Chapter 16: Liu's eldest brother's concern, Liu Xihua found Lingzhi

Liu Xihua tugged at Liu Changping's sleeve, shook her head and said, "Forget it, brother, let them laugh at us. As long as we know whether Xiaoxiao is a good person or not, that's enough."

She knew very well the character of these people in the village and loved to gossip and spread rumors.

Deliberately put on a veil.

When their own family is not doing well, they go and stir up trouble for other families, hoping that they will cause a fight so that they can have fun. In this way, it seems that their own family is not the one that is doing the worst.

Liu Changping turned his head to look at his sister, sighed helplessly and shook his head: "Xihua, if they laugh at you like this, I will scold them. But, I am worried about you. If this child doesn't get close to us in the future..."

Before he finished speaking, Liu Xihua interrupted him abruptly: "I know what I am doing, brother. If you don't believe me, just wait and see."

Her tone was resolute and decisive, without any hesitation.

Seeing that he couldn't win the argument, Liu Changping had to give up.

After walking for a while, they arrived at the Liu family's private plot.

There were ten people in the Liu family, and they were given a large private plot of land, enough to cover an acre.

According to regulations, they were not allowed to grow staple food, but the food distributed by the team was not enough, so the Liu family planted sweet potatoes, peanuts, beans, sorghum, and some high-yield cabbage, radishes, potatoes, etc. in their private plots.

Only a few plants of green vegetables, peppers, sesame, etc. were planted, as they are not tolerant to fullness.

Liu Changping first walked around the vegetable garden to see if there were any hares, weasels or wild boars eating at the crops, and also to see if anyone had stolen the vegetables.

Only after finding that everything was normal in the vegetable garden did he call his sister to help him dig potatoes.

He dug half a basket, enough for the family to eat for a day, but Liu Daguo continued to dig.

"We'll go back to Jiang's house later and take some back with you," said Liu Changping.

Liu Xihua waved her hands and said, "No, I have food at home. If my sister-in-law sees it, she will have to blame my brother."

Every time she went back to her mother's home, her eldest brother would secretly give her some food and ask her to take it back.

Liu Changping raised his head, wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve and sighed, "Just take what your elder brother gave you. Your husband's family is crippled and small, and the whole family depends on you as a man. I'm afraid they don't even have time to take care of their own land, right? You shouldn't have married into the Jiang family... Look at the kind of life you're living now? The clothes you're wearing were made for you by your mother when you got married, right? But your sister-in-law's wedding clothes are long gone, and she's had new clothes and shoes for several times."

Several generations of the Liu family's ancestors came from poor backgrounds. They were willing to work hard and were not pretentious. No one in the family was sick or disabled.

Relying on the fact that there is strength in numbers, they live a relatively better life than the Jiang family.

Liu Xihua doesn't like to go back to her parents' home because she is afraid of comparison and being laughed at and scolded by her brother and sister-in-law.

She looked embarrassed and said, "Brother, our family will live a good life."

Seeing that she had a gloomy face, Liu Changping was afraid that she would say too much. She didn't dare to go back to her parents' home, and he didn't want to take the initiative to send gifts to the Jiang family, so he could only sigh and shut up.

After digging a whole basket of potatoes, Liu Changping also cut four cabbages and asked Liu Xihua to take two back later.

Liu Xihua knew her elder brother's good intentions and had no choice but to agree to accept it.

A group of people from the village passed by on the field stalks, and Liu Changping greeted them, "Dad Fucai, Uncle Qi, where are you going?"

Behind the Liu family’s private land is a wasteland covered with only rocks and weeds, and behind this wasteland is a mountain.

The two men were either hunting or digging wild vegetables and herbs, and Liu Changping greeted them casually.

"Go dig some herbs and see if we have any luck finding game." The two men waved at Liu Changping and walked towards the back mountain.

Liu Xihua thought of Jiang Xiaoxiao's thoughts, and she said to Liu Changping, "Brother, it's still early at noon, I want to go to the back mountain to look for herbs."

Liu Changping reminded her, "Go early and come back early. Your family is waiting for you to have dinner."

"I understand, brother." Liu Xihua nodded. She took a shovel and a basket and walked towards the back mountain.

Liu Changping returned home.

Seeing his wife busy in the kitchen, Liu Changping quietly poured some potatoes into another basket, put two large cabbages in it, covered it with a lid, and carried the remaining half basket of potatoes into the kitchen.

"Didn't Xihua go out with you? Why are you back alone?" Liu Changping's wife looked outside the kitchen and asked.

"Oh, she went to the back mountain to dig herbs." Liu Changping put down the basket and said.

Liu Changping's wife came over, picked up a cabbage, put it in the basin and prepared to wash it. She smiled and asked, "Xihua, do you know any herbs?"

The Liu family's conditions were not bad, and they only had one daughter. Liu's mother doted on Liu Xihua very much and rarely let her go to the fields.

Not to mention growing herbs, Liu Xihua is not even good at farming. She always does what others tell her to do.

"I hope she doesn't come back with a basket of grass." Liu Changfa's wife was helping to light the stove. She leaned over and said with a smile.

"That's not so bad. At most I can feed the pigs and chickens. I'm just afraid she will come back with an empty basket." Liu Changping's wife laughed so hard that she covered her stomach.

Liu Changping looked unhappy. He pointed at the dough in the basin and changed the subject, "Is the dough ready? Can we make dumplings now?"

"Wake up for a while, I'll wash the vegetables first." Liu Changping's wife stopped laughing. She took a kitchen knife and cut off the roots of the cabbage. She peeled the cabbage piece by piece, scooped water into a basin, and started washing it.

While doing things, he exchanged glances with his younger brother and sister-in-law. They both thought of the stupid and foolish Liu Xihua, and they smiled at each other.
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Liu Xihua went into the back mountain.

Hongqi Town is not rich, and it is thanks to this mountain that people in the villages and teams are not left hungry.

In their spare time, people go into the mountains to pick wild vegetables, hunt game, and dig herbs to exchange for money and medicine at the pharmacy in town to supplement their family income.

Liu Xihua went into the back mountain and found that in addition to the two people who had just greeted her, there were three other women who were also digging something.

Seeing them turning the soil, Liu Xihua guessed that they were not digging wild vegetables but looking for herbs.

Because Liu Xihua was spoiled by her parents, she didn't work much before she got married and was a well-known stupid woman in the village team.

The three women were older than Liu Xihua and knew her background. When they saw her coming, they all greeted her.

"Has Xihua returned to her parents' home?"

"Xihua, your family doesn't lack vegetables to eat, why are you here to dig wild vegetables?"

Liu Xihua nodded and said, "I don't dig wild vegetables, I look for herbs."

The first woman who spoke laughed and said, "Xihua, do you know any herbs?"

Liu Xihua didn't know many herbs, but the tone of their words was so blunt that it was obviously sarcastic.

She pursed her lips, "I know a few."

"How many things do you know?" the women laughed together.

Liu Xihua frowned and ignored them. Instead, she followed her daughter's instructions and started looking for the big pine tree with a crooked neck.

Seeing this, the three women curled their lips and went on to get busy.

Liu Xihua searched around the area and finally found three wild Ganoderma lucidum of different sizes under a big pine tree on a slope.

"I actually found it. It's such a big Ganoderma lucidum." Liu Xihua was very happy. She gently dug out the Ganoderma lucidum and put it into the basket.

The three women were several dozen meters away from her. When they heard her scream, they ran towards her in surprise.

(End of this chapter)