Chapter 170
On the mountain, Yin Zheng was walking back with two roe deer on his shoulders, a string of rabbits hanging around his waist, and a wild boar in his hand.
Because he always brought Jiaojiao with him when he went hunting in the mountains, and was afraid that the bloody prey would scare him, Yin Zheng subconsciously tried to avoid causing any external injuries to the prey when hunting. Although this would take a little more time, he didn't care.
"dad."
When Jiaojiao, who was squatting in the area marked out by her father, saw her father, she quickly stood up with the things in her arms and ran over.
Yin Zheng looked down at him: "Hmm?"
"Daddy, give it to me. Sell it for money." Jiaojiao squatted down, put the things in her arms on the ground and pushed them to her father.
Yin Zheng also squatted down and glanced at the things on the ground with a hint of surprise in his eyes: two ginsengs and a Ganoderma lucidum!
This was the first time he saw Ganoderma lucidum on this mountain.
Jiaojiao squatted on the ground and looked at her father with bright eyes. Seeing that her father did not respond, she took the initiative to reach out and took his hand and put it on her head. Her voice was soft and a little embarrassed: "Dad, praise Jiaojiao."
Yin Zheng's dark eyes moved and he rubbed his head: "Great, I'll make you something delicious when I get home."
Jiaojiao could always find various precious medicinal herbs in the places he had marked out and carefully examined. At first, Yin Zheng could attribute it to good luck, but later he found that it was not just good luck that could explain it, but he could not find a reason that could explain it, so he could only let it develop like this.
Jiaojiao was very happy to receive the praise and pointed at the ginseng and ganoderma on the ground: "Sell them for money to support daddy."
"Um."
"Jiaojiao is not difficult to raise."
Yin Zheng patted the dirt and grass debris on his trouser legs and said, "It's not difficult to raise him. He is the easiest child I have ever seen."
Jiaojiao's eyes curved immediately, and her smile was like a crescent moon: "Jiaojiao is the easiest to take care of, don't throw her away."
Upon hearing this, Yin Zheng paused and frowned unconsciously.
Ever since he became a scholar, the matchmakers who had disappeared have been coming to him one after another, which made him feel unusually annoyed. He originally thought that he would have to take Jiaojiao and the others to the county town soon, so he just had to be patient for a while.
But he didn't expect that some gossipers in the village would always nag in front of the kid that he would abandon Jiaojiao after he got married.
Those little kids were ignorant and always ran to Jiaojiao saying that they didn’t want Jiaojiao anymore, that Jiaojiao was going to be thrown away and that no one wanted her.
Seeing that Jiaojiao didn't care and might even angrily retort, he felt relieved and didn't pay much attention to it. However, he didn't expect that Jiaojiao would retort, but still cared in her heart.
Yin Zheng felt unusually angry.
When coming down from the mountain, Jiaojiao was carried down by Shi'an.
Although Shi'an couldn't see very well, his memory was surprisingly good. He could completely recount in his mind the route he had walked once, and he knew exactly where there were small potholes and tree roots that could trip him.
Shi'an's attire was different from Jiaojiao and the others, as his body and face were covered with sores and blood-red mesh threads. He wrapped himself tightly, revealing nothing except a pair of gray eyes.
Even so, the villagers would still stay away from him when they saw him, with unconcealable disgust in their eyes. They really didn't understand why Yin Zheng picked up such a person and brought him home to support him.
Shi'an could sense their disgust, but he didn't care. He had endured much more malice during the years he had been begging.
On the way down the mountain, his gray eyes, which could only see vague shadows, were always fixed on Jiaojiao.
Although he couldn't see Jiaojiao's face clearly, he could see Jiaojiao's eyes. Those eyes were so clear that it seemed as if he could see through them at a glance. Reflecting the golden sunlight from the sky, it made people's hearts feel as if they had been redeemed by the light.
Seeing Jiaojiao lying obediently in Shi'an's arms, Qin Mianmian suddenly wanted to try what it felt like to have Jiaojiao lying so obediently in her arms, so she stretched out her hand to Shi'an: "Give me a hug."
Shi'an dodged his outstretched hand. With the lower half of his face obscured, his voice was a little muffled as he spoke: "You're not even very steady when you're going down the mountain. What if you let Jiaojiao fall?"
Hearing this, Jiaojiao, who had been lying obediently in Shi'an's arms, turned her head to look at Qin Mianmian, waved her chubby little hands, and a little fear on her little face said, "If you don't hold me, I'll throw you down."
