Chapter 211 Proposal for Room Allocation
The door was wide open and the Qin family members were standing at the door. Qin Zhao was the quickest. He stepped forward and picked up the fat rabbit.
Just then, boom—boom—
There were bursts of roars coming from the mountain.
"What's that sound?"
Everyone in the Qin family couldn't help but look towards the mountain.
"The mountain collapsed?"
At this time, a thin middle-aged man from the Qin family's house pushed open the door and came out, "No, the sound you heard is not the mountain collapsing, but the sound of bluestone being quarried on the mountain."
As he spoke, his eyes fell on the rabbit Qin Zhao was holding. The noise from beating the bluestone was too loud, and it startled the small animals in the mountains, so the rabbit fled.
He was just resting in the yard when he saw the rabbit running down the mountain.
The Qin family's house was right at the foot of the mountain, so it was good luck for the rabbit to bump into the Qin family's door.
Looking at the fat rabbit, he smacked his lips.
The Qin family was also looking at this neighbor. They saw that he was wearing shabby clothes and had an untidy beard, which obviously had not been taken care of for a long time.
Lu Songli noticed that he had a strong literary air, with a pair of eyes that were quiet and reserved, with occasional flashes of brilliance.
Qin Heng spoke up, "Thank you for clearing up my confusion, sir. I'm Qin Heng, and they're all my family. May I know your last name? Where are you from?"
Gu Zhang said calmly, "Your surname is Gu. As for your ancestral home, I won't go into details; it's not worth mentioning. Qin family, I know you. You are relatives of General Qin Yue, who has always guarded the northern border."
Upon hearing this, Lv Songli was somewhat surprised. The imperial court deliberately downplayed the contributions and presence of the generals guarding the four frontiers, not only the Qin family guarding the northern border, but also the Sun family guarding the southwest. For example, Tang Yueguang and Mo Lianfeng, who had just been in charge of the handover, had acted indifferent even though they knew they were members of the Qin family. But she hadn't expected that this middle-aged man in front of her actually knew about it?
Gu Zhang asked, "What kind of work did you get?"
"Turning the soil." There's nothing wrong with saying this.
Gu Zhang nodded. "That's not bad. It's not the hardest, most tiring, or most dangerous job. The convicts who are now mining bluestone in the mountains do the hardest, most tiring, and dangerous work."
Seeing that the Qin family had just arrived, Gu Zhang wanted to talk to them for a few more words.
"After we've finished the bluestone, it's time to break the stone. That's the job for us convicts."
Lu Songli knew that the bluestone was being mined to make lime. Bluestone is most sensitive to fire; burning bluestone turns it into lime. Besides bluestone, limestone, chalk, and dolomitic limestone can also be used to produce lime.
"Breaking stones, are you going to repair the city wall?" They also have such work in the north, and Qin Heng and Qin Zhao have both worked as supervisors.
Gu Zhang liked smart people who understood things quickly, so he nodded and said, "Last year, the Xianbei went south and captured Xiangping City. Now we are busy with spring plowing and have no time to repair it. After the spring plowing is over, we have to go quarry stones and repair the city walls. Repairing the city walls is not over yet, we have to continue quarrying stones and paving roads." In short, there is endless work to do.
After hearing this, the Qin family's only feeling was that the exiles were very busy and seemed to have no time to rest.
Gu Zhang just came over to say hello, chatted for a few minutes, and then went back.
At this moment, the people from the military settlement brought them half a month's worth of food for their family, a total of 200 kilograms of food. They also brought them the one-time entry and exit token that Mo Lianfeng had promised them.
After Lu Songli took the token, he went to check the food. As expected, the two hundred kilograms of food were all coarse grains. There were all kinds of grains, just mixed together.
The visitor told them that the daily food allowance for the exiles was one jin for adult males, eight liang for each adult female, and half a jin for children. These two hundred jin would last them half a month, and if they finished their food early, they would not be given more.
Lu Songli calculated and found that she was shortchanged by seven kilograms. She didn't know where she was shortchanged, but she didn't bother to care.
In fact, she thought the rations were quite good. If they cooked according to this amount, the whole family could barely eat until they were 60% to 70% full. Because people at that time were short of oil and water, it was not uncommon for a ten-year-old child to eat 300 to 400 grams of rice in one meal.
This is already pretty good. The black soil here has a decent grain yield. If I were to go to other exile places, I guess the rations wouldn't be that high.
Lu Songli held the token, but unfortunately it was already dark and she could only go out tomorrow.
Next, they started to make a fire and cook dinner. They only had a broken clay pot to use. In the end, it took them an hour to make a stewed rabbit with whole grain rice.
Everyone was very satisfied with the meal.
After eating, we divided our rooms.
It took them two hours to fix the house. The most important thing was to patch up the two cracks with mud, making it just barely habitable.
Lu Songli looked up. She hadn't lived in such a dilapidated house for a long time.
There are five main rooms, each of which is three meters wide and five meters deep. Converted into the area of later generations, it is about twenty-three or twenty-four square meters, which is large enough.
Qin's mother and Shen Erniang lived in the same room.
Qin's mother and Shen Erniang only lived in one room temporarily. In the next few days, they would find a way to divide the room into two halves.
The other four rooms were occupied by each of the four Qin brothers and their children.
Because Qin Jia is eight years old and Qin Heng is still a widower, it is not appropriate for him to sleep in the same room with her, so Qin Jia lives with Qin's mother.
After the rooms were divided, everyone went back to clean up.
No one complained. During their exile, they had to sleep in makeshift places. Now that each family had a room, what was there to complain about?
At this time, Qin's mother called her youngest son, "Come here."
"What's the matter, mother?"
"Don't call your wife tonight."
Qin Sheng was stunned when he heard this suddenly.
Mother Qin didn't hear his answer, so she asked again, "Did you hear that?"
Qin Sheng's face flushed red, and after a long while, he managed to utter, "Mom, why are you saying that?"
Mother Qin laughed, "Your father is gone. If he were here, he would definitely tell you this. But I'm an experienced person, and you're my son, so it's okay for me to tell you this."
Speaking of his father, Qin Sheng felt a little depressed.
"Your father is gone. Logically, you and your wife need to observe mourning for three years." Because he passed away at the end of last year, they only need to observe mourning for two full years.
In fact, mourning is not that strict. Emotions and desires are normal human emotions. As long as no one dies, everyone will turn a blind eye.
But her husband was willing to die for the Qin family, and the people he cared about most before he died were his youngest son and daughter-in-law. Qin's mother didn't want this to become a stain on the character of her youngest son and daughter-in-law, and be criticized in the future.
"Mom, we know." Qin Sheng said in a low voice, so neither he nor his wife crossed the last line.
Mother Qin thought about it, but still felt uneasy. "Otherwise, your wife and I will live in one room, and you can live in another room?" The two of them were young and hot-headed, what if something went wrong?
Mother Qin's words hit him like a bolt from the blue.
"No, no, no, Mom, don't come." Qin Sheng shook his head.
Occasionally kissing, hugging, and lifting his wife up high is what he looks forward to most every day. How could his mother want to deprive him of this? No, no.
Besides, he is already married, not to mention that his eldest brother has not remarried yet. But why can his second and third brothers sleep with their wives at night, but he can't?
"Virtue, if I don't want to talk to you, I'll talk to your wife."
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