Traveling through the Prosperous Pastoral of Peasant Girls

Chapter 10

Chapter 11 House Robbery
Jin Yang saw that more than half of the shrimp seedlings remained in the nursery pond, so he calculated the density of crayfish in the pond. He felt that the density had reached the standard. If it was increased, not only would it not be beneficial, but it would also cause the crayfish to compete for territory and attack each other.He took a fancy to a river fork not far to the west, with an area of ​​about [-] acres. The bottom of this river fork is muddy, roughly flat, and with a little modification, it will become an extra-large shrimp pond.However, both sides of the river fork are other people's fields, and the other side belongs to the neighboring village. If there is a dispute, it will be very troublesome.After discussing with Liu Tao, he decided to ask his father-in-law to encourage the village chief to come forward, as long as he gave money to the town's land guarantor and asked the land guarantor to go through the formalities of representing the government.

The village head's house was not far from grandpa's house, and the two of them went with their father-in-law, carrying a paper bag of shrimp.The village chief and his wife were not enthusiastic about their arrival, of course, because they did not lead his family to earn money together.

Ordinarily, the brother-in-law of the village chief was their former matchmaker. It was Liu Tao's parents who begged her to meet Jin Yang's family. They should look up to the matchmaker's family, but because they rejected the village chief's request at the beginning. , Now the relationship has become lukewarm.

Jin Yang stopped his father who wanted to mention Hecha, smiled and said to the village chief: "Uncle, today we are here to see you old, and by the way, we have a partnership to make money and I want to discuss with you ...."

The village head became happy when he heard this, and before he could say anything, his young daughter-in-law asked, "Is there such a good thing as taking my family to earn money?"

Jin Yang said: "Isn't this the village elder who mentioned the partnership to make money in the past? At that time, we signed a contract with a big shopkeeper in Fucheng. The village elder could not participate, and we have not found a good way to make money. , now that I have it, my father and my father-in-law are the first to think of the village uncle..."

"Haha, nephew, tell me what is a good thing?"

"It's the river fork to the west of my third uncle, we want to block the crawfish!" Liu Tao interjected at the right time.

"Raising crayfish, can it be eaten, and who are you going to sell it to?"

"You don't have to worry about who you sell it to. At that time, you and my father-in-law can share it, and I can give it to you every year, um, 20 taels of silver."

When the couple heard that there would be 20 taels of silver a year, they immediately asked, "What do we need to do? Do we need to pay the capital in advance?"

The father-in-law heard the doorway: "You don't need to pay a copper coin, the village elder brother, you just need to go through the (procedures) with the land security for that river fork. It’s enough to use the lobster as food in the branch to prevent someone from stealing it.”

In order to mobilize the enthusiasm of the village chief's family, Liu Tao said while the iron was hot: "Uncle and aunt, do you think you will get paid for the crayfish sold out, or will you be given a fixed 20 taels of silver a year? If you share the money, My family counts one share, my father-in-law’s family counts one share, the money we invested counts as one share, and you also count one share. There are four shares in total. You can decide for yourself. After discussing it, draw up a contract, and then you will act according to the contract. There is no repentance!"

The village head didn't need to discuss with his wife, he waved his hand and said, "You don't need to share according to the shares, just 20 taels of silver! I'll do it tomorrow..."

The village head is not optimistic about the cultivation of crayfish. Instead of paying dividends after autumn and not knowing how to make a profit, it is better to earn 20 taels of silver safely!After the village head completed the formalities the next day, and after several days of intense work, a group of craftsmen invited in completed the project of cleaning and intercepting the river fork, and the shrimp seedlings were also stocked in smoothly.The village head's wife and son Huang Shansong stayed there almost every day, and they also fed the crayfish with grass according to Jin Yang's instructions.20 taels of silver a year is not a small amount in a farm family. Anyone who can have a large income will be happy.

Suddenly there was a storm overnight, and the water level of the river increased rapidly. Lao Huang, who was guarding the ecstasy formations, and his father withdrew the two ecstasy formations back in the middle of the night.Looking at the still rising river and the sparse raindrops falling from the sky, it is estimated that it will not be possible to arrange the ecstasy array down the river in a few days.

