Chapter 244244

This night was destined to be a sleepless night. After drawing their own tea land lots, many girls in Jiangjia Village who got the news went to talk about this matter with their sisters in a daze. It didn't matter if they didn't understand, there would always be smart and quick-witted girls who would tell them what this meant to them.

In fact, unmarried girls don’t feel deeply about the fact that they will have no home when they grow up, but all married women understand what it means for girls to have a homestead.

Moreover, Jiang Ning, Jiang Guoding, Jiang Guotai and others have solved the security and rumors issues that they are most concerned about.

Jiang Ning is a college student herself, and she has five brothers and her aunt loves her very much. She has made such a great contribution to the construction of her hometown. She returned to her hometown to provide disaster relief in the 1998 flood and to help the victims in her hometown. As long as she stays in the deserted mountains for one day, anyone who dares to touch her will have no place to live in the surrounding area, and countless people will want to kill her.

There is also the daughter of Jiang Guotai and Jiang Guoding.

As Yaoba Town competed with Shuibu Town for talent last year, the tourism economy of the entire town has developed, driving the development of the entire surrounding commercial economic industry chain. In less than three years, Jiang Guoding will definitely move up. His daughter has also built a house and settled down in the barren mountains. Who dares to go there and run wild?

The first two are okay. If you really commit a crime and they want to punish you, they may use legal means, and at most you will be sentenced to a dozen or twenty years in prison. If you encounter a severe crackdown like that in 1996 or 1997, it will be just a peanut.

But Jiang Guotai.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Jiang Guotai seemed quite kind to Jiang Ning and his future daughter-in-law Wang Xiyue in Jiangjia Village. In fact, in this era, being able to grab a highway construction project is not just about building relationships with those above, but also requires real fighting with those below.

During the crackdown in the past two years, Jiang Guotai looked more amiable under Jiang Ning's reminder. Even with his sworn enemy, he was always smiling and cheerful. But he is the real tough guy. Do you dare to cause trouble on his territory?

His daughter built a house and settled down in the barren mountains. Anyone who dares to go to the barren mountains to make plans may not lose his life, but he will definitely lose his legs.

Moreover, with these three people around, if anyone dared to use rumors to strangle the girls from Jiangjia Village who lived in the deserted mountains, Jiang Guotai and Jiang Guoding would kill them first without Jiang Ning having to step in.

When the tea land was divided this time, everyone from the four branches signed the contract. From the first branch, only those who were close to the electrician's family and those who lived with the third branch and the brothers of Jiang Shujun's father signed the contract. The rest of the people who lived in the outermost circle of the village near Xiaojiangjia Village all wanted the sisters' tea land and homesteads, but did not sign.

The people of Jiangjia Village, who had watched the division of tea fields in Jiangjia Village and the allocation of private plots to the girls in the village, also returned in the wind and snow.

The snow fell heavier at night, and by the next morning, the ground was covered with a thick layer of white snow. However, the entire Linhe Brigade, and even the brigade next door, was not silent because of the heavy snow. Instead, it was extremely lively. Whether it was because of the constant sound of firecrackers for ancestor worship today, or the news last night that Jiangjia Village was going to allocate residential land to girls, this was a major event that was enough to shock everyone in the surrounding area.

However, this news is still unclear to many people. They have only heard something vaguely and could not explain it clearly over the phone.

Many people who returned to the village to worship their ancestors on this day gathered on the mountain, and the sound of firecrackers continued to be heard everywhere on the mountain.

Because of the heavy snow, it was easier to make a bonfire, so Uncle Jiang and Aunt Jiang didn't have to worry too much about the forest fire. They felt more relaxed and listened to their son talk about last night's meeting.

The people of Xiaojiangjia Village and Dajiangjia Village worship the same ancestor, so even if they split into two independent villages, the latter tombs are still buried on the mountain of Xiaojiangjia Village. However, after the people of Xiaojiangjia Village worship their own mountain every year, they still go to Dajiangjia Village to worship their common ancestors. The tombs of many ancestors have been lost over time. They put paper money, fish, meat, and wine on the mountain, circled a piece of land, and shouted loudly: "Our ancestors are here to collect money!"

Shouted three times in a row.

The hilltop is full of people from various villages.

In previous years, people from Xujia Village would not come to Jiangjia Village, but today, after offering sacrifices to their ancestors, many people headed for the hilltop of Jiangjia Village. Before they even got close, they shouted, "I heard that your Jiangjia Village was quite lively last night? They said that they were allocating residential land to girls. Is that true?"

