Chapter 213 Pressure
There are still more than fifty days before the provincial school entrance examination. Chen Lie has work to do and is responsible for the financial support of his family. He also has things to transport to other villages. He has no time to prepare for the exam fully.
After settling the affairs at home, repairing the gate of the manor and checking the walls on all sides to make sure there were no problems, he instructed every household in the village to hide their weapons carefully. Early the next morning, he took the bamboo slips that Sang Luo had copied for him and went back to the mountains with Chen Dashan and his group of six.
Wang Yunzheng stayed at the Wang family for a day. On the second day, he went with his uncle and aunt's family to pay homage to his grandparents, and then moved back to Daxingzhuang.
Chen Lie had to take care of his family finances and couldn't concentrate on his studies. In fact, the same was true for the people who stayed in the village.
It is impossible to devote the whole heart to studying. For a farmer, nothing is more important than working on the farm. Studying to find a job is a good thing, but the newly acquired field full of grass needs to be plowed over urgently, otherwise it will not be planted next spring. Even if the government exempts taxes, the whole family will go hungry.
Everyone has the same understanding, even Wang Yunzheng and Wei Qinghe, who grew up in the Wang family, had the same understanding after living in the mountains for a few years. When there was not enough food, they had to add grass seeds to the rice and beans to make up the number. Only those who have experienced hunger know how precious food is.
During the entire second half of October, of the 42 people who stayed in the village, except for Zhou Cunzheng's five-year-old grandson and Feng Liuniang, who was pregnant and could only do light work, all were busy in the fields. During this period, the boys from several families would go to the nearby mountains from time to time, not to other people's mountains, but to the permanent fields allocated to their own families, to chop some firewood and clear the way. They originally wanted to catch some pheasants or something, but after a few days of hard work, they found that there were none at all. They thought that the idle people in the city also came out to look for food.
After half a month, Chen Lie and his group of six finally led the first group of people out of the mountain, that is, the group of people between Cunwai Village and the village where the Zhou family was originally located. Chen Lie, Sang Luo, and even the entire Cunwai Village were actually very trusted by the mountain people in the inner circle. Those who lived closest to Cunwai Village became the first group of people to follow Chen Lie and his group to move out.
Of course, they also brought back the pheasants, rabbits and sheep that were raised in a village outside the village and that they were originally asked to help take care of.
The pheasants and rabbits could be picked out, but the sheep were originally the most troublesome. However, because there were many people going out, the sheep that could wade out of the path were familiar to the owners and recognized their owners, so they could be brought out smoothly by leading them on a rope.
Every family has sheep, even the three brothers Shen Jin have two. The entire village has more than twenty sheep in total. In addition, the nearby villagers also exchanged a few lambs from the village last year. About seventy or eighty people went out of the mountains and led nearly forty sheep. It was a spectacular sight.
Fortunately, they didn’t have to go all the way to the city gate. More than twenty of them were sent to the farm in Daxing Village.
Zhou Cunzheng's grandson was squatting outside and playing in the mud. Suddenly he heard the sheep bleating. He turned around and saw Chen Lie and his family coming back from the village gate, leading many sheep. He saw Zhou Changjian also leading a sheep, and he was delighted. He ran inside and said, "Grandpa, grandpa, my third uncle is back, leading our sheep."
When the people working in the fields heard the noise, they all came out. Sang Luo and Shen Ning came out quickly. When they saw the five sheep at home, they were so happy that they ran to Shen Lie in a few quick steps.
The sheep recognized people, and one four-month-old lamb was particularly friendly. It came close to Sangluo's legs and snuggled up to her, then looked up at her and bleated.
Sang Luo stroked its head, eyes full of joy: "You brought them all out?"
She thought that what came out was dried meat.
Chen Lie read the unfinished meaning in her eyes and smiled, "They are quite obedient and have been following us all the time. The bigger ones are more alert than humans when there are wild animals nearby."
