"Second sister, can you lend me some money?" Yao Qing leaned into Yao Huang's ear and whispered.

"What do you want money for?" Yao Huang asked suspiciously.

"Isn't this going for the New Year? I want to buy you gifts. ”

"Yes, I have a heart." Yao Huang praised with satisfaction.

Yao Qing smiled: "But I don't have enough money, I need your support a little." ”

"Using my money as a favor, the idea is good. I borrowed money from you, it must be a meat bun beating a dog, and I can't come back. Yao Huang snorted.

Yao Qing smiled, he was not embarrassed to be exposed, his second sister was very generous in terms of money, and when she asked her to borrow when she had no money, she would always borrow it, and she would not let him pay it back.

Do you really think of yourself as an ATM? Yao Huang snorted and decided not to let his younger brother get his wish this time.

"It's not sincere to buy gifts with other people's money, and you should use your own money to buy gifts."

"But I don't have any money!" Yao Qing said pitifully.

"If you don't have any money, then go earn it!" Yao Huang dragged out the needlework basket and pieced together a festive little purse out of rags.

"As the Chinese New Year approaches, many shops are closed, so how can we do odd jobs?" Yao Qing's mouth is flat.

"You guys?"

"There are also Erhuzi and Atul, who also want to buy gifts for their families."

"Why don't I teach you a way to make money?"

Yao Qing's eyes lit up, and he nodded violently: "Of course!" "Her second sister has the most ideas, and any idea can make people make money. Just like in the past, Tsinghua sold sugar paintings.

"Help me get a piece of bamboo, scrap paper you wrote, and a knife." Yao Huang commanded.

"Order!" Yao Qing immediately ran out of the city and immediately ran in.

Yao Huang cut the bamboo into two thin pieces and dug out the center of the piece. It became a "P" word for two docking. The wind leaves are then attached to another thicker bamboo stick. A simple bamboo windmill is done. With a puff of cheeks, the four leaves of the windmill spun slowly.

Yao Qing's eyes lit up: "Second sister, what is this thing?" ”

"Windmills, also known as auspicious wheels, are suitable for selling during the Chinese New Year, bringing festive things. These four leaves represent the four seasons, and the four seasons are reincarnated to pray for good weather and good weather. Yao Huang handed Yao Qing the windmill that had been made well, and made another style of windmill out of sorghum stalks and broken steps.

"It's a pity that there is no colored paper." Yao Huang also handed Yao Qing the windmill in the shape of a large wheel.

"Second sister. What do these twelve colored cloths represent? Yao Qing asked.

"Stupid, twelve months of the year, of course. The three colors of red, yellow and green are also exquisite, representing the sun, the earth and the blue sky. When you sell windmills, even if you tell them the truth, more people will buy them. "The wind blows the windmill and turns the car into happiness". ”

Yao Qing nodded happily, dropped the sentence "I'll go find Erhuzi" and ran out of the city with two windmills to find his friends. In the next few days, Yao Qing and his friends began to go out early and return late, and the adults were worried and brought a few people home to reprimand, and the boys offered the money they earned, so that the adults were surprised and happy that they could make money. Windmills are easy to make. Some nimble people also started a windmill business after seeing the windmills sold by Yao Qing and others. It has a great impact on Yao Qing and others. However, as pioneers, they have made enough money to buy gifts for their families and have a lot left, and a few boys simply stop selling windmills and return to the village to wait for the Chinese New Year with peace of mind.

Twilight view oblique palace, gorgeous Qi Palace. The cold leaves the winter snow, and the warmth brings in the spring breeze. Step-rich Shumeisu, coiled flower roll candle red. Celebrate the new year and welcome and send off all night.

After the Chinese New Year, spring will follow. This year's spring arrived very early, and the snow and ice melted quickly, and the villagers had to rush to the fields to cultivate. The work of incubating seeds and plowing the land has kept the farmers busy. Finally, all the work was done, but the villagers realized that the weather was wrong. The sun became scorching, and the plants in the fields turned yellow. In order to prevent all the crops from being sunburned, the villagers covered the crops with branches and straw. One day, the village chief found that the riverbed had also dropped a lot.

"It's been a long time since it's rained!" The village elder said worriedly, "If it doesn't rain, there is no hope for the crops in the fields!" ”

The good weather in the past few years has made them forget that God is not in a good mood every year, and droughts and floods occasionally occur. After each natural disaster, the population will shrink dramatically, and even if the imperial court has a disaster relief, the number of people who die of starvation and disease is uncountable. The old village chief had experienced a natural disaster, and he didn't want to recall the situation at that time.

"What I'm most afraid of is that there is still a plague of locusts!" Fourth Uncle Li squatted on the edge of the field, his brows tight enough to trap flies.

As the saying goes, "locusts come when there is a great drought" and "locusts will come after a long drought". Locusts are warm, dry insects, and arid environments have many benefits for their reproduction, growth, development, and survival. In dry years, locust eggs are greatly increased due to lower water levels, firmer soils, lower water content, and sparse ground vegetation. On the other hand, locusts that grow in arid environments have low water content, and locusts grow faster by feeding on them, and once they reach a certain level, they may swarm and eat the crops that farmers have grown with great difficulty.

"If only we could prevent the locust plague!" Zhao Dali said with a bitter face.

The others sighed after hearing this, and anyone knew that Zhao Dali's words were utopian. Yao Huang knows the three ways to prevent locust plagues, but they are not applicable at all. Pesticide insecticide? In ancient times, there were no pesticides, and Miss Yao Er would not prepare pesticides; Natural predator control? The sun has made the chickens and ducks run out of the nest without the energy, how can they have the energy to go to the field to eat insects?

Over the next few days, the water level in the river continued to drop, and the villagers checked their wells and found that the water level in the wells had dropped significantly. The villagers' hearts are very heavy, and if they don't even have water to drink, how will they live?

"Take advantage of the fact that the water in the river is not dry, hurry up and store the water!" The village chief gave an order, and all the villagers took action. Desperately fetching water from wells and rivers, storing it in tanks and buckets. Chen Amu and his son and apprentices kept chopping wood to make buckets, each bucket was enough for half a room. Wooden barrels filled with water are stored in the ancestral hall as public water for the whole village.

The sky was blue and clear, there was not a trace of clouds or rain, the wells had fallen four or five meters, and the riverbed outside the village had almost dried up. This is still Qingshui Village, protected by Tuling Beads, the river has not completely dried up, and most of the wells in other parts of Anping County have no water, and drinking water has become an extremely luxurious thing. (To be continued......)