On the way back, I met Ma San Gou and five people who were busy on their way.
"Second Brother Han..."
Seeing An Niang's expression in a trance with tears on her face, and looking at the empty place behind her, Ma Sangou opened his mouth, then closed it again.
What happened is self-evident.
"Let's go back first."
Han Zhen said hello, mounted his horse and ran towards Xiaowang Village.
Returning to the house, he called Mrs. Han Zhang and said, "Sister-in-law, arrange a room for An Niang."
"good."
Mrs. Han Zhang responded softly and led An Niang to the backyard.
She didn't recognize An Niang, but she was keenly aware that the relationship between the two was unusual, otherwise her brother-in-law would not have brought back a strange woman.
Seeing An Niang's pretty face and watery peach blossom eyes, Mrs. Han Zhang felt agitated for no reason.
Taking a deep breath and suppressing the irritability in her heart, Mrs. Han Zhang led An Niang and her son to the west wing of the backyard.
After entering the door, Mrs. Han Zhang said softly: "You will stay here from now on. You sit down for a while, and I will call Siniang to get you a bed and quilt."
"Thank you, madam. Sorry for bothering you." An Niang thanked her.
"Don't be polite. If you need anything, come to me."
…
After a while, Mrs. Han Zhang returned to the lobby of the second courtyard.
Han Zhen was sitting there, carefully wiping the blade of the sword with a piece of linen cloth. When he saw her coming back, he asked, "Are you settled?"
"Um!"
Mrs. Han Zhang nodded.
Seeing that she was hesitant to speak, Han Zhen smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, you can talk whenever you want. Why are you so different from me?"
Hearing this, Mrs. Han Zhang bit her lip and said softly: "Uncle is not young anymore. If you want to start a family, I can help find a good family."
Although An Niang didn't know her age, she looked a few years older than Han Zhen, and she had a child with her...
Nowadays, if you live in the backyard, you will definitely be gossiped about.
Han Zhen heard the meaning of her words and said perfunctorily: "Sister-in-law, don't worry, I'm still young."
"Not young anymore, uncle is seventeen this year."
Mrs. Han Zhang said, secretly glancing at his strong muscles, and thought to herself, even if he brought a woman back, he was still young.
"I have no intention of doing so for the time being. We will discuss the marriage later."
It was early to get married now. According to the official regulations of the Northern Song Dynasty, a woman could get married at the age of 13.
Therefore, most women among the people are married when they are in their teens, and those over 18 are considered leftover women.
By the time her body grows, she will already be married.
To be honest, Han Zhen really has no interest in these teenage girls.
There were no contraceptive measures in this era. If you got pregnant at a young age, you would have stepped into the door of hell.
Hearing Han Zhen's words, Han Zhang felt happy.
Just thinking that her uncle was going to get married eventually, she couldn't help but sigh in her heart.
At this moment, there was a noise outside the house.
Immediately afterwards, the village chief led two villagers in.
The two of them were in a mess, their burlap clothes were stained with large amounts of dust, and one of them still had a nosebleed, obviously from a fight.
Han Zhen stopped what he was doing and asked, "What happened?"
Seeing the cold light shining in his hand, the two people who were originally excited suddenly calmed down and said nothing.
The village chief on the side cupped his hands and explained: "Village chief, these two people had a dispute over the fields."
"Hasn't the land been divided long ago, giving each person two acres? Why is there a quarrel now?"
Although Han Zhen's tone was calm, his breathtaking aura made them breathless.
The villager with a nosebleed swallowed his saliva and said cautiously: "I...I didn't make trouble, it was this guy who was unreasonable. I have cultivated the wasteland these days and was preparing to sow seeds, but this guy jumped out and said My two acres of land used to belong to his family, so he insists on exchanging it with me."
"It's just two acres of land. Actually, there's nothing wrong with changing it. It's just that he has just cultivated less than half of his land. I'm at a huge disadvantage."
