After Li Zhongshun left, the Li family also sat around Li Yangwu, and Li Sun put the packed baggage on the table and explained them to Li Yangwu one by one.

……

"Dong Dong Dong ......, please pay attention to the villagers, please quickly gather at the ancestral hall for those who participate in the conscription, and you need to proofread the household registration and register your personal information one by one." Village Chief Li's voice has been circulating in the village, which is the voice representing parting.

Li Yangwu carried his burden and walked out, and the Li family reluctantly followed him and sent him to the ancestral hall in the village, where he saw ten soldiers wearing leather armor and stomach clothes, red pabu wrapping their heads, and holding spears around a young officer who was also wearing leather armor and stomach clothes, with a hairline around his hairline, about seven feet tall, and carrying a long sword at his waist.

Village Chief Li stood aside and looked at the villagers who were coming one after another, turned to the officer and said, "County comfort, the people who came to apply from Lijia Village are almost here, whether to start the registration and inspection." ”

"Okay, let the enlisted people line up in turn and be checked and registered." After speaking, the county comforter sat down on a chair next to him, spread out the bamboo slips, and prepared to check the household registration and inspectors.

After receiving the order, Village Chief Li knocked on the bang vigorously and shouted: "Silence, please be quiet, the people who participated in the recruitment should line up in turn to be inspected, and other unrelated personnel should not make loud noises." ”

The crowd that had some voices just now immediately quieted down, and the people who wanted to apply stood in two rows, Li Yangwu and Li Zhongshun also stood in and lined up next to each other, and everyone stepped forward one by one to undergo a physical examination and then went to the military management office to register their personal details.

"My lord, the woman has something to tell my lord, my husband concealed my son's age, he didn't go to the recruitment himself, pushed his son to apply, woo woo woo ......, he is so ruthless!" A middle-aged woman suddenly knelt in front of everyone and shouted in consolation at the county who was holding a pen to register.

"Who's kneeling? Dare to disrupt the application. ”

"Back to my lord, the woman is the daughter-in-law of Li Erzi in Lijia Village, in order not to enlist in the army, he concealed the age of my son Li Yinzi, my son is still half a year away from turning fifteen years old, please be the master of the people's wife!"

It turned out to be Li Er's wife Sun Juanhua, Sun Juanhua has a pair of white eyes, a thick lip on her big face, she is very spicy on weekdays, no one in the village can quarrel with her, I didn't expect her to have a rare appearance of being a person for her son, seeing Sun Juanhua kneeling on the ground, Li Erhua, who was hiding in the crowd, also hurriedly came out, knelt on the ground and begged for mercy: "My lord, don't listen to this ignorant woman and child, my son is indeed fifteen years old this year, and the registration of the previous year is right." ”

"No, my lord, my son's actual age is indeed less than fifteen years old, he remembered the wrong when he registered the second son, and he couldn't remember the specific date of birth of his son, and he was not at home all day long, so he asked the adults to call the shots!"

The others also quietly discussed below, and the county comforted and listened to the complaints of both of them, "You both have their own opinions, who is right and who is wrong, the official has no way to judge, this is not a court to try the case, I don't have time to try your family affairs, I only recognize the things registered in the household register, I see that Li Yinzi is over fifteen years old on the date of registration, you quickly step down, don't disturb me to handle official business, and if you delay it, you will be punished for obstructing official business." ”

When Li Erzi heard this, he was very happy in his heart, his face was full of joy, and he said in a continuous voice: "Thank you, my lord, my lord is wise, and the little one will step down." ”

After speaking, she got up and dragged away Sun Juanhua, who was still kneeling on the ground, no matter how she cried, she dragged out of the crowd, slapped Sun Juanhua in the face with a "snap", jumped to her feet and scolded: "You stupid mother-in-law, dare to be nonsense, be careful that Lao Tzu beats you to death, divorce you and marry again, hurry up and go back with me, Lao Tzu will slowly clean you up." ”

Li Erzi pulled the crying Sun Juanhua hard, and the other people in the village did not dare to come forward to comfort, Li Erzi is out of tune, whoever dares to take the initiative to provoke him will be unlucky, he will jump out for a long time to trouble you, and over time, everyone will try to avoid him.

"Hey! Sun Juanhua is also pitiful! Their son has such a father who has also poured mold for eight lifetimes, other people's families are fathers and sons competing to go to the battlefield, and their families are fathers pushing their sons to the battlefield, but poor people must have something to hate, the plum that was bought back by Li Erzi is the most pitiful, and they were called by their husband and wife as slaves, beating and scolding for not having a full meal. Someone said angrily, but when they thought of the usual behavior of the two, everyone put away that little sympathy again.

Because of this episode, it was delayed for some time, and when the people who were going to apply in Lijia Village got on the official boat, everyone's family members followed behind and walked all the way until the river at the entrance of the village, and everyone cried into tears.

Old Man Li's family and Li Si looked at Li Yangwu and Li Zhongshun standing at the bow of the boat with tears in their eyes, and waved their hands vigorously.

After today, I don't know when we will see each other again, my eyes followed the official ship, until I couldn't see a trace of the ship, and a group of people returned home in despair, with a sad expression, Old Man Li frowned, looking several years old in an instant, and it would take a while to smooth out the painful feelings of this parting.

Since Li Yangwu left, the Li family has returned to the old life of sunrise and sunset, there is no time to remember the sadness, the crops and farm work in the field are waiting for everyone, in order to eat and clothe warm, the people are hard, I don't know when it is a head, it may be passed on from generation to generation.

