He just started to go to other places with Ah Quan, on the one hand, to find good seedlings that need to be cultivated, and on the other hand, to secretly investigate the clues of the person behind his grandfather's death, and he didn't care about the family for a while. Because it was entrusted to Zhao Qing, two hundred taels of silver was also a huge amount of money at that time, which should be able to support him to come back. Unexpectedly, when he came back two years later and asked his subordinates to take care of the family, he found that the children in the family were almost starved to death and crushed to death by the house.

This made him very angry, and he never dreamed that his children would be so miserable. If it weren't for the fact that it was inconvenient for him to show up immediately, he would definitely ask Zhao Qing for a clear understanding. In addition, when he was in the village, he always distributed the prey to the villagers from time to time, and he also wanted to make a good relationship and create a harmonious environment for the children. How can they watch the children so pitiful and not help?

At this time, Lin Guotian walked into the courtyard from the outside, stood at the door of the main house, and said, "Master, second young master, the slave has driven the carriage to the door, and the slave is at the door, just say it when you want to leave." ”

Xiaoshan said, "Well, I know Uncle Lin." ”

Lin Guotian turned around and went back to the carriage at the door, but he was muttering in his heart, why is the master's face so ugly? Be careful yourself, don't touch the old man's moldy head.

Li Xiguang woke up from his contemplation, and when he saw that the children were eager to go out to play, he said, "Xiaowen take Xiaowu, Xiaohu and Lan'er to play outside, and Xiaoshan and I will go to the newly built Zhuangzi to have a look." ”

"Hey!" Xiaowen agreed and walked outside with a few small ones, Xiao Wu ran in front of him in a hurry, Xiaohu and Xiaolan were not far behind, and ran out with a smile. Xiaowen doted on the backs of several younger siblings running in front, and also sped up to keep up with them.

Li Xiguang followed the hill out of the house, and couldn't help but look at the lush green forest to the west of the house.

This forest is a special scenery in Lijiazhuang, surrounded by a small river with green waves in the middle. A path has been artificially stepped around the river, and on both sides of the path are all kinds of wild grasses, wild vegetables, and unknown flowers are blooming. On the other side of the creek, there are upside-down weeping willows. Swaying gracefully under the breeze, stretching out your beautiful style. Under the shade of the willows, there is a stone table and stone chairs, and several stone steps are built between the bank of the small river and the path, so that the people of Lijiazhuang can go to the river to fetch water and wash.

The water in this small river is very clear. The fish and shrimp swimming freely inside are clearly visible. There is no filth around the river, and it is conceivable that the people of Lijiazhuang are very careful to protect the river.

How did Li Xiguang know that the tenant farmers here take their daily draft from this river, and of course they will protect it like an eyeball. It's summer. The people in Zhuangzi also try not to bathe in the river, but bring water up and bathe on the shore.

Xiaowen and his younger siblings were like caged birds in the grove south of Xiaohe, running and screaming happily in it. A few children from Lijiazhuang also ran over and quickly played with them. Because they had come to Zhuangzi before, the children in Zhuangzi were no strangers to them.

Li Xiguang and Xiaoshan, father and son, walked along a relatively wide path from the east side of the river to the north side, and walked to the north. At a glance, you can see the newly built Zhuangzi that is still called Yangcaogouzi Village, this Zhuangzi and Lijiazhuang are only separated by a street that can walk three carriages side by side, and those who don't know must think it is a village.

The newly built Zhuangzi has two rows, and the length is several more than that of Lijiazhuang. This is because the new Zhuangzi not only has more households than Lijiazhuang, but Li Ziyu once said that if someone is not enough to live, you can ask for two sets, as long as you pay enough rent according to the annual rent. Anyone who doesn't want to live here can move out and never interfere.

The annual rent that Li Ziyu said is actually a symbolic annual charge of 200 yuan per household, as long as you can pay the rent on time, you can live here for the rest of your life and no one will drive you away. Li Ziyu's purpose was not to collect money, but to declare the ownership of the house. You can live in the house however you want, but the house is not for you, it's for you. These are two different concepts, to avoid that after a long time some people think that the house becomes their own. I forgot how I got here.

