Chapter 111: Granting Barren Land to Fend for Oneself
Lin Zhiyi glanced at the backs of the two men and turned his head away.
It was clear in his heart that Li Wenjing was helping Zhang Wanqing bury her mother.
Logically speaking, this is human nature, but for some reason, I feel a little uncomfortable.
Mrs. Song saw that her daughter was a little absent-minded. No one knows a daughter better than her mother, so how could she not know what she was thinking?
Ever since Lin Zhiyi talked about Li Wenjing with Mrs. Song, Mrs. Song has taken a liking to her.
She sighed. Well, maybe her daughter would give up this time.
"Zhizhi, hurry up and get on the carriage. We are heading to Xishui Village."
It was not until Mrs. Song called her that Lin Zhiyi realized that everyone else had already boarded the carriage, and she was the only one still standing stupidly beside it.
"Here I come, mother."
Before Lin Zhiyi could get on the carriage, Lin Xue, the fourth wife of the Lin family, came over pulling a cart, "Sister Zhizhi."
As the voice fell, Lin Xue also arrived.
On the cart were bedding for four rooms, as well as some pots, pans and other daily necessities.
Lin Zhiyi turned around and said with a forced smile, "Sister Xue'er."
Lin Zhiyi remembered that the book wrote that most of the fugitives who followed Li Wenjing this time were assigned to Xishui Village.
Some were sent to other villages.
Fourth aunt Mrs. Liu and cousin Lin Xiuhuai also followed Lin Xue over.
Mrs. Liu's health has almost recovered. She kept telling her two children along the way that they would repay the eldest wife in the future.
Lin Zhiyi: "Aunt Si and Cousin Xiuhuai, do you want to get in the carriage?"
Madam Song heard the voice and emerged from the carriage. "Fourth sister-in-law, I just asked around and it's not that close to Xishui Village. Why don't you get on the carriage too? Chai Ya and Fang Mama are in another carriage, you can also come up and squeeze in."
Lin Xue thought it was feasible, "Mom, why don't you and your brother get in the carriage?"
Mrs. Liu was worried about her daughter pulling the cart alone, so she said, "Sister-in-law, you guys go ahead. It's still early, and the two children and I will be fine if we walk slowly."
Hearing the noise, Fang Madam also got off the other carriage and said, "Fourth Madam, you and the young ladies and young masters, please get in the carriage. I'll let Dalin pull the cart."
"No, no, that's not necessary. It's still early, there's no need to rush. We can just walk there."
Dafang has already helped them a lot along the way and doesn't want to trouble them anymore.
Aunt Xue and Lin Luchen also came over. Lin Luchen said, "Fourth Madam, can I go with you?"
Mrs. Liu from the fourth room was stunned for a moment before she realized that the child was the illegitimate son of the third room and that the relationship with the third room had been severed.
"Yes, come on, kid, let's go together. But from now on, you have to call me Fourth Aunt."
Seeing that Lin Luchen was a completely different person from when he was on the road of exile, and that he was much more optimistic, Mrs. Liu was happy for him.
Aunt Xue was about to get up, but Lin Zhiyi stopped her, "Aunt Xue, please don't get up now. Take care of yourself."
Aunt Xue is now taking the right medicine, can eat her fill every day, and looks much better.
"Then Fourth Aunt will keep Aunt Xue company."
After Madam Liu and the others left, they saw from afar that people from the second and third branches of the Lin family were also coming out of the yamen. Lin Zhiyi hurriedly got on the carriage and asked his brothers to hurry.
So as not to deal with those people.
This made the second and third branches of the Lin family unable to help but curse the first branch of the Lin family again.
In the carriage, Lin Fu had a worried look on his face.
The reason is that he doesn't know how to farm.
If he only relied on the money from his daughter to support the entire Lin family and end up living off their savings, he couldn't do it.
Lin Zhiyi also saw what he was thinking and advised: "Dad, the higher-ups exiled you to Fangzhou, but as for how we live, that's our own business. Even if we don't know how to farm, we can do other things, such as doing business."
