The old lady slapped her hard across the face: "You're pulling this stunt on your mother? This is my granddaughter, how could I mistreat her? Is the house over there ready? How are you going to bring your things over?"
The other old ladies weren't worried, but they were afraid that their eldest daughter-in-law and two grandsons wouldn't have enough to eat when they went there, so they were thinking about whether they could bring some food with them.
"Just bring your clothes with you. I've already tidied up the house over there, so don't worry, your two grandsons won't go hungry."
"I'm not worried. What do I have to worry about? They're your own sons. How could you mistreat them? Second son's wife, third son's wife, come with me to cook. We'll have a good meal tonight."
Li Guizhi quickly stood up as well: "Mother, I'll go with you."
Qian Jiefang took out a handful of candy and put it in his son's pocket, gesturing for the boys to go out and share it. The five little ones saw the candy and quickly followed him out. Qian Xiao also wanted to go out with them, probably because her father had something to say to her grandfather, and it wouldn't be appropriate for a little girl like her to hear it.
Qian Jiefang patted his daughter on the shoulder: "You don't need to go out, it's not a secret."
"Dad, are there any empty houses in our village?"
Old Qian was holding a cigarette under his nose and smelling it. He couldn't bear to smoke the cigarettes his eldest granddaughter brought back; he would take one out to smell it whenever he had free time.
"What?" The eldest son's family is going to join the army, why are you asking about the house? Isn't our own house enough for him to live in?
“Our leader’s relatives are thinking of coming here to live, and their household registration will be in the commune. They want to come directly to our village. My hometown is here, so I can help take care of them.”
"Yes, there is, but that house hasn't been lived in for a long time. It can't be lived in if it's not properly repaired. It's the house at the end of the village."
There was more than one empty house at the end of the village, but Qian Jiefang knew which one his father was referring to.
A family used to live in that house. When the Japanese invaded, the whole family was doing business in the city. They were all killed. Anyway, the family never came back after that. I only heard about it from people in the village.
The house was quite nice, a brick and tile house. It belonged to the Qian family, so of course some people coveted it. However, it was difficult to allocate, and no one was willing to spend money to buy a house, so it remained vacant.
It's free, right? Everyone wants such a nice house, and allocating it to anyone would just lead to a lot of trouble.
Speaking of that house, Qian Jiefang still remembers it. If it weren't for the high price, the house wouldn't be vacant: "How much?"
"Two years ago, someone asked about it and said it would cost 150 yuan. I don't know now. If you want to buy it, you'll have to ask your uncle. If he doesn't think it's too expensive, you can ask your uncle to find someone to clean it up. No one can even get into that house if it's not cleaned up."
My third uncle was very curious: "Brother, why would this nice city person give up living in our countryside?" They country folks are all desperate to go to the city, so why would a city person want to come to the countryside?
"They said the elderly couple were both university professors, and after retiring, they wanted to find a beautiful place to live out their retirement."
Qian Xiao frowned slightly. This was clever; she had already foreseen the unfriendly treatment of intellectuals in the future.
However, at this time, university professors were more likely to stay and study traditional Chinese culture. It would be best for them to live in seclusion in the countryside. If they were still living in familiar surroundings, they might be reported out at any time.
In a few years, those with overseas connections will likely meet a rather tragic end.
"These city people are really strange. The city is so great, what's so good about the countryside?" Qian Sanbao couldn't understand the thinking of these city people. Isn't it good to eat government-subsidized grain? Why do they have to come to the countryside to suffer?
However, no one could answer Qian Sanbao's questions. This guy was slow to react, and it would take a long time to explain to him. Who had the patience to deal with that?
"Dad, if they come over, please help look after them. If anything goes wrong, just call me and let me know."
Old Qian nodded. It wasn't a big deal. He admired those educated people.
"Okay, don't worry about us in our village. There's no one particularly annoying in our village."
"Alright, I'll go to my uncle's house first and ask about the price of the house. Tomorrow I'll go to the commune and make a phone call to let them know about the house."
Outsiders can only buy or rent houses; it's impossible for them to build houses directly on homestead land. With so many people in the village, homestead land is simply not available to outsiders.
"Go on, go on, come back quickly, it's almost time to eat."
"Come on, daughter, come with your father."
Qian Xiao didn't refuse and went out with her father: "Dad, my mother said it's inconvenient to go to school over there?"
“Elementary school is alright, it’s under construction right now, but it won’t be the same when you get to high school. You’ll have to go to a city that’s very far away. Daughter, are you really sure about this? You’re so young to be taking the college entrance exam. I’m worried about you going to college alone at such a young age.”
"What's there to worry about? Who knows who will be unlucky if we run into bad guys?" Qian Xiao was quite confident in her strength. Besides, she wasn't a great beauty, so she wasn't afraid of running into any bad guys who were lustful.
Qian Jiefang tapped his daughter on the head: "You still dare to talk? How could you be so bold about what happened the year before last? I heard those people all had guns. No matter how tough you are, you can't be as tough as those bullets."
When he first received the news, Qian Jiefang had never been so nervous, not even when he went to the battlefield. If it hadn't been for quite some time before he found out, he would have definitely asked for leave to come back and give his daughter a good scolding. How could she be so bold?
"Hehe, I didn't think that much about it. I just thought that we absolutely couldn't let these bad guys cause trouble in our country. How did you find out about this?"
"Have you forgotten what your father does?"
"Would that be good for you?"
Qian Jiefang laughed, his daughter was so smart: "You brat, no matter how great the benefits are, you can't do this kind of thing anymore. Remember, when your parents aren't around, you have to be extra careful about your safety."
"Don't worry, I value my daughter's life."
Qian Jiefang ruffled his daughter's short hair: "Why hasn't your hair grown out yet? I see other little girls wearing braids and they look so cute. Dad even bought you a red ribbon for your hair. You can't even braid your hair like that." His tone was filled with regret.
It's a good thing it's not the right season, otherwise he was thinking of buying his daughter a little dress, but looking at her like this, he probably wouldn't wear it even if he bought it.
Qian Xiao's lips twitched. Thinking about the two bright red hair ties tied around her head, she couldn't help but laugh: "This is great. It's easy to wash and dry. Otherwise, it would be such a waste of time to braid my hair every day."
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