13. Ten taels of gold
You should name your dog "Gou Fugui" (meaning "Rich and Prosperous Dog").
Li Shi stepped forward and touched Qi Gu's forehead. It wasn't hot anymore, so she didn't seem to have a fever.
He pointed to a ceramic pot on the table, "Your father has cooked porridge for you. Go and drink it. After you finish, we should get going."
"Father, you didn't put anything you shouldn't have in there, did you?" Qi Gu walked to the table, opened the lid, and a fragrant aroma of millet wafted out.
Qi Gu ladled out some porridge and, while drinking it, asked, "Are we really leaving?"
Li Shidao: "You child, didn't you insist on leaving yesterday? Why have you changed your mind?"
Qi Gu shook her head. Of course, she didn't want to leave. Life in Lijia Village was peaceful. She and her father had lived there for eight or nine years. Her father would take her to the nearby mountains to find seeds and cultivate wheat seedlings. She and her father had been to almost all the mountains near Lijia Village.
She could eat as much sugarcane as Gouwa's family grew, and she knew all the neighbors. Where could they go if they left Lijia Village? Besides, Lijia Village was her father's hometown, and she didn't want him to leave his hometown because of her. Moreover, where could the two of them go?
“Where can I go in my dream? Besides, our experimental fields are still here. What will happen to the millet and wheat we planted this year if we leave? All that data will be wasted.”
After packing the last bundle, Li Shi sat down opposite Qi Gu. "Father doesn't want to leave either." He asked curiously, "Qi Gu, do you know that Sima Langjun who came from the village?"
Qi Gu was surprised, "Ah, no, how could I know such an important person?"
Li Shi looked at his daughter with disbelief. "Really? But last night I heard you calling out something about Sima Xiuyuan in your sleep, and you even cried. Was he the one who bullied you yesterday?"
No, it's not.
Li Shi became even more suspicious. "Qi Gu, although your father is just a peasant, if he really bullies you, I will risk my life to get justice for you."
"How could such a noble person have anything to do with a country girl like me? I'm afraid he wouldn't even want to look at me twice."
“That’s true. I think that Sima Langjun is quite handsome, though a bit cold-looking, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would do anything despicable.” Li Shi stared at his daughter, who was slurping her porridge. “You wouldn’t happen to have fallen for him, would you?”
"Father, why are you getting so carried away?" Actually, she did like Sima Hong's appearance in her past life, but who in the whole world doesn't like someone like Sima Hong?
"Oh dear, there's nothing to be ashamed of if you like someone. In your father's opinion, Sima Langjun is indeed an absolute beauty, hahaha!"
"Father, please stop looking at me with those lewd eyes, I'm scared."
Looking at the courtyard that her father had turned upside down, Qi Gu suddenly felt a pang of sadness at the thought of parting.
She and her father built this courtyard together. Back then, many houses in Lijia Village were destroyed and uninhabitable. When they returned, only this half-collapsed thatched hut remained. After finding the village head, he brought the house here.
This place holds too many memories for her and her father, and also, the tombstones of her father's wife and daughters are here.
Her father had difficulty walking in his right leg, and it took him a whole year to walk back to Lijia Village with her. His leg was not treated, so he was always in excruciating pain whenever it was windy or rainy, but he never complained in front of her.
I would toss and turn alone, the pain unbearable, and I would stand at the door watching the heavy rain outside without sleeping.
At that time, her father seemed particularly sad. At first, she thought he was thinking about his wife and daughter who had died in the war. Later, she seemed to see something else in his eyes, but she was not sure what it was.
"Go home, I want to go home." She had heard her father say this softly before.
She didn't want her father to live a life of wandering again because of Sima Hong's unclear words.
"Father, put the luggage back."
"You don't want to leave again?"
Qi Gu grinned and said, "Father, here is the experimental field that we have worked so hard to cultivate for so long. In a while, we might really be able to grow the kind of millet and wheat that you mentioned that can be harvested twice a year. And there is also Gouwa, Mother and Sister. We can't leave. If we leave, who will clean their tombstones?"
Li Shi had dark circles under his eyes; heaven knows he barely slept last night before starting to pack his luggage. He rubbed his aching back and pointed at Qi Gu, who looked at him with her round, dark eyes. "Father, it's so good to have you here."
"Don't think that just because I'm doing this, I'll help you pack these things. I've been working all night." He pointed to the bundles he had packed in the yard. "Put these back where they belong yourself, hmph!"
Last night, because of something she said, her father decided to take her away without even asking why. Today, when she said she didn't want to leave, her father didn't scold her at all.
Qi Gu watched her father limp back into the house. "Father, this is our home. I will not let you leave home again."
Qi Gu laboriously put the bundles her father had packed back into their original places, leaving only one small bundle in the end.
Qi Gu curiously opened it, and inside were clothes: a peach-pink top and a crimson skirt.
Qi Gu clutched the little garment tightly, for it had been there for so long that it was rotten and could easily crumble into pieces with the slightest pressure.
Of course she remembered. It was the year she fled from war, and the clothes she was wearing had four or five patches on them, with very strange stitching. Her father had sewn them on later.
That year, war raged. To escape the war, she wore this outfit and fled with her father for a year. Only after the world was at peace did they return to Li Family Village.
This dress was originally made for her by her mother in Yu County, but unfortunately, they were separated not long after she wore it.
To her surprise, her father had preserved this garment in such good condition. In her past life, her father had never told her that he had kept this garment.
In her past life, her father must have resented her. Although he became a public servant, he never remarried, even after he achieved high office and wealth. On his deathbed, he asked someone to tell her that he wanted to see her one last time, but by the time she arrived, her father had already passed away.
