It wasn’t just He Dongdong and Lin Yu who were worrying inside the house. The men standing in the courtyard were also talking about how much grain they’d be able to harvest from their fields this year.

He Dazhu let out a long sigh. “My family still has five mu of paddy fields that might yield something. Back in early spring, we managed to irrigate once. After that, there’s been no water. If it can reach the yield of three mu from last year, I’ll thank the heavens.”

“Exactly. As for the dry fields, forget about it. If it weren’t for the paddy fields, how would we even get by?”

Even though today was a joyous occasion, everyone still sighed a few times in between their happiness. These fields were tied to the livelihoods and survival of the common people. What were they supposed to do?

The children, however, didn’t understand the worries of the adults. A few kids in the courtyard were playing together in a noisy mess. When they smelled the delicious aromas coming from the kitchen, they sucked on their fingers and crowded toward the doorway.

The Shi family had prepared two tables this time. One table had two meat dishes. Wei Qingshan had brought over a set of pig liver, which added another dish—stir-fried pig liver—along with several vegetable dishes. The table was not lacking. At times like this, who dared to eat lavishly? Everyone could only live frugally.

After eating, Lin Yu and the other two went home. Wei Qingshan just felt that this year’s drought had left people feeling uneasy. Not only had the price of grain risen, but even pork had become more expensive.

“I’m not going out to collect pigs today. Now a single pig costs five to six taels of silver. We’ll just use our own pig for now.”

Lin Yu nodded. Although the price of pork had risen, the price they could sell pigs for had also gone up. In the end, they still earned about the same. The pigs at home had grown up and could last them a month or two. It was more cost-effective than collecting pigs.

“Tomorrow, I’ll go with you to town. I just have this uneasy feeling—I want to go to town to buy some salt and sugar and such.”

“All right.”

That afternoon, Wei Qingshan pulled out the biggest pig from the pen. If they used their own pig, then even accounting for the grain and bran it ate, they could still earn four to five taels of silver from one pig, much more than from butchering pigs he collected. From those, he could only make a little more than one tael per pig.

Early the next morning, Wei Qingshan hitched up the mule cart and headed to town. Lin Yu and Zhao Yueniang went along with him. Lin Yu brought the embroidered silk handkerchiefs he had made recently. There was also a basket of eggs on the mule cart.

Now that the weather was hot, the chickens at home had started laying eggs one after another. Those old hens could lay six or seven eggs a day. The batch of chicks hatched last year hadn’t matured yet—it was estimated that they would start laying in another month or two.

Lin Yu and Zhao Yueniang followed behind the mule cart. When they got tired, they took turns resting on the cart. Along the way, they passed stretches of yellow, withered, dry fields. Even the rice, which should have been filled with grain, had curled and scorched leaves below.

At the edges of the fields, farmers—men and women—could be seen carrying water in shoulder poles, irrigating plant by plant. Mule carts coming from town were bringing people out to the countryside. Some women were carrying baskets that held crying, fussing children.

Lin Yu was somewhat shocked by what he saw. He hadn’t been to town in a while—how had things become this bad? Along the way, they encountered several groups of people heading from town to the countryside.

This year, the countryside could still produce some harvest, but people in town, who had to buy food to survive, were having a hard time. Some had already started returning to the countryside or turning to relatives in the villages.

In the sweltering weather, the sharp cries of children rang out, and everyone wore bitter expressions on their faces, the atmosphere inexplicably tense.

Zhao Yueniang shivered and tugged at Lin Yu’s sleeve. “Ge, I’m scared.”

“It’s okay, your Qingshan-ge is here.”

The first crop of rice had just been harvested poorly. Things still looked manageable for now, but if the second crop was also affected, then it would be serious. Lin Yu had heard the old folks in the village say that a dozen or twenty years ago, there had also been a drought. A great drought for three years, with bandits rising everywhere, and even people eating their own children.

Lin Yu shivered at the memory too, and could only hope the rain would come sooner.