It may be that God is also against him, disliking the people is not bitter enough, it has been raining heavily for ten days, and the rain has not stopped, the river has risen, and I can't go out, and I don't know what the situation is in other places.

Old man Li sat in the hall to teach the juniors in the family to read, Li Yangqing sat under the eaves, watching the downpour rain non-stop, flowing down from the eaves to form a string of rain curtains, the mountains in the distance were gray, not clear to see, the wind was raging, and the storm kept going.

I heard from the people in the village that the river in front of the village had risen by two feet, and the old man Li Jiang's boat did not dare to go to the town.

"Dad, big brother, I see that the rainstorm has been falling for ten days, and it hasn't stopped yet, the river is rising, what if it rises to Lijia Village, I don't know what the situation is in the town, and I haven't delivered food to the Canton restaurant for ten days, I'm very worried, let's take the dry road to the town to inquire about the situation?"

Old man Li put down the bamboo slips, didn't continue to study, and looked up at the rain curtain, "I'm also very worried, Lijia Village has not had such a heavy rain for many years, if the Mojiang River embankment flowing through Wei County collapses, Hongxia Town downstream will also suffer, and the chain reaction will lead to our Lijia Village not being spared, and the consequences of flooding will be unimaginable." ”

"Dad, according to you, this is a serious situation, so I'll go to town and find out. By the way, I will send the food to the Cantonese restaurant," Li Yangde proposed.

"Dad, big brother, then I'll go with you! I know Lin Zhutou in the town, and the people in the government should know more about the latest situation in Wei County, I see that it has been raining for so long, and we have to go to the town to prepare some supplies in case of emergency. ”

"Okay, then Yangqing will come with us! You stay at home, the boss, you go and prepare two baskets, prepare some houttuynia, and if we can't come back too late today, we will stay in town for one night. ”

"Okay, Dad." Li Yangde went into the utility room to prepare the houttuynia to be sold, some time ago the family dug some back and prepared it, which was ready to be sent to the town, but because of the weather, he never went, and he just sent it today.

Li Yangqing and Old Man Li followed into the utility room, put on their robes and hats, and Li Yangde and Old Man Li each carried a basket on their backs.

Li Qiu came out of the back room, took out twenty taels of silver and handed it to Old Man Li, "Child, father, after you go to the town, you will buy more salt, oilcloth, oilcoats, and hats, in case of the situation you said, you still have to prepare more." "The rest of the room was also worried, but they had to prepare for the worst.

Facing the storm, the three members of the Li family walked out of the courtyard gate towards the mountain road in the town, the road was slippery and muddy on rainy days, and it was very difficult to walk, Li Yangqing fortunately did not carry anything, otherwise it would be easy to slip on this road.

Walking and stopping all the way, the three of them found a tree branch as a cane, both to see the road and be careful not to be drenched in the rain, to keep steady and move slowly, and it took two and a half hours to finally arrive at the town.

Hongxia Town is also pouring rain at this time, there are few people on the street, the shops are all open, the heavy rain has been dripping, the raindrops on the face are a little painful, the three of them have been wet all over, although there are rain gear to defend themselves, it doesn't work for so long, and they finally arrived at the door of the Canton Restaurant, the three of them walked in quickly, and only saw one or two tables of sparse guests in the lobby.

"Old man Li, brothers and sisters of the Li family, it rains so hard, you still send food, it's really hard for you, you come with me into the backyard kitchen to roast the fire, you are all wet." Shopkeeper Chen sat behind the counter, and when he saw that it was the Li family who had entered the door, he greeted him warmly.

Old Man Li raised his hand and saluted back: "There is Lao Chen's shopkeeper." Then the three of them followed the shopkeeper Chen to the kitchen, and the Li family father and son put down the basket.

The cooks and helpers in the kitchen were idle, and when Chef Wang saw Li Yangqing, he shouted happily: "Little master, come and sit down, old man Li, please sit too, I will make you some firewood for roasting." ”

The three members of the Li family thanked them, sat on the stool in the kitchen, and the aunt of the helper helped light a fire in the stove and put it in front of the three members of the Li family.

"Old Man Li, I'll weigh these dishes for you, you will bake the fire here, and wait for the clothes to dry before leaving!" Chef Wang gave all three of them a bowl of ginger soup to drink, and went to the cold. ”

"Okay, Shopkeeper Chen." After Chef Wang got the order, he found the ginger cubes and prepared to boil the ginger soup.

The three members of the Li family gathered around the stove to pick up the wet clothes and roast them, but fortunately they wore a coat and a hat, the underwear was basically not wet, and the clothes outside were soaked.

After a while, the shopkeeper Chen weighed it, entered the counter in the lobby, entered the kitchen with the silver in his hand and handed it to Old Man Li, "Old Man Li, you gave one hundred and twenty catties this time, a total of two taels of silver and four hundred wen, you take it." Old Man Li got up, took the silver, put it away, thanked him, and continued to sit down to bake his clothes, and Shopkeeper Chen entered the lobby to continue to guard, so as to greet the guests.

"Uncle Wang, I want to ask, how long has it been raining in your town?"

"Little master, I don't know how long this rain has stopped! It's been going down for more than a week, and it hasn't stopped, affecting the lives of everyone in the town, many shops are open, and there is no business, come, you drink this ginger soup, it's already good. ”

Chef Wang handed the boiled ginger soup to the three of them one by one, and Li Yangqing got up and took it, "Thank you, Uncle Wang." Picked up the bowl and drank a big mouthful of hot ginger soup, and suddenly the whole body became warm, very comfortable, and hearing Chef Wang's statement, everyone was even more worried about the severity of the situation.