Bai Mei pushed open the bamboo door and shouted "Old Man Chen" towards the inside. Instantly, the sound of bowls and chopsticks smashing on the ground came from inside, and Lin Qingwen also heard a few small cries of surprise.

  She stopped in her tracks and also prevented Bai Mei from going further, but stood in the yard and asked, "Is Mr. Chen at home?"

  A faint rustling sound came from inside, and after a while, a timid female voice said: "My grandfather has gone to the ground."

  Lin Qingwan asked in a soft voice, "What about your third aunt?"

  "He's gone too."

  Lin Qingyan fell silent, unsure of what was going on inside the house, but since no one had invited her in, she didn't dare enter.

  Lin Qingwan waved her hand, indicating that Bai Mei and the others should leave. Bai Mei then rushed inside and said: "Wait for your grandfather to come back and tell him that our family's aunt wants to talk to him."

  The three children in the house looked at each other in dismay, getting a bit frightened - had they just driven their master out?

  Lin Qingwan had already taken Lin Yubin out, planning to go see the next house, but just walked two steps and saw Old Man Chen hurrying over with a hoe on his shoulder.

  Lin Qingwan stopped in her tracks, a smile spreading across her face, "Has Old Man Chen returned?"

  Mr. Chen was all in a sweat and his heart skipped a beat as he said: "The master of the house has arrived, please come inside quickly."

  "After saying that, he stepped aside and let the person in. 'The little one has gone to irrigate the land and will take a look at when the beans can be harvested... Before the master comes, someone should tell the little one, so the little one can wait at home.'"

  Lin Qingyuan comforted him, "I just happened to be passing by, and I heard that Old Man Chen is very skilled at farming, the most capable farmer in the village. That's why I came over to take a look. I don't know if I'm disturbing you or not."

  "The master is too polite, you just need to call someone to inform me and I'll come," Old Man Chen pushed open the door, was about to lead the person inside, but suddenly saw the three children sitting on the wooden bed, his body stiffened, turned around and was about to close the door.

  But Lin Qingwan had already seen the three children on the bed, and was surprised to see that they were still covered with a quilt in the hot summer.

  Mr. Chen rubbed his hands awkwardly, his face flushed red again, and he stuttered: "East, east house, the room is messy, why not sit in the yard?"

  Bai Mei and others followed Lin Qingwan's back, didn't see the scene in the house, couldn't help but frown, which family entertains guests without even letting them enter the main hall?

  Lin Qingwan nodded calmly, "Alright, Lin Guanjia said that the best rice this year is the few mu you planted. I'd like to ask you about the situation."

  Mr. Chen let out a comfortable sigh, went to move a few stools over, he wasn't good at anything else, but farming was his specialty, and there was nothing he couldn't talk about, so whatever Lin Qingwen asked him, he told her in detail.

  Lin Qingwan listened while secretly observing the Chen family's house, discovering that the western part of the house had collapsed by half, with only the main hall and the eastern room still intact. She thought about how the Chen family had placed their bed in the main hall, and her mind was at ease.

  "...This year can be considered a good harvest, although there was a lot of rain, but only a little of the fields were flooded. If we work hard and drain the water, we can still save it. The most important thing is that there are fewer insects this year, so even though the harvest is a bit late, it's still a good one." Old Man Chen wiped the sweat from his forehead and said: "This kind of land requires hard work, removing all the weeds, catching insects diligently, and applying more fertilizer. If heaven blesses us again, it would be difficult not to have a good harvest."

  Lin Qingyan nodded, "We Jiangnan have plenty of rain, no shortage of water, unlike the north where drought and flood alternate, when we need water it's dry, when we want to harvest then it floods."

  "Who says it isn't?" Old Man Chen sighed, "So being able to settle in Jiangnan is already our good fortune, the places above Cangzhou are even more miserable. Heaven doesn't favor us, and human disasters never end."