Li Xiguang and Xiaoshan were inspecting the newly built Zhuangzi and the streets, and found that all the houses were almost the same layout, with three bungalows, plus three wing-rooms on the left and right, firewood houses, thatched houses, and so on. At this time, Zhuangzi was very quiet. There is no such life scene as the rooster and dog barking as imagined.

Li Xiguang thought about it for a while, and knew what it was, he must have gone to work in his own 1,000 acres of land on the east side of the official road. When the farm is busy, both men and women in the crop yard, as long as they are able to move the men, they will follow their families to work in the fields. Unless the children in the family are too young to follow, the four or five-year-old children who can run will follow them to play in the fields. There were only a few elderly women and children left in the house. This is also the reason why there are few people in Zhuangzi now, and it is also very quiet.

Li Xiguang was thinking about who was the old village chief Zhao Qing's family. The door of a house in the middle opened, and a neat old woman of fifty or sixty years of age came out with a wooden basin with a few clothes and a washing stick. As the old woman walked out, she shouted to the courtyard: "Xiaohua, hurry up, I'll come back to cook after washing clothes." ”

"It's coming, it's coming!" As the sound of the little flower in the yard approached, the little flower ran out of the yard in a hurry.

And this old woman, Li Xiguang recognized it as Zhao Qing's wife, Grandma Zhao.

At the same time that Li Xiguang recognized Grandma Zhao, Grandma Zhao was also looking at Li Xiguang who was walking towards her in a daze, and looked carefully for a long time before she dared to ask: "Oh my God!" You, you, you······ You can't be the eldest nephew of the Li family, right? You ······ You're alive? ”

Li Xiguang was also a little excited and a little complicated, looked at Grandma Zhao and said, "Aunt Zhao, it is the junior." How are you doing these years? ”

Li Xiguang was very close to Zhao Zhenmin before he died, and often went to Zhao's house to chat with the old village chief, and every time he went into the mountains to hunt a part of the prey would be given to the Zhao family, and Zhao Qing at that time also took good care of Li Xiguang and his wife and children. In the eyes of the villagers, the relationship between the two families is almost a family, and the relationship is really close. When Fan Jingyu unfortunately died, it was also Grandma Zhao who helped Zhang Luo organize the funeral, and took care of several children who had lost their mothers by the way.

Li Xiguang saw Grandma Zhao's true feelings when she saw her at first glance, it didn't look like she was pretending, so it was certain that Grandma Zhao didn't know about her death. So why did Zhao Qing secretly swallow the silver he gave? Did he think he wouldn't come back?

At this time, Xiaohua also saw Xiaoshan, ran to him happily, and asked, "Xiaoshan, why are you here by yourself?" What about Xiaoyu? I also want to tell her that I can now be a simple puppet in addition to being a female buddy in the shop, and I can be a simple puppet in two days when I return home. , I can earn more than one or two silver a month. ”

Yes, the women in Lijiazhuang and Yangcaogouzi Village are amazing, and everyone's status at home is much more bullish than that of their own masters. Young daughters-in-law such as Yang Liu, Hu Xiaoxue, Wu Lanlan, Li Qinqin, etc., who are fast-handed, can make a more complex puppet a day, which is more than one or two pieces of silver a month. Even Li Lanying, Xiaohua, Zhao Wanzhu and Aunt Niu, who are buddies in the shop, can also catch time at night to make a puppet every two days.

Among them, there is also Wang Erya's mother and son who were sheltered by Li Ziyu, and their mother and son were also assigned to a small courtyard. Because there were no male laborers in the family, there was no rent. Wang Erya also received the job of making a puppet, and she can also make a puppet every day. Each puppet is forty dollars, and he can earn more than one or two silver a month. Although there is no land, it is more than enough to support his son Xiaoshui and himself. It's just that she still misses her father-in-law and daughter deep down in her heart, and she doesn't know where they are now. (To be continued.) )