She came to Sun's side. Sun had already stood up and poured her tea and handed it to her. He grabbed several handfuls of melon seeds, peanuts and broad beans and put them in front of her: "When did you come back?"
Yang Ruoqing peeled off a peanut and said, "In less than half an hour, mother, Uncle Changgen's family is hosting a treat at night, and we are told not to cook dinner for the night, you know that, right?"
Mrs. Sun said: "I was cleaning the pigsty in the backyard earlier, and I thought I heard someone calling me. When I came to the front yard, I didn't see anyone. Maybe your Uncle Chang Gen came in to say hello and left first without seeing anyone. It's late. I’ll probably come over again some time.”
Yang Ruoqing nodded and looked around: "Where's my dad? Why didn't you see him?"
Sun said: "No, Yongxian invited the opera troupe to come back to sing a big opera, and your father came back with him. Yongxian came over earlier and invited your father to come and talk. He said that the village elders had also invited you. Your father is here. He hasn’t come back yet.”
Hearing that it was related to Yang Yongxian again, and that his father was speaking as Li Zheng this time, Yang Ruoqing couldn't help but become curious.
"Mom, what's going on here? Why did the cousin come back to sit with the money-losing boy?" Yang Ruoqing asked.
Mrs. Sun shook her head: "I don't know. They came back yesterday. The news was released yesterday. The theater troupe came today morning. It was very lively. Old men and women from villages ten miles away came to eat fried dough sticks, twists, and pancakes. The fruit is enough."
"In addition to creating these benefits for everyone, does he have any other requirements?" Yang Ruoqing asked again.
Yang Yongxian's behavior made her immediately think of the scammers who go to the countryside to bring warmth in modern society.
First, we inquired about villages with many left-behind elderly people, and brought small household appliances from unknown manufacturers such as rice cookers and electric kettles to the villages.
There are free lectures and small gifts for the first three days before entering the village.
Scammers have taken advantage of the old man and old woman's desire to take advantage of them. They will give away items for two days first, and after three days, they will trick the old man and old woman into buying small appliances.
The slogan is: If you eat rice cooked in this rice cooker, you will have headaches, brain fever, rheumatism and leg pain.
If you drink tea boiled in this electric kettle, you can stand up if you are paralyzed, and you can be cured of cancer.
The market price is 1,800 yuan. Now the manufacturer is holding a promotion. Instead of 1,800 yuan, only 1,800 yuan is needed. 180 yuan, buy it home healthily!
As a result, old men and women took out their subsistence allowance and pension money to buy rice cookers and electric kettles that were said to last forever. The scammers' hands cramped when they counted the money.
For some reason, when Yang Ruoqing saw the big stage at the entrance of the village, the first thing that came to her mind was that Yang Yongxian was up to something. How could he spend money unnecessarily with his petty temper?
Ms. Sun thought about it carefully, "I haven't heard anything else yet. I just know that he said that he made some money outside and used it to give back to the folks in his hometown."
Yang Ruoqing nodded, there must be a follow-up, she will find out later when her father comes back.
The mother and daughter talked about other things for a while. When it was almost dark, Yang Huazhong finally came back.
After entering the door, Yang Huazhong was not surprised to see Yang Ruoqing there. Obviously, he already knew the news of their return.
"I met Chang Gen on the road earlier. Let's go over with the Luo family for dinner at night. My dear, you don't have to cook tonight." Yang Huazhong said to Sun when he entered the house.
Mrs. Sun nodded: "Qingcai Qing'er told me this just now. Let's go there together after you take a break."
Yang Huazhong said: "Why don't you light the lamp? It's already dark!"
He drew a fire stick and lit the oil lamp on the table, and the hall suddenly became bright.
Yang Ruoqing saw that her father had a good look on his face, and he looked very happy.
According to past experience, whenever I come back from talking to my cousin, my father's face will be frighteningly dull. Today... the sun is coming out from the west?
Sun also noticed this and glanced at Yang Ruoqing quietly.
So, Yang Ruoqing cleared her throat and asked Yang Huazhong: "Dad, why did my cousin make such a big fuss when he came back?"
Yang Huazhong grabbed a handful of peanuts and peeled them. Hearing this, he chuckled and said, "I was just about to tell you about this. Hey, this Yongxian, this trip to Baie Town to do business seems to have enlightened everyone." Yes, when I came back from this trip, I not only invited the villagers to watch a big show and eat free fried dough sticks and twists, but he also invited me and several village elders to discuss paving roads and building bridges!"
Paving roads and building bridges?
The Luo family also did this ten years ago, led by Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang.
"Several bluestone roads in our village, as well as the one at the entrance of the village, were built with money from Qing'er and Tangyazi a few years ago. They are all in good condition. Why do we still need to pave them?" Ms. Sun was puzzled. asked.
Yang Huazhong was a little excited. He took a few peanuts and put them on the table to look like a road.
"Qing'er and Tangyazi built these roads back then. Now Yongxian wants to build this main road, the one leading directly to Qingshui Town." He said.
"Huh? That road is so long, dozens of miles long!" said Sun.
Yang Huazhong said: "Nearly thirty miles, Yongxian said that he plans to build ten miles first, starting from the entrance of our village, so that the villagers in our village can walk these ten miles easily when traveling, otherwise it will be muddy all the way on rainy days. Slippery.”
Yang Ruoqing made some calculations in her mind and decided to spend at least two hundred taels of silver to build a ten-mile road.
Even though she had a transport team in hand, she never thought about repairing the thirty-mile stretch of land.
Why?
The cost of building roads is high, but this is not the main reason. The main reason is that it is unnecessary.
In this era, there were no highways and no asphalt. The so-called road construction actually meant re-paving stones and mud.
It was run over by countless carriages and horses, washed away by a few rains, and quickly deformed, making it of little significance.
Even if we build the thirty miles of land in front of our house, the transportation team will have to cover most of the country. We can't build roads everywhere, right?
So she added the cost of road construction to modifying the wheels of the transport team's carriages and horses, creating a wheel that could roll over flat ground or potholes and muddy terrain. She called this modified carriage and horse 'Off-road'.
"It will cost a lot to build a ten-mile road, right?" Mrs. Sun looked surprised.
"The bottom line is two hundred taels of silver from ten miles away." Yang Ruoqing said.
"This is just using ordinary sand and gravel. If the road is paved with thick bluestone slabs, the cost will triple."
Hearing what Yang Ruoqing said, Mrs. Sun counted on her fingers and was shocked: "Ah, according to this, repairing ten miles of land will cost two hundred taels less, and it will cost six hundred taels more!"
Yang Huazhong narrowed his eyes: "Yongxian promised in front of us that he would build ten miles first, then build back, and finally open up the road to Qingshui Town. By then, a monument with inscriptions would be erected every ten miles. It must be clearly engraved on it that on a certain day of a certain year and a certain month, a certain person spent money to build a road. If the construction of this road is really successful, the inscription must be written clearly. In the future, people will see that Yongxian has immeasurable merits!"
Nine Heavens God Emperor
