The cold wind is howling, the snow is flying, the world is white, in such bad weather, a man and a horse from the east of Jinshui Town to Xiaowan Village, the wind and snow are too big, but the jujube red horse is not slow, spread four hooves and gallop, after a while after crossing the small bridge and the village, approaching the big yard at the end of the village.

A cheerful piano sound flew out from the high courtyard wall, and a milky children's voice was singing: "Mr. Wang has a piece of land, babbling and babbling, he raises chickens in the field, babbling and babbling~"

The jujube red horse raised its neck and screamed happily, and the person on the horse jumped off the ground, chuckling and stroking it, "Red jujube, you also think it sounds good, don't you, Li Niang's piano plays well, and Qingyuan's song also sings well, hehe, it really deserves to be my Mo Shubai's younger brother and sister." ”

"Aang?" The big beautiful eyes of the red dates squinted at the owner, and they were clearly contemptuous, so they would put gold on their faces, and they were ashamed.

was seen through by the horse, Shubai was speechless, cleared his throat, stepped forward and slapped the door hard, only a few times, and Uncle Fu, who was dressed thickly, opened the door.

"You're back, you've worked hard all the way."

"Well, in the past few days I've been gone, everything is okay at home?"

"It's all good, it's just that Village Chief Li came over yesterday and said that the matter of the field has an eyebrow, so you can take the time to talk to him when you come back."

"Okay, I know, I'll go in a while, Uncle Fu, you give the jujube some hot water to drink, and then wipe it with sweat and brush the bristles, this way run, I can't pull it, give it some soybeans and eggs after it's over."

This last sentence made the red jujube like it very much, and rubbed it on Shubai's body with a grin, and then followed Uncle Fu to the stable, and he didn't need to lead it, he took the initiative to walk over.

The west room was warm and coaxing, Qingyuan was still singing selflessly, Aunt Fu and Peach Blossom were doing needlework while listening to the song, Li Niang had already heard her brother's voice, she stopped stroking the piano and let Peach Blossom open the door, Qingyuan saw the person standing outside the door, and immediately screamed and danced.

Seeing that his younger brother, who was only wearing a thin cotton jacket, was about to pounce on the kang, Shubai hurriedly waved his hand, "Don't come down, don't come down, my brother is cold, scatter and talk again." ”

Aunt Fu put down the needle and thread, took a small broom to help Shubai clean up the snow on his body, and then took the cloak he took off back to the east house and hung it, this kang has not burned for a few days, and he has to hurry up to make a fire, and the peach blossom over there poured a cup of warm red date tea and handed it to Shubai, the man came back, and the house was all moving.

After a cup of hot tea, Shubai finally relieved himself, hugged Qingyuan in his arms and asked him if he had written the homework he assigned, whether he had read the book, and he could eat and sleep on time every day, but the nagging was not boring.

At this time, Uncle Fu brought in the backpack hanging on the horse, Shubai commanded the peach blossom to rummage through the gifts brought back, Li Niang got a unique plum blossom golden hairpin, Qingyuan got a set of nine rings and a leather ball, and even Uncle Fu's family had small gifts, and they were all happy.

Qingyuan called Peach Blossom to play with leather balls in the hall, Uncle Fu went to wait for red dates, Aunt Fu went to the kitchen to prepare lunch, and Shubai sat by the kang and talked to his sister.

Li Niang said: "Yesterday morning, the village chief uncle came over. ”

"Well, Uncle Fu has already told me." Shubai tightened his brows, and a trace of sorrow appeared on his face, "This year is really enough, first there was a drought, then a flood, and now there is a snow disaster, and I will soon send military rations to the northwest. ”

Li Niang nodded, this year is enough, if there is no owner, the three brothers and sisters may be gone.

In the year of the famine, human life was as cheap as a dog, although the local government promised generous conditions before the snow, and it was tax exemption and seed distribution, and tried to dismiss the refugees, but there were still many people who were desperate to sell themselves into slavery.

"The man's name is Kuangming, the woman's surname is Zhang, and in the future, she will be called Uncle Ming and Aunt Ming." Shubai handed the two deeds of sale to Li Niang and put them away.

"Surname Kuang? It's rare. Li Niang put the deed paper into the ring, and before Lin Cuiping married in, she was in charge of the family's finances.

After the family had lunch, Shubai took Uncle Fu to the village chief's house, Uncle Fu carried a basket with two packs of dim sum and a small jar and two pots, and the master and servant came back when it was almost dark.

Shubai told Li Niang that there was more than one family that wanted to sell the land, and he talked to three families this afternoon, all of whom were in a hurry to buy conscription with silver, and the contract written according to the current price did not suppress the price of others at all, twenty taels of paddy fields and twelve taels of dry fields, and this time he bought ten acres of paddy fields and fifteen acres of dry fields.

In addition, Shubai also agreed with the villagers who sold the land, and after the land was bought, it would still be rented to them for farming, and fifty percent of the rent would be collected, and a verbal agreement was formed under the witness of the village chief, and a formal contract would be written in the spring of next year.

This agreement, Li Niang likes to see, who is renting is not renting, as long as she farms according to the method she said, it is difficult to lose money.

"I'll go to the Yamen tomorrow to get the red deed, and I'm anxious to get the silver." Shubai said, Li Niang kept the account, counted the silver tickets to her brother, and gave an extra twenty taels, and the handling fee could not be saved.

Li Niang showed her brother the box and account book containing the money, which was the income from selling spirit beads, sorghum and brown sugar, and now the balance was more than 15,000, and the money she sold for the two recipes was not counted in it.

"Brother, I'm going to pick up my sister-in-law into the door soon, and the dowry must be planned in advance, and the East House is going to be renovated, right? Is it custom-made furniture? ”

"You don't have to do the furniture, the Lin family has an escort, this dowry may be a bit troublesome, and my brother doesn't know how to get it."

"That's easy to do, just ask if you don't understand, just ask Aunt Song, don't bother the two masters, I think the Quanfu people also invite Aunt Song, brother, you say hello to Uncle Cheng in advance."

Shubai pursed his lips, his face was a little hot, discussing his marriage with his sister, it felt so weird, but there was no way, grandmother and second aunt were too out of tune, they didn't dare to let them show up, alas, this is really a sad story.

The next day, the wind and snow were a little lighter, Shubai asked Uncle Fu to set a carriage, to the village to pick up the village chief and three villagers who sold land, and the group went to Jinshui County, the village chief was worried that the snow was too thick and the carriage was dangerous, who knew that the road was fast and steady, more appropriate than the ox cart.

On the first day of the lunar month, the conscription had to go out, and each household had a strong man, and those who didn't want to go paid ten taels of silver.

There are still a small number of refugees stranded in Jinshui County, and the yamen can spend money to hire people to serve in the conscription, otherwise they will not accept you for the money, and there can be no mistakes in the delivery of military rations.

This kind of sending military rations on a snowy day, with your knees you know that it is a chore, if you don't do it well, you will die, but this year's harvest is not good, and there are very few families who can afford to pay for exemption, and Village Chief Li went back to summon the villagers to the ancestral hall to assemble, and only three households said they wanted to pay the money. (To be continued.) )