"Our ancestors originally lived in the Central Plains. They were also wealthy! Otherwise, how could your grandfather and your great-grandfather have the spare money to go to school when they were young?"

Jiang explained to Daohua with a smile. At this point, she and Xia Youtian exchanged a glance. The couple thought simultaneously that if the old man hadn't been literate, he wouldn't have been so obsessed with sending someone to school.

Seeing Daohua tilting her head and looking at her eagerly, Jiang continued to tell her stories in a gentle voice:

"Later, because of the war, our ancestors came here.

Although it's a bit cold here, there's a lot of unowned wasteland, and the soil is very fertile. You can even produce oil if you scoop up a handful! However, this is nothing compared to the biggest advantage: no war!

Daohua was completely confused: "Didn't they say that the Northern Barbarians would attack Beiguan County every few years?"

"Silly child, the city they were attacking was Beiguan County, which is more than a hundred miles away from our remote corner!

The county town is guarded by imperial officials and soldiers, so the northern barbarians generally cannot break in.

Besides, even if they were lucky enough to get in, they would only like to rob the wealthy families in the county town and wouldn't even bother to look at our poor country town!"

After hearing this, Xia Daohua roughly understood their thoughts, but she was still very uneasy.

It's a pity that the Xia family doesn't even have many books, let alone maps! Without maps, it's impossible to tell which areas in this era have the safest terrain.

Xia Daohua could only comfort herself that she couldn't eat hot tofu in a hurry, so she should just take it slow!

The family's busyness continues.

On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the village head's family began to slaughter pigs. As in previous years, the village head's family was always the first to slaughter a pig.

The children in the village all ran happily to watch the pig being slaughtered.

Daohua, who originally had no interest in slaughtering pigs, was also pulled over by Linghua and Zaohua from the fifth room.

Linghua and Zaohua happily joined a few children of similar age from the village, squeezing through the crowd to the front. They stared at the fat pig on the chopping board, sucking their fingers eagerly, watching the butcher bleed the pig, blow the skin off the pig, and cut it into pieces...

Xia Daohua forced herself to watch for half of the time, but when she saw that Linghua and the others were all paying attention to the pigs, she quietly left.

I was alone in the village, wandering aimlessly for two circles, and then I came to an old house near the mountain. This old house was built decades ago.

It is now very dilapidated and naturally no one lives there.

The cold wind had blown away much of the thatch on the roof, leaving several large holes in it. The walls were also crumbling, with one wall already halfway collapsed. From a distance, the whole house looked like a triangular shack, but only when you got closer could you see its original appearance.

However, as soon as Xia Daohua walked near it, she heard the sound of someone talking in the old house.

Xia Daohua felt that the voice sounded familiar, so she stopped and listened carefully.

She was startled when two words came blowing in the cold wind.

The female voice was clearly that of her aunt Xia Yujiao. The male voice also sounded somewhat familiar, likely someone the original owner knew, but she couldn't place it.

Xia Daohua's body moved much faster than her brain, and she hid in the space in an instant.

It's never a good thing to discover other people's secrets.

However, this hiding made Xia Daohua discover one of the benefits of the space supermarket.

In the storage area of the space supermarket, not only can you hear the sounds outside, but you can also see the scenery outside. However, the observation port is a bit small. It is a floor-to-ceiling mirror located in the supermarket storage area.

Xia Daohua's intuition was correct.

She had just hidden in the space when two people walked out of the dilapidated house.

One of them was Xia Yujiao, the youngest daughter of the old couple of the Xia family and the original owner's aunt. She was engaged but had not yet married.

The other one was of stocky build, with a beard, big eyes with a lot of white in them, and looked fierce.

The bearded man was wearing a green satin robe that didn't fit him well, a blue silk scarf on his head, and a pair of black-topped, white-soled official boots. He looked around for a long time before he spoke:

"Maybe I heard it wrong. The footsteps were quite light just now. Maybe it wasn't a person, but someone's dog running past here."

Xia Yujiao was a little shy, lowered her head, and said softly, "I'll go back first."

The bearded man grabbed Xia Yujiao's waist and said, "Yujiao, listen to me. Don't marry that sickly guy! After the New Year, I'll divorce my old hag and come to your house to propose marriage!"

Xia Yujiao struggled but couldn't break free. Frustrated, she punched the bearded man's arm twice: "Let me go! What a disgrace! How can I live like this if someone sees this?"

"Yujiao, if you don't agree to me, I won't let you go!"

"It's not that I don't agree to you, it's just that I can't agree to you!

Not to mention that you have a wife and children.

Speaking of me, my parents have already arranged a marriage for me! The Xie family is not wrong. Even if Xie Jiabao is a sickly person, my family cannot break their promise and cancel the engagement like this!

I came to see you this time just to make things clear to you. Let me go!"

"No! I won't let go!"

The bearded man started to act like a scoundrel, and Xia Yujiao was so anxious that she started to cry: "Wow, are you trying to force me to death?"

Seeing Xia Yujiao crying so hard, with tears and snot all over her face, the bearded man finally let her go:

"Yujiao, don't cry, don't cry! Just promise me that you won't rush into getting married, and I'll definitely find a way!"

Xia Yujiao said nothing, but walked away while wiping away her tears.

The bearded man stood there for a while, then suddenly yelled, "Smelly boy, come out! I see you!"

Xia Daohua was startled.

Is it not safe to hide in the supermarket? I can see outside, and outsiders can also see me?

Immediately afterwards, Xia Daohua saw that the bearded man looked around blankly for a while, then changed direction and repeated the words he had just spoken loudly.

Oh, it turns out you were trying to trick me!

Xia Daohua wiped the sweat from her forehead and thought to herself, it’s a good thing I was slow, otherwise I would have almost fallen for your trick!

She recalled for a long time and felt that the bearded man looked very familiar. It must be someone she knew, but she couldn't remember who this person was.

The bearded man walked around the dilapidated house and shouted in every direction, but no one responded to him. Finally, he looked around suspiciously and left, looking back every few steps.

Xia Daohua came out of the supermarket only after the bearded man was out of sight.