Until Xiao Lingling was ready to leave, Xie Fan still stood at the door with all the children to see her off.
He slowly withdrew his gaze until he could no longer see any trace of the carriage.
Chen Die beside him whispered, "Brother Fan, what are your plans? Do you want to learn martial arts?"
Xie Fan glanced down at the children behind him and asked, "You don't want to?"
Chen Die was silent.
Xie Fan led everyone back and they sat in a circle in the yard.
There are a total of twenty-six children here, one is a baby who is only seven months old, seven are only three or four years old, and the rest are basically between five and nine years old.
Xie Fan is ten years old, Chen Die is nine years old, Huang Qing is nine years old, Deng Rou is eight years old, Liu Erya is eight years old, Qian Cuicui is eight years old, Hu Zi is eight years old, Li Zhuang is seven years old, Sun Yun is seven years old, and Wang Yang is seven years old.
The rest were basically five or six years old, mostly girls. Among the twenty-six children, there were only nine boys.
Most of the children were already very sensible, so after listening to Xie Fan's words, they started to think about it themselves.
Some girls even started to feel sad.
Deng Rou: "But I don't want to separate."
Sun Yun's eyes were red. "I don't want to separate either."
As soon as these words were spoken, the younger children couldn't help crying, and the atmosphere became very depressing.
Huang Qing was one of the more rational and sober children. Although her eyes were red, she managed not to cry.
"But if we don't separate, how can we support so many people just by doing these odd jobs? Does that mean Brother Fan has to get beaten?
Instead of this, it would be better for us to separate and learn some skills.
Besides, we are just not together, but we are still a family, and this is a fact that can never be changed.
It's a good thing that Miss Lin is willing to help. As long as we have the skills, we will never go hungry again. Don't you want that?
If we can earn money, we can send it back to our brothers and sisters, which is better than relying on others for help."
Huang Qing's words were very clear and concise, and made everyone start to think deeply.
After a while, some people started to vote.
"I think Qing'er is right. We still have to rely on ourselves in the end. I'll go and learn! I'll send it back if I get the monthly salary."
Brother Fan won’t have to work so hard, and his younger brothers and sisters can live a better life.
It would be even better if someone could study hard and pass the imperial examination.
We have to show those who abandoned us that we can live well without them!"
"That's right! I'll go too! I don't dare to think about practicing martial arts, but being a medicine boy is still possible.
I've learned this, and if anyone of us has a headache or a fever, I can help take care of them."
"Yes, yes, yes. I'll go too! After I learn how to do it, I can go help out at the pharmacy. I heard the wages are much higher than those waiters."
For a while, everyone was talking about it very excitedly, and some even began to imagine that they would be able to earn money to support their families in the future.
Everyone was very interested, even Xie Fan was attracted by it.
However, everyone still had some concerns. After all, most of the children were very young and not all of them could leave. Some people had to stay to take care of them.
So, after some screening and voting.
Of the ten older people, two men and two women were left behind to take care of the family, and half of the remaining six people practiced martial arts while the other half learned to be medicine boys.
Of course, this is just their plan, and in the end it will depend on whether they have enough qualifications.
Those who are not qualified enough will be left behind to be taken care of, while those who are qualified will go out to study.
After the rules were set, hope seemed to be planted in everyone's hearts. Everyone felt full of fighting spirit and even had a direction in life.
Wu Bokai acted quickly. By the time Xiao Lingling returned to the county government office, he had already arranged people and carriages.
While sending Xiao Lingling home, he also delivered the distributed grain to the village and asked the village chief to arrange the construction of the village wall.
When they returned to Shuanghe Village, the village chief Liu Mingyi was bringing the villagers to the Lin family to sell grain.
The scene was quite grand. The Lin family set up a table outside. Lin Hao weighed the items, Lin Feng calculated the bills, Lin Changshu kept accounts, and Zhao paid the money.
Everyone lined up and everything looked orderly.
Liu Mingyi was helping out on the side. When he saw the county magistrate coming, he quickly asked everyone to make way.
Wu Bokai got out of the car, turned around and picked up Xiao Lingling. "What are you guys busy with?"
Liu Mingyi stepped forward and smiled, "The county magistrate is here. We're so lucky to have such a good harvest. The Lin family is buying grain, and the price is fair, so we're here to sell it all."
Wu Bokai looked at him and smiled. "Village Chief, you've come at the perfect time. I was looking for you about something. Do you have time now?"
When Liu Mingyi heard that the county magistrate was looking for him, he felt a little scared at first, but after he calmed down, he felt that it might be a good thing.
Maybe the county magistrate wanted to reward him because the village had a good harvest this year?
Liu Mingyi's face lit up with excitement when he thought of this possibility. "Of course I have time. County Magistrate, please just give me your instructions."
The villagers all looked at the village chief with envy, and they all thought that he was probably going to receive a reward.
Wu Bokai nodded. "Okay, let's go. There are too many people here and it's too noisy. Let's go inside and talk. Uncle Lin, can I borrow your main room to talk for a while?"
Lin Changshu laughed loudly. "What's wrong with that? Go ahead. We have cold tea and ice cubes in the room, and it's not too hot."
Wu Bokai brought Liu Mingyi into the house with a smile, and he also carried little Lingling along the way.
Only after all three of them sat down did Wu Bokai state his purpose.
Wu Bokai didn't want to say too much about the drought for the time being, fearing it would cause panic and bring trouble to Shuanghe Village, so he found an excuse.
"Village Chief Liu, it's like this. I just went to the prefectural capital a few days ago to discuss matters with the elders from other counties.
It is said that a group of bandits were recently discovered in the surrounding area. They specifically go deep into the mountains and forests. There were traces before, and it is said that they seem to have entered the mountain behind you.
Our ability to suppress bandits is too weak now. In order to protect the safety of our fellow villagers, we plan to have several villages near the foot of the mountain build village walls.
The county has approved grain, and I brought it with me when I came.
If you are provided with one meal a day, it should be enough for half a month. If it is not enough, you can apply again at the county level.
The summer harvest in your village is now over. I hope you can mobilize people as soon as possible and build the village wall quickly.
All those who participate in the village wall construction will be provided with one meal a day and receive an additional five cents from the county. What do you think?"
Liu Mingyi really didn't expect this to be the problem. When he heard about the bandits, he couldn't control his panic.
"Sir, are there really bandits?"
Wu Bokai pretended to be worried, frowned, and nodded, "Yes! It is true, and I have found some clues."
Liu Mingyi stood up immediately and said, "Don't worry, County Magistrate. I will gather the villagers to make arrangements for this matter in a moment.
Forget about giving money, even if you don't give us money, for everyone's safety, we have to build this village wall! And, we have to build it higher! "
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