Ordinary observers in fast time travel

Chapter 1242 Dashan Village

"This is a mountain village!"

The village in front of us is built against the mountain, with one house next to another. It looks very compact, but not dense.

The huge village has only about thirty households.

At the foot of the mountain, there is a small river. To the north of the river are small vegetable fields, while to the south is a large area of ​​paddy fields. At the end of the paddy fields is another mountain, but the slope of this mountain is relatively gentle. From a distance, it appears to have been cultivated into a continuous stretch of hills.

"Is Li Youtian home?" Zhang, the bailiff, led Shi Jia up a set of bluestone steps to a house that looked wealthier than the others.

"Home? Who is it?" The gate opened, and a woman with gray hair came out.

"Oh, sir?" The woman immediately smiled. "What brings you here? Please come in." Glancing at Shi Jia and his group out of the corner of her eye, she couldn't help but wonder, "Whose relatives are these?"

Without any ceremony, Zhang, the constable, walked straight into the village chief's house. The Li family members, who were eating at the time, immediately put down their bowls and chopsticks and greeted him with smiles.

"Lord Zhang? What brings you here?" The man in his fifties greeted him warmly.

"Don't shout." Zhang, the constable, glared at him, then turned back and beckoned to Shi Jia, "Madam Li, come in."

“The Li family fled from Feng County and have registered their household in Dashan Village at the government office.” Zhang, the yamen runner, handed the documents to Li Youtian. “Here, this is the household registration certificate.”

"And who is this?" Li Youtian secretly sized up Shi Jia and her three companions. A young woman, a boy, a little girl, and a baby in their arms. He frowned, not for any other reason than wondering if this family could support themselves.
Li Youtian took the document and read it carefully. After a while, he nodded, "Alright, Madam Li, right? I am the village chief of Dashan Village. From now on, we are all from the same village. Feel free to ask me any questions."

"Greetings, Village Chief!" Shi Jia and her two children bowed to him. She took out the land deed and the farm deed and handed them to him. "Village Chief Li, this is the land I selected at the government office yesterday, as well as the farmland I purchased. I am new here and not familiar with Dashan Village. Please take me around to get acquainted with the area."

Li Youtian took the land deed, frowned, and asked, "Why did you choose this place to build your house?"

"Is there something wrong with it?" Shi Jia's heart tightened, and she quickly asked. The plot of land she chose was not next to other people's houses in the village, but it was not far from the houses of the villagers, and it was also quite close to the water source.

"There's nothing wrong with it, but the terrain here is uneven, so building a house might be difficult." Actually, it's not that difficult, as long as you're willing to spend the money.

Shi Jia immediately tensed up, "What should we do?"

Li Youtian was thinking about where else in the village he could build a house, but after careful consideration, he couldn't come up with any good options.

“Very well, I’ll take you to see your fields and house site this afternoon.” After saying that, Li Youtian looked at Zhang Yabu and cupped his hands in greeting. “It is truly an offense to have neglected Master Zhang. It is already noon, Master Zhang must not have eaten yet, right? If you don’t mind, would you like to stay and have a simple meal?”

Zhang, the constable, nodded. "Then I'll take the trouble to trouble you."

"Alright, alright, old woman, go cook another dish." After saying that, Li Youtian saw Shi Jia and the others and added, "Master, please prepare some food for Madam Li's family."

"Okay!" The old woman replied quickly and hurried into the kitchen.

Shi Jia quickly replied, "No need to trouble the village chief, I've already bought some dry food."

In the end, Shi Jia did not refuse and had a meal at the village chief's house, which consisted of a sweet potato and a bowl of vegetable soup. After lunch, Zhang, the yamen runner, left, and Li Youtian gathered the villagers, young and old, to announce the settlement of Shi Jia and his three companions. The villagers were somewhat curious, and some of the men even had their eyes gleaming, wondering what ideas they were having.

Shi Jia stood aside, taking in these gazes and keeping a watchful eye on them.

Afterwards, Li Youtian took Shi Jia to identify the land before finally heading up the mountain, which was actually only about ten meters away from the village.

Li Youtian pointed to a piece of land in front of him, about twenty meters long and five or six meters wide, and said, “Your family’s land is about one acre. However, this is the only slightly flat area where you can build a house. You can cultivate the slope above to grow some vegetables, but the bottom is all rocks, so you can only use it to raise chickens and ducks at most.”

Shi Jia looked at the plot of land in front of him and was very satisfied. It was exactly as described on the map.

Then Li Youtian said, "But there's a problem with your house site. It's not connected to the village. If wild animals come down from the mountains, or if something happens, the villagers won't be able to help in time."

He then pointed to the only path leading to the village behind him, below which was a steep slope. Above that was dense jungle.

The problem is that although it's only about ten meters from the village, it turns a corner!

So Li Youtian looked at Shi Jia with a very serious expression, "Why don't you consider changing your homestead?"

Shi Jia thought for a moment and shook his head. "Village chief, can I widen this path? Maybe cut down a few trees?"

Upon hearing this, Li Youtian thought for a moment and said, "It's not impossible, but cutting down trees and building roads involves the interests of the entire village, so I need to ask for the opinions of the villagers."

Shi Jia hurriedly said, "Then I'll contribute five qian of silver and ask other villagers to help?"

It wasn't that she was stingy, but they didn't have much money to begin with, and they also needed to build a house. If it weren't for the fact that living here was indeed somewhat unsafe, she wouldn't have wanted to spend the money.

Actually, if you just dig out the bend, her location will be closer to the village from the base. Many houses are more than 20 meters apart!
In the end, Shi Jia spent one tael of silver to buy the right to build the road. While the road was being built, she paid villagers to help clear the foundation. Building this house cost Shi Jia seven taels of silver! It almost wiped out all her savings.

But it was worth it, after all, she was already very content to be able to move into her new home before the Chinese New Year.

"Aunt Lin, I'm sorry to have bothered you these days." Shi Jia carried the meat and eggs he bought from the government office, and also put a red envelope containing 200 coins inside.

"These are just a small token of my appreciation, please don't find them offensive." During this period, they had been staying at the village chief's house.

When Aunt Lin saw the basket in Shi Jia's hand, her eyes flickered, but her face remained amiable. "There's no need to bother us. We're all from the same village, so helping each other is only natural."

"Don't mention it!" Aunt Lin said, declining the offer. Shi Jia thanked her again and handed it over once more.

Aunt Lin was tempted, but still declined. Shi Jia changed his tune, "Auntie, I know you don't care about this little gift, but it's still a token of my family's goodwill. If you really don't like it, I... I'll go to the prefectural city another day and buy some more gifts."

"What are you saying? Do you think I'm the kind of shameless person? You're just being too polite, child." In the end, Aunt Lin accepted the gift.

Shi Jia and her children happily moved into their new house.