Li Zheng put the hoe on the ground, cleared his throat, and said loudly: "We have crossed several mountains and forests, and finally come to this wasteland, where there are no trees, and there is a small river not far away, which is suitable for clearing the wasteland!" If you say more, I won't talk about it! Get started! ”

"What's the matter?" Someone shouted at the top of their lungs.

"Circle yourself! The one in the circle is which, if you want to circle a lot, you can circle a lot! Rizheng waved his hand.

The people in the village want to tie up the Kim family because they are going to make a fortune.

The people in the village also remembered that they had contributed money to help some poor people in the village before, and some people shouted: "Let the Jin family encircle the land by the river!" The land there is easy to irrigate! ”

This proposal was immediately approved by others: "Yes, yes, let the Jin family circle first!" ”

"It doesn't matter to us, it's wasteland anyway, and we don't really want to open it, so leave the good land to the Jin family." Someone else said.

The others nodded their heads.

The Jin family was not embarrassed to monopolize the good land, and only circled four acres of land along the river.

This wasteland is quite vast, and dozens of acres of land can probably be circled along the river.

After the Jin family circled the land, others successively enclosed the land.

Others' actions are not positive.

No one wants to open up the wasteland.

Clearing the wasteland is hard.

Wasteland is tiring.

You have to pick up the rocks in the ground, cut off the dead grass on them, dig out the deep roots of the bushes, and level the ground several times.

Coarse first, then fine.

And burn the land.

Exhausting individuals.

After the hour of the half-pillar of incense, a sigh sounded.

After an hour of incense, more than a dozen sighs sounded.

After an hour, many people choose to sit on the freshly cut reeds, resting and not moving.

Someone couldn't help but complain: "None of those who are officials really think about our people!" If you don't want to do things for the people, you don't want to do things for the people! Still encourage us to come over and open up wasteland, is it something that ordinary people can do? ”

"My grandfather used to be a soldier in the previous dynasty, so they were different! When they weren't fighting, they were hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, working together to open up the wasteland. Once the land is opened, it will be rented to the local people for farming, which will save much trouble. ”

"There is a lot of strength in numbers. Let's just a few fart people, it would be nice to be able to plant our own land well! ”

"Give Lizheng a face, I'll come for half a month at most, and I won't have to come."

"Oh, I'll come here for seven or eight days at most, and I won't have to come again. I have nothing to do, I'd rather go to town and get a day job! Give people as a foot force! ”

……

"it! Dry up! Don't sit there and be lazy! You have to have a degree of rest! Li was holding a nail rake, stretched his neck, and shouted.

The villagers took reed poles, cleaned the soil from their shoes, and reluctantly walked over.

At the end of the afternoon's work, everyone seemed to have been released from prison, and immediately changed from a half-dead state to a beaming look.

Everyone carried farm tools on their backs and walked briskly.

When someone left, he glanced back: "Jin family, you guys should go quickly!" Pity your little ingots, this child has also worked hard, take the child back to rest! ”

"Thank you, uncle, let's go back!" The little ingots ran over and said crisply.

Jin Erlang caught up, put the small ingots in the back basket, and carried them on his back.

After returning home, the little ingots climbed out of the basket and ran around, ready to serve them hot tea.

"Sister, let it go! You followed us to open up the wasteland today, and you picked up stones all afternoon, and you were tired! Jin Dalang hurriedly said.

"I'm not tired, I'm not tired, the second brother is afraid that I will walk on the mountain road, and he will carry me all the way, I have already rested enough, and my father, mother, and brothers are tired! I want to make the bean tea that the eldest brother loves to drink, the rice tea that the second brother loves to drink, and the wild tea that the third brother loves to drink...... "The little ingots are like a cute little rabbit, running around the house."

Aunt Jin ran over, lifted the little ingot, and kissed her fiercely on the face.

This is a good baby for mothers!

It is a blessing from heaven!

Little Ingot chuckled.

The courtyard is filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

The exhaustion of the afternoon was suddenly swept away.

Jin Shilang slumped in the chair and kept looking at the little ingot: "It's better to be a sister, it's very relieving to listen to her!" ”

Old man Jin kicked him: "Don't go and help my sister make tea!" ”

Jin Shilang sighed and hurriedly ran over to chase the little ingot.

He let the little ingots ride on his neck and began to make tea for the family under the command of his sister.

