CHAPTER 290: CHAPTER 280: LEND HIM A HAND

Jiang Haiqiu brought these wild vegetables, which were very fresh and clean. They were all fresh little sprouts, without any yellow or old leaves, clearly picked carefully at home.

Yu Xiaolian decided to make an egg paste tonight; such good bitter vegetable sprouts should not be wasted.

"Dad, don’t return the basket empty. Pack some sweet potatoes or potatoes for him to take back."

Yu Changhe nodded, "The Jiang family is quite struggling. I heard that his parents favor the younger son. Last autumn, after harvesting, they separated Jiang Mangzi’s family of three, only giving them a peach orchard on the southern hill, without even a single acre of land. The house Jiang Mangzi now lives in was put together last autumn by finding someone temporarily, and their family is short on food and clothes."

Madam Sun had also heard about the Jiang family’s situation, "We don’t know what kind of person Jiang Mangzi is, but his wife is known as a talkative woman, always gossiping around the village, really quite annoying."

Yu Changhe said, "No problem, our family doesn’t interact deeply with them anyway. I’ll pack a basket of sweet potatoes for him and tell the kid not to bring wild vegetables anymore."

Madam Sun acknowledged, "Jiang Mangzi’s little boy is quite decent. I heard from Village Chief Qi’s wife that last autumn, Jiang Mangzi’s peach orchard had a lot of peaches. They couldn’t sell them initially, but later, their eldest son took the peaches to town several times. No one knows how he managed it or who he sold them to, but he sold all the peaches."

Yu Xiaolian paused while gnawing on the watermelon, thinking, "Wow, this kid from the Jiang family is a sales talent."

Yu Xiaolian excitedly asked, "Dad, how big is the Jiang family’s peach orchard?"

Yu Changhe shook his head, "I don’t know the exact size, but I heard in the village, the Jiang family’s and the Ding family’s orchards are the largest. Other families have a few trees in their backyard for personal consumption. Around Luocheng, the area is semi-mountainous, steep, with many peach trees. Even when autumn comes, they don’t make much money."

Yu Changhe heard from Village Chief Qi that the land here is divided proportionally. An adult male can receive two acres of allocated land. If they don’t want allocated land, they can receive ten acres of mountainous land, which can’t grow grains, only various peach trees.

The land here is scarce. When a child reaches adulthood, if there’s no extra farmland available in the village, mountainous land is given. When Jiang Mangzi came of age, that was the situation, so he got ten acres of mountainous land.

Families like Yu Changhe’s, who settled later, can only buy wasteland for cultivation; fertile land is impossible to buy.

Only Grandfather Sun’s family got fertile land because the Li family’s son became successful, moved away, and an opportunity arose, which is extremely rare.

Yu Xiaolian had tasted Taohua Village’s peaches, which were the yellow variety, very delicious and sweet.

If such a large number of peaches aren’t utilized, she’d regret her journey here. Yellow peach cans must be arranged.

Yu Xiaolian wiped her mouth with a tissue and went to the door with Yu Changhe.

Upon inquiry, they learned that Jiang Mangzi’s family had twenty acres of peach orchard.

Jiang Haiqiu explained loudly, "My dad got ten acres, and I got ten acres."

Indeed, the father-son pair was quite unlucky. When they came of age, there were no elderly deaths in the village, so they couldn’t get fertile land, only forced to accept mountainous land. Their grandparents favored the younger uncle because he and the cousin had farmland. With farmland, there’s grain; with grain, a family can be sustained.

Now, he’s only hoping to sell all the peaches by July to buy grain for the winter.

Last year, he went everywhere in Luocheng, putting in a tremendous effort to sell all the peaches. Although it was at a low price, he was glad to sell them all.

He resents the court laws that don’t allow free land cultivation; otherwise, he’d clear a few acres each year. If he had land, his family wouldn’t worry about food and drink.

Though mountainous land can’t grow grains, this spring he still picked empty patches in the orchard and planted corn. Without conditions, he creates them; without good soil, he digs black soil from elsewhere and carries it up the hill, basket by basket.

Last autumn, his grandparents suddenly decided to split the family, catching them by surprise. This autumn, he must have money and grains so that his grandparents won’t dare to look down on them again.

Jiang Haiqiu, unlike his father Jiang Mangzi, who is big and strong, was not short in stature but gave the impression of being gentle, not like the rugged feel of country folk.