Brother Zhao's expression changed instantly, and his right hand subconsciously pressed his niece's little hand.
The sudden change made everyone present feel shocked. Although the little girl's hand hurt from being pressed, she had been timid since she was a child and did not dare to speak out. Only tears welled up in her eyes.
Brother Zhao quickly noticed that something was wrong with the atmosphere in the room. He twitched his face twice and covered it up with a dry smile: "This, this is what uncle needs to live in peace and quiet, and I can't give it to you. Be good, don't cry anymore, come and take a look.
What did uncle bring you? Open your mouth, ah"
Brother Zhao quickly let go of his rough palm, carefully squeezed his niece's little hand and rubbed it. Suddenly he remembered that he still had candy on him, so he quickly took it out, opened the paper bag, picked up a small piece and put it on his niece's face.
's little mouth.
The little girl only felt a piece of cold stuff put into her mouth, and then she felt a hint of sweet and fragrant taste. Her eyes suddenly softened, and even the pain in her palms disappeared instantly. Her little mouth carefully put the candy into her mouth.
Wrapping it up, he asked vaguely: "Uncle, what is this?"
Brother Zhao smiled, touched her little face, and said with a smile: "Sugar."
"Is this candy?" The little girl closed her eyes slightly and felt it for a while, then opened her big eyes and looked at the paper bag in the uncle's hand. There were dozens of pieces of the same size in it.
Seeing the longing look on his nephew's face, Brother Zhao smiled and took out another piece and handed it to him, "You want to eat it? Come on, I'll give you a piece too."
The nephew looked happy and wanted to reach out to take it, but Father Zhao next to him slapped his hand back. He scolded: "What do you want to eat?"
He snatched the paper package from Brother Zhao's hand, took a closer look, handed it to the second brother, and said: "Take it to your third aunt and exchange it for a chicken. The two warriors have traveled thousands of miles to deliver your eldest brother."
Come back, we must support them no matter what."
"Okay, Dad." Zhao Laoer didn't say anything more and nodded in agreement. He reached out to take the paper bag and stood up to go out.
"Wait a minute." Boss Zhao immediately stopped his younger brother, took the paper bag back from his hand, and asked his father with a wry smile: "Dad, what is this for? This is what my son brought back for the children.
Give it to them."
As he said this, he handed the paper bag to his nephew.
But Father Zhao grabbed his hand, opened the paper bag, and sighed, "Then give one to the baby, one for each brother and sister. You don't know, this candy is very valuable in the countryside, and these candy chickens can
I've got a few chickens back. Rather than being ruined by two little ones, it's better to get some chickens back."
Father Zhao reluctantly looked into the paper bag a few times, then found the smallest one and stuffed it into his grandson's mouth.
Just such a small piece made my grandson smile, and his face was filled with a happy smile.
Brother Zhao didn't want to continue to stop him when he saw it. Instead, he sighed and said: "Dad, after all these years, is the family still so difficult?"
Father Zhao glanced at his eldest son. He was a little surprised that his son, who also left his hometown, came back after decades and asked such stupid questions, "Have you forgotten the situation at home? It's not always like this.
?"
As he spoke, he sighed, and Father Zhao exclaimed: "Fortunately, life has been relatively peaceful these past few years. Although life has been tight, I can still survive with a full meal and a hungry meal."
Brother Zhao raised his head and glanced at the other two brothers from Shanziying in confusion, then turned to look at his father and couldn't help but ask: "Dad, the taxes from the imperial court have not been high in recent years, why is the life at home still so difficult?"
Brother Zhao is in Shanziying. He has heard from other people in the capital more than once that the emperor has issued decrees more than once to live with the people and encourage them to reclaim wasteland and cultivate land. The wasteland he reclaimed in the first five years has been
There is no need to pay taxes. Even if taxes are paid from the sixth year, the amount paid is not much. An acre of land is only seven buckets of grain, and an ordinary acre of land can harvest about three dan of grain. The best paddy fields can even
It can collect four stones. This ratio is less than 30%, which is considered very cheap.
