Rebirth of the backing and eating mountains

Anhua and the others set off on February 26th. Because they had to arrive at Yuxing City the night before, Anhua and Anxuan's family agreed to send Chu Li over on the evening of the 24th, but Anxuan's family had waited for a long time on that day. No one came, An Xuan was worried, and asked An Rubao and Song Chu to visit An Hua's house.

The two of them went to An Hua's house with a lantern and knocked on the door for a long time before An Hua came to open it. Chu Li with red and swollen eyes was hanging on his body, and his hands and feet were wrapped around his body like a koala. Not as enthusiastic as usual, An Hua gave them a look that they would talk about tomorrow, the two understood, and talked to An Xuan and Qin Feng after returning home, and the family had to go to bed first.

At dawn the next day, An Hua drove Chu Li over in a carriage. Chu Li was still asleep when he got off the car. An Hua followed An Rubao and sent him to An Rubao and Song Chu. Song Chu, who lived in Westinghouse, had already woken up at this time and was waiting for them in the house.

An Hua carefully put Chu Li on the kang, covered it with a quilt, and left Song Chu to watch him. When he walked out of the bedroom, he said to An Rubao: "At first I didn't want to tell him, but later I was afraid that he would suddenly look at him." I didn't make a fuss, so I tried to talk to him yesterday, but he reacted so badly. He watched me all night, and he would wake up whenever I moved. He was afraid that I would leave him. I couldn’t stop falling asleep.”

Then he took all the items and clothes that Chu Li needed out of the car, handed An Rubao a bag of broken silver, and told Chu Li some living habits. After thinking about it, he stared at the door again. After waiting for a long time, Fang got into the carriage and pulled the reins. The horse neighed and was about to lift its legs when it heard a burst of crying from the courtyard, shouting "Hua... Hua..." in a shrill voice. Hearing that it was Chu Li, Anhua clenched the reins tightly with both hands, froze for a moment, gritted his teeth and lashed the horse twice, and drove the carriage away quickly.

Anhua's whip rope was twitching quickly, and the carriage drove out of the village quickly. I don't know if it was because of his innermost feelings. After running so far, Anhua seemed to be able to hear Chu Li's cries, and every sound hit him hard. In his heart, he has been away from home since he was 15 years old, and this is the first time he has been so worried when he left home.

This morning, An Xuan's family woke up to Chu Li's cries. Qin Feng, Song Chu, and An Ruyu couldn't persuade him to go into battle until he was tired from crying and didn't sleep well all night. Just fell asleep crying.After that, the whole person was sleepy, and most of the time he sat in front of the window, staring at the outside in a daze, no matter how other people teased him, he didn't respond, even his favorite snacks and candies couldn't be attracted, this situation lasted for a long time Fortunately, with Song Chu and An Ruyu always by his side, Fang gradually recovered.

Seeing that it was almost March, the weather was getting warmer, and the villagers had already started to prepare for the spring plowing. An Rubao knew that he couldn't delay any longer, and finally gave the plan to his father and aunt on a certain day.

For this proposal, An Xuan and Qin Feng only had a half-knowledge of it. When they encountered something they didn't understand, An Rubao would explain it to them. The two of them nodded while listening. An Xuan casually said: "When your grandpa bought this back mountain, he thought it was close to home and it was convenient to look after. It's just that we have been living in Yuxing City for so many years. After all, we were negligent. You are right. There are few trees on the mountain, and the land is mostly sandy, it is true that more trees should be planted, I have no disagreement with you about your idea."

Qin Feng also said: "I used to only know that you only know how to read, and people are going to be stupid. I didn't expect to be a different person when I came to Qingshan Village."

An Rubao's heart skipped a beat, and he said with a dry smile: "I used to read the words of sages every day. I often saw the joy of mountains and forests, the joy of mulberry and elm, and the suffering of farmers. At that time, I didn't know the true meaning. Naturally, there will be more people, and I don’t want to be that person who doesn’t work hard and doesn’t know the five grains.”

An Xuan nodded, and said: "You're right, the scholars nowadays think they are superior after reading the words of the sages, don't they know that the sages are not as good as they don't care about childbirth? Consolation, but you can't relax in your studies, we didn't catch up with our family affairs last year, you need to prepare early for the next county test." An Rubao bowed his head and said yes.

An Xuan and Qin Feng were very satisfied with the plan. An Rubao told them about the budget again. This was calculated by him in detail. Including labor, it would take about 500 taels to fully develop the entire back mountain. However, An Rubao told them that this is still a conservative estimate, and the actual cost may be higher than this. The most important thing is that these investments cannot be recovered in a short time.

The Anxuan and his wife didn't care much, Qin Feng said: "Father, you still have some money in your hands. Our family's expenses are not big now, and the annual land rent is enough to eat and drink. You can do whatever you want, don't worry about it." Worrying about money."

An Rubao was delighted to get the approval of his father and mother, and the next day he ran to the village chief's house and asked the village chief to tell the villagers that his family wanted to hire someone to open the mountain, and each person was still fifty Wen a day, regardless of age. , the more people the better.An Ruxi didn't dare to believe the words of a child like him, so she went to ask An Xuan again, An Xuan said that everything was up to him, and An Ruxi sighed inwardly: "No wonder An Shan's family fell so fast, both Master An Xuan He is the master who can spend." The speed of the notification was not slow, and the whole village was directly called to the square in the village, and the matter was announced, and the wages were settled every day. If you want to go, you will bring the farm tools to Anxuan tomorrow. sign up.

