Mo Yan was well aware that most families in the village were struggling to get by, but that didn’t an they should set their sights on Little Flower and a dozen or so local dogs, let alone go hunting in the mountains in such severe weather. If anything happened and the villagers were hurt, who would take responsibility?
Thinking of this, she looked at Yang Bao, who wore a troubled expression, and spoke solemnly, "Uncle Yang, let’s not even ntion whether we can find ga with the dogs in the mountains; just the snow alone makes it hard to see the roads clearly, and one misstep could lead to danger. Besides, there are many wild animals in the mountains, and they have co down to the village before. What if we encounter them by misfortune?"
Yang Bao was stunned. He had only calculated the benefits hunting could bring to the village, without considering the great risks. Thinking about the potential consequences made him sowhat fearful, "To think that at my age, I could be so blinded by such a small profit. I owe it to Yan girl’s warning, otherwise, I really wouldn’t know what kind of trouble I could have caused."
"Uncle Yang is just concerned about the villagers’ hardship and didn’t think it through, that’s all!"
Mo Yan smiled understandingly. She didn’t bla the villagers for being greedy; after all, if they had extra money at ho, who would risk their lives for such a venture? It was simply seeing how those local dogs could hunt rabbits that made them montarily lose their heads.
Seeing Yang Bao wavering, she breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "If Uncle Yang is concerned about the safety of our fellow villagers, there’s no need to feel troubled. Just make the pros and cons clear, and the villagers will understand."
"Yan girl, Uncle gets it, Uncle gets it!" Yang Bao said, his expression relaxing sowhat. Compared to life, that bit of silver truly ant nothing. If anyone in the village didn’t know any better, he would have to exercise his authority as the village head and firmly put an end to it.
Before long, Little Flower ca back, followed by thirteen local dogs rustling in. Their bodies were covered in snowflakes, which they shook off at the door before entering the warm house, shivering. They greeted Mo Yan with happy wags of their tails, then quietly and orderly gathered around the warm spot and sat down to enjoy the heat.
Yang Bao looked amused and joked, "No wonder you’re from a family of scholars, even these rowdy creatures have been influenced by your family’s scholarly air, and they’ve beco disciplined."
Mo Yan chuckled, pinching Little Flower’s cold, icy ears. It was all thanks to this one’s doing; otherwise, these local dogs would have surely caused a ruckus fighting for a good spot.
Peering through the crack of the door and seeing that the heavy snow had started falling again, Yang Bao’s smile faded, and his face grew serious, "This snowfall may last longer than the last one. If it continues, I’m afraid quite a few houses will be crushed."
Mo Yan was not adept at predicting the weather, and hearing this, she frowned, "Uncle Yang, how long is this snow expected to fall?"
The border conflicts were fierce, and just a few days ago, the price of rice had risen again. Rice had gone up to eight Wen Money per catty, twice the price before the increase. Many poor families couldn’t even afford to buy rice, and a lot of them had started queuing up early at the storefronts for a free serving of cooked rice. With the heavy snowfall continuing, if it doesn’t let up, the price of rice would likely rise again in a few days.
Yang Bao stood up, walked to the door, and looked out at the sky, saying, "It won’t stop for three to five days, and exactly when it will end, we can only figure that out after a few more days by observing the sky."
Mo Yan felt sowhat stifled, concerned both for the poor families who couldn’t afford food and worried about the worsening situation in the North. It was also snowing there these days, and the temperature was even colder than in Jing City, yet the conflict hadn’t ceased. She wondered how the soldiers and civilians on the border were faring.
Every ti she inquired about the war situation in her letters, the person she wrote to never ntioned these issues. The news circulated in the Academy was relatively outdated. By the ti it reached her father’s ears, it was either long past, or it had changed so much from the original story that the truth was unrecognizable.
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