Hearing this, Han Zhen looked at the director: "Is that so?"
The head of the village nodded and said: "It turns out that those two acres of wasteland do belong to Zhang San's family."
The runaway households that have arrived in recent days are all former villagers of Xiaowang Village, so those abandoned fields once belonged to them.
After figuring out the whole story, Han Zhen asked again: "Which one of you made the move first?"
The villager who spoke just now said in shame, "I made the first move."
Seeing his nosebleed, Han Zhen thought it was Zhang San who moved first, and was speechless for a moment.
"Zhang San is being unreasonable in this matter, but it's not right for you to hit someone first."
As Han Zhen spoke, he looked at Zhang San and scolded: "Zhang San, it's two acres of land. It's hard to exchange it. Even if you want to exchange it, you have to show sincerity and don't let some sneaky little people use it." Trick!”
"What the village chief taught me is that I won't dare to do it again."
Zhang San nodded repeatedly.
"Fortunately, no one was killed. Zhang San will pay fifty coins. Is there any problem with you two?"
"I'm fine."
"I have no problem either."
The two people spoke quickly and agreed with this treatment.
After waving his hands to send the two of them away, Han Zhen ordered the chief: "From now on, the chief will handle such trivial matters, so there is no need to bring them to me."
Neighbor disputes like this happen often. If everyone comes to him, he won't have to do anything every day.
The key is that sometimes disputes are ridiculous.
Just like these two people, the villager used to be reasonable, but in the end, he was the first to hit them and lost...
The headmaster responded: "I understand."
"By the way, the village chief informed the villagers to gather at the barnyard in the evening. I have something to say."
After waiting for the chief to leave, Han Zhen put away his knife and turned towards the backyard.
He went straight to the west wing, and as soon as he entered the door, he saw An Niang walking out of the inner room.
Han Zhen asked: "Where is Xiaodouzi?"
"I was a little frightened, so I have fallen asleep now."
Seeing An Niang's sad expression, Han Zhen comforted her: "Don't think too much, and live a good life in the future."
"Um."
An Niang nodded and forced a smile.
"Just have a good rest, I..."
Before he finished speaking, Fang Sansan's voice sounded outside the house: "Alang, Carpenter Chen is looking for you."
Hearing this, An Niang said thoughtfully: "Erlang, just go if you have something to do."
After giving her a reassuring look, Han Zhen turned around and walked out of the room.
Returning to the second courtyard, Carpenter Chen immediately came to greet him, "Village Chief, I have improved the rollers of the threshing machine, and I have also tinkered with the blower."
Han Zhen was overjoyed and said hurriedly: "Let's go, take me to see it."
After leaving the house, the two quickly came to the barn.
At this moment, two wooden ox-like farm tools were placed on the grain field.
One of them is a threshing machine made in the morning, and the other is probably a blower.
Han Zhen stepped forward, first came to the thresher, reached out and held the handle and tried to turn it a few times.
After shaking it for a while, he found that the rollers indeed rotated more smoothly and with less effort than in the morning.
Not to mention him, even a child of seven or eight years old can turn it easily.
Seeing that he looked satisfied, Carpenter Chen on the side said smugly: "I asked Blacksmith Hu to make a pair of iron rings, put them on the rollers, and filled the space between the two iron rings with grease."
"Well done!"
Han Zhen smiled and praised, then came to the blower again.
The reason for doing this is because during the process of removing wheat ears, the thresher will inevitably grind part of the wheat straw and leaves together and mix them with the wheat grains.
With the blower, these wheat straw chips can be easily separated.
He gave the idea and direction for the blower, so the internals were no surprise to him.
Carpenter Chen was quite clever and replaced the threshing machine's roller with a few wooden fan blades, making it look like a small waterwheel.
Just shake the handle, and the wind will blow up, causing the threshed wheat to fall from above. As the wheat falls, the straw crumbs mixed in the wheat grains will be blown away.
