My delicate husband

Lan An and Zhang Xiaomo did not finish the banquet at the Sun family in the end. After Guo Ge'er gave them the gifts, they returned to the county town.

In recent days, the atmosphere at home has been rather depressing. Guo Ge'er rarely comes out of his room, and Zhang Xiaomo is still reading as before. Lan An is used to Guo Ge'er's noisy voice at home, so he really can't adapt to it for a while.

While Zhang Xiaomo was asleep, Lan An went to Guo Ge'er's room, ready to have a good talk with him.

Guo Ge'er has been writing a picture book in his room these days. He thought carefully about what his brother said and felt that it made sense. He also wanted to make money through his own efforts. After thinking about it, he finally decided to write a story book.

"Brother Guo, can I come in?"

"Angel, come in."

"You haven't been going out these past few days. What have you been doing? Are you still sad about what your brother said?"

"No, An Ge'er, I want to write a storybook. Will you support me?"

"I support it, but creating a picture book is not easy. Have you thought about it?"

"Think about it."

"Okay, I'll leave if you're okay. If your brother doesn't see me when he wakes up, he'll be in a bad mood again later."

"Go quickly."

"It's done. I want to see the first one."

Lan An was not surprised at all that Guo Ge'er had this idea. Lan An also really liked Guo Ge'er now. In fact, he didn't mind supporting him. After all, his current money was enough to support many Guo Ge'ers. But he still listened to Zhang Xiaomo. After all, Zhang Xiaomo was the most important.

Soon a week passed, and Brother Man drove a carriage with Lan Euan and others back to Lotus Village. This time, Guo Ge'er did not come. He had been busy writing storybooks in his room recently.

The carriage stopped at the courtyard. Chun, Qiu and Dong got off first, followed by Lan An, who helped Zhang Xiaomo get off. When they returned to the village, Lan An and Zhang Xiaomo looked somewhat relaxed.

As soon as Lan An arrived, Brother Xu called Lan An aside and talked about what had happened in the past week, and most importantly mentioned that there might be road construction in Lianhua Village.

"Ang'er, what do you think about this? We might have to hold a group meeting today."

"Brother Xu, I definitely support this. It would be best if all the roads in the village were repaired, including the roads to the fields. Otherwise, it would be inconvenient to harvest crops during heavy rain."

"Okay, there's nothing else. I'll get busy then."

"Thank you for your hard work, Brother Xu. Thank you very much."

"I feel much more relaxed now."

Lan An turned around and saw Brother Xie talking to Zhang Xiaomo. Lan An noticed the disgust on Zhang Xiaomo's face but was not impatient, so he just let them go. Anyway, Brother Han was watching over there, so Lan An went to chat about gossip with the aunts.

"Ang'er, come here, why don't you see Guo'er?"

"Auntie, Guo Ge'er is thinking about doing business and won't be back in the village for the next two weeks."

"Oh, that's not bad. Do you know how lively the Sun family was after you left last time?"

"Auntie, please tell me."

"That Sun Feng was so embarrassing! She couldn't get up for a long time. Butcher Sun couldn't bear it anymore and helped his mother back to her room.

She still came out and sat in the main seat. When Shui Ge'er served her tea, her face turned pale and green, and it was as smelly as it could be.

Hua Jie'er is now the head of the household. Sun Fengshi doesn't dare to bother her anymore. She now depends on Butcher Sun for her livelihood. However, she is not a quiet person either. She fights with Shui Ge'er every day, but she always wins.

Lan An just took it as a joke and didn't take it seriously. The aunts also casually mentioned the road construction in Lianhua Village, and Lan An just listened for a while without expressing any opinion.

The general outline of the house is now clearly visible. In about half a month, all the walls should be built. What remains is to put up the beams, seal the roof, cover the tiles, and then deal with some details, such as installing floor heating, laying floor tiles, whitewashing, carving shapes, installing window sills, etc.

Lan Euan calculated that it would take about one and a half months for everything to be completely ready and ready for immediate move-in. This was longer than he expected, but it was about the same.

The side yard will be completed in about half a month. The wall has been built, and the beam raising is also handled by Brother Xu. Lan An was originally going to participate, but Zhang Xiaomo was in a bad mood these days, so he left the beam raising ceremony to Brother Xu.

Lan An really didn't expect that less than an hour after he returned to the village, he heard the familiar bell ringing under the big locust tree at the east end of the village. It went without saying that they were discussing the road construction.

Lan An walked to Zhang Xiaomo, held his fingers, and slowly walked towards the gathering point. Except for Brother Xie and the others, everyone else went to the village threshing ground to gather.

