The third child of the He family is the first batch of returnees, 21 years old this year, when he was eight years old, he followed his father to Jixiang to open up wasteland, and now the eldest brother and the second brother work in the steel mill, and he and his daughter-in-law work in the cement factory.

After hearing that the territory supported everyone's return to their hometowns to visit relatives, Father He opened up.

The production tasks of the steel mill where the eldest and second children are located are heavy and they can't leave, so they asked San'er to take leave and take his daughter-in-law back with him to have a look, which is also a wish.

They set off by boat on December 1st, arrived on the other side on the 4th, and returned to their hometown by Caobang boat under the arrangement of Jixiang's No. 1 overseas office.

He's father's home is in Hejiazhuang, a thousand meters south of the royal capital, in addition to planting some paddy fields, their family used to take into account the whole village's agricultural tools to build, that is, part-time iron, good popularity, when the family left, everyone was very sorry.

After two days of trekking, He San and his father finally came to the head of Hejiazhuang Village, according to the locals, the outside of the city is all in the countryside, so this is also a rural scene.

The road into the village is still the same one, which is paved with sand, which is much better than the dirt road in He San's impression.

There are few trees around the village, except for the ones that belong around the houses, the others are basically cut down, leaving some squintering shrubs to decorate the façade. Unlike auspicious, there are green trees everywhere, and birds are singing and fragrant.

The fields behind the house in front of the village are already bare, the village has finished harvesting, and the next farming season will not be until March, so the villagers gather in twos and threes to chat and fart.

The old man trembled and walked towards the village with his son and daughter-in-law, his pace slow but steady.

A group of people in Zhuangtou found the three of them, so they looked carefully, and one of them, a strong man about thirty years old, seemed to recognize He San's father, opened his mouth, and pointed at He San's father for a long time without making a sound.

Father He also carefully looked at the sturdy man in front of him, and asked tentatively, "Huzi?"

"You, are you the third uncle of the He family?" He Xiaohu was a little confused, more than ten years have passed, and there is still a day to say goodbye.

"It's me, I'll come back and take a look while I'm tough and a little free. Father He said as he looked at everything around him. These half-height earthen walls that are not conspicuous and outstanding, the big trees that are not tall and tall, and even the fast ants crawling under their feet are deeply attracted to Father He, and he feels cordial when he sees everything, and some even retain the shadow of when he left more than ten years ago.

It didn't take long for the surrounding area to gather people, He Xiaohu's father came out to take He's father and his family of three into the house, and some neighbors who were close to him also followed, everyone wanted to know how the family had been doing over there over the years.

Xiaohu's father is called He Long, who is three years younger than He's father, so he called He's father "Brother Huan". He 's father's name is He Huan, and he ranks third among his peers, so he has Xiaohu's 'third uncle' words.

"Brother Huan has been gone for twelve or thirteen years, and I thought that the farewell back then was goodbye, but I didn't expect that there would be a goodbye day. ”

Father He was also impressed, ten days ago, he also thought that he would not come back in this life, but he didn't expect the world to be unpredictable, and he actually made such a trip by mistake.

"yes, I didn't expect to come back again. Father He also sighed, and then asked about He Long's family's harvest this year, which is a common way for villagers to chat with relatives, which can always quickly close the relationship.

"Hey, it's still the same, half of it has to be handed over to the owner, Xiaohu's family has added a boy this year, and life is tight. ”

When it came to the harvest, He Long's face darkened significantly, and he no longer saw the joy he had when he first saw him.

"Can't it, Hejiazhuang hasn't changed much over the years?" He Huan is also a little strange, Daxia has been unified for more than ten years, and the days shouldn't be like this.

He has a lot of guesses about the living standards of the villagers, whether it is good or bad, but it should not be much worse than himself. Now listening to He Long's words, coupled with his own observations, they are really not as good as the auspicious new leaders.

