The door of the house opened, and Grandpa Qin, Father Qin, and Qin Shouye came out. Suddenly, the originally lively courtyard became silent, and everyone looked at them nervously and excitedly, hoping to guess something from their expressions.
In fact, the expressions of Grandpa Qin and the others did betray their inner feelings. Whether it was Qin Fang's promotion or Qin Fang's arrangements, it was a happy event for the Qin family. Since it was a happy event, even if Grandpa Qin and the others wanted to pretend, they could not completely hide their inner joy.
Therefore, seeing the expressions of Grandpa Qin and others, the rest of the Qin family felt relieved. After all, Qin Fang became a general, which was good news.
Grandma Qin glanced at the Qin family members in the yard, then stepped forward and asked, "Old man, what did Ah Fang say in the letter?"
Grandpa Qin glanced at his wife, then said to everyone, "Come in and listen."
As soon as Grandpa Qin said this, everyone immediately went into the house. Once they entered the house, everyone sat down and waited for Grandpa Qin to speak. In the Qin family, although it seemed that Grandma Qin was the head of the family, in fact, Grandpa Qin was the head of the family. He was the backbone of the Qin family. His decisions were based on the overall situation of the Qin family. As long as he decided something, no one in the Qin family dared to object.
When Second Aunt Qin saw that everyone had sat down and Grandpa Qin hadn't spoken yet, she asked anxiously, "Dad, what do you want to tell us? Is it what Ah Fang said in the letter?" She was not a bad person by nature, but she was a little impatient. She always said that she wanted to take advantage of others, but once something happened, she was very timid.
Grandpa Qin glanced at her and said directly, "Afang wrote this time to tell you one thing, that is, he has made meritorious service at the border, and was awarded the title of a fifth-rank military officer thanks to the emperor's love. We don't know what a fifth-rank military officer is, but a general is an official higher than a county magistrate."
Hearing Grandpa Qin's confirmation, everyone took a deep breath. Everyone present was in a state of shock. No one had expected that their Qin family would change its ways.
Aunt Qin said, "I knew that Ah Fang was a promising man." She was not envious, she was just happy. Although Qin Fang was the eldest son of the first wife, he was also Niu Da's eldest brother. If the eldest brother was doing well, how could he not take care of the younger brother? Besides, her husband was Qin Fang's second uncle, and she was Qin Fang's second aunt, she was proud.
It was such a happy thing, even if everyone thought that Second Aunt Qin was a hindsighter, no one would blame her.
Grandma Qin said with a smile: "Old man, what else? What else did Ah Fang say?"
Grandpa Qin continued, "Afang has been promoted now, so he is not at the border anymore. He has been transferred to a place called Yunxiang County to serve as a city guard general. The meaning of a city guard general is to protect the safety of the people in the county. The conditions there are relatively poor, and all the rich people in the county have moved away, leaving only a few. Even if they are almost the same, they are still richer than the people in our town and our village.
After becoming the general defending the city, Afang bought a thousand acres of land for the military camp. The produce from the land was for the soldiers in the military camp to eat. It was the land of the military camp, not his own land. "Grandpa Qin emphasized, lest everyone think that this was his grandson's own land, "Afang said that although the land belonged to the military camp, the person who managed the land was someone he found, with a monthly salary of 500 wen. The person who managed the land did not have to work, and the soldiers did the work on the land, but the person who managed the land had to tell the soldiers how to work. To put it bluntly, he wanted to find someone who was good at farming. This is what I am going to talk about next, and Afang emphasized it.
To manage the fields, one needs an experienced person, so he thought of one of his own people. Ah Fang meant that he was now in Yunxiang County, and his position would not change for a year or two, so he hoped that we would go to Yunxiang County. He assigned everyone a military camp farm manor for us to manage. In addition to the fields, there was also a yard for everyone to live in. If you take this job, you have to live in the manor and manage the manor, and you will receive a monthly salary of 500 wen, and the food will be provided by the manor. In short, it is a job with food and accommodation, and a monthly salary of 500 wen. He asked everyone, do you want to go
Of course, the man was in charge of the farm, with food and lodging provided, and he earned 500 coins a month. The woman was in charge of the farm's kitchen, because there were soldiers stationed in the farm, and there were hundreds of soldiers, so someone had to be responsible for the daily meals. So the woman followed him to the farm, with food and lodging provided, and he also earned 500 coins a month. "It's not easy to cook for hundreds of people, and money is naturally not that easy to earn.
Grandpa Qin didn't wait for their answer and continued, "If you don't go, Afang has made arrangements for you. If you stay at home, he, as your nephew, will give you ten acres of top-quality land. It's just that his nephew is very filial."
Ten acres of top-quality land, one hundred taels of silver.