After waiting for a while, most of the villagers in Lianhua Village had arrived, even the children in the resettlement houses had come, standing in two neat rows. They were so sensible that it made people feel distressed. Of course, Sister Xi stood at the front.

Lan An arrived relatively late, and when the villagers saw him, they instinctively kept a certain distance from him, which Lan An was quite happy about.

Brother Xu, along with Chun, Xia, Qiu and Dong, stood behind Lan An and Zhang Xiaomo, as if they were supporting them.

"Everyone is here, I have good news to tell you."

"What good news, village chief?"

Lan An felt very familiar with the voice. Zhang Ping, the son of Uncle Zhang, was also a courageous man who dared to say anything and ask anything.

"The county magistrate called our village headman for a meeting the other day and said that there had been a directive from above to help each village build roads in order to make daily life more convenient for the villagers and promote economic development.

Anyway, this is a great thing. There are only ten spots available for the position of County Magistrate. I saw that the head of Jinshui Village was the first to express his cooperation, so I didn't want to be left behind and grabbed a spot for our village."

When the villagers heard the news, they all whispered to each other, and there was a rare joy on their faces. After all, it was really inconvenient to go out on rainy and thawed days, and the ox cart could not move when the road was muddy. However, Lan An always felt that the village chief had not finished speaking, and his expression was a little guilty.

"Everyone, please be quiet and listen to me. As you all know, the national treasury is empty and there is not much money. Therefore, the bulk of the money for this road construction must be paid by us ourselves. The county government will send someone to provide guidance. Of course, the county magistrate also said that he will forcibly take out some money from the county government, and the rest will be up to the villagers to collect on their own."

Everyone started talking again, and the smiles on their faces faded a little. Ang'er knew that something was not good when he saw the village chief hesitating, and his face was full of sarcasm.

"Angel, what do you think?"

"Auntie, I think building a road is definitely a good thing. I think the village chief means that this road must be built. Haha, I just don't know what he is thinking."

"Ang'er, this old fox is obviously asking us to pay. Don't be too soft-hearted. He took it on alone. He may not thank you, otherwise he wouldn't hold a meeting as soon as you returned to the village."

"Don't worry, Auntie. I know what's going on."

……

"I know it's not easy for everyone, but we have to think about our future generations. This is for their own good. If we work hard now, they will have a better life in the future."

"Village chief, just tell me, how much silver will it cost to build the road?"

Uncle Zhang felt relieved when he heard Lan An asking. He also knew that the cost of road construction was too much. The village had just built a waterwheel some time ago, so there must not be much money now.

But Jinshui Village has paid for the repair. If he fails to do so, the village chief will definitely laugh at him. He has finally become equal to others. If he is inferior because of this, he will never accept it.

"Brother An, you returned to the village today. What a coincidence! The county government will provide 200 taels, and we will pay the remaining 300 taels ourselves.

There are nearly 160 households in our village now, and the average amount of rice per household is only taels.

Of course, those with better financial conditions can pay more, but it is not mandatory.

Everyone should first consider how much to donate, and it will be recorded on the monument of merit.

Okay, let's adjourn the meeting. Remember to come to the threshing ground to donate money at the end of the afternoon."

"Village chief, please don't leave so quickly. You know we just paid for the waterwheel repair and the taxes. Now every family is broke. No matter how hard we try, we won't be able to raise two taels of silver."

"Wang Daniu, no one else has any objections, but you have your own. You work at An Ge'er's house every day, and the wages are quite good, right?"

"Village chief, I also think what Wang Daniu said makes sense. I think we should register how many people in the village can afford this money."

Lan An spoke, and the villagers began to agree. Uncle Zhang found it difficult to step down for a while. The elders also agreed with Lan An's approach. This year, each of their families had contributed a lot, and the village ancestral hall had no money left.

According to statistics, there are less than 30 households with two taels of silver at home, and Lan An also knows this is true.

The village chief was a little angry when he learned the result. Lan An hated being schemed against the most. It was no problem for him to pay the money. You can tell him directly that he is addicted to moral blackmail.

Seeing this situation, the villagers became bolder and spoke directly about their opinions. Some people were unwilling to pay for repairing the road. They knew it was a good thing, but they couldn't even get enough to eat, so where would the money come from?

The rich people in the village are not happy about this either. They can't be fleeced every time something happens. They are not well-off, and they have to work harder to save the money.

No matter how good the customs of a village are, there will always be some lazy and bad people. No one likes to suffer losses, let alone suffer losses again and again.

The village chief was also a little angry and spoke directly

"What do you want to do? If you don't repair it, you will miss this opportunity and you don't know if you will have another chance in the future."

Lan An was watching the fun from the side. Zhang Xiaomo thought about it and decided to repair the road. He squeezed Lan An's hand, and Lan An understood. Okay, let the village chief go for now. She would listen to her husband.

