Otherworldly Days

The last day of July is a good day.

This day was the groundbreaking day for the academy. Most people in the village stopped their work, and some workers also had half a day off.Yesterday, the village chief and the others informed them that they would go there today, and that the academy would also cook sweet porridge for the groundbreaking of the academy, so that they could go there early in the morning to eat sweet porridge.

The construction of the academy is a big deal, but they have heard that the magistrates of the county will come here. This is the great honor of their Caojia Village.Although the Academy was not built in their Caojia Village, the Academy was built by their Caojia Village people. Even their own family paid for it, and most people in Caojia Village regard it as their glory.

Early in the morning, the people in Caojia Village had smiles on their faces, and the whole family, young and old, went out together. When they met someone who happened to be passing by, they all walked there together. There were gradually more people along the way.

There were also a few people in the village who saw other people's families and went out with a smile. They were called to go with them, but the old lady made an excuse to prevaricate them, and when they left, they looked unhappy.Let the children at home go to school?They don't waste that money.The sharp-eyed Ahma didn't miss the look of his daughter-in-law. She gouged out her eyes with a knife and said in a deep voice, "No one in the family is allowed to go. If anyone goes, I won't clean up the brother who is holding the child in front of you. He shook his head and didn't dare to make a sound, but the child watched eagerly, and was pulled by his mother, but he didn't dare to make a sound.

Several large pots of sweet porridge were cooking on the temporary stove. Before dawn, people came here to cook porridge. By this time, several large pots of porridge had been cooked.Chen Hong's role as the village representative was not for nothing. He brought people here early in the morning and directed everyone to work neatly, and he never stopped himself.

At this time, someone from the village had already come, and someone from the neighboring village would come later.The shops and mansions that they donated money to the town the day before yesterday all went to the post, and people from the town will come over after a while, even the magistrate of the county should come over, this matter can't be messed up at the beginning, but it must be done do it well.

In order to prevent people from coming into the village to see it, the village was also cleaned yesterday, and it looked neat and clean.Today's Caojia Village has changed, and people's faces are no longer sad, but there are more smiles.

"Chen Hong, is the porridge in the pot ready? When it's ready, put it in a bucket." Cao Xiangnan also came here early, and there are many things to be busy here.

"Okay, okay, I'll just pretend to be porridge." Chen Hong replied.

Master Feng also came with his workers, and it only took a while for the work to start. Cao Xiangnan and Master Feng stood there talking about the academy. Qi Wanfeng and Sun Bailian also came with their children, Liu Baishu and Gan Weilin came from behind, and Wang Dahu and Gan Weiqi came here early in the morning.When Wang Dahu saw Liu Baishu and his group coming, he strode over.

Cao Xiangnan also saw Qi Wanfeng and the others coming, walked over, said a word to this person, and had to go to work on him.Qi Wanfeng also understood Fulang, "Go and do your work, I will take care of the children, don't worry." He said.

"I'm not worried about the brats, I'm worried about you." Knowing that everyone is here and the children will be fine, Cao Xiangnan is worried about the person with a big belly, so he told Qi Wanfeng to be careful , before going to work on him.

Seeing the husband who left, Qi Wanfeng had a gentle smile on his face.Seeing his eldest brother Chen Li walking towards him, the relationship between him and his eldest brother was not very good in the past, let alone now, when they met each other, they would shout "Big Brother".

"It's been a few months, and my belly is so big." Chen Li saw Qi Wanfeng's big belly, and a trace of jealousy flashed in her eyes. Qi Wanfeng is lucky now, living the life of a young mistress.With a smile forming at the corner of her mouth, Chen Li talked about the children in his family, "When the academy is completed, big brother also wants to send some children in the family to study."

"That's a good idea." Qi Wanfeng didn't understand what the big brother who didn't even talk to him on weekdays was pulling him to do, but later he heard what his big brother meant.

The youngest brother in his eldest brother's family is eight years old this year, and he has to pay half of the Shu Xiu when he is sent to study, the middle boy is also nine years old, and the oldest boy is 11 years old, and he has to pay the full amount of Shu Xiu. The big brother means his own family, can the children come to study without Shuxiu.

