Yingbao quickly patted her to comfort her: "Just forget it, maybe a monkey stole it."
In fact, there are no monkeys in this mountain area, but there are wild boars, roe deer, and wolves.
But they are rarely seen during the day, and these wild animals will stay away from adults as soon as they see them.
But it is very dangerous for children to encounter. In the eyes of wild boars and wolves, children are equivalent to cubs that are easy to hunt.
"Uh...was it really stolen by a monkey?" Jiang Wu had seen monkeys before. In the market, people who performed tricks often led monkeys to beg for food.
Those little monkeys wearing little red shirts can not only do somersaults, but also nod and bow to people.
Jiang Wu sobbed, wiped his eyes and stopped.
"Your sister lied to you. It wasn't the monkey that stole it at all." Wei Zhan was trying to refute her.
Yingbao: ...I really want to beat someone up.
Yuanbao also came over and agreed: "We don't have monkeys here, it must have been stolen by some thief."
Hu Zi nodded heavily: "Yes!"
Yingbao glared at them and pulled her brother, who was about to cry again, out of the bamboo forest.
After returning home, Yingbao told her two younger brothers the story of a crybaby who turned into a top scholar in the imperial examination.
In the evening, while eating, Jiang Sanlang discussed with his elder and second brothers about going out to buy food. "Pingjiang County is not plagued by bandits, so we have to go buy some food early."
Jiang Dalang: "We should have enough food at home, why do we need to buy more?"
"It's not our family, it's the villagers who want to buy it." Jiang Erlang said.
Jiang Sanlang: "Not only the villagers have to buy, but our family has to buy too. Although we have enough food at home, we have to repair the walls of our houses. I want to go to other villages to invite more people to come over and repair the walls and houses as soon as possible."
When you hire someone to do something for you, the wages are small, but you have to provide them with two meals a day.
Jiang Sanlang took a sip of porridge and picked up a piece of pickled cabbage with chopsticks. "Let's rebuild and raise the walls of our three houses. We need to bury broken porcelain pieces on top. We can be sure that we will be able to resist the bandits when they come again."
Since the village wall project is huge, we should build our own wall higher first.
The wall of Doctor Zhang's house in the town is more than ten feet high, so ordinary people cannot climb up. In addition, her gate is thick, so the bandits cannot break it open.
During this bandit attack, all of Doctor Zhang's neighbors took refuge in her home. She saved more than ten families with her own efforts.
Therefore, the courtyard wall must not be taken lightly.
"Well, let's find a few people to go to Pingjiang County together." Jiang Dalang said, "If we just carry it on our shoulders, it will probably take more than ten days."
Jiang Sanlang: "When we come back, hire a few horse carriages or mule carts. Don't try to save money. The sooner we get back, the safer it will be."
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Jiang Dalang nodded.
The next morning, Jiang Dalang and several villagers set out to Pingjiang County to buy grain.
Jiang Sanlang went to the neighboring village to hire people, and hired dozens of villagers who were proficient in building houses.
Dozens of people worked together to make adobe bricks, and the walls of the three courtyards of the Jiang family were all demolished and rebuilt.
Old Man Jiang went out to buy wood and bamboo, and then went to the brick kiln to order a lot of bricks and tiles.
Within two days, bricks, tiles, wood, bamboo, etc. were all delivered, and even the new doors and windows were delivered.
Then they started to build the roof, put on tiles, dig the foundation and build the wall.
Not only did Jiang Sanlang's family repair the original house, they also built several side rooms.
The wall, which was two meters high and more than half a meter wide, completely enclosed the houses and yards of the three households of the Jiang family.
Watchtowers were built at the four corners of the wall, which could accommodate three people standing inside and shooting arrows at the same time.
From a distance, the wall looks like a small square city wall, tall and solid, giving a full sense of security.
After the wall was built, Jiang Sanlang immediately had two thick doors installed.
There is only one gate, which can accommodate carriages. Only after entering the gate can you see three courtyard gates in parallel.
The distance between the main gate of the wall and the courtyard gate is three meters, which does not affect the lighting feng shui of the courtyard gate.
