When Luo Feng returned to Nanshan Village, it was noon. Almost all the people in the village who were working in the fields came back, and when they saw Luo Feng and a few of them coming back, they all came to say hello.

Especially the family members of Luo Feng and the others were even more overjoyed.

Nowadays, the imperial court and government recruit people to serve in the army, and there is often no time limit. Originally, according to the system of the imperial court, the people had to pay rent and pay the mediocrity after the land, and this mediocrity meant that each adult had to serve 20 days of free labor to the imperial court for a year, and if the service was not enough for 20 days, he would be replaced by silk cloth.

And now the actual situation is that the military service is continuous, not only are Cheng Ding often conscripted, but even the middle-aged men who have just turned 16 have to be called to serve, and they don't know when they will be able to return once they go. Many villagers in Nanshan Village have been drafted away, and the longest away from home has not even returned for a year.

Nanshan Village is located at the foot of Changbai Mountain, and there are more than 60 families in the whole village, according to the rural organization of the Great Sui, four families are neighbors, five families are guarantees, one hundred families are li, and five hundred families are townships.

Nanshan Village is subordinate to Nanshanli in Changbai Township, Zhangqiu County, Nanshan Village and the two villages next to it are combined into Nanshanli, and the township system is the core of the rural grassroots of Dasui today.

Similar to the village committees of later generations, in the medieval era when the imperial power was not lower than the county, the township chiefs were very important to the management of the village.

Nanshan Village is very poor, about 60 households are divided into three surnames, Luo Guo and Li three surnames, Luo surname accounts for about half of the 30 households, Guo Li two surnames each have only about a dozen families. The village has only a simple low village wall, surrounded by a canal outside the village wall, and the environment is also good, but it is a pity that the families are poor, the houses are low and dilapidated, and they are almost all thatched houses.

Xiao Liu ran home with his burden, and after a while, he came out to greet his mother Luo Qin and his sister-in-law, and even his third uncle and their family were called over by him.

Luo's mother is a thin woman, with a hairpin cloth skirt, half-white hair, wrinkled face, and looks like a sixty-year-old lady, but Luo Feng knows that Luo Qin's family is actually just over forty this year.

She married into the Luo family at the age of fifteen, and has worked hard in this family for twenty-five years, during which she gave birth to nine sons and seven daughters, with an astonishing number of births, and in the end only brought up six sons and five daughters.

The overbearing and heavy labor had made this industrious woman grow old early, her waist was stiff, and she was very thin, and her face was bloodless, as if a gust of wind could blow her away.

"Xiao Wu is back?"

The woman stepped forward happily, holding her son in her hand and looking left and right, for fear that something would be missing. The government was recruited, and it was only two months after he went, and the Luo Qin clan was not less worried.

"Mother, I'm fine, digging the river in Zhuo County for two months, and then I came back, and I met a good thing on the way, we met the blue-faced ghosts in Changbai Mountain, and then caught them, and the county order rewarded us·······"

The name of the blue-faced ghost is famous even in Nanshan Village, during this time their notoriety has spread everywhere, Luo Mu was frightened and pale, "How did you meet them, didn't you hurt anywhere?" ”

"Don't worry, mother, we're all fine, by the way, fortunately, I met Licheng's second cousin at that time. Mother, this is the second cousin of Lichengtang's uncle's family, now he is a soldier in the Right Yiwei Military Mansion, and he is the personal soldier under the command of the General of the Right Yiwei, this time he happened to go home from Dengzhou to visit relatives, and happened to encounter the blue-faced ghost robbery, so he pulled out his sword to rescue him and captured the blue-faced eighteen ghosts in one fell swoop. ”

Qin Qiong had been looking at the Qin family with some surprise, he was so old that he didn't dare to recognize him.

At this time, he stepped forward and knelt in front of the Qin family, "Auntie, I am Qin Qiong, my father is a son of love, my ancestor is a concubine, and my great-grandfather is filial piety." ”

Qin Qiong reported to her home, and the Qin family understood as soon as she heard it.