"What can change, how many times has this house been repaired, there is no money to build it, and I dare not build it. The new house has to pay land tax, building tax, and transaction tax to buy stone, not to mention labor costs and material costs, but these taxes are enough for our family to eat and drink for a year. Do you see that there is a new house in this village? Who is rich and stupid to build a house now?"

Everyone also nodded their heads, building a new house is really not cost-effective.

"Brother Huan won't leave when he comes back this time, this is the third child, what about the eldest and the second?" He Long also asked He Huan tentatively.

"This is the third and third daughter-in-law of my family, the eldest and the second are busy in the factory and can't leave. The young master provided us with a round-trip ticket, so he came back to see the big guy while he was still strong, and went back in a few days. He Huan said unhappily, and when he mentioned the child, he was proud.

"What kind of factory, there is also a workshop in the south now?" asked a young man with some differences.

"Hey, there are a lot of factories, there are more than a dozen now, and it is estimated that there will be more than a dozen new factories to be built next year. The old man looked disapproving, "The eldest and second of my family are in the steel factory, and they have an income of five to seven gold coins a month, and the third and his daughter-in-law are in the cement factory, and they can earn ten or eight gold coins in a month." But it's not as good as the Yongsheng Porcelain Factory, where front-line workers earn nearly ten gold coins a month!"

Everyone looked sluggish, and if they could guess what the steel mill was doing, the cement plant didn't know. As for Yongsheng porcelain He Long knows, the owner has a set of Yongsheng tea sets, I heard that it took the boss to buy it from the merchants of the royal capital, and the treasure is very.

"Brother Huan, Ji Xiangling is developing so well now? According to what you just said, you can't make a lot of money this year?" a middle-aged man of the same generation couldn't help but ask.

"Let me tell you this, you may not know about the conflict between us and Chiyan a few years ago, but over there, the best years are just to have food and clothing. But this year, all of a sudden, a lot of factories have been built, and workers are being recruited everywhere. Those who are selected will have someone to teach them skills by hand, and someone will teach them to read and write in the evenings, for free, without money. ”

As he spoke, the old man straightened out his coarse cloth coat and continued: "At noon, I am in charge of rice, what do you say about three dishes and one soup, San'er said that it is two vegetables, one meat, three dishes, and one soup, and you are full." The eldest and the second are the factories they entered at the beginning of the year, and the third entered in June, and now at the end of the year, it is estimated that our family can drop two hundred gold coins this year. ”

The old man's face was full of red light, so he almost wrote the words "I have money" on his face, ignoring everyone's demented appearance and continued: "The old family's daughter is going to study in the school after the New Year, and the second family is still young, thinking about sending it to the kindergarten, so that the eldest daughter-in-law and the second daughter-in-law can go to the construction site to help cook a meal, wash clothes or something, and earn a lot every month." I thought that by the end of next year, when I had saved enough money, I would buy three shops facing the street in the new city, and hire a few more people, so that the men would work in the factories and the women would look after the shops at home, and the wind would not blow or the rain would blow. ”

The old man is still depicting his arrangement, but everyone already thinks he is crazy, a family of four earns money, earning nearly two hundred gold coins a year?

I don't get lazy all year round, I wake up earlier than the chickens, sleep later than the dogs, eat worse than the pigs, and work more than the donkeys, how much do I earn?

It's just a slight surplus in addition to food and clothing, and you can earn so much just by working in the workshop?

It won't be that you can't wipe your face, and you will be fat with a swollen face!

He San noticed everyone's reaction and interjected: "It's true, we didn't believe it a year ago, but now it's really happening." How to say it, since the young master succeeded to the lord, a series of changes have taken place in our territory, Yongsheng porcelain, you may know, then most of you should know about Hean mosquito incense, it is produced in the factory of our auspicious Lingjianye Town. This year, we bought nearly 5,000 slaves, and the young master abolished their slave status and changed it to auspicious status, and gave them houses and acres of land. Now some of them work in factories, some do small business in the city, and some farm at home. This year, we have built nearly 10 academies so that school-age children can read and write. Now the new city is still under construction, and it is built with bricks and cement, and it is built high and strong......"

