Chapter 54 Full of Longing
"Aunt, it's time for dinner!" Hu Zi called.
Old man Yang entered the house and placed a large bowl of stir-fried radish with meat and a bowl of oily cabbage on the table.
The families of Dalang and Erlang, as well as the old woman Gao, were all sitting there, waiting for him to take a seat.
"Eat! Why are you waiting for me?" Old man Yang said with a smile.
"You old man, you're so slow even when eating! The children are starving." Gao scolded with a smile and picked up the first piece of meat and gave it to Old Man Yang.
"You eat too! You've had a hard day!" Old man Yang took the initiative to give his wife a piece of meat.
Only when they saw Old Man Yang picking up his chopsticks did the children start picking up their chopsticks.
Looking at the children eating happily, Old Man Yang's eyes were full of smiles. Under the dim light, the whole family was filled with happy smiles.
Yang Dalang suddenly remembered something and took out two Hu pancakes from his pocket, "Aye, A'mother!"
"Why give it to us? Just eat it yourselves!" Old man Yang didn't take it, knowing that it was saved by his eldest son.
Amu and Asang looked at Hu Bing with shining eyes.
Sniffing the air carefully, I could smell the burnt aroma of Hu pancakes.
"Aye, did you buy it?" Asang forgot to drink the porridge and stared at the Hu Bing with greedy eyes.
"What we didn't finish at lunch!" Yang Dalang broke the Hu pancake into several pieces and distributed them to his parents, wife, children, and younger brother's family.
Our family would only buy it during the New Year when we went to the market in town. The fragrance of it would make the children miss it from the beginning to the end of the year.
"Thank you, Uncle!" The children happily took it and couldn't wait to take a bite. It was so delicious!
"You kid, you're reluctant to eat. You must be exhausted after this day," Gao said with concern.
Carrying the wild boar all the way from the deep mountains to the town and then to the county seat must have caused blisters on the soles of my feet.
"It's okay! Mother! We are driving the ox cart behind us, otherwise how could we come back so quickly?" Yang Dalang smiled innocently.
"Driving an ox cart? It must cost a lot of money, right?" Gao asked.
"Well, going back and forth, plus transporting the food, it cost about seven or eight hundred coins!" Yang Dalang nodded.
"Hiss! Spending so much?" The women were heartbroken, because saving that much would mean more than 200 kilograms of food!
"Hey! We have to spend this money! Otherwise, we won't be able to get to the county town, and who will want the meat when it goes bad tomorrow?" Yang Dalang said generously.
In fact, when he saw Su Ying paying, he felt more distressed than them and wished he could snatch it back.
I would rather walk hard and save the money to buy food.
Don't you understand the truth? Seeing money being spent lavishly is simply killing you!
"Oh, our Dalang is so generous?" Gao joked, looking at her eldest son.
"Hey, Dalang, why is your face so dirty? You are such a grown-up, but you can't even wash your face clean!" Gao said as she reached out to wipe the shadow off her son's face.
"Hiss!" Yang Dalang was in pain and dodged his mother's hand.
"Da Lang, what's wrong with your face?" Gao pulled her eldest son to look at him carefully.
"Nothing, I accidentally fell on the road and hit my face." Yang Dalang lied.
"Did you fall?" Gao stared at her son. "That's not the kind of injury you get from falling. You were clearly beaten!"
There were traces of friction from the fall, and the eldest son had bruises on his face, obviously caused by being punched.
"Da Lang, what happened?" Old man Yang looked at his eldest son with a worried look in his eyes.
"It's nothing, just a misunderstanding!" Yang Dalang laughed, "Eat quickly! And rest early after you finish eating!"
"Da Lang, tell me the truth, did you encounter any trouble on the road?" Old man Yang really thought that today would be smooth sailing!
"Father, it's nothing! It's all over!" Yang Dalang didn't want his parents to be upset, so he told his younger brother on the way not to mention it.
"Erlang, you say!" Old man Yang looked at Er'er.
Yang Erlang lowered his head and didn't dare to look at his parents, pretending to be deaf and dumb.
