In the years of ancient traders

When Grandma Song Shu died, she left behind an old house and a few acres of land. Others persuaded him to sell it, but he quit his job in Taiwan Province and returned to his hometown to learn farming.

Soon the farmhouse opened.

Relying on the resources accumulated in the provincial TV station, Song Shu's farmhouse music successfully appeared in the popular variety show. From the broadcast of the show, all the rooms were full all the way until the end of the second year.

The food provided in the farmhouse is all grown by oneself or harvested in the homes of local villagers. Song Shu’s business is booming, and the chickens and ducks of those villagers’ homes, as well as various local vegetables are also popular.There are also a few quick-witted families who have followed suit and opened farmhouses, and the business is also booming.

"Boss Song, I want to order the old hen soup for tomorrow night."

"No problem, I'll collect it for you in the village, and return it to Mrs. Wang's last time?"

"Boss Song, do you sell the vegetables in the field?"

"Sell, there is a project to experience picking vegetables, do you want to play?"

"Boss Song, are you still doing that activity? How can you get a discount for donating books?"

"Three books are worth thirty, ten books are worth one hundred, two hundred is the cap, and textbooks are also accepted."

Song Shu's farmhouse has been offering book donations and discounts since its opening. The books obtained are either used to enrich the row of bookshelves in the public area of ​​the inn, or donated to the library of the village primary school.

Before he knew it, Song Shu had accumulated several more boxes. He called the principal of the village primary school and agreed to deliver it tonight.

After dinner, the principal of the village primary school went back to school along the gentle slope, waiting for Song Shu to deliver the books.Since the young man came back, their village has become more and more vibrant. Many inns have been opened. The vegetables and chickens and ducks grown by the villagers have become more and more popular. The library of the village primary school has more extracurricular books than ever before.

The previous month, the superior unit called them into a meeting and praised him as an example, which made the principals of other villages and towns envious.

This is all thanks to Song Shu.

"It's on fire! It's on fire!"

"Fire! Quick!"

The principal ran out when he heard the shouts. The school was on a high ground, and he could see the flames rising to the west from a distance. It was Song Shu's farmhouse.

He rushed there on his bicycle, and when he arrived, it suddenly began to rain.The torrential rain poured down, and the fire was quickly extinguished. Amid the heavy rain, he heard someone asking loudly, "They all escaped? Where's Boss Song?"

Xiaoman, the third year of Ruifeng in the Jia Dynasty, lived in Xianghe Village, Datu County, Hengzhou, Hebei Province.

It was the winter wheat harvest season, and every family was in the fields, even children in their teens were no exception.There are three rammed-earth houses in the west of the village, with white linen hanging on the door of the main house. In the stove on the east, Song Liuniang stepped on a lame wooden stool and cooked bean soup for her brothers and sisters who went to the field to satisfy their hunger.

The Song family originally had seven children, three of them left, and another came. Now the widow Song has passed away, and only Song Sanniang is left with the fifth, sixth, and seventh children, and Song Anan who just arrived last year. The oldest is no more than fifteen .

These children were all adopted by Widow Song, who is well-known in the surrounding villages.During the eight years of the Tianxi Rebellion, every household was in a difficult life. Someone advised the Widow Song to give away what she could give away, and sell what she could sell. It is not easy to save one's life in this chaotic world, so why bother raising children for others.

Widow Song refused. If others persuaded her harshly, she would just drive them away with a broom.

Two years ago, when the top came to recruit soldiers, the eldest son of the Song family was taken away, and Widow Song almost went blind from crying.In less than two months, the four sons of the Song family left a letter and left, saying that they would go to the south to earn money, but they never came back.

Song Liuniang carried the bean soup to her field. The bucket was wider and thicker than her body. Song Qilang followed behind. He was only three years old and he was still walking unsteadily. Liuniang looked back from time to time, wanting to call him Go home and wait, but Qilang refuses, he must follow sister.

There were no people on the dirt road, but there were several children gathered around the fork in front.These children are only in their teens, and there are bowls and buckets beside them. Obviously, like Song Liuniang, they are going to deliver food to Yeniang or brothers and sisters who have gone to the field.

"What are you looking at?" Song Liuniang was naughty and curious since she was a child. She played with both boys and girls, so she was very familiar with the big and small children in the village.

As soon as she asked, someone immediately took over.

"one person."

"Like your Shiro."

"It's not like it's not like, the fourth elder brother of the Song family is not so dark."

"He's passed out, can you see?"

The onlookers chattered a lot, and Song Liuniang immediately put down the bean soup when she heard that she sounded like his fourth elder brother, and ran to the man who fell to the ground.

Her fourth elder brother is named Song Shu, who was named after the beans were adopted when they were ripe.

Song Liuniang liked to play with Song Shu since she was a child. He knew everything and was very courageous. After Song Shu left without saying goodbye, she was so angry that she couldn't eat for a few days. She planned to scold her brother, but now seeing him He fell on the ground unconscious, and his heart softened again.

"Is it really your fourth elder brother?"

"Is he dead?"

"Move him back? Let's go together."

After confirming the identity of this person, the children started discussing again.

Song Liuniang was about to scold the one who said the person was dead, but a hand reached out and turned Song Shu over.

"I'll do it." Song Anan did not know when he appeared among the children. He was only 12 years old. He was thin, but he was very strong. He picked up 14-year-old Song Shu and strode home.

When Song Sanniang and the others heard that Shiro had returned, they all dropped the half-cut wheat and rushed home.

Song Shu lay on the straw mat and did not wake up.

"He has lost a lot of weight," said Cheng Erniang from the next village.