Qin Xiaoda is Qin Qiong's great-grandfather and Luo Qin's grandfather, in terms of generation, Luo Qin's is Qin Qiong's father's cousin.

"Are you Ji Yang's son?"

"Yes, aunt, I am Qin Qiong, the second in the clan, I remember that it seems that you went back to the Qin family in Licheng once seventeen or eighteen years ago, when I was only three or four years old, and my aunt also hugged me."

Saying this, Luo's mother remembered it, Erlang Qin Qiong, this is the grandson of the Qin family's eldest family, she went home once, that time it seemed that her father passed away and went back to mourn, it was indeed as if she had hugged this nephew, he was only a few years old at that time, and more than ten years have passed, and she has never returned to the Qin family in Licheng since then, and she didn't expect her nephew to come to the door today, and she is already so old.

"Oh, my son, get up." Qin couldn't help but burst into tears.

Xiao Liu looked at Qin Qiong on the side, "Mother, who is this?" ”

"Little Liu, come and meet your cousin, this is your second brother from your uncle's house." Qin Shi pulled Xiao Liu forward, and said to Qin Qiong again, "Son, this is your sixth cousin, who burned out his brain from fever when he was a child, so he is a little stupid." ”

Xiao Liu didn't care, just looked at Qin Qiong, "Second cousin, do you have a lot of strength, have you ever beaten a cow, I have a lot of strength, I help the landlord next door herd cattle, and none of his cows have beaten me." ”

Qin Qiong laughed, Luo Feng was helpless, "Second brother doesn't have to pay attention to him, he just doesn't grow up." Saying that, he patted Xiao Liu, "Xiao Liu, my brother brought you some delicious food back in the county seat, what do you think?" ”

He took off the burden from his back and took out a bag of dried lotus leaves to eat, but it was a package of flax cakes bought in the county, a dough fried in mutton fat, sprinkled with sesame seeds, and even mutton filling and green onions in it.

As soon as the lotus leaf was opened, a fragrance suddenly spread out in his face, and Xiao Liu's eyes couldn't help but light up.

"Flax cake."

Xiao Liu took it, took one but didn't eat it himself, but turned around and handed it to his mother Qin, "Mother, the flax cake that the fifth brother bought, it's so fragrant, you eat it." ”

Qin smiled and said to his son, "Well, the fragrant flax cakes are so good-looking, Xiaoliu, you can eat them." ”

"Mother, you eat first." Qin didn't take it, Xiao Liu refused to agree, but Qin took it, Xiao Liu had to see her take a bite before he smiled and picked up another one.

Xiaoliu still didn't eat the second cake, and turned around and handed it to a little girl behind him, "Little sister, this is for you." ”

"Sixth brother, you eat."

"You eat first."

This little girl is Luo Feng's fifth sister, the youngest girl in the family, only ten years old this year, thin and rootwood-like, yellow and hungry, hair is withered and yellow, it looks distressing, this is already autumn, but the girl is still just stepping on a pair of straw sandals, and a few toes are all exposed.

There are only six packets of flax cakes, Xiao Liu first gave one to Qin and Xiaomei, and then one to each of the two sisters-in-law, and the remaining two, he wanted to give one to Qin Qiong and Luo Feng.

"You divide it all, you don't have it yourself, you eat it yourself." Qin Qiong smiled and excused herself.

"What about Sanniang and Siniang?" Seeing that there were no other two sisters in the crowd, Luo Feng couldn't help but ask suspiciously. The Luo family has six sons and five daughters, the eldest brother and the second brother are all married, while the third brother and the fourth brother have not yet married. Of the five sisters, only the eldest sister and the second sister are married.

A young woman who was eating flax cakes said to Luo Feng, "Uncle just came back and didn't know, since my father-in-law and your brothers were conscripted away for service, we didn't even have a strong man in our family, and we couldn't plant the land, and no one took care of the blacksmith stall at home, so the source of income was cut off early, and the township repeatedly urged the rent to reconcile the Yicang grain, and the old debts borrowed before were not paid off, and no one was willing to borrow new debts, and we had no choice, the family is also considered a solid ·······"