Old man Yuan dragged a bamboo basket to the field, and bent down to pick up a rice ear from time to time. Although he could bend down once in ten or so steps, there were not many ears of rice he could pick up.
Who doesn't check the rice roughly when they take it away
Therefore, there are not many ears of rice left in a piece of land for scavengers to pick up.
Bending down, straightening up, bending down, and straightening up again, he probably felt tired, so he just kept arching his back, so that the ups and downs of bending down and straightening up would not be too big, it would not feel so uncomfortable, and it would save some pain. strength.
After picking up a piece of land, he went to another field, and it happened that someone was harvesting nearby, so he walked over, talked to people, and chatted by the way.
"Uncle Yuan, how much did you pick up today?"
"Not much," Old Man Yuan found a place to sit down on the ridge of the field, letting people look at the ears of rice in his bamboo basket, and sighed, "It's not a good life, everyone harvested it very cleanly."
The host who was harvesting said loudly while cutting the rice: "Didn't the third and fourth go to Master Fang's house to cut the rice?"
Old man Yuan said sullenly: "I went, but there are many people going this year, so I earn twelve cents a day."
"That's a little less."
"Fortunately, we can save a lot of food at home by packing three meals."
Old man Yuan was even more unhappy, "Master Fang has invited a lot of people this year, and it will be finished in a few days."
Then someone comforted him, "After harvesting the rice, you still need to plant wheat, and you can always find work."
The sun was getting higher and higher, and the harvesting host decided to take a rest. People in the nearby fields also stopped their movements. They dropped their sickles, took water and dry food, and gathered together. They chatted, ate and rested for a while. .
"Fortunately, the harvest this year is good, but where did Master Fang invite so many people? I don't think most of them are from our neighborhood."
"Hey, you don't know, before the yamen ransacked their homes, those people had no land, and the servants had nowhere to go, so you have to come out and look for short-term labor?"
"The servant was copied, isn't that still a servant?"
"I heard that the newly arrived county magistrate released a lot of servants. Instead of selling them, they released them as good citizens. Each of them was divided into two or three acres of land."
"We don't have enough land of our own, how can we distribute it to the servants?" Someone took old man Yuan as an example, "Don't old man Yuan's family lack land?"
Old man Yuan waved his hands quickly and said: "My family has divided the land, alas, but the family is not up to date, because it sold a lot of land for medical treatment, so it can't make ends meet."
"So you still can't get sick."
"I heard people say that there is a medical office built in Beihai County, and it doesn't cost money to see a doctor."
"That's right, that's right, I've heard that too, and I've also heard people say that the state city and our county will also be built in the future. It doesn't cost money to go to the doctor to get medicine, and the middle household doesn't need money to see the doctor."
"real or fake?"
"Of course it's true. This is what Zhao Laosan, who works at the village chief's house, said."
"Beihai County, isn't that far away? Why is the medical department built there? It's built in the city and we can still go there anyway. Where is Beihai County?"
"Should we go to Zhoucheng? I heard that it is not far from Zhoucheng. The order of the medical office is the wife of the county magistrate of Beihai County, so it must be my husband's."
"I heard people say that Beihai County is very different now. There are fewer people there, and there are more capable jobs. In the past, it was twenty yuan a day, and you could find a job anywhere."
Old man Yuan couldn't help paying attention, "Is it true?"
"Of course it's true," the man said, "This news came from Lizheng's family, so how can it be false? And if you settle there, you can get the land."
The old man Yuan swallowed, and asked: "Can those who have already allocated the land also get it in the past?"
"Okay, as long as you have no land, you can transfer your household registration."
Old man Yuan began to think about it.
"Oh, Uncle Yuan, you can ask your family's third and fourth children to try it out. The land under both of their names has been sold, right? Just go over and have a look. If the land can be divided, then your family will make a lot of money. Are you still afraid that you won’t be able to support yourself in the future?”
"It's so easy to say, but it's really not easy to do. Don't say anything else, after going to Beihai County, will the family still be able to meet in the future? Do you know where Beihai County is?"
Most of the people here really don't know, they have been to the state capital as far as they go, and most of them have been to the county seat, Beihai County, and they have only heard of it.
Uncle Yuan dragged the bamboo basket back home after sunset. He went out at sunrise, and after a busy day, the bamboo basket was only a third full of rice ears.
He put the bamboo basket under the eaves, and the eldest daughter-in-law came over to take a look, without saying anything, took out the ears of rice inside and hung them in the yard, then turned around and went into the kitchen to continue working.
Old Man Yuan asked, "Where are the third and fourth children?"
The people in the kitchen responded, "I don't know, I came back a long time ago, and I don't know where I went."
Old man Yuan frowned, and was about to speak, when his two sons came back from the outside, both of them were wet, with two wet clothes in their hands, he knew they were taking a bath in the river, by the way Wash the clothes too.
Old man Yuan took a look at the clothes hanging in the yard, only to realize that their clothes were not on them. Obviously, the old family and the second family did not wash their clothes.
Old Man Yuan sighed and made up his mind. After his two sons finished drying their clothes, he said, "Come with me, I have something to tell you."
The people in the kitchen probably heard the sound of chopping vegetables getting louder.
Yuan Sanlang and Yuan Silang didn't care, they went out to talk with his father.
It's just that they couldn't help being surprised, "To Beihai County?"
"Yes," the old man Yuan said, "Trees are moved to die, and people are moved to live. Our family can't move now. In March and April this year, the family's food will not be able to pick up. We have to pay back the taxes this year." I borrowed the food from your uncle and your uncle's family before, and there is even less food left. If this continues, it will become more and more difficult every year... "
Yuan Sanlang and Yuan Silang's faces were very ugly, and they interrupted him: "Father, the land that my family sold me and the fourth child was for my mother's medical treatment, so the eldest brother and the second brother have to take out a share, we can't sell us. drive us out of the land."
"It's not about driving out," Old Man Yuan said, looking at the two of them with sad eyes and helplessness: "You two go, I will definitely give you food and money, and the things in the house will be divided. Your elder brother and second brother will take advantage of the field, and the other I will share more with you."
"I don't agree!" Yuan Silang yelled, poking his neck: "It's just a separation, and it's fine if there are more brothers in the field, but we can't do without it, right? It was agreed at the beginning that the land would sell us, but the eldest brother and second brother's We also have a share."
"I can't survive," Old Man Yuan couldn't help but stretched out his hand to pat them, and said sadly and angrily, "If you divide up the rest of the field, it's better not to divide the family. With only two acres of land, you can support yourself. If you can marry a wife, can you still serve in the military?"
"I asked you to go to Beihai County, and it's not that the family will be divided immediately," he said in a gentle tone: "Go and see first, if the land can be divided, then the family will be divided. Work part-time, or come home during Chinese New Year holidays, what should be yours is always yours.”