If you bring your family to Yunxiang County, you can earn 12 taels of silver a year, and you can earn 100 taels in nine years. Of course, going to Yunxiang County means leaving your hometown after all.
But this person is also very clear. If he stays at home, Qin Fang will give him ten acres of high-quality land, which is considered to be fulfilling his nephew's care for his uncle. He should not ask him for money in other names in the future.
Grandpa Qin: "What do you think?"
Mother Qin pursed her lips and said nothing. Giving ten mu of prime land and one hundred taels was her son's own money. Going to the military camp to manage the fields was a military event. Mother Qin was naturally reluctant to let her son give out one hundred taels, but she also knew that since her son said so, he must have the money on hand. The eldest son and his wife were smart people. Since they arranged it this way, they naturally had their reasons. So even if Mother Qin was a little concerned, she would not speak up. She knew that she had to look further ahead. She didn't understand the big principles, but she knew what was good and what was bad.
Uncle Qin San first said: "We will go to Yunxiang County together." Uncle Qin San is now a sensible man. He has no son. Even if he finds a live-in son-in-law for his daughter in the future, his eldest nephew will be his daughter's backer. His daughter has no brothers or sisters, and the only ones who can support her are her cousins. In this way, he has the opportunity to get closer to his eldest nephew's family. Why not
If she went there, it would be even better if her eldest nephew had a good young man to introduce to her daughter. Therefore, Uncle Qin San almost didn't have to hesitate.
Aunt Qin San listened to her husband. Moreover, she could think of what Uncle Qin San could think of. She followed the eldest wife to Yunxiang County, where she had a nephew, the military officer, to take care of her. It was better than being here. Although the Qin family had a large population and no one dared to bully them, there were many gossips about her behind her back, saying that she couldn't give birth to a son and that the Qin family was extinct. Every time she heard it, she could only swallow her tears. She didn't dare to tell her husband about this, for fear that her husband would be sad too. She couldn't give birth to a son, and it was good enough that her husband didn't want her. If her husband heard this again, she couldn't imagine it.
The first wife of the Qin family did not hesitate, but the second wife of the Qin family did.
Although Aunt Qin likes to take advantage of others, she is not very willing to leave her hometown and go far away. Here, she has a son and a daughter, and no one will gossip about her, but if she goes far away, she will be unfamiliar with the place.
Grandpa Qin looked at Uncle Qin: "Second brother, what do you say?"
Uncle Qin thought for a moment and asked, "Old man has gone, is big brother going?"
Father Qin looked at Mother Qin.
Mother Qin said, "Since Father and Mother are gone, we will go too. Fang and his wife don't have anyone to help them over there, and we won't feel at ease if we don't go. But if Father and Mother don't go, we won't go either. As the eldest son and daughter-in-law, we can't be absent when Fang is away, otherwise Fang will blame us for not taking good care of his grandparents if he finds out."
What Qin's mother said was very meaningful. First of all, they wanted to go, and this was also said to Grandpa Qin and Grandma Qin. Secondly, Qin Fang was worried about his grandparents. Grandpa Qin and Grandma Qin loved Qin Fang the most. When they heard that their eldest grandson was worried about them, they naturally didn't want to let him go. Even if they didn't want to go at first, they would be worried after hearing this.
No, Grandpa Qin and Grandma Qin were planning to go there now. So Grandma Qin said, "We are not going to live there forever. We will go there to see the situation first. If we miss home, we can come back." She also missed her eldest grandson. He had made a lot of progress, so she would always go to see him.
Grandpa Qin also thought so. He was old and he also believed in the saying that fallen leaves return to their roots. But that was after death. Now that he was still alive, he also wanted to go there and take a look. "Listen to your mother, let's go and take a look too."
Uncle Qin: "Then we'll go too."
Aunt Qin followed up and said, "Father, Mother, if we don't go, will Fang really buy us ten acres of prime land?"
When Uncle Qin heard his wife ask this, he looked at her in surprise. Doesn't his wife plan to go
Grandpa Qin said, "Yes, that's what Ah Fang said in the letter, so we will definitely do it."
Aunt Qin said again: "Dad, then we won't go. If Afang buys us ten acres of high-quality land, can we send Niudan with us?" At this point, she chuckled and said, "Niudan won't have much future with us. It's better for him to follow his eldest brother. I don't ask Niudan to study hard and become the top scholar like Shoucheng. I just want him to learn to read and write, and then Afang can find him a good job in the future." She knew her own son well. He was not destined to be a scholar.
Since her daughter Erya could earn money by embroidering handkerchiefs, the second house had some spare money, and Aunt Qin also wanted to send her son to a private school. But she had no choice but to send her son to a private school because he didn't make any money. So, Aunt Qin gave up. She couldn't waste money on a private school, right? So now that her eldest nephew has a promising future, she will let her son go there, and when he grows up, she can always find a good job for him, right