Chapter 81 Jinjiang First Release Chapter 81 The couple took the creek and river nine...
The joyful atmosphere lasted the whole day, and all the families were in high spirits.
Only Li Zheng felt a little sad.
He was also happy for Yu Qinglong. Yu Qinglong was his friend and benefactor, and he wished him well. But when he thought about the two Yu uncles and Bai Wanqiu and his wife moving away, and the thought of his own home becoming deserted again, he couldn't help but feel envious.
Fortunately, it was very close. The Lu family's house was only two doors away from his, so he could reach it in the blink of an eye.
"Uncle Zhou, if there's anything I can help you with in the future, just call me," Li Zheng said to Zhou Yuehua. "And I'll refund you the rent first. Long Ge'er originally gave me six months' worth of money, and I kept two and a half months' worth. The rest is all here."
"You kid, I haven't left yet, are you trying to chase your uncle away?"
"No, no, that's not what I meant. I wish you all wouldn't leave. But even brothers have to settle accounts. I can't take money that doesn't belong to me."
"Long'er told me that this money is for you and the child. Besides, my firewood is still here, and it takes up space, so we should get some money. Besides, it's cold in that room, and it will take us a while to move in, so please don't rush to send us away."
"You may stay as long as you like. But I cannot accept the money. Longer has already helped me a great deal."
Putting aside other things, who among those working for the Fang family wasn't a relative? Brother Fangshan was also the Fang family's adopted son. He was the only one who was an outsider, but whenever there was a good opportunity to make money, Longge'er always thought of him. He couldn't do things without a clear conscience.
Zhou Yuehua smiled and said, "You're a good child. But my family has to listen to Long Ge'er in many matters now. He's smart and has a plan for everything. Only by following him can we live a good life. So I have to listen to him too. Just take the money. Long Ge'er also said that if you don't mind, your uncle Yu and I will adopt you as our adopted son. That way, we'll be real relatives and can take care of each other in the future. What do you think?"
Li Zheng nodded, tears falling onto the kang.
Yan Pan stood up shakily and walked over to him, almost falling: "Dad, Dad."
"Oh, Pan'er is going to walk!" Zhou Yuehua supported the little guy, "Zheng'er, look at him."
"Pan'er, my dearest, come and take another walk."
Yan Pan seemed to understand that his father and Grandpa Zhou were praising him, and took three more steps forward.
Li Zheng was so happy that he wiped his tears and hugged him: "Good boy."
Zhou Yuehua said, "Your uncle Yu also said that after we move to our new home, we will invite our family to have a good time. Then we will officially recognize you as our son."
Li Zheng nodded: "Thank you, Uncle Zhou."
As he spoke, he started to cry again. Yan Pan, not knowing what was going on, started to cry too. Zhou Yuehua told him to stop crying, and Li Zheng finally managed to hold back his tears.
"Pan'er will be able to walk in the future, and it won't matter if you put him on the ground for a while." Zhou Yuehua said, "It will be easier to take care of him." You don't have to hold him in your arms wherever you go, and this is also the first step for a child to grow up.
"Yeah. He's been growing so fast lately that I can hardly hold him anymore."
"Let your Uncle Yu help hold the clothes. He doesn't have much to do in winter anyway. You and I will sew new clothes together. Your Aunt Wu brought some cloth today, and we each have one. There's a piece of silk with a very bright color. You and Qiu'er, make a set each."
"And you?"
"I'm already old, why should I wear such nice clothes? It's a waste. Besides, I work all the time, so I won't wear them often. I'll give them to you."
"That won't work. If you don't wear it, I can't wear it either."
Zhou Yuehua smiled and said, "Okay, let's do it first. We have to make it with cotton cloth first."
The two of them discussed making cotton-padded clothes, while Yu Qinglong and Fang Shu were furiously writing in the Fang family's study. Yu Qinglong was holding a steamed bun, eating it as he wrote. Fang Wu had toasted it over charcoal and brushed it with osmanthus honey, making it incredibly fragrant.
The written words are also sweet.
Gu Huai'en finally knew that Mo Lanzhou was actually a brother. However, Mo Lanzhou's own body was not very useful at the moment.
He wasn't a human, and he'd been punished by heaven. It wasn't easy for him to fall in love with a mortal. He still had a lot of hardships to go through. Fortunately, their relationship finally took a step forward, and at least Gu Huai'en wasn't the only one suffering from unrequited love.
"It's so sweet and sad," Fang Shu said after reading Yu Qinglong's first draft. "But what should we do next? If Gu Xiucai is in trouble, Zhou Ge'er can help him. But if Zhou Ge'er is in trouble, how can a mortal like Gu Xiucai help him?"
"Of course, that requires a force that can move heaven and earth. Husband, turn over backwards."
"Ah, why is this...soul is unstable?"