After all, if you don't have land, it would be good if you can get 20% of it by renting other people's land.
Father Zhao sneered and said: "You are not in this countryside, there are many things you don't do.
I understand. When our county pays taxes, it is naturally set by the imperial court to pay seven dou of grain per acre of land. But do you think you can pay the tax by paying seven dou of grain?"
"Can't you? What else can you do?" Brother Zhao couldn't understand. It was clearly stipulated by the imperial court that the tax was to be paid at seven dou of grain. How could he take seven dou of grain and still not be able to pay the tax?
Seeing his eldest son's somewhat innocent expression, Father Zhao rubbed his rough and dry fingers and sneered: "Do you know what Ling Jian Kick Dou is?"
"What is this?" Brother Zhao obviously didn't know and asked after being stunned for a moment.
Seeing his son's dull look, Father Zhao felt a sense of satisfaction in his heart.
Even though he recognized his son when he saw him for the first time just now, Brother Zhao's strong and capable appearance and neat clothes still put a lot of pressure on Father Zhao. He knew this without even thinking about it.
The eldest son must have made a living outside. Although he was also happy for his son, the pressure from his son's aura always made Father Zhao feel uncomfortable.
Not only is he like this, but other people, including his second son and second daughter-in-law, are also like this. When the family faces Brother Zhao, they all act very reserved. Whenever Brother Zhao takes the initiative to speak, they will never dare to raise their heads.
ask.
"This is an old rule. Every year when the grain is paid, the grain director will place a wooden bucket in an open space. The person who pays the grain must use his own grain. Filling the wooden bucket does not count.
, until it pretends to be a mountain top and can no longer hold it, it is not counted as ten thousand. Then the grain chief will run over quickly and kick the wooden bucket, and countless grains will be shaken to the ground. Now this
The tax you pay is only the amount of grain in the dou. Tell me, if you only take seven dou of grain, can you pay the tax?"
Brother Zhao didn't expect that this was the case, and couldn't help asking: "Where is the food on the ground?"
"Grain on the ground?" Father Zhao sneered twice and explained coldly: "Of course it comes from the grain grower."
Brother Zhao thought for a moment and then asked doubtfully: "There are more than seven buckets of grain in that bucket. Will the extra be returned?"
"What else can I give you? The extra grain in the bucket belongs to the county government." Father Zhao put his palms in his hands and smiled bitterly, his tone full of helplessness.
Brother Zhao immediately took a few deep breaths. He didn't know why the Marquis of Zhenhai insisted on letting these people go back to their hometown to serve as grain chiefs and li chiefs. In his opinion, it was a great kindness to be able to leave the military camp alive.
, he never thought about being a grain chief. Moreover, he only thought that being a grain chief would be responsible for collecting grain and then being transferred to the county government office. However, he did not expect that there would be so many twists and turns.
As Mr. Zhao spoke, he couldn't help showing a look of envy in his eyes, and explained to Brother Zhao: "The Li family above is the grain chief of our first class. Look at how many years ago the Li family has grown from an ordinary commoner.
The family has become a well-known wealthy family in the surrounding area."
Brother Zhao couldn't help but look weird after hearing this. He wanted to tell his father that from now on, the Li family would no longer be the grain chief. Now the grain chief of the first class is his son.
Seeing what Dad said, he wanted to exchange the candy for the chicken.
Brother Zhao quickly stopped his father with a smile, and while taking off the package from his back, he explained to his father: "Dad, in recent years, my son has made a lot of money outside. He just sells chickens. There is no need to take them."
Exchange the sugar for it, and we’ll just sell it directly.”
After saying that, he took out three copper coins from the package, which he exchanged for the treasure banknotes in the county town. Although the treasure banknotes had long been spread all over the world, they were only recognized in the county town. Many people could not even read.
, let alone have the chance to see the treasure banknotes.
Just thinking of this, Brother Zhao exchanged three copper coins in advance in the county town and prepared to spend them back home.
Three guans of money are equivalent to three thousand Wen.
