In June, the sun was still blazing in the sky, and the leaves of the big trees in the mountains were wilted and lacked green. The Lijiazhai of Yunshan, which has always been quiet and quiet, suddenly became lively, and there were many more faces on the trail of Quyan in the valley. In the shade of the trees in the courtyards of each house, there were many daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law who gathered around and gossiped. Because there were many more outsiders, Luo Yun was really impatient to get to know the relatives of the three aunts and six mothers-in-law one by one, so he took Xiaoyou and moved directly to the shack next to the Houshan Water Pool.

Originally, Luo Yun wanted to take Aunt Mei over to live, but Aunt Mei was no better than him, and she could get rid of everything and care about everything. Although this Li family relative has nothing to do with her, after all, Luo Yun is one of the owners of this cottage. Luo Yun ran away by temperament, but she, the housekeeper, couldn't leave it alone. Therefore, this visit was received by Aunt Mei with Cheng Mu. And Uncle Wu and Luo Yun's other uncles were busy with other things. This dog day in June was supposed to be the time when the farmers harvested wheat and planted some fruits, vegetables, beans and the like. But this year is special, if it doesn't rain for a day, there will be no living things in the field. There is already food for the winter, and the water stored in this reservoir can no longer be wasted.

At noon on the sixth day of the new year, Luo Yun went home to visit Aunt Mei, and an aunt of Luo Yun, who was originally gossiping with Aunt Mei, was shocked to see Luo Yun coming back with a tiger. After saying hello to Luo Yun, he hurriedly left under the pretext that there was something at home. Luo Yun sent people out of the house with a smile, feeling that this little ghost was really getting more and more useful. When she had nothing to do, Luo Yun helped Aunt Mei do some housework. So, when Li Kun hurriedly ran to the backyard of Luo Yun's house, he saw Luo Yun holding a stone pestle and grinding coarse salt particles.

"Yo, Brother Yun is not studying in the back mountain, why do you run here and do this?" Luo Yun directly rolled his eyes at Li Kun's banter, grabbed a handful of coarse salt particles and threw them into the stone bowl to continue grinding. replied: "Why are you lazy to run here without helping at the second uncle's house?" ”

Li Kun carefully bypassed Xiao You, who was lying in front of Luo Yun. This huge size can make the tiger ridden by Luo Yun heavier and heavier, except for Luo Yun, no one should approach. Don't look at it lying there and sleeping now, but Li Kun really didn't dare to step directly over it, this fear was not because he saw how powerful Xiao Yu was, it was purely from his heart. Otherwise, how could Luo Yun's aunt leave as soon as she saw it, if it weren't for Xiao You, Luo Yun would be hiding in the back mountain, how could she stop so many relatives and friends who wanted to see Li Jiazhai, the 'Young Master Yun'.

"Hey, you kid is obedient, I will hide in the mountains when I arrange the next job. Leave us here exhausted. Li Kun casually picked up the water bowl on the table next to Luo Yun and drank it, as soon as the water entered his mouth, his complexion changed, and he turned his head and spit it out, "How did you pound salt and get salt particles into the water?" ”

Luo Yun glared at Li Kun wordlessly, who made this salt particle so hard, he couldn't do it carelessly.

In other words, since Luo Yun came up with such an idea to make a reputation. In the past half a month, the daughters who married from Li Jiazhai have basically come back with their families. Luo Yun's aunts' families all sent some food, and there were really few who came back to live. In these years, parents-in-law are embarrassed to go to their son-in-law's house to eat and live, especially if they themselves have children. However, because of Luo Yun's nod, he brought back all the children who were still in the general horn age of the in-laws. The adult can go out and beg for food, but it will be too difficult with the child.

