Do you still want it, son?

Sister-in-law Liu's face was more embarrassing than joyful, she looked at those gift boxes with extraordinary packaging hesitantly, "These are too precious, Xiao Ji, take them back."

Xiaohua's face was full of disappointment when she heard the words, but she didn't dare to refute, she just silently lowered her head and stood aside.

Ji Xiao had expected Sister-in-law Liu to say this earlier, so he was not surprised at this time, he only smiled slowly with Sister-in-law Liu, "It's all just things that look good on the outside, but there are not many inside. Sister-in-law Liu will take it apart later to see if you think I'm stingy."

Sister-in-law Liu knew that Ji Xiao was being polite and consoling, but when she wanted to speak, she gave Shen Huai a look and didn't know what to say, so she just accepted it and didn't refute it.

Because of this, Xiao Hua jumped up again, and quietly hooked A Yuan's hand and asked him, "Does A Yuan want to see the chicken? My sister will take you there."

A Yuan's soft hand also tightly held Xiaohua's chapped hand, he raised his head and smiled softly, "Go, go."

His little hands were warm, like a small heater, and Ah Hua also pursed her lips into a smile because of A Yuan's sweet smile.

"Mother, Uncle Ji, I'll take A Yuan out for a walk."

Xiao Hua timidly glanced at Shen Huai, but did not dare to initiate a conversation.

Ji Xiao nodded, "Take him, he couldn't be locked up earlier, and now he's going to let him go when he's back here."

Aunt Liu naturally didn't stop her when she saw this, but she earnestly told Xiao Hua, "Watch A Yuan on the road, don't let him fall, you know?"

Xiaohua nodded repeatedly, "I know."

Bajiao stood silently behind them, and when Xiaohua took A Yuan outside, she quickly followed.

When they reached the door, Bajiao stopped Xiaohua and A Yuan, stepped forward and bent down to take out a porcelain box from his arms. The porcelain box contained grease, which A Yuan used all the time.

"Apply it before going out, not afraid of the wind."

A Yuan was used to being served, so she stretched out a pair of small hands and spread them flat in front of Bajiao for her to rub with grease.Xiaohua looked at her chapped hands, and shyly put them behind her back, shy.

Bajiao painted on A Yuan and looked up at Xiaohua. Seeing her evasive movements, she said softly, "Xiaohua put the ointment on me, and it won't crack at once."

Xiaohua was a little dubious and embarrassed, A Yuan's hands were white, tender and warm, and they were still the hands of a little boy.His hands are so rough that even A Yuan can't match them.

"Really?" she asked quietly.

After thinking about it later, I felt that I was too stupid. A Yuan is not the same as before. How can the things he uses be worse?

"When I was the same age as Xiaohua, my hands and feet were prone to chapping, and they were all frozen. I don't know how uncomfortable it is." Bajiao slowly dragged Xiaohua's hand out from behind, and said softly, "The back has grown a little, you know I took the medicine myself, and it got better day by day.”

The grease had a faint medicinal smell, and it melted softly on the back of Ah Hua's hand, melting into a warm protective film, slowly seeping into it.

Bajiao rubbed the ointment on both of A'hua's hands, then covered the lid of the ointment and stuffed it into A'hua's hands, "Keep this box of A'hua, remember to wash your hands with hot water before going to bed, and then apply some. In five days, the hands are as tender as A Yuan."

As she spoke, she reached out and raised A Yuan's soft wrist, letting A Hua touch it, teasing her, "Isn't it extremely soft?"

With some shyness and joy, Ah Hua pursed her lips and nodded.

A Yuan Xiaobawang was dissatisfied with his hand being pinched and played with, so he withdrew his hand, staring at Bajiao and accusing Bajiao, "Jiao, bad!"

Bajiao quickly restrained his expression, hugged A Yuan up, and said with a smile, "Where are we going, little master?"

"Go home!" A Yuan hugged Bajiao's neck and pointed to a small yard far away.

Xiaohua grabbed the hem of Bajiao's clothes and walked forward together.

Halfway through, the door of the small yard on the side suddenly opened a small crack, and someone pushed a rooster out.

The rooster looked around in confusion, and met A Yuan's round eyes.

A Yuan's eyes lit up immediately, he kicked his legs, and slid down from Bajiao's body with an extremely large number of movements.Ah Hua already knew what he was going to do, but now she was just angry at the family for taking the initiative to release the chicken. She saw the girl's hands behind the chicken just now.

