Chapter 112: Someone Died [VIP]
Shen Qingshan parked the ox cart, opened the side door and asked his daughter and Zi'an to move the groceries into the house first.
The rest of the people got off the ox cart and came to help Huang Dongsheng and Tian Baolai pack food for the villagers.
The originally long queue was immediately divided into three lines, and soon everyone distributed the two carts of food to the villagers.
Huang Dongsheng saw off the last villager and closed the door. He turned around and saw his cousin walking towards his cousin to ask something.
Chen Yao looked at the basket of copper coins in the yard and wanted to go over to ask her cousin whether the price of grain in the next county had increased, but she was stopped by Huang Dongsheng before she could go over.
"Cousin, what did you buy when you came to town? We're not going to have to eat lard rice and meat buns for the Mid-Autumn Festival tomorrow, are we?"
They had eaten these two things during last year's Mid-Autumn Festival.
Huang Xing and Miao washed their hands with water. They heard Huang Dongsheng's words showing that he seemed to be disgusted with the lard rice and meat buns, and they pretended to hit him.
"You've only had a few good days, kid, and you're already forgetting your roots!"
Huang Dongsheng quickly bowed and begged for forgiveness: "I haven't forgotten my roots, I haven't forgotten my roots. So what are we going to eat tomorrow for Mid-Autumn Festival?"
He was just greedy and wanted to eat something delicious.
"Eat whatever is cooked. If you are picky, you won't get anything to eat." Miao pulled her son's ear, which was really worrying.
Huang Dongsheng covered his ears with one hand and pulled Chen Yao into her room to talk with the other hand.
After learning that the price of grain in the neighboring county had also increased, and that all the grain distributed to the villagers today was paid by her cousin alone to cover the price difference, Chen Yao sighed.
"If you ask me, since we have done a good thing, we should let the villagers know about it. There is no need to hide it." Yang Wenying came in from outside after feeding the chickens at home.
Huang Dongsheng immediately agreed, as if he had found a united front: "That's right, our cousin is just too honest. If you didn't tell us, no one would know."
"Ayao, what do you think?" They both looked at Chen Yao at the same time.
Chen Yao thought: "Let's respect our cousin's decision."
Huang Dongsheng and Yang Wenying looked at each other and walked out in disappointment.
Yang Jizong moved the tables, chairs and benches in the house back to their original places, and watched his sister and Huang Dongsheng walk out of A Yao's room in disappointment, thinking that something had happened.
"Bao Lai did the right thing. Although he's lost his money now, he will win the support of the people in the future. When everyone knows about this, they will only respect him more as the village head."
Yang Jizong put a bunch of wild flowers he picked from the roadside into the bamboo tube on Shen Yao's desk.
I added water and took the dry handful outside and threw it away.
Mid-Autumn Festival in August.
Although everyone's life has improved this year's Mid-Autumn Festival and the table is filled with sumptuous food, not all people are here.
"Come, let's have a drink first. I wish our future will be more prosperous." Shen Qingshan raised the wine cup in his hand.
Everyone raised their glasses to celebrate.
The children's bowls were filled with food picked out by their elders.
Even so, he still urged them to eat more.
Huang Dongsheng held a meat bun in his left hand and a braised lion's head in his right hand, chewing while reminiscing about the past: "I still remember what my cousin said back then."
"What?"
Chen Yao was concentrating on gnawing on the marrow bone in her hand. After gnawing on the meat on the surface, she used chopsticks to poke the bone marrow inside. She had said many wise words in the past.
"Following my cousin, we have meat to eat. Who could have imagined that we would not only be able to eat meat every day, but also have renovated our house, have money and food, open a shop, and buy mules and cattle."
Yang Wenying added: "And I have my own land."
"Wenying is right. Just for this, we have to have another drink." Huang Dongsheng stood up with the wine cup in his hand and toasted everyone.
The elders were also happy to hear this. Yes, who could have thought of this at the time.
Shen Qingshan was particularly moved. Looking at this big blue brick and tile house, he felt like he was still in a dream every time he woke up.
"Cousin, if it weren't for you, my family wouldn't be where it is today. I have to toast you alone." Huang Dongsheng stood up again.
As soon as Chen Yao raised her wine cup, Yang Jizong stopped her: "I'll drink this cup for your cousin."
"That won't work."
"Um?"
Yang Jizong said "hmm", and Huang Dongsheng immediately restrained himself: "If my cousin's husband wants to drink for my cousin, he has to drink three cups first."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Jizong had already filled three glasses of wine for himself and drank them all in one breath.
Although the younger generations drank fruit wine, it was easy to get drunk if they drank three glasses in one breath.
Miao kicked her son under the table, signaling him to stop causing trouble: "Come on, don't just focus on drinking and eating. We've cooked a huge table of food."
Miao pushed her son down and heard her husband sitting beside her continue, "Tomorrow Dongsheng and I will leave for Jiangnan to deliver the goods."
Huang Songbai secretly held his daughter-in-law's hand to prevent her from getting emotional and saying something wrong that would hurt her eldest sister's feelings.
They were ready to set off. In fact, Miao had already discovered the clues.
Miao pulled her hand out of her husband's grasp and said to the father and son, "There are so many things to do. You should have left long ago."