However, there are many people in this mountain, and although the food is not worrying, it can't let so many people nest in the mountains and become moldy. Especially Luo Yun wanted to be quiet, and as far as he knew, the beasts in the mountains had also been affected by the drought, so he didn't want so many people to drill into the mountains with bows and arrows every day. I can only come up with an idea with the second uncle, so that the big guys can take advantage of this leisure time to repair the houses of each family. The most important Li family ancestral hall is also the second uncle's house. According to Luo Yun's meaning, he is not the patriarch, so this clan will not be able to run his house all the time. Just build a better house for the second uncle's family, and the clan will be able to change places in the future.

Putting aside Luo Yun's selfishness, this proposal to repair and build a house is still very popular with all parents. Especially the second grandfather, who is thinking about finding a daughter-in-law for his children and grandchildren, takes this opportunity to build a new house and renovate the old house, which will have more face when he marries a wife in the future, right? As a result, the hanging tower of Zhang's father's house was moved out again and stood in the courtyards of each house. Of course, although they are all relatives and neighbors, everyone is a kind person, so Daddy Zhang made a small profit by the way. Prepare to wait for each family to finish building their own and then build a house for their younger son, and prepare to marry a daughter-in-law.

Therefore, the current Lijiazhai is a large number of construction, and many trees in the middle of the mountain have been cut down. This made Luo Yun regret it a little, but fortunately, there was no shortage of so many big trees now, and when it rained, he would find an opportunity to plant a few more to make up for it.

"You snuck here just to drink my salted water?"

Li Kun put down the bowl, the water was really not delicious, listened to Luo Yun's words, waved his hand and looked into the house: "Who has that kung fu, I'll come to find Aunt Mei." What about Aunt May? ”

"Vinegar in the room. What are you doing? ”

Li Kun's eyes rolled, and he smiled and leaned into Luo Yun's ear: "Brother Yun, you are going to be an uncle." ”

Luo Yun didn't react for a moment, and opened his mouth to reply: "You're just going to be an uncle." After speaking, he was stunned, and looked at Li Kun stupidly as he spoke.

"Hehe, I'm not going to be an uncle." Li Kun smiled and looked at Luo Yun stunned, he hadn't seen Luo Yun like this for a long time.

In fact, with Luo Yun's cold temperament, he reacted to this matter as soon as his brain turned around, but he didn't know what he should do when he figured it out, excited? Pretending to be stupid and grabbing Li Kun to ask? At this time, Aunt Mei heard Li Kun's words and walked out of the room, still holding an altar in her hand: "Kun'er say quickly, which family's daughter-in-law has it?" But your sister-in-law? ”

It's not funny to face Aunt Mei Li Kun, and besides, he originally came to report to Aunt Mei: "Who else can there be besides Brother and sister-in-law." When the rich boy came to report the news, the eldest brother was stupid when he heard it, and he had already rushed home at this time. My father asked me to come to Aunt Mei and told you to go to Brother Yan'er's house to see my sister-in-law. ”

"Hey! I'll go over it. Sanqing Daozun blesses, it's been a few years. Ling'er, this girl, finally looked forward to it, and finally let her survive until this day. After Aunt Mei finished speaking, she turned around and put down the jar, took off her apron, wiped her hands clean, and went out. Li Kun said hello to Luo Yun and followed. Luo Yun, who had just woken up, was left sitting there looking at the sky in a daze.

To say that Li Huan's cousin is seven years older than Luo Yun, he became a relative early. But there have been no children all these years, if it weren't for the love and love of Li Jian and his wife, according to the third grandfather's intentions, such a daughter-in-law would have been able to divorce his wife and remarry. However, Li Jian has always insisted on refusing, and there is no reason for commoners to take concubines. Ling'er's sister-in-law was also aggrieved, this worship Buddha and seek the Tao, and tried all kinds of methods to seek medical advice, but her stomach just didn't move. However, Li Jian took his wife to the county to find a doctor for examination, and both of them had no health problems. So after Luo Yun knew about it, he could only attribute it to fate that had not arrived. When I see this kind sister-in-law on weekdays, I can always see the sadness on her face getting deeper and deeper, but no matter how wise Luo Yun is, he can't make up his mind about this kind of thing. Fortunately, God finally favored this poor sister-in-law, just like Aunt Mei said, it was really Sanqing's blessing.

