Sacrificed to the ancestors, put away the offerings to the table, everyone was excited and lively, ate all night, drank all night, kept all night, all of them were full of energy, looking at Li Zongliang and others, in the village in previous years, the first to fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, it was necessary to play for half a month, from the east village to the west village, the fast feet and long legs, with companions, can play all the way into Zhengcheng.

Li Zongliang lowered Wei Shuisheng to discuss a few words, lined up fifteen people in three shifts, and let them out to hang out in turn, Li Xiaoqi instructed Jiang Shuncai and Zhang Gouzi to carry the wicker basket that had been prepared long ago, stood beside him, took the purse from it, and distributed the New Year's red envelopes one by one, five hundred big money per person, the yard was a noisy discussion, holding the purse, jingling and counting the brand-new copper coins inside, smiling with joy, this is the real money, the gold in that place a few days ago, the gold is too far away from him, It doesn't look like it's your own, well, the gold belongs to the fifth master, and the tinkling copper coin is your own.

Sister Zhang cleaned up the stove, picked up her apron and wiped her hands, trotted all the way to the gatehouse, stretched out her head to look, looked at the first group of people who went down the mountain into the city to hang out excitedly on the mountain road, raised her hand and wiped the corners of her eyes, not a few months ago, they were almost starving to death, and now they are living better than when they were in the village.

Li Xiaoqi bit the ginger plum, looked at Sister Zhang at the bottom of the mountain, spun a semicircle with her toes, turned to look at Li Erhuai, who was talking to Zhang Tiemu, and called Li Erhuai with a smile: "Brother Erhuai, you haven't been to Zhengcheng yet, have you?" ”

"Hmm!" Li Erhuai turned around, nodded and agreed, Li Xiaoqi jumped to Li Zongliang's side, pulled him and suggested: "We have all been to Zhengcheng several times, but Brother Erhuai has never been there, and today it happens that the city is also lively, let Brother Erhuai go to the city to go shopping." ”

"You want to go into the city again?" Wei Shuisheng took over the conversation while laughing, and Li Xiaoqi glanced at him: "No, if I want to go, I can just say it directly, why do you need to go around such a bend?" ”

Li Zongliang stretched out his hand and patted Li Xiaoqi's head, and agreed with a smile: "Xiaoqi is right, a few of us, Erhuai has never entered the city, and Erhuai is boring to go shopping alone, or ••••••."

"Let Sister Zhang and Brother Erhuai go together! In our cottage, the eldest sister is the hardest, she gets up the earliest every day, sleeps the latest, Sister Zhang goes into the city to go shopping, today is the first day of the first lunar month, selling beads and hairpins or something, the eldest sister goes to shop and pick, buy a few more pieces back, well, and buy a soft horn head for me and the eldest brother back. Li Xiaoqi said crisply.

Sister Zhang's eyes lit up, and she raised her hand and touched her hair bun with some embarrassment, and was about to speak, but Li Zongliang had already agreed: "What Xiao Mi said is right, the eldest sister is busy every day, and she has worked hard. ”

Zhang Tiemu salivated and was about to speak, but Li Xiaoqi raised his hand to stop him: "Forget it, you can't go anywhere!" You have a round face, round eyes and a round nose, you can't forget it at a glance, and you are still at the forefront every time you rob. ”

Sister Zhang hurriedly grabbed Zhang Tiemu: "Tiemu can't go anywhere, just stay on our mountain, what do you want, I'll buy it back for you." ”

"I didn't want to go down the mountain, I just wanted to think about it." Zhang Tiemu muttered twice, and also knew that Li Xiaoqi was telling the truth, and he didn't dare to be stubborn for half a minute, Li Xiaoqi ignored him, and stretched out his hand to pull Sister Zhang: "Eldest sister, don't delay Chenguang, hurry up and dress up, and then hurry down the mountain and enter the city, I'll go find you a mat, let Brother Erhuai push you into the city with a car, and the eldest sister hurry up to freshen up and dress up beautifully!" ”

Li Xiaoqi pushed Sister Zhang back to freshen up with high interest, dragged Li Erhuai again, changed him into new clothes, combed his hair again, and dressed up energetically, Jiang Shuncai had already pushed out the wheelbarrow, tied a mat on the car, Sister Zhang freshened up, changed into clean clothes and came out, clean and neat, looking very comfortable.

Li Xiaoqi pulled Li Erhuai aside, quietly stuffed a purse into his sleeve, and said in a low voice: "Brother Erhuai, there are two taels of broken silver in the purse, you buy some beaded hairpins or something for Sister Zhang, as long as she likes it, you can buy it for her, don't worry about money, we have money." Li Erhuai put his purse on his sleeve, nodded and agreed, pushed Sister Zhang, and laughed all the way down the mountain.

Li Xiaoqi clasped his hands in front of his chest, looked at the two of them with a smile and went down the mountain with a smile, Li Zonggui was next to Li Xiaoqi, and also looked at the two of them with his fists, then looked back at Li Xiaoyi, and then turned his head to look at Zhang Tiemu, and suddenly said without a head: "Sister Zhang has said that she must first watch her younger brother get married, and continue the fireworks of their old Zhang family." ”

Li Xiaoqi turned his head and glanced at Li Zonggui, as if he didn't hear his words, shook his arm and shook back to continue sleeping, last night they quarreled so that he didn't sleep well, and was dragged up by Li Zongliang early in the morning to worship his ancestors, now the mountain is quiet, she has to go back to make up for sleep.

