Chapter 124 [VIP]
After resting at the old house for a day, the group drove to the estate the next day.
After this ancestral worship ceremony, I don't know when I'll be able to come back again, so I bought a lot of incense, candles, and paper money.
The carriage traveled for two hours and arrived at Chenjiazhuang. Along the way, apart from Chenjiazhuang, which was intact, almost all the other villages had few people left.
Upon entering the village, everyone lifted the carriage curtains to look around. They remembered that when they left last time, not a single neat house in the village was left. Now, every household has rebuilt a new house, and it looks no different from before!
Wang Ying said, "If we hadn't seen the houses in the village being washed away with our own eyes, we wouldn't have believed that these were all newly built."
"You could argue that it isn't!"
The houses in the village are not built with any particular style; most are mud-brick and thatched houses, and a house can be built in ten days at most.
When faced with such a major disaster, the village head's abilities became apparent. Led by Chen Xi, the villagers, young and old, began to dig mud and make bricks after finishing their planting. Based on the total number of people in the village, each household had to have a room, with larger households adding one or two more rooms as appropriate.
Finally, they were all covered up in the fall, and the whole village spent the cold winter warmly.
Soon, people on the road saw the approaching carriage. Since no strangers had come to the village for so long, everyone guessed that the owners must have returned.
The news spread like wildfire, and soon the entire village came out, crowding along both sides of the road and asking repeatedly, "Has the landlord returned?"
The carriage stopped, and Wang Ying lifted the curtain and stepped out. "Fellow villagers, are you all well?"
The crowd fell silent for a moment, then everyone knelt down and kowtowed in unison, saying, "Greetings, Master. May you be well."
Wang Ying's breath hitched, and she quickly reached out to help him up. "Get up quickly, you're so old, how can you kneel before me? Isn't that shortening my lifespan?"
Granny Li held Wang Ying's hand and said, "If it weren't for the master giving us grain seeds, we would probably have starved to death by now. You are a living Bodhisattva reincarnated. Who else should we kneel to but you?"
"Yes! We prayed to gods and Buddhas but couldn't save our lives, but the boss saved us. He's definitely more powerful than any god or Buddha!"
"You can't say that!" Wang Ying was so frightened that she quickly put her hands together and prayed to God.
Chen Xi, who was standing at the back, squeezed in with a smile on his face and said, "A few days ago, Er Shun came back and said that you were all back. The family has been looking forward to it. The house has been cleaned up. Please come and rest, Master."
"Let's go."
Uncle Chen drove the cart toward Chen Xi's house, with Wang Ying and Chen Qingyan following behind, surrounded by a group of people.
During the visit, Wang Ying inquired about this year's millet harvest and whether there were any diseases or pests.
Chen Xi truthfully replied, "The harvest is better than in previous years, with an average yield of two shi of millet per mu. Even in the past, the yield from the fields was one shi and seven or eight dou!"
"That's good. Has the spring wheat been planted?"
"We planted them. We took millet to Baishi Town to exchange for wheat seeds. They were short of millet seeds and we were short of wheat seeds, so each family contributed a few bushels to exchange for wheat seeds."
"That's good. I also brought a bag of drought-resistant seeds that I cultivated over the past. It's too late to plant them now. I'll find some open space to plant them when the weather gets warmer. After the wheat is harvested in the fall, I'll distribute them to everyone to replace them and increase next year's grain yield."
"Yes!" Chen Xi nodded excitedly.
Once inside the courtyard, Li and the others alighted from the carriage. Fang Ling, visiting her hometown village for the first time, couldn't help but feel curious.
After Li introduced them, Chen Xi knelt down and bowed to Fang Ling.
"No, please, sir, do not perform such a grand gesture."
Upon entering the house, they saw Chen Xi's wife, Yang, standing awkwardly to one side. The new house wasn't very spacious, but it had two large kang beds, one facing north and one facing south. When heated, the house was so warm that one couldn't wear thick clothes.
