Fortunately, Mrs. Zhao still had two or three strings of money in her hand, and the family could barely have a meal of thick porridge.
But what's the use of this little money?
Not to mention the seven mouths to feed, even Song Baqi's daily medicine costs a lot of money.
Old Mrs. Zhao did not dare to ask her nephew for an explanation, because her brother Zhao Lu did die while digging a well for her family, and until now, Old Mrs. Zhao still feels guilty about it.
But life has to go on, so Mrs. Zhao plans to sell the old house.
However, the old house was burned down, and someone had died in the well in the backyard, so no one was willing to buy this dangerous place.
However, there were people who wanted to buy the six acres of good land, but the price offered was very low, less than three strings of cash per acre.
In desperation, Mrs. Zhao had to go to Song Sanshun again to borrow some money from him.
This time she did not let her daughter Song Yufeng follow, but instead brought her four-year-old granddaughter Song Xiyue, hoping that she would get close to Chang'an.
As they walked along the road, Old Lady Zhao whispered to her granddaughter, "Xiyue, I'm afraid that your going to the capital in Chang'an's place won't count. Your second uncle is still alive, and he's even a minor official. He might even be promoted to a high official in the future. If he finds out your identity, no one in our family will survive."
Song Xiyue was unwilling to accept it, and frowned, saying, "Just because my second uncle is not dead now doesn't mean he won't die next year or the year after. They are fighting the barbarians on the border, how many of them can come back alive? I don't care! Anyway, if the capital comes to pick them up, I will definitely go."
She didn't want to repeat the same path as in her previous life, being sold into slavery and dying in misery.
Old Zhao was displeased: "Xiyue, why are you so stubborn?"
Song Xiyue suddenly burst into tears and whispered, "Grandma, please help me this time. Look at what our family is like now. If we don't find a way out, we will all starve to death in the future!"
Old Zhao sighed, "Okay, when someone from the capital comes, I will sell my house and land, and my family will go with you."
The granddaughter said that it would not rain for the next three years, and the fields would not yield any crops. What would the family do with the fields?
It would be better to follow the granddaughter to the capital. Even if Jiang refused to take care of them in the future, the family could still do some small business in the capital, which was better than dying of drought in the countryside.
Just like Chengye's mother, setting up a small food stall in the city, even if she doesn't become rich, she will always have enough food to eat.
In the past few months, my daughter-in-law, Xiao Zhao, set up a wonton stall in the county town, and business is pretty good.
It was just that his son Song Jizu was too disappointing. Not only was he idle every day, but he somehow ended up going to the casino, where he won two games. When he came back, he bought fish and meat for the family. As a result, one day he lost all the family money and even mortgaged his only residence to the gambling house.
If Mrs. Zhao and Song Baqi had not gone to the county town, her son Song Jizu would still be detained by the gambling house.
Old Mrs. Zhao got angry whenever she thought about this.
The grandparents came to Song Sanshun's door, knocked on the door, and shouted loudly: "Changan, open the door, I am your grandmother."
Changan paused while making clay figures in the backyard. His cousin's voice rang in his mind: "Uncle's house is really big. Where did he get so much money to buy land and build a house? Oh, he cheated my grandfather out of money to build it! Thirty taels! Humph! He will pay it back sooner or later!"
Chang'an frowned and ignored the shouting outside the courtyard gate.
Wu, who was sitting nearby, glanced toward the courtyard gate and said to Chang'an and Wu Chonglou, "You two should go inside. It's brighter by the window."
Changan responded, and together with his uncle, he put everything on the small table into a basket and carried it into the house.
It is now afternoon. Goudan and Xiaochutou have both gone home. Changan has nothing to do, so he teaches his uncle how to read.
Wu Chonglou learned very quickly and could learn ten characters a day.
Moreover, his handwriting is very neat, better than Chang'an's.
"Uncle, do you want to take the imperial examination?" Chang'an asked.
Xiao Yuyu said that poor people could take part in the imperial examinations to change their status and become high-ranking officials. My uncle is so smart and can read quickly, so he will definitely pass the exam.
Wu Chonglou smiled slightly and said, "Of course I want to, but studying costs a lot of money and my family can't afford it."
Changan immediately said, "You don't have to pay to study with me."
Wu Chonglou nodded.
It was indeed free for him to learn to read from Chang'an, but if he wanted to take the imperial examination, he had to go to a formal school, the kind recognized by the court, and only then could he take the exam.
When he was nine years old, his mother took him to a private school in Tieniu Town to ask, and the teacher said the same thing. Later, he fell ill and was unable to attend school.
Seeing his uncle's approval, Changan said proudly, "Once I teach you a lot of words, you can take the imperial examination."
Wu Chonglou laughed: "Okay."
Old Zhao was still knocking on the door outside the yard, and Chang'an's head was already filled with the voice of his little cousin: [Why don't you open the door? Chang'an is so annoying. How dare she ignore grandma? Third Aunt is also annoying. Why didn't she get sick and die like in the previous life? ]
Changan turned to look at his aunt outside the window and called her, "Aunt, come in quickly."
She doesn't want her aunt to be sick.
Wu agreed and carried a basket of wood worms into the house.
He took off his shoes, got on the kang, sat by the big window, and asked Chang'an, "What's the matter?"
Changan placed his palm on his aunt's forehead, silently praying that she would not get sick, but the small sapling in his palm did not move at all.
Wu touched Chang'an's little hand and said with a smile, "Auntie doesn't have a fever."
Changan roughly understood that if his aunt had not been sick, the seedlings would not be bright and would not have lost leaves.
However, she can transfer the leaves into an object, and this object seems to carry her blessings and wishes.
"Aunt, it's cold outside, stay indoors from now on." She warned seriously.
Wu's heart warmed, and she touched Chang'an's head lovingly: "Auntie knows."
Outside the yard, old Mrs. Zhao finally calmed down, but Chang'an's head was filled with the curses of his little cousin.
She picked her ears and simply chose to ignore it.
A few days later, it was September.
Wells were also dug in the surrounding villages, but very little water was produced.
The reason is simple: it is very difficult to dig a deep well relying solely on manpower, and all efforts will be wasted once rocks are encountered.
Unfortunately, this place is a hilly area with a lot of rocks underground. Eight out of ten wells were blocked by rocks and eventually failed.
Many people simply stopped mining, thinking of just living one day at a time and giving up completely.
At this time, the county government requested forced labor, requiring each household to send one man to the county town to build and dig a reservoir, which would take more than twenty days.
Song Sanshun has already separated from Song Baqi, so this time not only Song Sanshun has to go, but Song Jizu has to go as well.
Chang'an was worried about her uncle being away for a long time, so she strung a string of wood beads together for her uncle to hang around his neck. Of course, she put two bead leaves in the string.
"Uncle, you can't take this off." Chang An warned earnestly: "You have to wear it even when you sleep."
Song Sanshun: "Well, uncle will listen to Changan and keep wearing it and not take it off."
He then said to his wife, "Take good care of Chang'an at home and try not to go out. Anyway, we have everything we need at home. If you have any questions, wait until I come back and talk to you."
Wu nodded, wrapped the cake on the kang in a piece of clean linen, stuffed it into her husband's backpack, and whispered, "Song Jizu is also going to work as a laborer, you should be careful of him."
End