Ah Hua stepped forward a few steps, and cursed loudly, "Lihua, you are too bad, if you want to let a chicken go, let it be a female, why put a rooster? I'm afraid the chicken won't hurt A Yuan? "

The little girl in the yard who was hiding and watching was flustered by A Hua's sharp accusations, and was about to run when she turned around and saw her mother staring at her fiercely.

"Mom, I, I didn't mean to..."

Li Huaniang stretched out her hand and pinched Li Hua two or three times, cursing, "You useless little girl, you actually threw your own chicken out for others to play with? See if I don't beat you to death today!"

Lihua was being chased by her mother all over the ground in the yard, and the situation of the rooster outside was not any better.A Yuan was familiar with the road, and the chassis became more stable because of the horse's stance. At this time, he chased the rooster all over the ground like flying, and laughed happily.

Ah Hua stood aside worriedly, "Yuan, Yuan, chase slowly, be careful that the rooster will peck you later!"

Just as the words were falling, the rooster seemed to be really annoyed. When it turned around and stopped running, it flapped its wings and flew towards A Yuan's face.

A Yuanhu didn't see the slightest sign of fear on his face, he just took a step back, firmly tied the chassis, and then raised his hands to cover his face.

The rooster really put its feet against A Yuan's arm, and tried to kick A Yuan's face, but it didn't get half of it.A Yuan blocked its movement, shook his hand violently, and swung the rooster to the ground. Before the rooster could react, it swooped over with a groan, and pinned the rooster under him.

The little meat ball-like body smashed the rooster stupidly at once, and it stopped moving after a couple of slapping hooves.

"Dead, dead." A Yuan lowered his eyebrows and touched the rooster's back hair in satisfaction, and stood up without fear, holding the rooster's neck. When the ass reaches Bajiao, I want to hand the cock to her, "Here, Dad."

What Bajiao used to do was to take care of A Yuan. She had never dealt with such a rooster before. Seeing the rooster kicking its legs from time to time, she was too frightened to take it.

Seeing this, Xiaohua quickly took the rooster and hugged it in her arms, "I'll do it."

As she spoke, she raised her head viciously and said to the yard of Lihua's house, "This chicken is estimated to be less than three catties, let's count three catties. When my mother and I went shopping for vegetables yesterday, I asked, a rooster that is bigger than this is as long as Twenty cents, Lihua, don't try to take advantage of it!"

Li Huaniang was furious at this sharp-toothed little girl, and was about to open the door to speak, but saw through the crack of the door a group of cross-knife guards following A Yuan outside, and she couldn't help but become a shrinking turtle again.

Lihua spanked her mother, her eyes were full of tears, and she felt even more desperate when she heard this.

The chicken was let out for nothing, and it didn't take advantage of it, and it was cursed. Lihua couldn't think of anything more wronged.

A Yuan still didn't understand the twists and turns in other people's hearts, so he stood in place and gently patted the dust off Bajiao's body, but there were always some dirty things that couldn't be removed no matter what.

"Look at you," Bajiao murmured to himself, he is not too old now, he has already become this courageous, and he doesn't know what kind of bully he will become in the future.

After about an hour, the chicken was stewed in the firewood pot in the courtyard.

A Yuan sat in front of the stove, looked at the glowing red fire inside, looked up and saw the deep pot on one side, turned his head to Bajiao and said, "Take a bath."

Bajiao didn't know, so I thought that A Yuan wanted to take a bath, so he quickly coaxed, "Go back to soak at night, soak in the pool, don't be afraid of the cold, you will freeze if you wash here."

A Yuan glanced at Bajiao in a daze, and didn't understand what he was talking about. He just got up and went out with his buttocks pouted, and looked at the empty yard by the door frame. He was a little confused and forgot which one was his home. .

Ji Xiao and Shen Huai sat in the main room, listening to Xiao Wu's words. There were two dark-skinned guards standing beside Xiao Wu. They looked sincere and honest. One was called Eleven and the other was called Sixteen.

It's not a bad idea to find helpers from the guards around Shen Huai.Shen Huai has trained all the guards, there is no one who is not loyal, and now he doesn't have to worry about other things when he is here.

"There are some part-time workers, but the subordinates feel that the price is too high," Xiao Wu said with his head down, "Now there is another way, I want to ask the Lord for advice."

