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

Fourth brother, you seem to be in a good mood," Du Chenyu said with a smile.

"Of course, when teachers become officials, students benefit. There is a saying that goes, 'chickens and dogs rise to heaven.'" Hu Laosi said as he straightened his patched linen jacket and put his braid in front.

"Come, young master, I'll carry you. Let's get ready to go." Then he squatted down.

"I can finally go out. Haha. I'm almost suffocating in the house. Let's go, fourth brother," Du Chenyu said happily. He quickly climbed onto Hu Laosi's back, hugged him and started running.

My father, straightening his gown, followed hurriedly, shouting, "Slow down! I'm not leaving the house with you."

My father caught up with us and said, "Huzi, you need to control yourself and don't let people think you are a monster."

"The young master is a monster. He is so eloquent at such a young age. It's scary," Hu Laosi continued.

"Well, I know I can't speak casually," Du Chenyu said with a pout.

"Then we start from those houses by the river and walk all the way to Majialiang and Zhaojiawan, and then walk back from the Ginkgo Tree. I don't think we will be able to finish the walk," arranged the father.

He walked along the Shuijingwan path for about twenty minutes before reaching the Majiawan area by the river. Most people were having breakfast at this time. The first thing he saw was the tiled house of the rich man Ma. He recognized this house.

My father stopped and pointed at the families in front and said, "The ones in the tiled house in the middle are the three brothers of the Ma family. The one closest to them is the eldest brother Ma Jingui, also known as the rich man Ma. You saw him the last time I came to their house. Over there are the second brother Ma Yingui and the eldest brother Ma Tiegui." Next to these thatched houses are Zhao Quezi's family on this side and Li Shigui's family on the other side of the Ma family. Their mother died early, and there are five brothers in the house. Except for the second brother, the others have not found a wife yet. Their lives are hard. The lone thatched house in Central Li is Zhang Sao's home. Over that beam is Zhaojia Bay."

They continued walking and soon arrived at the door of Zhao Quezi's house. There were three thatched houses that were relatively sturdy, lined up one after another. At the left door was a large wooden barrel for storing water. At the door of the main room, a skinny old man was sitting on a black bench, with a tattered linen wrapped around his waist, barefoot, with dark calves and insteps, and was weaving a bamboo basket.

"Old Zhao is at home, weaving a backpack," my father greeted and walked towards the door.

"Oh, it's Mr. Du, where are you going? Come in and sit for a while." Old Zhao put down his weaving basket, stood up quickly, and moved the bench behind him straight so that they could sit down.

"You're home alone and you're out of breakfast," the father then turned around and sat down and asked.

Hu Laosi also put him down and held Du Chenyu in his arms.

"Yes, Gou Wa Zi works for the Ma family, and his mother is cutting straw on the slope to add some fodder to the roof," said the old man, sitting on a wooden block at the door.

"We have finished harvesting this year's crops. Is the harvest good?" the father asked.

"Oh, let's not talk about it. This year there's a lot of rain, so the harvest is OK. But Mr. Ma has raised the rent again. After paying the rent, there's less than 30% left. Next year there will definitely be a shortage. During the slack season, one meal a day is enough. If you eat too much, it's a waste. It's still too early, hehe." The old man replied with a dry laugh.

"This is the young master, right? He's very handsome. You see, I don't have much to eat or fun to give him," he said, standing up, rubbing his hands, looking around.

"He's just a little kid, you don't need to spoil him. He's very naughty in the house, so take him with you and walk around," said the father.

"Well, Tiger Boy picked up some golden pheasant feathers the other day, and I'm going to give them to the young master to play with," and then he went into the house, and in a moment he held two golden feathers, about 20 centimeters long.

"Take it and play with it," he handed it to Du Chenyu who was in Hu Laosi's arms.

Du Chenyu liked it very much and reached out to take it, thinking that the two feathers on the hat would look like the Monkey King's feathers.

"You just spoil him, and you're not polite at all," said his father, looking at him.

“Master, just keep playing if you like it,” the fourth brother also said.

"As long as the young master likes it, it's not something valuable," Old Zhao sat down and continued weaving the backpack.

Then they chatted for a while about family matters. Old Man Zhao's family had been able to make ends meet in recent years. They still had one or two acres of dry land. In addition, he could weave bamboo strips and do some carpentry work. He also had several daughters' families to support him, so they could still make ends meet. They also heard that their father was the head of the village.

Then they walked to the next house, Li Shigui's. This house had only two thatched houses, and a small thatched house in a gable shape next to it. There was no bench at the door, only a few black wooden stakes. There was almost no other furniture in the small yard. There was a big bed at the door of the house. It was supported by four wooden beams, covered with straw, and a bamboo mat was placed on top.

There were no quilts, and the doors were made of woven bamboo boards. There were one or two children in the yard, about seven or eight years old, naked in the middle of winter. When the little ones saw them, the younger one ran into the house, and the older one also looked at them curiously.

"You are the scholar teacher, you should go find my father, they have gone to work." said the older child.

"You are the fourth child, right?" asked the father.

"Well, I'm the fourth child, and that's my younger brother"? The older one said

"Then you continue playing," said the father.

Then we continued to the next house. On the way, I heard my father talk about the situation of the Li family. There are five children in the Li family. Li Zaitian raised them alone. The fourth child is ten years old and has not grown taller. He has an older brother and two older sisters. The eldest sister married across the river. The family does not have an acre of land. This family is probably the most difficult one.

"What about their family education? Let's help them," Du Chenyu said, feeling a little sorry for the children.

"They are outsiders. Li Shigui's mother fled to this mountain during the Tongzhi period to escape famine. The Li family took them in. Li Shigui took the surname Li. When he grew up, he married the mute youngest daughter of the Yao family. Then he was separated from the family and has been a tenant of the Ma family ever since. He has been relatively law-abiding," replied the father.

Along the way, I looked at the rice fields and corn fields that had just been harvested, and the harvested rice straw. They were all high-mountain cold-water rice, commonly known as "six hundred sticks", which means that the ears of rice are very long and large, with more than 600 grains, but only less than one-third of the grains are full, and the rest are all empty shells. They are not divided into seedlings, and if there are no seedlings, they are divided into two or three seedlings. The height of the plant is nearly one meter, and the planting is dense. There is not enough ventilation between the rows. When the ears emerge, the wind blows and the whole field falls over, resulting in insufficient ventilation. Most of the grains cannot be pollinated and can only be empty shells. The corn seedlings in the corn field are dry and thin and tall. In order to increase the yield, the people only have a denser density, and the row spacing is generally centimeters, which is far from the minimum requirement of centimeters between rows of corn in later generations.

The seventh area was still a densely populated area, and most of the land near the river was cultivated, but there were fewer paddy fields and more dry land. The weeds were lush everywhere, and there were thatched houses scattered on the hillside. There were about five or six blue-tiled houses, and a few wisps of blue smoke floated out from the roofs. There were also a few cows frolicking in the fields, and a few children in torn pants were looking for sweet corn stalks in the cornfield, chewing them as if they were sugar cane. Seeing them, they were also unfamiliar and continued to herd cattle and chew "sugar cane".

We chatted along the way and passed two or three more households. The sun was almost at its zenith. My father said, "We are moving slowly. Let's do this in the afternoon. Fourth brother, go and call a few of the heads of the clans to the Zhaojiawan Ancestral Hall. We will have a small meeting to discuss some things that will happen later."