Reborn in Dunhuang, I am farming and doing business in the desert

Chapter 67: Sharing the Meal
"Then buy it."

In the past two days, Shen Zhao's account has increased by more than 18,000 yuan. Together with the previous 30,000 yuan, it now has 53,900 yuan.

He took out more than 20,000 coins and put them in the basket, and dragged them to his father: "Here are 21,200 coins. Shall we go find the village treasurer to write the deed now?"

That land also belongs to Anle Township, and even if it is the private property of the landowner, he has to pay transaction tax.

The tax rate is also quite high, 120 yuan for 2,000 yuan.

Shen Ang nodded and put on the cotton shoes his wife handed him:
"I just happened to have something to do at the township office. After I buy the land, I will have to send soldiers to Yumen Pass tomorrow."

"What? You want to send soldiers to Yumen Pass?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Heng jumped off the kang and looked at his father with sparkling eyes: "Can you take me with you?"

Shen Ang asked unhappily, "What are you going to do?"

"Go and broaden your horizons!" Shen Heng has been feeling very depressed these past two days because his sister wouldn't let him go out to the market and even forced him to learn some Pinyin.

"Nonsense!" Shen Ang rolled his eyes at his son. "I'm on a business trip. If you come with me, you have to sign a talisman. How can I have time?"

Besides, we will leave tomorrow, so it will be too late for me to take my son with me.

Shen Heng didn't want to give up: "Just treat me as your follower, Dad. I want to take some cotton clothes to Yumen Pass to sell. Will you agree to it?"

"No!" Shen Ang refused.

He knew his son's character well. He acted rashly and never considered the consequences. If he really took him out, he was sure something bad might happen.

"Hmph!" Seeing that his father didn't agree, Shen Heng climbed back onto the kang angrily. He didn't even bother reading and simply lay down pretending to sleep.

Shen Ang ignored him, warmed himself up and went to the township office, where he got the list of soldiers sent out for service. He also asked the head of the village and the township assistant to measure the land for him and the seller. After that, he paid the money and transaction tax and successfully obtained the land deed.

Early the next morning, Shen Ang brought twenty boiled eggs, two lighters, and a new cotton robe made by his wife.

His daughter also prepared a warm hood and a backpack for him.

There were several boxes of medicine in the backpack, including those for bruises, colds, fevers and inflammations, as well as some toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, towels, and several pairs of warm socks.

There was also a thousand coins and a pair of thick-soled waterproof military shoes, because there was snow and gravel on the road, and thin soles would easily hurt the feet.

"Dad, buy some meat when you stop at the post station. Don't be reluctant to spend money. Take care of yourself when you are away from home."

Shen Zhao accompanied his father to the township office and kept reminding him: "Don't put the lighter near the fire, it will explode."

"Got it!" Shen Ang waved to his daughter and wife, "When I'm not around, you and Ah Heng shouldn't go to the market. Just stay at home and wait for me to come back."

"Don't worry, we have to build a mill shed, so we don't have time to go out." Zhang Shanyue also waved to her husband: "Have a safe journey and come back soon."

My husband is away on business for a long time this time and he probably won’t be home for about twenty days.

When he comes back, the eldest son will have to leave home again, alas.

"I got it, I got it! You guys should go back quickly!" Shen Ang turned around and went to the township office to hand over the list of corvée labor with the township headman.

Zhang Shanyue looked for a while, then turned around with her daughter, and suddenly saw Qin Yangshi in the crowd of people seeing her off. She was wiping her tears and packing her son's luggage.

"Yier, don't worry about going to the border. The Gao family promised to help our family. When mother collects enough money, she will let you return from military service."

Qin Yi said nothing, his eyes fixed on Shen Zhao.

She was wearing a blue cotton robe, with her hair tied behind her head with a headband, revealing a flawless and delicate face.

She has similar facial features to Lingyao, but her expression and eyes are different.