The last time it rained, there was not much water in the water cellar behind the house, and even the kitchen and bathroom were used up in three to five days. This time it rained heavily, and the water cellar was half full overnight. , it seems that there is no problem in using it for a month or two.In the past, they were used to using the huts outside, and they were ashamed to insist on not using the huts inside the house as grandma said, "eat in the house and eat in the house".Now, because it's raining outside, my parents have to close the door all of a sudden.They sat down and admired it first. The stone toilet, the black pottery U-shaped pipe, and the weight-like water supply device. Liu Tao even made a toilet cover out of rags and put a toilet cover on it to prevent the cold The cloth cover of the toilet makes the butt uncomfortable, and the two of them shouted "enjoy" when using it.

They rested, and the bad news came from Dapang, the roof of the grandpa's house was blown off by the strong wind last night.The group of people here finally took a break, so they made a fuss about moving Lao Huang's family. Dad wanted to go to the old house to see the elderly after moving Lao Huang.Before moving here, the ox cart with old furniture, pots and pans, grandparents and uncle arrived.Their excuses made people speechless: "Second brother, your father's house and I can't live in it because it's broken down. It just so happens that your family has built a new house by the river, so we moved here for a few days. Didn't Huang's family specialize in Is he guarding the ecstasy formation by the river? You don’t need him for this job, your father can do such a job. Of course, the commission given to Lao Huang can be transferred to your father. As for the work of Lao Huang’s wife, I also I can do it. If there is no one to take over Huang Ying's job, wouldn't there be Dapang and Erya?"

The two families were dumbfounded. Why did they accidentally do the stupid thing of marrying someone else?Grandpa stood next to grandma and brushed his chest with a bitter face, "Ai Ya", and after a while he held his forehead and "Ai Ya", and after a while, he hammered his back with his fist... I don't know where it hurts, just a It's a posture that if you don't lie down, you will faint.

Grandma's tirade seems to be reasonable, but after careful consideration, it is not the case.They didn't move here sooner or later, but they caught everyone by surprise at this juncture, which should have been premeditated.Seeing her grandma frothing righteously and frothing about the truth, Liu Tao thought of Brother Jin Yang.There is no work for the time being, Jin Yang is sleeping in his own house, and his parents-in-law are not here, his parents are clumsy in speech, so he has to make up his own mind about the current situation.

Liu Tao blocked the door to prevent them from entering, but called Huang Ying over and told her so and so.Huang Ying understood, and immediately went back to Liu Tao's new house, and called the black dragon over from a distance.As soon as the black dragon saw grandma, it immediately remembered that it had been injured in the lumbar spine by this woman, and the dog with the most vengeful personality bared its teeth and barked at her.Huang Ying called the black dragon into the house and told him to watch the door tightly and not let anyone in.Liu Tao then called Liu Mao over and told him to go to the village head and Jin Yang's family.

This is terrible, grandparents are facing Heilong, the uncle whose feet are not so sharp is blocked by Huang with a cane in the distance, Heilong is playing desperately, taking a chance and tearing a lot of grandma's trousers Tiaozi, grandpa didn't "ouch" at this time, he took off his shoes and called, and after a few rounds, he was captured by the black dragon.Mom and Dad pretended to scold the black dragon, but they were actually killing time. Just like this, the two sides confronted each other. Grandpa and grandma got tired after a while, and after resting on the bullock cart for a while, they threw themselves into the human-dog battle again.

"Liu Botong, what are you doing?" In the distance, the village head and Liu Mao walked quickly.

"Ah, it's the village head. The roof of our house was blown off by the strong wind. Aren't we here to borrow a house to live in first?"

"The roof of your house was blown off by the strong wind. Why don't you blush at all when you speak... I just saw that your house is just a little rain leaking from the corner of the house, so it's called the roof Get rid of it?" The village head obviously protected Liu Tao and the others because he had earned money from them, and he didn't show any mercy when he trained Liu Tao's grandma.

