Li Shuying immediately sensed that something was wrong the moment she saw Li Jianguo's pale expression. Even his breathing was uneven.
"Second Brother, what happened?" she asked softly. "Take a breath first and speak slowly."
Li Jianguo wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve. Though the autumn wind had already begun carrying traces of cold, his face remained tense.
"Little Shuying… didn't you hear what Uncle Liu said at the meeting?" he asked hurriedly. "There may be a severe drought ahead. The days to come might become even harder than now. Aren't you worried at all?"
Li Shuying blinked slightly, clearly caught off guard by his anxious tone, "So you're worrying about that?"
Li Jianguo stared at her in disbelief, almost choking on his own breath, "Not worried?" he repeated, his voice rising. "Do you even understand what a severe drought means?"
"It means no water… no harvest… no grain," he said heavily. "Prices rise until ordinary people cannot afford even coarse flour. Hunger spreads everywhere. In the end, people survive by digging wild roots and chewing tree bark." His expression darkened further. "I heard the old villagers speaking just now. During the draught in the forties, half the village disappeared. Some fled south to beg for food. Some died quietly in their own homes. They said people became so hungry they could no longer even cry."
His Adam's apple bobbed.
"The elders still remember it clearly. They said those years were like walking through hell."
Li Shuying lowered her eyes slightly. How could she not understand? In her previous life, she had not merely heard stories of famine, she had lived through it.
Li Jianguo sighed helplessly after seeing her calm expression, "Forget it," he muttered. "You're still too young. You probably don't understand how terrifying such things are."
Then he straightened again, urgency returning to his face, "But no matter what, our family must prepare early," he said firmly. "Others may not take it seriously, but we cannot gamble with survival. I was thinking, after work tomorrow, I'll go deeper into the mountains and see if I can collect more wild vegetables before winter fully arrives. Maybe dry some mushrooms too. If things truly turn bad, at least we'll have something to eat."
"Second Brother," Li Shuying said gently, "didn't Uncle Liu already make preparations for everyone?"
She continued calmly, "From tomorrow onward, every household will begin planting sweet potatoes, Chinese cabbage, and soybeans. Those crops survive drought far better than wheat." She paused before adding meaningfully, "As long as we work harder than others and prepare properly, our family can definitely survive."
Li Jianguo still looked unconvinced, "But surviving is one thing," he muttered. "What if the drought lasts too long? And can we only survive on sweet potatos and Chinese cabbages?"
"Little Shuying," he said hurriedly, lowering his voice instinctively as though afraid the neighbors might overhear, "I was thinking… don't you know people in the county?"
Li Shuying blinked lightly and looked at him.
Li Jianguo continued quickly before losing his train of thought, "If those people truly have access to food supplies, then we should buy some ourselves while we still can." His tone became increasingly urgent. "Didn't Father gave money for the family last time? We also still have some savings hidden away. If things truly become difficult later, grain prices will definitely rise."
As he spoke, the more reasonable the idea sounded in his own mind.
His eyes brightened slightly.
"We should purchase food early," he muttered. "...anything that can be stored for a long time." Then he immediately looked at her again, "You should go to the county tomorrow, take Little Jianmin with you as well. Two people traveling together is safer."
Li Shuying looked at her second brother quietly for a moment before the corners of her lips curled upward faintly. She found his sudden enthusiasm rather amusing. After all, it had been Li Jianguo himself who repeatedly warned her not to become too involved with black market.
Still his suggestion arrived at the perfect moment. This would give her a perfect opportunity to take things out from her system space, it would no longer appear too suspicious.
At least, her family would subconsciously associate those goods with her so-called "county connections."
Thus, she nodded naturally, "Yes," she replied softly. "I'll go tomorrow and see how much food and daily supplies I can purchase."
Li Shuying had barely finished speaking when the courtyard gate creaked open, and Chen Meilan walked in along with Widow He and Grand-Aunt Li. Both women carried wicker baskets on their backs, but the moment they stepped through the gate, Li Shuying immediately sensed that something was wrong. The air around them felt heavy.
Especially Widow He. Her face was long and bitter, and the corners of her mouth drooped so low that she looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.
Li Shuying hurried forward, "Aunt He, Grand-Aunt Li, what happened?" she asked softly. "Why do you all look so worried?"
Widow He slapped the dust off her trousers with rough, irritated movements before letting out a loud sigh, "Aiyaa… what else could it be?" she grumbled bitterly. "It's that blasted planting decision! Changing wheat into sweet potatoes at the last moment, who wouldn't panic hearing that?"
She threw her basket onto the ground with a dull thud and sat heavily on the wooden stool in the courtyard, "This old woman's plans are all ruined now. Ruined completely!"
Her voice rose louder and louder as frustration poured out of her chest, "This whole year I tightened my belt till my ribs nearly showed. Why? Wasn't it all so I can harvest more and earn few more copper coins? He Baogen is already past twenty! Other people's sons already carry babies on their backs, while mine still sleeps alone like a stray dog!"
