The cold winter wind howls.
The hearts of everyone in Dahe Village were on fire.
The expansion of the patrol team was not the main content of this meeting. Li Zheng said that a specific charter would be finalized later.
"Now, let's do the last item." Li Zheng's voice was sonorous and powerful, "Pay the wages."
The villagers were beaming. They had been busy these days, repairing the canals on the mountain, planting trees in the Cao family, the Cao family's weaving workshop, and building the big blue brick house of Shopkeeper Yan... They had been doing this for many days, and Li Zheng was still I have never settled my wages clearly. With money, I can have a rich and comfortable New Year this year.
Li Zheng had an account book in his hand, and the villagers who read their names came up to collect the money. Regardless of whether they were from the Cao family or the Yan family, the wages were thirty cents a day. The group of people who had worked the most days had already worked for a month. Seven days, that is, one tael of silver and one hundred and ten cents.
The white silver ingots placed in the hands of the villagers formed a sharp contrast with the dark and cracked palms of the villagers.
The villagers who received the money were all happy.
There is nothing more satisfying than money in this world.
The people of Xindahe Village watched from a distance with envy on their faces. Even before they became refugees, they had never received so much money.
This village is far richer than they imagined.
As long as they work honestly, they will always have two meals of porridge a day. As for wages, they dare not ask for extravagant wages.
The wages in Dahe Village were quickly settled, and Li Zheng continued: "Bao Hong, plant a total of 120 trees, totaling 240 cash. After deducting the meal expenses for these six days, a meal of porridge will cost 5 cash." There is one hundred and eighty cents left! I said to Bao Hong, what are you doing in a daze? Come up and get the money!"
The man named Bao Hong suddenly froze.
He had been in this village for six days, and had been watched while working. He was given two meals a day, which was much happier than when he was fleeing famine and was hungry and full. He never thought that he would be paid wages.
More than a hundred pennies, for God's sake, he is actually rich too.
Bao Hong walked up to the stage with frivolous steps. Zhao Tiezhu counted out 180 cash and handed it to him, asking him to put his fingerprints on the account book.
He held the money and stared directly at the copper plates, still feeling like he was dreaming.
He didn't look at his feet, he stepped on nothing, fell to the ground, and all the copper coins in his hand rolled away.
He woke up instantly, his money, his hard-earned copper! !
He saw people standing around squatting down to pick up money.
His heart seemed to be grabbed by someone, as if someone wanted to cut out the flesh on his heart and eat it.
He wanted to speak to stop these people from taking away his money, but he couldn't utter a word. When he opened his mouth, the cold winter wind rushed straight into his throat...
"Be careful when you walk." Cheng Wanwan picked up the five or six copper coins at her feet and put them in Bao Hong's hand. Her voice was very gentle, "Don't hold the money in your hands. Be careful because it will fall on the ground. There are many people and it is difficult to find it." "
"The copper plate is round, and it rolls around. If it rolls into the river, you can't pick it up."
"Young man, what are you doing lying on the ground? Get up quickly."
Many villagers gathered around, and everyone put the copper coins they picked up into Bao Hong's hand.
The tip of his nose suddenly became sore, and a stream of hot tears burst out of the corners of his eyes uncontrollably.
After three or four months on the run, every moldy bun in his hand would be snatched away. He never thought that the things that fell on the ground or were picked up would return to his hands again... He counted them. One hundred and eighty cents, not a penny less.
"thanks, thanks!"
Bao Hong could only say these two words. The thirty-year-old man's voice was choked with sobs.
He was afraid of being noticed by others, so he lowered his head and returned to the crowd in Xindahe Village.
Li Zheng was still reading the name: "Chang Zhuzi, plant one hundred and thirty-two trees, totaling two hundred and sixty-four cents..."
The people of Xindahe Village were called by name one by one.