Xujia Village is a big village in the surrounding area, as famous as Jiangjia Village. In fact, the village area is larger than Jiangjia Village. When Jiangjia Village had insufficient population to accommodate, it was divided into different clans, but Xujia Village did not do that.

The people of Xiaojiangjia Village were also asking the people of Dajiangjia Village for further information.

Because the girls who have been confirmed to have received their own plots are actually only Jiang Guoping's daughter Jiang Ning, Jiang Guotai's daughter Jiang Miao, Jiang Guoding's daughter Jiang Yanyan, Jiang Shujun's cousin Jiang Qinqi, Jiang Guoqi's daughter Jiang Weiwei and sister Jiang Guoge.

Therefore, even if this matter is settled, the people mentioned above are the ones who will actually implement it.

As for others, there are very few who can make up their minds to stay in the village and find a son-in-law to live with them, because this is not in line with the family and love concepts they have been taught since childhood.

How can a girl not get married?

Girls must get married!

Many people are still in a wait-and-see state. They only know that they have a bottom line in their hearts. Even if they cannot make a living after getting married in the future, or do not want to get married, they have a way out. This makes them more confident. When they meet the people from Xiaojiangjia Village and Xujia Village, they hold their heads high and chests puffed out, like a proud rooster, and look particularly majestic.

Didn’t Uncle Cathay say that? When they grow up, can the income from the tea fields build them a house, even if it is just a small one?

Because of limited living conditions at home, the girls still don’t have their own room and have to share a bed with their older sisters. They will never have their own room in the future, so they are very excited about having their own house.

"Is this the case? Why is your village still allocating residential land to girls? Aren't girls going to get married? There's only this little land left, not enough for boys, so why do you agree to allocate land to girls?"

Many people in Dajiangjia Village themselves don't understand it, but they are very united towards the outside world, especially with the neighboring Xujia Village. If they were not close to the river, there would be no need to fight for water. Otherwise, it would probably be like what is shown on TV, fighting every day for nothing.

When Jiang Song was a child, didn’t he lead his friends from Jiangjia Village to fight with the little boys from Xujia Village every day?

Although the people in Dajiangjia Village didn't understand why Jiang Guotai and Jiang Guoding had to give the girl a homestead, they understood once they thought about the fact that Jiang Guoding's family only had one daughter. They said with a smile, "We are responding to the national policy. What era is it now? It's the 21st century! Do you understand that men and women are equal? ​​The slogan on the wall of the brigade headquarters at the entrance of the village is still written! 'It doesn't matter whether you have a boy or a girl. A daughter can also pass on the family line'!"

The person who was speaking was the eldest son of the old brigade secretary. He said the same things as his father and seemed very conscious. In fact, his first two sons were daughters, and he kept trying to have a third darling son, whom he treated like a baby at home. The eldest daughter was brainwashed into a brother-supporting demon in the eyes of others, and the second daughter was stuck in the middle and was a poor little thing.

But his second daughter is just like Jiang Ning. She looked ordinary when she was little and was bullied by her older sisters and brothers. Unexpectedly, she became more and more beautiful as she grew up. She has all the good qualities of her parents. Now, she is only sixteen or seventeen years old, but she has grown into a graceful and pretty girl.

Unfortunately, her sister was still in high school, but she went to work in a factory right after graduating from elementary school and would only come back during the Chinese New Year.

But those who don’t know his family situation would think that his family attaches great importance to daughters, because his eldest daughter is named Jiang Jinzhu, the second daughter is named Jiang Yinzhu, and the youngest son is named Jiang Yuqi.

Both girls are the apple of my eye. Now only the youngest son is still in school, and the two older daughters are working outside.

The people of Xujia Village were quite polite to him because he was the eldest son of the old secretary. They took out a pack of cigarettes from their pockets, handed it to him, and asked with a smile: "I know that the people of you Jiangjia Village are advanced in thinking. Isn't it a bit surprising to hear this news suddenly? We are all from the same team. We have seen the bustle of your Jiangjia Village this year. You see, the hills of our two families are connected..."

He looked at the hilltop in Jiangjia Village with envy. It was originally the same as theirs, but now it has become a neatly planted tea mountain. He also looked at the old secretary's eldest son and said, "Our two villages have been related for many years, and we are also a brigade. The road in your village is now well built. Everyone in the surrounding area praises it. Is this your son? He is so tall, handsome and decent. At first glance, he is a handsome boy who attracts many girls. Oh, you two are good-looking, and your children are also very good-looking."