"This year I finally saw hope!" she cried. "I thought if wheat harvest was good, I could sell more grain to the collection station, gather enough bride price money, and finally bring a daughter-in-law into the house."
"And after that, I planned to use the wages from reservoir digging and road construction to buy at least one of the Three Turns and One Sound. Even just a bicycle! Something respectable so people stop looking down on our family."
She wiped her nose roughly with her sleeve, "And Little Yuzhi… aiyaa, that child has been begging to attend school for two whole years already. I finally thought this winter we might have enough money to send her."
Her eyes reddened instantly, "But now? Sweet potatoes? Chinese cabbage?" She snorted bitterly. "How much money can those things sell for?"
"Wuwuwu… Heaven truly doesn't leave old widows a way to live…" Her crying immediately filled the courtyard.
Li Jianguo and Li Jianmin exchanged helpless glances.
Li Jianguo hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Aunt He, isn't this also for everyone's survival? Uncle Liu already said there's no guarantee the wheat harvest would succeed even if we planted it. If the drought truly worsens, then staying alive should matter more than anything else, no?"
Widow He immediately wiped her tears with the corner of her sleeve, but instead of calming down, she grew even more agitated.
"Aiyaa, little Jianguo, you are still too young!" she cried. "You think surviving is just stuffing coarse grain into your mouth and waiting for spring to come?" She slapped her thigh loudly. "In this world, without money, even breathing feels bitter!"
Her voice rose higher and higher as emotion overtook her, "Look around the village! Which family doesn't need money? Cotton cloth costs money, salt costs money, lamp oil costs money, medicine costs money! Even repairing a broken hoe needs money!"
Then she clicked her tongue bitterly and spoke an, "As the old folks say, 'A house without grain survives one winter; a house without coins cannot survive one market day.' We common folk already live with one foot in mud and the other in suffering. The only thing worth something is wheat. Fine grain can be sold for proper money. But sweet potatoes?" She snorted harshly. "Even pigs grow tired of eating too many sweet potatoes."
Grand Aunt Li, who had remained silent until now, finally clicked her tongue heavily and shook her head in disbelief.
"He Jia-da, ah… stop crying as if heaven has collapsed," the old woman scolded, leaning slightly on the wooden cane in her hand. "Even this little boy understands more than you right now. What use is money if people die with empty stomachs?"
Widow He looked embarrassed immediately. Her face reddened beneath the soot and windburn on her skin.
"But… but life cannot go on without money either…" she muttered stubbornly.
Grand Aunt Li interrupted her before she could continue, "You folk simply do not understand hardship," she said, her aged voice growing distant, as though it had crossed decades of suffering. "Your bones have not yet tasted real bitterness."
Grand Aunt Li slowly lowered herself onto the kang bed near the wall and sighed deeply, "In your generation, you all think suffering means eating coarse grain for a few years," she said. "But in our days…" Her cloudy eyes dimmed slightly. "In our days, people died in rows."
Her wrinkled fingers tightened around her cane, "You all were born later. You did not witness what happened after the Japanese devils occupied the Northeast."
Grand Aunt Li's tone turned heavy, "At that time, our Shitou Village was prosperous. Aiyaa… back then these fields stretched golden after harvest. Every household stored grain jars full enough to survive winter. There were mule carts on the roads, smoke from every kitchen, although the land belonged to landlord Hua, the prosparity was abundant."
A faint trace of nostalgia surfaced on her aged face before disappearing again, "But after the Japanese came…" she said bitterly, "everything changed."
"The railways, the mines, the forests, everything was seized. Young men were dragged away for labor. Grain was taken away cart after cart." Her lips trembled slightly. "The Japanese soldiers and those black-hearted collaborators ate white flour while we common folk gnawed bark from trees."
Her eyes reddened faintly, "And then came the drought."
The room fell completely silent, "No rain," Grand Aunt Li whispered. "Fields cracked open. Rivers dried until even mud could not be dug out. But despite that, the little grain harvested was still being collected and transported away."
She let out a dry laugh full of sorrow, "What did ordinary people have left? Nothing at all."
Li Jianguo unconsciously clenched his fists. Even he, who had only heard fragments of those years, felt his chest tighten hearing the old woman speak.
Grand Aunt Li continued slowly, her voice carrying the exhaustion of an entire generation, "People began fleeing everywhere. Some went south. Some wandered toward the cities. Some sold their daughters. Some buried their parents without coffins." She shook her head. "And many from our village… went all the way to Xinjiang."
"At that time they said frontier development needed people. They said there would be land, grain, opportunity." She snorted softly. "But how could survival be easy anywhere in those years?"
Her expression darkened, "The journey on the train alone killed people. Bitter cold. Hunger. Disease. Sandstorms. Many died before even reaching there." Her voice lowered further. "Those who survived endured hardships beyond words. Digging wasteland with bleeding hands. Sleeping in mud huts. Fighting snowstorms and hunger together."
Then she looked at Widow He directly. "But still, they endured. Because people wanted to live."
