The village chief came back on the third day, when it was just dark, and at this time, Geng Qiu and Ah Hao had already finished dinner and went to their house to pick up Ah Niu, and the two waited at the entrance of the village with Ah Qing. From a distance, I saw that the chief was carrying a load of something. Geng Qiu hurriedly walked over, and it turned out that the village chief was carrying a pair of large jars more than half a meter high with a thick belly and a big mouth.

"Ah Qiu, I bought it for your family here, it can be used to fill water and grain, although it is not too big, but your family has a small population, it should be enough." The village chief took a breath and told them.

"Thank you, thank you." Geng Qiu and Ah Hao thanked each other one after another. Geng Qiu took the burden, this burden weighed nearly 100 catties, and it was also very tiring to carry it for a day.

"It's okay, two years earlier, I carried a heavy burden of 200 catties for a day." The village chief laughed.

"This is for you, first fill your hunger." Ah Hao handed over a piece of flatbread, which they specially left for dinner, because they were afraid that the village chief would come home too late and the family would have to get him food again.

"I left food for my father at home." A-Qing hurriedly said.

"It's an errand for our family, what is it to eat a piece of bread?" Ah Hao stuffed it directly into the hands of the village chief. The village chief no longer shirked, and ate slowly in small bites, and stopped eating half of it. At this time, the group also arrived at the door of the village chief's house.

"Old man, have a bowl of soup." The old lady had already brought a bowl of vegetable soup with an egg added to it.

The village chief put down the cake in his hand, took the soup and drank it in a big gulp, saw a poached egg lying at the bottom of the bowl, sighed and said, "Keep it for the children." So saying, he called the black boy and gave him half of it. The black boy looked at his father and his milk, and with their nods, he ate the half egg in one bite.

The old lady also picked up half of the cake that the village chief put on the small table, but brought the village chief a bowl of half-dried batter and two cucumbers. ”

He carefully took out two pieces of paper from his baggage, one is the household registration certificate, the other is the house deed, the household registration actually only records the name of the head of the household, Zeng Wenhao, and the bottom records that he has a family and a son. Regarding the fact that Ah Hao, the father-in-law, was the head of the household, the village chief didn't ask much, although he was also very curious in his heart, why Geng Qiu would marry Ahao, the father-in-law.

Of course, it's not that he hasn't seen this thing, but it's usually done by people with a good family background, but he thought of Ah Hao and they brought two sturdy mules, (livestock in ancient times, but it was a very important family property, and two mules were worth a lot of silver.) Obviously, he also has money in hand, so he thinks that Ah Hao's family must have a lot of family funds, so he will leave the only child to support the portal. The ancients were very particular about passing on the lineage, and when there was really no way, even their daughters would stay at home to recruit their sons-in-law and support the door, not to mention that Ah Hao was still a father-in-law.

Everything was handed over to Geng Qiu and Ah Hao to collect. The village chief said, "The two taels of silver you gave (one tael of silver is equal to a thousand yuan) cost 450 yuan to build this house, 950 yuan to buy farm tools, 60 yuan to buy a large jar, 300 yuan to oil and salt, and 240 yuan to cloth. It's spent cleanly, and there's not a single big dollar left. So saying, he took out the same things in the jar and showed them to everyone, and soon there was a jar of oil, a bag of salt, a piece of cloth, a sickle, a hoe, a machete, and a shovel.

Looking at Geng Qiu and Ah Hao in a daze, the village smiled again and said: "The handful of loose money you gave is a total of 51, I spent 40 big money, bought ten catties of thick noodles, plus those few pieces of fish, and carried it to the house of an old man of mine, stayed at his house for two nights, and ate two meals." 5 big money to get a household registration, and the remaining 6 big money to buy three vegetable cakes to eat on the road. ”

"Gee, you're too good at it. I'll have to learn from you. Geng Qiu exclaimed. And Ah Hao was dumbfounded when he heard it, he didn't expect that with such a little silver, the village chief would do so much for them, it was really a great experience.

"I'll help you get the handle of these things first, and then I'll get them tomorrow." Ah Qing pointed to the farm tools on the ground and picked them all up into the house.

"I'm tired. We went home first, and the village chief was tired, so go to bed early. Geng Qiu thanked him, picked up something, Ah Hao hugged Ah Niu, and took advantage of the glimmer to go home.

When they went to bed at night, Geng Qiu and Ah Hao couldn't sleep. Because the village chief spent so little money to get so many things. The four taels of silver spent in Xiangyang Town are really a loss. And along the way, they definitely spent a lot of unjust money.