Father Zhao's family had seen so much money at once. It wasn't until Brother Zhao put the money in his hand that Father Zhao came back to his senses. He immediately raised his head and laughed and said: "Okay, it seems that you have been
We are living a good life outside, so we can rest assured."
Father Zhao is afraid that the boss will not have a good life outside. In this case, it will be difficult to get rid of the guilt in his heart towards the boss. Now that he has seen that the boss has not only come back, but also spent so much money at once, it is obvious that when he was outside
He won't starve or freeze. This is enough. What more can ordinary people ask for? Do they still want to eat meat every day? If he could eat meat every day, he would want to join the army.
But Brother Zhao hadn't finished yet. He took out a neat and thick stack of banknotes from the package and handed it to his father.
Father Zhao did not take it immediately, but stared blankly at the thing in front of him, with an indescribable sense of exquisite beauty. He subconsciously raised his head and looked at the boss, and asked blankly: "What is this?"
Brother Zhao smiled and explained: "This is treasure money, the most magical and best money in the world."
"Is this money?" Mr. Zhao blinked hard at the money, trying to see it more clearly.
These things are obviously paper, how can they be money?
"Of course it's money." Brother Zhao smiled and took out a piece, placed it in front of his father's eyes and explained: "And, with just this piece, if you get it to the county town, you can exchange it for the same amount of money, or even dozens more.
Wen, there are people willing to change." .??.
"Can it really be changed?" Father Zhao widened his eyes and said in shock.
Brother Zhao nodded, raised his finger and pointed at the copper coins in his father's hand, and explained with a smile: "The three guan coins in my father's hand are what the child exchanged in the county today. The three guan coins weigh about twenty kilograms, dad."
You don’t think that your child will carry these three pieces of money back from the capital, do you?”
"It's not impossible to carry it back." Father Zhao weighed the weight of the copper coins in his hand, but he didn't quite agree with what the boss said. He was carrying money, and no amount of it was too heavy.
After muttering, Mr. Zhao suddenly came back to his senses and looked at the thick stack of banknotes in the boss's hand in shock. One piece can be exchanged for dozens of pennies, so how much can such a thick stack be exchanged for?
"How many copper coins can these precious notes in your hand be exchanged for?"
Brother Zhao turned his wrist twice, looked at it twice, and said calmly: "It's only about two hundred strings."
After saying that, he placed all the treasures on Dad's legs, but he couldn't help but refuse. He said casually: "Dad, please keep these for safekeeping from now on."
More than two hundred dollars is a wealth that Mr. Zhao has never dared to dream of in his life, and has never dreamed of it.
But now these treasures were placed lightly on his legs, but he felt that they were extremely heavy, and his legs were so tight that he did not dare to move at all.
With a long sigh, he carefully collected the treasure notes one by one and returned them to the boss. He said with a wry smile: "You should keep this yourself. This is the first time we have seen these treasure notes. If we don't keep them well, something goes wrong."
That would be a big loss. You are not young now, so it may not be easy to get married in the future. If you don’t have enough dowry, no one will be willing to marry you. You might as well save it and buy a betrothal gift when you get married and start a family later.”
Saying that the safekeeping was not good was just an excuse for Mr. Zhao. He felt that so much money could not be left in his hands. If he took these three copper coins, he would take them. If he felt at ease with them, he would treat them as a filial piety to the boss.
He is the father.
But he really didn't dare to take more than two hundred gold coins.
"Father, just take it." Brother Zhao stubbornly pushed the treasure banknote to Dad, and took out the last thing from the package and said: "There is also this, please treat it as an heirloom of our family, Dad
Also keep them together."
A dagger that is not long, but the handle and scabbard of the dagger are made of gold, and are inlaid with red, green, yellow and other colored gems.
Brilliant and exquisite.
No matter who sees it, they know it is a treasure.
Father Zhao didn't think much about it just now, but now that he saw the boss taking out such a treasure, his expression changed and he asked with some worry: "Boss, tell me honestly, where have you been these years? What have you done?
?Where did you come from with these things?"
"Dad, didn't I tell you that?
