Rebirth: From being expelled from the imperial court to becoming a high-ranking official

The whole family chatted and laughed until the hour of Chou soon arrived.

The two children had already fallen asleep, and Qin's mother couldn't hold it any longer and went to bed first. Qin Si and his wife also went back to their own courtyard.

Soon, Qin Yunhe and Chen Er were the only ones left in the main room. They chatted about family matters and their plans for the new year.

"...I plan to save some money and buy two acres of land so I don't have to work for others all the time."

Since the Chen family came to Fengle Village, they have been sick, injured, and passed away one after another. From his grandfather to Chen Er, only Chen Er has been healthy since childhood, so life has always been tight and hard. Not to mention the land, it is a problem to survive.

When Chen Er was a child, he barely helped support his family by catching birds and fishing, helping others herd cattle, chopping firewood and doing farm work. When he grew up, he worked for others to make a living.

Because there were always sick people at home, even with such hard work, I could only make ends meet and could not save any money at all.

Now Chen Er is the only one left in the Chen family. Although he is lonely, he has managed to save some money.

"It's rare to hear of one or two acres being sold. You have to buy it together with someone, right?"

"Yes. I have asked a few people in our village before, and we have also discussed buying it together."

Chen Er scratched his head and said, "I heard that the riverbed that was diverted after the flood two years ago has been dried and can be cultivated in the past two years. I also want to open up two acres of land there. I will pay the money when the government closes the case later."

There is a river to the east of Fengle Village. There was a lot of rain the year before last, especially in the upper reaches. Fengle Village was not affected by the disaster, but the river changed its course under the impact of the flood and moved more than ten feet to the northeast.

The original river channel was exposed and turned into a mudflat.

After a year or two of sunshine, the beach gradually came alive, and some villagers tried to cultivate it and plant some crops. After all, there was no land tax and no matter how much the harvest was, the soil would be better after a few more years of planting.

Even if the government closes down the business in a few years, we can just spend some money to buy it back.

Qin Yunhe remembered that in his previous life, many people in the village also went to that tidal flat to reclaim land. Two years later, the government came to reclaim the land. Many people in the village thought that they had cultivated the land for two years in vain, and what's more, the land was very good for growing sweet potatoes, so they would not lose money if they bought it, so they spent money to buy it.

However, just as the villagers bought the land, the magistrate completed his term of office and was promoted the following year.

Later, a new county magistrate came.

Perhaps it was the first thing a new official did when he took office, for the new magistrate issued a notice as soon as he took office, saying that the reclaimed land on the river beach would affect the river course and that a fee for river encroachment would be collected.

If you want to continue planting, you have to harvest every year. If you don't want to plant anymore, you have to pay the money for river encroachment during the years of planting.

The villagers who had previously reclaimed land were complaining bitterly. They didn't know whether to continue farming on the land they had bought with their own money, or not to farm on it.

Many years later, Qin Yunhe talked with a classmate who came home to visit his family and found out that the river invasion fee was originally a special fee set up by the imperial court to control the Yang River and had nothing to do with the river in their village.

By that time, the county magistrate who collected the money for river encroachment had already left office.

Besides, no one in their remote and poor village knew about this. Even if they did, they were all poor families and had no way to appeal.

"That river beach is the original river course. If the government makes a fuss about it and says that the cultivated land has affected the river course, wouldn't that be troublesome?"

Qin Yunhe couldn't explain those things to Chen Er, so he could only try to stop Chen Er.

"How could that be? I've heard several people say they want to reclaim land over there. I'll just reclaim a small area far from the river, so it shouldn't affect the river."

This river beach really has no impact on the river channel, but the county magistrate said it would have an impact. What can the common people do?

"I heard that many people have been cultivating fields along the Yang River, and they think it will not affect the river. But now the court has issued an imperial decree to collect river trespassing fees from farmers who cultivate fields. How do you know if our village will collect fees in a few years?"

Chen Er hesitated when he heard this, but after thinking for a while, he said, "Yanghe River is a big river, and it often bursts its banks. How wide is the river in our village? How can the court know about our small river?"

The capital may not know, but the county magistrate must know.

Qin Yunhe hesitated whether to continue to stop Chen Er from going to the riverbank to cultivate the land.

Chen Er regained his confidence and said, "I heard that a few years ago, quite a few people in the upper reaches were reclaiming the riverbed, and nothing happened in recent years. At worst, we can just stop planting if the government comes to find us."

If the government wants to close the business, they will stop planting. This seems to be a solution.

"You have been planting the land for several years, but the government wants to close it down. Can you just say you don't want to plant it..."

Chen Er scratched his head: "Maybe..."

The two chatted about various things and talked about the entrance examination.

"Are you going to take the exam in June?"

Chen Er had never been to school and didn't know much about the examination process. Although he had heard Qin Yunhe talk about the time of the college entrance examination before, he had long forgotten it.

"The college entrance examination is in August."

"Oh, then there is still half a year to prepare."

"Yes. After February 2nd, I will go to my teacher's house to prepare for the exam."

Chen Er also knew Mr. Gu. When he heard Qin Yunhe say that he was going to Mr. Gu's house again, he said, "That's great, great. You will definitely pass the exam this time."

Qin Yunhe laughed, not knowing where Chen Er's trust came from.

Chen Er also laughed: "Haha, don't laugh at me for not understanding anything. Anyway, I think you will definitely pass the exam this time."

Passing the imperial examination does not really mean passing the imperial examination, and I don’t know where Chen Er learns so many words every day.

"Then I'll lend you some good advice."

The two talked about their childhood stories again.

When he was a child, Qin Yunhe spent most of his time playing with Yu Ru or going out with Chen Er, and occasionally he would take Yu Ru with him to play.

Climbing trees to catch bird eggs, diving into the water to catch river fish, digging wild vegetables in the fields, catching cicadas in the woods, no one understands the fun of the countryside better than Chen Er.

"Do you remember that one time, a fat kid from Dongzhuang insisted on playing with us, and ended up falling into the river?"

How could Qin Yun not remember?

When the little fat boy grew up, he asked a matchmaker to propose marriage to Yu Ru, but at that time Yu Ru was already engaged to Qin Yun He.

"Remember. He saw you climbing a tree to get bird eggs, so he wanted to go up there too. It took us a lot of effort to get him up the tree, but he fell into the river, and you had to pull him out."

"As a result, his family came and got you beaten by your mother."

As they spoke, both of them laughed.

The two chatted and laughed, and before they knew it, the sky had turned white. The sound of firecrackers, which had been sparse at first, gradually became louder again.

After cooking the dumplings and eating, Chen Er wished Qin's mother a happy new year and then got up to leave.

"Auntie Qin, I have to go early to sweep the saltpeter soil, so I'll leave first."

"You're going to sweep the saltpeter on New Year's Day?" Qin Yunhe looked confused.

Chen Er smiled and said, "Only on the first day of the Lunar New Year did anyone snatch it from me. I don't have many relatives here, so I'll just pay my New Year's greetings to Aunt Qin and visit my father-in-law in a couple of days."

Qin Yunhe couldn't help sighing in his heart, Chen Er had already walked out the door. Then a greeting came from outside the courtyard, and it sounded like Qin Yunhe's eldest cousin.

It seems that the eldest brother has brought the younger generations to pay New Year's greetings to Qin's mother.