"The most important thing is naturally the field", but the old man's plain words shocked Mei Siyuan's mind: "This old brother is an ordinary person, who works hard all year round but can't even get half a row of fields." How hard will it be to make sure that the life is supported and the old age is ended? For the sake of the officials, but the cultivators can have their own fields, and they can be covered in the years of disaster, and their grievances can be redressed. At that time, under the rule of the rule, the rich households enclosed thousands of hectares of fields, and the poor had no self-cultivation, so they had to be entrusted as tenant farmers, and they could not have a few meals in good years, and it was inevitable that they would starve in ordinary years, and it was a great luck not to starve in disaster years, which was really pitiful! Siyuan has been in office for more than ten years, although he will do his best, it is always difficult to stop the people's livelihood from becoming more and more miserable, and I am really ashamed!

Mei Siyuan looked at the old man and asked again, "How many people do you have in your family?"

"Hehe, my mother-in-law and I have two babies. The little boy is six years old, and the older girl is nine years old!" "How can you not be satisfied! I and my mother-in-law can exchange rice for the farmland of the owner's servant, go up to the mountain to hunt some game and pick berries in our spare time, and the two babies are rarely hungry, what else do I have to ask for?"

"I'll give you ten acres of land. Mei Siyuan said suddenly.

The old man looked at Mei Siyuan blankly, as if he didn't hear what he said, and he didn't seem to believe what he heard.

"I'll give you ten acres of land. Mei Siyuan said again, "You have found a salt mine, and the Salt Administration Department will award you ten acres of land, how about it?"

The old man crossed his hands and rubbed his eyes, blinked, and stared at Mei Siyuan, obviously having heard what he said clearly, but he still didn't seem to believe it. After a long time, he moistened his throat and said, "This, this ......"

"The imperial court rewards meritorious service, does not pay taxes, and gets as much grain as you get in the field. Mei Siyuan explained again.

Tears gradually appeared in the old man's eyes, and he got up from his seat tremblingly, and suddenly fell to his knees. Mei Siyuan stretched out his hand to help him up, but the old man refused, sobbing on the ground, and his back shook slightly.

The night in the winter countryside is as dark as ink, quiet as a certainty. "Oh~oh~oh!" a rooster crowed, breaking its peace.

"Why are you up, it's still dark outside!," said a woman in the darkness.

"What's the matter! Yesterday, Master Mei asked me to take him to the salt cave I was looking for this morning, but I didn't have to wait earlier?" As for this moment, the old man felt that he was still in a dream, "I really have my own ridge?" Hurriedly stretched out his hand to probe under the straw mat, "Tian Qi is here!" In the darkness, the old man's smiling face was like a hill and a ravine. Thinking of yesterday, it was really the happiest day of my life. Lord Vested Mei invited him to a feast, and then he gave him ten acres of land, and he got the land deed from the owner before leaving. Looking back today, I still can't believe it. But the deed is there, the food on the table is still there, and the old man can't help but believe it. At that moment, Mali packed up and went out with a cooked potato melon.

The grass and trees were still frosty, but the old man didn't feel cold at all.

"What kind of person!" The old man had just approached the Zhu Mansion when he heard a cold voice suddenly coming from a high place, which frightened the old man unconsciously, and hurriedly replied, "I am Zhu Lao, and I am here to wait for Master Mei." Master Mei asked me to take him to the mountains this morning. ”

"You wait. "In the second half of last night, Yunhu was on duty, and I didn't think that I could see my five fingers, but the old man had already come to the door.

"Squeak~", there was a sound of opening the door in the house of Zhu's mansion, and only one person said, "Is the old man here?" Mei Siyuan was woken up by Yunhu's cold drink, and guessed that the old man was coming, which was Yunhudao. After speaking, he got up and lit the lamp, and washed up for a while. The entourage had long been accustomed to sleeping lightly, and after hearing Mei Siyuan and Yunhu's answers, they hurriedly got up and prepared.

"Big brother, you really got up early!" Mei Siyuan finished her appearance, walked to the side hall, and saw the old man sitting on the square round stool with his feet hooked and hunched, and greeted with a smile.

The old man was blaming himself, when he heard Mei Siyuan come to ask, he immediately got up and replied, "Alas! I'm so stupid!" After speaking, he clenched his fists and hit his head, "I actually startled the adults so early!" I regretted that if I waited far away from the house, it would not be easy for this tall and thin brother to notice me, so I wouldn't wake up the adults.

Mei Siyuan saw the old man's expression, he really said it sincerely, his heart warmed, and he persuaded, "What's so important about this! I have never liked to sleep too much, thinking that I would go to the salt cave today, and I want to set off earlier!"

Mei Siyuan said to the side Yunhu said, "There is nothing to do today, you can rest here today first, and ask the seven of them to accompany you." When Yunhu heard this, the deacon retreated, and informed the other seven to go. After a while, all seven of them came in full gear, apparently to facilitate walking in the mountains.

When the people were all together, the nine marched in the dark.

"There's a stone here, but be careful under your feet!", "There's a mud nest on the right, don't step on it!", "There's a small slope ahead, and you have to walk diagonally with your heels later, for fear of slipping and falling", along the way, the old man kept waking up everyone, while exploring the road in front of him, his body was vigorous, and there was no trace of yesterday's wooden appearance.

It was already late in the mountains when it was dawning, let alone in winter. The nine of them walked for an hour before the sky turned white. Fortunately, the previous sections of the road are all at the foot of the mountain, and there are people coming and going all the year round, and the road has long been widened, and it is barely visible from the feet. "Big brother, has it been feasible for thirty or forty miles?" Fu Chou followed in front, and seemed to be quite tired at this time. I got up early today, my stomach was still hungry, and I was not tired after this rugged path, not only him, but also the other seven people were somewhat tired. "Alas, it's not that far, it's nearly twenty-four or five miles to the left," the old man replied. Fu Shu felt bitter in his heart, and asked again, "How far is it from the salt cave?" The old man smiled, "It's still early, over the mountain in front, there is another one behind, well, about forty miles of mountain roads." ”

Mei Siyuan knew that he was in a hurry this morning, and after walking for so long, he was still on an empty stomach, and said with a smile at the moment, "Brother Lao, it's better to find a place to rest and eat hotly, my third brother Fu is only afraid that he will be hungry!" Fu Shu was teased by Mei Siyuan, but his stomach was not angry, and he "purred" up, where did he dare to refute, he only lowered his head and smiled embarrassedly.

"That's fine! I remember that there were four green jujube trees on the hillside over there, and I would go to see if there were any dates in a while. As he spoke, he led everyone to a flat area on the side of the road, and pointed to the small slope in the southeast and said. When all eight of them sat down, they ran quickly to the small hill, and disappeared in a blink of an eye, like a rabbit.

Yun Kite sat on the stone, looked at it from behind, and sighed softly, "This old man has never practiced martial arts, but his feet are more flexible than ordinary good hands, but he is really a mountain man!"

As he spoke, a ray of red light came through the top of the mountain, and the sun had already risen.