He said while making tea: "Dad, mother, shall we go again tomorrow?" ”

"Why don't you go? That was the call of the prefectural magistrate. Old man Jin said.

"There's no need, now, we can earn a net one hundred and fifty taels of silver a day, and four thousand five hundred taels a month, our family doesn't lack that money at all, why bother to earn those two more mouthfuls of food like others, how much can we do with this little time?" Kim Shiro complained.

Unexpectedly, Old Man Jin got angry.

He slammed the hoe in his hand and glared: "How can you say that!" Do business, do business! Have you ever seen anyone who does business and can be undefeated for a lifetime! The field and soil are the roots of our crops! What's wrong with not making money, others can plant, why can't we plant? ”

This is the first time that Xiao Yuanbao has seen such a big temper of Jin Lao's hair, he has always been taciturn, kind and honest.

The Kim family was suppressed.

Xiao Yuanbao hurriedly climbed down from Jin Shilang's neck, ran to Old Man Jin, patted his hands, and said softly: "Daddy is not angry, Daddy is not angry!" The angry father is not cute, of course, the fourth brother who makes the father angry is even less cute, so let's ignore him today and ignore him tomorrow, okay? The fourth brother is bad! ”

Old man Jin was appeased by Xiao Yuanbao's fairy tales, and his anger suddenly disappeared a lot.

He touched the head of the little ingot, turned his back to the family, and did not speak.

The family looked at each other.

Jin Dalang and Jin Erlang opened their mouths to speak, but Aunt Jin quietly shook her head at them, telling them not to say anything and go with the old man.

The little ingots looked at Old Man Jin and then at Jin Shiro.

She ran to Jin Dalang and said, "Big brother, I have promised my father, ignore the fourth brother today, you help me ask the fourth brother, why is he unwilling to go to the wasteland?" ”

Jin Dalang looked at Jin Shilang: "My sister asked you something." ”

"Because of the hard work of clearing the wasteland, the cultivation of the wasteland." Kim Shiro said bitterly.

The family's business is all done by hiring people, and basically there is no need for Jin Shiro to do it himself.

Every day on the fourth shift, someone picks vegetables.

Every day, someone delivers food.

At the end of the day, someone sent tea eggs and out-of-season bean sprouts to the county seat.

Even, Jin Dalang no longer sells tea eggs in the town, there are too many tea eggs to cook every day, pot after pot, he doesn't have time to sell eggs in the town.

He wanted to hire someone to go to the town and sell it in bulk.

Xiao Yuanbao proposed to let the second dog in the village go to the town to sell tea eggs.

You can give her two pieces of silver a month.

Ergou is the first person to see a doctor and a doctor, she has a gambler husband, who lost all the walls of the family, and the debts are high, and finally the person who was collected for debts was chased to the river and died.

Her parents are dead, her brother doesn't care about her, her son is seriously ill, she can't borrow money, so she can only let the child survive hard.

How poor is her family?

Drink wild vegetable soup every day to get by.

Xiao Yuanbao's proposal was equivalent to saving her life.

She knelt down and kowtowed three times to the Jin family.

Now, she carries her son to the town every day to sell tea eggs, and her life is very satisfying.

So, that's what Kim Shiro means now.

He would rather be idle, he will not go to open up the wasteland, it is too hard!

After listening to his words, Old Man Jin snorted coldly.

Kim Shiro shut up.

He hung his head cowardly and threw a life-saving look at his sister.

Xiao Yuanbao nodded and said loudly: "Since it is hard, then we have to find a way to solve this matter!" ”

The rest of the family cast approving glances at the little ingot!

Right!

Can't solve it wow!

Then you have to stop it!

Unexpectedly, Old Man Jin was very tough this time: "It doesn't matter if it's bitter or not!" Whether it can be solved or not! We still have to continue to open up the wasteland! Farming is the foundation of farmers! The fourth child doesn't want to go, so don't go to the fourth child, the ingots are still young, and they want to study, so they can not go! Da Lang is my negligence, he has to be busy boiling eggs every day, today he went to open up the wasteland, and he has to stay up all night at night to cook on the stove, so he doesn't have to go in the future! As for the others, one counts as one, and I'll give them all! ”

The whole family sighed silently.

Dinner, eaten in silence.

Whatever Jin Shiro wanted to eat, he would be ruthlessly knocked off his chopsticks by Old Man Jin.

He was about to cry and looked at the little ingot.

