The return of the son-in-law

When Huo Yu woke up, Guo Zhan'an was still fast asleep - last night he watched the New Year's Eve alone, and it was not two hours since he fell asleep, and he was soundly asleep now.

Huo Yu didn't dare to take a breath. He sat on the couch and continued to sleep—he couldn't sleep, and he didn't want to leave—worrying about making a noise and waking Guo Zhanan up.

He felt that his hand touched something a little hard, and looked down, it turned out that it was the red envelope Guo Zhanan gave him yesterday.Huo Yu opened the red envelope with anticipation, and found a 50 tael silver ticket inside.

Thinking of what he said yesterday when he was drunk, Huo Yu's cheeks felt slightly hot - this is indeed a piece of paper, but it is not an ordinary white paper!

Looking at Guo Zhan'an on the bed again, Huo Yu lay back under the quilt again, and got into the quilt with his whole body, pursing his lips and snickering.

When Guo Zhan'an woke up, he saw a wriggling ball on the couch beside him, with occasional noises.Guo Zhanan pulled off the coat on the side and put it on, walked to the edge of the round ball, stretched out his hand and lifted it, revealing Huo Yulai who was still rolling in his middle coat.

As soon as the quilt was lifted, Huo Yu's body became cold and he didn't dare to move.After a while, he turned his head slowly, and saw Guo Zhan'an looking at him with a half-smile.

Just wondering if he made too much noise and woke up Guo Zhan'an, Huo Yu got down from the couch in an orderly manner, stepped on his boots and saluted Guo Zhan'an: "Brother, Happy New Year."

Guo Zhanan supported Huo Yu and asked him, "Why did you wake up so early?"

"Enough sleep." Huo Yu hurriedly asked and answered, "Brother is up, I'm going to call someone to help brother wash up."

He himself needs to freshen up quickly, now that he has 50 taels of silver, he has to go to Yong'an Mansion to buy the fancy inkstone as a gift to his brother!

Of course, I can't talk to Guo Zhan'an about going to Yong'an Mansion to buy an inkstone.

Huo Yu had eaten his breakfast, and ran to find Elder Sun with the banknotes he had just received.When the latter heard this, he was surprised that Guo Zhanan treated Huo Yu so generously, and then began to persuade Huo Yu not to be impatient: "Yu'er, today is only the first day of the new year, how can there be any business on the first day of the new year? Let's wait In a few days, after the new year, go to Yong'an Mansion to buy an inkstone for Mr. Guo."

Huo Yu was a little unhappy, lowered his head and said sullenly, "But after the new year, we have to wait for a long time."

Elder Sun added: "Last night it snowed heavily, and it's frozen today. Even if you want to go to Yong'an Mansion today, the road is covered with ice and snow, the carriage is easy to slip, and walking is not inconvenient. You have to wait for someone to remove the snow and ice on the road." Clean it up and go."

Huo Yu himself was not afraid, but considering that his grandfather was old and unable to move around, it was naturally impossible to insist on dragging Elder Sun to Yong'an Mansion today.

In this way, Huo Yu really had to wait until the Chinese New Year was over before going.

He was also worried that if he accidentally lost the bank note, he would not be able to buy the inkstone.So, Huo Yu pulled out the kit hanging around his neck, opened the opening, rolled up the bank notes into a small size, and stuffed them in.

Elder Sun frowned, and said, "Yu'er, didn't I tell you? This kit can't be opened, and you can't leave it. And your jade pendant, have you put it away?"

Huo Yu pulled out another piece of jade pendant the size of half an adult man's palm from his clothes. On it was carved a four-clawed golden dragon soaring through the clouds, lifelike.Huo Yu shook the jade pendant at Elder Sun, and said with a smile, "Don't worry, Grandpa, I've always carried it."

Elder Sun sighed, quickly opened the kit, took out the bank notes, put the kit and jade pendant back into Huo Yu's clothes, and warned him, "Yu'er, this is a token from your mother. Don't take it out casually, lest you lose it."

Although Huo Yu didn't understand that both the kit and the jade pendant were hung around his neck with ropes, how could they disappear when they were taken out?However, he always listened to what Sun Lao said, and when he heard what Sun Lao said, he nodded in agreement and didn't ask any more questions.

