Chapter 13: Important Decisions

As of now, it’s already mid-May, and there’s only a little over a month left until the normal harvest time.

Shen Yu’an was unable to figure out, no matter how hard he thought, the reason why Wang Zhicai and the people of Shen Family Village started to flee together in the original book’s plot. Whether it was due to an earthquake, locust plague, or something else entirely, it was certain that they had left before the harvest, which meant that the crops had to be harvested in advance.

In the end, she made up her mind and called the Shen family members together, her tone is heavy as she suggested, “Grandfather, let’s harvest the crops in advance.”

“Harvest the crops? The grain will be ready to harvest in just about half a month, why do you want to harvest them now?” Zhao Shi asked with a puzzled expression.

Although there is only half a month left until harvest time, harvesting now would result in a significant loss of grain, at least a 30-40% reduction. Zhao Shi felt a pang of heartache at the mere thought of it.

Shen Yun thought of something and asked Shen Yu’an, “Did that old man in your dream tell you something again?”

Shen Yu’an shook her head, unsure of what she should say. If she mentioned the old man, it would reveal too much.

After considering her words carefully, she said, “I’ve been feeling uneasy these past few days, I feel like something big is about to happen.”

“We haven’t had any rain since last winter, and even the river behind our village is almost dry now. Under these weather conditions, locusts are prone to breeding in large numbers. If…” Shen Yuan trailed off.

“Granddaughter, are you sure?” Grandma Shen asked anxiously.

After asking the question, she regretted it and slapped her palm on her forehead. It was a foolish question to ask; how could her granddaughter possibly know whether a locust plague would occur or not.

Now if we harvest the crops, we might lose thirty to forty percent, but at least we’ll still salvage sixty to seventy percent.

Grandma Shen had this idea, and naturally, everyone in the Shen family had the same idea. They unanimously decided to harvest the crops early and would begin tomorrow.

The Shen family’s land was not extensive, with only two acres of fertile land and five acres of dry land. With many people in the Shen family, they would be able to harvest everything in less than two days.

After making the decision, the Shen family became tangled in another issue: whether or not to tell the other villagers about it.

In the end, Grandpa Shen and Shen Rong went to the village head’s house to inform them, but if anyone asked, they would attribute the decision to Shen Rong’s deduction from his books, in order to keep Yu’an’s identity hidden.

Meanwhile, the three sisters-in-law of the Shen family would each visit their own mothers’ homes early the next day and try to persuade them to harvest their crops early as well.

…………….

At the village head’s house in Shen’s village, they had just finished their meal and were planning to rest in their room when they heard a knocking at the door.

“Bang bang bang~”

“Coming, coming.”

It was Shen Lizheng’s eldest son, Shen Tiezhu, who opened the door and quickly ushered the visitors inside. “Uncle Xingde and Brother Rong, why did you come at this time?” he asked.

Shen Xingde was Grandpa Shen’s name, and he was the same generation as Shen Lizheng.

Grandpa Shen said, “I came to discuss something with your father. Is he home?”

“He’s home. He just finished dinner and went inside. Let me go get him,” replied Shen Tiezhu, before hurrying inside.

In Shen Lizheng’s living room, Shen Xingde and Shen Lizheng sat together and exchanged pleasantries before getting into the main topic of their visit today.

When everyone in the room heard the news brought by Shen Xingde and Shen Rong, it was an absolute shock to them.

“Brother, how certain are you about this? We can’t just announce something so big without being sure,” Shen Lizheng asked, conflicted.

“I’m about 50% sure. After all, it’s just a deduction made by my eldest son based on his studies. I can’t give any guarantees,” Shen Xingde replied. “But we’re all villagers here. If we decide to collect the grain early, we should tell everyone the reason why. Those who believe can collect their grain together with us.”

“You’ve already made the decision!” Shen Lizheng asked, surprised.

They had thought that maybe they were just discussing the possibility and seeking opinions, but it turned out that they had already made a decision.

Even with only a 50% chance of success, they dared to collect the crops early. Could it be that they had received some news from the town? Shen Lizheng was somewhat shaken by this thought.

“I’ll tell the villagers about this tomorrow morning, but we can’t control what they do,” Shen Lizheng replied.

“Uncle Lizheng is right. Let’s just tell them the reason why we decided to do this, and let them decide what to do next,” Shen Rong said.

After seeing off Grandpa Shen and Shen Rong, Shen Tiezhu heard his mother talking to his father about the matter.

“Can you believe they want to collect the grain now? How much will we lose if we do that?” Shen Lizheng’s wife muttered, thinking that Shen Rong and the others were probably crazy, despite being educated. She believed her own brain was more functional than theirs.

Shen Lizheng glanced at his wife but did not respond, still torn between conflicting thoughts. He couldn’t believe that Shen Rong would risk collecting the grain without some level of confidence.

After leaving Shen Lizheng’s house, Grandpa Shen and Shen Rong went to visit Grandpa Shen’s elder brother, Shen Xingwang. Upon hearing the news, they also found it hard to believe, but seeing the seriousness on Grandpa Shen’s face, they couldn’t help but feel anxious. Eventually, they decided to join Shen Laoye in collecting the grain early. After all, collecting some was better than collecting none at all. What if they didn’t collect any and ended up with nothing? They didn’t want to take that risk.

…

Early the next morning, before anyone had even eaten breakfast, the sound of a copper gong echoed through the village. The gong was only sounded when there was important news to be shared.

At the threshing ground, the villagers of Shen family village gathered in groups, whispering to each other to try and find out what was going on.

“Why did Lizheng call us over here? We haven’t even had breakfast yet,” a woman asked her companion.

“I don’t know, let’s wait for Lizheng to explain. He wouldn’t have called us over for no reason,” the other person replied.

Lizheng stood on a large stone platform in front of the crowd, tapping the brass gong in his hand to signal for quiet.

“Everyone, we called you all here today to talk about a matter of life and death!” said Shen Lizheng gravely.

Upon hearing the phrase “life and death,” the people below turned their attention to him, and the chattering died down.

“What’s going on?” someone couldn’t help but ask anxiously.

Lizheng tapped the gong again before saying, “Yesterday, Shen Rong came to my house with some news. It’s possible that we may face a locust plague, so we need to consider collecting grain early.”

This was what Shen Lizheng had planned the previous night. Even if there was no locust plague, those who harvested early could not blame him. However, if there was indeed a plague, he had already warned them.

“Harvesting early, what a joke! We will lose 40% if we harvest now.”

“Yeah, how can a locust plague happen?”

“If you want to harvest, go ahead. My family won’t do it.”

As expected, the crowd exploded with disbelief upon hearing the news. Some people even outright refused to believe it.

Suddenly, someone asked, “Li Zheng, where did Shen Rong hear this news about the locust plague? He couldn’t have just made it up out of thin air.”

Li Zheng then repeated the explanation Shen Rong had given him the day before.

After hearing this, the crowd had varying opinions. Some believed that Shen Rong, as a scholar in the town, probably knew more than they did, while others accused him of spreading rumors. The discussion became chaotic and confusing.