Qi Gu held the clothes, tears streaming down her face. She turned to look at her father's house.
The sound of snoring came from inside the house. In this life, she would never go anywhere else but stay by her father's side.
Qi Gu wiped away her tears, re-tied the bundle, and put it away in an inconspicuous corner. Now, this thing only contained a little bit of her mother's memory.
She tidied herself up and, seeing that the rain had stopped and the sky was clear, she decided to go to the fields to check on the crops. Yesterday's rain should have helped the millet and wheat grow well.
Qi Gu shouldered her hoe, locked the gate to the courtyard, and walked out of the yard.
It had rained last night, and the ground was all muddy today. Qi Gu bent down and rolled up her trouser legs to her calves, not wanting all the mud to jump onto her pants.
Over the years, with war and famine, cloth has become more expensive, and she often works in the fields, so her clothes are always dirtier. If she can successfully grow millet and wheat that yields two harvests a year, and have a bumper harvest next year, she can make new clothes for her father and herself.
As Qi Gu pondered this, she walked to the edge of the experimental field. Streams of water flowed out of the field. This would not do; too much water would rot the millet and wheat seedlings.
Qi Gu took off her straw sandals, revealing feet that weren't fair; they were almost the same color as the mud in the field. She didn't care about that, stepped into the ground, and used a hoe to dig a small ditch so that excess water could drain out.
"Qi Gu!"
Without even looking up, Aunt Qi knew the voice belonged to Gouwa. Gouwa quickly stood in front of Aunt Qi and accused her, "Aunt Qi, you're disloyal! You didn't call me when you went to town yesterday."
Not far away, Uncle Wu, who was also draining his field, chuckled, "Oh, Aunt Qi, once Gouwa marries you, he'll probably have to stay by your side every step of the way."
Qi Gu showed no embarrassment whatsoever about being a young woman in her fifties or sixties. Instead, she started discussing with Uncle Wu, “Uncle Wu, look at Gouwa, he looks like someone who can plow ten acres of land. With his chicken-like body, I can’t even lift his hoe!”
Gouwa blushed deeply, "Aunt Qi, I, I can carry it..."
Although Uncle Wu was over sixty, he was full of energy. He stopped Gouwa's nagging reply and burst into laughter.
“Yesterday I heard that Li family’s Ah Xiu wanted her son to marry you, but your father refused. However, Li family’s Ah Mu also wanted you to marry Gouwa. I thought your two families were about to have a happy marriage,” Uncle Wu joked.
Gouwa's eyes lit up, "Uncle Wu, really!!!"
Qi Gu smacked Gouwa on the head and said, "You little brat, Gouwa, I have something to ask you."
"Aunt Qi, I'll tell you everything."
"Are the people rescued from the mountain still staying at your house?"
Gouwa scratched his head. "No, they said goodbye to us yesterday."
"Gone?" Qi Gu expressed doubt. He had only left Gouwa's house; his trip to Sister Cheng's house yesterday must have been a secret one, but by some twist of fate, she had stumbled upon him. What exactly did Sima Hong mean by what he said yesterday? Did he really know his identity? Would he care about this matter?
Qi Gu hoped that Sima Hong would stop meddling in other people's business and be as indifferent and wicked as he was in his previous life.
When Gouwa saw Uncle Wu bend down and start hoeing the ground again, he beckoned to Aunt Qi, "Aunt Qi, come here, I have a secret to tell you."
The little dog was acting mysteriously. Qi Gu wondered if Sima Hong had told him something. She took a few steps, and the little dog whispered in her ear, "That immortal gentleman gave my family ten taels of gold."
When Qi Gu heard the words "ten taels of gold", her mouth dropped open. She was rich! She was rich! Gouwa, that kid, is really lucky! Sima Hong actually gave her ten taels of gold! Heavens, ten taels of gold! How many bushels of rice, how many kilograms of flour, how many bolts of cloth could that buy?
"Dog Boy, you're not the same person you used to be. You shouldn't be called Dog Boy anymore, you should be called Dog Rich!"
In her past life, Qi Gu had seen countless gold and silver treasures, but in this life, she had never even seen a trace of gold!
If there was anything she couldn't let go of in her past life, it was all that gold and silver jewelry.
Gouwa shook his head repeatedly, "If it weren't for you that day, we wouldn't have been able to save the immortal gentleman. My father meant to give half to you and Uncle Shi, but my mother wouldn't let me tell anyone."
"Then why don't you tell me?" Gouwa's mother was good in every way, except for being stingy. But these ten taels of gold weren't hers to begin with, and she had no intention of saving Sima Hong!
She said, "I don't want it, and my father won't want it either. You should listen to your mother and not tell anyone about this." The world has just ended the war and is not at peace. If someone with ulterior motives finds out, this ten taels of gold will turn from a windfall into a disaster.
"Qi Gu, what you said is exactly the same as what the Immortal Gentleman said. Don't worry, this is only being told to you."
Qi Gu felt so distressed by the thought of ten taels of gold that she became jealous of Gouwa!
"Alright, you go home now, I'm going home too."
"Why don't you come to my house today? My mother made roasted meat, it smells so good!" Gouwa said, swallowing hard.
Qi Gu also wanted to eat roasted meat, but she still said, "I'm not going." Gouwa's mother didn't like her very much.
[Author's Note]
Recently, because the data has been so bad, my Dao heart has been somewhat shattered, and I've fallen into self-doubt. I will adjust my mindset and rediscover my Dao heart. [laughing and crying with facepalm]
This book will definitely be completed well, so please add it to your favorites and support it! Your collections and comments give me renewed confidence and motivation [shy].
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