The news was like a boulder falling into the water, and it exploded in the whole village. After the tree felling, Anxuan's family already had a good reputation in the village for being kind and generous, and the winter wheat in the field was nearly a month away. Maturity, at this time of year, some people will go out to the town to do odd jobs for a few days to earn some expenses, and the daily wages are not much. Now they don’t need to go out, and they can earn fifty cash a day. intentional movement.

In the early morning of the second day, the gate of An Xuan's house was full of people. An Rubao was taken aback when he opened the courtyard door. He asked them to line up first, and hurriedly moved out a table with Song Chu and An Xuan and put it in front of the gate. Before, start registering the name.

There were more than 100 people who came this time compared to the tree-cutting time. Most of them were fathers and men, and some husbands. While chatting in one sentence, he waited for his turn, and when all the future people were recorded in the register, An Rubao waved his hand to silence everyone, and said to them: "I have already registered here, that's all for today, starting tomorrow Every day, you start work in the middle of the day, you can rest for half an hour at noon, and you end work at the end of the unitary hour. After you finish your work, you can come to my house in the evening to get paid, and the wages are fifty yuan per person per day." There was an uproar in the crowd again.

You can start work in the middle of the day, you can go to work at the end of the unitary hour, and you can rest for half an hour in the middle, that is, you only need to work for four hours a day. In the past, who hired people to work would not be exhausting to death, let alone the wages are so high , This has never happened before, and someone immediately questioned: "There will be such a good thing? Children don't like to fool people."

An Rubao smiled and said: "Everything I said is true, but let me make it clear in advance that although our work is easy, it doesn't mean we can be lazy. I will divide you into several teams, each with a team leader," he pointed Pointing to a row of people standing beside him, everyone looked over and recognized An Licheng, Fang Jiancheng, An Qing, An Minglu, An Qing's second brother An Shun and others.

Inviting them to be the team leader was what An Rubao had agreed with them yesterday. They almost wanted to come to work, and they were willing to help if they could help. After introducing them, An Rubao said: "These team leaders will tell you How to do it, supervise each of you to work at the same time, if you find someone lazy, immediately settle the salary and leave, and you will not use it in the future. Also, we have to compare the work done by all the teams every day. If you do more in one day and do well, each person will be given an extra five cents as a reward." When everyone heard this, they all applauded.

An Rubao then divided the people into six teams, with about 20 people in each team, and the leader of each team led the people to the area marked out yesterday.

The back mountain becomes more barren as it gets to the top of the mountain. Therefore, when Anrubao planned, it started from a place about 50 meters away from the top of the mountain. Turn, on the side with the most sun, the soil is relatively fertile, so people dig deep, and use stones to build a series of dams from high to low. These have been agreed with the team leaders, so he doesn't need to worry about it.

An Rubao sorted out the roster page by page. Fang raised his eyes and looked at the kid standing opposite him. He was a young man, about eleven or twelve years old. Not tall, skinny, with a disheveled face, a weak gust of wind can blow people away. When An Rubao saw him in the crowd, he frowned and left him alone.

The child was very nervous, clutching the hem of his clothes tightly with his hands, and bowed his head silently. An Rubao looked at him for a while and asked, "What's your name? Why do you want to work here?"

The child bit his lip and said: "I...my name is An Shuisheng, I...I may be done, don't look at me as thin, in fact I...I have strength, I can do anything, just let me Let's go..." He didn't say why.

An Rubao pressed his forehead, and said: "I can't use you, you are too young, these jobs are too heavy, it is not suitable for you, you should go back first."

An Shuisheng became anxious when he heard this, his eyes were red as if he was about to cry, and he said repeatedly: "I...I really can do anything, please, please accept me, I won't be lazy, I...I really...really..." He choked up as he spoke.

An Ruxi happened to come over to check on the situation at this time, and said to An Rubao, "This child is also poor. His father is Anzheng. He was ill two years ago and couldn't do heavy work. There is also a younger brother who can only leave at home. , the family relies on him and Ah Mo for support, life is miserable, this kid is also strong, he does a lot of work in the field, if you think that... just... just accept him."

An Shuisheng also looked at An Rubao eagerly, like a begging puppy, An Rubao's heart softened, he sighed secretly, and said: "Well, I'll accept you, but you can't follow up the mountain... don't let me go up the mountain... Worry, wait for me to finish, I have some errand work here, and I just need to find someone, why don't you just follow me, and the wages will remain the same."

At first An Shuisheng didn't want him to go up the mountain, he thought it was over, tears came down, when the other party finished speaking, he was stunned by the sudden surprise, it was An Ruxi who patted his head, He smiled and said, "What's the matter, I'm so stupid, why don't you thank my boss soon." An Shuisheng finally came to his senses, hurriedly bowed his thanks, and showed a joyful smile on his tear-stained face.

An Rubao waved his hand, and first said to An Ruxi: "My father just left in the courtyard, please sit in the uncle's room." Then he said to An Shuisheng: "Come with me." Lead him to the river go.