"What? Do you think your father is old and useless, so you don't tell me anything when there is something wrong?" Old man Yang said angrily.
The less you say, the bigger the problem becomes!
"No way, Father!" Yang Dalang laughed awkwardly. "My son is already old, how can I let my parents worry about everything? Don't worry, no one will bully us anymore!"
"Da Lang, what you said is not clear. Tell the truth quickly!" Old man Yang put down his chopsticks and said seriously.
"Oh my!" Yang Dalang couldn't escape and told the whole story in detail.
"You kid, you're still talking about trivial matters!" Gao stood up and checked her eldest son's body. His back was red and swollen. She felt so distressed that she took some sesame oil and applied it on him.
"Mother, this time, it was a blessing in disguise. Fortunately, the Su family's daughter is related to the county magistrate's family. Although we were beaten a few times, we are out now. From now on, those yamen runners will not dare to bully us anymore."
"Alas!" Gao sighed. The descendant of the royal family had ended up in such a situation. He was beaten innocently and was lucky not to be imprisoned.
"Da Lang, what kind of plow do you think the girl from the Su family has? What's the plow like? Is it really that good?" Old man Yang noticed something strange.
This thing is definitely not an ordinary thing. Otherwise, why would the county magistrate be so polite and go to the city to invite Su Langjun? And release him on the spot in the detention center?
Once he enters the county government office, how can he be released easily without being severely punished?
"Jiangdong Plow! Ah, that thing is so cleverly designed! The plow disc allows for easy turning and steering, and the plowshare and plow shoulders adjust the depth of the plow. The straight shaft becomes curved, making plowing much less strenuous..."
Yang Dalang said with great joy, "With this, we can save a lot of time and effort when plowing the fields!"
"Really?" Old Man Yang stood up suddenly. "What a good thing! What a good thing..."
He walked around the room a few times, his expression tangled, and finally sighed heavily, "Alas!"
"Father, why are you sighing?" Yang Dalang was puzzled.
"It would be great if we had one of these good things! But going back to beg others for it is too..." Old Man Yang couldn't continue.
You can't just grab one person when you want to fleece the sheep. The Su family has just helped a lot, and now you want them to hand over the Jiangdong plow. Doesn't that seem like bullying?
But such a good thing is needed urgently when it is about to be planted in autumn.
"Don't worry, father! The daughter of the Su family has agreed with Mr. Hu that once the Jiangdong plow is made, they will give two plows to our village!" Yang Dalang said with a smile.
"real?!"
"Absolutely true! It will be delivered in a few days!" Yang Dalang nodded.
"The Su family girl suggested that the Jiangdong plow's price is about the same as a straight-beam plow, and you can even bring your own materials and process it!"
"I'm so narrow-minded!" Old Man Yang said shamefacedly, "This suggestion from you, young lady, will greatly benefit so many farmers! In this way, the Jiangdong plow will surely become popular quickly."
"Yes, the original intention of the girl and Mr. Su is to promote the Jiangdong plow quickly!" Yang Dalang said this with high spirits and pride.
"Hu Zi, study hard with your teacher and learn skills well. Even if you fail the imperial examination in the future, you can still benefit the people around you!" Old man Yang said to his most promising grandson in the family.
"Grandpa, this is saved by my grandson!" Hu Zi's eyes were sparkling and full of longing.
"Aung, we want to study too!" Amu and Asang whispered.
"Uh..." Old Man Yang looked at his eldest son's two children, feeling a little embarrassed. "Would it be okay if Grandpa taught you?"
"Aung, we also want to read books like Hu Zi's!" Amu and Asang begged.
"But I can't afford that much money for the funeral expenses and writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone at home!" Old man Yang was worried.
"Father, several of the young masters in Lord Su's family are well-educated. Some have studied at the Imperial Academy, as well as at law, calligraphy, and mathematics. They are willing to teach the children and have even proposed setting up a village school!"
Yang Dalang also wanted his children to have a bright future and leave the mountains.
"Does Mr. Su really propose this?" Old Man Yang looked at his eldest son.
"It's true!" Dalang and Erlang said in unison.
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