The two men took a step forward, and seeing Jiang Quan retreating cautiously, they hurriedly said, "Don't be afraid, we just want to ask you something."
Jiang Quan was still on guard, "You guys won't go to the village to find out, why are you following me secretly?"
"Sorry, we didn't mean to do that." The young man was so focused on digging the ground that he didn't notice them.
A square-faced man said, "We just want to find out if there is a person named Wen Fu here."
Jiang Quan frowned and looked them both up and down.
Seeing that their hair was dirty, their clothes and pants were tattered, and they were barefoot, they were about the same age as my father, so I became more alert. "Can't you ask others? There are so many people in the village, why are you sneaking up to ask me?"
The square-faced man was silent for a moment, then said, "To tell you the truth, we two brothers don't have an identity pass. Recently, inspections have been strict everywhere. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, we can't disturb the village before we are sure that the person we are looking for is here. Wen Fu is our relative, and we are here to seek refuge with him. Please let us know, brother."
After hearing what he said, Jiang Quan believed it a little.
But it was not appropriate to rashly bring two refugees into the village.
After a moment's silence, he nodded and said, "There is indeed a person named Wen Fu, but I don't know if he is the person you are looking for."
The other person was overjoyed and said quickly, "It must be him. We have inquired before. He worked as a servant in the Wen family. He came to Qinchuan County with the fourth wife of the Wen family earlier, so we rushed all the way here."
Jiang Quan believed it a little more after hearing it, "Okay, you guys wait here, I'll go ask Uncle Wen."
After saying that, he ran away with the chisel.
Emma, this is so scary, these two guys look like bandits.
No, I must tell my uncle that they are here to catch them.
Humph! Do you think he is a child? What kind of people have you not seen
Whether they are Uncle Wen’s relatives or not can only be determined after the interrogation.
Jiang Quan ran all the way back to the village.
Today, the southern slope has become a large village with rows of houses standing side by side.
Each household's yard is of the same size, and the vegetable gardens in front of the yards are also neatly arranged.
Most of the villagers have moved here to live, and children can be seen running around and playing on the wide and compacted village roads.
Jiang Sanlang was instructing the villagers to build a mushroom shed when he suddenly saw Jiang Quan running over breathlessly: "Uncle San, there are two refugees in the bamboo forest. They said they are looking for Uncle Wen and they are Uncle Wen's relatives."
Refugees
The refugees that appear at this time must not be taken lightly.
Jiang Sanlang frowned and immediately asked a few people to go to the bamboo forest to block the enemy, and asked a child to find Wen Fu.
Wen Fu was helping out at the school. When he heard someone was looking for him, he hurried over to the bamboo forest with Jiang Sanlang.
Listening to Jiang Quan's narration, if he guessed correctly, these two people should be his former subordinates.
When we arrived at the bamboo forest, we saw two people squatting at the edge of the forest looking around. When we saw many villagers gathering around, the two were startled and turned around and tried to hide in the bamboo forest.
"Zhang Meng! Xu Kun!" Wen Fu shouted.
The two paused, turned to look at Wen Fu, tears welling up in their eyes, "Brother... Fu!"
Wen Fu quickly stepped forward and hugged Zhang Meng and Xu Kun who also rushed over. The three of them all had tears soaking their collars.
Seeing this, Jiang Sanlang asked the villagers to disperse first while he waited aside.
The three of them talked in low voices for a while, and Wen Fu came to Jiang Sanlang and clasped his fists, "These two are my sworn brothers. Now they have nowhere to live, so please take them in, Mr. Jiang."
Jiang Sanlang frowned and looked at the two people, and asked, "Are their backgrounds clean?"
"Innocent. I guarantee it with my life. They are definitely not criminals and have nothing to do with the bandits." Wen Fu swore.
Jiang Sanlang looked at the two of them and asked, "Do you have a household registration pass?"
The two were stunned for a moment, and Xu Kun said, "To be honest, we came from Yizhou and don't have a household registration pass."
"Yizhou? Is it the Yizhou where wars often happen?" Jiang Sanlang had heard of Yizhou because whenever the imperial court recruited soldiers, a small half of them went to that place.
