Zhenfubao waved his hand and the warehouse was full of grain, and the whole family regretted it

Chapter 431 I made a dress for Wanwan

Mrs. Bai laughed heartily, pulled Zhao Qiaoniang to her side, and introduced her affectionately:

"This is my goddaughter. From the day I adopted her, I treated her as my own daughter.

Wanwan is my little granddaughter, Wanwan, call me grandma!"

Lin Wanwan blinked her big watery eyes and called out crisply, "Grandma!"

Xia Xia rubbed her hands together with joy and responded quickly: "Hey! My little darling, your mouth is so sweet. I'll go cook."

Madam Bai sighed slightly:

"This farm is now under Xia Xia's name. Originally, I wanted her to rely on it for her retirement.

But she refused to accept it and insisted on staying here."

Mrs. Bai's voice was filled with emotion:

"Xia Xia has never had a family in her life.

Although she is not young anymore, her mind is as pure as a child."

Madam Bai raised her hand to smooth her hair and continued:

"This farm is the dowry from my parents. It's not big, but it's peaceful.

There are more than a dozen families living in the village, all of whom are the Bai family's servants."

Soon, smoke rose from the kitchen and the fragrance filled the entire village.

A farmer hurried into the kitchen and said with a worried look:

"Xia Xia, if we kill all these chickens, what will we do in the future?

The harvest is poor this year, and without these chickens, life will be even harder."

Xia Xia stopped what she was doing, sighed softly and said:

"It's okay, it's just a few chickens. I believe that Zhuangzi will get better slowly in the future.

It's spring now, and summer isn't far away. By then, the crops will be growing fast, and things will definitely improve."

Several farmers whispered to each other:

"I never thought that the village next door would cut off our water supply.

If it weren’t for them, our harvest wouldn’t be so bad this year.”

"That's right, it's so unfair!" Everyone spoke one after another, their faces full of anger.

Madam Bai looked at them and asked, "What's going on with the manor next door?"

When Mrs. Bai stepped into the kitchen, everyone fell silent.

She glanced at everyone and asked, "What are you talking about? Why are you so excited?"

Xia Xia hurried forward, forcing a smile on her face:

"Miss, it's nothing serious. It's just that last year, our village had little water, and the village next door was upstream, so it cut off our water supply.

Without water, large swaths of rice in the fields withered and died, resulting in a poor harvest this year."

Madam Bai frowned, a trace of anger flashing in her eyes: "How dare they do this! Didn't you go and argue with them and settle the score?"

Xia Xia shook her head helplessly, her expression gloomy, and her voice was filled with helplessness:

"Miss, the owner of that manor is a minor official with some power and background.

"How can ordinary people like us fight against them? Going there would only lead to trouble and even more trouble."

An old man with gray hair sighed and said, "Yes, Miss, we are powerless, so we can only grit our teeth and swallow our anger."

Madam Bai narrowed her eyes slightly, and spoke in a calm voice, yet with an unquestionable authority: "Who is that official, and what is his rank?"

Xia Xia wiped her hands hurriedly, took a step forward, and said solemnly:

"My dear Miss, he is a sixth-rank official named Xu Changning.

Before, we bravely argued with them, but they were so arrogant that they claimed that they had dug the river and therefore had the right to block the flow of the water."

When Mrs. Bai heard this, a sneer appeared on her lips, and her tone was full of sarcasm:

"Ridiculous! This Xu Changning is really interesting.

They were so poor that they couldn't even afford to eat. My grandmother took pity on him and helped his family for a while.

Now you're actually cutting off our village's water supply. How shameless!"

Xia Xia sighed helplessly, her eyes full of worry:

"Miss, the issue of water supply is still hanging in the balance this year. I'm afraid they will refuse to release water to us like they did last year.

Originally, everyone wanted to dig a well to solve the water problem, but the harvest in Zhuangzi had been poor for many years, and they had to pay heavy taxes and levies.

Everyone is struggling to make ends meet and can’t even raise the money to dig a well.”

On the side, a hunchbacked farmer said with a bitter face:

“In recent years, life has become increasingly difficult.

The taxes from above were getting heavier, and the crops were not producing much, so people often had no food to eat.

Mrs. Bai frowned and said, "I didn't expect you to have such a hard time. Don't worry, I'm back, and we'll all have enough to eat from now on."

Lin Wanwan wandered around the farm. This farm was really poor, and more than half of the crops in the fields had withered.

Naitang squatted beside the tilted wooden fence, stroking the rough fence lines with his fingertips. Three gray mice in front of him were gesturing with their claws and squeaking, telling about Zhuangzi's situation.

Looking around, the village is about 30 acres in size, with a dozen adobe houses scattered around, and the walls are riddled with holes caused by wind and rain.

Last year, the upstream water source was cut off, and out of the more than 30 acres of land, only 20 acres are barely surviving.

In addition to taxes, every grain of food was carefully calculated, with a portion reserved for seeds and the rest used for daily food and drink.

But this amount of food is not enough to fill everyone's stomach.

There were some pigs, chickens and ducks raised in the farm before, but they were always stolen. It was useless even if they guarded them every day.

Later, she simply stopped raising them. Lin Wanwan frowned and said, "No way? Shouldn't the security in Bianjing be very good? How come someone is still stealing things?"

Naitang asked about the farm's situation clearly, and Lin Wanwan nodded and said, "Okay, let's go back to bed! We'll talk about it tomorrow!"

Naitang nodded, and Lin Wanwan returned to the house. Madam Bai hugged her and said,

"I'll give you a hot bath. Let's stay here today. My grandmother used to come here often when I was a child. I don't know how it became so deserted.

It's my fault too. Bianjing is the best at judging people. When the master is powerful, people are afraid of him. When the master is not powerful, those people will flatter the powerful and bully the weak. It's like that everywhere."

Lin Wanwan took a comfortable bath. Mrs. Bai put on her pajamas, and then she heard a knock on the door: "Grandma Bai, are you asleep?"

Mrs. Bai opened the door and said, "Xiu Xiu, why aren't you asleep yet?"

Chou Chou looked at Lin Wanwan and said, "I just came to see Wanwan. Also, I made a dress for Wanwan, but I don't know if she can wear it."

Chouchou was holding a spring dress made of light fabric, with lifelike peach blossoms embroidered on the collar and cuffs.

I saw the petals stacked up layer upon layer, alternating between pink and white. The edges of each petal were outlined with extremely fine silk thread, and the needlework was so delicate that even the patterns on the stamens were clearly visible.

Bees are flying among the stamens, as if they will flap their wings and fly away in the next second.

Mrs. Bai raised the corner of her mouth, revealing a gratified smile: "I only explained it once, and you actually remembered all the steps?"

Stinky eyes sparkled:

“Making clothes is not difficult. I took note of it after just one look!

Once you understand the needlework and steps, you will be able to do it well naturally.

I just don’t know if Wanwan likes it?”