Spring scenery in the fields

Chapter 219: Shenjia Village's Past Events

"Aunt Lan, I'm here."

She shouted, pushed open the gate and ran into the house, her clothes wet by the rain.

"When we get back, we must tell Brother Shen to buy an umbrella for us."

The skirt in front of me was also a little wet by the rain. Fortunately, I was wearing linen shoes instead of cloth shoes today, otherwise it would have been completely wet.

"Sister-in-law, you're here." Shen Suya poked her head out of her room.

"Yeah, have you eaten yet?"

"I've eaten it a long time ago."

Last time, Lan Qiuhua had their sizes and had already cut two sets of clothes: "Oil-paper umbrellas are so valuable."

Ji Wenhe took off his raincoat and put it on the basket beside him: "What's the lowest price per bunch?"

"One hundred and fifty coins. The fancy ones are more expensive."

Farmers couldn't afford it, so they all wore straw raincoats.

She was surprised and said, "Oil-paper umbrellas are so expensive."

"Yes, it needs to be painted with tung oil. I heard it's quite troublesome to make. I passed by the umbrella shop and looked inside. There were all kinds of beautiful umbrellas."

It's just too expensive. She couldn't bear to spend so much money on an umbrella.

Ji Wenhe walked up to her and said, "We have to buy one too. There are four people in the family. If one person goes out when it rains, the other three will have to stay at home."

"Besides, the raincoat is not very comfortable to wear. Maybe it's because I've been wearing it for a long time and I always feel like it doesn't keep out the rain and my clothes will get wet."

"Then ask Rongshan to go to town and bring back an umbrella. No need to buy a fancy one. It's not like clothes. You wear it every day and only need it when it rains."

"Well, just let him buy the cheapest one." She would feel bad if he broke a good one.

Lan Qiuhua patted her shoulder, and a large mosquito died in her palm: "It can bite people through clothes."

"The mosquitoes have long mouths and can pass through the gaps in clothes. It's not so bad at the foot of the mountain, but at night there are too many mosquitoes on the mountain."

So at home we eat before it gets dark, go inside to sleep after dinner, and don’t stay outside.

"Aunt Lan, I found that raising chickens, ducks and geese is not that easy. It's best in spring when there are lots of wild vegetables. It's hard to raise them in winter."

"It's raining again, and there are a lot of flies over there in the wasteland."

"It's like this, even if you don't keep anything at home, there will still be flies."

They have long been used to it.

Lan Qiuhua pointed at the basket in the corner and said, "Give me the basket."

Then he continued, "There are mosquitoes and flies everywhere, unless you live in heaven."

Ji Wenhe smiled and said, "Even if you live in heaven, as long as there is meat and fish in your house and it is not cleaned up in time, there will still be flies."

In my previous life, I rented a house on the 20th floor and there were also mosquitoes and flies, but only one or two, not many.

"By the way, Aunt Lan, Uncle Dong's homestead belongs to the head of the village now, right?"

She nodded: "Didn't Shen Dadong sell all the land and homestead to the head of the village? So it belongs to his family."

He turned his head and looked at her: "Why are you asking this?"

"I'm just curious about how much it was sold for. My family plans to buy paddy land, not dry land. We already have wasteland."

As for the homestead, she doesn’t plan to buy it together.

There are so many vacant lots in the village. We should choose two for them instead of having three families living next to each other.

It’s a bit early to think about it now, let’s wait until then.

"If you only buy the paddy fields, the price will be several hundred wen higher. I think you might as well buy the dry land as well."

"But I already have three acres of dry land. What do I need so much dry land for? I want paddy fields."

In the future, we will buy all the wasteland in the west, so that we will have more dry land.

"That's true, but it will cost a few hundred more coins."

Lan Qiuhua took the needle and thread and continued.

"The head of the village is reluctant to sell you the good land. The paddy fields in the middle are more expensive. It depends on how much money you have."

“Although the paddy fields at the foot of the mountain are not very good, if you take good care of them, you can earn good money.”

Ji Wenhe nodded in agreement: "This is what I think. Isn't there a puddle over there in the wasteland? We need to change the water for them after a while."

"Then pour the water into the fields to fertilize them. When the rice is harvested, find someone to plow the fields and clean up the stones in the ground."

"You also said that the village head would not sell us the good land, so I want to buy all three plots of land next to it."

Lan Qiuhua turned her head and looked at her: "Three acres of land, at least six taels will be spent."

"This is what I think. Your family wants to buy a donkey cart, so don't rush to buy land this year. Wait until next year."

"With a donkey cart, you can go to villages farther away to sell goods, and you can make more money. Next year, you can buy paddy fields to grow rice or wheat."

He patted her hands and said, "You shouldn't always go to borrow the donkey cart from others. If one day they don't want to lend it to you anymore, you will have to go to the town to pick up the goods yourself."

"Auntie thinks you should buy a donkey cart first, and then save money to buy the land."

Ji Wenhe pondered for a long time and slowly said, "What Aunt said makes sense. I will think about it when I get back."

I'll go back and discuss it with Shen Rongshan. If it doesn't work, I'll buy a donkey cart first and think about the land next year.

On the day of the Ghost Festival, after the meal was ready, the four people went to the grave to burn paper.

The Ghost Festival here is very simple, just burn paper at the grave.

No, it should be said that the Ghost Festival is celebrated simply in the countryside, unlike in the town, where people would light river lanterns to pray for peace and worship their ancestors.

After the worship, coming out of the cemetery, Ji Wenhe suddenly asked: "Was Shenjia Village a big village in the past?"

"Yes, but it gradually declined. By our generation, there were only about twenty families left in the village."

"During the war and famine, some people moved away, some died, and only a dozen households were left in the village."

"There used to be more people in the villages outside the mountains, and many of them were captured to serve as soldiers. Among the villages around us, I'm afraid I'm the only one who has returned."

"No wonder they all said you..." It turned out that he had not come back alive before, so they concluded that he had also died on the battlefield.

Walking at the foot of the mountain, Shen Rongshan looked towards the direction of the village: "At that time, everyone didn't know when the war would stop. They were afraid that they would come to conscript men again, so many people moved away."

"After the war was settled, the people who fled famine settled down outside the village, and the population in the village increased."

"If the head of our village had not disagreed, there would have been many people in the village."

"Then there was no ancestral hall in the village before?"

In theory, every large family has an ancestral hall.

He nodded: "My father told me that there was one when he was a child, but it was later burned by someone."

"The elders discussed rebuilding the ancestral hall, but it was not completed in the end due to various reasons."

Ji Wenhe asked curiously, "Who is it? How dare he burn down the ancestral hall? The elders must be so angry that they should skin him alive."

"My father didn't tell me the details of some things that happened between the elders. That person burned down the ancestral hall and was driven out of Shenjia Village. He never came back."

No, she is too curious and will have to go ask Aunt Lan later.