Chapter 36 - 36: A Big Flood Coming_l

Translator: 549690339

At this moment, Yingbao spoke: “Uncle Zhou, do you buy Xue’er? We still have some at home.”

Zhou Mao looked at the baby girl doing business with him and couldn’t help but laugh, “Yes, of course I’m buying.”

“Then how much do you pay per kilo?” Yingbao asked.

Zhou Mao pondered for a moment, “If the quality is good, a kilo of dry Xue’er is 500 coins.”

Yingbao nodded her tiny head, then asked, “Uncle Zhou, will you keep buying it? Or will you stop if you get too much?”

Zhou Mao seriously replied, “There’s a possibility, our trading company has to sell what we buy – if supply is larger than demand, we naturally stop buying.”

“Oh! Thanks, Uncle Zhou, I understand.’

As they left the Furuifeng Trading Company, only Jiang Sanlang was feeling down while everyone else was ecstatic.

Having confirmed the purchase price, they could return home and get started. How could they not be excited?

Even if they only sold once, it would be enough for their family to live happily for many years.

Jiang Sanlang, driving the donkey cart, stopped by several stores and bought a lot of daily necessities. He even bought some calligraphy and painting supplies and books for his daughter.

He also bought several bolts of cloth.

Now that they had earned some money, it was time to buy new clothes for his family, and live a better life.

As they passed by a blacksmith shop, Jiang Sanlang bought several farming tools and a new iron pot.

Buying metal tools required registration and tax payment, Jiang Sanlang presented his prepared family register for the process, and paid the metal tool tax.

After leaving the city gate, the donkey cart became much faster. The three brothers chatted and laughed in the cart, discussing how they would plant Jin’er in the future.

Despite taking several breaks, the one donkey pulling the cart full of people for a hundred li was exhausted.

Yingbao took advantage of the donkey’s break for grazing and drinking water to feed it Wudingzhi, which refreshed it.

Touching the donkey’s head, Jiang Cheng muttered, “There shouldn’t be anything wrong with it. Usually it’s foaming at the mouth after a 20 li journey.

It is strange today.”

The donkey gave him a snort, lifted its head high, and looked towards the direction where Yingbao vanished.

As for Yingbao, she first went to see her little brother upon returning home. She gave her mother a packet of cakes, “The shopkeeper said this one is the most easily digestible, it can be given to babies, mom, you eat too.”

Her mom happily took it, “My Baobao is the best. Your dad went to the county town and didn’t buy anything for us three.”

Yingbao replied, “Dad bought cloth for mom and little brother. It looks great. He will be carrying it back soon.”

Not only did Jiang Sanlang buy cloth for his own family, but he also bought it for his parents, his elder brother and sister-in-law, niece and nephew, and even his second brother’s family.

As nobody in Jiang Erlang’s family could sew clothes, all the cloth were left at the bigger house, waiting for help.

Soon enough, Jiang Sanlang entered the house holding three rolls of cloth.

It wasn’t until nightfall that the five people and the donkey arrived home.

When they returned to their old house, as it was too late, Jiang Cheng didn’t return the cart. After unloading the donkey, he fed it a bunch of green grass.

However, he noticed that the donkey was energetic, which was unusual for it after running 200 li all day.

The fabric was smooth and bright, of a quality and color not available in the cloth shops in town.

On top of the cloth, the two books for Yingbao, a copybook, a stack of paper, two brushes and an inkstone, and a few bars of ink.

Putting down the items, he took out three silver ingots from his waist bag and handed them to his wife.

He picked his son he hadn’t seen all day, kissed him, and smiled, “I have told your grandparents that we will order a batch of bricks and tiles from the kiln in a few days. After the summer harvest, we will rebuild the house and build the courtyard wall, then we won’t have to worry about people sneaking in.”

A few days ago, some rascal kid sneaked into the bamboo shed at night and stole a golden ear from a mulberry tree, even ruining a few others, which pissed off Jiang Sanlang.

Afterwards, Jiang Sanlang simply slept in the bamboo shed to prevent others from coming over.

Upon hearing her father mention building a house, Yingbao, who was skimming through the books, immediately ran over and looked up earnestly, “Dad, don’t build a house.”

Jiang Sanlang was taken aback, “Bao’er, why don’t you want a house? Isn’t it nice for us to live in a big house? In the future, let’s build a big courtyard, so you and your brother each will have a spacious room.”