When they arrived at the town, he noticed that even the beggars by the roadside had increased. As soon as the three of them reached the market alley’s entrance, Shi Xiaoliu hurried over to greet them. “Lin Ama, Jiejie, you all came today too.”

Shi Xiaoliu quickly took down the things and got to work. After just one winter, he had grown taller.

Lin Yu took Zhao Yueniang to the fabric shop to sell the embroidered handkerchiefs. When the two of them entered, only the shopkeeper was inside, dozing. He opened his eyes only when he heard footsteps. “Customer, what do you need?”

Once he opened his eyes, he saw clearly that it was Lin Yu. Lin Yu often sold embroidered handkerchiefs here, so the two were already very familiar. “Ah, it’s Lin Fulang.”

“Shopkeeper, I’ve embroidered some handkerchiefs, please take a look.”

The shopkeeper took the basket and glanced over it a few times. “I trust Lin Fulang’s craftsmanship.”

A trace of distress appeared on his face. “Lin Fulang, you’ve seen it too. Business is hard these days. There’s nothing wrong with your craftsmanship, it’s just that it’s hard to sell now. If I buy them now, I can only give seven copper coins per piece.”

“That’s quite a drop.” Lin Yu frowned slightly. He had always sold here, and it had always been ten copper coins per piece.

“Ai, you see, now everyone who has a little silver is using it to buy rice. Who knows when the rain will come? Everyone’s afraid. Who’s willing to spend copper coins on handkerchiefs now? I can only sell them to wealthy madams and young ladies.”

Lin Yu knew the shopkeeper wouldn’t deliberately lower his prices. Lin Yu nodded, and the shopkeeper nodded back, handing over a hundred and five copper coins.

“It’s only because of your good craftsmanship, Lin Fulang. Now, we won’t even accept those whose work is worse. Even if we did, we couldn’t sell them.”

Lin Yu gave his thanks and left with Zhao Yueniang. Zhao Yueniang had not been out, so now that she had, seeing all this made her inexplicably uneasy. “Ge, when do you think the rain will come?”

Lin Yu shook his head. “I don’t know either.”

The two of them went and bought a lot of salt and sugar. The drought had just started, but prices were already rising.

Once they finished buying everything, they returned. Shi Xiaoliu had already begun packing up her stall. A few tubs of braised pork offal had long been sold out.

“How did it sell so fast today?”

“Lin Ama, you don’t know. Meat’s gotten expensive now, and some people can’t afford it anymore. The pig offal you prepare tastes good and is cheap. People who want just a bit of meat flavor come to buy this.”

Lin Yu looked over and saw that even half a pig at the meat stall hadn’t sold much. Meat was expensive now, and fewer people were buying it.

“Xiaoliu, how’s your family doing now?”

“Don’t worry, Lin Ama. Before, Uncle Wei told me to let my mother know that folks in the countryside had rushed to irrigate as soon as spring started. My mother used all the silver she had to buy grain. At first, it wasn’t enough, but as soon as she got more silver, she bought more grain. Thanks to Uncle Wei and you, Lin Ama. Who would’ve thought rice would become so expensive now?”

“Go back quickly. I saw more beggars on the street. Be careful on your way back.”

“Got it. Lin Ama, I’m heading back now.”

“Ai.”

Shi Xiaoliu darted off like the wind. Wei Qingshan handed Lin Yu a cup of water. “Things don’t look good. From now on, you and Yueniang stay home. I’ll go out alone.”

Lin Yu nodded. “Got it.”

Lin Yu also took out the basket of eggs he had brought back. After inquiring, he found out that eggs in town had risen to five copper coins apiece. In past years, they only rose this high in winter.

There were still plenty of people buying eggs. A few here and a few there, and by the afternoon, they were sold out. Today, Wei Qingshan had also brought half a pig to the town. In recent days, pork has become harder to sell. A whole pig took three days to sell. Business was worse today, too.

