Chapter 214 Shoveling Dung

There's a saying that goes, "Marrying an unvirtuous wife will ruin three generations," and that's absolutely true.

An old lady from the Tang family, coupled with an old man who lacked his own opinions, resulted in their sons being nothing but selfish and petty people.

The only one who still has a shred of conscience is the heartless and ungrateful Tang Youtian?

No, maybe he just didn't have the opportunity. If he had money, he might spend more and be more heartless than anyone else, but he just didn't have the means.

So much so that in his previous life he would sell his wife and daughter to find a wife who could give him a son.

Logically speaking, it's normal for him to have this obligation to carry on the family line in the countryside, but what's abnormal is that he sold his wife and daughter to get this wife!

The old lady was usually stingy and petty, and she would argue with the villagers for a long time over the smallest things.

In her youth, she was kept in check by her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law, but after she took over the household, her shrewishness became apparent.

Her judgment in choosing daughters-in-law was also poor; each one was more cunning and calculating than the last. Look at them now, when their family got into trouble, not only did no one come out to speak up for them, but everyone wanted to applaud them. Even her own granddaughter didn't say a good word about her uncle's family.

The police station dared to close the case this way after careful consideration. Even if they hadn't killed anyone, the actions of the father and son were enough to cause them serious trouble.

They paid off the family that wanted to sue Tang Jiabao for sexual assault, but they failed to appease Tang Cuihua's family who committed arson and robbery.

Moreover, the villagers had all mentioned these two incidents to the police. The fact that Tang Jiabao led his brothers to burn down houses and rob grain was already despicable to the villagers.

They've offended so many people and angered so many others in their daily lives, and no one is willing to speak up for them, which is why they're in this miserable state now.

This is the outcome of handling unclaimed bodies. Once someone claims them, the two men will face more than three years in prison; they could very well be sentenced to ten or eight years.

Because no one claimed the body and no family members demanded compensation, the local police station made a judgment based on their usual practices.

This would both teach the father and son a lesson and provide closure for the body.

Tao Tao was very satisfied with the verdict. As the saying goes, "If a son is not taught, it is the father's fault." Tang Jiabao's mistakes were definitely the father's responsibility.

As for that nameless corpse, he only has himself to blame for messing with the wrong person. She had no right to let go of that beast who wouldn't even spare a child.

To ensure this year's harvest, each production team is doing its best to salvage the situation. After the New Year, they arrange for laborers to fetch water from the ditches to irrigate the fields. Those who live close to the ditches use water trucks to transport water, while those who live far away have to rely on manual labor.

Now that all the sisters' household registrations have been transferred, and Cailian's winery has completely shut down, everyone who can go to school except for the seventh and eighth siblings has gone to school, all so that the crops can have enough water and not affect this year's wheat harvest.

Children as young as Xiaojiu also helped hold the water cart and helped the adults pour buckets of water into the fields.

In addition to water, the land also needed to be fertile enough, so each production team had to send people to the town and county to collect manure.

Each household in the village wanted to use their own manure for their own private plots. The fertilizer from the production team's livestock and poultry was simply not enough for the entire production team. So they had to find a way to collect manure from the city. This was no easy task. It involved a long journey and competition with dozens of production teams around the county town. Just thinking about the scale of it made one's head spin.

After all, even the excrement in the city is managed by specialized agencies; it's not something that people like them from the wild can just casually collect.

So they could only go to collect manure at night to avoid running into the regular army. But Da Congming wasn't the only one; it was said that there were countless manure-collecting teams. They almost got into fights over that little bit of manure, disturbing the local residents, who then kicked them all out of the compound, preventing them from coming to collect manure at night.

Spring is just around the corner and it's time to plant vegetables, but the land hasn't been prepared yet. If the land isn't fertile, the vegetables we plant might not grow.

Everyone knows that you need to prepare the soil before planting vegetables. If the soil is not fertile, even if you plant them, the vegetables that grow will be substandard.

Each production team has its own quotas and tasks, and everyone tries every possible way to get some benefits. No one can expect to do nothing but eat and drink.

Even if they didn't eat or drink, they still had to take good care of the crops. So even though there were risks, they would still fight tooth and nail to sneak into the city to steal manure.

Unlike oil mills, distilleries can forgo alcohol during difficult times, but not oil. So, not only are oil mills open, but the oil cakes that were once in high demand are now in short supply, and the price keeps rising.

If any family had a relative who worked in an oil mill, they might have been able to survive this year of famine.

At this time, when a child reached marriageable age, no one would mention money; instead, they would use grain to determine the price. They would ask for three, five, ten, or even eight or ten catties of wheat. If a girl was pretty and beautiful, they would ask for more. This caused a lot of complaints, and families with daughters were often gossiped about behind their backs by families with sons.

There are quite a few boys of marriageable age in Xihe Village, but not many families have enough food, so they set their sights on Cuihua and her sisters.

The reason why these women came to their Xihe Village has already been explained by the Tao family. They have confirmed that there are families in Taoyuan Village with daughters-in-law. So they don't care about reputation, as long as they can have sons.

Seeing that Tang Cuihua and the others were not young anymore, and that the eldest, second, and third eldest were quite handsome, and that the fourth eldest, although deaf, was strong and good-looking, and would be a good helper in the future, they all asked the Tao family to put in a good word for them.

At this time, production teams with a sharp mind began to introduce waterwheels. This not only required certain professional knowledge, but also the ability to draw and do carpentry. So whenever someone in a village made one, people would line up every day to go back and observe and learn. Some production teams even went so far as to exchange grain for blueprints.

After the children returned to school and looked up relevant information, Tao Changyi sent him back three or four drawings, applicable to different terrains.

Although Tao Changyi's household registration was not at home, the work he did and the work points he accumulated could be counted towards the old man's salary. Therefore, he also wanted to contribute to the production team and earn some extra points so that his family members could get easier work.

After receiving the blueprints, they went to the village carpenter to conduct experiments.

In those days, which village didn't have a few skilled people, like carpenters and blacksmiths? They were all called to the village committee to discuss countermeasures.

If we can really build a waterwheel, at least the riverbanks won't lack water, and the crops will grow well.

For those further away from the river, there are wells, right? Basically, every team has a well, and the water from the wells can be drawn into the ground.