Xiaoyaoshanjun

Chapter 85 Local Celebrities
Early in the morning, Tian Buli walked out of the big house.

Behind the twenty-centimeter-high threshold, four rabbits poked their heads out and looked at the cold and quiet yard outside.

Several pits were dug in the yard, but no trees or gardens had yet to be arranged.

Tian Buli lowered his head and looked at the little rabbits at his feet. Four rabbits were about to crawl out.

"No running today. You will practice martial arts in the yard and study in the house in the morning."

When the four rabbits heard that they didn't have to go running, they didn't go out.

Tian Buli went out and busy himself with his own business. Cement was easy to prepare, and it was easy to find various kinds of stones on the mountain.

The problem lies in the workmanship. The craftsmen who come here to build the houses have inherited experience from generations of masters. They build houses the same way as the masters did.

If the materials are suddenly changed, these people won’t know how to do their work.

Building a wooden house is definitely different from building a concrete house, so the cement in the house is mainly used for paving the ground.

The simpler and easier something is to use, the easier it is to promote it.

It just so happens that rural areas need to dry grain, so a large cement flat square can be built for children to play on, or for drying clothes and grain.

Tian Buli went out to look for a suitable place. The most troublesome thing about this kind of thing is not the materials or the labor, but the land problem which is the easiest to solve nowadays.

Since the land belongs to him and the Hu family, there is no problem in taking out two acres for public use, and there is no need to argue with others.

If it is someone else's land, it will be much more troublesome to requisition it.

The workers at the foot of the mountain came to work before dawn, mainly preparing tools and assigning work under the command of several experienced masters.

Wait until the sun comes out before starting to prepare for dinner.

The workers brought their own dry food and also gave some rice, flour and eggs to those working on the construction site in exchange for hot steamed buns and soup.

Tian Buli walked over, and the workers and old farmers who were squatting to eat nearby quickly stood up.

"village head!"

"My little husband!"

"Taoist Priest!"

"master!"

Tian Buli listened to the various names and said with a smile: "I am neither a scholar nor a Taoist priest. Just call me Master first, and you can call me something else after I pass the imperial examination."

Taoists need to be certified, and Tian Buli does not want to use the name of a Taoist to take the imperial examination.

The title of village chief is not appropriate either. For a scholar who aspires to take the imperial examinations, the title of village chief is somewhat insulting.

The old master in charge asked politely, "Master, what do you want?"

Tian Buli looked around and said, "I see there are only some steamed buns in your pot. Let's make do with them today. I'll buy some tofu tomorrow and make some tofu soup for you in the morning."

"Just work hard. If you do a good job, I will provide you with more food. I will also give you some wages before the New Year to go home for the New Year."

After hearing this, Manager Yang said happily, "Thank you, Master! Don't worry, Master. I have been building houses for more than 40 years. I promise to make this house beautiful!"

Tian Buli smiled and nodded, then explained the matter of cement to these people and assigned several people to collect materials for making "plaster".

Cement materials are not difficult to find, especially near the foundation of a large house, it is easy to find them all.

After finishing these things, Tian Buli went back to the yard to prepare for dinner.

As soon as I returned to the yard, I saw four rabbits coming out of the house in a line, holding pillows.

"What are you doing?" Tian Buli looked at the rabbit team that was transporting goods like ants. Are these rabbits moving?
The little yellow rabbit raised his head and took the initiative to say: "Master, we want to dry the pillows."

"Drying pillows?" Tian Buli didn't quite understand.

The little black rabbit said, "The pillows that were dried in the sun yesterday smelled nice at night. We're going to dry our pillows today, too."

The little yellow rabbit said, "Everything should be dried in the sun, including the quilt."

Tian Buli made way for him and said, "Okay, you guys get busy."

The four rabbits moved quickly. They jumped onto the eaves holding the pillows in a few jumps, and then nimbly jumped to the ground.

It only took about ten seconds in total.

After finishing their work, the family had dinner in the house.

The Tian family now has quite a few people, mainly craftsmen and slaves who came as dowry, about sixty or seventy people.

Some of these people will go home for the New Year, and a few young people will stay here.

So many people need a place to live. Fortunately, wooden houses and thatched houses have been built for them. A large wooden house can accommodate more than ten people, which is not difficult. Food and drink are expenses every day. These dowries are all city people, and their food must be better than that of the village.

But when it comes to speaking and doing things, he is clearer than the people in the village.

The four rabbits that could speak human language not only made the people in the village feel magical, but even the people who came with the dowry had never seen such a magical thing.

Ordinary people would treat this as a monster if they encountered it, but people nearby knew that Tian Buli was practicing Taoism, and that the rabbits raised by the Taoist priest could talk, so naturally they did not treat them as man-eating monsters.

This time, I brought the four rabbits down for a walk in order to dispel the villagers and family members' vigilance towards the rabbits, and at least let the others know that these four rabbits and the rabbit lady are their own people.

After dinner, Tian Buli asked the little rabbits to study hard and went to visit the neighbor next door.

Although they say they are visiting each other, there is actually a door between the walls of the two houses, so they can walk around whenever they want.

In fact, the houses of the two families were almost completed. Tian Buli's budget was to accommodate about a hundred people. The Hu family's house was originally built for thirty people, and no one intended to build it too big.

If there hadn't been so many servants coming as dowry this time, the Tian family wouldn't have planned to expand the house. The weather was just right today, and Dou Niang was feeding chickens in the yard. When she saw Tian Buli, she smiled and glanced at him.

"Have you eaten?"

"I'm full." Tian Buli walked over and said with a smile, "Move around in the morning. It's good for your health."

