Village Chief He said: "One acre of land costs five taels of silver. ”

"Five taels!" Old Man Mo was so angry that his beard turned up: "Why is it so expensive?" When I was in my hometown, when I went to Yamen to apply for the deed, the government asked for a maximum of two taels of land, and the wasteland was only one or two silver per acre, why is the land in Dafeng Village so expensive? ”

Five taels of silver per acre of land is worth half a year's income of a farmer, which is a money grab.

Old Man Lu, who had been silent, said lightly: "If it's too expensive, you can move back to your hometown." ”

This was said very politely, and Old Man Mo was choked and his face turned blue.

Mo Kuizi hurriedly pulled Old Man Mo and signaled him not to offend people.

The third grandfather knew that this was Dafeng Village to give them a dismissal, so they kept a calm face and did not speak.

Seeing that the faces of their families were not very good, Village Chief He said: "This is the result of the discussion in the village, if you are too expensive, or you don't have enough money, you can also rent the old house in the village, and the village will give you a cheaper price." ”

When Old Man Lu heard this, his brows furrowed, and he spoke again: "If you want to buy land at a normal price, you can do it, and each household will give the village three taels of silver, and we will recognize you as a villager." ”

The third grandfather frowned, this was a clear indication that he wanted to bite them into a bite of meat.

Qin Lao said: "This is not a trivial matter, we have to go back and discuss." ”

Village Chief He also felt that this thing was not very authentic, so he nodded and agreed: "Okay." ”

Old Man Lu said: "Don't discuss it for too long, it's already the twenty-fifth year today, and the New Year will be celebrated in a few days, and we don't have time to deal with the affairs of your family." ”

"Don't worry, I'll give the village an answer in an hour at most." Qin Lao was a tough person, and after saying this sentence in a cold tone, he left with a few men.

The two members of the Mo family also left.

As soon as a few men came back to tell the story, Aunt Tian cried directly: "Why is our life so bitter? It's not easy to settle down, how can it be this money and that money, and there is still money in our house? ”

The Tian family was the poorest of the several families, and when the village decided to flee the famine, the Tian family sold half of the land to scrape together 23 taels of silver. I spent a lot along the way, and now I have two taels and three hundred dollars left, and I can't take out three taels of silver at all.

Chen was reluctant to give out this silver, and scolded: "The people of this Dafeng Village are not things, and they want us to give three taels of silver, what are they bandits?" I don't give this money, and whoever of you loves to give it will give it. ”

Gu Dagui said angrily: "You be quiet, you are heard, do you want to live in this village?" ”

The third grandfather was so worried that his hair turned whiter, and asked Qin Lao: "Brother Qin, what do you say?" ”

"It's a loss, but we have to eat it." Qin Lao said: "We are strangers, we must take a step back first." I gave this money and let the people of Dafeng Village know that we want to stay and live a good life. After giving this money, if the village still dares to bully us in the future, then we don't have to endure it anymore, just call back, or go to the yamen to sue them. ”

They can't work hard with the people in the village as soon as they come, this is not good, they have to suffer a loss first, so that the people in the village can be comfortable, if there is something else in the future, there is today's matter to the bottom, they can take care of it even if they make trouble with the yamen.

Qin Lao looked at Uncle Tian and said, "Our family still has some money to spare, we can lend some to your family, don't be in a hurry to pay it back." ”

Uncle Tian's eyes were red: "Thank you for being old." "With the money they can borrow, the family will be able to get through this.

Seeing that Qin Lao was willing to lend money to the Tian family, he breathed a sigh of relief and said to everyone: "Brother Qin is right, we have to take a step back first, if you don't have any opinions, then give three taels of silver." ”

Several men nodded in agreement.

Chen shouted, "Why don't you buy land?" To build a house, you also need to buy land. ”

Gu Dagui said: "You stupid mother-in-law, you need five taels of silver a mu to buy land, we want to live here for a long time, we won't just buy this acre of land, naturally each household will give three taels of silver, and it will be cost-effective to buy land at a normal price in the future." ”

Chen thought about it, it was indeed the case, and stopped talking. But she won't pay, their family is not separated, and they have to pay for it.

After several families discussed, each family took out three taels of silver to Qin Lao, and Qin Lao and the third grandfather took the silver money to He Village Chief's house to pay the money.

I don't know what Elder Qin said, when he came back with the third grandfather, he had an extra piece of paper in his hand that said that several families would be on an equal footing with the people in the village in the future, and there were also the handprints of the village chief and several village elders.

With this piece of paper, several families were completely relieved.

After paying the money, the village officially recognized them, and He Dacang came to ask a few families to look at the house, and if there was a suitable one, they rented it, and then built the house after the beginning of spring.

The third grandfather and Qin Lao took a few men to follow He Dacang around half of the village, and finally at the end of the village, near Dafeng Mountain, they rented five mud yards overgrown with weeds for a hundred yuan a month.

"There are also some good houses in the village, which are not expensive, so you don't have to rent here." He Okura put his hands into the sleeves of his padded jacket and stomped his feet to ward off the cold, not expecting that these families would look at these old houses at the end of the village.

Several men felt that this place was very good, and politely rejected He Okura's kindness.

Although there are good houses in the village, they are scattered all over the village, and when they first come to the village, several families must live together, not scattered, only these old houses are connected together, and they must rent here.

Several men gave He Dacang three months' house money, and after taking the keys to five dirt yards, they rushed back to move.

The women were already packing up their things while they went to see the house, and when they returned, they carried their things to the end of the village.

When the people of the Mo family saw that they were gone, they hurriedly ran out to see.

Old Man Mo and Mo Kuizi caught up with them breathlessly: "How many of you have paid three taels of silver to Dafeng Village?" Why are you so confused! ”

How many of them gave, if their Mo family didn't give it, wouldn't they be driven out of the village?

Qin Lao said to Old Man Mo: "It's our business for us to give, whether you Mo family gives it or not, you can discuss it yourself, let's go first, hurry up and move." After speaking, he didn't bother with Old Man Mo anymore and walked quickly.

The families soon arrived at five dirt yards at the end of the village.

These five dirt yards are very large, almost all of them are three main houses plus two side houses, so the few families live in one courtyard.

Gu Jinli's family lived with the third grandfather's family, and they chose the penultimate courtyard.

To the left of her house, that is, the last dirt yard is the Qin family, where the three ancestors and grandchildren of the Qin family live, and there is no partnership with other families.

On the right are the Luo family and the Tian family, the Luo Tian family is the Gu Damu brothers, and then the Gu Dafu and Gu Dagui brothers are the families.

After moving the yard, the family immediately started to clean the house, thoroughly cleaned the moldy and damp house, and shoveled a lot of weeds in the yard to clear a path.

Gu Jinli took out wormwood and distributed it to several families, so that several families could smoke the house with wormwood.

After the house was smoked, most of the musty smell in the house was removed, and then straw mats and old quilts were spread, which gave it the appearance of home.