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The donkey cart moved at a slow pace, with the bumpy ride seeming to last quite a while before they could see the farmland cultivated by the villagers of Tong Shan. There were still some villagers in the fields checking the wheat, their faces filled with inevitable worry.

Xiao Wu was the first to jump off the cart. With a sharp eye, he spotted the village chief sitting by the farmland, puffing on a dry tobacco pipe. He called out and waved to the village chief.

When the Jiang family looked over, the village chief stood up, dusted off his clothes, and walked towards them.

One by one, the family members alighted from the cart, with the the short man being the last. Despite his size, he didn’t seem very agile. He stumbled while getting off the cart and almost fell.

Jiang Xia and the rest walked over to the village chief while Xiao Wu went to tether the donkey cart. After securing it, he went over to help Shen Mo and his party.

When explaining the origin of Shen Mo’s party, Jiang Chuan only told the village chief that the town’s purchasing station wanted to inspect the village’s wheat crop. Just then, Shen Mo’s party also came over to shake hands with the village chief.

This time, Shen Mo wasn’t leading the group. Wang Wen was at the forefront, accompanied by the man with the satchel, followed by Shen Mo and a soldier.

In a corner where no one else could see, Jiang Xia signaled to the village chief to exaggerate their village’s situation. She didn’t mind if he painted a bleaker picture. Only when the officials understood their real circumstances would policies be issued, providing the villagers with a chance of survival.

After exchanging pleasantries, the village chief started showing them around the fields. As they passed by villagers, many greeted them but none seemed very enthusiastic.

The village chief discussed the village’s situation with Wang Wen. The impromptu meeting left the chief uncertain of what to discuss. Going too deep might seem like complaining, while skimming the surface wouldn’t reflect the real situation. It was a dilemma for the chief, but luckily, Wang Wen was a good conversationalist. He effortlessly prompted the village chief to share quite a lot.

“Big brother, you’re right. The past two years have been dry with little rain. Just the other day, my mom sent a telegram asking me to buy more grain from the town,” Wang Wen said with a sigh that seemed quite genuine.

The village chief nodded. “The past two years have been tough. It’s wise of your mother to ask you to buy more. Stockpiling grain before winter never goes wrong.”

Seeing Wang Wen holding a grain stalk, the village chief continued: “Don’t be fooled by how good it looks in the field. When harvested, it’s mostly empty grain!”

“My mom didn’t really tell me much about that. Is it like this everywhere here now?” Wang Wen asked.

“It should be pretty much the same. In our meeting a few days ago, we were wondering why there’s been no rain!”

The village chief and Wang Wen walked in front, followed by the man with the satchel.

It wasn’t until the man pulled something out of his satchel that Jiang Xia noticed he’d been carrying a camera all this time – it looked quite pricey.

The man with the satchel was either taking pictures of the fields or the villagers, but he kept his distance, only capturing them from afar.

Jiang Xia was lost in thought looking at the camera. Though cameras were common in modern times, it was a novelty in this era. Many villagers would give a second look upon seeing someone handling a camera.

“Xiao Xia, are you watching that Young Master Shen again?”

The sudden sound of Zhou Lan’s voice beside Jiang Xia startled her.

“Mother, you see, I was right! Sister is watching him but she won’t admit it. Sister is shy.”

Jiang Gu was in Zhou Lan’s arms, pulling faces at Jiang Xia, which annoyed her enough to want to swat his bottom.

“Mother, don’t listen to Jiang Gu’s nonsense. I wasn’t watching that man. I was just looking at the camera.”

Zhou Lan gave her a skeptical look. Her Xia had seen so much; why would she stare at a camera, unless she was interested in the man and too shy to admit it?

“Xiao Xia, listen to your mother. It’s okay to admit if you like him. I think he’s more attractive than the local boys. He’s manly. If you like him, I can teach you some tricks to win a man’s heart, and you’ll surely succeed.”

Jiang Xia was speechless. Didn’t she know whether she liked him or not? Her mother even offered to teach her how to court someone. If her mother did so, she might scare the man away before she could even start wooing him.

Jiang Gu nodded in agreement. “Sister, mom’s right. If you like someone, just tell mom, and she’ll come up with a plan. Mom’s really good at this. She told me a lot about it when we were in the mountains!”

Jiang Xia sighed. She could already guess that her mother wouldn’t teach Jiang Gu anything useful. So, she asked her mother to put down Jiang Gu and holding her hand, she said, “Xiao Gu, see what that uncle is holding? That’s a camera. Once our family’s life gets back on track, and we bring big sister back home, we’ll all go to the photo studio and have a family portrait taken with a camera..”