I traveled through time, starting with two acres of land and a dog

Looking at the newspaper in his hand and then at the wasteland next to him, he wondered how he could get something for nothing. Otherwise, he could report the son of the rich man Ma as a revolutionary... However, he felt uneasy about doing such a thing that would harm others and benefit himself.

"Alas, in this cannibalistic society, we have to survive first and do what we say. The Ma family is not a good family anyway. They bully and exploit the surrounding tenants even worse than Yu Yuedong. Although the Ma family has a good relationship with my father, and my father often helps them with advice." Du Chenyu thought.

When his father came back in the evening, Du Chenyu was thinking about how to tell his father, how to make his father inform that the rich man Ma's son was a revolutionary, and then force the Ma family to sell land to raise money, and they would take the opportunity to rent the wasteland.

During dinner, at the table, my father said that because of the reduction in tuition fees this year, 20 more students were admitted. They were studying outdoors under the trees in the yard outside the school. Based on the assumption that each family could work three days to cover one year's tuition, 3 working days of labor could be added this year. They could rent more than 60 acres of land from Yu Baochang. Although the rent was high, it could also increase their income a little.

After hearing this, Du Chenyu was very unhappy. Why should he rent the land at a high price? The wasteland next to the house must be rented at a low price from the rich man Ma.

After dinner, Du Chenyu said to his father that the room was too hot, so he took him outside for a walk. When they arrived at the yard, the sky was full of stars, like a broken jade plate. The moon had not risen yet, but the morning star was still illuminating the world.

Du Chenyu leaned on his father's shoulder and said: "I have a way to rent land at a low price, but the means are somewhat shady."

"What can we do?" asked the father.

"You see, Rich Man Ma bullied Aunt Zhang's family a few years ago, causing them to be orphans and widows now, and it's hard for them to survive. We should help them now, right?" Du Chenyu shook his head.

"Indeed, we should send some food to Mrs. Zhang in the winter," my father said affirmatively.

"This is not a long-term solution. I read in the newspaper today that the suppression of revolutionaries is very severe now. Why don't we report to Chief Yu that Mr. Ma's son is a revolutionary. There have always been conflicts between the Ma and Yu families. Yu Yuedong is eager to make a contribution, so he will definitely seize the opportunity and use some means. At the same time, he will also include you, father, in the category of 'his own people'. Then Mr. Ma will definitely sell his land to raise money to redeem him. We can take this opportunity to rent the barren mountains and wasteland in Erdaoliang next to it at a low price." Du Chenyu laid out his ideas.

"You are framing me. How could you do such a thing? Besides, we have no evidence." The father said loudly, a little angrily.

"We don't need to find evidence. As long as he gives the newspaper with the news about the Revolutionary Party that you brought back yesterday to Chief Yu Yuedong, he will definitely find a way to put Mr. Ma's son, Ma Wenshu, in jail. Besides, after we successfully rent the land, we will give two acres to Aunt Zhang's family, which can be regarded as making up for Mr. Ma and accumulating some good karma for Aunt Zhang."

Du Chenyu continued, "This is our best chance, a chance to establish a good relationship with Yu Baochang. If we fail, there will be no loss. It will be killing two birds with one stone. Otherwise, how can we make a fortune and live a better life?"

"Let me think about it, but don't tell this to anyone, including your mother," my father came over and instructed.

"I understand this. This is a matter of my friends dying rather than my own death, so I definitely can't make it public." Du Chenyu said with a smile.

"Also, I told Butler Wang (Yu Yuedong's butler) about fishing today, and he said it was okay to go fishing," the father added.

In the yard, under the starlight, we chatted about other things for a while, and then went into the house to sleep.

The days passed slowly in the scorching heat every day. Recently, as his mother had eaten more fish soup, her milk was more abundant. And as Du Chenyu insisted on walking and practicing the "Eight Brocade Sections" hard qigong every day, he got hungry very quickly. In addition to drinking milk, he also had to eat rice porridge twice a day to maintain nutrition.

In my spare time, I continued to learn traditional Chinese characters, and wrote down the Gregorian calendar time and lunar calendar date on scrap paper, one sheet for each month, so that I could accurately remember some major historical events. I made a small notebook and wrote down some important names and historical events in my memory at the back. Fortunately, I was good at high school history in my previous life, so I could remember most historical events clearly.

My grandfather used the fishing bait method taught by Du Chenyu, and caught four or five pounds of fish in the river almost every evening. He handed over about two pounds to Yu Baochang's family, and ate the remaining three or four pounds at home, while he counted the days.