Imagining the lively scene at the third grandfather's house at this time, Luo Yun felt that he should not join in the excitement for the time being. Otherwise, take Xiao Yu and sit there, and don't let people say that the beast frightened the mother or anything like that. After a little contemplation, Luo Yun woke up Xiao You, and prepared to go back to the mountains to pick some melons and fruits as gifts, and go to see his cousin and sister-in-law in the evening. Here, Luo Yun had just gone out on the front foot, and Li Chenglin, who hurriedly came over to find someone when he learned that Luo Yun was at home, pounced. Seeing that the courtyard was empty and there was no one in sight, thinking about the letter that his father brought back, Li Chenglin stomped his feet and chased after him.

Dozens of miles away, in the county government of Xugu County, the county commander Miao Lin is gnashing his teeth and gnawing on the cooking cake while worrying about the disaster situation in the county. Although some of the relief food from the imperial court was transported, there was too much left in the state city, and only a small part was left in him. Although the city has opened a warehouse to release grain, he clearly knows in his heart that this food is not enough at all, even if most of the victims have gone to the state city to beg for food, but the people who remain will not be able to survive this month with only the current food. And the next batch of grain will have to wait for another month, and if this continues, he can only use the grain that Yicang has left for seeds. But in that case, even if God is willing to rain during the autumn planting, the county will not be able to sow seeds and let families go home to farm.

I ate too quickly, and I was choked by the dry and hard cooking cakes, and the county magistrate slapped his chest, raised his head and closed his mouth to endure not coughing, picked up half a bowl of water on the table and poured it down, swallowed it for a long time with his neck straight, and it took a long time to relieve his breath. After such a toss, the little cooking cake left in his hand was no longer appetizing. Put it back in the tray and sigh deeply.

"Is the county lord still worried about food?" As soon as the questioner reached the door, he heard the sigh, took off his shoes in front of the hall, and walked in wearing only cloth socks.

Miao County Ling looked up and saw that it was the county master Wang Fang. This Wang Fang is a local, he is more than fifty years old, and he has been working as a knife and pen clerk in this county government in the past dynasty, and after the change of the country, he is still a county master who is not in the stream. If you want to talk about talent, it's really not brilliant.

Originally, when Miao Lin first arrived, he saw that the anchor had no talent, and wanted to find an opportunity to replace him, but later found that the old man who was over half a hundred years old had no talent. But with his local background and the fact that he has been working in the county government, this person is well-deserved. How many households there are in the whole county, the old master book is clear, and even the children in the general corner who are running and playing on the street can be named. It is said that there is an old man in the family, if there is a treasure. There is such a person, and if the county magistrate wants to issue any decree, as long as this person cooperates, it will really be smooth.

In addition, this old man has survived the war and famine, he has long known the destiny of heaven, and he has seen through everything in the world, and he is easy-going and gentle. At his age, there is no hope for any career he wants, so he will not compete for power and profit with his colleagues in charge. So as long as he told him in a good voice, he also actively cooperated, so Miao Linzheng accepted his idea. Now that I've been together for a long time, I feel very comfortable to have such a colleague. During the New Year's holidays, they also let their wives go to Wang's house as a junior gift, so the relationship between the two is very harmonious.

This famine was also adjusted by all parties after Wang Fang's run, which did not make the county any troubles about hungry people grabbing food. Originally, if there had been no drought, with the excellent evaluation of Miao Linzheng over the years, it would have been promoted after surviving the New Year. Who wants to be unfulfilled by heaven. Thinking that this disaster has passed, no matter how good the test is, it can only be an average, and the original promotion may be about to become a horizontal transfer, Miao County Ling couldn't help but sigh again.