The damselfly smiled and said, "Of course I can't help but move. I'm living a good life now, and I've gained weight. I'm not as thin as before."

Tian Buli smiled and said that Dou Niang had never been thin before.

"It's good to do a little work. There's no strenuous work now."

"Where are they? I'm so tired these past few days." Damiang got angry when she said this. "Those two bastards just run out to play all day long. I can't even count them now. I'm so mad at you!"

When Tian Buli heard that it was about educating children, he said, "Gou'er is studying with the teacher. I think Hu'er and Bao'er are really not good at studying. It would be better if one stays at the house to look after the house, and the other learns to do business. One of them will have to look after the house in the city in the future."

Dou Niang said, "That's easy. When Gou'er goes out to study, this house will be given to Bao'er, and the old house will be given to Hu'er."

Tian Buli smiled and said, "Don't call me dog, the master has given me a big name, Hu Mingzong."

"How is it written? Write it down for me to see." Dou Niang was very concerned about this matter and urged Tian Buli to write down his name so that she could recognize it.

Tian Buli and Dou Niang went back to the house and wrote down the dog's name for the others to see.

Hu'er and Bao'er also came back. They only knew one of the three characters and were both completely illiterate.

The dragonfly said, "Among these three children, I think Gou'er is the one who will have a bright future!"

Tian Buli sat next to him and said with a smile: "The dog has a promising future, but people are studying outside, and in the future, the tiger and leopard will accompany them."

Tiger and Leopard were both happy. They thought that their second father was the best and was willing to speak up for them.

The dragon lady thought about it and said with a smile: "You are a good talker. I am also very free. You can have some babies with those three girls and I will help you take care of them every day!"

Seeing that the topic was about him again, Tian Buli changed the subject.

"The people who build houses outside eat steamed buns soaked in water all day long. I have nothing to do at home. I see that Tiger and Leopard have nothing to do. Why not build a workshop in the backyard and make some tofu?"

Hu'er was afraid and said quickly, "I want to take care of my mother and not make tofu anymore."

Making tofu requires work, and Huer and Baoer have not forgotten the memories of being beaten for making tofu as children.

Tian Buli smiled and said, "It's not like before. We don't have to work so hard now. Besides, we don't have to rush to sell the tofu we make. We don't have to get up in the middle of the night to grind it."

"It just so happens that the house behind us is next to the water. I will help you build a water-ground tofu workshop in the future. This will save you a lot of effort."

The damselfly said, "This village is so far from the county town. We can't eat all the tofu we make, and we can't sell it either, right?"

"It can be made into fermented bean curd." Tian Buli had made this thing a long time ago, but did not promote it.

After hearing this, Dou Niang hesitated and said, "Is that thing easy to sell? You should study now, don't bother with such trivial matters."

Tian Buli said, "You all know how to make tofu. Just teach Hu'er and Bao'er how to make fermented tofu. Now that the business in the city has been given to your family, you should also give Bao'er some skills to rely on in the future. Don't let it go to others."

After hearing what Tian Buli said, Dou Niang nodded and took note of the matter.

Although my mother’s family is my mother’s family, my son also needs some skills to make money.

Tian Buli added, "It's convenient to carry fermented bean curd in a jar. I have some connections with the escort agency, and the people there always have to bring something to go with their meals when they travel around."

"It just so happened that I asked the villagers nearby to plant dozens of acres of vegetables some time ago. We two families certainly can't eat all of them, so we made pickles and kimchi."

Dou Niang believed that Tian Buli could sell the things, as he was the one who sold all kinds of tofu in the past.

Seeing that Tian Buli helped Huer and Baoer find a way out, Dou Niang was naturally grateful.

"Okay, I'll do as you say." Dou Niang looked at the two ignorant boys again, "Tiger, Leopard, kowtow to your second father quickly. Your second father has planned out your future for the rest of your life."

Zhang Xia and Bai Yanhong sat nearby and watched the two children kowtow to Tian Buli, and they also smiled.

Both of them were considered Tian Buli's maids, and this had been the case since they first came out of the manor.

So although he lived in the Hu family, he often went to the Tian family to help, and also often went to the mountains to cook and wash clothes for Tian Buli.

Both of them were infertile, but Tian Buli was not an ungrateful person, and both families had places for the two women.

After arranging matters for her two sons, Dou Niang asked curiously, "You run and practice martial arts all day long. I heard that you also chop wood and carry water. Does this count as practicing Taoism?"

Tian Buli smiled and said, "Tao follows nature. You don't have to think about whether I am practicing Taoism or something else. Just think of me as Tian Buli."

"I am who I am. All the titles and identities are external things. Just remember my goodness."

Dou Niang was delighted when she heard this. "That's good. From now on, I will still call you Tian Ge'er, and you can just call me Dou Niang."

Zhang Xia smiled and said, "We should still call each other little husband. How about that, little husband?"

"Okay, it's just a name." Tian Buli knew that the two of them had to distinguish the damselfly and not embarrass the damselfly.

After sitting at Hu's house for half an hour, Tian Buli took the two children out to work and taught them how to make plaster.

There is no rush to practice Buddhism or study. For now, you should slowly become a local celebrity.

If someone can manage a village in an orderly manner, when others come to visit him, they might trust him more, right?
Moreover, whether it is studying or practicing Buddhism, benefiting your hometown can be considered a good thing.

If you practice Taoism, this place is your birthplace and foundation. If you heal your hometown, others will be more willing to believe that you are a good person.

If you study hard and have this ability, it will be easier to become a local official.

(End of this chapter)