On September 9, the family began to harvest corn. This year, there was a lot of rain, and the corn yield was estimated to be 22-5 dan (6- kilograms). On the first day, my father asked Hu Laosi to help harvest the corn. After lunch, he took a break under the eaves behind the house and said to Hu Laosi:

"Fourth brother, how is your family's grain harvest this year?"

"He looked at me in surprise, how can you speak so fluently, and you walk so early?" Usually, he didn't speak fluently in front of outsiders, and Hu Laosi was a little surprised.

"It's normal. I've been eating a lot of fish lately, which is good for nutrition. They often teach me to speak, so I can speak. But don't tell anyone about my affairs," Du Chenyu warned seriously.

Hu Laosi picked him up and looked him over carefully.

"Young Master is truly a child prodigy, worthy of being the teacher's son. He is so amazing when he is less than a year old. What will he be like when he grows up? Don't worry, I won't say anything nonsense!" He picked him up, turned him around, looked at him carefully, and then stopped, then Hu Laosi continued.

"Alas, it rained too much this year. The yields of corn and rice on our mountain are not good. After paying the rent, there is not much left. There will definitely be a shortage of food next year. We will definitely go hungry again. This happens every year!" Hu Laosi sighed.

"Yu Yuedong, why don't we reduce your rent a little? The disaster this year is so severe." Hu casually said

"It's not uncommon for the Donghe River to flow upstream when the landlord reduces the rent. I've never encountered this before in my lifetime. Every time he determines the rent, he chooses the most fertile piece of land in the middle to calculate the output, and then all the land is rented according to the standard of this piece of land. He calls it collecting rent according to the actual situation and not letting the people suffer losses!" Du Chenyu felt Hu Laosi's arms tighten around him and said angrily.

"How about we steal the opium seeds from his house? Next year I'll ask my father to secretly plant some too. When I sell them, I'll give you the profits. How about that? You can use it to buy food!"

"Zhang Erwa stole opium seeds a few years ago and was nearly beaten to death by the militia. It would be terrible if he was caught!" Hu Laosi shook his head and said.

"You can do this. When you work for Yu Yuedong, at night you can bring the fish that your grandfather caught, drink with him, and get him drunk. Then ask your fifth uncle (Hu Laowu) to sneak into the fields and steal a few plants. The seeds must be pulled up by the roots, and then you can pull out a dozen or so plants separately. They will definitely not be able to find out. As long as we have opium seeds, I promise that everyone will live a good life and have meat to eat"!

"Master, this is a serious matter. Are you serious? Does the teacher know?" Hu Laosi asked with some doubt.

"If we let daddy know, will he still let us give it a try? Fortune and wealth can only be achieved through risk," said Du Chenyu.

"Okay, Master, I'll do as you say. I, Hu Laosi, am afraid of birds and have a miserable life. If it weren't for the help from the teacher, I would have starved to death over the years." Hu Laosi did not hesitate, and said firmly. Hu Laosi always trusted him and his father's words and never doubted them.

Listening to Hu Laosi's determined answer, I felt a little guilty. After all, this was a very risky thing to do, but for the sake of everyone's better life, I had no choice but to give it a try.

"Be careful, don't force anything. If you can't steal it, forget it. I'm thinking of other ways!" Du Chenyu said.

"I know, thank you for your concern, Master!" Hu Laosi replied.

In the evening, Hu Laosi went back carrying a string of dried fish and several kilograms of fresh fish.

Three more days passed, counting the setting sun. Grandpa came back from the fields at noon. As soon as he entered the house and saw me writing at the door, he said, "Ma San, he rushed back from the village last night to tell me that Ma Wenshu was arrested in the school by the Inspection Office. They said he was a revolutionary and wanted to rebel. The Ma family was in chaos when they heard the news. Wu Da Jiao (Ma's wife) almost fainted. When I came back to Songliang and met Ma San who had returned to the village to inquire about the news, I hurriedly said a few words to him."

"This is true. Ma Wenshu actually dared to rebel. I never thought that would happen," Du Chenyu said with pretended doubt.

"When he was a child, Pingwazi (Ma Wenshu's nickname) often fought with your father. He would cry every time he lost. When he grew up, he studied outside and was always a student. A few years ago, his father spent 40 or 50 taels of silver to find a job as a teacher in the county school. Now he will have to spend a lot of money again!" Grandpa was a little gloating.

"The landlord's surplus grain is running out, so he has to sell his land and cattle, haha." Du Chenyu continued, "Our family has more people now, and we just happen to be short of land, so maybe we can consider helping him."