As soon as Wang Ying entered the room, she breathed a sigh of relief, "This heated kang bed is so comfortable."
Chen Xi said, "That's right, everyone built their kang (heated brick bed) according to your method, and it's much more comfortable to live in than a regular bed!"
The main problem is that it's too troublesome to make a temporary bed. There are only two or three people in the whole village who know how to make a carpentry. If we have to wait in line to make a bed, we might not be able to move in until next spring.
But this kang (heated brick bed) is different. It is made of mud bricks and stones. It is built in one go when the house is built. You can sleep by lighting a fire. In winter, you don't need to light a stove or a brazier.
"Come sit on the kang (heated brick bed), it's warm there."
Everyone took off their shoes and sat on the kang (a heated brick bed). Chen Dashun brought over a small kang table, and his wife brought over boiled water and clean bowls.
The farmhouse had no tea leaves, only a bowl of sugar water. Everyone drank it and felt warm all over.
After finishing their drinks, they started chatting about everyday things. Chen Qingyan asked, "After the floods were over, did any government officials come to deliver relief supplies?"
Chen Xi said, "They've arrived, almost in November. Each family was given five dou of grain and thirty copper coins. To put it bluntly, if we were relying on five dou of grain, we would have starved to death long ago, and those thirty copper coins wouldn't even cover a latrine!"
Chen Qingyan frowned. His teacher had previously said that the disaster relief supplies distributed by the imperial court were sufficient, and there would definitely be no trouble in his hometown.
Unexpectedly, after layers of exploitation, the people only had a few bushels of rice left. How could they survive?
Mencius said: "The kitchen is full of fat meat, the stable is full of fat horses, the people have the look of hunger, and the fields are littered with the corpses of the starving. This is leading beasts to devour men." But now the officials only care about enriching themselves, causing the starving people to lie dead everywhere. Is this not a policy of leading beasts to devour men?
In the past, during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, there was a severe drought. Emperor Wen reduced his meals and music, and personally went to the people to provide relief, which led to the reign of Emperors Wen and Jing. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, in the Zhenguan era, imperial censors were always dispatched to inspect disasters. Anyone who embezzled relief grain was executed without pardon, which led to the prosperous era when rice cost only three coins per dou.
Nowadays, officials are perfunctory and merely issue documents, receiving the emperor's favor in name only while exploiting the people. This leaves the hungry without food and the cold without clothing, causing widespread resentment. How can this situation last?
I must write a letter to the teacher about this!
After discussing these matters, Wang Ying inquired about the situation in other villages.
Chen Xi said, "Do you remember Zhengzhuang, which is near us?"
Wang Ying nodded. "They tried to rob the people in our cave when they were on the mountain?"
“That’s right, they all survived and returned to the village to continue their lives after the flood receded. But I heard something…” Chen Xi lowered his voice mysteriously: “Song Daming, the one who was driven out of our village, didn’t he go with them? But no one has seen him since he came down the mountain.”
After a moment's thought, everyone understood. Qingyun said, "Could he have been harmed by Zheng Zhuangzi's people?"
"It wasn't that they were murdered, it was that they were eaten..."
"Ugh..." Chen Qingyun couldn't help but gag. Li quickly patted her back and handed her some water: "Drink some water to calm down."
Wang Ying was not surprised by this. When people are extremely hungry, they are no different from wild animals. Throughout history, there have been many tragedies of people exchanging children to eat each other during years of famine.
After resting for a while, everyone went up the mountain to pay respects to their ancestors. Uncle Chen carried a shovel and filled in the grave, which was almost flattened by the rain.
After lighting incense and candles, Chen Qingyan, Chen Qingsong, and Chen Qinghuai knelt in a row and kowtowed, informing their ancestors that they had passed the county examination and asking for their blessings to pass the prefectural examination smoothly.
After they finished offering incense, the others knelt and kowtowed. Yuanbao also stuck out his little bottom and kowtowed three times solidly.