This is really true. Jiang Aidian's father was an old party secretary. The old party secretaries of that era had great power. His mother was bright and beautiful when she was young. He and his two sisters were also good-looking and were famous for their beauty when they were young. His eldest sister married in Xujia Village. The current brigade secretary is his eldest brother-in-law. His youngest sister married in the town, and they live a very harmonious life.

He only has two younger brothers. The second brother is okay. He looks gentle and bookish, but he did not get into college after graduating from high school. He is arrogant and looks down on rural women who have not read a few books. He wants to marry an educated girl from the town or city. He is in his thirties and still single. He has become a negative example that all the men in the village must avoid becoming.

His younger brother was like a mutant. Not only was he short like his father, he also inherited his grandfather's ugliness. He was born very ordinary. When he was fifteen or sixteen years old, he peeked at someone taking a bath and had his leg broken. Now his leg is lame, so he also has no partner and no children. There are three brothers in their family, and the only precious grandson of the third generation is his, Yuqi. Isn't that a precious egg?

If Jiang Yuqi is not born, their family will be extinct!

The people in Xujia Village praised Jiang Yuqi, which really touched Jiang Aidang's sore spot. The smile on his face immediately grew wider, and his voice unconsciously became louder. He praised: "Speaking of my son, I'm really not bragging. In the whole village, except for Uncle Guoping's family, my Yuqi is the best-looking. Look at him!" He reached out to touch his son's head, "He really looks exactly like me when I was young, and even more handsome than I was when I was young!"

He really thinks his son is a good boy no matter how he looks at him. Most importantly, he has a good temper. He is not like those boys in the eldest wife's house who fight, make trouble, gamble, or act mischievously all day long. He has never done that. He has been playing obediently in his own yard with his two sisters since he was a child. He is not willing to go out to play with other boys and come back covered in mud. He also studies hard.

Seeing that Jiang Aidang was happy about being praised, the people of Xujia Village randomly mentioned: "Your father is the old secretary of our Linhe Brigade. He is highly respected. The current brigade secretary is your brother-in-law. Can you talk to the old secretary and bring the people of Xujia Village to develop this tea mountain together?"

Jiangjia Village is very lively this year. Xujia Village, as the village closest to Jiangjia Village, has seen a lot of it. It has also heard about the money that the people in Jiangjia Village who grow tea trees have earned this year.

Xujia Village is a big village like Jiangjia Village, and is no worse than Jiangjia Village. The only clinic in the surrounding area is in Xujia Village. The old primary school where Jiang Ning and her friends attended when they were young is also in Xujia Village. There is also a rice cake processing factory, a pork shop, a tofu shop, etc., all of which are in Xujia Village.

But Xujia Village has never had a leader like Jiang Guotai who can lead the whole village to become rich.

In fact, there are also rich people in Xujia Village.

Yes, there are!

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, fighting was particularly severe. One of the most ferocious, wildest and ruthless fighters in their village went to an important town near Shanghai and took half of the young people of Xujia Village with him and occupied the town.

The local residents of that town live a comfortable life because it is close to Shanghai. They are also gentle in temperament. Where have they ever seen people as barbaric, domineering and overbearing as those in Xujiacun? In addition, they had a large number of people and were really brave enough to fight and kill, so they soon became the local bully and opened a casino. They made a lot of money over the years and were very arrogant and glorious.

However, his fame and fortune did not benefit the village at all. Instead, he brought all the young people in the village to the town over there, and they became his thugs. All year round, they were either fighting or gambling.

In fact, many young people from the big families in Jiangjia Village also followed Xujia Village to that place and spent the whole day there.

Not to mention the boys who are already naughty, even the good kids would be trained to become gamblers after being put into such a place for a long time.

Not only young boys, but also many young girls were brought there to settle down and get married. Because it is close to Shanghai, there are many factories there. Girls and women went to work in the factories. Xujia Village itself is a large village with a very large population. Most of them went to that town. Now, half of the town is local residents, and the other half are people from Shijian Township and Shuibu Town who were brought there by people from Xujia Village. The local language has changed from the original Wu dialect to the Shuibu Town dialect.

However, during the crackdown in 1996 and 1997, many people were arrested, but the boss of Xujia Village who ran the casino was not arrested. It was said that he fled abroad, but no one knew whether it was true or not.