"Besides, Dad is old now, so you and Mom should just stay at home and enjoy the company of your grandchildren. You can teach Zheng'er and Lu'er to read, and my brothers and I will take care of the rest."
Lin Fu was filled with relief. His daughter had really grown up and become sensible!
I also know how to feel sorry for my parents.
Lin Xiuran explained, "Sister, since the Emperor has shown mercy by exiling us to Fangzhou and granting us wasteland to support ourselves, this is a warning to us to be law-abiding and diligent in farming. Since our family has received the wasteland, we should cultivate it diligently and not disappoint the Emperor, so as to avoid further trouble.
If Dad hadn't gone to the fields to work, I'm afraid someone would have made a fuss about it. Also, with Dad's personality, he probably wouldn't be able to stay idle at home either."
Lin Zhiyi nodded, feeling that what his elder brother said made sense.
Just as she was about to speak, Lin Zhiyi was choked by Lin Xiuran's next words.
"What's more, noble families often pass down their traditions through farming and studying. Business is not our forte after all. Even if our Lin family falls on hard times, we will not become merchants."
In this dynasty, the hierarchical concept of "scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans" had long been deeply rooted in people's minds.
For scholars like the Lin family, falling from the aristocracy to farmers is already the limit. If they are asked to condescend to do business, it would be even more difficult than cutting off bones and flesh.
The Lin family prided themselves on their noble character. While in Chang'an, they neglected their shop and farm, leaving everything to their servants. Over time, their business languished, barely generating a profit.
Lin Zhiyi now thinks that it’s no big deal to sell the shops that were part of the original owner’s dowry.
She was not in the imperial city. If Qin Lang really brought people to cause trouble, she would not be able to take care of them since she was so far away.
Lin Zhiyi may not be very good at farming, but she still knows the basic procedures. The reason is that when she was young, she lived with her grandmother in the countryside. Her grandmother farmed two acres of land. She felt sorry for her grandmother and often followed her grandmother to work in the fields.
Although her childhood was difficult, she learned a lot of life skills from her grandmother.
Lin Fu spoke up: "Your elder brother is right."
He not only wants to farm, but also wants to farm well.
It seems that he can only learn to be a farmer in this life.
Are his descendants going to be trapped here for the rest of their lives?
Those who were exiled were all criminals. If they could not get rid of their criminal record, their children would not be able to take the imperial examinations. If their descendants wanted to become officials in the future, it would be impossible.
I hope that one day the royal family will grant amnesty to the entire nation, so that the younger generations can be freed from their crimes.
Lin Zhiyi opened his mouth but said nothing more.
Forget it, take your time.
She already had an idea in her mind: she wanted to farm the fields and open a shop.
For example, opening a study for my brothers...
For literati, this kind of thing can save their face.
She has thought about it these days.
The paper of this dynasty was still the primary raw rice paper.
Raw paper that has not been treated with glue and alum absorbs ink very quickly, and the ink quickly penetrates and spreads, making it difficult to show brushstroke details.
For example, the connected strokes of running and cursive scripts in calligraphy tend to become blurred and clumped.
It is impossible to achieve detailed layered rendering when painting.
She had seen this in a book before. The above problem could be solved by processing raw rice paper with glue alum water to make it cooked rice paper, or semi-cooked rice paper.
In addition, the whole-page engraving technology used in this era was to carve the text in reverse on a wooden board or other material, and then apply ink and print it, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive.
She could have introduced movable type printing...
Books printed in this way will naturally be much more efficient.
However, opening a shop is a matter for the future. Now we should go back to Xishui Village and settle down.
Although she would only live there for five years, she still had to buy everything she needed. She didn't want to let herself and the Lin family down.
The carriage traveled quickly. After asking along the way, we arrived at Xishui Village after two cups of tea.
Lin Zhiyi thought to himself, fortunately, this village is not too far from the county.
There were several women in the village standing under a big tree chatting, and a few children were playing.
Seeing a carriage approaching not far away, they immediately started talking, "Look, look, why are there two carriages in our village?"
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