"Yes. He was punished by heaven, so it's not easy for heaven to forgive him. Gu Xiucai wants to take Zhou Ge'er's soul to retrieve the divine artifact and help Zhou Ge'er return to the throne of god."
"Can they still be together?"
"As long as our hearts are together, we will be together one day."
Yu Qinglong continued writing. After finding out she was pregnant, for some reason, his inspiration became even more abundant. Perhaps it was because he was thinking about having Gu Xiucai and Zhou Ge'er have children in the future?
Fang Shu turned another page and tapped Yu Qinglong's nose with the tip of his pen. "Brother Long has been getting more and more lazy lately. What's going on?"
It actually said: The two of them had a mutual understanding, and this and that, this and that, they spent a night like a fairy tale! Note: Please write this part, the husband should be the one to write, it should be affectionate, but not truly united.
Yu Qinglong smiled wickedly after reading it: "Anyway, my husband has to use your words when he polishes it. So I'll just be lazy. My husband writes more erotically."
Fang Shu coughed lightly and said, "Your husband is a serious scholar."
Yu Qinglong said, "Yes, yes, she was very serious. At night, she was very serious and wouldn't let go of her husband. She also told her husband not to run away and asked him to call her 'good brother'."
Fang Shu: “…”
Yu Qinglong said as he hooked Fang Shu's feet in the foot warmer: "Isn't that right, dear brother?"
Fang Shu gritted his teeth and pretended to be fierce, then put down his pen with a "snap", walked around and picked up Yu Qinglong.
"What?" Yu Qinglong asked without struggling.
"You dare to make fun of your husband? I'll punish you." Fang Shu carried him onto the kang, undressed Yu Qinglong and looked at his belly.
The top is still very flat, and the firm muscles feel very smooth to the touch.
Fang Shu kissed him and rubbed his cheek against his: "Long Ge'er, this is our first child."
Yu Qinglong said, "Well, I don't know if it's a man or a boy, or maybe a cute little girl. But if it's a man, I'll call him 'Little Stone'."
"Huh? Why?"
"You met me because you like to pick up stones. You can't call me Little Stick, that sounds too ugly."
"That makes sense. Little Stone." As soon as Fang Shu called the child by this nickname, he felt that he had established a mysterious emotional connection with the child, which was indescribably exciting.
Yu Qinglong was tickled by him and grabbed his hand: "Shoucheng, do you think those officials will really come looking for us again tomorrow?"
Fang Shu said, "Eighty percent likely. Lord Cao doesn't look like he'd give up easily. But it doesn't matter. We can just say we're incapable of it. They can't force us to do it."
Yu Qinglong thought the same. Life was pretty good now. They had enough food, clothing, and shelter, and they had a child. Next year, when Fang Shu took the imperial examination, whether he passed or not, they had dozens of acres of tax-free land to rely on, and with the money they had, they could still live comfortably.
But if Cao Kuo's suggestion wasn't followed through, or if his suggestion was adopted but went awry, it would be a different story. Even if they weren't the ones making the decision, they would still be blamed. Furthermore, if their suggestion was actually adopted, they would have to be involved in the matter to some degree.
It is even more dangerous to just offer a few suggestions to avoid trouble. If they are adopted, you will be caught in a dilemma.
Yu Qinglong didn't want to break the current peace.
Fang Shu's original intention was clear. He wanted to take the imperial examination to avoid paying more land taxes, not to serve his country with loyalty. They were just ordinary people, without such lofty ideals.
Perhaps in a previous life. But after arriving here, Yu Qinglong could clearly feel that his ambition wasn't as high as it had been in his previous life. A big reason for this was gender restrictions. There were some things he couldn't do just because he wanted to. Even if he wanted to study medicine, he wanted to learn to read and have the skills to survive and make a living.
So now he just hopes to take good care of his own piece of land and let his relatives and friends around him gradually live a good life.
"Then when they arrive tomorrow, we'll just say we can't think of any good solutions?"
"Yes." Fang Shu said, "The most important thing now is to take good care of our little baby, Little Stone."
"Okay. Carry me over here."
"what?"
"What else can I do? Of course I have to continue writing the storybook. I've been delayed for two or three days, so I have to hurry up. I also have to make new illustrations for everyone and start doing the handicrafts as well."
"Are you still going to make a schoolbag this time?"
"Let's not make the schoolbags for now. It'll take some time to make the clothes. This time, let my second brother continue making the pen holders. While Lu Dexin is still accepting our storybooks, let the family earn as much as possible. I think this young master Lu keeps accepting these schoolbags and pen holders because he likes the looks of them. He must have some other way to make more and sell them, otherwise how much can he earn from just ten or eight of them?"
Opening a business is different from his situation, as you have to pay taxes.