“No!” Yingbao grabbed her father’s sleeve and decisively said, “In case there’s a flood, it could knock the house down. Dad, we shouldn’t build a house here, let’s build it on South Mountain, it won’t flood there.’

Jiang Sanlang was surprised.

He was shocked that his daughter would come up with such an idea.

Indeed, in previous summers, the water level of the Chuanhe river would rise, sometimes spilling over into the fields. But how could such a small child know about these matters?

“How did Baobao know there would be a flood?” Chunniang asked, her heart filled with unease.

She had always believed the village rumors that her little girl possessed some spiritual sensitivity, so she paid special attention to what Yingbao said.

Yingbao’s eyes flickered and she said, “I dreamed it. There will be a flood here that will submerge our village, knocking down all the houses, even the village head’s house.”

The village head’s houses were all built of green bricks and tiles, and common floods simply could not wash them away.

At these words, Chunniang and Jiang Sanlang were left speechless.

They exchanged a glance, their facial expressions somewhat solemn.

Jiang Sanlang put down his son, crouched down to look at his daughter, “Baobao, did you tell anyone else about these things?”

Yingbao shook her head.

Jiang Sanlang said, “Then you can’t tell others about it in the future, understand?”

Yingbao nodded her head.

“Tell your mother and me when the flood will come,” Jiang Sanlang asked again.

Yingbao bit her finger and thought, then said, “I don’t know.”

Jiang Sanlang: …

Chunniang stroked her daughter’s head tenderly and asked quietly, “Baobao, tell your mother why we should build a house on South Mountain?”

Yingbao’s eyes lit up, speaking and gesturing, “If we build a house on South Mountain, we can plant a lot of apple trees there. Xiaolu will have a place to graze. We can build our house very big, and even expand the yard. Daddy will have a place to plant Jin’er.”

Jiang Sanlang scratched his forehead, actually finding his daughter’s words reasonable.

Indeed, South Mountain had a wide expanse of land, some of their inherited fields were also there, if they built a house, they wouldn’t worry about space.

As for the taxes on the house and cultivated land, they could afford all sorts of taxes with the money they made from growing Jin’er.

Furthermore, South Mountain’s land was barren, and it didn’t matter whether they cultivated or not. Many families had abandoned their lands there because they couldn’t even make back the cost of the seeds.

However, living on South Mountain also had disadvantages because it was far from the village. If their family truly moved there, it might not be safe. “Chunniang,” Jiang Sanlang asked his wife, “If we go to South Mountain to build a house, can we really do it? Won’t it be too remote?”

Chunniang frowned.

She had no idea.

Jiang Sanlang sighed and muttered, “If only my older brothers would also build their homes there.”

With more residents, the safety issue would be resolved. South Mountain was undoubtedly the safest place to live, at least no need to worry about floods.

Actually, South Mountain wasn’t really a mountain, it was just a mound. There were many fields cultivated on it, as well as many wild bamboo forests.

However, because the cultivated fields weren’t properly maintained, they became more and more barren year by year, and many people abandoned and fled from their fields.

There was also a natural water pond there. Although it wasn’t big, it was enough for daily life of few households. If they expanded the pond somewhat, and collected rainwater over time, perhaps it could even solve the irrigation problem.

Thinking about it this way, maybe building a house on South Mountain wasn’t such a bad idea. At least, they could avoid the flooding that their daughter dreamed of.

“Maybe tomorrow, I’ll discuss this with my parents and brothers.” Moving and building a house were no small matter; not only did he need to gain his parent’s approval, but also the village head’s.

There was no more talk that night.

The next morning, before Jiang Sanlang could head to the front courtyard, his older brothers, Jiang Dalang and Jiang Erlang, along with their father, came carrying mulberry wood pieces.

“Sanlang, can we separate the mycelium today?” Jiang Dalang had already set up a bamboo shed in his courtyard, just waiting for Sanlang to finish his work and come to separate and cultivate the mycelia.

“Sure!” This was precisely Jiang Sanlang’s intention, so he quickly led his brothers into the bamboo shed to teach them hands-on how to separate and plant mycelia and how to water them.

Jiang Dalang planted a hundred roots, Jiang Erlang also planted a hundred.

Old man Jiang only planted twenty roots, wanting to make a little extra money.

In the midst of the bustle, the day passed.

After two busy days, Jiang Sanlang had completely forgotten to mention his plan to move to South Mountain..