Wei Qingshan packed up as the sun tilted westward and headed home. Life was getting harder. Who knew if robbers might strike at night to steal meat? Besides, today he had brought along Lin Yu and Zhao Yueniang, so he packed up early. Now that they were home, the sun was just setting.

The three of them drove the mule cart out of the town. Beggars by the roadside stretched out their hands asking for copper coins. “Kind sir, kind sir, please give us something, pity us.”

One beggar reached his hand too close and directly startled Zhao Yueniang. She cried out and backed away. Even Lin Yu was somewhat startled and hurriedly shielded Zhao Yueniang inside as they walked.

Wei Qingshan raised his whip and lashed it a few times nearby, not hitting anyone. “Get lost!”

“Xiao Yu, you and Yueniang come sit in the front.”

“Okay.”

Lin Yu hurriedly took Zhao Yueniang to sit in the front, while Wei Qingshan held the whip and led the mule cart.

Several beggars sitting at the street corner giggled and laughed, “That little lady is really good-looking, hahaha, and that guy next to her isn’t bad either.”

Wei Qingshan raised his whip and lashed it over, hitting the beggar who had spoken wildly so hard that he clutched his head and cried out. The other laughing beggars didn’t dare make any more trouble either, each of them quickly ran off, leaving only one beggar sitting in the corner against the wall, who glanced over and then immediately lowered his head.

Wei Qingshan drove the mule cart away. Lin Yu remained fairly calm, but Zhao Yueniang, sitting beside her, was so frightened that her face turned pale. “It’s fine now, we’re already out of town.”

Wei Qingshan furrowed his brows slightly. This was just a poor harvest, yet already there were more beggars on the street. If the drought continued, he feared refugees from other places might start pouring in. Although the harvest here had been affected, a river passed through the area, so at least drinking water wasn’t a problem.

What was worrisome were those places farther away — they might not even have water to drink.

“Xiao Yu, you and Yueniang should lead Dahei and Baixue to the front yard while at home. Things might not be too peaceful now.”

“Mm, I understand. You take Dahei to town with you, just leave Baixue at home.”

“It’s fine. I’d like to see who dares come forward.”

Zhao Yueniang only managed to recover after a while, “Brother, I think I just saw Zhao Dazhi, that beggar in the corner.”

Lin Yu had also found that person somewhat familiar earlier. After Zhao Yueniang said it, he realized who it was. Just a few days ago, he had heard Dong-ge say that their family had sold off their land. Cai Chunhua and Yao Jinling had disappeared to who knows where, and Zhao Jiazhu and Zhao Dazhi’s favorite thing to do was to sell people. They had probably been sold off somewhere, too.

No,w Zhao Dazhi was a beggar on the street, and Zhao Jiazhu was probably not doing any better. They had likely sold off even their last bit of property for a pittance.

After they got back and finished eating, the group rested. Lin Yu hadn’t expected things outside to have gotten this bad. The two of them discussed what to do from now on.

Wei Qingshan sighed lightly, “Even though pork is expensive now, it’s hard to sell. If the weather gets hot and the meat doesn’t sell, it’ll spoil.”

“Then what should we do? Maybe we shouldn’t wait for the pigs to grow bigger and just sell them quickly.”

“That’s what I was thinking too. Even though the pigs at home are a bit small, they’re already around two hundred jin. They can be slaughtered. I won’t rest these next few days, I’ll slaughter them and take them to sell.”

“All right, then you’ll have to work hard these next few days.”

Wei Qingshan slaughtered a pig, but even after three days, he hadn’t sold all of it. He couldn’t keep it any longer, so on the last day, he sold the rest at a discount.

He brought back a few barrels of pig offal from town, and as soon as he got home, he began slaughtering pigs again without delay, getting ready to take more to town to sell the next day.

Upon learning that Wei Qingshan would be going to town every day to sell pork, the happiest person was Shi Xiaoliu. That meant he could earn copper coins every day! At the beginning of the year, he could only work two days out of four; later, it became three out of four. Now, he could work every single day!