"That fat old man, it's really dark. At least we earned a silver tael. Hao muttered.

"I'm just afraid, otherwise how would we get into a robbery?" Geng Qiu laughed at himself. He knew that the man made a lot of money, but then the two of them got a big bath, but he didn't want people to treat them as fat sheep. Geng Qiu analyzed the reasons himself, first, he didn't know much about the local prices. Second, most of his common sense was obtained from Ah Hao's mouth, and it is obvious that the price that Ah Hao said is definitely watery. Otherwise, it is the price level of the big towns that Ah Hao said. Third, he underestimated the cunning Cheng dù of the ancients, or the shrewdness of businessmen. No matter which dynasty it is, merchants are rich because they can calculate. Fourth, he should also know more, not from the shops, but from the mouths of the people around him. Only those who live there know the local price level best.

"Next time, we'll never go shopping in Xiangyang Town again." Geng Qiu said that the businessmen in that place were too dark, and he was afraid that the last killing incident would be in trouble.

"That's it, if we want to buy anything more, we'll go to Xiangnan Town, which is closer to Xiangnan Town anyway. I've asked for directions. Ah Hao also said. He had already inquired clearly, Xiangnan Town and Xiangyang Town in the two directions of Heiyan Village. When they came from San'in City, they had to pass through Xiangyang Town. In fact, Heiyan Village is closer to Xiangnan Town, but in a different direction. They didn't go through.

"Of course. Another day, let's go to Xiangnan Town to see if we can find some way to make money. Geng Qiu planned in his heart, and said it unconsciously.

"Yes, yes. Or go tomorrow. Ah Hao shouted, and sat up excitedly, looking eager to leave immediately. Geng Qiu slapped him twice and shouted in a low voice, "Sleep, there is still a lot of work to do tomorrow." ”

Because it is the time of busy farming, and Geng Qiu and they don't have fields here, so as soon as they settle down, the two of them have to find a livelihood, but in addition to hunting skills, when it comes to farming, the two have little experience, Geng Qiu's family was rural when he was young, although he also helped the family do farm work when he was a child, but that is only a matter of memory, and their home is a plain, but here is a mountainous area, and the times are too far apart, and the work of farming is completely different.

Ah Hao grew up with fine clothes and food, where does he know how to farm, the most important thing is that there is no one in the village who wants to sell land at all, and this kind of land has to be done slowly. Dumped Ah Niu at the village chief's house and sent the last five catties of thick noodles. They went around every day, trying to find a piece of wasteland to reclaim, grow more crops, and increase their rations. They walked farther and farther, but they found nothing except more and more firewood in their homes. However, Ah Hao did not give up, and often made traps in sparsely populated places, and finally one day he got two hares, which made Geng Qiu very happy.

"Wow, there's finally meat to eat." Ah Hao said with drooling. It's been ten days since it got any flesh. Although I eat vegetables and fish every day, the birds are about to fade out of my mouth. He wanted to hunt a few birds to eat more than once, but Geng Qiu disagreed. Because there are all small birds here, it is too troublesome to make, and it is estimated that there are bones in your mouth.

When the two were about to return to the village with the rabbit, they met Amu, who stared at the rabbit for a long time before he said embarrassedly, "Can you sell me one?" My woman gave birth to a child, and the family was too poor, and the baby had no milk to eat. ”

"I'm going to eat it myself." Ah Hao replied the same as protecting food, but thinking that other people's babies had no milk to eat, he looked at Geng Qiu uncertainly.

"It's been a few days." Geng Qiu was gossiping, thinking about how much this rabbit could sell for, it was estimated that Amu's family would not be able to come up with the money, but they could ask him for something, he was a carpenter, and the family was trying to build a cupboard, wardrobe or something.

"For three days, my woman just drank some thin batter, but she really couldn't get milk." Amu said anxiously. He was also anxious, but everyone was poor, and his father had a serious illness in February, and the family not only sold all the grain and chickens, but also owed a lot of foreign debts. Originally, Amu's family was a relatively good family, but it suddenly became extremely poor. Therefore, Amu's sister-in-law also ate very poorly while pregnant with her child, because the others had to go up to the mountains to work. Dry, the better ones are eaten by them, and Amu's sister-in-law stays at home with a big belly to rest, where is she embarrassed to eat, so it drags down, and the child is born, of course, there is no milk to eat. It's good to be able to save my life.