Mrs. Chen and the others came out one after another. They were so happy to see their own sheep. The farm was short of everything now, and this would be a great addition to everyone's fortune.
A group of people just came out, and their attention was still on the sheep. The neighbors standing outside the village and looking into Daxing Village were too busy to see anything. A woman called Sang Luo, "Mrs. Sang."
Sang Luo just saw that there were still people standing outside, so she quickly handed the sheep to Chen An and Chen Ning, and took a few steps outside: "Are you all out?"
The woman nodded repeatedly and looked inside with envy: "Did the court really give so much land? Is this land given to you?"
I have heard it several times, but I was shocked when I saw it.
Sang Luo smiled and nodded: "Yes, the more Ding men there are, the more land you will get, and the sooner this comes out, the more opportunities you will have to choose. Don't delay, quickly ask Chen Lie and the others to take you to the city gate to register your household registration."
A group of people responded in unison. Some women had become a little familiar with Sang Luo over the years and said, "It would be great if I could be closer to you. You have taken care of me over the years, so I am familiar with you. I will come to visit you when I am settled."
He then walked a few steps away and greeted Mrs. Chen and the others.
Chen Lie did not waste any time and told Sang Luo which rabbits and pheasants were his. He said, "Take the sheep to the mountainside and tie them to the trees. I will come back later to help build a simple sheepfold for them."
Sang Luo looked at him and saw that he was in good spirits. She nodded and said, "I understand. Go and come back soon. Please help talk to Lord Xing and find a better place for them to stay."
"I save it."
…
There was a bustling crowd at the gate of Shezhou city again, with sixty or seventy people carrying baskets and loads on their backs. The most eye-catching thing was that there were more than a dozen sheep being driven away.
Sheep!
Where can you still see this thing in Shezhou City now?
The farms of the rich families are all outside the city and had long been destroyed by the disaster. Now, I'm afraid only those houses that are big enough may have hidden some live sheep, chickens, ducks, etc. to be on the safe side, but they must have food to feed them. In any case, they have never been seen on the streets.
Not to mention the people who were handling household registration at the city gate, even the clerks couldn't help swallowing their saliva.
When everyone got closer, Mr. Xing, who had been to Daxingzhuang before, recognized that it was Chen Lie's group that led the people. He also saw that in addition to sheep, they were also carrying pheasants and rabbits.
Good job!
Life in the mountains is so comfortable.
"Brother Shen!" He took a few quick steps to meet him.
"Master Xing." Chen Lie bowed and said, "This is the first batch of people we brought here. I hope Master Xing will take care of them and help find a better place to put them."
"Okay, okay, how many people are there?"
"Seventy-three."
Lord Xing's eyes lit up, and he patted Shen Lie on the shoulder: "Thank you for your hard work. Lord Chu will be happy to know."
He immediately turned around and asked someone to lead these mountain people to register.
Chen Lie went to see that the villagers were already queuing up, and the one at the front was asking questions like, "Are you really going to give me the land? Where are you going to give me the land?"
Mr. Xing came over, flipped through a pile of atlases on the clerk's desk, pulled out a chapter, and put it on top of the one the clerk was using, saying, "Brother Shen brought it back from the mountains. Choose from these. It's closer to the city."
Chen Lie originally said that he didn't know where the people were in the mountains, but seeing how these mountain folks trusted him, and Chen Lie even asked them to take care of him, how could he not recognize them?
"Okay." The official didn't care. It had to be given out anyway, so it didn't matter who it was given to.
The villagers who were waiting in line to register their household registration were overjoyed and kept saying, "Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir."
He also bowed to Chen Lie, Chen Dashan and others.
Chen Lie smiled and thanked Master Xing. Seeing that he had nothing to worry about, he said goodbye to Master Xing: "Thank you for your hard work here. We have to leave tomorrow. We will go back first. We have a lot of things to take care of at home."
"It's not hard at all. It's what you should do. Just go and get busy." When Master Xing heard that they were going to go, he was happy. If Shezhou gets better, the people who work there will have a better life too. He smiled and saw them off.