Wei Qingshan only sold one pig every three days. If he couldn’t sell it all, he would haul it to the countryside to sell. He absolutely wouldn’t sell it cheaply in town — otherwise, if people found out, no one would buy it anymore, and they’d just wait every day for him to discount it on the third day. Then he’d have no business left.

In this way, after nearly a month of selling, only one boar and two sows for breeding were left at home. Wei Qingshan calculated that he could earn around four taels of silver per pig, which was already pretty good.

The first crop of rice had already been harvested, but all the grains were shriveled. When the rice should have been filling out, there wasn’t enough water, so this year’s crop was badly affected. This was already the result for fields that had access to water; if it had all been dry fields, it would’ve been a total loss.

This year, during the rice harvest, the fields were no longer filled with the cheerful voices and laughter of past years. Everyone wore bitter, worried faces, hoping for rain soon so it wouldn’t affect the sowing of the second crop.

This year, even if Lin Yu and the others wanted to buy grain in the village, they couldn’t. Every household could barely manage to feed itself — that was already considered a good harvest. Most didn’t even have enough to eat for themselves, so how could there be extra rice to sell?

During dinner that evening, Wei Qingshan and Lin Yu were talking. Wei Qingshan told Lin Yu to keep the courtyard gate shut during the day. If it wasn’t necessary, don’t go out. If going out is unavoidable, take Dahei and Baixue along.

“How are things in town now?” Lin Yu was a bit worried. He often went to sit with He Dongdong and had heard from him that the situation in town wasn’t good. It hadn’t rained for half a year, and some of the wells in the village had already dried up. They could only fetch water from the river at the edge of the village.

“There are already refugees from other places coming in. If this drags on, things might get chaotic.” Wei Qingshan pondered for a while and said, “Our family doesn’t have land either. If things get out of control, it might be bad. I’m thinking maybe I should take you and Yueniang into the mountains to hide out for a while.”

“Then what about the sows and the chickens at home?”

“Don’t worry. If the sows are gone, we’ll raise more when we come down the mountain. As for the chickens, we’ll just bring a few that can lay eggs with us into the mountains. What I’m thinking is, if things really turn chaotic and lives are lost, even though there are wild beasts in the mountains, I’ll protect you two. That’ll still be safer than staying in the village.”

Lin Yu nodded, “I’ll listen to whatever you say.”

Lin Yu was really reluctant to give up the two sows. They had been raised for breeding, and this year they were finally ready to be bred — but then this kind of thing happened. Just as a few of them were speaking, someone called out from the gate, “Qingshan, Qingshan, are you home?”

Wei Qingshan stood up, “I’ll go take a look.”

Wei Qingshan went out and opened the wooden gate. It was someone from the Ma family in the village. The Ma family was considered a well-off household in the village, and ordinarily, their two families didn’t have much interaction. He opened the gate. “Uncle Ma, what’s the matter?”

It was already this late, and his house was so remote—why would someone come over this late?

“Let’s talk inside.”

Wei Qingshan brought Uncle Ma into the courtyard. Lin Yu poured a bowl of water and went into her room with Zhao Yueniang.

Uncle Ma entered the house and let out a sigh first. “Qingshan, it’s hard to get by at home nowadays.”

“It really is. The price of rice in town has already gone up to more than three taels per dan.”

“Qingshan, I won’t beat around the bush with you. You know my family has a bit more land, eight mu of paddy fields and five mu of dry land. We’ve worked hard for over half a year, and not a single grain was harvested from the five mu of dry land. From those eight mu of paddy fields, we only managed to harvest seven dan of grain. In the past, that would’ve been nearly twenty dan.”

He sighed and continued, “You know, I have a big family, and this grain we brought in isn’t enough to eat. Qingshan, I came over just to ask—do you want to buy some land? I want to sell you part of mine.”

Uncle Ma only felt panicked. The few days of grain in his home would only last a few months. With the rain showing no sign of falling, the ground was so dry it was cracking. It was nearly time to plant the second crop—how could they plant in such dry conditions? If they scattered the seeds on the ground now, they would just be wasting food.