When the lies were exposed, grandma felt a little embarrassed, but grandma's fighting power was still considerable, and she immediately yelled: "Why do they let foreigners live in a new house after they built a new house? Why can't I live in it because I'm his own mother? I can’t live with my mother if I don’t have anything to do with it, is there any reason for this?”

The commotion outside the village was soon overheard by the people in the village. Jin Yang's family and many villagers rushed over. Jin Yang's grandmother even joined in with a piece of paper in her hand, waving a cane.

"You old woman, you want to live in a new house, have you approved me? This is the paperwork for my Jin Hui and your eldest son to exchange land. The land belongs to my family, and the house was built with my family's money. If you want to live, there is no way! "

Grandma was dumbfounded this time. She wanted to find out the structure of the ecstasy formation after occupying the house first, and then her family and her eldest son would also set up one or two ecstasy formations on the opposite side of the river beach.Since the black wolf fish is not easy to make, but the shrimps are not poisonous, then just catch the shrimps.Now it seems that the plan is in vain again.

The uncle also regretted it. At the beginning, he exchanged four acres of land for five acres of land, and he made a net profit of eight taels of silver. He was afraid that his father-in-law would regret it later, and chased him to do the transfer documents. When I completed the paperwork, I secretly thanked myself for being wise. Now it seems that the river beach of my home is a treasure land of geomantic omen. The bottom of the river near the left and right of the village is full of stones of different sizes. Where there are no stones, it is not If the water is too deep, it is uneven, and there is no way to set up a ecstasy formation.

When Dad was building a house by the river, there was no need to transfer the in-laws’ land deeds. Now, it’s fine if the in-laws’ land deeds haven’t been exchanged.If they failed to occupy the house, and would propose to build a house on the river beach, it would be difficult to stop them.Now, Grandma Jinyang, who holds the land deed, has become Grandma Liutao's nemesis, and the two of them had no choice but to drive the ox cart with their uncle and turn around and return the same way.

"Dad, are you still their own son? Why do they always look down on us and make trouble for us?"

Facing Liu Tao's questioning with tears in his eyes, his father's eyes were also red: "It's true that I am their own son, but... hey..." He seemed hesitant to speak, and Liu Tao looked at him. When they came out, Dad had an unspeakable secret between them.

When my father was not in front of me, my mother pulled Liu Tao: "Tao'er, your father has some words that you can't say. At the beginning, when your father was six years old, your grandfather went to the official house for three months. , I don’t know... I became dumb. From then on, until we got married, I couldn’t speak. At that time, my mother, I was picking mushrooms outside Shennonggou, and I was bitten to the bottom by a tiger snake coiled on a tree. Snakes are poisonous. Fortunately, they are not the most poisonous, but they are still very dangerous without first aid treatment. I was bitten to the outside of the buttocks, and I wanted to suck out the poisonous blood with my mouth, but my lips couldn’t reach it. At that time, your father happened to be picking mushrooms in the distance. Although we didn’t know each other from the same village, we couldn’t see other people on the mountain at that time. If we didn’t ask him for help, we would die. I didn’t care about face at that time, so I called him over Save me, he asked me where I was bitten, and advised me not to be shy, he would suck out the poisonous blood for me with his eyes closed. In this way, your father saved my life, and said he was the second son of Liu Botong’s family , he also escorted me back to your grandma’s village before I went back with peace of mind. I went home and told your grandpa and grandpa how I was rescued by your father. Just marry him." Your grandma begged the matchmaker to find out, but the matchmaker came back and said, "That guy is dumb." I have spoken to him dozens of times, how could he be dumb? Later, I happened to meet him again Once, he said that he was pretending to be dumb, and later I married him, so he didn’t have to pretend to be dumb.”

"Why, why would a good person pretend to be dumb?"

"Son, don't ask, some things are not suitable for you to know now, and you will understand when you grow up..."

Because grandpa and grandma were mentioned today, Liu Tao's memory of them is vague, and in the evening, she chatted with her mother about the affairs of grandma's house.

