Spring scenery in the fields

Ji Wenhe smiled helplessly: "I'm not that precious. Now we are a family, and I want to help."

The two shook their heads.

Shen Yuanshan replied without even looking up: "No, if big brother finds out, we will definitely be scolded. Sister-in-law, you should just enjoy the sun. Big brother will be back soon."

Looking down the mountain, he murmured, "Will the head of the village make things difficult for your elder brother?"

"It shouldn't be." Shen Wenshan said.

Li Zheng is at home.

There are three large tiled houses, a kitchen and a utility room on both sides, and a courtyard surrounded by a fence, which is unique in the village.

Inside the main room, a man in his fifties was sitting in the first seat. He was wearing a cotton-padded jacket. The clothes were very new, with two patches on it.

One is on the chest and the other is on the right arm, both are conspicuous places. Judging from the material, they don't look torn, but rather like they were sewn on intentionally.

He held the teacup, blew on it gently, took a sip of tea, and looked at Shen Rongshan who was sitting upright on his right, his eyes shrewd.

"Rongshan, although your family's land was mortgaged to me, we have settled the matter in full. I, your uncle, have not taken advantage of your family in any way."

"Yes, I know. I came here today not to buy back my family's land, but to buy another acre of land."

His family's land is in a good location and his parents take good care of it, so the harvest is good every year. If the family was not in urgent need of money, he would never sell the land.

If it were a normal price, his land could be sold for nearly three taels, but because of the pressure, he only sold it for less than two taels.

Shen Rongshan didn't blame him. If he were in his place, he would also lower the price.

Village head, Shen Zhong.

Looking at the person sitting in the first seat, he said, "Uncle Zhong, you know I don't have much money on me. My wife is sick and hasn't recovered yet, so I can't take out the extra money."

"Please choose a good piece of land for me, and a piece of wasteland. Rongshan will be very grateful."

As he spoke, he took out the copper coins and silver coins strung together from his pocket, stood up and put them on the table next to him.

Shen Zhong smiled and nodded: "No problem, I have watched you grow up since you were a child, so I will definitely pick a good piece of land for you. As for the wasteland, you can choose whatever you want."

There is wasteland at the end of the village, and there is also some wasteland to the east. No one in the village wants to buy it, for fear that there will be no harvest from planting crops and they will have wasted five hundred coins.

In fact, Shen Rongshan didn't want to buy wasteland, but he didn't have much money. If the location of the paddy field was not good, the harvest of one acre of land might not be enough for his family to eat.

I hope the village head can really pick a good piece of land for him.

Shen Zhong put the money away and slowly stood up: "Let's go to the land. The land deed will be ready for you in a few days."

"Okay, thank you for troubling Uncle Zhong."

"Don't be polite to Uncle Zhong. If you need help in the future, just come to him."

Shen Rongshan nodded but didn't answer.

Shen Zhong, his father and grandfather were the village heads, until him.

The three generations of village heads have accumulated a lot of family property.

Ji Wenhe sighed in his heart: "Isn't the head of the village elected by the village?"

Can it be passed down from generation to generation?

"The village has been dealing with the government for a long time. If nothing unexpected happens, the next village head will be his son."

Shen Yuanshan continued while twisting the hemp rope.

"The government says that the village people have chosen the position, but in fact they have been bribed. The person chosen by everyone will eventually find an excuse, saying that he cannot be the village head, and replace him with a candidate who has already been decided."

"Yes." Shen Wenshan took over the conversation, "Everyone knows that in order not to offend the head of the village, they will first test the head of the village."

"If the village head intentionally reveals that he wants to choose his own son, then everyone will choose the village head's son to take over as village head."

Living in the same village, no one wants to offend the head of the village, so it is better for the county magistrate to be in charge, not to mention that the county magistrate is on the side of the head of the village.

Ji Wenhe understood that no matter where you are, as long as there are people, there will always be flattery, fighting, and pleasing...

He stuffed his hands into his sleeves and said, "I don't know when your elder brother will be back. It's almost noon."

It’s been about two hours. The village is just at the foot of the mountain and it will take less than five minutes to get down the mountain.

At his pace, it would probably take him less than five minutes.

As he was speaking, a familiar figure walked up from the foot of the mountain. It was Shen Rongshan.

"came back."

The two brothers looked up quickly and stopped what they were doing.

His expression was the same as always, no emotion could be seen.

Shen Rongshan looked at the three people in the yard, and his gaze finally fell on Ji Wenhe. He was a little dazed, and it seemed a little unreal that he had married a woman.

She looked at herself and smiled, very gently.

He looked away uncomfortably, walked into the yard and closed the door.

"Brother Shen, have you bought the land?"

"Well, the paddy field is near the foot of the mountain, the third one, and the dry land is the westernmost one."

Seeing her puzzled look, I realized that she didn't know much about the fields in the east.

So he picked up a twig, squatted in front of her, and drew the fields to the east.

Shenjia Village is surrounded by mountains. The mountain where they live is the highest and faces south.

To the east there was a whole row of paddy fields with a small river in the middle. The water flowed out from the mountain where they lived, like a straight line, stretching to the small hill to the south.

Then it flows out of the village through the passage at the bottom of the mountain.

After crossing the small river and heading west, there is dry land.

At the easternmost end of the paddy field, there is a large piece of vacant land. Because it is close to the foot of the mountain, it has been designated as wasteland and no one has gone there to reclaim it.

Seven parts are paddy fields and three parts are dry land.

To the west of the dry land is where the villagers live. Those who have yards at home will grow vegetables in the yard or backyard.

If not, just grow vegetables on dry land. It’s not far away, just a few steps away.

"The paddy fields are not too bad, but they are not too good either. The dry land is at the edge. The village head will get the land deeds ready in a few days. When spring comes and the weather warms up, we can start farming."

Shen Rongshan stood up, walked to the kitchen door, and threw the twig in his hand behind the stove.

Shen Yuanshan stroked his chin, looking mature: "The paddy fields are worse than I expected, but the dry land is pretty good."

Ji Wenhe looked at him: "Where is the wasteland?"

Wasteland is not good to begin with, so it can’t be that they gave us the worst location.

"I am allowed to choose a spot in the wasteland. It's on the outermost side, right at the foot of the mountain."

After getting the land deed, go to the wasteland to weed and open up the land.

Shen Rongshan took out a broken machete from the house and said, "I'm going to chop wood."

Shen Yuanshan put down the twine in his hand and said, "Brother, I'll go with you. We don't have enough firewood, so we need to chop more."

Ji Wenhe saw him looking back, understood what he was going to say, and said, "You guys go, be careful, Wenshan and I will stay at home."

He nodded and went to the mountain on the right with the machete.

"Wenshan, can we cut down the trees in the mountains at will?"

She forgot where she saw it, but it is not allowed to cut down trees in some forests without permission, and those caught will be convicted.

"Of course, if we don't chop wood, what will we burn? Many people chop wood and sell it in town, but only good wood will be accepted."

Shen Wenshan suddenly looked at her with a puzzled look on his face.