Now Zhao Chengmo has also moved into the manor. On the one hand, it is convenient for him to recuperate, and on the other hand, as Aunt Tao said, everyone lives together and meals are lively. What's the point of a man like him going back to live with a cold stove and an empty pot?

Gu Lingze did it right away. He first placed the eggs in cold water and heated them over low heat until the water boiled. After two minutes, he took out the eggs and peeled them.

Put some oil in the pan and sauté the diced onion and diced mushrooms.

Then put the chopped pork belly into the pan and season it. Add the previously fried ingredients including the eggs. After adding everything in, pour in hot water and simmer until the sauce is reduced.

"What's stewing? It smells so good." Aunt Tao walked into the kitchen following the aroma.

"Braised pork rice. I learned this from others before. You can eat it right away."

Gu Lingze quickly served the rice, opened the lid of the pot, poured the braised meat sauce on it, and then topped it with blanched green vegetables, making the dish look, smell and taste great.

The braised pork rice was indeed very popular. Jinzi and Lingzi ate without even raising their heads. Almost everyone ordered an extra bowl, and Zhao Chengmo ate the most.

"I didn't expect that our Lingze's craftsmanship is so good. She won't have trouble finding a husband in the future." Aunt Tao praised happily.

Phew...cough, cough cough.

Gu Lingze's mouthful of rice was stuck in his throat by Aunt Tao's words. He coughed for a long time and his face turned red.

"Oh, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. You're almost old enough. In our countryside, there are many fathers your age."

Gu Lingze had completely forgotten about this. Now this body is a young man and he is going to get married.

But he will definitely not marry blindly, he will find someone he likes.

Jinzi patted Gu Lingze on the back and said, "My brother-in-law must be the most capable one, only then he is worthy of my brother."

"You clever little devil know all this." Aunt Tao said jokingly. The whole family laughed happily, only Zhao Chengmo's eyes flashed with a dark light.

After dinner, Uncle Xu called Gu Lingze and said he had something to discuss with him.

"Lingze, you asked me to help you find a diligent and honest farmer to contract the land under your name. I have already found one, but now I have some troubles."

"What's the trouble, Uncle Xu?" Gu Lingze picked up the teapot and poured two cups of tea.

"Now the village head's relatives are unwilling to give up these lands, saying that there are still crops on the land. Either they hand over the land after next autumn, or they will be compensated with silver."

After hearing this, Gu Lingze thought these people were really ridiculous.

He hadn't pursued the previous incident because he thought it was too troublesome to bother with it, but they were still shamelessly negotiating terms with him.

"In fact, I've been to the fields a long time ago and there are no crops in winter. There are only some cold-resistant vegetables like green onions and cabbages. They are using this as an excuse."

"Now that they have come to blackmail me, I'll let them experience for themselves the consequences of their greed." Gu Lingze couldn't help but sneer slightly on his thin lips.

When he sold the slaves on the farm, it was actually a play performed by him and Li Renya.

When those slaves were sold, they cried out for injustice, saying that it was all the village head's instructions. In fact, Gu Lingze knew that this was true.

So the other slaves were only sold to some slightly mean masters, and only the village head was actually taken to the quarry.

In the freezing temperature, Zhang Hezhi, the former village head, was wearing only a ragged piece of clothing whose pattern and color were unclear, and there were blood scabs on his face.

He was hammering the iron wedge into the stone with the tool in his hand, his eyes dull and his limbs numb, he just kept working out of inertia.

When Zhang Hezhi first arrived, he had thought of a way, but he was penniless when he was tied up by the human traffickers.

He wanted the supervisor to deliver a letter to his family, but the supervisor said he went, but he didn't get a penny and was beaten up when he came back.

The initial reward was 20 taels, and later it was raised to more than 100 taels. It was as if these people had colluded with each other. Not only did they refuse to go, but they tortured him even more severely. Zhang Hezhi also went from being collapsed at the beginning to being numb now.

He was now just waiting to die, and the cart for collecting corpses was pushed away from Zhang Hezhi's sight every day.

Staying in this hell on earth, I have less than two hours of rest time every day and have to work the rest of the time.

There was food, but it was only wild vegetable soup and coarse bread. There was not even enough to sip water. People died of illness and exhaustion every day.

Zhang Hezhi was just about to move the stones he had just chiseled off the ground onto the truck when he was suddenly kicked to the ground. He quickly got up and saw Li Renya standing next to the supervisor.

"Your master wants to see you now." After saying that, he turned and left, not caring whether the other party could catch up or not.

It turned out that the head supervisor of the quarry was Li Renya's cousin. At the beginning, Gu Lingze did not give Zhang Hezhi's indenture to Li Renya, but only wanted to teach him a lesson before discussing the next matter.

Although Li Renya's cousin was dissatisfied with not getting the indenture, he was only responsible for watching Zhang Hezhi and preventing him from escaping, and he also worked for free, so it was considered a good deal.

The supervisor's monthly salary is not small, and it is impossible for these people to offend their boss for that kind of money, so they said they had been there before, but in fact they had not been there at all.

Li Renya took Zhang Hezhi all the way back to Donglin Village. He saw Gu Lingze standing at the door from afar and got out of the car in a hurry.

Gu Lingze was standing here not to welcome a servant, but because he didn't want Zhang Hezhi to go in, for fear of dirtying the ground in his yard.

"Master, Master, I know I was wrong. I won't do it again. Please don't send me back."

As soon as Zhang Hezhi got out of the car, he hugged Gu Lingze's legs. His face was covered with blood scabs, snot and tears.

Gu Lingze felt sick and kicked him away. Zhang Hezhi fell backwards but did not dare to delay and quickly got up and knelt on the spot.

Seeing Zhang Hezhi's current state, Gu Lingze took out twenty taels of silver and gave it to Li Renya.

“Well done.”

Li Renya nodded and bowed quickly, saying, "Thank you for the reward, sir. If this dog slave dares to disobey me again in the future, you can come find me."

Gu Lingze nodded, and Li Renya took the money and left contentedly.

"How does it feel to be in the quarry? Is it more enjoyable than when you were on this farm?"

Gu Lingze didn't wait for his answer after he finished speaking, and said with regret: "You said you suffered such a great crime, why didn't your family send anyone to rescue you?"

"It's your fault that you deceived your superiors and subordinates and gave them such a big advantage. Your good relatives are still occupying my land."

Zhang Hezhi didn't know anything about Li Renya's cousin. He gnashed his teeth in hatred after hearing this.

"What do you think we should do?" Although Gu Lingze's tone contained a hint of distress, his expression was sarcastic.

When Zhang Zhihe looked up, he met his stern gaze and felt a chill down his spine.

He quickly took two steps on his knees, slapped himself in the face twice, and said anxiously: "Master, please give me a chance to correct my mistakes. I will definitely do it well."