Don't make trouble, let's build infrastructure!

There are only two houses in the newly bought yard, one bedroom and one kitchen.Tong Ran coaxed the little tiger to spend the night on the broken plank bed in the bedroom. Early the next morning, he asked the neighbor next door to borrow a cart and went to the county town.

The house was leaking, the roof had to be repaired, and the windows had to be re-pasted. In addition, Tong Ran wanted to make a new bed for herself.

Xiaoguo County is located at the junction of the three roads, and is the hub between Dunan Road, Longyou Road and Shanlin South Road. There are many merchants coming and going every day, and all kinds of goods in the county are also very complete.Tong Ran easily bought what he wanted.

In front of the tile workshop, Tong Ran paid the money and asked someone to help him load the tiles into the car.

His cart is full of tiles, wood, rice noodles, and pork for the little tiger.He wanted to hire a tile shop guy to help him push the cart, but suddenly someone patted him on the shoulder.

"You make it easy for me to find!" A familiar voice said.

Tong Ran turned around, and it turned out to be Donglai Washe's ball.

When Tong Ran left yesterday, Qiu'er wanted to follow, but was a little hesitant. In the evening, he didn't know where he got the hang of it, so he went directly to shopkeeper Li and said goodbye.He entered the city early this morning, and he walked around the city. He had never seen Tong Ran in those inns, and he almost gave up, but he actually saw him in front of the tile workshop.

Now that Qiu'er thought about coming, he also felt that his head was hot from the razor, and he didn't know whether Tong Ran would like to keep him, so he ran over regardless.But since you are here, you have to stay no matter what you say.

Qiu'er was ready to speak, and said to Tong Ran: "Brother Tong, you know that I have no father or mother. I am very grateful that shopkeeper Li let me work in Washe, but I don't like storytelling, and I'm not like you." Talent. Why don't you let me follow you around, I'll be your follower, and I can gain some knowledge, okay?"

Qiu'er looked at him earnestly, and the boy's eyes flickered, as if there was light.

The little tiger stood on the cart, stepped on a pile of wood, and swept his tail.

Who is this?What an eyesore.

Seeing that Tong Ran was silent, Qiu'er was afraid that he would refuse, so he hurriedly said: "Don't worry, I can chop wood and carry water, and I can do dirty and tiring work. You see, I was not lazy when I was in Washe, did I?" ?”

Tong Ran thought about it for a while, when Qiu'er was in Washe, except for his sharp mouth, everything else was pretty good.

"Okay, I'm short of someone to push the cart here, so you're the only one," Tong Ran said.

"Hey, good brother Tong, thank you Brother Tong!" Qiu'er smiled happily.

Following Tong Ran to push the scooter back, Qiu'er was a little excited all the way.

"Brother Tong, why don't you live in the county?"

"Brother Tong, have you reported to the county magistrate? Is the magistrate here round or flat?"

"Brother Tong, I heard that you made a lot of money in Washe, did you buy a big house? But it's a bit far from the county town, we've been walking for more than half an hour."

"Brother Tong..."

"Stop." Tong Ran couldn't take it anymore.

Qiu'er immediately shut up knowingly, and followed Tong Ran into a village.There is a wooden sign at the head of the village, which says Wujia Village, which is the village where Tong Ran bought the yard yesterday.

When seeing Tong Ran's new house, Qiu'er's mouth opened wide.

"Brother Tong, your house...is quite old." Qiu'er didn't dare to say it directly, but the shock that couldn't be concealed was still revealed on his face.

"It's okay." Tong Ran said, letting Qiu'er unload first.

Not all the people in the Wu family village were surnamed Wu. I heard that they were originally surnamed Wu, but many died of starvation, and new ones came.These were all said by that tooth yesterday, but he didn't say how he starved to death.

Not far from Tong Ran was a family named Yan, who probably moved in later.

There were a lot of people in that family. Judging from Tong Ran passing by his house three times, at least a dozen people lived in the three earthen houses.Tong Ran's cart was also borrowed from them, and when he returned it, he brought a bag of corn as a thank you gift.