Elder Sun secretly breathed a sigh of relief, went back to his room and found a cloth handkerchief, wrapped the banknote, put it in the bag inside Huo Yu's clothes, and said, "Leave this banknote here, you won't lose it."

It's not that Boss Sun made a fuss, whether it's the kit or the jade pendant, they were all on Huo Yu's body when Huo Dashan picked him up.

There is a piece of paper in the kit, on which is written a word - Yu.It's a pity that Huo Dashan didn't know many words, he could only recognize the word "Yu" on the right side, so he let the unlucky child he picked up this winter give his surname a single name with the word "Yu", so Huo Yu came into being.

Later, Mr. Sun was tied to Tiger Village and became an accountant in the cottage. After all, he was somewhat knowledgeable, and he worked as an accountant in a wealthy family for several years. You can tell by the texture of the kit and the carving of the jade pendant. Huo Yu was born either rich or noble.It's a pity that several years have passed since Huo Dashan picked up Huo Yu at that time, trying to find Huo Yu's family with just the jade pendant and kit is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack.

Moreover, Huo Dashan once told him that there was no grass growing in the place where Huo Yu was picked up, only some bare strange rocks scattered there.At that time, Huo Yu was thrown beside the stone, and couldn't help crying because of the cold coming from the stone, which was discovered by Huo Dashan who happened to pass by.

Rather than saying that Huo Yu's family accidentally lost him, it is better to say that they intentionally abandoned Huo Yu, and they deliberately chose such a place where there was no trace of human beings to let Huo Yu die slowly.

Old Sun didn't know that he could live for a few more years, and he couldn't rest assured that Huo Yu was alone in this world.During this period of time, he watched Guo Zhanan's every move with cold eyes, and found that he was really thinking and planning for Huo Yu, and he gradually felt relieved.Especially today's 50 taels of silver bill made Elder Sun decide to let go and let Guo Zhanan train Huo Yu well.

During the few days of Chinese New Year, Huo Yu had a great time catching birds, building a snowman, and having a snowball fight. Unfortunately, he and Shen Fang were the only two people in the county government about the same age. Guo Zhan'an sent back to Granny Shen to learn the rules again, and Huo Yu couldn't find playmates even more.

If you play too much alone, it will be meaningless.On this day, it was rare for Huo Yu not to get up early and go outside to play wild. Instead, after breakfast, he washed his hands, tied his hair back, and stood in front of his desk to practice calligraphy.

Holding the book in his hand, Guo Zhan'an glanced to the side, and found that Huo Yu was writing with his mouth tightly shut. He smiled slightly, and then went to read his own book.

The charcoal fire in the study was burning vigorously, and he didn't feel cold at all. Huo Yu could write well, but his palms were sweaty.

Huo Yu put down his pen, shook his head and appraised the big characters on the rice paper, and then showed it to Guo Zhanan like a treasure: "Brother, do you think my writing has improved?"

Guo Zhan'an looked at it carefully for a while, and said, "It's a bit better than before, but you are still young, and the written words are weak in center and lack of stamina."

Huo Yu was not discouraged, but said happily, "That's because my brother taught me well. My brother will wait for me, and when I get older, I will definitely be able to write good characters!"

Guo Zhan'an liked his energetic and confident appearance. He took a few oranges from the fruit plate, handed them to Huo Yu, and then took the rice paper from Huo Yu's hand, and said, "Roast the oranges for a while before eating. As for the word, I will eat them." Let someone frame it for you and hang it in the study as an encouragement for you."

Holding the oranges in his hands, Huo Yu nodded vigorously and said, "Thank you brother."

Huo Yu himself moved a small stool to sit by the brazier, and roasted the oranges by the fire for a while, reached out to touch them, and found that the peel was hot, so he peeled one of the oranges and gave half to Guo Zhanan.

The study room used high-quality white charcoal from green hills, without any smoke, so Guo Zhanan simply sat in front of Huo Yu and grilled oranges together around the brazier.

While eating, someone suddenly came to report that two strangers came ahead, claiming to be Dredging Lang, dispatched by the Ministry of Industry, to come to Tonghua County to discuss water conservancy issues with Guo Zhanan.

Guo Zhan'an was overjoyed. Originally, he thought that there were so many counties in the world, and this kind of booklets were collected in the Ministry of Industry. He didn't know when it would be his turn. He didn't expect Dr. Jun to come so soon.