Seeing this, Qin Mianmian could only withdraw her hand regretfully. She secretly made up her mind to eat an extra bowl of rice every day when she returned home, so that she could hold Jiaojiao when she had more strength.
After coming down from the mountain, Yin Zheng put the prey in the yard, then picked up a rabbit and held Jiaojiao in his arms and walked towards the village chief's house, ready to discuss something with the village chief.
He wanted to beat up those gossipers in the village. He couldn't do it to the kids and women, but he could do it to the men in their families.
It's just not right to hit someone without any reason, and if he wants to take the exam, he has to pay attention to his reputation, so he can only find a suitable reason.
Fortunately, after the busy farming season every year, the elders would organize some small competitions and activities to liven up the village.
Yin Zheng took advantage of the great event of two scholars emerging in the village to liven up the atmosphere and dispel the bad luck of last year's drought and locust plague, and proposed holding a running race. The winner would get a roe deer, and he would provide the roe deer reward.
The village chief could tell at a glance that he had no good intentions. He was about to say something when Old Wang, who was showing Jiaojiao the tiger shoes she had made for her grandson, suddenly spoke up, "That's good. It'll liven up the village a bit, and stop those chatterboxes from getting annoying. They call it entertaining the kids, but I think they're just bored."
"Old man, go talk to the elders later and free up your hands to clean up these gossips. A while ago, they said that Li Laoliu's little girl was peeped at by another kid while she was bathing. The little girl almost jumped into the river because of the rumors. The poor little girl was only seven years old."
Seeing that Old Wang was obviously protecting Jiaojiao, the village chief could only sigh and agree to Yin Zheng's proposal, no matter what he wanted to say. At the end, he also reminded Yin Zheng to be careful when the time comes.
In the running competitions held by the people of Dayong, victory is allowed by certain means within the rules, which of course includes physical violence.
He was afraid that Yin Zheng would lose his temper and beat someone up, even though those people deserved it to a certain extent.
Yin Zheng nodded, indicating that he understood what was going on.
When Yin Zheng came out of the village chief's house holding Jiaojiao, he saw from afar that Old Wu was talking and laughing with some people. It could be seen that those people were obviously trying to curry favor with Old Wu.
Anyone who passed the imperial examination could be exempted from the land tax on 50 mu of land. Old Wu's family had less than 10 mu of land in total, so some people thought of registering their land under Yin Youcai's name to be exempted from the land tax.
Of course, some people were eyeing Yin Zheng's share of land tax exemption, but Yin Zheng seemed difficult to get along with, so most of them turned their attention to Yin Youcai first.
Yin Zheng was too lazy to do so, so he had already handed over his share to the village chief. He would be leaving soon anyway, and probably wouldn't be coming back, so the land tax would not be of much use to him, so he could just leave it to the village and sell it well.
In the future, maybe when Old Wu and others cause trouble for him, or report him to the government for being unfilial, the villagers might be able to help him.
Different from Yin Zheng's low-key style, Yin Youcai, who also became a scholar, was much more high-profile. In the first few days after he passed the exam, he accepted all the gifts sent by the gentry in Hengyang Town as per custom. Among them was a house and land in the town. It was heard that Yin Youcai had planned to move to the town permanently.
This made Yin Dazhu and Old Mrs. Wu very happy. They would visit Yin Youcai every day when they had nothing to do. They tried their best to show off Yin Youcai's promising future. They also acted like the parents of a scholar and refused to go out to the fields, because in their hearts they had completely said goodbye to being a peasant from then on.
As a result, they even neglected a lot of crops in the fields and did not pay as much attention to them as before. They are different now than before. Whose parents, who are scholars, would go to the fields to work?
When the villagers talked about Yin Zheng, Old Mrs. Wu was filled with resentment and disdain, all she could say was that Yin Zheng had relied on her Youcai's luck. Otherwise, how could he have passed the exam right away? He had always been at the bottom of the list in previous attempts, but this time, after taking the same exam as her Youcai, he had managed to place in the 30s. If this wasn't relying on her Youcai's luck, then whose luck was he relying on?
It's no wonder that most people agree with what Old Wu said. On the way home from the village chief's house, Yin Zheng met several people who came up to him and told him to thank his third brother, saying that if it weren't for his third brother, he probably wouldn't have passed the exam.
When Yin Zheng heard this for the first time, his expressionless face was full of confusion. Why should he thank Yin Youcai?
