Looking at the mountain village that was already in front of him, Li Yan felt excited. His spiritual sense suddenly spread out, and in an instant, it covered an area of dozens of miles. After a moment, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“It turns out they are all busy in the fields.”
In his spiritual consciousness, he quickly found the location of his family.
However, among that group of people, there was a young woman and a child whom he did not recognize. But in an instant, Li Yan thought of what the monk from the Blood Leaf Sect had just said, and that they should be his sister-in-law and nephew.
Taking a deep breath, Li Yan looked at the two women beside him and pointed to the fields on one side of the mountain village in front.
"where are we going!"
After saying this, he took the lead and walked away quickly with his feet relaxed.
Gong Chenying and Zhao Min looked at each other, knowing that Li Yan had found his relatives, so they quickened their pace and followed him.
But when they thought about meeting Li Yan's family soon, the two girls' heartbeats suddenly accelerated for no reason, especially Gong Chenying, who even felt her body trembling.
In the fields, under a row of thick shades, Chang Bo and his companions had finished their lunch.
The woman called Xiaoyu and Li Yan's mother were cleaning up the dishes, Chang Bo was playing with his grandson, and Li Wei was whispering with a few neighbors who passed by about this year's harvest and the situation.
At this moment, three people were walking towards this side from a distance, attracting the attention of villagers in the nearby fields and Li Wei and others. This was because the attire of these three people was completely different from theirs. Although they were far away, they could still be seen that they were people dressed in luxurious clothes.
Li Wei stopped talking with the three people around him. At the same time, some villagers who were straightening up and wiping the sweat from their foreheads in the fields in the distance also noticed the three people approaching.
Except for Li Yan's mother who was cleaning the dishes and Xiaoyu who didn't notice, even Chang Bo picked up Xiao Wu and looked at the person who came.
The mountain village is remote and few outsiders come here on weekdays, so once a stranger enters the mountain, it will easily attract the attention of the locals.
A few years ago, the current commander of Qingshanai sent a lieutenant general here to check the number of people in the village.
But what was strange was that the lieutenant general actually suggested going to the village ancestral hall to see the belt left by Li Yan.
The lieutenant general looked at the belt for a long time, and finally, he gave Li Guoxin a strange order, ordering that their village only needed to pay 40% of the annual taxes in the future.
This decree stunned all the villagers. A 60% reduction in taxes meant more than just more food reserves for their mountain village. The various benefits it brought would multiply several times.
Especially with the accumulation of wealth over a long period of time, their place will become richer than other surrounding villages.
But these villagers are not stupid. The lieutenant general said this after seeing the belt left by Li Yan, which means that this matter must be related to that belt.
After the lieutenant general left his words, he took his men and left. This incident immediately made the village lively.
The belt that should have been gradually forgotten as time passed was once again valued by everyone. However, when Changbo's family found out about this, they did not feel any joy. Instead, Li Yan's mother ran to the ancestral hall and cried for half a day just looking at the belt.
A few days after the incident, there was no official announcement posted at the entrance of the village. This made Li Guoxin think that the lieutenant general had just said it casually, or had forgotten about the matter and did not notify the local county government.
But he did not dare to go to the county government to ask about the importance of reducing taxes. A careless word could bring harm to the entire village. As the village chief, he would easily be arrested and imprisoned for resisting taxes.
However, when the harvest season came and people from the county government came to collect grain, when the whole village seemed to have forgotten about the matter, the officials took out a notice and posted it at the entrance of the village.
It was marked that only 40% of the taxes in previous years would be collected, but the signature was not from the county magistrate, but from the commander-in-chief of Qingshanai.
This incident caused a sensation in the entire mountain village, and Li Guoxin was even more excited. After the yamen runners left, Li Guoxin thought about it and issued two orders in the village.
First, from now on, every household in the village will give one shi of their summer and autumn harvest to Changbo's family;
The second is that when going into the mountains to hunt, Changbo's family does not have to work, and Changbo's family will always have a share of the spoils from the mountains.
After he issued this order, although some people in the village remained silent at first, there was no opposition in the end. Everyone knew the reason, and one stone of grain per family was too little to save on taxes.
But after everyone agreed to Li Guoxin's order, Chang Bo refused to do it. He was honest and stubborn by nature, so he went straight to Li Guoxin and said that his ancestors had lived here for generations, but how come they lost their moral integrity because of a little profit.
As the village chief, Li Guoxin was well aware of the great blessing of this matter. After repeated persuasion, Chang Bo finally took into consideration his advanced age and the difficulty of supporting a whole family as Li Wei was half disabled.
In the end, the first clause was changed. No grain was distributed to any family, but five acres of land was required.
As for the share of the hunting profits in the mountains, Li Wei really couldn't go with them, but the young and old in his family also needed to eat meat, so he agreed.
Chang Bo's action increased his prestige in the village several times, and from then on, every year during the ancestor worship, he would place wine and meat as offerings in front of the forgotten belt.
The impact brought about by this is far more than that. As life in the mountain village gets better and better, its reputation is also growing. Even the neighboring villages within a hundred miles have gradually become aware of it.
In addition, villagers in many villages hope that their daughters can marry here, and for this purpose they constantly seek help from matchmakers in the hope of receiving a large dowry.
At the same time, it also gave their daughter a good home. For a while, all the unmarried men in the small mountain village became popular...
During the busy farming season, a stranger coming into the mountains is also very eye-catching, which makes the villagers who discovered him look at the newcomer with confusion in their hearts.
As the three people on the path got closer, even Xiaoyu and Li Yan's mother felt the different atmosphere. Then, they looked in the direction where everyone was looking with confusion.
"Grandpa, Grandpa, who are they? Their clothes are so... so blinding, Xiao Wu can't even see them clearly."