Even Sun Bailian, who was standing on the side, heard this, and said with a sneer, "I mean, Chen Li, this academy does not belong to someone else, whose children come to study according to the rules. If you can't make up your mind, it's useless for you to talk to Wanfeng. If you don't want to spend some money, don't send your children to study."

He couldn't like Chen Li either. Wan Feng was always angry with his two elder brothers when he was in the Cao's compound.Now that the academies are still being built, there is an idea of ​​sending children to study without Shu Xiu?It's so beautiful!

It's not that he doesn't know about the family division in the Cao's compound, and he really doesn't like Chen Li.

As the sun rose in the east, they heard the sound of horseshoes. The first carriage came in, followed by a continuous stream of carriages coming towards them.Cao Xiangnan, Cao Gangli, and several village representatives greeted the people here, and the two deputy village chiefs led people to receive the distinguished guests.

Shopkeeper Liu also deliberately took the time to come, Cao Xiangnan saw the person coming, and hurriedly went up to meet him.

The merchants in the town don't sell Caojiacun's face, but they sell shopkeeper Liu's face.Shopkeeper Liu and Cao Xiangnan were old acquaintances. Knowing that Cao Xiangnan was going to be busy today, he just waved him to do his work. He turned to talk to the bosses and shopkeepers he was familiar with.

Seeing someone talking at Liu Zhangui, Cao Xiangnan ordered Sun Yanmiao, the deputy village head, to entertain these distinguished guests.

A luxurious carriage came in slowly, opened the curtain, and it was the magistrate who came.

"My lord, you're here." Cao Xiangnan and Cao Gangli were here to greet people, and when they saw the chubby figure get off the car, he rushed to greet him.No matter how small the seventh-rank Zhima official is, he is still the biggest official in Fenshui. For the sake of the 200 taels of silver, Cao Xiangnan is willing to flatter County Magistrate Wang.

County magistrate Wang put on his official airs, got off the car, just happened to see the bearded man standing behind him accidentally, paused, put down the original airs quickly, he almost forgot about Caojiacun There is still a matter of a big man hidden, and the tone of his speech changed quickly, and he said, "It's a good thing to build an academy, I should come over and have a look."

Wang Dahu didn't intend to scare the timid Qipin county magistrate on purpose, isn't their general here?If this timid county magistrate knew that their boss used to be a general, what would happen?He thought maliciously in his heart.

He had an innocent look on his face when he received the glance from their boss.

Cao Xiangnan led a group of people to walk on the open space where the academy was going to be built, and told everyone how the academy would be built. In his words, he thanked everyone for their generosity and help, and specifically mentioned, "... …When the academy is completed, we will ask the master to engrave the names of all those who contributed to the construction of the academy on the wall of the academy, so that everyone who enters the academy can see this wall in the future.”

Scholars, farmers, businessmen, merchants are at the bottom of the list. In this era, the status of merchants is also very low. Now they only spend a little money, and they can leave a name in the academy, which will be known to everyone in the future.

At this moment, many people were wondering whether they gave less money when they first paid, and whether they should make up a little more later, so that the name will look better when it is engraved here?Even the magistrate of the county came here in person. The building of the academy must be no joke. More is better than less. Many people have already made up their minds.

Even Cao Xiangnan himself didn't expect that he would receive a lot of subsidy money later.

At this moment, many villagers came and stood outside to watch. Many villagers just stayed in this small village all their lives. When have they seen so many grand masters and so many carriages?Not to mention that even the county lord came, their eyes could not conceal their curiosity.

The headmen of the neighboring villages, Lizheng, also came over, even those who wanted to go forward at this moment were too embarrassed to go forward.

There are long firecrackers on the ground, and when they are lit, they crackle, and the children next to them are covering their children and screaming, and the adults all have smiles on their faces.

"Master, please come and dig a piece of soil for the academy." Cao Xiangnan imitated the modern ground-breaking ceremony, tied a small shovel with red silk, and handed it to County Magistrate Wang. After explaining to him, please He moved the first handful of soil.

The others saw that it was County Magistrate Wang who moved the soil first, and everyone had no objections.

By this time, the ceremony was over, and they couldn't invite people to come, and they didn't even give everyone tea.

"We set up a table in Yipinzhai, and invite the elders to go to Yipinzhai to have a cup of tea." Cao Xiangnan communicated with shopkeeper Liu yesterday. After everyone came to participate in the ground-breaking ceremony today, he will take everyone Go to Yipinzhai for tea.

