The Legend of the Farm Girl

Chapter 18 Drought

Just after the Qingming Festival, not a drop of rain fell in the entire county.

In the past two years, Yunfang's family bought all the food they ate in the city from Aunt Wang. After the autumn harvest, they would buy enough food for the year. This was more convenient and cheaper.

There was no rain in the spring, and everyone thought that the rainy summer would be much better, but who could have imagined that there would only be scorching hot sun in the summer with no sign of rain at all.

Yunfang did not stop embroidering because the rich families still had food and money to buy these things.

Soon Yunfang's family's well would be dry, as the price of water outside had gone up. In early summer, the village could still use well water to irrigate the land, but now the river water was almost dry, and a little bit of well water was just a drop in the bucket. The grain harvest was about to fail, and the price of grain in the city had also gone up.

As autumn was approaching, people in the city were in a panic.

Even if it rains now, without enough rain in the summer, the crops in the fields will not grow well and the price of food will rise sharply.

Yunfang's family had originally thought that if it could rain a little in the autumn, they could live frugally and get through the difficult times, so they waited anxiously. However, they did not expect that not a drop of rain fell, the sky was cloudless, the sun was scorching, the ground was cracked, and there was almost no water in the well.

The Yunfang family had saved some money in the past few years, but it was insignificant in the face of natural disasters.

The county town has become deserted, and many people have gone to live with their relatives, bringing their families with them.

Yunfang's family has no relatives, and Guang'an Village is so dry that there is not a drop of water.

That day, the landlord Aunt Li knocked on the door. Yun Fangniang opened the door and asked Aunt Li, "What's wrong, Aunt Li?"

Aunt Li said to Yun Fang Niang with a heavy face: "Xiao Qu, my family is going to seek refuge with our child's aunt in Jiangliao Province. I know your family doesn't have anywhere else to go. We have gotten along well over the years, so I want to ask if you want to go with us."

Yun Fang's mother was very touched. Their family had no strong laborers, only women and children, and Aunt Li had three sons, so it was obvious that they would take care of them.

But Yun Fangniang was a little hesitant. Jiangliao Province was long away and it would be difficult to come back once she went there.

Seeing Yun Fangniang's hesitation, Aunt Li said soothingly, "Talk to the children about it. We'll set out at the beginning of the morning of the day after tomorrow. If you want to go with us, just wait at the door."

Yun Fangniang nodded and said, "Okay, Aunt Li, whether my family leaves or not, I am very grateful to you. Thank you for taking care of us over the years, and thank you for thinking about us at this time."

Aunt Li also had tears in her eyes and waved her hands, saying, "Don't talk about this anymore. I'm going to go back and clean up."

After Aunt Li left, Yunfang's mother returned to the house. Yunfang, who was already ten years old, had grown into a young girl. Yunfeng, who was seven years old, had studied for two years and had the temperament of a scholar. However, Mr. Feng had gone to live with his relatives a few days ago, so the school was closed. Yunying, who was two and a half years old, was already very strong.

Yun Fang's mother told the children that Aunt Li had come to ask them to go to Jiangliao Province in the south.

Except for the confused Yunying, the others were all in deep thought.

Yun Fangniang said to everyone, "Let me tell you my opinion first: "I think we should go. Now those who have connections in the city have left, and everyone has no hope for this place. Let's leave now while there is still some peace and quiet. If the autumn harvest is really a failure, it will be even more difficult to leave safely."

Yunfang nodded after hearing what her mother said and said, "Mom, you are right. We rent a house, while Grandma Li's house is her own. If Grandma Li abandons her house and moves her whole family, the situation will definitely be more serious than what we have seen. We will be safer if we stay with Grandma Li. We also have some money, and we can make a living anywhere with money."

Yunfeng listened to his sister and mother. Since the two people with decision-making power in the family agreed, he had no objection.

After discussing it, they all decided to go with Aunt Li.

Yunfang added, "Mom, we have to go buy everything we need on the road. We can't hold Grandma Li back and let them hate our family."

