drawn carts carrying grain, escorted by bodyguards, entered Ye Youliang's house, causing an uproar throughout Kaoshantun.

The villagers watched longingly, secretly counting how much grain his family had stored.

The whole village was secretly talking about it.

"With so many truckloads of goods brought here, it must weigh at least a thousand or eight hundred pounds!"

"More than that! I counted those grain sacks; there were at least two thousand jin (1,000 kg)!"

"I saw it too. Lots of grain sacks on that truck had 'rice' and 'flour' written on them! Look at how well they live!"

"Second Girl's luck is absolutely incredible! How did she know that food prices were going up and stock up in advance?"

……

Whether they could still lift the lid of the pot at home or not, they were all itching to go to his house to borrow some food.

Quite a few people actually went!

But when they arrived, they saw Ye Dazhuang, the ruthless man who had killed six wolves in one go, with his cotton-padded coat off to the side, wearing only his underwear, swinging his strong arms and chopping wood in the yard.

He had a pair of broad, thick arms with bulging, firm muscles and great strength.

This kid is like a gatekeeper; just his presence in the yard is enough to scare people. Who would dare to shamelessly go in and borrow grain?

However, some people had no choice but to bite the bullet and go in anyway.

"Brother Youliang, are you home?"

Ye Youyin craned his neck to look into the yard, then pushed open the door and came in before anyone could speak, looking around. "I have Yin, are you home, brother?"

Ye Youyin and Ye Youliang are from the same clan and of the same generation. Their blood relation is not too far apart, so they can be considered cousins.

His two sons live in town; one works as a shop assistant, and the other is an apprentice at a pawnshop. They don't earn much, but they can barely make ends meet.

A few days ago, in order to raise money for their son's marriage registration, the whole family sold everything they owned and scraped together a tael of silver to pay for it. But they couldn't even afford to eat coarse grain porridge anymore.

With their rice bin nearly empty and grain prices rising in town, the elderly couple couldn't stomach eating bran for two days, so Ye Youyin reluctantly came to borrow grain.

"I'm here! I'm here!"

Ye Youliang shifted his position and called out to the window, "Youyin...come in and warm up."

"Father, someone's here. I'm taking the food away."

Ye Cuicui quickly got off the kang (a heated brick bed) and started to clean up the leftovers from the meal she had just eaten.

"Don't……"

Ye Youliang waved his hand, saying with reluctance, "We're all family, no need to tidy up so much... Cuicui, go out and greet your uncle."

"Um."

Ye Cuicui glanced at the half-eaten steamed bun on the table and knew that her father had softened his heart.

My second sister's guess was absolutely right.

"Hey, Brother Youliang, eating?"

As soon as Ye Youyin entered the house, he almost tripped over the aroma of big white steamed buns and pork stewed with cabbage.

His stomach was already empty, and now his vision went black and he almost collapsed to the ground.

"Yes, I just finished eating."

Ye Youliang picked up half a steamed bun and handed it over, "Have you eaten? Come sit down and let's talk."

"No, no, no need... I ate a little."

Looking at the large, white steamed buns, Ye Youyin swallowed hard and couldn't help but reach out to take them.

Dead Hand, come back now!

In the blink of an eye, he didn't even know how that half-eaten white steamed bun ended up in his mouth.

"Brother Youliang, home, home..."

Ye Youyin stretched his neck and swallowed a mouthful of steamed bun. Just as he was about to speak again, he saw a tall figure lift the curtain and enter the room, exuding a chill.

"Uncle, the firewood is all chopped."

"Are you tired? Sit down and have some tea."

Ye Youliang waved his hand and looked at Ye Youyin, "Brother Youyin, what did you just say?"

Ye Dazhuang's rugged face remained expressionless as he stood quietly to the side, not even glancing at them.

Ye Youyin, however, felt a sense of oppression, as if a towering mountain was pressing down on him, making it hard to breathe.

A chill ran down my neck.

"N-nothing..."

He felt a shiver run through him, swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue, and forced a smile, saying, "I had nothing to do at home, so I came to see you."

"Is your leg injury healed? No, it's nothing, I'll head back now..."

"Are you struggling to make ends meet?"

Ye Youliang sighed, waved to him, and said, "Come sit down, I know your place, don't I?"

Ye Youyin blushed and almost burst into tears.

"Brother Youliang, don't even mention it! My wife and I have been starving for two days. If we weren't desperate, I wouldn't have bothered coming here..."

Ye Youliang waved his hand.

"Alright, alright, we're all close relatives, let's not talk about this. I know you're having a hard time, but my second daughter told me not to lend grain to others when she went back to her parents' home with her sister-in-law."

"You know, your brother is useless. This little bit of wealth we have now was all earned by Er Ya. I'm not good at it either..."

Ye Youyin listened silently, but the spark that had just ignited in her heart was extinguished by the three words "Second Girl".

"But..."

Ye Youliang took a puff of his pipe, then changed the subject and said slowly, "I was thinking that Er Ya didn't allow us to borrow grain, but she didn't say we couldn't buy it with money."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Dali raised his hand and scratched his nose, a slight smile unconsciously playing on his lips.

This old man is actually incredibly cunning!

Ye Youyin's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "Brother Youliang, you mean...?"

Ye Youliang coughed twice, feigning seriousness.

"I have silver. How about this, I'll buy it from you at the original price, not a penny more..."

The grains we bought were before the price went up.

That way, when Er Yatou comes back, I'll have something to say.

A hint of surprise flashed across Ye Youyin's pale face.

"Really, brother?"

But immediately, his face darkened again, and he clenched his fists, giving a bitter smile as he said,

"It's only right to buy it, how could we eat your grain for free? But as you know, Brother Grain, my whole family sold everything we owned to pay the child purchase fee a while ago, and now the two children haven't been paid yet, we don't even have a single copper coin in our hands."

As he spoke, he stood up unsteadily, his body swaying weakly.

"Let me think of something, let me think of something..."

"Cui Cui, bring me the paper your sister wrote!"

Ye Youliang stopped him, glaring at him and said, "I haven't finished yet, why are you in such a hurry? If you really can't come up with the money, just owe it to me. Er Ya has already written an IOU for ten catties of mixed grain flour, you just need to put your fingerprint on it."

"We'll exchange it for ten catties of grain next year after the harvest, or we can return something of equal value."

"What?"

Ye Youyin's eyes widened immediately, thinking he had misheard. He stammered, "You...you can lend me some? Brother, you're really willing to lend me some grain!"