Her voice suddenly sharpened with the authority only age could carry, "And now?" She pointed toward the outside fields. "Now heaven at least gives us a road to survive before disaster arrives. The commune has warned us early. We are allowed to prepare. Allowed to plant food that keeps people alive. What more do you still want?"
Widow He opened her mouth slightly but could not speak.
Grand Aunt Li sighed deeply, "For now, do not think about money. First survive the winter. Survive the next year. As long as people remain alive, fields can still be replanted and fortunes rebuilt." Her old eyes narrowed slightly. "But if people die… even mountains of grain become useless."
The room finally fell silent again.
Widow He lowered her head. Although the panic in her heart had eased somewhat, the deep creases between her brows remained. After all, poverty was like a stone pressing constantly upon a villager's back. How could worries disappear so easily?
Standing quietly nearby, Li Shuying watched Widow He silently and felt a faint ache rise in her chest. She knew exactly what Widow He was worrying about, and her worries were not unfounded.
In her previous life, things had not ended well for Widow He and her children either.
Li Shuying still remembered it clearly, during winter one day suddenly a news came that He Baogen was found dead, Widow He had gone mad upon hearing it. After He Baogen's death, Widow He seemed to lose half her soul. Yet for little He Yuzhi's sake, she still forced herself to continue living.
Than one day Widow He had gone into the mountains to gather firewood and dig wild roots. Somewhere deep in the forest she encountered a starving wild boar.
By the time villagers found her she was already dead.
After that, only little He Yuzhi remained behind. Half-starved trying to survive alone. And once Widow He died, her in laws immediately seized the family house and land under the excuse of "helping manage the property."
In truth they controlled everything.
As for He Yuzhi… she eventually died during the famine as well. From illness and hunger.
Li Shuying's eyes dimmed slightly.
Despite Widow He's rough tongue and crude temper, she had always been one of the few people who genuinely protected her.
Even now, Li Shuying could still remember when Wang Chunhua, Sun Guifeng, and Zhang Xiuli had arranged to sell her into a remote mountain village in exchange for grain and money, Widow He despite her own griving over He Baogen she had been the first to rush over after hearing the news.
She and Lu Lingmei had stood directly at the Li family gate cursing Wang Chunhua until their throats turned hoarse. They had even fought physically.
But Wang Chunhua was the elder of the Li family. And Li Shuying, at that time, had no parents to protect her. No one in the village dared interfere too deeply in family matters. In the end she was still dragged away and sold.
Also during those famine years, Widow He, Grand Aunt Li, Lu Lingmei, and several other village women had quietly helped her and her brothers survive.
Sometimes they would secretly bring over wild bark porridge. Sometimes wild vegetable soup. It was never much. Yet during those years a mouthful of food was enough to keep hope alive.
Widow He had always been one of the few people who treated her sincerely. Because of that, Li Shuying had always carried gratitude toward her deep within her heart.
Yet now, despite having the system space and knowing the future, she still found herself powerless in many ways.
Because she could not recklessly take out supplies from the system and hand them to others. It would not only endanger her, but possibly destroy her entire family.
Suddenly her expression froze as a memory flashed through her mind.
He Baogen.
Her pupils contracted sharply. If she remembered correctly, He Baogen had died during this same winter in her previous life. And it had happened shortly after Mid-Autumn Festival.
Li Shuying's breathing halted for a moment. Then panic surged violently through her chest. Because although she remembered the timing she could not remember how exactly he died.
Her fingers tightened instantly. The more she tried to remember, the more chaotic her thoughts became. After all, nearly sixty years had passed since those memories.
Too many deaths and tragedies occured later in her life. A faint chill crept up her spine.
No… she had to remember it. Brother Baogen could not follow the same fate again. Not after she had already changed so much and heaven had given her another chance.
Her heartbeat gradually quickened as she forced herself to think carefully.
But no matter how hard she searched her memories, everything remained fragmented and unclear.
Li Shuying's palms slowly turned cold.
If she could not remember in time, would history simply repeat itself? Genuine panic appeared in her eyes.
She became so lost in thought that the voices around her gradually faded into distant noise.
Without realizing it, she placed the enamel water thermos she had been holding since she came out of her system space onto the wooden table beside her.
Then, almost absentmindedly, she turned and slowly walked toward her room. Her brows remained tightly furrowed the entire way.
Meanwhile, back in the living room, the atmosphere remained subdued. Widow He had finally quieted somewhat after Grand Aunt Li's scolding, though her eyes were still swollen red.
Li Jianguo sat nearby silently thinking about food reserves and winter preparations.
Only Chen Meilan remained unusually quiet. She sat near the kang stove absentmindedly feeding small sticks of firewood into the flames, yet her gaze remained unfocused, as though her thoughts were far away.
Grand Aunt Li noticed it, "Chen Meilan?"
Chen Meilan startled faintly and looked up.
Grand Aunt Li frowned, "What is wrong with you? Since entering the house you have barely spoken a single sentence." Her old eyes carefully examined Chen Meilan's pale expression. "You look troubled. Is something bothering you?"