After learning the reason, he was silent for a while, and suddenly he had the urge to open the heads of these villagers to see if their brains were shaped differently.
Of course, that was just a momentary thought, and Yin Zheng himself had no intention of putting it into action.
When people learned that the village was going to hold a running race and the winner would receive a roe deer as a reward, the whole village suddenly became lively. Many villagers could be clearly seen running back and forth on the trails and in their yards, trying to build up their strength for the running race five days later.
Hearing Tiedan and the others excitedly talking about the running race, Jiaojiao also became interested and ran back and forth in the yard every day.
Seeing that he wanted to play, Yin Zheng simply took out two wild rabbits and asked the village chief to add a running race between two to three-year-old children, and the reward would be these two rabbits.
Looking at the two rabbits that Yin Zheng brought, the village chief's heart trembled immediately. First, it was a roe deer, and now there were two rabbits, which together were worth more than one or two taels of silver. In all his life, he had never seen someone who was so protective and pampering of his cubs.
When Qin Mianmian and Shi'an learned that Jiaojiao was going to participate in the running race for the little kids, they got busy teaching Jiaojiao how to beat the others.
Yes, knock him down!
In Dayong, folk running races allowed people to win by certain means, including knocking down their competitors.
Qin Mianmian and Shi'an were extremely worried that Jiaojiao would be beaten, so they tried their best to teach Jiaojiao how to fight.
Although Qin Mianmian had never fought in the true sense, he had taken martial arts classes for half a year and knew some martial arts skills.
Although Shi'an has never taken martial arts classes, he is very skilled in fighting. If he didn't know how to fight after begging for so many years, he would have died long ago.
After the two of them discussed it, they decided on a plan for training Jiaojiao.
The sunlight passed through the camphor tree in the yard and fell in patches. Jiaojiao was squatting under the tree. Under the instruction of Qin Mianmian and Shi'an, she threw a punch in a very realistic way and let out an unconscious "Ha".
Yin Zheng was sitting on a wooden bench, repairing a broken wooden basin. He looked up and saw Jiaojiao pursing her lips and making a fierce "ha" sound. His heavy eyes suddenly moved, and he felt like poking Jiaojiao's face.
He stopped repairing the wooden basin, his fingers covered with scars and calluses curled slightly, his expressionless eyes fell on Jiaojiao's serious little face. After thinking for a moment, he suppressed the urge in his heart and withdrew his gaze.
But after a while, he set his eyes on Jiaojiao's deliberately stern face again.
After repeating this several times, Yin Zheng still couldn't suppress his inner desire. He put down the wooden basin and walked over. He squatted down under Jiaojiao's puzzled gaze, then stretched out his index finger and gently poked the flesh on his face.
Jiaojiao, who was already standing unsteadily due to the horse stance, swayed back and forth after being gently poked, and then fell backwards uncontrollably, and then with a "bang"... she sat on the ground.
“?” Jiaojiao looked up at her father, her dark and clear eyes full of confusion.
"?" Qin Mianmian and Shi'an looked at Yin Zheng with confusion.
Yin Zheng, who had stretched out his hand and had not yet retracted it, met Jiaojiao's confused eyes. He instinctively reached out and pulled him up from the ground. There was a hint of sudden confusion in his dark eyes.
He used the same strength as before, so why did he fall?
Jiaojiao stood up holding his father's hand and tilted his head to think about it. After a while, he understood and looked at his father with a look of sudden enlightenment.
Dad must be a little dissatisfied because he saw Jiaojiao, Mianmian and Brother Shian playing and ignoring him.
Thinking of this, he felt a little helpless and a little happy.
Dad is so clingy!
Jiaojiao walked forward with an expression of helplessness towards her father, held Yin Zheng's arm which he had not yet retracted, stood on tiptoe, and rubbed her little face against his hand.
Yin Zheng, not knowing what he was thinking, lowered his eyes and looked at him, feeling an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
After coaxing her father, Jiaojiao continued to learn how to fight from Mianmian and Shi'an. However, unlike the moves that Qin Mianmian taught with her own voice-over, "Hey ha, hey ha", Shi'an taught her moves such as kicking the lower body, gouging the eyes, pulling the hair, and biting the neck. Qin Mianmian's face turned black when she saw this. She quickly rushed over to cover Jiaojiao's eyes and said without even catching her breath, "Jiaojiao, don't learn this. You can't learn these moves."