As everyone was watching, a clear child's voice was heard. Xiao Wu blinked his big eyes, trying to break free from Chang Bo's arms, pointed at the three people who were approaching, and spoke in a crisp voice.
This was the first time he had seen clothes of such beautiful colors. They were completely different from the yellowish coarse cloth clothes in the village. They shone with the unique luster of silk in the sun, making his eyes dizzy.
"Xiao Wu, be good and don't say anything."
After hearing this, Chang Bo quickly covered Xiao Wu's mouth with his rough hand. He was an experienced person and knew that those rich young men had extremely domineering tempers and it was impossible to know when they would get angry. How could he dare to let his grandson continue talking
The surrounding villagers all thought so, but soon some people's faces changed drastically.
Because Xiao Wu's voice appeared suddenly, and it was very loud when everyone around him kept silent, the young man who was the leader of the three people obviously paused, and then he quickened his pace again and headed straight for the fields of Changbo's family.
Seeing this, Li Wei's forehead immediately broke out into sweat. He didn't know why the other party listened to Xiao Wu's words and came straight to his family. His purpose was very obvious.
Although he was complaining in his heart, he made up his mind, limped forward, took a step forward, and stood in front of his father and Xiao Wu. Xiaoyu on the other side turned pale instantly.
They have all heard of the evil deeds of some young masters from noble families, who acted only based on their own likes and dislikes without any logic at all.
Li Wei took a step forward. Although Chang Bo behind him also had fear in his eyes, he could only sigh in his heart. He put Xiao Wu in his arms on the ground, then grabbed Li Wei's shoulder, trying to pull him behind him.
But at this moment, Li Wei seemed to have taken root. When Chang Bo pushed him, he only tilted his shoulder slightly, but he did not take a single step back.
"Dad, it's okay, it's just a kid's words, I can just talk to him."
Li Wei turned around and smiled at Chang Bo, then looked at the person who came again.
When Xiao Wu was put on the ground, Xiao Yu had already grabbed him and held him in her arms. Her body was trembling as she looked at Li Wei in front of her with worry in her eyes, but she bit her lips tightly.
Chang Bo also slowly walked to his son's side. The villagers who were chatting with Li Wei hesitated for a moment, then thought of the benefits Chang Bo's family had brought to them, and they slowly gathered around.
A dozen villagers in the fields in the distance had stopped what they were doing and were looking over here.
Li Wei looked at the first person, who was almost a head taller than him, with long hair draped over his shoulders and a sturdy build. He was dressed in gorgeous clothes and had an unspeakable nobility about him. He strode towards him.
In just a few breaths, the man was almost in front of him. Li Wei took a deep breath and saluted the man with his fists.
"Excuse me, sir. My child is young, and just now..."
As he was speaking, his words gradually stopped, and then a look of doubt appeared on his face, because he could now see the face of the person who came.
The man's face was full of excitement, and there was even a smile in his eyes. How could there be any anger? And he found a very familiar feeling from this man's face.
"you you… "
Li Wei was confused and looked carefully at the person who had walked in front of him. His heart was shocked and the doubt in his eyes became even stronger.
"Third brother, it's me..."
The man stopped in front of Li Wei, his face becoming more and more excited. He spoke, but his voice was choked with sobs.
As soon as he said this, his eyes fell on the hunchbacked old man next to Li Wei. At this moment, the old man was staring blankly at the newcomer.
"Dad, I'm the fifth child, the fifth child!"
Li Yan felt a lump in his throat as he looked at the old man who was much shorter than him, with many wrinkles and looked much older. With a plop, he knelt on his knees on the field stalks covered with wheat stubble and dust. In an instant, his face was covered with tears.
His two short sentences and his kneeling were so quiet that one could hear a pin drop, as if everything in the world had stopped.
Li Wei still maintained the posture of bowing, but his head moved little by little involuntarily along with Li Yan's body.
His face was full of disbelief. Looking at the young man so close to him, Li Wei's mind was in a mess.
After being stunned for a moment, Chang Bo rubbed his eyes vigorously with a rough big hand. He did this action countless times in his dreams, but every time he woke up, it was all a dream. When he woke up, he always felt extremely lost and tears streamed down his face.
Just as everyone was in a daze, a heart-wrenching cry came from behind Chang Bo, and then an old woman stumbled over and ran over.
"Wu'er, are you really Lao Wu?"
The old woman stumbled and rushed over like a madman, rushing past the crowd. When she saw the young man kneeling on the ground and looking up at her, she recognized Li Yan at a glance.
It was the Old Five whom she thought about day and night and worried about in her dreams. No matter how much Li Yan had changed, she recognized him at the first sight. She threw herself on Li Yan while screaming in grief.
"Old Five, it's really Old Five, he's my Fifth... wuwuwu..."
She kept chattering, her eyes already blurry. Suddenly she stretched out her dry old hand and stroked Li Yan's face, still muttering unconsciously.
"Oh God, please don't let me wake up from my dream, please let me do it a little longer, this, this, this is Lao Wu, these eyes, this nose, this mouth, it's Lao Wu, it's Lao Wu, wuwuwu..."
The crying echoed in the air, like sobbing and complaining, the loving mother's eyes were filled with tears and helplessness...
"Old Five, Old Five, it's really you!"
Li Wei had woken up from his confusion at this time. He stepped in front of Li Yan and looked at his face, which was full of tears and was being held up by his mother.
"Third brother, it's me, it's really me!"
Li Yan's throat choked with tears, and he turned his head to look at Li Wei.
"Little bastard, little bastard, you little bastard..."
Chang Bo stood there without moving, just staring at Li Yan in front of him. Turbid tears were already flowing down his wrinkled face, like a dry ditch in the northwest after rain. He kept muttering a sentence...