Volume Four, Three Southern Counties, Chapter 462, A Quiet Mountain Village
The farmer was very enthusiastic, and finally arranged a side house for Lu Jiuzhang and Zhou Yao to live in despite Lu Jiuzhang's refusal.
Those who live in the wilderness and come from far away must have an unusual relationship.
The farmer thought the two were husband and wife, so they arranged for them to be together.
At night, Zhou Yao lay on the bed and looked at the ceiling.
Lu Jiuzhang beside him was sitting cross-legged on the ground, meditating.
Zhou Yao had thousands of thoughts in her mind, and she didn't fall asleep until late at night.
The next morning, when she woke up, Lu Jiuzhang was no longer in the house.
Zhou Yao walked out and saw Lu Jiuzhang standing in the courtyard, helping the owner of the house chop wood.
The owner of the house is a burly man in his forties, with some vicissitudes of life, but he is physically strong, and he looks like he is a good hand at farm work.
"Brother Lu, you are guests, how can I let you chop firewood?"
The farmer quickly came over and wanted to take the ax from Lu Jiuzhang's hand.
"Haha, it's okay. I'm embarrassed to stay in your room for free." Lu Jiuzhang said with a smile, "It's a little bit of my kindness to help you chop some firewood."
This ax is too light. If you are not careful, if Lu Jiuzhang is a little stronger, the ax may be crushed into powder by Lu Jiuzhang.
So Lu Jiuzhang has been controlling his strength.
After chopping a few times, Lu Jiuzhang gradually got the hang of it.
Not to mention, this method of chopping firewood is a great exercise in mastering one's strength.
It is also very helpful for practicing.
"It's not your intention. I see that you and your wife are dressed gorgeously. You look like you belong to a wealthy family. If you can live in our house, you are looking down upon us. We are all distinguished guests. How can we let you do it?"
The farmer called Dashan, grabbed the ax from Lu Jiuzhang's hand, and asked Lu Jiuzhang to sit down.
At this time, a child walked out of the house and looked timidly at the two strangers outside the house.
"Brother Lu, this is my child."
Dashan said, "I am seven years old this year."
"Come here, uncle will give you a gift." Lu Jiuzhang waved, but the child did not dare to step forward.
Lu Jiuzhang did not force it, but took out a piece of jade from his arms and handed it to the farmer Dashan, "The stuff I found at a street stall in Shuizhou County is not valuable, at most a dozen copper coins."
"Give it to your child as a gift!"
This piece of jade is indeed not valuable, but it is not worth more than a dozen copper coins like Lu Jiuzhang said.
In terms of value, it must be hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
But in order to let the farmers accept it, Lu Jiuzhang Ruyi said this.
"Is it really worth more than ten copper coins? But it doesn't look like it to me, right?" Farmer Dashan looked at Yujue for a long time, then murmured to himself, "And more than ten copper coins is quite a lot."
"Take it, Brother Dashan. If I stay here for one more night, it will be considered as payment for the room." Lu Jiuzhang said.
"That doesn't make sense. You should take it back. How much do you charge for staying with us for two nights? If you want to stay, you can stay for ten and a half months."
Farmer Dashan said.
"That's for the child. I gave it to the child, not you. You can't refuse it on behalf of the child." Lu Jiuzhang smiled and took the jade, walked up to the child, and directly took it up for the child.
Inside the house, perhaps because of the sound of voices, farmer Dashan's daughter-in-law also came out.
She is like many women in small mountain villages. She is not aggressive, but she rarely talks.
"Baby, let's make something for lunch. Take out the bacon that we had marinated earlier and make it lunch for Brother Lu," the big man said.
The woman just nodded and went to the kitchen.
"It's still early, why are you making lunch now?" Lu Jiuzhang said with a smile.
"Brother, our place is not like in the city. We started having lunch at Sishi, and then we had lunch at Shenshi." The man said.
It was almost ten o'clock in the morning at Si time, and three o'clock in the afternoon at Shen time.
After saying this, Lu Jiuzhang understood.
Meal time is actually closely related to their lives.
I wake up in the morning and go to work in the fields until nine or ten o'clock in the morning, when I go home for a meal.
The weather was hot at noon, so I had to rest at home. When the sun had weakened a bit at three or four in the afternoon, I continued working in the fields.
Of course, this is only done when the farming season is not busy.
If it is a busy time for farming, no matter how bright the sun is at noon, we have to be in the fields to harvest crops.
"It's still early now, let's go to the village for a walk." Lu Jiuzhang said.
"That's okay, I'll let the children take you around the village. Just be careful, there are some fierce dogs in the village who like to bark at strangers." Dashan reminded.
"good!"
Lu Jiuzhang smiled, took Zhou Yao, and followed the child around the village.
The child's name is Xiao Shanzi, and even his nickname is somewhat similar to his father's.
Walking in the village, many people were looking at Lu Jiuzhang and Zhou Yao up and down.
When they saw Xiao Shanzi, they showed expressions of sudden realization, and they all guessed that Lu Jiuzhang and Zhou Yao should be some distant relatives of the farmer Dashan.
And a very rich one.
Several families who had conflicts with the farmer Dashan in the past also thought secretly in their hearts that they didn't expect Dashan to have such a relative. It seemed that they would not be able to offend easily in the future.
"Uncle Lu, Aunt Zhou, there is a vicious dog in front of you, be careful when you pass by." Xiao Shanzi reminded.
As a native of a small mountain village, Xiao Shanzi is dark-skinned. He runs wild in the village all day long and his lips are chapped by the sun.
Most children like him have lived in the village all their lives. They were beaten when they were young. When they are older, they follow their father to farm, and then they stay there for the rest of their lives.
During this period, people will also get married and have children, which will be passed on to the family.
When you grow old, you will become the backbone of your family.
Then, return to the soil and be buried on this land.
"Woof woof woof..."
Dogs' hearing is more sensitive than most ordinary people's. After hearing the footsteps, a big black dog that was tied up lay on the low fence and roared at Lu Jiuzhang and the others.
It's this big black dog, so fierce.
Xiao Shanzi quickly quickened his pace, fearing that he would be bitten by a dog if he walked too slowly.
Lu Jiuzhang, however, remained calm and glanced at the dog with a sharp look.
In an instant, the originally fierce dog, which did not dare to make a sound, fled back to the kennel and hid inside, shivering and whimpering.
…
Continuing to walk forward, Lu Jiuzhang took a general view of the entire village.
There are not many farmers, about fifty or sixty, and most of them have migrated from other places. They have settled here together, and they are quite harmonious.
"Xiao Shanzi, don't you go to school?"
Lu Jiuzhang asked.
On the side, Zhou Yao also became interested in this issue. She had been promoting education in the past, but she didn't know how effective it was in this small mountain village and how the grassroots officials implemented this measure.