"Your grandma's house is on the other side of Shennonggou, seven miles away. You have two uncles and one aunt. The eldest uncle is a scholar. Unfortunately, he has planted the fields all his life and is still working now. The second uncle, you have just passed away. I met him when I was 22 years old. He has not married yet at the age of [-]. Your aunt has just been married for half a year, and she married a farmer. If I have time in the future, I should go to see your grandparents. In the past, our family was poor. , your grandma controls the family's money, even my mother, I can't bring any gifts when I go back to my mother's house. A few years ago, although our family was separated, we didn't have much money. It's different now. If I have time that day, I will take the three of you there. Go see your grandma..."

In this way, even in rainy days, they can’t do much work, even if there are shrimps, they can’t dry them as soon as possible. The two families made a total decision to start work after the sky is completely opened and the river water is stable.

Seeing that the grapes and persimmons on both sides of the new house have survived, because the humus soil and farmyard manure cleared from the pond are attached to the roots, the fertility is remarkable, and the leaves are all green.It's just that the fruits are not yet ripe, and Du persimmon is not expected to be used as a rootstock for grafting, but I don't know how the grapes taste.Jin Yang took a closer look and estimated that this grape is close to the wild variety, most of which are sour and sweet. If the sweetness accounts for the majority, it is okay, and if the sour taste accounts for more, it is worthless.

They discussed going to the mountains once to see if there are any good wild species ready for grafting, but my father said that there are jackals, tigers, leopards, and poisonous insects in the mountains. The nearest Shennonggou is a good place, but it is a private territory of the current royal family. , at the exit of Shennonggou, there are mountain watchers guarding it, and it is a place where people are not allowed to enter casually.The two thought about it, one was 13 years old and the other was 11 years old, and adults had to accompany them to protect the mountain, so they gave up on this idea.

Taking advantage of this free time, Dad hurriedly found someone to build a yard. The two of them became deeply wary of Liu Tao's grandparents and uncle's family. West across the courtyard.

The west courtyard is a separate courtyard, which is located on the west side of the main courtyard. There is a row of side rooms on the west wall of the courtyard for storing dried fish and shrimp. The courtyard is a place for processing fish and shrimp. It is because they are afraid that people will spy on their craftsmanship.Normally, when entering and leaving the goods, you can go directly to the door of the Kuayuan. If people work from the inside and don’t want others to see it, the door of the Kuayuan will be locked from the outside. , nothing can be seen except a screen wall.In fact, there is a small door in the courtyard that is connected to the utility room of the main house. If outsiders approach the main gate of the big courtyard, the black dragon will sound a warning, and people will come out of the main room through the utility room through the small door. , to create the illusion that the person is always in the room.Ordinarily, there should be a wing room on the east side. This time, Liu Tao and Jin Yang wanted to expand the wall on the east side. Like the west side of the courtyard, there are wing rooms with separate doors. This time even the backyard is occupied by a wall. Get up and get ready to build a house later.

Uncle Liu came to urge the goods again, because there is nothing wrong with the absence of the top-grade fish slips, but others still supply the low-grade fish slips.But other people’s stores don’t have dried black wolf fish, and the quantity of dried fish is so large that the two branches take up two-thirds. In the past, they also wanted to find someone to make it, but since that time People died from eating dried wolf fish, and Liu Tao gave a rough lecture on the extremely complicated production process of dried fish in the lobby of the county government, scaring people so much that they dare not try to make it again.Liu Tao's family can't supply the goods, and if there are another ten days, the stock of dried Wulang fish will be out of stock.

Looking at the river water that was already swollen, Jin Yang figured out two simple fish cages, one is without bait, and the ten-step-long small mesh fish cage is called a shrimp cage.This kind of shrimp cage is more than ten steps long and has twenty inverted cone-shaped round doors for shrimps to enter.You only need to tie stones at both ends or fix them on wooden stakes, and the shrimps that forage around the bottom of the river can get in by mistake.

(End of this chapter)