She was originally Song Dalang's unmarried daughter-in-law, and because of the delay in conscription, her mother wanted to persuade her to find another husband, but she insisted on waiting for Song Dalang to come back.In the past two years, whenever she was free, she went to the Song family, as if she had already regarded herself as the daughter-in-law of the Song family. Just now, she heard that Song Shu was back, so she rushed to see her.

"The clothes are so torn, I don't have any shoes, and I don't know how to live outside." Song Sanniang said, Dou Da tears fell, and she quickly wiped them with her sleeves.

Wu Niang knelt beside her, watching Song Shu without speaking.

Seeing that no one was crying, Liu Niang ran to the kitchen.

She was bloated after eating too many beans, and she wanted to cook a bowl of batter for Song Shu, but when the fire started, Song Anan came in.Song Anan was only adopted by Widow Song last year. He was supposed to be the fifth eldest, but their sisters grew up together, and they were used to calling him Brother Anang.

"Cook rice porridge." Song Anan said, he reached into the earthen pot, gathered some corn left at the bottom of the pot, took out a small handful and gave it to Liu Niang.

Although their family grows corn, except for the two stones used to pay the land rent, the rest will be sold to grain merchants from the city, and the money they get will be used to buy soybeans at a lower price.

The bit of corn at the bottom of the earthen pot was left by Widow Song during her lifetime.

This thing is exquisite and expensive, and no third elder sister speaks out on weekdays, even if she is as bold as Liu Niang, she would not dare to move it.She took the corn from Song Anan and held it in her hand carefully, but she didn't dare to cook it.

"I said." Song Anan said, and took the initiative to squat down and wait for the fire.

When Song Anan first came, the whole village thought he was dumb.Later he started talking, but he never had more than three words in a sentence, and no more than ten sentences a day, and he was no different from a mute.

Liu Niang looked at the handful of yellow corn in her hand, although she didn't fully understand what Song Anan meant, she also knew that it was a good thing.The corn porridge is fragrant and glutinous. If my brother drinks it, he will definitely get better soon.

Something hot broke into the mouth, slid down the throat, and the heat invaded the limbs and bones.Song Shu vaguely heard a few lines of dialogue, with a strange accent, but he could understand it.

"Liu Niang, take care of your elder brother."

"Today the wheat must be cut, there must be no further delay."

"Ah."

The owners of these voices seem to be young, with clear and immature timbres.

Song Shu woke up from sleep to sleep, and he didn't know how many days later, he had many dreams, which seemed to have happened in real life.

In the dream, his name was Song Shu, which had the same pronunciation as his real name but was also an orphan.

Song Shu was adopted by Widow Song when she was very young. She doesn't remember anything about her biological parents and only regards Widow Song as her mother.During the Tianxi Rebellion, wars were fought everywhere, and batch after batch of strong laborers from the countryside were sent to the front line, even his eldest and second brothers were no exception.

Due to lack of labor and frequent natural disasters, food prices have doubled several times.The price of rice even rose to six or seven thousand yuan per stone, which was fifty or sixty times that before the war.Although food prices have risen, there is no food to sell, and the continuous lack of harvest has caused famine in several nearby villages.

At that time, Song Shu heard passers-by say that the situation in the Jianghuai area was stable and there were many opportunities to make money, so he left without saying a word.

He was only 12 years old at the time, and his thinking was very simple. He thought that as long as he earned money, his mother and sisters would not go hungry.Unexpectedly, bandits were rampant in the troubled times, and when he returned with the money and silk he had worked so hard to save for two years, he was robbed of nothing, not even his shoes.

In the end, he collapsed due to extreme hunger.

The news of Song Shu's return spread to every household in Xianghe Village within a day.

Just after the war ended, almost every family had a man conscripted into the army. Everyone was looking forward to it day and night, but they didn't expect that Song Shu, who had left his book and left, would come back first.

A villager who was on good terms with the Song family on weekdays came to visit, and seeing Song Shu lying on the bed, still unconscious, they all shook their heads.

Someone even advised Song Sanniang to prepare for the funeral, but Liuniang scolded Song Sanniang overheard.The scolded old woman yelled that this little lady was amazing, and she didn't save any sympathy.Song Liuniang was a brat since she was a child, so she didn't worry about this, pointing her nose and scolding people out of the house.

After that, no one dared to say unkind words again.

However, there are also many people who come to persuade them with good intentions.

A few days ago, the Liu family who owned a pancake shop in the county came to propose marriage and hired Song Sanniang as his wife for their youngest son.The Liu Family steamed cake shop is the only one in the county. If there are ten miles and eight towns around here, if they want to worship their ancestors or gods, who would not go to the Liu Family to buy a few steamed cakes?

Everyone said that this was a good marriage, so what if the Liu family's son is a fool, as long as she can give birth to a son surnamed Liu, Song Sanniang will not have a good life?

But Sanniang flatly refused and insisted on staying at home to take care of her siblings.

This time when Song Shu came back, someone came to persuade him, saying that Song Sanniang belonged to his daughter after all, and now that such a good marriage was in front of him, he couldn't miss it.Why don't you leave your younger siblings to Song Shu's care and get married as soon as possible.

After the visitor tried to persuade her, Song Sanniang smiled politely and invited her out of the house.

When Song Shu left home, Sanniang thought that her aunt, Widow Song, would go mad with anger, but she just stroked the crooked words and said, "Silang, you are aggressive."

In troubled times, only aggressive people can stand out.Song Sanniang didn't want to marry a fool. She believed in this aggressive younger brother and believed that he would bring hope to the family.