"Third brother, I will set off with you tomorrow." Huang Mei's words shocked everyone present, and they all looked at Baolai at the same time.
Tian Baolai put it down and asked my uncle and cousin to take good care of my mother on the way.
"Baolai, you are too polite. If you and your mother both go, we can not only catch up but also be on the way.
"Uncle, I have to stay in the village. Next time we have a chance, we can go to Jiangnan together."
"Baolai is right. Let's go together next time." Huang Xing asked everyone to continue eating.
Chen Yao glanced at Yang Wenying and asked in a low voice: "Do you want to go to Jiangnan with me?"
Yang Wenying immediately shook her head. She just wanted to stay with her family now.
Everyone continued to drink and eat, chatting about their own ideas.
Chen Yao glanced at Yang Jizong who was sitting next to her. He was talking to her father, holding her hand, his expression unchanged.
After dinner, Huang Songbai and his son and Huang Mei had to leave early the next day, so they went home to pack up.
Shen Qingshan drank too much during the meal and was now being helped by Huang Xing back to the house to lie down.
In the yard, only Chen Yao and Yang Jizong, brother and sister, were admiring the moon.
quarry.
Zheng Fu waited for many days but his family did not send any money or food, so he began to doubt whether his steward had sent the envelope.
The steward took out the approval slip to prove that the envelope had indeed been sent out by the post station, but he really didn't know why the silver and food had not been delivered yet.
"My lord, perhaps the money and food are on the way. Why don't we wait a little longer?"
Wait any longer? If he waited any longer, he would lose all his personal belongings.
All the guards and servants brought with us to the quarry need food and drink.
People's morale has been low these days, and Zheng Fu was really panicking when he saw that his authority was gone.
How did Xing Fang feed these people in the first place?
"Sir, it's alright for me to eat less, but you can't. The remaining flour and grain won't be enough for everyone to eat for two days. You might as well keep it for yourself, and I can just eat the same as the convicts."
The manager felt that this proved his loyalty.
Sure enough, this method was very useful to Zheng Fu.
So after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the laborers in the quarry, who used to get a steamed bun to fill their stomachs after working for a day, could only get half a steamed bun.
I was already hungry and now I’m almost starving to death.
For a time, almost everyone in the quarry resented Zheng Fu.
Boss Luo and Boss Zhang were woken up by people from Wanhe Township in the middle of the night and were stuffed with half a bag of food.
"What, what is this?" Boss Luo asked in a low voice.
"It's chicken claw millet. Brother Yang asked us to plant it when we were clearing the land. When he left, he told us not to eat it unless it was absolutely necessary."
If they weren't very hungry, they wouldn't have taken out this little bit of food.
The taste of chicken feet grains is no different from grass seeds. If you eat too much, it is difficult to digest. But if you don’t eat them, you won’t have the strength to chisel stones.
Since the officers and guards took away half of their rations, many hard laborers gathered together again and secretly discussed how to kill Zheng Fu.
The one who instigated everyone to cause trouble was either someone else or Guo Changrong.
Where there is oppression, there is resistance.
On this day, the officers still only distributed half a steamed bun to the laborers. Someone was dissatisfied and grabbed another half. The people behind him had nothing to eat, and the scene suddenly became chaotic.
Zheng Fu was sitting in the tent when he heard someone making trouble. He was worried that he had no place to vent his anger, so he picked up a whip and went towards the direction of the trouble.
When the convicts saw him, they stared at Zheng Fu with eyes that had turned green from hunger as if they were their enemy.
Zheng Fu was dissatisfied with the rudeness of this group of people, so he whipped them. However, instead of suppressing the group, it aroused public anger. The laborers swarmed up and beat and kicked Zheng Fu.
"Someone come, come quickly, protect the master!" The steward held Zheng Fu under him and shouted to the guards.
But the guards outside and the quarry workers seemed not to hear anything and allowed them to be beaten.
The manager was knocked unconscious and fell to the ground. No one protected Zheng Fu, so all the heavy punches fell on Zheng Fu's body. He first shouted loudly, then cried for help in a low voice, and finally fainted on the ground with a bruised face and nose.
When the guards heard that he had fallen silent, they and the officers pulled the group apart, carried the master and servant back to the tent, and divided Zheng Fu's rations.
As a result of the disturbance today, the convicts no longer had half a steamed bun to eat.
When Zheng Fu woke up, it was already dark. He couldn't see his hand in front of him in the pitch-black tent. He was about to open his mouth to call for help, but his mouth was full of the taste of blood.
Thinking of everything he had suffered during the day, Zheng Fu cursed in his heart. He was afraid of alarming the people outside again, so he just relied on his instinct and went to bed in the dark.
Before his feet touched the ground, he touched something soft. It didn't look like the ground, but more like a person. To confirm his guess, Zheng Fu reached out and touched it.
This touch frightened him so much that he fell to the ground.
This is clearly a dead person, his body is cold!
After guessing who the dead person was, Zheng Fu was horrified. He had to leave here, otherwise he would probably die here too.
So, taking advantage of the time when the guards and runners were changing shifts, they found their way to the stables.
With a shout of "Gee", Zheng Fu rushed out of the quarry amid the exclamations of the crowd and headed straight for the city.
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