"You take this rabbit back, I don't want silver, you calculate, can you help us build a cupboard, and how many rabbits will we need to build a wardrobe?" Geng Qiu said.

"Really, great. The cupboard will be ready in a few days, and now that I have wood in my house, I will think that this rabbit will be the price. But the wardrobe is going to take a little longer, and now is the time for farming, so I don't have much time. Amu hurriedly said.

"Okay, we're not in a hurry with the wardrobe. After a few months, you can do it, how many rabbits do you get? Geng Qiu said and handed over one of the rabbits in his hand.

Amu hurriedly took it, thought for a while and said, "I want a lot of wood for the wardrobe, eight rabbits." "A rabbit making a cupboard, in fact, is still not much to say, because he is in a hurry to get this rabbit.

"Okay. I'll give you the rabbit slowly, don't worry, the farm work at home will be done first, and it will be too late to fight when the farm is slack. Geng Qiu agreed to the deal.

Dinner is rabbit stewed beans, now they eat vegetables are given by the villagers, although a small piece of land in front of their door has been taken care of, and vegetables have been planted, but there are not so soon vegetables to eat, so the villagers, from time to time, give them some vegetables to eat. Geng Qiu took out all the fish pieces at home and distributed them to the villagers, asking them to send them vegetables to eat.

A big pot of dishes, steaming, Geng Qiu first served a bowl and asked Ah Hao to take it to the village chief's house. Ah Niu is in their house, now there are some good dishes, and I have to let Ah Qing's sister-in-law eat a little, more milk, milk two children, milk is not necessarily enough, now Ah Niu's meal is getting bigger and bigger, and they feed a small bowl of porridge at home for breakfast. I'm afraid of starving Aqing's youngest daughter. This little daughter is about the same age as Ah Niu.

Seeing Ah Hao go out, Geng Qiu thought that Ah Mu's sister-in-law had just given birth to a child, and felt that she should send something over and trade rabbits, and felt a little uncomfortable, because Ah Niu didn't eat mother's milk since he was born, and he was fed by milk powder and rice soup, which was actually extremely difficult to raise. Besides, they were at that time, but the situation of the Amu family is much better now, at least the three of them can eat enough, and they are eating well. Where will it be like Amu's sister-in-law who can't even eat enough.

"Ah Hao, you send this bag of sugar to Amu again. There is absolutely no sugar in their family for the confinement sister-in-law Amu. We usually eat less sugar, and that's a lot left. Geng Qiu said.

Ah Hao thought that when he gave birth to Ah Niu, he could still eat so many poached eggs in sugar water, so he hurriedly took the sugar and left.

"Is this sugar?" Amu looked at the pound of polysaccharides in his hand, he couldn't believe it, tears were about to fall, he wanted to stay for his daughter-in-law to eat, and felt that this gift was too heavy. The countryman gives a confinement gift, but it is only three or two eggs, where can anyone send a pound of sugar. Sugar is really a valuable item for them, and it is rarely eaten.

"Give your daughter-in-law something to eat, drink some sugar water during confinement to replenish your body. Otherwise, where will the child get milk to eat, and he will have to follow the adult first. Ah Hao said strongly.

"But it's too valuable." Amu still didn't dare to take it.

"Take it. Otherwise, I'll take this little chair back and I'll be in exchange for you." Ah Hao looked at the small wooden chair next to him in his hand, his house happened to lack a small chair, the bamboo chair was too big, and the wooden table was too short, which was very unsuitable.

"What's the old chair, you don't have a chair at home, take another one." Amu hurriedly picked up another one and handed it to Ah Hao. Ah Hao carried two old chairs home, Geng Qiu looked at him puzzled, he had to say: "Amu said that sugar is too valuable, so I took a chair and said that I exchanged it with him, but he gave me two." ”

"It's okay, I guess he doesn't think this old chair is worth anything, he gave us something before he dared to leave sugar, anyway, we just need it. Forget it, hurry up and eat. Geng Qiu said with a smile.

A small half pot of brown rice, and a large half pot of rabbit stewed beans, both of them were very satisfied. "We're going to hunt rabbits again tomorrow." Ah Hao said very imposingly, as if the rabbits were waiting for him. However, Geng Qiu did not interrupt his fantasies, because he was still waiting for the rabbit to change his wardrobe, and it was better to change it for some food. There is not much food at home, although I eat with vegetables, twenty catties of brown rice, there are only three or five catties left. Looks like I have to go to Xiangnan Town to buy some food and come back.