"Alas, Lord King, is there anything else that can bother me but this grain? Come and sit down and wipe your sweat" Miao County Ling lifted the kettle at hand and wanted to pour water for Wang Fang, only to find that the kettle was empty, and hurriedly shouted to the servants to pour water, "Why did such a big Sun King Lao still run over, is there anything urgent?" ”

Wang Fang waved his hand so that the servants didn't have to take water, sat down cross-legged on the bamboo mat, raised his sleeves and wiped the sweat beads on his forehead, and said: "Don't bother, the old man is not thirsty when he comes, the county lord ordered the yamen to limit the supply of one pot of water per person per day, so many pairs of eyes below, don't dare to let the county lord make this case for the old man." Don't talk about this, Lord Miao, I came to ask the next batch of disaster relief grain from the imperial court......"

"Well, I'm worried about that, too. This batch of grain can't last this month, but the next batch of grain won't be able to reach the state capital until the beginning of next month, and this will wait until it arrives in the county...... How can you survive this time...... Alas—" Miao County patted his head in annoyance.

Wang Fang's two fingers of his right hand slowly twisted the sparse white whiskers under his chin, listened to Miao Linzheng's words, lowered his eyes and groaned for a while, and said: "Master Miao doesn't know, the remaining population in our county is only half of the original, if you save some use, move some seeds from the righteous warehouse......"

Interrupting Wang Fang's words with a wave of his hand in annoyance, Miao Linzheng sighed and said, "That's not enough." If this god opens his eyes, it will rain next month, otherwise we will survive the present, and the autumn planting will be ...... Alas. ”

"Master Miao, what if you can borrow a batch of food from elsewhere for temporary relief?" The old master knew how upset the county zun was now, and he didn't mind being interrupted.

"Where can I borrow food? The storehouses of the grain merchants in the county have long been empty. Although the state has less food, I know that the situation in the state is worse than ours. Where else can I borrow grain from this hundred miles? Miao Lin was looking at Wang Fang with a sad face, and he really hoped that this 'county elder' could say something to borrow some food.

Wang Fang glanced at the county order, leaned forward, and said in a low voice: "I was about to report to the county lord, yesterday the Li family village came to the yamen to meet and ask about things as usual. I happened to meet him, and when I saw that he looked like usual, I casually asked him about the situation at home. That Li Zhensheng is a sincere man, and he can't hide things in his heart, so I feel strange when I see him hesitating. So he called him to the room to ask, speaking of which, I am an old friend of the old owner of Lijiazhai, and this Li Zhensheng should also call me uncle. I asked a few words, and Li Zhensheng said. Adults may imagine that this big Han who has affected the entire Guanzhong, this Li Jiazhai has not been affected at all, and the crops in the field have been harvested as in previous years! ”

"What!? How is this possible. Even if there are more springs and streams in the mountains......" Miao Linzheng looked at Wang Fang with an incredulous expression, if there were more springs to ensure a bumper harvest, this time it would not be just the great drought that was so serious. In previous years, the drought was accompanied by locust plagues and other disasters that led to no harvest in the fields, but this year's drought is just a drought, so dry that the sky does not rain, and the drought is so dry that the well water is exhausted. Mountain spring? It's not like he hasn't seen it in person, and he's almost done it.

Wang Fang smiled faintly and sat up straight: "If it weren't for what I heard about it, the old man wouldn't have believed it." As Li Zhensheng said, there are two worlds in the mountains and outside the mountains. While we were gleaning ears of wheat in the parched fields, they were harvesting wheat in their stockades as they had done in previous years. Because this year they have been exempted from tax grain, and their granaries are all full. ”

Miao Linzheng still couldn't figure it out, and muttered, "This ...... How can this be...... Could it be that there is something ...... Li Jiazhai Expert? ……”

Hearing this, Wang Fang didn't know what to think of, and was stunned for a moment, and was called twice by Miao County's order before he came back to his senses and said, "That's not it, I heard what Li Zhensheng said." At the beginning of the year, the old people in the village saw that the weather was not right, so the village made preparations in advance and filled the reservoir with water and stored it. When the spring dried up completely, they watered it with water from the reservoir, which ensured that the crops did not die of drought. ”

Miao Lin was stunned when he heard this, and said with amazement: "I didn't expect this Li Zhensheng to be such a visionary person. This kind of person was not discovered early and it was my fault as the county magistrate, if ......" Miao Linzheng listened to Li Jiazhai's construction of the reservoir, and took it for granted that it was led by Li Zhensheng.

