Chapter 147

Inside the house, there was a loud, hoarse humming sound.

Fan Damu looked towards the direction of the window.

“Never mind her. This household isn’t her place to make decisions!” Fan Qian said coldly.

And the person he found most annoying now had such a hoarse voice that it was difficult for her to say anything decent, which saved him a lot of trouble.

Even being poisoned by these potatoes wasn’t entirely without its benefits. The only downside was his weakened health, and he wondered how his four sons were doing… Speaking of which, could the effects of this potato poison vary from person to person?

Fan Damu complimented, “You still have authority, decisively leading at home. You truly deserve to be the head of the household.”

“Unlike Wang Mazzi, who can’t control even one of his sons or daughters-in-law. Utterly useless.”

Pleased with the praise, Fan Qian’s face was filled with self-satisfaction.

He even patted his chest to reassure Fan Damu.

Seeing his purpose achieved, Fan Damu’s eyes turned, and he got up to take his leave.

He was prepared for the worst.

It would be best if it didn’t rain, but if it did, he wasn’t afraid. With Fan Qian’s brick and tile house, it was much stronger than the adobe houses of the village.

The other people had to toil and spend a large sum of money to build their houses, but in the end, it was just to protect them from rain. He didn’t need to spend money or work hard to have a place to hide from the rain, which really showed who was better off.

---

Without the rain, there would be no mushrooms.

With the potatoes harvested, the people in the village either urgently cut some thatch or brought back some grass to store for the rabbits.

The households that had switched to rabbits had dozens of them in just over two months.

There were currently four households in the village that didn’t raise rabbits.

Fan Damu, Wang Mazzi, and Zhang Tuzi refused to change. Fan’s mother had initially wanted to switch, but when the first batch of rabbits were switched, she saw all the male rabbits return home.

By the time of the second batch, the whole family had been knocked down by the sprouted potatoes.

Fan Zhao, an eight-year-old girl, brewed water and cooked food, washed clothes, cleaned her body, and took care of the vegetable garden and ducks and geese, so she didn’t have any hands to cut grass and feed rabbits.

And the several people in the family, such as Fan Qian and Fan Damu, who had finally managed to finish planting the fields, all lay at home waiting for Fan Zhaodi to wait on them, and absolutely unwilling to raise rabbits — but that’s all right, they don’t work at it.

So these four families were the most carefree.

Zhang Tuzi was the most welcoming of the people. His wife started cooking and eating, and when she was at someone else’s house, he sneaked up to look at the noise on tiptoe. If not, he would lie in the house.

Wang Mazzi was still unwilling, and after dividing the family, he went to his son’s and daughter-in-law’s house to curse whenever he had time.

How difficult it is to hear!

His son and daughter-in-law at first came out to defend themselves for a few words, and later found that their dad was different from other families, and the more they argued, the more they kept to themselves.

Fan Qian and Fan Damu were among the most reluctant.

After lunch and dinner, the entire village was chaotic, and whoever was there had to say, “The families who planted potatoes are losing money! How much more will it take to harvest ten days and a half?”

“Other people have a big business, a small loss of food, but our small households are alive! Can’t we be sad?”

“Look at the evening glow in the sky. The evening glow is thousands of miles away, and tomorrow will be a good day. Where will there be heavy rain and floods?”

After hearing this in the village, some stopped and smiled and walked away, while others didn’t stop and walked away.

They’re all grown-ups. It’s not as if they were held with a knife to their necks to collect potatoes. They had their own responsibilities and things to do. What’s there to complain about?

Besides, these potatoes are different from rice. They were harvested ahead of schedule, the grains weren’t full, and the grains harvested weren’t edible.

But they had seen the potatoes come back. The large ones were bigger than their fists, the small ones were about the size of eggs, and the yield was 1,350 acres, but what was there to be dissatisfied with?!

Anyway, they’ve changed into them now, secretly enjoying themselves at home, paying no attention to the small loss of the harvest.

Three days after the potato harvest, early in the morning, Shuiqing pushed open the door, looked at the brilliant and beautiful rosy dawn on the horizon, and exclaimed, “The morning glow is so beautiful!”

Then he saw Fan Jin harnessing the ox cart in the courtyard and asked in confusion, “Why are you harnessing the cart?”

Since harvesting the potatoes, they hadn’t gone to the prefectural city for anything.

A few days ago when they harvested the potatoes, the ox and donkey had been of great use, and thinking that the two animals were tired, they were given a few days’ rest.

It hadn’t even been three days of rest, so why harness the cart again for work?

There wasn’t even any work at home that needed the ox.

Fan Jin pointed towards the rosy dawn and replied, “I’m going with Wenhua to meet our parents. Their house must have a lot of things, and they wouldn’t want to leave anything behind.”

Shuiqing looked at the dawn, momentarily not understanding.

“You made plans with Wenhua?”

When was that? They hadn’t even been to the prefectural city in over ten days.

They hadn’t even left Shanshui Village!

In the meantime, Li Huyu rushed over again, delivering several boxes of gold, silver, and jewels to be kept safe, and left that same day—being in such a hurry, he couldn’t possibly have had time to help deliver a message.

Fan Jin, who was concentrating on securing the hemp rope, heard Shuiqing’s puzzled tone, put down what he was doing, and explained seriously, “The evening glow travels thousands of miles; the morning glow doesn’t leave home. The evening glow forecasts clear weather the next day, while the morning glow signifies heavy rain.”

Shuiqing: … When she was young, she learned about ants moving homes, earthworms emerging from their holes, dragonflies flying low, and fish breathing at the water’s surface.

As she grew older, she just checked the weather forecast.

It really shows how different everyone’s learning focuses are.

“Auntie, auntie, get a basin quickly! No, a bucket, do we have a big bucket?” Baizi Qian rushed in with a fishing net held high, his face still youthful and excited.

Behind him, Fan Jiang, Fan He, and Fan Hu were equally excited and animated.

Seeing the fishing net in Baizi Qian’s hand, Shuiqing didn’t need any further explanation.

Previously, their family always had fish that Li Huyu couldn’t finish eating every day. Later, they smoked the surplus, and there’s still some left now.

Knowing full well, she asked, “What are you going to do?”

Fan Jiang, Fan He, and Fan Hu shrunk their heads like ostriches.

Baizi Qian raised his chin proudly and said with particular pride, “Auntie, you don’t know, those fish are so silly! They’re all floating on the water’s surface, blowing bubbles. Don’t you think they’re just waiting for someone to catch them? Hurry up, let’s catch them before the villagers find out, or we won’t be able to catch any!”

Shuiqing: … You guys are the silly ones! It’s because it’s going to rain!

Baizi Qian didn’t understand, his round eyes were still as innocent as before: “It’s going to rain, why would they float on the water’s surface and blow bubbles? Wouldn’t that be more dangerous?”

Shuiqing wanted to explain that the fish had no choice. Before it rains, the water pressure in the water is low and there’s little dissolved oxygen, so the fish can only float to the surface to breathe—not blow bubbles, but breathe!

But she couldn’t explain this to them, so she waved her hand and said, “Let’s go together. We’ll catch more fish to keep fresh for the next few days.”

Hearing that Auntie not only didn’t blame them, but also wanted to go fishing with them, Fan Jiang, Fan He, and Fan Hu jumped up happily.

Meanwhile, Fan Jin harnessed the ox cart and hurried to Oxhead Town without delay.