It is now mid-May, and there is only more than half a month left before the normal harvest time.
Shen Yuyu thought a lot and never thought why Wang Zhicai and the people from Shenjia Village started to flee in the plot of the original book. It was an earthquake, a locust plague, or something else. But no matter what, they must have been collecting grain. He left before that time, so the food must be harvested in advance.
In the end, she made up her mind to call the Shen family together, and suggested in a somewhat serious tone: "Master, let's collect the grain in advance."
"Harvesting grain? It will be harvested in half a month. Why do we harvest it now?" Zhao asked with a puzzled look on her face.
Although there was only half a month left before the harvest, a lot of food would be lost, at least 30 to 40% less, and Ms. Zhao felt distressed just thinking about it.
Shen Yuan thought of something and asked Shen Yuyu: "Did the old man in the dream tell you something again?"
Shen Yuyu shook her head. She didn't know about this matter. If she continued to tell her what her grandfather told her, the truth would be revealed.
She considered her words: "I've been feeling uneasy these past few days. I always feel like something big is going to happen."
"We haven't had any rain since the beginning of winter last year. Even the water level of the river behind our village is almost close to the ground. Locusts will easily breed in large numbers in this kind of weather. If..."
The Shen family was shocked. If there was a locust plague, there would be no harvest!
"Granddaughter, are you sure?" Mrs. Shen asked in a panic.
After asking, she clapped her hands in annoyance. She was asking stupid questions. How could her granddaughter know whether it would happen or not?
But now that we have harvested the grain, we will lose 30 to 40 percent, but we have saved the remaining 60 to 70 percent.
What Old Mrs. Shen thought of, other members of the Shen family naturally thought of it too, and finally decided unanimously to collect grain in advance and start starting tomorrow.
The Shen family doesn't have much farmland, just two acres of fertile land and five acres of dry land. The Shen family has a lot of land, and they won't be able to harvest it all in two days starting tomorrow.
After deciding this matter, the Shen family fell into another entanglement, whether they should tell the villagers about it.
Finally, Mr. Shen and Shen Rong went to Li Zheng's house to talk to each other. If asked, the reason would be blamed on Shen Rong, saying that it was his inference from the book, and the girl couldn't be exposed.
The three sisters-in-law of the Shen family will each go back to their parents' homes tomorrow morning and try their best to persuade them to collect food in advance.
…
At home in Shenjia Village, they had just finished eating and were about to go back to the house to rest when they heard a knock on the door.
"Bang bang bang~"
"I'm coming."
The person who opened the door was Shen Tiezhu, the eldest son of Shen Lizheng's family. When he saw the people outside the door, he quickly turned sideways to let them in: "Uncle Xingde, brother Rongzi, why are you two here at this time?"
Mr. Shen's name is Shen Xingde, and he is the same generation as Shen Lizheng.
He said: "I came to discuss something with your father. Is your father at home?"
"He's at home. He just went into the house after dinner. I'll call him." After saying this, Shen Tiezhu hurriedly ran into the house.
The main hall of Shen Li's family.
Mr. Shen and Shen Lizheng sat together and exchanged a few words before getting into the main topic of the day.
When the people in the room heard the news brought by Mr. Shen and Shen Rong, it was absolutely a bolt from the blue for them.
"Brother, how sure are you of this matter? We don't dare to inform you casually about such a big thing, right?" Shen Lizheng asked tangledly.
"I'm only 50% sure. After all, it's just my boss's inference based on years of studying. I really don't dare to give any guarantee." Mr. Shen said, "But everyone is from the countryside, so we decided to collect it in advance. Once the food is harvested, I have to tell everyone the reason, and those who believe it can harvest it together."
"You have decided!" Shen Lizheng asked in surprise.
I thought they had thought of this possibility and then came to ask for advice, but now they had even made the decision.
With only 50% confidence, they dared to collect grain. Could it be that they got some news in the town? Shen Lizheng felt a little shaken in his heart.
"I'll tell the villagers about this tomorrow morning, but we can't control what they do." Shen Lizheng replied.
"Uncle Li Zheng said, let's just tell this matter. As for what to do, it's up to them." Shen Rong said.
Shen Tiezhu sent Mr. Shen and Shen Rong outside the door again. When he entered the room, he heard his mother talking about this matter to his father.
"What do they think about this? How much less will they get if they collect the grain now?" Shen Lizheng's mother-in-law curled her lips, thinking that Shen Rong and the others were probably crazy. She also said that scholars are not as smart as her. make.
Shen Lizheng glanced sideways at his mother-in-law and ignored her, still at war between heaven and man in his heart.
He didn't believe that boy Shen Rong dared to collect the food without any confidence.
After coming out of Shen Lizheng's house, Mr. Shen and Shen Rong went to the house of Mr. Shen's eldest brother, Shen Xingwang. They didn't believe the news, but seeing how serious Mr. Shen looked, they couldn't help but feel a little nervous, and finally decided Follow Mr. Shen to collect grain in advance. After all, there is still some after harvesting. What if we don’t collect and there will be nothing left?
…
Early on the next morning, every household heard the sound of a gong before they had breakfast. The gong was only sounded in the village when something was going to be announced.
On the threshing floor, the villagers of Shenjia Village stood together in groups, whispering to each other to find out what happened.
"Why are you calling us here? We haven't had breakfast yet." A woman asked the person next to her.
"I don't know. Let's wait for Li Zheng to tell you. You can't call me over if nothing happens." The person in question answered.
Li Zheng stood on a relatively high stone platform in front of the crowd and knocked the gong in his hand to signal them to quiet down.
"Big guy, I'm calling everyone out today because I want to talk about a life-threatening matter!" Shen Lizheng said seriously.
When they heard that their lives were at stake, the people below all looked over, and their chatter stopped.
"What's going on?" Someone couldn't help but asked anxiously.
Li Zheng beat the gongs and drums again before saying: "Yesterday, Shen Xiucai came to my house and told me that there might be a locust plague here. Now that I have mentioned this, I want everyone to consider collecting grain in advance."
This is what Shen Lizheng had thought of last night. Even if there was no locust plague, people who had harvested grain in advance would not blame him. But if there was a locust plague, he would have said this.
"You are kidding me to harvest the grain in advance. If you harvest the grain now, you will lose 40%."
"Yes, yes, how could there be a locust plague?"
"I want you to accept it, but my family won't accept it."
Sure enough, as soon as they heard the news, the crowd exploded. There were many people saying anything, but most of them didn't believe it.
Suddenly someone asked: "Li Zheng, where did Shen Xiucai hear about the locust plague? You can't just say that without any reason."
Shen Lizheng repeated what Shen Rong said yesterday.
After hearing this explanation, the crowd had different opinions. Some said that Shen Rong was the master in the town and must know more than they did. Others said that Shen Rong was the one who spread the rumors. For a moment, the crowd was in chaos.