Jiang Aidan also felt that his family had a lot of face in the village. Since he was a child, the villagers were very polite to him because his father was the brigade secretary. Although he was also from the third branch, he lived with the people from the second branch in the center of the village. His family opened a small store in the center of the village. During the holidays, people who wanted to watch movies would come to his house to buy things.

Although the old store at the entrance of the village has been open for a long time and is the first convenience store in the village, it is far away and inconvenient. It is also located at the bottom of the village near the entrance. People from the first, second and fourth rooms upstairs have to run from the upper floor to the lower floor, and from the back to the front to buy things. It is too far.

He was flattered and said with a smile: "I can help you with this matter. Isn't my brother-in-law from your Xujia Village? You can talk to my brother-in-law yourself, right? You also said that we are from the same team!"

Jiang Ai Dang is actually very proud, because now the entire Jiangjia Village has completely suppressed Xujia Village.

The people of Xujia Village also asked Jiang Aidan about Jiang Guotai and Jiang Guoding, asking about their preferences and who were in their families.

Jiang Guoding and Jiang Guotai did not live in the village for many years. Although everyone in Xujia Village knew them because they were prominent figures when they were young, they did not know about their later family situation.

It was not until I heard at this time that Mayor Jiang had only one daughter that I suddenly realized.

So this is the reason, he only has one daughter!

Although the family planning policy has been implemented for almost 20 years, there are almost no single-child families in Jiang Ning's generation. People often have many children. However, public servants like Jiang Guoding are required to have only one child.

After finding out about Jiang Guoding's family situation, they asked about Jiang Guotai and learned that Jiang Guotai had a pair of children. They assumed that Jiang Guotai's family business would definitely be inherited by his son in the future, so they allocated tea land and residential land to her daughter in their hometown to build a house.

The people of Xujia Village realized that they were aware of Jiang Guoding and Jiang Guotai's situation, so they prepared to go back and make an appointment with those who had the most say in the village to go to the home of the brigade secretary Xu Changjiang, and talk to Xu Changjiang about getting the people of Jiangjia Village to help them get rich together.

The people in their village were used to being tyrannical and barbaric, and they didn't know how to ask for favors in a nice way. All the young people in the village came back under the pretext of the New Year, intending to force Jiangjia Village to make a fortune with them.

Jiang Guotai is a person with strong action ability and high efficiency.

On the night of the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, he discussed allocating residential plots to the girls. Early in the morning of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, he asked his son and Jiang Bai to drive to the neighboring Shijian Township to invite the old blind man who was said to be very accurate in fortune-telling and the Taoist priest from the Taoist temple on Wugong Mountain to come and look at the feng shui.

Several temples on Wugong Mountain are actually Taoist temples, and the people inside are all Taoists, but the locals are accustomed to saying "going to the temple to burn incense". Over time, they are accustomed to calling it "temple" instead of Taoist temple.

But the people inside are all real Taoists.

Jiangjia Village is not close to Wugong Mountain. Even after the cement road was built, it is still more than ten kilometers away. It takes at least half an hour to drive to Wugong Mountain. After arriving at Wugong Mountain, they have to climb the mountain for a long time to reach the Taoist temple above. After they picked up the Taoist priest and the old blind fortune teller in the Wugong Mountain Taoist temple, they hurriedly drove back.

When they came back, Jiang Guotai and his companions had just finished offering sacrifices to their ancestors. They returned to the village at 9:30 in the morning, called the people from the second and third branches and the first branch centered around Jiang Shujun's family, and went to the barren mountain with saws, axes, shovels and pickaxes.

Jiang Hongjun, Jiang Hongbing, and Jiang Jun were the most enthusiastic. Holding shovels and axes, they pointed to the sunny spot in front, adjacent to Jiang Hongbing's house, and drew a rough area: "This... this piece is... the homestead of Ningning, right? These trees can be cut down to serve as beams for Ningning's house. We don't have to find another place to cut trees!"

Jiang Guotai directed the people: "Don't worry about the trees yet, cut down all the thorns and weeds first. No one has come into this barren mountain for many years, and the weeds have grown so deep!"

In fact, it's not that no one came in, but that no one came in from the sunny side of the barren mountain. Instead, there is a small path deeper in the mountain. Today is the day of sacrifice. The small graves inside, or the flat ground, are surrounded by a circle of stones, and paper money is burned inside, and the people buried in the barren mountain go to collect the money. There is still the smell of fireworks, as well as some wine glasses, drinks, small bowls of fish and meat, etc.