This meeting happens to be morning tea time, Yipinzhai is now drinking morning tea every morning.

The magistrate Wang was sent to the carriage first, and the magistrate Wang's carriage left first, and the rest of the people got on the carriage one by one, and the carriage followed to go back to the town.

Cao Xiangnan turned around and explained to Li Zheng that there is Master Feng at Gai Academy, and he will go there for a while and come back. There is no need to worry about any trouble, just like Cao Gang. The village chief took two more people with him, Wang Dahu acted as the coachman, and the group of them followed to the town.

At this moment, everyone is eating sweet porridge. There are many people here, and many brothers and men in the village are helping consciously. Let the children eat first, and then everyone starts eating.Several large pots of sweet porridge are very sticky, and they are all cooked with rice.

Someone from the neighboring village also came over and ate two big bowls of sticky and sweet porridge, talking about the better life in Caojia Village, and they were all envious.The young buddies gathered together and talked, and when the academy was completed, their children would also be sent over to study.

After eating the sweet porridge, everyone seemed reluctant to leave.

"Wan Feng, you and Bai Lian should take the children home first, and take my two boys to your house by the way. I have to clean up here. I will stay here and finish packing before leaving." The two boys from his family Also here, his husband went to a shop in the town to sell food, and the children couldn't do without anyone watching, so Chen Hong asked Qi Wanfeng and Sun Bailian to take the children back first.

"If there's anything else to do, I'll stay and help. Wan Feng, you and Bai Shu will take the children back." Sun Bailian also wanted to stay when she saw that there was work to do.

"Okay, come over to my house for lunch later."

"to make."

Qi Wanfeng wanted to stay, not to mention that everyone didn't want him to work, and the children also needed someone to watch over them, so he simply took the children back together.Liu Baishu didn't follow to the town, he stayed in the village, just in time to help watch the group of little ones.

People from neighboring villages also took their children back after eating sweet porridge.

The big pots of sweet porridge were all eaten, and only a little porridge water in the bucket was left. Those who stayed behind packed these things.

In the first half of the day, everyone stopped what they were doing and came here. Once the work here was over, everyone went back to busy with their own affairs.If they don't work in the morning, they don't have lunch at noon. Everyone went back to their home for lunch today, and then went to work for half a day in the afternoon.

The buddies in the garment workshop are also on vacation, and will not start working until the second half of the day.

In Yipinzhai, the upper floor is the wing room that has already been reserved, and everyone arranged to drink tea in the wing room.A basket of snacks was served on the table, and many people here had come to Yipinzhai for morning tea, except County Magistrate Wang.

When everyone comes to his place, shopkeeper Liu will also help to greet everyone.

"My lord, try this steamed bun. The skin is thin and the meat is filled. It's tender and juicy when you bite into it." Cao Xiangnan liked the county magistrate Wang after he ate it. Introduced to magistrate Wang.

I had no chance to sit with County Magistrate Wang before, but today I took this opportunity to sit at a table with County Magistrate Wang and drink tea.

"It's delicious, it's delicious, it tastes good." County magistrate Wang grew so fat, [-]% of it was eaten, and the remaining [-]% was just lying down when he was full.One mouthful of small steamed buns, you can eat two steamed buns in one go.

Cao Xiangnan didn't even move his eyebrows, seeing that County Magistrate Wang had finished eating, he ordered someone to serve it.

Instead, Cao Gang took a second look at County Magistrate Wang who was sitting there eating like a pig, and then saw the chopsticks in Cao Xiangnan's hand.The eyes of the two met, and Cao Xiangnan grinned at Cao Gang.

"..." Cao Gang.

Wang Dahu and Gan Weiqi who came with them started to eat downstairs, seeing these small snacks, Wang Dahu ate two mouthfuls and called for another serving of each, "Take them away when I leave later. "

Seeing everyone looking at him, Wang Dahu greeted hurriedly, "Eat, eat, you're welcome."

Until the people upstairs had finished their banquet and came down from upstairs, Cao Xiangnan and Cao Gang Liu shopkeeper sent all the people away.

Cao Xiangnan bid farewell to shopkeeper Liu, and they also boarded the carriage and went back to Caojia Village.