It was the youngest daughter-in-law of the Yan family who came to pick her up. The rest of the family had already gone to the ground.

After the young daughter-in-law of the Yan family took the corn, she couldn't help shaking, the weight was not light at all, enough for their family to eat for a whole day.Originally, there were complaints about borrowing Tong Ran's scooter, but it disappeared immediately.

Tong Ran was keenly aware of her changes and was secretly relieved.

The area around Wujia Village is almost all official land, and the people who live here are also official tenants for generations. They can only keep part of the grain they grow, and the rest must be handed over to the government.When Tong Ran formally takes office in Tian Jian, this place will be under his jurisdiction, but when he has official status, it may be difficult to understand the actual situation of these people.

That's why he thought about living here for a while and getting to know the villagers everywhere.

Tong Ran couldn't help being a little happy to gain the trust of Yan's daughter-in-law today with just a bag of corn, but that alone was not enough.

Tong Ran thought for a while and asked Yan's wife: "Sister-in-law Yan Qi, my roof is leaking and needs to be repaired, and the window is also broken and I want to re-paste it. Do you know someone who is free? I want to hire someone to help." .”

"Yes, yes." Yan Qi's sister-in-law enthusiastically said, "My man and son are free. He has great strength and is careful in his work. I'll call you."

In line with the principle of not letting the fat and water flow to outsiders, Yan Qi's sister-in-law quickly called his man and son back.Yan Laoqi's mouth is crooked. He has a nickname Yan Waizui. He is a very silent person. Yan Laoqi's son Yan Shisi looks like his mother, with a clever face.

Tong Ran figured it out, and when the ball came, it would be enough to find two more people, so he agreed.

As expected, Yan Laoqi was just like his wife, very capable, but didn't talk much.Tong Ran told him to repair the roof, and went into the room without further ado. Tong Ran went up to be his helper for a while, and found that Yan Laoqi was very skilled, apparently doing it often, so he changed the ball to help him with confidence. , Go down by yourself, and call Yan Shishi to help him beat the furniture together.

Because the ball came, Tong Ran calculated to make one more bed, so he also tore down the old bed left by the previous owner, and it would be enough to make two beds together with the wood he bought.

Now the little tiger was sleeping in the house, so Tong Ran took Yan Shishi to work in the yard.

The bed Tong Ran beat was a very common wooden hard board bed, but it was very different from the local style here. Yan Shishi did not know how to do it, so Tong Ran taught him while beating. , righteousness has risen slightly again.

Yan Shishi is a very talkative young man, about the same as Tong Ran, and it may be because of this that he is particularly willing to talk to Tong Ran.

Tong Ran asked him why there were so many people surnamed Wu missing in Wujiacun. Like an adult, Yan Shishi heaved a long sigh, with a look of bitterness and hatred on his face, and then began to talk happily.

It turns out that Wujia Village was originally very prosperous, but in recent decades there have been frequent droughts, and even the fertile land of the official family has suffered a sharp drop in harvest.In fact, if the official harvest was [-]% of the original harvest, it would still be relatively generous. After all, the official fields are very fertile.However, starting from the previous magistrates, the land rent has changed from [-]% of the harvest to [-]%, and from [-]% to [-] shi per [-] mu, regardless of the year.

"Even in a good year, it is difficult to pay fifty shi. In recent years, there have been frequent droughts, and sometimes there is no harvest in a year, but you still have to pay fifty shi for grain. If you fail to pay, you will be imprisoned. Folks There is no choice but to borrow money from usury. The interest of [-] out of [-] will be dragged to death in less than two months. If the next year is not good, the only way is to ruin the family." Yan Shisi beat the bed frame As he said, the relaxed tone seemed to be used to these things.

"Then why do new people move in?" Tong Ran asked.

Yan Shishi shrugged his shoulders: "Without my own land, I can only sell myself to the government as a tenant. My family originally lived in Longyou. According to A Weng, the drought there was even worse. There were people who ate bark. Later, in order to survive , the land was sold little by little in exchange for grain, and it was even more difficult to live with less land, so I came here to work as a tenant.”

