The carriage moved forward slowly on the way up the mountain. The scenery of the autumn fields came into view through the car window. The indigo in the distant mountains was mixed with wisps of light yellow. The sky was as clear as a wash, with a few thin clouds hanging on the horizon. It was quite beautiful.
It feels a bit like the crisp autumn air and the vastness and comfort of high sky and clear clouds.
Liu Ji was sitting in the carriage, frowning and a little curious.
On the road, a flat-bed ox cart loaded with grain was overtaken by a horse-drawn carriage. Liu Jie saw the ox cart moving forward with a "clop, clatter, clatter". The driver was a boy, seven or eight years old, sitting on the shaft of the cart carrying a bag of grain.
He swung a whip made of rattan from left to right, his legs were hanging under the shaft of the cart, and his two feet wearing straw sandals were swinging back and forth. What surprised Liu Pei the most was that the child had an empty one.
In his left hand, he actually held a book. He was reading the book while letting the old scalper pull the cart and move forward slowly...
Could this child be the legendary child prodigy who came from a poor family but was determined to study?
The further you go, the more vehicles you see along the way. Almost every household that comes to pay rent has an ox cart or mule cart. It seems that every time it is time to pay rent, there are wheelbarrows everywhere in Guanzhong, and large carts pulled by people swarm in.
The situation there was completely gone.
Are the people on Lishan Mountain so wealthy?
Could it be that in order to pay the rent, the Fang family hitched the mules, horses, oxen and donkeys into the cart and lent them to the rent-paying family?
But even if the Fang family is rich, is it necessary to keep so many vehicles?
What’s even more strange is that Suwen Lishan Farm has been converting the rented grain according to the market price since the year before last, and only collects money when paying the rent. Why did it start collecting grain again this year?
Liu Jie became more and more frightened...
When we arrived at the large courtyard in front of Fangjia Farm, the entire road was jammed with densely packed vehicles, cow dung and horse urine were everywhere, and the air was filled with an unpleasant stench that made people want to vomit.
Liu Ji ordered the carriage to stop far away, got out of the carriage and stood on the shaft of the carriage with his feet raised and looked forward. The vehicles on the road were blocked for half a mile, and the unpleasant smell was unavoidable.
, there was not much noise. The Fang family set up a few tables in the large courtyard in front of the door and set up a huge umbrella to block the sun. The autumn sun was very harsh.
I couldn't see clearly what was going on under the umbrella, but I could vaguely see villagers and people driving vehicles loaded with grain to the front of the big umbrella. Some people were gesturing and rowing, and then the vehicles drove into Zhuangzi, probably heading to the granary to unload the grain.
.
Liu Jie jumped down from the carriage and gave the coachman a few words to find a shady place to wait. He picked up his robe and strolled through the dense crowd of vehicles toward the large courtyard in front of Zhuangzi Gate.
As they walked and walked, Liu Ji felt that something was getting more and more wrong. Why did the villagers who came to pay the rent were either trembling old men or small and weak children, but there were very few young and strong ones, which was very rare.
?
Liu Ji was clasping his hands behind his back when he happened to meet a white-haired old man on a bullock cart taking out a sesame seed cake from his bag and handing it to his little grandson sitting next to him. His rough big hands caressed the grandson's head lovingly and kindly.
He said softly: "Are you hungry? Eat quickly. After paying the rent, Aye will go to the market to cut two kilograms of pork and stew it for dinner at night."
The little grandson, who was about seven or eight years old, took the biscuits but did not eat them. Instead, he broke the biscuits into two halves with his small white hands. He handed the larger half to his grandfather and said with his little face raised: "Ah.
Are you hungry too? Grandson and Aye will eat together."
The old man laughed, his wrinkled eyes had deep grooves, and his cloudy old eyes seemed to light up. Every fold on his face seemed to be filled with a happy smile. He caressed his grandson's head lovingly and said warmly: "
Aye, if you're not hungry, you can eat."
"no!"
The little grandson stubbornly stuffed half of the sesame cake into his grandfather's hand, opened his big, bright eyes, and said seriously: "Fragrant nine years old, able to warm the table. Be filial to relatives, and do what you should... My grandson is also nine years old this year.
Now, if Huang Xiang can honor his father and give him a warm meal, his grandson should also be filial to Aye. If Aye doesn't eat it, his grandson won't dare to eat it!"
"hehe……"
The old man burst out laughing, smiling with tears streaming down his face. He took the plate of sesame cakes handed over by his grandson, took a big bite, and while chewing, he muttered: "Eat, let's eat together!"
"
He cried happily, not because of his grandson's filial piety, but because his grandson was able to explain the principles of filial piety in a coherent manner using allusions from the ancients.
