Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

The group of people entered the house, and the old lady quickly asked Wanting to sit on the kang. Jinghan found a pillow for Wanting to lean on. "Little aunt, you can lean on this pillow, it will feel more comfortable."

Wanting was really tired after running all the way, so she leaned on the pillow and felt better. "Mama Li, please hurry up and ask Brother Rui and Sister Shu to come see your grandparents."

The two women next to them quickly put down the child in their arms. The boy's name is Xu Wenrui, and he is four years old this year. The girl's name is Xu Jingshu, she is two years old this year. The boy took his sister's hand and came to the old man and the old lady. "Wen Rui kowtows to my grandparents. My grandparents will have long blessings and good health." After saying that, the two children knelt down and kowtowed.

The old man and the old lady couldn't sit still at this moment, so they quickly picked up the children and held them in their arms one by one. "Oh, grandma's darling, look at this little person, he talks really nicely. Come, tell grandma, how old are you this year?" Mrs. Chen was holding a boy.

In the Xu family, only Zhixin has more children, two sons and two daughters, Zhiyong has two sons, Zhiming has two daughters, and Zhide has a son and a daughter. Compared with those who can have six or seven children in a family, they are far behind. Now Wanting has given birth to two children, and there is one more in her belly, which is a lot in the Xu family. The old man and the old lady both loved children. Looking at these two pink and dough-like little babies, the old couple simply loved them.

"Grandma, Wenrui is four years old this year. Mom said she would wait until New Year's Eve to eat dumplings, and Wenrui will be five years old." The little boy spoke clearly and every word was precise.

Mrs. Chen kissed the child on the face and said, "Well done Wenrui. You know how old you are. How about sleeping with grandma tonight? Grandma wants to give our little Wenrui a good kiss."

Wen Rui tilted his head and thought for a moment, "Grandma, my mother said that as the old man gets older, it is not practical to sleep at night. I like to sleep under the quilt at night. If I go with grandma, grandma won't be able to sleep well, right?" "

That cute look made Mrs. Chen so fond of her that she didn't know why. She turned back to look at Wanting and said, "Let these two follow me tonight. You are too tired along the way, so take a good rest." Mrs. Chen looked at her The two women standing aside had tired faces, and they were even more determined to take care of their grandchildren.

Zhixiang and Wanting looked at each other, and Zhixiang said, "Mom, if you don't mind these two little guys, we'll be relieved. In this way, we can let Aunt Li live in the west room. If anything happens, just call them two, okay?"

"Cheng, Cheng, I will help take care of you for a few days first, and then I will let you take care of me after you have rested. Look, they are all quite young, and you have indeed suffered all this traveling." Ms. Chen He said to the two women.

Grandma Li quickly saluted Mrs. Chen, "Thank you, old lady, for your thoughtfulness. I will give you a helping hand and have a good rest for a few days."

"By the way, mother, I brought these people here specially for home use. My eldest brother wrote to me, saying that the manpower at home was not enough. So I brought a few people back from outside for home use first. "With that said, Zhixiang called those people over and talked to them. "This will be your master's house from now on. Whatever arrangements you have, please listen to my elder brother. Do your job well. If you do well, you will benefit from it in the future."

Zhixiang brought back two families this time. One family is named Li, a couple with one son and two daughters, and the other family is named Zhou, a couple with three sons. They all look honest and responsible. Zhixin took a look and decided to leave the Li family in the town and serve them at home. Let the Zhou family go to the mountain after a while to avoid running out of manpower on the mountain. The two families temporarily lived in the servant's room on the opposite side. There had been no servants in the house before, so it had always been empty.

Mr. Xue went out to settle these people. With so many people in the house, the room seemed a little less than adequate. In the past, the courtyard where Zhixiang got married was still used as a residence for Zhixiang, his wife and a few servants. Zhiming and his wife took Wenhan and the other boys to live in the west cross courtyard, while Jinghan and the other girls lived with Zhixin and his wife in the backyard, so for the time being. This is all we can do, it's just a temporary makeshift anyway, Zhixiang will have to leave after a year.

Xue and Zhu took people to arrange accommodation. Zhixiang and the others brought back a lot of things that needed to be accommodated. Wenhan and Wen Cheng both went out to help. The old man in the room chatted with Zhixiang about some situations outside.

"Dad, we are doing well outside. It's thanks to Jinghan's blessing. Almost every family over there now raises tussah silkworms. The climate there is better than ours in the north and is more suitable for the growth of tussah silkworms. Jingya's father-in-law is also the same. A very visionary man, he established a silk reeling and weaving workshop there early. Silkworm farmers raised two crops of tussah silkworms a year and then sold them directly to the workshop. Now they can make a lot of money throughout Anzhou. Most of the counties under his jurisdiction raise tussahs, and Mr. Lu said that it was all thanks to Jinghan. Mr. Lu is now the magistrate of Anzhou, and the emperor is willing to let him practice for three to five years. You can go back to Beijing and serve as a minister in the Sixth Department." Zhixiang slowly told his father about the situation there.