Hearing what he said, Tong Ran couldn't help feeling sad, and he asked again: "What about the magistrate of Xiaoguo County?"

"He," Yan Shishi shook his head, "it's useless, a gambler, he doesn't care about our life or death."

"He likes to gamble?" Tong Ran asked. Dacheng has a gambling ban. Ordinary people who are caught gambling can be fined a little money at most, or locked up for a year or so. , his heirs will also be implicated and lose their qualifications to be an official.

Under such a heavy punishment, the county magistrate of Xiaoguo County dared to gamble, which shows that he is very addicted to gambling.

"No, he became addicted to gambling, even a pregnant concubine can be sent out to pay off the debt." Yan Shishi lowered his voice and said, "I heard from a senior servant that there is a dark room in the county magistrate's house. His exclusive gaming room, he takes people there to gamble, so he won't be seen."

Casino?

This is very interesting, the county magistrate is quite aware of anti-reconnaissance.

"However, since all the officials in the yamen knew about it, the others didn't report him?" Tong Ran asked again.

Yan Shishi nailed a long nail in place, waved his hand and said, "No, the magistrate of our county is somewhat related to Lu Zhifu of Zhuoyang Mansion, and Lu Zhifu is an offshoot of the Lu family in Heyang. How can ordinary people dare to offend him? He kept raising the rent for us, and forced to take surplus grain from every family during the famine, and the grain price of those starved to death was worth gold, so he was full, and of course he had the money to take care of it.”

In a small Xiaoguo County, the relationship in it is intricate, Tong Ran smiled, did not answer Yan Shishi's words, and talked to him about other things.

Yan Shishi is really a talkative person. He told Tong Ran a lot of things about Wujia Village and Xiaoguo County. If he was someone else, he might forget it when he turned around, but Tong Ran focused on training his memory in his previous life. He memorized almost everything Si Si said.

After Yan Laoqi repaired the hole, he added another layer of tiles to the roof, and reinforced the top and edge of the roof with yellow mud. The roof of the hut was much stronger than before.When the roof was repaired, the two bed frames were also finished. After that, the work of pasting the windows was very fast, and the work was just finished when the sun was about to set. Tong Ran gave the Yan family and his son a big bag of corn. The two were very happy and said bluntly Give much.

"It should be, you have helped me a lot." Tong Ran patted Yan Shishi on the shoulder.

He thought Tong Ran was talking about the roof, so he hurriedly said that I, Aye, was the one to take the credit, and he refused to take the credit, but in the end, under Tong Ran's insistence, the Yan family father and son returned home with the big bag of corn.

"Are the things Yan Shishi said true?" Qiu'er asked as soon as the two left.He grew up in a crowded washroom since he was a child, and he is very good at listening to gossip. He also knows what can and cannot be asked, and when to ask.Just now when Yan's father and son were there, he just listened silently. Now that they are gone, he couldn't help asking.

Tong Ran was roasting the chicken for the little tiger, squatting by the fire and said, "Basically, it's credible, there's no need for him to lie to me."

Qiu'er nodded, and said again: "Then what should you do, you can't squeeze the people with the county magistrate, farming is hard work!"

Tong Ran smiled: "Have you planted it?"

Qiu'er was really anxious, the situation in Xiaoguo County was so complicated, he had to help Tong Ran well, but unfortunately he had no idea, and he still hoped that Tong Ran would have some good ideas, but he didn't expect him to talk about everything.

"Seriously," Tong Ran saw that he was angry, and finally stopped teasing him, and said with a smile, "Tomorrow morning, you go up the mountain and get me some bamboo, not many, just two or three bamboos this long."

Tong Ran compared the length, and it was about the same height as him.

Qiu'er was still angry, and replied, "You're entertaining me again, what can two or three bamboos do?"

"It's very useful, I'll tell you when you cut it back, it's fun." Tong Ran blinked.

The blink of an eye made Qiu'er feel itchy and curious, and agreed awkwardly.Early the next morning, when it was still daylight, Qiu'er picked up the machete and went to the mountains.