Shen Huai sat on the side holding the teacup, looked sideways at Ji Xiao who looked serious, and looked down from his neck inch by inch, casually thinking about the invisible curve below his head.

"Southland also took advantage of the winter slack to come to some part-time workers. The price is half that of our local Pingyang, but they have to include food and lodging. I have figured this out. We need to recruit [-] workers, including food and lodging. It’s not bad to live, it’s still much more cost-effective than recruiting locals, but Renyazi is unwilling to introduce workers from the Southland, saying that they are not sure about their temperament, and they don’t understand what they say, fearing that we will suffer. .”

After hearing what he said, Ji Xiao thought about it carefully again, "With no teeth, how can they find work in the city?"

At this time, another guard beside Xiaowu, the one named Eleven, stepped forward and cupped his hands, "Master Hui, I saw them yesterday when I was wandering around the market. My mother is from the Southland, so I can understand Nandi's words. They have been here for less than half a month, and they haven't found a job yet. They wander around the city during the day looking for work, and at night they sleep on the cart when they come here. They eat the dry food brought by their own. If you can’t find any more work, you will leave.”

Hearing this, Ji Xiao looked at him with calm eyes, "So, what do you think? Should we invite them or the locals?"

After all, Eleven meant to speak for the people of the South, "Reporting to my lord, my subordinates think that the people of the South are hard-working and no worse than the locals. If invited, I can also communicate with them. There is no big problem. It’s better to plan carefully and keep them.”

Ji Xiao nodded, "This is the first floor, and there is another one." He turned his head and looked at Shen Huai, "After all, the southern land has been unstable for a while, and now it's better, if we can distinguish the southerners from the locals It would be too chilling, if they really go back, it would be bad for them to tell other people in the Southland what happened here."

Shen Huai didn't expect Ji Xiao to have such a serious consideration, but he didn't think so carefully before.At this moment, it was the same reasoning, and he couldn't help but also nodded, "It's very thoughtful, what does A Xiao mean, let's do it according to your wishes."

Xiao Wu breathed a sigh of relief, he turned his head to look at Eleven, and said, "If this matter is settled, Eleven can go find him later."

"Then go," Ji Xiao said, looking at Eleven who was almost unable to hold back his face, "so as not to let people go."

Eleven quickly thanked him, and then quickly retreated out.

"There is one more thing," Ji Xiao said, "When you find someone back later, you need to look at them one by one, who is suitable and who should do what, and don't really give half of the salary to the locals. With food and lodging included, deduct this part of the money, how much can you have left?"

"If you pay the same wages, and only pay for food and lodging, you can still have two-thirds of the wages left."

"Then give them two-thirds, and explain to them exactly how the calculation is done. It's very fair."

The teacup in Ji Xiao's hand was warm, and Shen Huai was sitting beside him, his heart was at ease, and he spoke with unusual confidence.

Shen Huai's heart was burning with excitement, and he wanted to press Ji Xiao like this on the bed so that he could have some intimacy.

"Is all the food ordered?" Ji Xiao continued to ask.

"They're all ordered, and they'll all be delivered in the afternoon." Sixteen replied.

"You have to check it carefully. The recipes for making wine are almost the same. What's more, it's just the thought in the middle. Don't be lazy every step of the way."

Little Five agreed in a deep voice.

"I'll come back two days after the wine is made, and I have to take a look at it. If there is no problem, it will be all your business hereafter."

The two guards responded in a low voice, very respectful.

About an hour later, when A Yuan and A Hua were sitting side by side at the kitchen door, sipping chicken soup, the door of the courtyard was pushed open from the outside.

A group of men who didn't look like Pingyang people in their clothes followed Eleven in awkwardly.

Holding the spoon in his hand, A Yuan looked at them suspiciously.

Bajiao also found it strange, and then stood in front of A Yuan to slightly block him, looking at them defensively.

Eleven didn't know about the wages yet, and what I talked to these people was only half of the price of food and lodging.But this is enough to comfort everyone who couldn't find a job.

And when Xiao Wu came out and talked to Eleven about the change in wages, not only food and housing included, but also two-thirds of the market price of wages, everyone's eyes lit up.

"Not only that," after Shiliu quickly walked out of the room and whispered a few words in Eleven's ear, Eleven said loudly to the crowd, "Well done, there are rewards, as long as you don't be lazy and play tricks! "

There was a commotion in the yard all of a sudden, some of them didn't believe in such a good treatment, so that some people shed tears.