Those who plant trees are paid, those who build houses are paid, those who dig lotus root ponds are paid, and of course those who cut firewood are paid... Everyone received more or less money, some more than 200 yuan, some less than 50 or 60 yuan. Wen, those people were holding copper coins with tears in their eyes. Some women couldn't hold back their tears and sobbed.
When one person cries, everyone starts to cry.
They thought they would die on the road, they thought they would starve to death, get sick, or be beaten to death. But when they reached the end of the road, they ushered in a bright and smooth road.
After receiving grain, dividing fields, and receiving copper coins, good times are coming.
"Why are you crying!" Li Zheng scolded angrily, "We in Dahe Village are not in the mood for mourning, so let me hold back your tears!"
Cheng Wanwan stood on the stage, looked at the crowd and said: "This time the soap workshop is making winter clothes. I have asked people to make hundreds of more. I also sewed some winter quilts. The price is not expensive. People in need can Go over there and have a look.”
These refugees were all wearing single clothes, one or two layers of cloth. I don’t know how they survived until the cold winter months. It was about to snow. They couldn’t dress like this anymore. If they got sick, they would spread the plague. But it's not good.
Anyway, the workshop wanted to make a batch of work clothes, so we did it together, making a total of 300 sets of winter clothes and a small number of winter quilts.
Zhao Dashan and Zhao Ergou took out all the clothes and quilts and put them in front of their homes for sale.
Winter clothes cost 40 cents a piece, and winter quilts cost 60 cents. Warm fillings such as reed catkins and catkins are also sold.
Those refugees had just received money, so they naturally wanted to improve their lives. Food and clothing were the top priority. Ten kilograms of food per person could last for a while, so the first priority was to keep out the cold.
Basically, everyone bought a set of winter coats and quilts. As for the stuffing, they chose to find it in the wild themselves, saving whatever they could.
A meeting allowed the refugees to put down their guard and make a real decision to integrate into Dahe Village.
Dahe Village received fresh blood and began to glow with a different kind of vitality.
The refugees settled down one by one. After a night's rest, they all went to work the next day.
The more than 300 new people have been able to survive until now during the escape. Whether they are old people or children, their health is pretty good, and they can also be used as half of the labor force.
Thousands of people in the village worked enthusiastically together, and two hundred acres of mulberry trees were soon planted.
Shopkeeper Yan's large blue brick courtyard and the Cao family's weaving factory are almost completed, and the next step is to raise the beams and cap the roof.
Only the lotus root pond at Cheng Wanwan's house is only half-completed. Her goal is to finish it before the Chinese New Year. Of course, it doesn't have to be completed. It just needs to be dug before spring. Otherwise, when spring comes, there will be continuous spring rain and everywhere will be covered with water. It's not easy to do this in a mud puddle.
The soil dug out before had to be transported to the other side of the mountain, but now these people from Xindahe Village have the soil transported to their doorsteps.
They dig lotus root ponds during the day, and then they will be busy laying adobe after work. The winter is dry, and the adobe will dry out quickly. After spring plowing, it will be just in time to build adobe houses.
Thatched houses are more like temporary residences, and adobe houses can make people truly feel at ease and at ease.
So busy, it’s the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.
The weather is getting colder and colder, and even the boys who are not afraid of the cold have begun to light the fire bed.
A group of boys in the family, seven or eight of them, all sleep on the same kang, and they have to make noise for a long time before they get quiet every night.
"Auntie, it's snowing!"
Chunhua came back from a busy trip outside with some small snowflakes on her hair.
Cheng Wanwan hurriedly got up and walked outside to see that it was really snowing. Small snowflakes were falling one by one, getting bigger and denser.
As the saying goes, auspicious snow heralds a good harvest.
After the second crop of rice was harvested, the whole village burned the rice stubble in the fields, but it may not be possible to burn all the locust eggs. Now a heavy snow will definitely freeze to death those eggs in the soil that have not been burned to death. Next year It's a good harvest year.