In addition to those who died unjustly during the ten years of chaos, there are also the remains of baby girls and women who died but could not be buried in the ancestral tomb, as well as children who drowned every year for various reasons because they lived close to the Sha River. Their remains are also buried in the barren mountains.

Jiang Xin and his companions returned quickly in a Santana. They brought not only the old blind man and the Taoist priest, but also all the equipment for performing rituals. All they needed to do was provide a table and they could perform rituals on the spot to liberate the souls of the deceased and collect the corpses.

Because there were many people gathered outside the barren mountain, even people from Xujia Village and many people living at the village entrance below came over to watch the fun. Including people from several families in Jiangjia Village, they all gathered together. For a moment, the cement road at the entrance of the barren mountain was full of people.

Many people in Xujia Village who were not aware of the situation asked what was going on. When they found out that Jiangjia Village was actually going to develop the barren hills and use them as private plots for the girls in the village, they were shocked and wanted to watch the fun.

But no one objected to Jiang Guotai's plan to find someone to collect the remains, especially since Jiang Guotai was planning to build a tombstone deep in the barren mountains, and gather all the collected remains under the tombstone. From then on, people living in the barren mountains would hold collective sacrifices there. Those who originally wanted to object also gave up the idea.

Because of this, some people who want to offer sacrifices will not need to do so secretly. Those who have friends, daughters, or children will be able to offer sacrifices openly in the future and let the dead enjoy the incense.

After Jiang Hongjun and his team cut down the trees, the weeds and dead branches at the entrance of the barren mountain were finally cleared away, leaving a large open space.

Jiang Hongbing had already moved the table over and asked the Taoist priest to perform the ritual.

After the ritual was completed, an old blind man and a Taoist priest were invited to calculate the feng shui and the date before the excavation of the grave could be started.

Both the old blind man and the old Taoist priest said that today was not a good day. Tonight was the day for sacrifices and collecting money from the dead souls, so they should not be disturbed. However, they could start work. They should cut down the trees that were killed by the flood at the entrance first, and there was no need to touch the trees inside.

Because all the corpses are located inside the barren mountain, there are actually no corpses on the outside of the barren mountain.

After the rituals were performed and the fortune teller told them that construction could begin, Jiang Guotai led a group of people from Jiangjia Village to start cutting down trees and clearing the barren mountain homestead.

After rows of trees were cut down, they were tied together with hemp ropes to form a one-meter-wide simple wooden bridge, which was built over the ditch separating the barren mountain from the concrete road. In this way, there was no need to pass through the ridges of fields and Jiangjiagou, but one could go directly from the concrete road across the ditch to the barren mountain.

Jiang Guotai stood on the edge of the barren hill, watching everyone working, frowned and said to Jiang Guoding: "This place is still a bit far from the village, and getting water is a problem!"

The girls could go to Jiangjiagou at the foot of the barren mountain to do laundry and vegetable washing, but for drinking water they had to go to the old well at the entrance of the village.

The old well at the entrance of the village is not far from Jiang Ba's house and Jiang Jun's house, but for men with strong physical strength, carrying some water is nothing. But for the girls living in the barren mountains, such a long distance and the problem of carrying water is troublesome enough.

The first thing Jiang Guotai thought of was not to dig a well for them in the barren mountains, but to solve the problem of tap water for the girls living in the barren mountains.

He moved to Shuibu Town with his family early on, and later settled in a neighboring city. He could be said to be the first person in the village, besides Jiang Guoding, to use tap water. Having become accustomed to tap water, he could not accept that his daughter would have to work hard to fetch water from the well in the future. In his mind, it was only a matter of time before the whole village would have tap water installed. So why not solve the tap water problem instead of going through the trouble of digging a well? Won’t we still need to install running water after digging a well in the future? Why not do it all in one go?

So he discussed with Jiang Guoding to install running water in the entire village.

The water that people in Shuibu Town drink comes from Shahe River, which is then filtered through layers of filters in the water plant.

But their place has mountain streams and a natural reservoir, with water flowing all year round.

In the 1970s and 1980s, people in their village had dug two dams on the mountain. The upper one was called the big dam and the lower one was called the small dam. The two dams were very deep and the water was very clear, forming a deep blue color, like two dazzling gems inlaid in the mountain pass. Even the boys in the village who were best at swimming only dared to swim in the lively Sha River, and did not dare to swim in the deep dams.

Jiang Guotai decided that if they wanted running water in Jiangjia Village, they didn't need to get water from the Sha River. Instead, they could use the two dams at the entrance to the mountain and directly get mountain spring water for the girls in the barren mountain.