"I have an idea, do you want to hear it?"

There was an obvious threat in Lan'an's words. The villagers were unwilling to listen and dared not to, so they all looked at Lan'an.

“This road must be repaired to make travel more convenient in the future. In addition to the main road, the main road leading to the fields must also be repaired.

The main road in the village was built to facilitate travel to the county town in the future. If someone in the family gets seriously ill or wants to do some business, the road can save half the time.

The purpose of repairing the roads to the landowners is nothing but for the autumn harvest. Moreover, if there is a heavy rain, it will be very convenient to harvest the crops.

You all know how important transportation is, no need for me to tell you.

Now, let me talk about the money that everyone is concerned about. Sharing the burden equally is indeed the best approach, but it is understandable that some families are truly poor. Rich people can indeed donate more, but we can't always rely on the wealthy families in the village. "

After hearing this, the villagers nodded and felt that what Lan An said made sense.

"That's simple. The road needs to be maintained and cleaned in the future. There are also some collective tasks that need to be done in the village. If the salary is not enough, we can make up for it with labor. This is fair."

The villagers expressed no objection, and Lan An also said that families willing to pay more than their equal share could not participate in the village's collective labor for two years. The village chief would arrange and negotiate with those who paid less than their equal share, and all the village work would be handed over to them in the future, and the village chief would be responsible for how it would be distributed.

When we returned to the yard, Aunt Wang, Sister Lan, Sister Fang, Zhu the bricklayer and other villagers came over.

"Anger, how much are you going to pay?"

"Everyone in my family will receive two taels of silver. In addition, I will give you an extra ten taels of silver. I will do this as a charity to pray for Brother Xiaomo."

"Then I'll donate three taels. It's pretty good not to have to get involved in village affairs for two years, so the village chief won't come to my house to call for help for the slightest thing."

"My family also has three or two, and my husband and I also want to thank An Ge'er. The money is earned by working for you."

"Sister Lan, you and Brother Daniu are too polite."

Soon, the villagers on the blue eucalyptus side had discussed it. The minimum was two taels, and the maximum should be 26 taels of blue eucalyptus. Most of them chose three taels.

They have a lot of work to do in the fields, and they also have to help Lan Euan build a house. They have not been free for the past one or two months. After they are done with the work, it will be time for the autumn harvest, so they will have even less time to participate in some of the village labor.

However, to Lan An's surprise, Brother Xie and his brothers each donated one or two taels of silver, and did not say anything, just treating it as a good deed. Lan An was not surprised that Brother Xie donated, but she was still a little surprised by the others.

They gave the money to Lan Euan to donate on their behalf, and specifically emphasized that they should just thank the eldest brother directly.

After having dinner and taking a break, it was almost the end of the time, so Lan An asked them to go to the village to donate money first, and then come back to work after they had donated. Everyone thought this was a good idea and it didn't waste time.

When Lan'an and his companions arrived, the village chief and the elders had already moved the table and were waiting, but there were not many villagers.

Lan An walked up to Muramasa and looked at the words on the paper. The village chief and Muramasa took the lead in donating five taels, and the five elders donated four taels. It was written that the village ancestral hall contributed five taels, but their expressions were not good.

This makes about thirty-five taels, plus the money from his side, it won't be a problem for the whole village to collect three hundred taels.

Lan An took the lead in donating money, and the name was written on Zhang Xiaomo's name, donating 24 taels. The village chief was not very satisfied with the amount. Lan An took out another 30 taels and said it was donated by Xie Yuchen. The village chief and elders were a little surprised. Lan An helped to explain a few words. Seeing that Lan An had donated nearly one-sixth of the money, these people felt a little better.

Then Aunt Wang and the others donated money one after another. The sixteen of them donated thirty-six taels. When the village chief saw that they had collected nearly one hundred taels in a short time, his expression looked much better.

Soon the villagers also arrived and slowly lined up in a long queue. Lan An found that the little kids in the resettlement houses were all queuing up under the leadership of Xi Jie'er.

Lan An did not stay for long. He donated money and returned to the yard. Aunt Wang and the others also donated money and returned to the yard with Lan An. They still had to work.

Back in the yard, we had wasted quite a bit of time today, so we didn't chat and just worked hard.

In the evening, Lan'an called for the work to be called off. Zhu the mason and his crew said they wanted to work a little longer, but Lan'an didn't stop them. He asked Brother Man to take them back to the county town in the carriage.

Brother Xie didn't know that the unintentional action of his group of brothers made everyone in Lotus Village remember his name and they were all very grateful to him. It would also be easier for him to stay in Lotus Village in the future. Of course, this is a story for later.