Jing Su accompanied Qi Ning in Qing'an City for the New Year, and did not leave to return to the capital until the tenth day of the first month.

Taking advantage of the good weather, Qi Ning took Jing Su to Zhujia Village, led him to see the fields, and took him to climb Zhushan and pour a few gourds of spring water to make tea at home.

The rest of the day, the two of them were stuffy in the house all day, grinding their ears and temples. Early in the morning of the eleventh day of the first lunar month, Jing Su said goodbye to the reluctant Qi Ning and rode into Beijing.

Before Jing Su left, Qi Ning wrote a letter according to the address left by Jing Su: Don't know how far you are. How desolate and boring it is. Gradually drifting away and gradually without books, the water is wide and the fish sink where to ask. In the middle of the night, the wind knocks on the autumn rhyme. Wanye Qiansheng is hate. Therefore, the single pillow is found in the dream, and the dream is not a lamp and an ember.

After writing it, he carefully sealed it with a candle and personally sent it to the post station outside the city. She wanted Jing Su to receive her letter when she got home.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Qi Ning went to Lu Laosan's house with two packets of dim sum. Lu Laosan had just come back from his hometown and was sweeping the yard, when he saw Qi Ning coming in and hurriedly threw down the broom: "Miss Qi has a good New Year." ”

"Third Uncle Lu has a good New Year, I'm here to greet you."

"Hurry up and please, his mother will serve tea soon, Miss Qi is here." Lu Laosan shouted at the kitchen, and a woman wearing an apron wiped her hands and walked to the door and answered: "Hey, Miss Qi sit in the house." ”

"Happy New Year, third aunt, don't be busy, I'll sit and leave." After Qi Ning finished speaking, he followed Lu Laosan into the living room of the main room and put the snacks on the table: "Third Uncle Lu, I came this time to pay New Year's greetings, and then I have something to trouble you." ”

"Sit down, girl." Lu Laosan motioned for Qi Ning to sit down.

"Third uncle, I drew some drawings, you see how much silver it costs to build such a house." Qi Ning took out a wad of paper and handed it over before sitting down.

Louis took the picture and stood in the light of the doorway, looking at it carefully.

Originally, she only planned to build a house at the foot of the mountain, but now that the money is enough, she plans to build the forty acres of dry land into a small courtyard and courtyard in the countryside. There are five courtyards in the last five rows, all of which are five north rooms, with east and west wings and inverted courtyards. In front of it are seven rows of eight courtyards, each courtyard has three north rooms, with a west wing and an inverted courtyard. No matter how big or small, the yard has a backyard two feet wide.

In the past half a year, Qi Ning has not wandered around Zhujia Village in vain, she has already understood the terrain of the village.

Zhujia Village was originally in the mountains west of the village. It was only moved to this place more than a hundred years ago. There are 73 households in the village, less than 80 yards, and the layout is very messy, with one family in the east and one in the west, mostly adobe thatched houses, some of which are crumbling.

Many people have vegetable gardens in front of and behind their houses. Although the houses in the village are not big, the yards are two or three acres large.

Zhu's family all moved away, leaving a courtyard of more than a dozen houses on the south side of the forest to be used as an ancestral hall in the village, but the ancestral hall and ancestral cemetery of Zhujia Village are in the old site of the village further west of Xishan, and they have never been moved.

The whole village covers an area of more than 200 or 300 acres, and the south of the village and the outside of the city wall are the villagers' own fields. Now that Qi Ning has the capital, she wants to build a village on the dry land at the foot of the mountain, move all the people from Zhujia Village, and then change the land in the village into paddy fields.

"Miss Qi." Lu Laosan took the drawings and sat opposite Qi Ning: "Such houses are connected, you can borrow a wall, the cost is less, I roughly estimated, if these large courtyards behind are built into blue brick houses, it will cost seventy taels, and these small ones in front will also cost forty-five taels." ”

"Does the price that the third uncle said include doors and windows?"

"It's all in there."

"How long will it take?"

"Why should it take a year?"

"If I ask the third uncle to build it, can you deliver it to me before the end of May?"

"Before the end of May?" Lu Laosan touched his chin and thought for a moment: "Then you need to hire more labor, and I have to call my brothers and their people to do it, it should be about the same." ”

"Okay, when I figure it all out, I'll talk to the third uncle in detail." Qi Ning said that he stood up and was about to leave, Lu Laosan's daughter-in-law had just boiled water, made tea, and was heading into the house.

"Miss Qi, why are you leaving, let's have a cup of tea and sit down." Aunt Lu held the tray to keep Qi Ning.

"Thank you, Aunt San, next time, I won't bother if I have something to do."

Lu Laosan and his wife knew Qi Ning's sharp temperament, and they didn't keep it anymore and sent it out.

Qi Ning went back and asked Qi Fugui to get in the car and she went to Zhujia Village, where Village Chief Zhu's house was, and his family lived at the entrance of the village.