  "Is Mr. Chen from Cangzhou?"

  Old Mr. Chen nodded, they want to rent the Lin family's land, this ancestral three generations must be said clearly, he is from Cangzhou and it's not a secret, "The younger one moved here eight years ago, although there is no land here, but life is better than in Cangzhou."

  As they were talking, Old Man Chen's third daughter-in-law returned home and was frightened by the crowd in her house, she was so flustered that she didn't know where to put the sickle in her hand.

  Old Chen whispered: "Third one of Lao San's family, go and make tea for the master."

  Chen Sanjia let out an "ai" and threw down his sickle, rushing into the kitchen.

  Lin Qingwan saw that she was handy and praised: "Mr. Chen is so lucky to have a capable daughter-in-law."

  Old Mr. Chen's wrinkles spread out, and he smiled: "It's all household chores, anyone can do it, just a bit more diligent than others."

  Chen San's face, already red from being sunburned, turned even redder when he heard the sound of water boiling in the kitchen.

  Lin Qingwan nodded in her heart, Old Man Chen was indeed formidable, this skill of speaking well without changing his tone she still had to learn.

  Chen San's family quickly brought up the teapot to pour tea. The rural household didn't have good tea leaves, they were all young leaves picked from their own home and dried in the sun, unlike roasted tea leaves, not only bitter but also with a grassy smell.

  Lin Yuhbin puckered up and made a bitter face, quietly put down his tea bowl, and didn't dare to drink again.

  Lin Qingwan also took a sip and nodded: "It's indeed a good thing to clear heat and detoxify, are these the leaves of the Heart Lotus?"

  "Yes, it's on the back mountain of Dongjia Bieyuan, where there is a patch of wild Tianqi Lotus. People in our village love to pick some and dry them in the sun, then drink them in water during the summer, even if they've been dried under the scorching sun for a whole day."

  Lin Qingwan nodded, silently licking her upper lip with the tip of her tongue, it was a bit too bitter, Chuanxin Lotus~~

  Lin Qingwan asked for some more advice on farming, and was just about to get up and leave when she saw the door of the main house open a crack, and a small head poked out, immediately locking eyes with hers.

  The child was startled and fell to the ground with a "thud", and the door swung open.

  Lin Yuhu looked over and couldn't help but let out an "ah" as he covered his eyes with his hand. Bai Mei and the others were a bit better off, merely turning their heads away, but they still flushed red in the face.

  Lin Qingwan looked at him silently, wasn't it just a naked butt? The boy was only four or five years old, what's there to be ashamed of?

  Mr. Chen jumped up and rushed over to hug his grandson in his arms, then apologized to Lin Qingwen while pushing the child into the house.

  Lin Qingwan couldn't help but laugh and shook her head, saying: "It's just a child, what's there to be afraid of? Mr. Chen, don't scare the kid."

  Mr. Chen saw that she was smiling, not at all surprised, and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, pushed the child into the house and closed the door before walking back to sit down, "The child doesn't understand, seeing that there's a guest in the house, they curiously came to join in on the fun."

  Thinking of the three girls sitting on the bed in the house, Lin Qingyan's heart moved, and her original suspicion was confirmed by 80%.

  When doing historical research, measuring the standard of living of ordinary people at that time is an important criterion for evaluating the level of economic development, but there are very few records about this aspect in history.

  The living standards of officials and nobles can still be inferred and studied through various historical materials and artifacts, but ordinary people, especially the poorer ones, have left few records.

  But few, does not mean none, and historical documents also have occasional descriptions of such situations.

  But even closer to that is what my grandfather personally witnessed, before the founding of the country, some families were so poor that two people had to share a pair of pants, one person went out and the other stayed at home.

  It's clear that Chen's family situation might be even more severe.

  If it were someone else, they might have pretended not to know about this matter so as not to embarrass the host's family. Lin Qingyan hesitated for a moment before asking directly.