Xiao Yuanbao shrunk his neck and silently sandwiched the chicken legs, pork ribs, and tamales that the fourth brother loved to eat......

After the old man Jin finished eating, he silently squatted at the gate and smoked a dry cigarette.

Xiao Yuanbao hurriedly poured all the meat and vegetables in the bowl to Jin Shilang.

Kim Shiro was so grateful that he almost burst into tears.

Jin Wulang said leisurely on the side: "Sister, you treat the symptoms but not the root cause like this, you can't leave food for the fourth brother at once, right?" ”

"So what do you say?" The little ingots propped their hands on the table, holding their little faces.

"When I first eaten, I thought about it, I think we should do what you say, we have to find a solution to the problem," Jin Wulang put down his chopsticks and said to Xiao Yuanbao with a serious face, "At present, what is the most difficult thing to open up the wasteland?" It is to remove reeds and weeds, the grass on the ground has to be hoeed, and the roots under the ground have to be dug up, which is very hard! ”

"Yes, some roots are so long," Xiao Yuan Bao gestured with his hand and frowned his little eyebrows, "It's especially difficult to dig!" ”

But if you don't dig the roots, the spring breeze will blow and grow again!

This year's efforts have been in vain.

"I want to go to the White Rock Mountain." Gingoro sat up straight.

"I'll go with you!" Little Ingot already knew what Kagoro wanted to do.

There is a small wooden house on White Rock Mountain.

It was the former residence of Master Gingoro.

Half a month ago, his master passed away.

He cried all night.

In the past, the Jin family's family was not very good, and there was little land and many people.

When Kongoro was three years old, he liked to follow the only carpenter in the township, watch him make mortise and tenon joints, and watch him plane wood.

This kid is very intelligent and very hands-on, and he is very fond of carpenters.

Later, he took the carpenter as his teacher.

Jin Wulang pulled the small ingots and walked on the way up the mountain.

He looked at the path leading to the mid-mountain road and glanced at his sister wistfully: "Do you want to hear the story of my master?" ”

Little Ingot nodded.

Kongoro became sad, he forced a smile, trying to make himself look like nothing happened, he told the story of his master as if he were telling someone else's story: "When my master was young, he didn't live here. ”

"And where does he live?"

"He lives in a big house, much bigger than ours."

"Later."

"Later, he married a virtuous teacher."

"Surely happy."

"Master later became addicted to gambling, and the mansion was gone, and the money was gone. He borrowed money to gamble, and if he lost the bet, he would beat his wife. The teacher did some work every day to subsidize the family, so that she could barely survive. ”

"My sister is so miserable."

"Later, it was even worse," Jin Wulang choked a little in his throat, "In the tenth year of Yuanqing, there was a great drought, and the food was almost gone." Shi Niang was seriously ill, had no money for treatment, and died. One of Master's children tried to catch fish in the river, but he fell into the river and drowned, and his other three children starved to death, leaving him alone in the family. ”

How much cruelty of fate is hidden behind these understatements.

Kongoro didn't hold back, but wiped his tears.

The little ingots were also silent.

She took out a small folded handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to Gingoro.

It was given to her by Mrs. Tantai, and it was very small and white.

"Well, later, Master repented," Gingoro choked up, staring at the sky to prevent tears from flowing, "he took a kitchen knife from his home and cut off one of his fingers in front of the four new graves that were neatly built. ”

Xiao Yuan Bao covered his mouth and gasped.

"He swore that he would never gamble again," Gingoro took a deep breath, "and later, he learned the trade of carpentry, built a wooden house halfway up the mountainside, and lived alone for decades, and he did not marry or have children, and was alone." ”

A person, a few words, is a lifetime.

The little ingots also wanted to cry a little when they heard it.

"You know what? Master is very kind to me," Gingoro burst into tears again, "As long as it gets late and he leaves me down for dinner, he will definitely open a small stove for me!" After he came to his senses, he became a very frugal person, but as long as I stayed, he would take out the eggs and dried fish that he was usually reluctant to eat, and he himself was never willing to eat, so he put them all in my bowl! ”

Little Ingot nodded.

"He taught me the handicraft, taught me very seriously, and he praised me for being smart, and other masters beat and scolded the apprentices, but he never beat and scolded me, and he was very good to me! Sometimes, I feel like I'm half a son of his. Gingoro sniffed.

The little ingots patted his hand gently.