Village Chief Zhu was squatting at the door smoking a cigarette bag and pot, and when he saw Qi Ning's car coming from a distance, he hurriedly knocked the cigarette bag and pot and stood up.

Qi Ning jumped out of the car and carried snacks and said, "Happy New Year, Uncle Zhu." ”

"Happy New Year, happy New Year, the owner is here. Sit at home. ”

Qi Ning followed Village Chief Zhu into the house and sat down: "You are at home by yourself, aren't they all here?" ”

"My wife and son left last year, and the children are gone."

"Oh, I'm sorry, uncle, I don't know." Qi Ning was so embarrassed, he wanted to say hello, but who knew that he didn't ask about the New Year.

"It's okay, it's okay, don't worry about it."

"Uncle, I came here to tell you something, I want to take back the forty acres of dry land I rented to you to build a house." Originally, Qi Ning only planned to leave five acres of land to build a yard, but now that she has money, she has a bigger idea.

"But there are still thirty-five acres of land with crops in them." Zhu Village Chang was stunned.

"I will compensate you for the loss of crops, has your eldest son been studying for a few years? Will it be bookkeeping? ”

"My two sons have both studied, but their qualifications are not good, the eldest has not been admitted to a show for more than ten years, and the second has been studying for a few years."

Village Chief Zhu squatted on the threshold depressedly and said that he had planned to let his eldest son come back and farm the land, but he was not the material for work at all, and he couldn't do it, and he was tired and thin.

"Since I've been reading books for more than ten years, it shouldn't be a problem to settle accounts, right?"

"No problem, he was thinking of finding a place to do an account office this year, and he is asking someone to find it."

"Let him go to my store to be a bookkeeper, I will give him a salary of 800 wen a month, and he will be rewarded at the end of the year for a good job."

"Really?" Village Chief Zhu was still depressed and couldn't farm, but he didn't expect that the eldest son would be able to find a job to earn money, and he was still a very decent bookkeeper.

"Has your eldest son gone far? Tell him to come back and I'll see him? ”

"Okay." Village Chief Zhu agreed, and stood at the door and shouted at the wing: "Second boy, go and call your father back." ”

A hairy boy of twelve or thirteen years old came out of the Westroom, answered the call, and ran out.

Village Chief Zhu hurriedly let Qi Ning drink water: "Miss Qi, my second child doesn't know much but has a lot of strength, if you have any work, can you let him do it?" ”

"He is not in a hurry, I want to build a lot of houses, and when the time comes, there will be more places to use people, so I can use them for the people in our village first."

"I'll thank you first, girl."

"Miss Qi is here." A man of about thirty years old wearing a coarse cloth robe came in and bowed to Qi Ning.

"Brother Zhu, do you know how to settle accounts?"

"In Xia Zhu Xiuwen, I have been reading books for more than ten years, but my qualifications are mediocre, but there is no problem with account calculation." The person who came looked at Qi Ning and then at his father with a puzzled expression.

"That's the case, my shop lacks an account room, is Brother Zhu willing to give in?"

"Thank you, girl, there's nothing you don't want to do."

"That's good, you pack up, and follow my car back in a while."

"Daddy?" Zhu Xiuwen looked at his father and waited for the show.

"Go, it's rare that Miss Qi doesn't dislike you for being stupid, go and do a good job, don't embarrass me."

Village Chief Zhu had tears in his eyes with joy, this son had studied for so many years, and sold half of his family's field in order to provide for him, but he didn't get any fame at all, and now he can't do the work of farming when he comes back, and he is still on the ground after someone else has finished hoeing an acre of land.

finally had a decent job, and Village Chief Zhu excitedly shook his hand holding the cigarette bag and pot.

Zhu Xiuwen got his father's approval and hurriedly went back to the house to pack his clothes.

"Uncle Zhu, calculate how much the crops in the field are worth, and I will make up the silver for you."

"No, no, we are grateful that the owner can let my son go to the accounting room, how can we ask the owner for the silver." Village Chief Zhu was so anxious that his face turned red.

"Uncle, one yard is one yard, you also worked hard to plant it, and there is still seed money."

"The owner will see me again, isn't this a slap in the face of my old man?"

"Uncle Zhu, you are benevolent and righteous, and I can't take advantage of your conscience, in this case, I will give you ten taels of silver, if it is not enough, you can speak." In fact, the seeds in the field are not worth this money, but people still have labor. As he spoke, Qi Ning took out two silver ingots and put them on the table.

"The owner quickly takes it back, I can't ask for it."

"Uncle, don't let me, I will also be from our village in the future, and there are still many things that will have to trouble you when the time comes, and I will be embarrassed to look for you if you are polite."

"This, then thank you to the owner, if you have something to tell you in the future, as long as it is the matter of Zhujia Village, I can do it for you."