Yunfang's mother replied, "Okay, Yunfeng stays at home to look after Yunying, and Yunfang, you make a list of what we both need, and if we don't have it, go buy it now."

After that, the family started to take action. The first thing they needed was transportation. Yun Fang's mother decided to buy a mule, which was durable and cheap. Then they needed food. There was still some grain at home. It would take about half a month to go to Jiangliao Province. The food at home was enough. Just in case, some of it had to be cooked so that it could be taken out and eaten at any time.

In addition to these, you have to go to the city to buy sugar and salt, especially salt, which is essential.

You can take any clothes and bedding you have at home with you.

After planning all this, Yunfang's mother took Yunfang to the livestock market and picked out a mule cart of good quality. The mule cart originally only cost three taels of silver, but because of the severe drought, it cost ten taels of silver.

But there was no other way. They could only look at the money but not spend it or use it to buy it. Even though they felt bad, Yunfang and her mother had to buy it.

Yun Fangniang also asked the man selling the mule cart how to drive the cart, but the man was reluctant to teach and said, "Just let your man drive it! Men are born to do it." He just demonstrated it a few times.

Yunfang looked at her sad mother and said, "Mom, I will learn how to drive a car in the system tonight, and I will teach you tomorrow. Don't be angry."

Yun Fang's mother looked at her caring daughter and said, "Okay, with you here, I have the courage to leave my hometown!"

After that, the two of them went to buy salt and sugar, and started to get busy when they got home.

Over the years, Yunfang has been systematically learning embroidery and reading and writing, but now she has to put these two things aside and learn how to feed a mule, how to drive a cart, and how to make life easier for her family on the road.

The Yun family members worked for the whole afternoon. They took out some of the food in the house and made it into dry food. They also packed the clothes and bedding they needed. At night, the exhausted Yun family members fell asleep.

As soon as Yunfang entered the system, she said, "System, today I want to learn how to drive a mule cart and how to take good care of my family while traveling with a mule cart."

The system's calm voice came: "Received the host's intention, now start learning the necessary skills for escaping the famine."

Yunfang studied hard in the system for three hours, but when she was still not satisfied, the system forcibly ended the course.

Yunfang got up shortly after the class ended.

Yunfang's mother also got up. Yunfang taught her mother in detail the steps of driving a mule cart that she had learned from the system. When they set out, they could take turns driving the cart so that they could both get some rest.

In addition, Yunfang also said to her mother: "Mom, in addition to food and salt, we also need to bring more water. Even if there is water on the road, it is not clean. It is easy to get sick if you drink it directly. Also, vegetables can easily make you sick if you don't eat them for a long time. I learned how to grow bean sprouts in the system yesterday. You can use the soybeans at home. Let's grow more later."

Yun Fangniang said, "You are right. Water is definitely hard to come by on the road, especially in places like ours. The big wooden tub we use for bathing at home will be cleaned soon. We can use it to store water. It can hold a lot of water. As long as the water is enough to get us through here, we can get clean water to drink when we reach a place where there is no drought."

"And the bean sprouts you mentioned, grow them too."

The day before departure, Yunfang and her family were busy packing their things. There was limited space on the mule cart, and they couldn't take everything with them. They had to make choices, but they were also afraid that they would leave behind something important and never be able to come back for it.

After packing up everything, Yunfang's mother said to the children, "In the past few years, the money in the family has been earned by your eldest sister embroidering quilt covers and handkerchiefs. Now, after buying mules and food, there are still seventy taels left. Your eldest sister and I will each take half of the seventy taels. If there is really an accident on the road, Yunfeng, you must stay with your eldest sister, and Ying'er must stay with mother, understand."

Yunfang said to her mother: "Nothing will happen, mother. Our family will always be together."

Yun Fangniang said soothingly: "Fang'er, don't panic, I'm just making preparations. After all, when we are outside, we can't show our wealth to others."

Yunfang could only say to her mother solemnly: "Okay, Mom, I'll remember it."