Natural disasters in books: I stockpiled goods to escape famine in ancient times

Wu Dahai winked at Zhang Wu and followed the village chief into the house.

Song Shiwei got off the carriage and stood next to Zhang Wu: "Go in."

As soon as you enter the yard, you will feel the strong farm atmosphere. Because Damo Village is vast and sparsely populated, the yards of every household are particularly large.

Farm tools were placed in the yard. Opposite the door was the main hall, with a room on each side. Two rooms were also built on the left and right sides of the yard, all with mud walls.

As soon as he entered the main room, Song Shiwei met the surprised gazes of the village chief and Wu Dahai.

Zhang Wu followed him into the house and introduced with a smile: "Village Chief, Brother Dahai, this is my sister."

The village chief and Wu Dahai turned to look at each other, expressions of disbelief on their faces.

"Is this your sister? How come she doesn't look like her at all?" The village chief narrowed his eyes and looked at the two of them.

Zhang Wu remained calm and said, "My half-sister. Her surname is Song and her name is Shi Wei. She is about to turn 15 this year."

Song Shiwei smiled and said, "Village Chief, Brother Dahai, just call me Shiwei."

The two of them suddenly realized, it was strange, the brother and sister looked so different, and the younger sister's temperament was beyond even the daughters of officials in the capital city. It was hard to believe that the two were brother and sister and had different fathers.

However, seeing that the little girl was fair-skinned, beautiful and well-mannered, the village chief was very impressed with her. He thought that Zhang Wu, as an elder brother, had made a lot of efforts to raise his sister to such a good complexion, and for a moment he had a better impression of the two of them.

"Please sit down. I just heard from Dahai that you are going to settle down in our village?" The village chief asked first, and his original attitude gradually calmed down.

Zhang Wu smiled and nodded, handed the settlement documents and the two people's household registration to the village chief, and then said: "My hometown suffered a disaster, and now there are only my sister and I at home, so we fled all the way to the northern border."

The village chief knew a few words and first looked at the household registration documents. After confirming that they were correct, he looked at the household registration of the two people. When he saw the household registration belonging to Song Shiwei, he frowned and said, "Isn't your sister's surname Song? Why is her name on this household registration Chen Shi?"

Zhang Wu was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized, "Chen is my biological father's surname. Later, something happened, so my sister changed her name to follow my mother's surname."

This is reasonable. As for the reason, the village chief has lived for decades and has no habit of prying into other people's privacy. However, it is a rule that children take their father's surname. The fact that he allows the child to change his surname must be because of his biological father, so the village chief returned the household registration to the two.

"If you are determined to change your name, you can change it when you have chosen a homestead and are moving to the capital, but it will cost you more."

Zhang Wu couldn't make the decision on this matter, so he turned to look at Song Shiwei. Seeing her nod, he smiled and thanked the village chief: "Thank you, village chief. We didn't know about the name change. I wonder if there is any homestead in the village now?"

The village chief nodded and said, "There is plenty of land in the village. I will take you to have a look later. You can choose whichever piece you like. I think you are quite strong, Xiao Zhang. We can buy a few more acres of land. Although the harvest has been bad in recent years, there is not much water in the river in the village. There is water in the mountains. As long as you are diligent, you can still grow crops. You can have enough food every day, but you will not be hungry at least."

Zhang Wu and Song Shiwei had discussed the matter of selecting a site to build a house in advance. As for growing crops, Zhang Wu knew without asking that his master did not know how to grow crops. As for himself... he was going to live in the Desert Village for a long time. Farmers valued crops the most. If he did not grow crops, he would inevitably be gossiped about.

Therefore, Zhang Wu agreed with a smile and thanked him repeatedly.

The sun was scorching outside, so the village chief took a straw hat from home, put it on, and went out with a few people to check the land.

After walking for a while, several people were sweating all over. Song Shiwei and Zhang Wu also took a fancy to the homestead.

Neither of them liked places where people gathered, so they chose the land at the foot of the mountain, which was more than a hundred meters away from the nearest neighbor and was surrounded by wasteland that had not yet been cultivated.

"Village head, Brother Dahai, my little sister and I have discussed it and we will choose the land at the foot of the mountain. We will only need two acres of land nearby."

Before the village chief could speak, Wu Dahai beside him said anxiously: "Xiao Wu, that place won't work. Every winter, the wild animals on the mountain will definitely come down. It's too dangerous for you to live there. Why don't you choose a place near my home? We can still be neighbors."

"Thank you for your concern, Brother Dahai. I have already made up my mind. I will use that piece of land to build a house. As for the wild animals on the mountain," Zhang Wu smiled and said, "Brother Dahai, don't worry. I exercise all year round, and most wild animals can't hurt me."

The village chief didn't quite agree with the brother and sister living over there, so he advised them: "Xiao Zhang, Dahai is right to worry. I'm sure you've seen that the walls in our village are all high to prevent wild animals from entering the house. You and your sister are the only two people living there, so it's better to be closer to everyone so that you can take care of anything that happens. Don't you think this makes sense?"

Zhang Wu bowed and said, "I know the village chief is doing this for my sister and me, but you don't have to worry. We will build the wall higher when the time comes, and I will take care of my sister, so nothing will happen. Besides, I think the land at the foot of the mountain is better, and I can always look after the fields if I live there."

The village chief and Wu Dahai tried to persuade Zhang Wu, but he still refused to change his mind.

Seeing their helplessness and worry, Song Shiwei stood aside and said with a smile: "Village chief, Brother Dahai, my brother chose that place because of me. I have been in poor health since I was a child, and the doctor said to live in a place with few people. Besides, my brother is very skilled. He protected me all the way to the north. You don't have to worry."

The two men insisted, and the village chief and Wu Dahai could not persuade them any further, so they could only tell them to be careful.

Afterwards, the two men returned to the village chief's house and chose the piece of land they liked as a residential site to build a house. The residential site was about one acre in size. When the village chief saw that they had chosen such a large piece of land, he immediately tried to persuade them again.

A large house site means a large cost for building the house. The village chief thought that the brother and sister had fled all the way here, and although they looked well, they probably didn't have much money on them. He was also afraid that they were too young to understand these things, so he explained the details of building a house to them.

"My sister and I have spent a lot of money on this trip, but don't worry, Village Chief, we can still get the money to build the house."

After all, they were not very close, so the other party insisted that the village chief would not continue to persuade them and would choose the land for planting crops after determining the homestead. Zhang Wu only asked for two acres. Fearing that the village chief would continue to persuade him, he quickly said that he would take good care of his sister's health first and buy more land in the future.

After the homestead and the land were agreed upon, the next step was to find the head of the village to inform him, and then the head of the village would take Zhang Wu to the government office to sign, and only then would the settlement be finalized.

It was getting late and the sun was shining brightly, so they decided to go to the government office early tomorrow morning. As for the head of the village, the village chief had some relationship with him, so Zhang Wu didn't need to make another trip.

While they were talking, Song Shiwei went to the carriage and got two boxes of cakes and twelve eggs. After dividing them, he carried the things into the house.

"Village chief, these are the snacks we bought in the city. We're very sorry for the trouble we've taken in settling down in your village. I hope you'll accept this small token of our gratitude," Song Shiwei arranged the cakes separately and placed five eggs next to each box of cakes. The village chief and the head of the village each got one.