Well, my son has joined the army these years, and he is in Shanzi Camp." Brother Zhao smiled, although he felt that his father's question seemed a bit unnecessary, but he still explained calmly.
"Nonsense!" Father Zhao immediately became angry, "How can you be so rich as a top soldier? If so, everyone in the world would be joining the army."
Father Zhao's worries are naturally based on his reasonable logic. If he can earn so much money and have such precious family heirlooms by joining the army, then it's not like 'a good man should not be a soldier'.
"Dad, can my child still lie to you?" Brother Zhao spread his hands helplessly.
Seeing that his father still didn't believe it, Brother Zhao had no choice but to explain to his father: "My child was fighting with the Mongolian people on the grassland. Dad, you don't know that there is a reward for killing the Mongolian Tatars. If you kill a Mongolian, you will be rewarded."
Yuan Tatzi rewarded us with ten strings. In addition, our Shanzi camp won the battle and the emperor rewarded us. Moreover, the money we received is not the most in Shanzi camp. If dad doesn't believe it, you can ask these two children.
Comrade."
Father Zhao glanced at the two of them and knew that if the boss was lying to him, then even if he asked these two people, it would be useless. The two of them would have already discussed with the boss how to say it.
However, the boss told the story about him going into the grassland to kill the enemy very vividly, and it didn't look like he was making up the story at all, nor did it look like a lie.
Father Zhao slowly began to believe in his boss, but he still had doubts. He pointed at the dagger and asked, "Then what's going on with this treasure? Don't tell me, this is also a reward from the imperial court."
Brother Zhao smiled and said with a relaxed look: "This is not a reward from the imperial court. It was found from the body of a Mongolian Tatar when I killed him on the battlefield. Later, I wanted to hand this thing over.
I gave it to the Marquis, but after reading it, the Marquis said it might be something belonging to a tribal leader in the grassland, and asked the child to take it back to me as a memory and as a family heirloom."
"Marquis? Do you know a marquis?" Although Mr. Zhao has limited experience, he has heard of such dramas as conferring a title on a marquis and worshiping a prime minister. However, people like the marquis were too far away from him in the past, and he simply couldn't
No chance to see it.
Now I suddenly heard that my son had met a real Marquis, and was rewarded with this treasure by the Marquis. I suddenly felt so honored that my ancestral graves felt like smoke rising from them.
"Of course, Marquis Zhenhai, Shanziying was originally under the command of the Marquis." Brother Zhao nodded subconsciously, and then said pleasantly.
"I really didn't expect that you would have such a good fortune, that you would be able to go on an expedition with a Marquis and even meet the Marquis." Father Zhao shook his head and sighed.
A big shot like the Marquis was too far away from him. He had never thought in his life that there was someone in his family who could meet the Marquis. This alone was enough for him to brag about for the rest of his life.
Suddenly, Mr. Zhao came to his senses, clapped his head with an annoyed hand, and said apologetically to the other two people in Shanziying: "Looking at our memory, we are so busy talking about it. Second brother, hurry up and find the money."
Is your third aunt going to buy a chicken? It’s better to buy two. Also, ask your second uncle if he has any wine at home, and if so, give him money to buy it back.”
The second son went out happily with hundreds of coins, and soon bought chicken and wine. The second son's wife had already boiled the water when he went out, and as soon as he got the chicken, he bled it and plucked its feathers.
, start cooking.
After eating, the two people from Shanzi Camp were invited to a room to lie down. The two of them were already a little tired, and soon after they lay down, they began to breathe calmly and evenly.
On the other hand, perhaps because he was meeting his family for the first time, Brother Zhao was full of energy and kept talking about his experiences with his father and younger brother. When he mentioned the wonderful things, his nephews and nieces couldn't help but have their eyes light up.
Especially the nephew, for the first time he had a vague understanding of the outside world described by his uncle, and he was eager to go out and see it with his own eyes.
Brother Zhao also noticed his nephew's strangeness, smiled and touched his head, raised his eyes and said to his father and brother: "Although the dog is a bit older, it is still too late to start studying now. Why don't you let him in?"
He has to work at home, so let’s find a private school nearby for him to study.”