This rich year from the thirty-one to the fifteenth, out of the fifteenth, this year is gone, Li Zongliang restrained everyone, the practice of the exercises, the work of the work, Wei Shuisheng took Sun Qidi and a few other cautious will wait for the livestock, went to Zhengcheng, and added a Taiping car and two cows, these two Taiping cars have not been idle since the fifteenth, one trip a day, every day from Zhengcheng to the mountain to pull things back, what reed mats, bamboo purlins, tiles, wood, etc., or ready-made furniture, bedding, tents, curtains, Pots and pans and other things came back, everyone was busy for nearly a month, and finally the yard and house were really cleaned up, the five main houses and side rooms were covered with brand-new green tile roofs, doors and windows were installed, painted, the house was covered with green bricks, and the windows were pasted with good cotton paper.

Li Xiaoqi and Li Zongliang moved into the five upper rooms, the middle one made a living room, Li Xiaoqi occupied the easternmost one, Li Zongliang and Wei Shuisheng each occupied one, Li Erhuai and Li Zonggui shared one, Li Xiaoqi went to the city several times, personally picked the bed, table, and cabinet used by himself and his brothers, and hung curtains and curtains.

Sister Zhang occupies the first room in the East Wing, Zhang Tiemu and others live in one room, each of them lives, and the kitchen is also full of things, the weather on the mountain is completely new, and it is easy to do things if you have money.

Busy into February, seeing that the mountains were in order, Li Zongliang and the others breathed a sigh of relief, and while concentrating on leading everyone to practice, they went to the city every few days to inquire about a proper and long-term livelihood.

In mid-February, Li Zonggui and Li Xiaoqi took Zhang Gouzi and Sun Qidi to drive the Taiping car and set off from the mountains early in the morning to Zhengcheng to buy grain, oil and salt.

Li Zonggui and Li Xiaoqi bought good things, and instructed Sun Qidi and Zhang Gouzi to watch the loading car, the two of them shook out, and first went to the tea shop in front of the yamen to buy a copy of the mansion, Li Xiaoqi went to the pharmacy again, and said hello to the pharmacy guy and the shopkeeper, and talked for a while before coming out, watching the excitement along the street, and meeting Zhang Gouzi and them all the way to the big car shop.

After turning a few streets, not far from the door of the dart shop, Li Zonggui paused in his footsteps and signaled to Li Xiaoyi, Li Xiaoqi had also seen a middle-aged dart master coming out of the dart shop, short dress, around thirty years old, medium, extremely strong, with a somewhat yin vulture, but it was not the dart master from Xinyang Mansion who I saw in the Liuye Teahouse that day!

The two glanced at each other, followed the dart master, followed the willow leaf tea house all the way, the two slowed down and went in, found a seat not far from the dart master and sat down, asked for two bowls of almond tea, a plate of cloud cake, like other people in the teahouse leisurely sipping tea, whispering.

The dart master sat alone with a big horse and a golden knife, with a gloomy face and just drank a bowl of Babao tea, drank a bowl of tea, and asked for another bowl, Dr. Tea just sent the second bowl of tea, and the door of the teahouse came in wearing a Chengxinlang military uniform, carrying a saber cross-body, a young general in his twenties and thirties, the general stood at the door, turned his head to look around, and the dart master hurriedly stood up and greeted: "Senior brother, here." ”

The general came over with a smile, asked for tea, looked at the dart master and said with a smile: "Why did the senior brother come here now?" This has just come out of the New Year, and Zheng Cheng has a big business? ”

"It's a business matter, but it's a troublesome thing, or the dart from years ago." The dart master stopped talking, watched Dr. Tea put the tea and snacks, and watched Dr. Tea put it away before he continued: "Master Qian's errand trip a few years ago made a little stubble, and I have to ask my junior brother to help." ”

"Senior brother, just say." The general took a sip of tea and motioned to the dart master, who was almost inaudible in a low and intermittent voice: "Last year in Beacon Mountain, there was a little incident, a few people were injured, and there was nothing missing, Lord Qian had nothing to say, but it was always troublesome to hurt people•••••• this matter •••••• senior brother couldn't get rid of it, I want to think about it, it must be the group of people in Dongshan ••••••, there is no other place•••••• it can't be counted like this, how to walk on the rivers and lakes in the future?" Junior brother's side••••••"

The dart master simply leaned into the general's ear and muttered, the general's brows gradually wrinkled, his fingers lightly tapped on the table, he thought carefully for a long time, exhaled, and whispered with a smile: "It's a coincidence, a few days ago, the marshal also said that he wanted to train the soldiers, if he could take it with him••••••" The general twisted his fingers as he spoke.

"Yes, yes, yes! Kill two birds with one stone, and the east mountain can be fat. The dart master's face glowed, his voice also rose high, the general stretched out a finger, the dart master laughed, and nodded again and again: "Drink tea and drink tea!" Senior brother, don't go back to the camp tonight, let's go to Le Ha Leha, don't say it, although this Zhengcheng is small, the two girls in Hongxiang Mansion are quite good! ”