Lingyao was charming, gentle and well-behaved, but she looked down on everyone. Just like at this moment, she clearly saw him, but looked away indifferently, as if she saw a stranger.

Qin Yi gritted his teeth and whispered: "Shen Zhao! One day, I will make you crawl at my feet and be a dog forever!"

Qin Yang also saw the mother and daughter of the Shen family, her face suddenly darkened, and she said in a low voice: "Yier, don't worry, I will make Shen Zhao pay the price!"

She dared to break off the engagement with my family and beat my son repeatedly. Now even my daughter-in-law has been harmed by her. If I continue to tolerate her, I will become a loach in the mud.

Humph! Just wait and see! There are many ways to destroy a woman, and the most effective one is to ruin her reputation and make her a rat that everyone wants to beat.

Shen Zhao didn't know what the Qin mother and son were planning. After she and her mother returned home, they began to expand the courtyard and build a workshop specializing in making tofu.

Now is the slack season for farming, and every family has idle men with nothing to do. Shen Zhao asked his second brother to gather them over and help him carry loess to build the courtyard wall.

Of course, it was not done in vain. Instead, we told them that as long as they came to help, we would give each of them a cotton coat and a pair of cotton pants after the work was completed.

As the news came out, not only did many people from the neighborhood come, but even men from other neighbors came to help.

Shen Heng recorded their work points and required them to report for duty every day.

Because some people are sneaky and just come here for a visit and then leave. When the cotton coats are distributed, they come and ask for them. If you don't give them to them, they will make a fuss and are very difficult to deal with.

In this way, if anyone is found slacking off, he can be fired immediately and others will not gossip about him, after all, the facts are there in front of us.

Sure enough, the method of roll call and work point recording suggested by my sister was very effective. Within two days, several lazy people who were just filling in the gaps were caught.

After these people arrived at the Shen family, they either worked without doing anything or stood there chatting and waiting for lunch.

That’s right, Shen Zhao would cook two large pots of yellow rice every day, plus a pot of stew with cabbage, tofu, radish, and a little bit of fat.

She also asked someone to go to the market to buy thirty large ceramic bowls, each of which was bigger than a human head and looked like a small yellow basin.

The food was packed in here, piled up like a small mountain, one portion for each person. After eating, there was vegetable soup with some radish strips and seaweed added in.

This big bowl is definitely enough to fill them up, or even make them full.

However, even if they couldn't finish the food, they would secretly share it with their family members and children who had been waiting nearby.

One day, Shen Zhao met such a boy, about fourteen or fifteen years old. He also worked as a helper in the Shen family. He worked very diligently and never slacked off.

But every time it was time to eat, he would secretly take the bowl and go out, giving most of the food to the little girl waiting behind the haystack.

On this day, Shen Zhao saw the young man carrying a large bowl of food out again, so he followed him and saw that he had shared most of the food in the bowl, so he reminded him: "You always eat so little, how can you work?"

The boy was startled and quickly turned around to look.

Seeing that it was the girl from the Shen family, he immediately lowered his head and explained: "I, I won't delay my work."

He didn't dare say that he couldn't finish the food, for fear that he wouldn't be able to get so much food in the future. He also didn't dare say that he wanted to save food for his family, because the host hired people to do the work and it was impossible for him to support his entire family.

Shen Zhao took a look at the young man. He had messy hair and a thin face. He was wearing tattered and thin clothes. His pants only reached his calves, revealing his ankles that were blue and frozen.

He was wearing a pair of linen shoes, which were torn in several places. The scattered threads were wrapped in the yellow mud, and one toe was exposed.

The girl was even more miserable. She was eight or nine years old, and was only wearing a tattered padded robe and a straw raincoat on the outside. She didn't even have any pants underneath, and her lower body was completely covered by the half-length tattered padded robe.

"Where are your parents?" Although Shen Zhao had seen many poor villagers, it was rare to see a girl of this age going out without pants.

The boy whispered, "Dad is in the service, and my brother and sister are the only ones at home."

(End of this chapter)