Although the old man doesn't know much about politics, he also understands that if the people under his jurisdiction become rich, the official's work will be considered a success. "Okay, Lao Wu, I don't know what you are doing. I just know that as long as you can make the people make money and let them live a good life, that will be it. Mr. Lu has promoted you all the way, so that When you become the county magistrate, you have to make progress yourself. You must not exploit the people in the fish and meat village, you know?"

"Yes, my son must remember what dad said." Zhixiang smiled, and he could feel the worry revealed in his father's plain words.

Mrs. Xue and Mrs. Zhu had settled down the servants, and it was getting late. Everyone was busy cooking again. Now the family had a large population, there must be forty or fifty people. So we can't make too little food. Fortunately, Honglian and the others, as well as the wives of the Li family and the Zhou family, also came to help, so it was better.

Everyone hurriedly prepared the meals and arranged for everyone to eat. Mrs. Chen said that it was getting late, and those who should rest should go and rest. Wen Rui and Jingshu were already familiar with Ms. Chen, and neither of them wanted to leave grandma.

"Did you see it? This is the first time your child has met you, and they are kissing you. This is blood relationship. Old Five, you two should go and rest quickly. Your mother and I are here, it's okay." The old man also liked these two children. Seeing that his grandchildren were playing so well with Mr. Chen, he let Zhixiang and the others rest at ease.

Originally, the child was taken care of by Granny Li and the others, but now the child likes to follow his parents. Of course Zhixiang had nothing to say, so he helped Wanting and went to rest. Aunt Li lived in the west room, while Mr. Chen and his grandchildren lived in the east room. These two little guys were really worry-free. They didn't cry or make a fuss when their parents left. They just sat in Chen's arms and watched with a smile as they all left.

Jinghan and the others also liked the two little ones very much, so after the adults left, they stayed here to play with the two little ones for a long time. There are some toys at home that Jinghan got for Jinghui before. Among them is a set of wooden blocks with some words engraved on them and painted with varnish to make them very smooth. Jinghan went out to find it, and took Wenrui to build blocks together, learn to read, and coax the little guy into giggling. Jingshu was still young and couldn't read, so Jingxian coaxed her and played with a puppet.

Everyone was making noise here again for an hour, and the two little guys couldn't stand it any longer. When Mrs. Chen saw it, she asked Jinghan and the others to go back to sleep. "Okay, come over and play with them tomorrow. It's not too early. Go back to bed quickly. Old man, help me put the bedding on. Jinghan "Shu is sleepy." Jingshu has fallen asleep. The old lady is holding her and cannot get up to spread the quilt.

Jinghan and Jingwan helped lay down the quilt, and added another quilt next to the old lady. The old lady asked for an extra small quilt to be added to the mattress, so that even if the two little babies peed on the bed at night, the big mattress would not be wet. After the bedding was put, Mrs. Chen first took off Jingshu's clothes, then put them on the mattress, and then took off Wenrui's clothes. Wen Rui was not asleep yet, but he was yawning again and again. The old lady patted him gently, and after a while, Wen Rui also fell asleep.

Jinghan and the others went out quietly and went back to their houses to sleep.

"These two little ones are really worry-free. Lao Wu has raised two good children." Mrs. Chen sighed.

"Then it must be said that Lao Wu has married a good wife. This is all a good lesson from Wanting. Do you still remember Wenxing back then? How could he have been so worry-free?" The old man also lay down and closed his eyes. Eyes said. "Okay, if the child is asleep, you should lie down as soon as possible. These two little guys may have to get up in the middle of the night."

The old lady blew out the candle, then lay down and fell asleep.

With two little ones at home, life becomes lively. During the day, Wen Rui was following Wen Xuan and the others, running and making trouble everywhere. Jingshu is with Jingxian, who teaches her to sing, play puppets, and games.

In a blink of an eye, it was already New Year's Eve. After posting the couplets in the morning, the old man took the men in the family back to visit the graves of their ancestors. The women are preparing food at home.

In the Xu family's cemetery, the old man led a group of men to arrange the sacrifices, and then burned paper in front of each grave. The old man knelt in front of his parents' graves, fiddled with the burning papers, and said, "Father, mother, my son is here to see you. It's Chinese New Year, and my son and his younger generation are here to give you some money. Dad, Our family is living a good life now. We have bought hundreds of acres of land, and we can earn a lot of money every year. All of our children are promising, and they are all good sons and grandsons of our Xu family. The ancestors."