I recently celebrated my birthday and am now three years old (according to the traditional Chinese age reckoning).
Traditionally, people celebrate children's birthdays, partly because they fear the children might die young, and partly because ordinary people don't have enough money to spend extravagantly.
Wang Ying followed local customs and didn't hold a birthday party for her son. She just boiled a few eggs for Yuanbao and stewed an extra fish that he liked to eat that evening.
As the child grew older, he became more sensible. Seeing that the adults all had stern faces, he dared not run around recklessly and obediently followed Wang Ying, watching the adults burn paper money.
Li took a bundle of paper money and went to her husband's grave to burn it. "Brother Xian, it's been so long since I've come to see you. I wonder if you've missed me."
You're so heartless. You haven't even appeared in my dreams once since you left. You have no idea how much I miss you.
Standing beside her, Qingyun's eyes reddened. She turned her head and buried her face in her sister-in-law's shoulder. Wang Ying patted her back, knowing that the girl missed her father.
"Now that our children have all become successful, we are about to go to the prefectural city. Once we leave, we may not be able to visit you as often."
Everything is fine at home, so don't worry. We'll come back and send you a letter when our son finishes high school.
After burning the paper money in a muttered and incoherent manner, Li slowly stood up, supporting herself on her knees. Although there were no tear stains on her face, Wang Ying knew that all the sadness was hidden in her heart.
The passing of a loved one is never a downpour, but rather a lifetime of dampness.
*
It was already noon when they returned from the mountain. Chen Xi's wife killed the chicken and stewed a pot of vegetables.
Seeing this, Wang Ying said, "Your lives are already difficult enough, and you still want to slaughter one of these two chickens."
Yang wiped her hands and said, "We don't have much to offer everyone, but this chicken is quite plump, so please don't find it unappetizing."
"How could we mind? Let's invite Tiger and Er Ya to eat together."
"Why."
More than a year has passed since we last saw each other. Tiger has grown taller by more than half a head, and Er Ya has also grown into a beautiful young woman.
Chen Qingyun still remembers them. When they first came, the two children cried because they couldn't get meat. Four years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Two tables were set up. The women and children sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) to eat, while the men sat around the table on the ground.
During the meal, Wang Ying mentioned the shop in town, saying, "That shop is just sitting idle anyway. If Da Shun has time, go over and tidy it up, and you can start a small business there."
Chen Dashun was so nervous that he couldn't speak. It was his wife who spoke up and agreed, "Okay! Don't worry, boss, we'll go to town to pack up tomorrow!"
Wang Ying had a good impression of this somewhat feisty young woman. "Then I'll leave it to you. We happen to have nowhere to stay in town, and we need someone to look after the old house. You can prepare two rooms and stay there, and also help us look after the house."
This time, not only was Da Shun excited, but Chen Xi also quickly put down his chopsticks and said, "Don't worry, boss, I'll definitely have Da Shun take good care of the house for you!"
Chen Qingyan said, "We haven't thanked you yet for helping us repair the house. When we went back, we thought the house was in a terrible state."
"Hey, I only said a few words. It was all the help from the villagers, young and old. You can't take credit for it."
"Same here, thank you both."
Wang Ying said, "Let's not keep thanking each other, or the food will get cold."
Everyone burst into laughter, and the atmosphere became even more lively.
Originally, they planned to return to town that night, but Chen Xi said that the day after tomorrow was an auspicious day for Er Shun's wedding.
The woman was from the same village, and everyone knew her well. They had originally planned to get married two years ago, but Ershun went on a long trip with Chen Qingyan last year, so the wedding was postponed.
Since he happened to be back and had some free time, Chen Xi thought it best to finish his second son's wedding as soon as possible. After the wedding, the young couple would go to the prefectural city together, and then they wouldn't have to worry.
This was a joyous occasion, and everyone was naturally willing to stay at the estate for a few days.
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