"Yes." Xu Kun said, "We were originally soldiers guarding the border. We were sent back to our hometown because we were injured. But life in the countryside is not easy, and we have no relatives at home, so we came to seek refuge with Brother Fu."
In fact, there are more reasons than this, but this is all they can say.
Xu Kun stretched out his right hand to show Jiang Sanlang. Only a thumb and half of the index finger were left on his right hand, and the other three fingers were all gone.
He pointed at Zhang Meng again, "He has injured the tendons in one of his legs."
Jiang Sanlang turned to look at Zhang Meng, and saw that he was indeed walking with a limp.
"In that case, come with me first." Since they were neither deserters nor bandits, Jiang Sanlang felt much more relieved.
Looking at these two people again, although they are in a miserable state, they are full of righteousness, not like those petty cowards.
Wen Fu is a servant of the Wen family, and his every word and action is connected with the Wen family, so there shouldn't be any big problems.
Jiang Sanlang took the two of them back to the village and went straight to see Patriarch Chen to explain the matter.
Patriarch Chen did not object to taking them in. He only said that they should help the village with work first. If they performed well, he could explain the situation to the head of the village and apply for a new household registration for them.
"If they behave themselves, they can apply for refugee status. I see that although they are disabled, they are healthy. Why not let them help clean up the village roads?"
A large area of construction is underway in the village, and the road surface will inevitably be damaged during the transportation of construction materials, so people have to be found to fill and repair the road.
This job is tiring, tedious, and unprofitable, so no one wants to do it.
It's just right that two strong laborers have arrived, it would be a waste if we don't use them.
"That's fine. When the time comes, each household can contribute some food to support their lives," said Jiang Sanlang.
Since we are helping the village to level the road, we are working for the entire village. There is no reason to ask one family to pay money and provide food, so the whole village must work together.
The clan leader had no objection: "Let's do it this way. Let's have someone calculate the cost later. The food rations and daily expenses for these two people will be shared equally by the whole village."
"good."
Jiang Sanlang had met with the clan leader, and Zhang Meng and Xu Kun also had a clear path forward.
He took them to a thatched cottage next to his vegetable garden and said, "You two can stay here temporarily. When you have status, I will allocate a piece of land for you to build a house."
Chuchu didn't come back, and Wei Zhan had been living with Huzi, so the hut had been vacant, perfect for the two of them to stay there temporarily.
"Thank you, Jiang Cunzheng." Zhang Meng and Xu Kun clasped their fists towards Jiang Sanlang. They were very happy and did not mind the small thatched cottage at all.
Jiang Sanlang nodded, went back and brought them two old quilts, two old jackets, two pairs of old shoes, and some pots and pans.
Afterwards, he asked the villagers to collect some rice, flour and salt so that the two of them could cook their own meals.
The next day, Zhang Meng and Xu Kun officially started working.
One carried soil to fill the pothole, and the other leveled the road surface, and they did their work without regrets.
Jiang Sanlang observed them for a few days and was relieved to see that there was nothing unusual.
It is already the middle of winter and the weather is extremely cold.
The construction of houses in the village has come to an end and the school has also been built.
This school was jointly funded by Jiang Sanlang, the clan leader and several clan elders. It was divided into two courtyards, one for boys and one for girls, with twelve rooms. Together with the interior decoration furniture, desks and chairs, it cost a total of more than two hundred taels of silver.
After sharing the money, Jiang Sanlang paid more than forty taels.
The money is worth it because the children of Jiangjia Village can come here to go to school in the future.
The boys' school has six rooms and a courtyard, and the girls' school is the same, with a high wall separating the two courtyards.
The first three rooms are classrooms, and the last three rooms can be used as residences for the gentleman's family.
Not long after the school was built, Mrs. Wen moved in with her daughter and servants, and accepted several female students at a time.
These girls are not very old, ranging from six to ten years old.
The reason why the villagers are willing to spend money to send their daughters to school is that they hope that they can learn to read and have medical skills like Yingbao and Erni.
I don’t ask for a career as a doctor to support my family in the future, but I hope my daughter can find a good husband.