He didn't know that the Ministry of Industry could only receive a few such papers every year, so it would be soon - but anyone who is an official must make a performance. The big mouth of the Ministry said in front of the emperor, which was equivalent to letting the emperor know that he was incompetent.If the emperor thinks about it, can he get promoted and get rich?

These people have forgotten, not to mention the specialization in the art industry, but the Ministry of Industry, how many people can see the sky?

Guo Zhan'an didn't forget the big characters written by Huo Yu, and ordered someone to frame the characters and hang them in the study. Guo Zhan'an hurried to the front county government office to meet the two dredgers.

The two dredgers are old and young, the older one has wrinkled faces, wide knuckles, a little hunchback, and his body looks very tough; Pour water from the water sac it carries for the old to drink.

Guo Zhan'an personally welcomed the two to the county government office, and ordered someone to bring them two bowls of hot ginger soup to drive them away from the cold.

The older man, surnamed Zhuang, called Zhuang Yun, warmed up after eating ginger soup, and saluted Guo Zhanan: "Your Majesty Guo, you are so polite, we two have received a letter from the Ministry of Industry, no, it's over." I rushed over here in [-]. I don’t know where the river is mentioned in Mr. Guo’s booklet, but we have already drawn the blueprint before we set off, and we plan to conduct another on-site inspection to see if there is anything that needs to be revised.”

The young dredging man, that is, Wang Ke, carefully took out the blueprint from his luggage, and Guo Zhanan leaned over to take a look, and couldn't help but praise: "Good idea!"

It turned out that due to terrain constraints, people in Tonghua County could not build a water truck to transport the river water up. The two dredgers broke it up and built two water trucks respectively, connected by a short aqueduct in the middle. With the rotation of the two waterwheels, it can be lifted from the river below to the aqueduct built beside the cliff.

However, these are just discussions on paper. The specific heights of the two waterwheels, the width and height of the axles, and the lengths of the wooden spokes on the waterwheels all require on-the-spot investigations to draw a final conclusion.

Guo Zhan'an asked the two dredgers to wait for a while, called Huo Yu from behind, and told him to go to Chen Xiehao's house to find Chen Xiehao, and asked Chen Xiehao and himself to accompany Zhuang Yun and Wang Ke to the cliff to investigate.

Chen Xiehao was still smoking at home, when he heard that two dredgers were coming, he almost forgot to put on his shoes, so he hurried over.

The five people came to the cliff, which was full of snow, and a thin layer of ice had melted beside the cliff, and it was easy to slip and fall if they were not careful.

Fortunately, Guo Zhanan was prepared, and the five of them, including Huo Yu, worked together in a division of labor.

Huo Yu and two dredgers, each holding a big broom, laboriously swept away all the snow in this area; Clean it all up.

The five people worked for a long time before finishing. Afterwards, Wang Ke took out a long thick rope from his luggage, tied one end to the big tree next to the cliff, and tied the other to his waist, and slowly slid down to the bottom of the cliff. .

It took him more than two hours to measure the height, distinguish the soil quality, and record many details that outsiders would easily overlook, before he gestured towards the people beside the cliff.

The four of them worked together to pull Wang Ke up little by little.

"It's done, the basic situation is the same as Master Guo said in the brochure." Although it was winter, Wang Ke was still sweating profusely, "I have investigated everything else, and the waterwheel is no big problem. .”

Zhuang Yun nodded, and then turned to Guo Zhanan: "My lord, to transport water from here to Tonghua County, we need to build a ditch. How many people can come to help after the spring?"

"Me!" Huo Yu was the first to speak up, "I'm here to help my brother."

Seeing Zhuang Yun, he laughed loudly: "Little baby, you are still so young, can you pick stones or move logs?"

Huo Yu was taken aback, then straightened his back, and said, "It's all right, as long as my brother needs it, I can do it." Then, he turned to look at Guo Zhan'an, "Brother, do you want my help?"

"Of course." Guo Zhanan smiled and patted his head as encouragement, then looked at Chen Xiehao and asked, "Please help me with this matter."

The waterwheel matter is of great benefit to Tonghua County's agriculture, and Chen Xiehao naturally agrees: "Of course, this matter is on my shoulders."