People always hope that their children will succeed and are willing to leave the best things to their children. They never care about whether their children will repay them in return. Who is willing to raise their children to be adults because of their filial piety? And if the children can have a future,
You will be happier than being filial to yourself...
The lowly peasants who have been digging in the soil for generations have unexpectedly given birth to a child who can read and write. Isn't this the smoke coming from the ancestral graves?
Someone nearby reminded loudly: "You two, don't eat too much. You will have food after paying the rent later. The Fang family slaughtered more than 20 big fat pigs. The steward of the village notified them in the first half month.
Let the big guys keep their bellies and keep them full!"
The old man chuckled and took a bite of the sesame cake: "The Fang family is a kind family. We were homeless refugees. It was Erlang who took us in, gave us land to plant, and lent us money to build a greenhouse. Now we can eat it."
After taking a bite of sesame seed cakes, we have to cherish our blessings, how can we bother the Fang family again?"
As soon as he said it, there was a silence around him.
Who in this Zhuangzi doesn’t remember the heavy snowfall in the winter of the twelfth year of Zhenguan?
Houses collapsed, mountains blocked by heavy snow... How many people died of starvation or freezing? These people have no home to return to. They are tenant farmers without even half an acre of thin farmland. They can only become refugees wandering around Guanzhong begging. If not
Fang Erlang petitioned the emperor to purchase the land in Lishan Mountain to accommodate everyone. If not, most of these people would have died of cold and hunger, and the rest would have been sold into slavery, and their descendants would have been reduced to low status...
"Okay, I'll leave after paying the rent later. I'd rather go home and eat big cakes and bran vegetables than let the Fang family spend a penny!"
"Come on, what nonsense are you talking about? Nowadays, in our Lishan Village, which family doesn't eat meat when they want, and drink when they want to drink?"
"That's right, it sounds like you are so noble."
People around were chattering away, and the old man led his grandson to eat sesame seed cakes with a smile, watching with great interest...
Liu Ji raised his head and looked at Zhuangzi, was silent for a while, then raised his feet and continued walking over.
There were a lot of people coming to pay the rent, and there were even more cars, but everyone was very orderly. The cars were standing in a more orderly manner, leaving enough space for one person to walk between cars, so Liu Jie didn't feel crowded as he walked along.
After a while, we came to the edge of the courtyard in front of Zhuangzi.
Several cars were parked in the yard. A servant from the Youfang family climbed on the car to check the grain. Then he measured it up, down, left, and right with a ruler, and said loudly: "Two stones of Chen Liugen's premium rice!"
The scribe wrote it down.
The servant of the Fang family waved his hand, and the car drove forward two feet and stopped. A skinny old man jumped out of the car and walked to an ox cart behind it. This ox cart loaded with grain jumped out of the car.
The next child, who was seven or eight years old, Liu Ji had sharp eyes, was exactly the child he saw on the road who was reading while driving...
The house servant once again measured the grain in the car and said loudly: "Two stones and three buckets of Chen Liugen's high-quality corn!"
Liu Ji in the distance shook his head. He didn't even prepare a wooden dou. He just took a ruler and measured it. There must be a lot of errors. This method of the Fang family is a bit unethical. Your family can now be said to be the Tang Dynasty.
He is the richest man, and he still embezzles a small amount of rent from ordinary people. It is really ugly...
The clerk over there wrote it down, and the servant said to the old man: "Uncle Six, come on, come on, press your fingerprints and make a pledge, then drive the car to the granary to unload it, and hurry to the yard to eat."
The lean old man straightened his chest and straightened his rickety back. He glared at the Fang family servant and cursed: "Mom, you idiot came into the Fang family's door to do the Fang family's work. Why don't you drop a little?"
Instead of learning the generosity and generosity of the Fang family, why are you so mean and annoying?"
The servant was a little confused and said with a smile: "Uncle Liu, what are you talking about? Why is my nephew so mean and mean?"
The old man pointed to the account book that was signed and stamped on the desk: "Others have signed it, so why do you let me stamp it? Are you bullying me for being illiterate?"
The servant called out to Tianqu: "Uncle Liu, you can't open your eyes and talk nonsense! If I dare to bully you, my father won't break my legs if I turn around? You are illiterate!"
"I can't read, and my grandson can't read either? You damn girl just look down on me!"
"Uncle Six, my nephew really doesn't dare..."
The old man ignored him, patted the head of the doll next to him, and said: "Gou, go and sign!"
Liu Ji in the distance was startled. He looked at the child wearing straw sandals and an old cloth jacket with a runny nose. It was really surprising that such a humble peasant child could read and be literate.