"The most important thing is, of course, the fields." Mei Siyuan's simple words made Mei Siyuan's mind shake: "This youngest brother is an ordinary commoner. He works hard all year round but can't even manage half a field." Land is also unavailable. How difficult will it be to provide for one's life and have a happy life? Being an official and managing the world only allows the cultivators to have their own fields, so that they can support themselves in disaster years and have their grievances redressed. But at that time, under the rule, the rich were wealthy. Each household’s farmland stretches for hundreds of hectares, and those who are impoverished have no way to cultivate their own land, so they have to work as sharecroppers. In good years, they can’t even get enough meals. In normal years, starvation is unavoidable. In disaster years, it’s a blessing not to die of hunger. It’s really pitiful! Si Yuan Cong I have been in office for more than ten years. Although I have tried my best to do everything, it has always been difficult to prevent people's livelihood from becoming more and more miserable. I am really ashamed!"
Mei Siyuan looked at the youngest and asked again, "How many children are there in your family?" He looked like a warm-hearted friend.
"Hey, my mother-in-law and I have two babies. The younger boy is six years old, and the older girl is nine years old!" The youngest said with a contented smile on his face. "How could you not be satisfied? I and my mother-in-law can trade rice for my employer's farm. In our free time, we can hunt some game in the mountains and pick berries. Our two children are rarely hungry. What else do I want?"
"I'll give you ten acres of land." Mei Siyuan said suddenly.
The youngest looked at Mei Siyuan blankly, as if he didn't hear what he said clearly, and he didn't seem to believe what he heard.
"I'll give you ten acres of land." Mei Siyuan said again, "If you find a salt mine, the Salt Administration will reward you with ten acres of land. How about that?"
The youngest crossed his hands and rubbed them together, blinked, and stared at Mei Siyuan. It was obvious that he had clearly heard what he said, but he still didn't seem to believe it. After a long time, he moistened his throat and said, "This, this..."
"The imperial court awards meritorious service and does not pay taxes. You will get as much grain as you harvest from the fields." Mei Siyuan explained again.
Tears gradually filled the youngest's eyes. He stood up from his seat tremblingly and suddenly fell to his knees heavily. Mei Siyuan reached out to help him up, but the youngest refused and fell to the ground sobbing, his back shaking slightly.
The winter night in the countryside is as dark as ink and as quiet as tranquility. "Oh~oh~oh!" A rooster crowed, breaking its tranquility.
"Why are you up? It's still dark outside!" A woman said vaguely in the darkness.
"What's the matter! Yesterday, Master Mei asked me to take him to the salt cave I was looking for this morning, but why don't we go and wait earlier?" The youngest ignored the mother-in-law. As for this moment, the youngest feels that he is still in a dream, "Do I really have my own farm?" He hurriedly stretched out his hand to look under the straw mat, "Tian Qi is here!" In the darkness, the youngest's smiling face was like a valley. Thinking of yesterday, it was really the happiest day in my life. Lord Demei treated me to a feast, and Lord Deme also gave me ten acres of land as a gift. Before I left, I got the land deed from my employer. Looking back on it today, I still find it hard to believe. But since the land deed was there and the food on the table was still there, the youngest couldn't help but not believe it. I quickly packed it up and went out with a cooked potato and melon in my pocket.
The grass and trees were still covered with frost, but the youngest didn't feel cold at all.
"Who is it?" The youngest had just approached the Zhu Mansion when he heard a cold and stern voice suddenly coming from a high place. The youngest was so frightened that he said "Wow" and hurriedly replied, "I am the youngest Zhu. Come here and wait for Master Mei. Master Mei asked me to take him to the mountains this morning."
"Just wait." Yunhu was on duty in the middle of the night last night. No matter how you thought about it, even before you could see your fingers, the youngest was already outside the door.
