amaotonovel Chapter 126 What I Saw at the Foot of the Mountain (2)
Chapter 126 What I Saw at the Foot of the Mountain (2)
The relief grain was pulled from the south and then delivered to various villages by soldiers. The same was true in towns and counties. The villages arranged for the village head to distribute the relief grain.
Li Weikang said, "There is a Mr. Qian in our town. He led the troops to wipe out the mountain stronghold. I heard that he is the county magistrate. Because he has to pass through here to go to many places in the county, the man stayed in the town."
"Oh, then shouldn't the relief grain be transported to Datong Town first, and then sent to various places in the county?"
"Yes, Sister Qingyue, would you like to consider going down the mountain? As long as you ask, we can build a house right away. It's just a little past our home. The location there is very good."
"Besides, we can have porridge twice a day, in the morning and at noon. If any family is capable and finds wild vegetables and prey, they can cook their own food. The land they get is free, and they will even give them seeds!"
What Li Weisheng said made Li Weikan slow down, and the two brothers looked at her sideways.
"I've already told my uncle about this. I don't want to move down here. I'm used to living in the mountains."
The brothers looked disappointed but said nothing more.
"Sister Qingyue, no matter what choice you make, as long as you are happy!" Li Weisheng smiled, revealing his big white teeth.
A few people were chatting and laughing as they walked to the door of the family next door to the Li family. Xia Qingyue glanced into the house unintentionally and saw Chen Youmao inside, with a man and two women next to them. They were a couple. The woman was about fifteen or sixteen years old, with two thick black braids.
They were busy building the house.
"Hey, isn't that Brother Mao?"
Li Weikang explained: "This is the Fang family, they helped us before, and Youmao came to help them build a house.
The Fang family of three came here to escape famine from Yunzhou."
After listening, Xia Qingyue nodded.
When they returned home, the smell of meat wafted from the small kitchen. Chen Yuzhen and her husband killed two rabbits, roasted them and shredded them by hand. They also made two other dishes, a bowl of wild vegetable soup and a bowl of dried chicken stewed with fresh bamboo shoots.
Some yam was also cooked on the earthen stove.
The meal was plentiful and everyone ate around the table.
After dinner, the three brothers Li Weikang, Li Weisheng and Chen Youmao took on the task of washing dishes and cleaning up.
Chen Yuzhen, her husband and wife, Chen Dawei and the other two showed Xia Qingyue around the house.
The Li family's house is of medium size. It is built with yellow clay mixed with sand and gravel. There is a main room on each side of the main hall. Outside, there are two rooms on the east side, one large and one small. The smaller one is the kitchen. There is another room on the west side.
The only thing missing from the house was the roof. Each room had only simple furniture, and most things were piled in the corners.
After looking at the house, Chen Yuzhen and her family took Xia Qingyue to see the six acres of land that their family had been allocated, which was calculated based on the number of people in the family.
Six acres of land was a lot, but the Li family was busy building a house, so they only turned over two pieces of soil, scattered some vegetable seeds, and green sprouts sprouted.
Chen Yuzhen said that they were going to plant taro in a few days, and they would go to the back mountain to dig cassava to plant.
When talking about these things, they were visibly happy and full of hope for their future life.
When she came back in the afternoon, Chen Yuzhen changed the bedding in the room.
Xia Qingyue asked Li Benfu for advice on archery, and the men took the opportunity to practice archery at home.
In just a few hours, Xia Qingyue benefited a lot.
Since there was no food to eat in the evening, most villagers just cooked some wild vegetables. The Li family steamed the taro and the pumpkin that Xia Qingyue brought. They had some leftovers from lunch, so they fried two wild vegetables for dinner.
After dinner, before it got dark, Chen Yuzhen boiled some hot water for Xia Qingyue to wash up, and prepared a set of her own clothes, which were washed clean.
One of the main rooms where Xia Qingyue and Chen Yuzhen slept.
Heihei followed his master closely, never left her side and slept beside her bed.
Lying on the bed, Xia Qingyue was not sleepy. She opened her eyes, but the room was pitch dark and she could not see anything clearly.
She had agreed with the Li family to go to the town tomorrow to take a look, and if nothing unexpected happened, she would return to the tiankeng in the afternoon.
"Qingyue." Chen Yuzhen called softly.
"I heard from Brother Benfu that you don't want to move down the mountain. You must have thought it through. After going through so many things last year, I found that living in the mountains has many advantages. As long as I am happy and safe, it doesn't matter where I live.
In the future, when you want to come down the mountain, come and visit my home. This will always be your home."
While making lunch in the morning, she discussed with Li Benfu to build a house on the west side specifically for Xia Qingyue to live in.
"Aunt." Xia Qingyue's voice trembled. After thinking for a while, she spoke softly and told the story of the death of Xia Dasong and his wife.
Even if she didn't say it, she felt that the Li family should have guessed something, after all, she had been alone for so long.
I could clearly hear Chen Yuzhen's breathing stagnate for a moment, but it soon returned to normal.
The quilt flipped, Chen Yuzhen turned sideways, facing Xia Qingyue, reached out and hugged her, her voice choked with sobs, "Good child, you have suffered."
Xia Qingyue thought about the original owner's family and couldn't help feeling sad, shedding two lines of tears silently.
Chen Yuzhen knew that Xia Qingyue, who had lost her parents, must be even sadder than she was, so she gritted her teeth and held back, not crying.
In the dark night, her eyes were red and sparkling with tears.
Neither of them slept well that night.
Xia Qingyue was familiar with her bed, but in order not to make Chen Yuzhen worry, she pretended to sleep with her back to her.
Chen Yuzhen was so sad about the passing of her old friend that she also cried silently with her back turned.
The next morning, before dawn, Chen Yuzhen got up quietly and saw that Xia Qingyue's upper body was not covered with a quilt, so she gently covered her with it.
She went out with a pair of red and swollen eyes and went into the kitchen to make breakfast.
Not long after, Li Benfu got up. He noticed that there was something wrong with his wife's eyes and asked her with concern.
When asked this question, Chen Yuzhen couldn't help but squatted down, buried her face in her knees, and cried softly.
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Xia Qingyue felt sleepy in the early morning and fell asleep slowly. When she woke up, it was already daybreak outside.
She got up hastily and put on her clothes.
Out in the yard, the Li family was putting the finishing touches on the roof of the house.
Chen Yuzhen saw her and said with a smile: "Qingyue, there is breakfast in the kitchen, go and eat it."
"Okay." She felt a little embarrassed for going to bed and getting up late at someone else's house.
After breakfast, Xia Qingyue came out of the kitchen. Li Benfu and the others had already packed up and were waiting for her.
"Let's go." She saw that the eyes of everyone in the Li family were red and swollen, and the looks they gave her were all filled with pity.
Li Benfu cleared his cough a few times towards his family, signaling them not to act too obviously and add to Xia Qingyue's sadness.
They walked to Datong Town together.
More than half an hour later.
Several people entered the town smoothly with their household registration. There were many people walking on the streets. Some of the houses along the way had been repaired, and some were being repaired. From time to time, soldiers patrolled by to maintain order and randomly caught passers-by to check their household registration.
After seeing this, Xia Qingyue felt that the security in the town was pretty good and seemed to be OK.
They walked around and came to the busiest area in the town. It turned out that several streets here were full of shops selling all kinds of goods. Previously, they had been destroyed and some collapsed, but now after repairs, they have restored some of their former appearance.
Most of the shops were closed or under repair. On the street they were strolling through, there was a shop with a large crowd of people gathered outside it, which was in stark contrast to the other places.