Wang Fang waited for the county order to sigh before continuing: "Speaking of which, I also knew about Li Zhensheng's search for craftsmen last year, but I didn't expect that Li Jiazhai would really survive this year's natural disaster with this. I heard Li Zhensheng say that since last month, they have invited relatives and friends living in other villages to Yunshan to escape the famine. Then Li Zhensheng didn't hide it from me, the grain stored in their Li Jiazhai granary is enough for them to last until next year! ”

Miao Xian Ling was shocked when he heard this, and immediately understood the meaning of the old master's book, leaned over half of his body, and asked in a nervous whisper: "What did Lord Wang say...... From Lijiazhai ...... Borrowing food? ”

Wang Fang nodded affirmatively, and Miao Lin jumped up directly with a cheer: "Great!" Great, hahaha, no more, as long as you can survive this month! I can only survive this month...... I, this county is willing to go to the table to assassinate the history and repay him Li Zhensheng! ”

"Borrowed food?" Luo Yun, who was directing the wild monkeys on the tree to pick fruits for himself, was stunned when he heard Li Chenglin, who came in a hurry, his own family had just solved the problem of food and clothing, why did the second uncle dare to tell the county order to borrow grain? If you lend grain to the yamen, it is better to open your own porridge shop in the first place. But looking at Cousin Cheng Lin's sweating profusely who didn't know whether he was tired or anxious, he couldn't say this. Luo Yun picked up a fruit from his coat and threw it to Li Chenglin, asking him to quench his thirst first. He greeted the monkeys in the tree and waved his hand to show that he would not compete with them. While taking Xiao You and Li Chenglin to the shack, he thought about the possible impact of this incident.

Fame? If this is really lent out, I am afraid that the reputation will really resound in the county. But is it necessary? Now the seven aunts and eight aunts who live in the village patted their chests and wanted to introduce their daughters to the guys in the village. lent grain to the Yamen for nothing...... Although the reputation of the court under Li Shimin of this Zhenguan Dynasty is very good, it ...... At most, the yamen are official and give money according to the price of grain in previous years, so they don't suffer a loss?

"Brother Lin, you work hard, go back to the third uncle first. The second grandfather already knows about this, right? Well, your house is in chaos right now, so go to me. Let the third uncle calculate the accounts, since the second uncle has already said the word, we can't borrow this grain. Thinking about leaving enough to eat, and putting the excess away, just lend it out, and it should all accumulate yin virtue and benefit the site. Luo Yun's words made Li Chenglin's heart relaxed, that is, when he heard that his father promised to borrow grain from the Yamen, he secretly blamed his father for being reckless, let alone others. This year, the grain stored in this warehouse can be said to be based on Luo Yun's lead in building the reservoir last year, and today the people's hearts have stabilized, so that they have a good day now without worrying about hunger.

The people in the village are simple, although they don't say it, but they all think of Luo Yun's goodness in their hearts, if Luo Yun says at this time: Don't borrow! The consequences ......

Li Chenglin is really worried about his father. Luo Yun looked at his figure who was rushing back in spite of his tiredness, and shook his head with emotion, although Li Chenglin was worried when he came, although he was slow in human affairs, he also figured it out at this time, after all, it was his second uncle. The second uncle who has taken care of him since he woke up, can he really say that he won't borrow it regardless of the second uncle's feelings? Can he?