But he couldn't possibly hire more people to make these bags and send them to Lu Dexin. Firstly, they would be too eye-catching, and secondly, there was no guarantee that the business would disappear one day. His family and friends were kind and understood him, but it was hard to say for outsiders.
We need to be more cautious in the future.
Yu Qinglong finished writing his copy of the storybook for the day and went to rest. Fang Shu finished polishing it and tidied up the desk before returning to the kang.
Fang Shu touched Yu Qinglong's belly from time to time, but he couldn't help but touch it because he was afraid of waking Yu Qinglong. Finally, Yu Qinglong couldn't stand being touched anymore and held his hand down: "Either leave it here and touch it, or take it away. Don't touch it like a thief, it's itchy."
Fang Shu didn't want to wake her husband up. After secretly blaming herself, she decided to put her hand on it.
He wanted to sleep with his husband and his child in his arms.
A night passed, and Fang Shu's hand was still on Yu Qinglong's belly. After Yu Qinglong woke up, he didn't get off the kang immediately. He stayed there to try to regain consciousness. Only after Fang Shu woke up did the couple leave together.
Mrs. Fang Wu said she would make him steamed buns, flower rolls, and bean curd, and she really did. There were several options on the breakfast table, plenty for him to choose from.
The only drawback was that Cao Kuo still sent officials over.
Four officials arrived, three on horseback and one driving a carriage. The one leading the way was an acquaintance.
Niu Quan said, "Mr. Fang, please come in."
Fang Shu asked, "Master Niu, why is it you?"
Niu Quan said, "I'm here on Lord Cao's orders to invite you two to several places. It will be a long journey, so please dress warmly."
Fang Shu heard this and quickly went in to get a thick cotton coat: "Master Niu, my husband is pregnant, please don't make the journey too bumpy."
Niu Quan told the driver to drive more steadily, and then the group set off.
Until they woke up this morning, Yu Qinglong and Fang Shu still thought that they would go directly to the town to meet Cao Kuo again and talk about their ideas.
Unexpectedly, Niu Quan took them to every village under Qixia Town.
Yu Qinglong and Fang Shu both knew that the autumn rains had flooded not only their own villages, Shangxiaxi, but also the surrounding areas to varying degrees. However, they had never visited those villages, so they had no direct experience of how the people there were coping.
They never thought that Cao Kuo would do this.
The collapsed house came into Yu Qinglong's sight again, but not everyone was as lucky as his family.
He rented a house for his family so they didn't have to suffer from the cold or worry about taxes and livelihood.
But there are also people who have no place to live, and the whole family, young and old, are crowded in a straw hut, skinny and with only dry wild vegetable porridge with barely visible rice grains on the stove in the yard. The hands of the person cooking the porridge are covered with chilblains.
But even with such thin porridge, there wasn't much left for each person.
Niu Quan said: "I originally thought that we could just survive the rainy season and make it to next year. But this year the snow was quite heavy. The two villages ahead were the hardest hit, with only a few houses left."
"Did these people also pay the land tax?" Fang Shu asked.
"Some have been paid. Since the higher-ups haven't said anything about exempting the land tax, then the tax must be paid in full. Our Lord Cao can't do anything about it. At best, we can buy them some time and take some grain from the government treasury to support them. But this isn't a long-term solution. This year, Lord Guo was sent to suppress the bandits, and 30% of the money for the troops came from the county, and the county isn't well off right now. The problem is, if these people want to dig food from the land again, it'll take at least until spring."
"Isn't there a poorhouse or something like that in town?" Yu Qinglong said, "At least there's a place to take shelter."
"The poorhouse is primarily for the elderly, the weak, and the one in our town isn't very big to begin with, so it can't take in many people. It's not really cold yet. Mr. Fang, Mr. Fang, you are both virtuous people, so please think of a solution for the town and for these ordinary people. Our Lord Cao is a skilled commander of troops and cares for the people, but he knows nothing about making money. He doesn't want anyone to take advantage of the opportunity to make money under the guise of doing good deeds, so he can only think of you."
Fang Shu said, "But we are not good at business either."
Niu Quan asked, "Isn't Mr. Fang good at it too?"
Yu Qinglong: “…”
He wanted to say yes, but he wasn't good at it either. But then, a child not far away started crying and told his parents he was still hungry. Yu Qinglong couldn't bear it.
Such young children have to suffer like this, what have they done wrong?
Yu Qinglong looked down at his stomach, unable to bring himself to reject Niu Quan. He now understood why Ji Shiyu had said in his letter not to mess with the new governor. He was truly adept at reading people's minds.
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Author's words: Qinglong: My husband, what should I do? I am a soft-hearted person who doesn't take hardship [melted]
Fang Shu: That’s terrible. I’m a person who can be both soft and hard [laughing and crying]
Qinglong: ...How many people do I have to cook for? Aunties [burst into tears][empty bowl][empty bowl][empty bowl]
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