If it didn’t rain within the next two months, there would be no point in planting the second crop at all. They might as well save the grain to eat themselves.

“Uncle Ma, it’s still a bit early. What if it rains? Even if we plant a little late, we can still harvest some grain.”

“Who dares to take that gamble? It’s better to buy more grain now while we still can, so we won’t end up with a death in the family later.” Uncle Ma let out a deep sigh. If he wasn’t truly at the end of his rope, who would sell off their family’s land?

And even if you were selling land now, who could come up with dozens of taels of silver all at once? Besides, even if you bought land this year, you might not be able to plant anything on it. It would just sit there unused.

That’s when he thought of Wei Qingshan. Wei Qingshan was a butcher; his family should have some savings. And his husband could earn silver too. Their family didn’t have any land, so selling to him should be a good deal.

“Then how much are you planning to sell it for?”

“You can pick any five mu of the dry land, five taels of silver per mu. As for the paddy field, I’ll sell two mu, ten taels of silver per mu.”

This price made Wei Qingshan somewhat tempted. It was a full half cheaper than the usual market price. But he didn’t show it and only said he would discuss it with his husband and give an answer tomorrow.

Uncle Ma became a little anxious. He thought since he had offered such a sincere price, Wei Qingshan would agree on the spot. The price was already that low, and Wei Qingshan’s family didn’t own any land—wasn’t selling to him a win-win?

He hadn’t expected Wei Qingshan to hesitate. “Qingshan, you’re the head of the household. Can’t you decide on your own?”

“Uncle Ma, you can’t say that. Yu-ger embroiders and sells pig offal. The silver in this household is earned by both of us. I can’t make the call on such a large sum of money. I should discuss it with him.”

Uncle Ma didn’t say anything else. He could only nod. “Then I’ll come again tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

Wei Qingshan saw Uncle Ma, and Lin Yu came out of Zhao Yueniang’s room. “What was it about?”

Wei Qingshan called Lin Yu over. The two of them sat in the main room and talked about the matter. Lin Yu let out a surprised sound. “Why is it so cheap? Did you agree?”

“No, I said I would discuss it with you first.”

Lin Yu felt warm inside. Wei Qingshan valued him, and that made him happy.

“Xiao Yu, what do you think?” Wei Qingshan had just brought up the idea of hiding in the mountains a couple of days ago, and now Uncle Ma came over, saying he wanted to sell land.

“We can buy it. Actually, I’d like to buy more paddy fields. As for dry land, I think just two mu is enough. We can grow some peanuts, wheat, and cotton there—enough for us to eat and use.”

Wei Qingshan nodded. “Uncle Ma is only willing to sell two mu of paddy fields. I’m afraid he won’t sell any more. Maybe if we talk more, we can get him to let go of another mu.”

Lin Yu thought the same. Every household was struggling right now. Everyone was reluctant to eat their grain, all going into the back hills to dig up wild vegetables, afraid that by winter, they’d have no grain left and no wild vegetables either—and then it would be a disaster.

That patch of land in the back hill had already been dug clean by the villagers. Lin Yu had gone several times, but there was barely anything left to pick.

“If Uncle Ma sincerely wants to sell, once word gets out that we’re looking to buy land, others might want to sell too. This harvested grain is barely enough to eat, and everyone’s hoping for rain. If the second crop fails, many households won’t make it through the winter.”

Lin Yu sighed. “No need to haggle his price down. Every household’s struggling. The price Uncle Ma offered is already low enough. Pressing him further might hurt feelings.”

“I know. I’ll talk it over with him again when he comes tomorrow.”

The two of them went over their household’s silver. After saving for another half a year, and deducting food and drink expenses, they still had one hundred eighty taels of silver left. They also had three pigs at home. One of them could still sell for four taels.

The price of rice was getting more expensive every day. Even pork was going up, though fewer people were buying it.