As soon as Chen Lie and his men left, the young men queuing in the crowd said goodbye to them one after another: "Goodbye, Master Chen! Goodbye, Master Chen!"
Mr. Xing became more and more certain that this was the one he recognized.
But it’s good to know, the more you know, the better.
…
When Chen Lie returned home, Chen An and Shen Jin had stopped hoeing the fields and gone to the mountains to cut trees. Sang Luo and Shen Ning had just temporarily settled the chickens, rabbits and sheep and sent some food and water over.
Chen Lie saw that about seven or eight acres of his own land had been turned over, and several ridges had been opened in the garden behind the house. The seeds of vegetables that could be grown in winter had been planted and were now sprouting.
They were busy building the sheep pen for half the afternoon, and it was not until it was completely dark that the simple sheep pen was finally built. The two sheep from Shen Jin's family were also raised in the eldest house for the time being.
"It's too late to build the rabbit house. Xiao An and Xiao Jin will build it with some bamboo tomorrow."
This thing can dig holes, so you can't just surround it with it, you have to lay bamboo boards on the ground.
Shen An and Shen Jin agreed immediately.
The brothers went home for dinner. Sang Luo saw that Chen Lie was working hard outside and must have barbecued every day in the mountains, so she cooked dinner in the evening, steamed a plate of bacon, and stewed some winter bamboo shoots.
However, the only meal they can eat now is bean rice. The stored grain they brought into the mountains that year has long been eaten up. Even though they can grow some crops in the valleys in recent years, their lives are better than other mountain people, but the amount of rice they can get is limited. Most of the time, beans are still the staple food.
"We're going to rest for a night and go back to the mountains tomorrow?" Sang Luo had just sat down when Chen Lie had already added more rice for her. She asked after taking it.
Chen Lie nodded. "The mountain people need to move out, and it will take time to pack up. I think I can only make two more trips at most. It will be almost the end of November, and I have to stop for a while. Otherwise, I am afraid that I will not be able to make it back in time to take the provincial school entrance examination if I make a fourth trip. As for the Lu family, Shuanzhu and the others are still in the mountains. Uncle Lu is actually worried about them even though he doesn't say it. Wenqing and I can't leave, and I guess they will rush to pick us up."
Sang Luo nodded: "Not bad, the people we brought this time are enough for our family to share ten acres of mountain land, right? We should be able to add more if we make two more trips later. It will be just right to leave eight or nine days before the provincial school entrance examination to prepare."
When Shen Lie heard Sang Luo talking about preparing for the provincial school entrance examination, he tightened his grip on the chopsticks, but since Shen An and Shen Ning were there, he said nothing and just nodded.
After washing and going to bed at night, they were alone. After some tenderness, he asked Sang Luo, "Do you really think I have a chance of passing the provincial examination?"
He only studied seriously for three years, but the first year was really busy, and he only barely finished learning the Thousand Character Classic in a year. In the next two years, he had more time after his life settled down. He was naturally stronger than others who spent their energy on martial arts, not to mention that Sang Luo often accompanied him and taught him. But compared with people like Wang Yunzheng and Wei Qinghe who had a foundation since childhood, Shen Lie asked himself that he could not compare.
How many rich kids like Wang Yunzheng are there in Shezhou City who have had access to books since childhood?
Sang Luo leaned against his chest and asked, "Are you feeling stressed?"
Shen Lie looked at her: "I'm afraid I'll disappoint you."
"Just give it a try. Don't be too nervous. If it doesn't work, we can just be down-to-earth and be content with a small fortune. If it works..." She put her hand on her abdomen with Shen Lie in her hand: "Maybe the days ahead will be more flexible and more secure."
Chen Lie's palm touched Sang Luo's abdomen, and his heart softened. Since they decided to come out, they no longer avoided each other carefully. His throat moved, and he half raised his body to touch Sang Luo's lips, then turned over and covered her again.
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