On the day the gate was installed, Yingbao climbed up the wall from the stairs in the yard and walked around the wall.
The watchtower is very well built and you can see far away from here.
There were busy villagers all around, some cutting bamboo, some making adobe bricks, and the children walking barefoot in the mud.
Yuanbao, Huzi, Wei Zhan and other children also ran up to the wall, jumping and dancing on it with laughter. Their grandmother caught up with a bamboo stick and beat them up, so they reluctantly came down.
On the second day after the construction of Jiang's wall was completed, the village guards were heard beating gongs and shouting, saying that the imperial army had defeated the rebels and a large number of bandits had fled in all directions, and asked the villagers in each village to be vigilant and guard against sneak attacks by the bandits.
When Jiang Sanlang heard the message, he immediately sent someone to notify each household in the village, asking them to gather together at night to prevent any trouble.
Yingbao rode Yoyo secretly down the mountain to find Mrs. Wen and Sister Wen at the village school.
Everyone has been busy tidying up the house recently, and even the clan school is closed. Mrs. Wen assigned homework to Yingbao and asked her to study at home.
"Master! Sister Wen!" Yingbao got off the deer's back and ran into the school.
Wen Shu came out of the house, holding a book in his hand. "Yingbao, why are you here?"
"Where is the master?" Yingbao asked.
"She's in the house, come in." Wen Shu led Yingbao into the house.
Ying Bao didn't waste any words and directly pulled Xiao Zhenniang and said, "Master, come with me to Nanpo. The village said that there will be bandits causing trouble. My father asked the villagers to gather together at night."
Xiao Zhenniang also heard the message from the village guard and was worried about what to do. Since the young apprentice asked them to go to Nanpo, it was just what she wanted.
"Okay, I'll clean it up first."
Xiao Zhenniang said to her daughter, "You should also pack your things and take them with you."
"Yeah." Wen Shu nodded and pulled Yingbao to the next room.
The wet nurse lived in the same room with Wen Shu, and she quickly helped the young master pack his clothes and valuables.
Wen Shu didn’t have much stuff, so he only packed two packages and that was it.
The nurse rolled up the bedclothes and tied it tightly with a rope.
Wen Fu bought a wheelbarrow from somewhere, piled the family's grain bags, bedding and other items on the wheelbarrow, and pushed it.
Xiao Zhenniang and her daughter's wet nurse only carried a package and followed Yingbao.
Yingbao didn't see Mrs. Wen San, so she asked curiously, "Where's Mrs. Lin?"
Wen Shu whispered, "Third aunt lives in Patriarch Chen's house."
Yingbao was puzzled.
Wen Tian caused Patriarch Chen's grandson to break his leg, yet he still accepted her to live in his home
Wen Shu saw Ying Bao's confusion and said, "Third Auntie got along very well with the eldest daughter-in-law of the Chen clan, so she moved to her house."
In fact, it was because his mother and his third aunt had a rift and had a fight that the third aunt moved to the Chen family.
But how can I tell Yingbao about this
Yingbao took Wenshu and her master back home and settled them in her own room.
Anyway, her kang is very big, so it is no problem for four or five people to sleep on it.
As for Wen Fu, he was arranged to live in a newly built side room.
Chunniang was not surprised to see her daughter bringing Madam Wen and others over. She chatted with Xiao Zhenniang for a while and then hurried to cook.
Now there are dozens of people to feed in the family, and she and her elder and younger sisters-in-law are busy every day.
Lunch consisted of rice, cabbage, tofu, salad cucumber, fried leeks, and pickled vegetables.
In the afternoon, there were steamed buns, rice porridge, pickled vegetables, and cold-mixed cucumber and cabbage.
Although there was no meat, it was filling and the side dishes tasted good. The workers didn't mind and went back to work after the meal without taking any time off.
That night, a few torches were faintly visible, circling the village and then heading towards the south slope.
Jiang Sanlang, who was standing in the watchtower, saw this scene and immediately ordered the villagers to pick up their bows and arrows and squat on the wall to be ready for battle.