After saying this, he glared at Shi'an: "What are you teaching? How can a child learn this!"
"?" Shi'an was completely bewildered. Although his expression couldn't be seen due to the cloth covering his face, his gray eyes were very blank. These moves were his private collection that he had accumulated after being beaten by others over the years. If it weren't for Jiaojiao, he wouldn't have taught them to her so openly. Is that a bad thing?
Qin Mianmian blocked Jiaojiao behind her and said angrily, "The running competition is supposed to be fun. You teach Jiaojiao these things. What if he really scratches some kid's eye?"
Shi'an was stunned for a moment before he realized that every time he fought before, it was for survival, and if it was for survival, the fight would definitely be to the death. However, Jiaojiao's situation was obviously different from his. To be honest, this was just a game between children, so there was no need to use these cruel moves.
In the blink of an eye, it was time for the running meet, and the whole village became lively. As soon as they finished their breakfast, the villagers made an appointment to go to the threshing ground together, chattering and making noise all the way.
Arriving at the threshing ground, the village chief spread out a line of loess and announced loudly, "Quiet, listen to me. This race will start here. The gong will sound and the race will begin. The first person to return here within an incense stick will be the winner. The winner will receive a roe deer as a reward. Do you understand?"
The villagers responded loudly: "Got it!"
“I heard it!”
“It really is a roe deer!”
“Ohhhh!”
The scene was very chaotic for a while, mixed with the sounds of children jumping for joy, making it extremely noisy.
"Those who are participating in the race come and stand at this starting line."
As soon as the village chief finished speaking, many people stood up, most of them were men, and almost one person came out from every household. After all, if they won, they would get a roe deer for free. Who wouldn’t want free food without paying the price?
Everyone was drooling at the sight of the roe deer tied nearby, and the children nearby were even shouting at the top of their lungs, "Come on, Daddy! Win the roe deer so we can have meat tonight."
"Li Tiedan, the roe deer must be mine. My dad runs so fast that I can never hit him!"
As soon as these words were spoken, a burst of laughter broke out.
Feeling the teasing gazes of the crowd, Li Dali, rubbing his hands in anticipation, looked at his child with a look that clearly showed that the naughty kid was ready to get beaten.
Li Xiaoniu was so frightened by his father's eyes that he dodged to the side and complained skillfully: "Grandma, Dad wants to beat me."
Grandma Li glared at Li Dali and said, "I bet he dares to hit my good grandson. I'll make sure I don't give him a piece of my mind."
Amid the clamor, a gong suddenly sounded, and the people standing at the starting point, rubbing their hands in anticipation, instantly rushed out. It was a huge crowd, a spectacular sight. They were throwing punches and kicks as they ran, and soon the people standing in the threshing ground could no longer see them.
Yin Zheng ran in the crowd while keeping his eyes on those who were gossiping. His dark eyes were like a beast lurking in the forest, watching its prey.
Li Dali, who accidentally caught Yin Zheng's gaze, shuddered suddenly, and panicked in his heart, thinking that he should not have offended Yin Zheng during this period of time?!
An incense stick of time was not that long. When they came back, nearly one-third of the adults participating in the running meet had bruises and swollen faces, which was a terrible sight. Two of them even had a broken tooth.
The first place in the adult group race was Li Dali. He was so happy that his mouth almost stretched to his ears after successfully leading the roe deer away.
Li Xiaoniu was so happy that he squealed and groaned.
The adults' group finished competing, and the only thing left was the kids' group. The kids' group didn't have to run around the village like the adults' group, they just had to run around the threshing ground.
Little kids between two and three years old were standing together. At first glance, most of them had runny noses, dark hands and faces. The clean Jiaojiao stood out among them, looking like a fairy from heaven.
Aunt Li's face darkened when she saw this scene, and she looked at her grandson with unkind eyes. It seemed that she had to put some restrictions on this naughty boy. He followed Xiao Niu and the others out to play in the mud all day long. Look how dirty he is!
Jiaojiao stood at the starting line, clenching her fists nervously, getting ready to start.
As soon as the gong sounded, the other children ran out in a flash. Jiaojiao and two or three two-year-old kids were a beat slower and only reacted then did they catch up with their short legs.
Although Jiaojiao had been trained by Qin Mianmian and Shi'an for several days, his temperament meant that he would not take the initiative to hit others. It would be too late for him to fight back when others took action. With a sudden thud, Jiaojiao was tripped by someone and fell to the ground.