He San was about to say more, but was stopped by his father.

"Ah Long, believe it or not, I came back this time to see the land that gave birth to me and raised me, and I am concerned, and second, to send you some news. ”

The old man carefully explained the tasks assigned by the Propaganda Department, and shocked everyone again.

"In the past, there were houses and land?"

"No exorbitant taxes?"

"My baby can also go to school?"

"Can I enter the factory? Give me two gold coins a month, just two!"

Everyone scrambled to ask first, it was a matter of their own bodies, and everyone had to pay attention to it.

"Why do you lords spend money to buy slaves and give back houses and land, isn't that stupid?" said a young man.

"What I said is true, there are so many places where we are different from here, I left in order to live a good life today, but now I have exceeded my expectations too much, and it will only be better in the future! As for the purchase of slaves, it is for the sake of young and strong laborers, and after building so many factories, someone must work, and so much fertile land must be cultivated, right? Although it seems to be a loss at present, it is not the case in the long run. These people have been reborn, they are grateful to Jixiang, and they have been diligently contributing to the construction of Jixiang. You don't know, many factories have hired young women to work, and the wages are no worse than men's. ”

"Woman, what kind of decent, with a bunch of old men all day long......" The young man seemed unacceptable.

"Hey, the division of labor is different, there are very few opportunities to meet at the end of the day, where do you think of going!"

"That's okay, that's okay......" the young man laughed wryly.

Father He took his son and daughter-in-law around the Zhuangzi, his old house was long gone, and now he lived in the steward of the landlord's family, and he didn't care.

When encountering familiar old acquaintances, Father He will also chat with him, inadvertently revealing some auspicious status quo, which makes everyone's hearts itch.

He Long's family deliberately killed a captive pheasant, and everyone drank a lot of bad wine at dinner, Hu Tianhai chatted about the past interesting things, and finally talked back to the auspicious status quo.

He's father's family stayed in Hejiazhuang for four days, and people came to ask about auspicious things every day, becoming more and more careful.

On the fifth day, He Huan's family of three left Hejiazhuang with He Xiaohu, and the old man handed He Long two gold coins, saying that it was accommodation and food, and the two pushed back and forth for a long time, and He Long had no choice but to accept it!

He Xiaohu went to Jixiang to explore the way on behalf of everyone, and he wanted to see with his own eyes whether it was true or false. If it is false, you will have a rotten life, and if it is broken, it will be broken, but if it is true, then everyone should ponder how to go in the future.

The same situation is playing out everywhere, most of the people at the bottom have chosen to believe, and have sent representatives to explore the truth and reality, which is also what the Government Council hopes everyone to do, not afraid that you will doubt, but afraid that you will not come.

Some territorial officials laughed at this, and even in the wilderness, they dared to learn from other people to cheat and deceive them.

Soon after, the idea that the auspicious returnees were "shameful liars" spread among the middle and upper class aristocrats, who described them as "hypocritical and arrogant liars" and "liars", and so on, and often circulated as jokes in various banquet venues.

When the eldest prince heard the news, he smiled back and forth, and said that auspiciousness was not useless, at least it could make everyone laugh.

Jixiang's foreign offices have also received the news, and began to hype up the auspicious young master lord, to spend a lot of money to buy a thing called baking soda, even the specific shape, possible areas are mentioned, as long as you bring the sample to get a thousand gold coins of reward, only the relevant news is also done, in short, there are benefits.

Intentionally or unintentionally hinted in the propaganda that the young master lord was young and playful, and learned from a travelogue that this thing could add a lot of color to food and increase the taste, so he did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to seek it in order to have delicious food for every meal.

After the news reached the nobles, there was another joke at the banquet, called the Foodie Lord's Loser!