"Well, this is indeed an opportunity. Come back in the evening and discuss it with your father. It just so happens that we still have some money to buy food." said the grandfather.

"Tell him when you get back in the evening," Du Chenyu said, looking up at his grandfather.

In the afternoon, when the sun was still as high as a bamboo pole above the mountain, my father came back from the path behind the mountain. My grandfather, mother, and second uncle were still working in the fields.

"Dad, you got out of school so early today!" Du Chenyu climbed up a stone by the roadside to greet him.

"You know about Ma Wenshu's matter, right?" he asked mysteriously.

"Grandpa came back at noon and told me what happened?" Du Chenyu asked.

"Shortly after noon, before school was over, Captain Yu wanted to talk to me about something urgent, so I took a leave of absence from school and went to his house. He told me about the Ma family."

Du Chenyu listened quietly without interrupting.

My father continued, "As soon as I entered the Yu family's house, he closed the door and told me that he had personally visited the garrison commander-in-chief at the Baizhang Pass Inspection Office a few days ago and reported to him that Ma Wenshu had joined the revolutionary party. That night, the commander-in-chief sent people to arrest Ma Wenshu, and highly praised him for his dedication to the country and his loyalty to the Qing Dynasty. He also planned to report to the Inspection Office and promote him to deputy commander of Wuyin Township to catch the revolutionaries with all his strength"!

"Then he said that the two families were very close. If there was anything, they could go directly to him. They could also go fishing in the river at will." The father took a sip of water and continued.

"Now that this has been done, my plan is that we will go to the Ma family tonight to discuss the land issue," Du Chenyu said.

"What exactly do you think?" the father asked.

"I think so. We should not buy the land. It's too expensive. We can rent the wasteland next to Erdaoliang. It's estimated to be 15 mu. We can rent it for 20 taels of silver for five years. We will pay 10 taels immediately and 5 taels every year. His family has so much cultivated land, he will definitely rent it!" Du Chenyu told the idea of ​​​​starting a fire and robbing that he had thought of a long time ago.

"This is indeed a win-win for both families. There's no point in leaving it uncultivated, so it's like picking up money. But it's difficult for us to reclaim that piece of land, there are many rocks on it, and the soil is poor." My father was a little worried.

"I don't want to use all the land for growing crops. I want to use the water well near the house to raise chickens, ducks, sheep, cattle and goats. I also want to open up 10 mu of land near Aunt Zhang's cultivated land to grow crops," Du Chenyu explained.

"Well, your idea is very good. Now it depends on whether we can get the land rent." My father stood up and looked in the direction of Erdaoliang.

"Absolutely no problem, Dad. Tomorrow you should spread the word that the county is going to behead all the captured revolutionaries. The imperial court has issued an order. The Ma family will be going crazy." Du Chenyu then asked his father to add fuel to the fire of the Ma family.

"Dad, one more thing is that the millet is about to be harvested, you have to arrange time to go to the village to buy the grain and find someone to take care of it," he said.

"I know about this. I will go in four or five days during the holiday," the father replied.

In a blink of an eye, the third day arrived. After the beginning of autumn, the weather became cooler. It rained all day long. The rice in the field in front of the house had been unable to bear the pressure of the sparrows and fell down on the edge of the field.

"Grandpa, there are birds in the field," Du Chenyu shouted.

"Bang, bang, bang", grandpa came out of the house quickly, picked up the bamboo tube in the corner and knocked it hard, while uttering a long string of curses and shouts such as "Damn it..."

In the evening, the rain that had fallen all day finally stopped, and the river became muddy. Grandpa went down to the river to fish again. A few rays of sunset in the sky pierced through the thick clouds and shone directly on the earth. A few clouds of white mist rose from the river, showing red and yellow lines under the sunset, like a dream.

Clouds reach the western mountains and fog reaches the sky.

The winter ducks return eastward to the woods.

A few smoke from cooking fires disappeared from the thatched houses.

New smoke rises straight from the green tiles in Hedong.

In the evening, a figure appeared on the small road coming from the second beam in front of the door. He soon arrived at the edge of the courtyard. When I got closer, I saw an old man less than 1.6 meters tall, about 50 years old, with a small hat on his head, a waist-length braid dragging behind him, a pair of small eyes, a beard all over his face, an anxious look in his eyes, a dark gray short coat with several patches on his chest and arms, loose trousers rolled up to his calves with several spots of mud on them, a black bamboo stick in his hand, a pair of old cloth shoes with a hole on the toes, that was none other than the rich man of the Ma family, Boss Ma. It was like a pillow for someone to fall asleep on, a dish delivered to the door, this feast would definitely go to the Ma family.