Jiaojiao, who fell to the ground, blinked blankly, got up and continued to chase forward with her short legs. She hadn't run two steps when she was accidentally bumped into by people pushing each other. She lost her balance and fell to the ground with her butt.
Qin Mianmian, who was outside the field, was watching anxiously, and Youyou also pawed his hooves and called "Yoyo". Shi'an, who could only see a vague shadow, felt their anxiety and became anxious unconsciously. He asked Qin Mianmian what was going on.
The kids who only ate meat once a year in the field became very excited when they knew that the reward was two rabbits. They fought fiercely for them. Jiaojiao was like a little rabbit that had strayed into a pack of wolf cubs. But the kids all liked Jiaojiao very much. Except when they accidentally implicated him, almost no one attacked him.
In this way, Jiaojiao fell down almost every time he ran two steps. Fortunately, it didn't hurt much. Although he only got third place in the end and his body was dirty, his little face was red and it was obvious that he had a lot of fun.
When Yin Zheng picked him up, Jiaojiao pointed to his legs and explained to his father why he didn't win first place: "My legs are short, so I can't run fast."
Yin Zheng suppressed the corners of his mouth that were turning upwards, and reached out to rub his butt where he had fallen the most: "Are you hurt?"
Jiaojiao shook her head: "It doesn't hurt."
After saying that, he patted his father's arm comfortingly: "Don't worry, Dad."
Yin Zheng wiped the dust off his face and replied softly, "Yeah."
Hearing Jiaojiao say that it didn't hurt, Qin Mianmian and Shi'an also breathed a sigh of relief.
Yoyo raised his head and nudged Jiaojiao's feet. Jiaojiao, who was held in his father's arms, reached out and touched his head: "Don't worry, Yoyo."
"Yo~ Yo~"
After a lively running race, life returned to normal. After saving up 370 taels of silver, Yin Zheng began to move out of Lijia Village with Jiaojiao and the others.
Because Yoyo was there, Yin Zheng, who had an extra helper, took away everything he could take away, and left what he couldn't take away to the village chief's family. He sold the two acres of land in his hand to the neighboring Li Fangshan's family. Originally, the two acres of land were of low quality, but after a year of cultivation, the fertility was miraculously not inferior to that of high-quality land. In the end, the two acres of land were sold to Li Fangshan at the price of medium-quality land.
The village chief did not understand why Yin Zheng wanted to leave. In his opinion, no matter how good the outside world was, it could not compare to his own home. Unless it was a big deal, there was no need to leave his hometown. However, he could not persuade Yin Zheng once he had made a decision, so he had no choice but to help him register Shi'an and Qin Mianmian.
It is difficult to get a travel permit without a household registration permit, and it is convenient to go to other places with a travel permit.
Jiaojiao and her friends had quite a lot of luggage, but it wasn't particularly heavy either. There were about ten large bags and three boxes. Qin Mianmian was carrying Jiaojiao's small bookcase, while he was carrying the bottle for drinking water.
Before leaving, Jiaojiao said goodbye to Tiedan and the others, and gave each of them two candies. Of course, they were malt candies. His friends had a little more, so he was reluctant to give them pine nut candies. Even so, Tiedan and the others were very happy.
The reason why they like playing with Jiaojiao is not only because Jiaojiao is good-looking and has a good temper, but also because he gives them candies from time to time. Now that Jiaojiao is leaving, they are still a little reluctant.
After loading all the luggage onto the carriage, Yin Zheng was about to call Jiaojiao when he saw that Jiaojiao had already said goodbye to Tiedan and the others, and was running towards him with his big milk bottle on his back.
Yin Zheng bent down and picked him up: "Have you said goodbye?"
Jiaojiao nodded: "Yeah, it's over."
Seeing that he showed no signs of crying, Yin Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, picked him up and turned to get on the carriage. Qin Mianmian and Shi'an were already waiting for them in the carriage.
The carriage moved forward. Yoyo, who was bigger than the horse pulling the carriage, could not get on the carriage, so he could only walk outside the carriage by himself with a lot of luggage hanging on his body.
The villagers watched them leave with envy in their eyes. They didn't know that Yin Zheng was going to the county town. They just thought that they were going to move to the town like Yin Youcai.
I'm not in a good mood. I'm not satisfied with what I wrote and have been wanting to delete it, but if I delete it, there will be nothing left to post. And it's not good to keep posting, so I have to post it~
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