The next morning, almost all the villagers knew that Song Sanshun and Song Laoliu had earned money to buy grain.
When they were fetching water, they all expressed that they wanted to send their children over to learn the craft from Chang'an.
Song Sam-soon didn't agree.
To be honest, the clay figurines cannot be eaten or drunk, and are not strong. Only a few can be sold at the temple fair in Tieniu Town. If they are put at other grass fairs, people may not want them even if they are given away for free, let alone paying for them.
If everyone in the village were to make clay figurines, the result would be unimaginable: no one would be able to sell a single one.
Chang'an also got up early. After breakfast, he set up a small table by the vegetable garden in the backyard and taught his uncle, Goudan and Little Chutou to read.
She did have books to learn to read, which were the Thousand Character Classic and Three Character Classic that her uncle bought for her last time.
She used the method taught by the little goldfish on the three people. She first taught them to read the first four words repeatedly, and then asked them to write them.
Of course, they cannot use pen and ink at the beginning. Instead, they are asked to take a branch and scratch on the ground. After they have mastered the correct writing skills, they can use pen, ink and paper. After all, these things are very expensive.
Among the three, Wu Chonglou learned the fastest. He could learn eight words in a day, which made Chang'an look at him with admiration.
At night, Song Sanshun, who had just returned home from inspecting the well, also asked his niece for advice. He also asked his niece to write down the eight words she wanted to learn on a piece of paper, which he would carry with him and read at any time.
Today, he brought the clan leader and several villagers to pick out two places and decided to dig wells there.
One is near the creek next to my two acres of land, and the other is in the middle of the village, but I don't know whether water will be produced after the drilling.
Mrs. Wu served her husband a bowl of porridge and whispered, "I heard from Sister Qian that your father and Old Mrs. Zhao have returned to the county town. They also said that they would go to the county government to sue you."
Song Sanshun said expressionlessly: "I have already severed my relationship with him and never abused them, so what are they suing me for?"
"Your father said that the second brother is still his son, and he wants to ask the county magistrate to take Chang'an back to raise him." Wu said worriedly.
Song Sanshun frowned: "Did he really say that?"
"Yes, Sister Qian told me." Mrs. Wu also filled herself a bowl of porridge and sat down to eat.
Changan, who was sitting nearby, looked at his aunt, then at his uncle, and said, "I don't want my grandfather to raise me."
Song Sanshun patted his niece's head and comforted her, "Uncle San knows."
Only then did Chang'an take a bite of the sesame pie with confidence.
Wu glanced at her husband and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
After finishing their evening meal and clearing away the dishes, the couple waited until Chang'an fell asleep before they started talking in private.
"Sanshun, I'm still worried that this matter won't end well." Wu said, "I guess your father and the others knew that your brother became a flag bearer, so they had other ideas."
Song Sam-soon was speechless.
He also thought so, otherwise his own father would not have suddenly wanted to seize Chang'an.
Chang'an has never received love from her grandfather since she was a child, and he has never even hugged her once.
I still remember one time when Chang'an fell down at the door and her grandfather was just going out. He stepped over her without even bending down to pick her up. It was really heartbreaking.
"No matter what, Chang'an will not be handed over to him."
Song Sanshun said, "Don't worry about these things. There is still a lot of work to do tomorrow. Go to bed early."
"Yeah." Wu closed her eyes.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the village head and several township officials went door to door to collect household taxes and house property taxes.
The villagers were miserable. As they had no money, they had to give up their food to pay the taxes.
As a result, poor families became even poorer, and some families could hardly afford two meals a day.
When Chang'an and his uncle went out to walk the dogs, they often saw villagers secretly digging bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest, and some even tried to catch pheasants, rabbits and birds.
Those edible leaves and wild vegetables were also picked up by people. In addition, it had not rained for half a year, so the fields were empty and yellow, looking even more desolate.
There were no vegetables in the vegetable gardens outside the village. Either they did not grow due to lack of water, or they were stolen.
But there are still many vegetables planted in their own fenced yards. The villagers water them with water used for washing their faces or washing rice and vegetables, and they are growing well.
"Uncle, is there a well in your house?" Chang'an asked.
Wu Chonglou shook his head: "There is no well in my home, but there is one in the village."
Their village is not big, with only a dozen households. There is one well that is barely enough for daily consumption, but it is not possible to use the water from the well to irrigate the crops, so his family's autumn harvest is also very bleak.
However, his mother knew about medicinal herbs and often went out with his father to collect them. After drying them, they sold them to the medicine shops in Tieniu Town, earning two to three hundred coins every month.
At this time, the village official came into the village to collect taxes, which frightened many families so much that they closed their doors and windows. Even the dogs hid under the table with their tails between their legs, not daring to breathe for fear of being beaten to death by the tax collectors.
Chang'an stood not far away and looked curiously at the village officials who were knocking on people's doors. He was very confused. Why should the crops grown in his own fields be handed over to those people?
"Don't watch it. Let's go back." Wu Chonglou was accustomed to this and pulled Chang'an back.
Zhao Quan shouted from behind: "We are here to look after the house. If the official wants to collect taxes, he should go to Song Sanshun's house at the east end of the village. He is Song Baqi's son! He should pay the household tax for this family."
Chang'an got angry when he heard this, and turned around and glared at him.
Wu Chonglou quickly took her home.
The village chief's impatient voice came from behind: "Stop talking nonsense! Let the owner come out!"
They had already collected the transfer tax from Song Sanshun's family, so they naturally knew that this household was not the same as the one over there.
Zhao Quan saw that he could not fool people, so he said, "The owner of the household has gone to the county town. How about you come back in a few days?"
The township official ignored him completely, pushed him aside and rushed inside.
"Since we are not paying taxes today, we have to carry grain to pay them off." Several people rushed into the house, looked around, found two sacks of wheat in the room, and carried them out.
Zhao Quan didn't dare to stop them. He watched helplessly as the only two large bags of grain left in the house were carried away. He felt extremely heartbroken.
Although the grain was not his, he was in charge of it. Zhao Quan had already assumed it was his. Now that the winter food was gone, what was the point of his family living here?
He looked at the tables, chairs and benches in the room, and his mind moved slightly.
It would be better to sell all the things in the house, get the money and leave. If the two old guys bring their son and daughter to make trouble with him, he can say that the things were taken away by the village chief.
Zhao Quan knew that his family was not welcome here, and the people of Songjia Village were even more wary of him as if he were a thief. Even when he went to Song Sanshun's house to fetch water, he was stopped by the villagers and not allowed to enter the yard.
In this case, I will sell all the things in the house while my aunt and her family are away, and then ask her for compensation for my father when she comes back.
So Zhao Quan hired an ox cart that day, moved all the tables, chairs, benches, pots, pans, and utensils from Song Baqi's house onto the cart and took them away, and finally even removed the door panels.
The villagers did not stop him, but secretly told Sanshun and his wife, "Go and have a look. Zhao Quan has emptied your father's house of all its belongings, even taking away the gate."
"There's nothing to see. He is the son of Song Jizu's uncle and also his brother-in-law. What he moved were Song Jizu's things. What does it have to do with me?" Song Sanshun said calmly.
The father loves Zhao Quan and his family, and treats him better than his own son. He must be crazy to care about such a matter.
Not to mention emptying the house, even if Zhao Quan demolished the new house, it would have nothing to do with him. End