Chapter 13 People's Suffering
"Xiumei, go find out which village this mountain belongs to." Wei Ruo ordered.
"good."
Xiumei trots towards the direction of the people. Most of the people working in the nearby fields are locals. Just ask them and you can get the answer Wei Ruo wants.
After a while, Xiumei came back and told Wei Ruo that the name of the mountain was Xiaoyang Mountain, and it belonged to an industry called Yueying Village not far away. Because the terrain was relatively steep and the cost of reclaiming terraced fields was too high, it had been left deserted. The villagers are all chopping firewood on that mountain.
"Did you ask them if they would sell it?" Wei Ruo asked.
"Of course I did."
Xiumei has been by Wei Ruo's side for so many years, how can she not know what Wei Ruo thinks.
"Although the person I asked is not from Yueying Village, he said that as long as the price is right, the villagers will definitely agree to sell it. The people in Xingshan County have had a hard time because of the Japanese pirates, and Yueying Village has suffered a lot. , other villages still have a few acres of arable fields, and Yueying Village is all barren hills that are not easy to cultivate."
"Well, I see."
Nurse Zhang listened to the conversation between the master and the servant, and couldn't help laughing.
"Miss, don't you want to buy this Xiaoyang Mountain?"
"Just asking, to understand the situation." Wei Ruo said casually.
"It's okay to ask, but the idea of buying the mountain should be kept in your stomach, Miss. Our Captain's Mansion only bought Mantou Mountain after coming to Xingshan County for three years, even though the people in Xingshan County are not living well now. It’s okay, the price of that mountain can’t be too low, less than one thousand taels of silver, don’t even think about it.”
"One thousand taels... That's really a lot of silver." Wei Ruo murmured, with a thoughtful expression.
"Miss, it's good that you know. If you miss the days in the country, then go to Mantou Mountain and take a look at your own fields, but don't do it yourself like before, and let the long-term workers see it and make a joke. of!"
Growing vegetables in the mansion, only the people in their mansion know, and the embarrassment is also thrown at home.
If she can't help but do the same outside, then this person will be lost to the whole Xingshan County.
"OK."
Wei Ruo didn't confront Mammy this time, so he really turned around and went back to Mantou Mountain.
After a few laps near the foot of the mountain, I went back.
###
In Xiaowei's Mansion, Wei Qingwan is supervising Wei Yilin's copying of "Xue Er".
Wei Yilin was active and playful since he was a child, not for reading.
Today, he was sent back by his husband because of fighting in the school. After learning about it, Yun was very angry and punished him for copying "Xue Er". Wei Qingwan was in charge of supervision.
Wei Yilin pursed his mouth, very reluctantly, did not write a few words, and looked around from time to time.
"Yi Lin, hurry up and write, otherwise you won't be able to finish writing after dark, and you will be hungry if you don't have dinner." Wei Qingwan said with a distressed face.
"Three times are too many! Sister, my good sister, you can copy for me, you can imitate, if you imitate my handwriting, mother can't tell." Wei Yilin acted like a baby and begged Wei Qingwan to help himself.
"No way..." Wei Qingwan looked embarrassed.
"Sister! My good sister! You are my only good sister!"
Hearing this "one and only", Wei Qingwan was moved.
"Then... that's fine." Wei Qingwan said, "But I will only copy it for you once, and you still have to copy the remaining two times by yourself."
"No problem!" Wei Yilin immediately cheered up, "I knew that my sister loved me the most, no more than that newcomer, who didn't know what to do every day, and today she actually asked my mother to let her go out."
"She went out? Where did she go?" Wei Qingwan asked in surprise.
"I went to the north of the city and said I went to see farming. Do you think she is weird? She likes farming so much, so she just stays in the country. Why do you want to come back?" Wei Yilin said disgustedly.
"Did mother accompany her?" Wei Qingwan asked.
"She went by herself, mother is so busy, and mother has to worry about so many things at home, so she doesn't have time to accompany her to do such things!"
"Is that so..." Wei Qingwan was thoughtful, with a slightly downcast expression.
Seeing Wei Qingwan's sad expression, Wei Yilin quickly comforted him: "Sister, don't worry, although mother is very good to her, but I'm sure, mother's heart is the same as mine, she must like you far more than Wei Qingruo !"
Wei Qingwan shook her head: "It doesn't matter, she has suffered in the countryside all these years, and her parents should treat her better. I owe her, how can she ask her parents to treat me better than her Woolen cloth?"
"Sister, you just think too much and think too much about other people." Wei Yilin said helplessly with his mouth flattened.
"We are a family, I should think about everyone, Yi Lin, you are not young anymore, you should think more about your parents, don't make trouble anymore."
"I know, I know." I promised, but I didn't take it to heart at all.
###
On the way back from the north of the city, Wei Ruo looked at the scenery along the way through the window of the carriage.
She saw many beggars begging along the street, more than anywhere else she had been.
The street is not as prosperous as she imagined in the county town, and it is not as lively as Huaibei Town.
Ask Nanny Zhang, and learned that many of them are local fishermen. Because of the Japanese pirates' troubles, they couldn't fish and lost their livelihood, so they fell to this point.
In addition, the weather has been bad in recent years, the wind and rain have not been smooth, the rice output has been greatly reduced, farmers have failed to harvest, and some people with poor foundations have been reduced to begging to survive.
Knowing the reason, Wei Ruo looked at those ragged and skinny beggars again, and couldn't help but feel a little depressed.
Especially when their sights met her, a gorgeously dressed young lady who was accompanied by servants in a carriage, Wei Ruo, a modern soul, couldn't help trembling slightly.
There was no light in their eyes. When they looked at Wei Ruo, their eyes were empty and numb. There was no jealousy or hatred, as if they had accepted this miserable life.
After walking for a while, Wei Ruo saw a hawker who was selling seafood.
After asking, I learned that the fishermen went out to fish in the middle of the night at the risk of being killed by Japanese pirates.
But because everyone's living conditions are not very good, the sales are not very good, and there are still a lot of baskets left.
Wei Ruo saw that the seafood was very fresh, so she asked Xiumei to buy them all.
Hearing that Wei Ruo said they would buy them all, Nanny Zhang, who was with her, immediately widened her eyes, and then said to Wei Ruo as tactfully as possible: "Miss, seafood is not cheap, and there are fewer people selling seafood nowadays. It’s too high, this big basket costs at least two taels of silver!”
Where did Wei Ruo get the money to buy so many things?
Take other things, and the money can't be paid, and lose the face of the school captain's mansion.
Otherwise, she would have to pay on credit first, and ask someone to go to the Captain's Mansion to collect the money, and then the Captain's Mansion would have to pay for her wayward behavior.
"Well, I know, I use my own money." Wei Ruo could see what Aunt Zhang was worried about.
Private money? Where did she get her private money?
(end of this chapter)