  She is their host, if they don't go to understand the problem, how can they solve the problem?

  Others can avoid it, but she cannot.

  So she asked: "You have three granddaughters, why don't they come out?"

  Mr. Chen's face turned red, but he still confessed: "Please forgive them, they don't have pants and it's not good for them to come out and pay their respects."

  Lin Yuhbin's mouth was agape in astonishment, staring with wide eyes, wondering how he could be without pants.

  Bai Mei and Bai Feng's eyes widened in surprise as well, clearly they hadn't expected this reason either.

  "Are there many people like this in the village?"

  Lin Qing saw no change in her expression, and the heat on Old Man Chen's face dissipated somewhat. He nodded and said, "Every family has their own difficulties, but mine is even more so. My three daughters don't have a single pair of pants among them, while other families can at least share one pair between two people."

  Lin Qingwan furrowed her brow, "Is it like this in other villages as well, or is it just our Changfu Village?"

  Jiangnan is already considered wealthy and prosperous, if even Jiangnan is like this, what about other places?

  Old Chen sighed and said: "In Jiangnan, there are not many families like this. It's the northern region that is poor. Our Changfu Village is an exception."

  The villagers of Changfu Village were originally tenants of the government, what kind of people would rent official fields?

  It's only those who can't rent land from the landlord and have no land at home that will come to rent official fields. Renting official fields not only doesn't reduce taxes, but also makes them the first to be thought of by the government office when it comes to corvée labor every year. Sometimes they are even extra summoned to work for the government office for free, bringing their own food and all.

  So renting official fields is equivalent to being targeted by the government, but they have no choice, except for official fields, they cannot rent other lands.

  Like the Chen family, they can only rent official fields because their family has no strong labor force. He has three sons, and his eldest son was killed by the Liao people when he went to Cangzhou during the Southern Expedition against the bandits.

  So he sold his property and moved south with his family. The second son was conscripted into the army here and died on the battlefield.

  Four years ago, the imperial court levied troops again. The Chen family had two able-bodied men, so they were also recruited. Mr. Chen originally wanted to go himself, but Chen Jisheng thought that if his father went, he would definitely not come back. He went and could still fight, so he took up the burden and joined the army himself.

  The elder daughter-in-law and the second daughter-in-law both remarried, leaving three children for him. Adding Chen Jisheng's son, he and the third daughter-in-law had four children. Generally, a landlord would not rent land to such a person.

  Do you think tenants just need to cultivate their rented land well?

  Most landlords treat tenants as their own long-term workers, not only letting them harvest their own grain first during busy farming seasons, but also collecting extra hemp and silk during autumn harvests. The Chen family has less labor power, so it's not worthwhile for the landlords to rent land to them.

  There are many families like the Chens, and the reasons for being rejected by the landlords are varied, but in the end there is only one: they cannot bring enough benefits to the landlords.

  Mr. Chen said, "In the first two years when Lao San was still at home, life was still okay, but after he left, things started to go wrong at home. The summer and autumn taxes every year, and last year's additional military tax, had emptied out the family's savings."

  Old Mr. Chen said here, looking at Lin Qingwen with gratitude: "Thanks to the landlord's grain relief last year, our family also received 60 kilograms of food and barely survived May. Otherwise, we would have had to sell two children."

  Lin Yuhong asked weakly, "Aren't you people planting mulberry and hemp by yourselves? Why don't you spin thread and weave cloth by yourselves?"

  Mr. Chen had not spoken yet, but Lin Qingwen tapped her forehead and said: "You're really a silly child, the fabric and raw silk are all in the tax levy, the labor is insufficient, I'm afraid there won't be enough fabric and raw silk every year?"

  Old Mr. Chen nodded, "Isn't that right? My family still owes several feet of cloth, and Lord Zhou is not too bad. If we can't pay it back, he lets us owe it, at least he didn't force us to sell our children."