"Squeak~", the sound of the door opening came from the back room of Zhu's Mansion, and only one person said, "Is the youngest here? Please come in first and wait." Mei Siyuan was awakened by Yunhu's cold shout, guessing that it was the youngest who came. That's it, it's called Yunhu Road. After finishing speaking, he stood up, lit a lamp, and took a shower. The entourage had long been accustomed to sleeping lightly. After hearing the exchange between Mei Siyuan and Yunhu, they hurriedly got up and prepared.
"Brother, the youngest, you really got up early!" Mei Siyuan got dressed up and walked to the side hall. He saw the youngest sitting on the four-corner round stool with his feet hooked and his body hunched over, and he greeted with a smile.
While the youngest was blaming himself, he heard Mei Siyuan come up to ask, and immediately stood up and replied, "Oh! I'm so stupid!" After saying that, he clenched his fist and hit his head, "I surprised the adults so early!" I regretted that if I I waited far away from the house. I thought it would not be easy for this tall and thin brother to notice me, so I would not wake up the adults.
Seeing the look on the youngest's face, Mei Siyuan said it sincerely, and her heart warmed up, and she advised, "What's the big deal! I never like to sleep too much. I'm thinking of going to the salt cave today, so I want to leave early!" After hearing this, he was really happy and said with a smile, "I'm afraid that it will scare the adults into sleeping, hehe, that's great, that's great!"
Mei Siyuan said to Yun Hu, who was standing beside him, "There's nothing much to do today. Just rest here and ask the seven of them to accompany you." After hearing this, Yun Hu withdrew and informed the other seven to go. . After a while, seven people came in dressed up, obviously just to facilitate walking in the mountains.
Now that everyone was gathered, the nine people marched in the dark.
"There is a rock here, so be careful where you step!", "There is a mud pit on the right, don't step on it!", "There is a small slope in front, you have to walk with your heels diagonally later, for fear of slipping and falling." Along the way, the youngest kept reminding everyone, while walking ahead to find the way. His body was strong and strong, not at all dull like yesterday.
It gets dark later in the mountains, let alone in winter. The nine people walked for an hour before the sky turned white. Fortunately, the previous sections of the road were all at the foot of the mountain. There were people coming and going all year round, and the road had been opened up long ago, so you could barely see from below. "Brother, can we go thirty or forty miles?" Fu Su followed at the front and seemed to be quite tired at this time. He got up early today and was still hungry. How could he not be tired after walking on this rugged trail? Not only him, but the other seven people were also somewhat tired. "Oh, it's not that far. It's about twenty-four or five miles to the left," the youngest made an estimate and replied. Fu Sui felt a pain in his heart and asked again, "How far is it from the salt cave?" The youngest said with a smile, "It's still early. After climbing over the mountain in front, there is another one behind. Well, it probably still needs to be done. It’s more than forty miles of mountain road.”
Mei Siyuan knew that he had walked in a hurry this morning. After walking for such a long time, he still had an empty stomach. He smiled and said to the youngest, "Brother, the youngest, why not find a place to rest and make a fire to eat. My third brother, Fu, only I'm afraid of being hungry!" Fu Su was teased by Mei Siyuan, but his stomach grumbled unsatisfactorily. He didn't dare to refute, but just lowered his head and smiled awkwardly.
"That's good! It's a good place to rest here. I remember there are four jujube trees on the hillside over there. I'll go and see if there are any more jujubes in a while." As the youngest said, he led everyone to a flat patch of land beside the road. Land, pointing to the southeastern slope. After all eight people sat down, they ran quickly towards the hillside and disappeared in the blink of an eye, like a rabbit running away.
Yunyuan sat on the stone, looked from behind, and sighed softly, "This youngest has never practiced martial arts, but his feet are more flexible than ordinary good hands. He is really a mountain-raiser!" What Yunyuan is most proud of in his life is that This light skill, when I saw the youngest walking in the mountains like this, I couldn't help but admire him.
While he was talking, a ray of red light came through from the top of the mountain, and the sun had already risen.
