“I’m willing to sign the deed of sale,” said a woman who came in.
The courtyard was instantly silent.
The woman was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing a white washed and two patches, but still clean and dry.
The village chief glanced triumphantly at the other village chiefs and stood up, “Have you thought it over?”
“I’ve thought about it.”
The woman was in her thirties, had two sons, her man had fallen ill two years before, had no money for medical treatment and had died early, she was pulling up two children and serving her in-laws, the family life was imaginable.
The village head’s daughter-in-law was the first to go to her, and just now her in-laws followed her, and after hearing that they were reluctant, she went home and persuaded her until this time, and was easily persuaded, so she didn’t even make dinner and rushed over.
“OK, I know.”
The woman turned and left.
The village chief coughed and sat back unsteadily. If there was one, there was two, and it was only right to think a little longer about something this big.
“I say, everyone, hurry back while it’s still dark, don’t wait for a while, it will be too dark for your old eyes to see the road, and then you’ll fall out on your old arms and legs.”
“What’s the hurry, there’s only one here, there’s still nine to go.”
“There’s no rush, the Song family’s workshop hasn’t been built yet, so there’s no rush to recruit people.”
……
The Song family ate happily together, and Song Lin swallowed the steamed buns in his mouth, “Lao Er and I have looked after the bricks and timber today, and when the foundations are cleared tomorrow, we will have them delivered to us.”
“Then we won’t go out on the stall tomorrow, we’ll stay home and help.”
Song Shu said.
“No need for you guys, it’s time to get out of the stall, I’m here at home.”
Song Lin was full of energy.
“Your elder brother is right, you should go out to the stall, it’s two taels of silver a day.”
This was something that Grandma Song dared to say only in front of her family. If the village people heard this, they would be swarming to the door to ask about the method of making spicy hotpot.
Song Sanxiao put down the chopsticks in her hand and coughed with a serious face, “Mother, I’m not too young anymore, can you see if you can give me some money every day?”
“What do you need money for?”
Grandma Song had long noticed that something was wrong with him these days, going to a stall and wearing new clothes, what did he want?
“I ……”
Song Sanxiao panted, “I, I want to invite Xu Laosan and the others for a drink some day.”
“Dogs can’t change their ways, not even a penny for you! Old San, I’m warning you once more, all the money in the family is for Si’er to use when he goes to the capital to catch his exams, don’t even think about giving you a penny.”
“Mother ……”
“Shut up and eat!”
Song San Xiao reluctantly picked up his chopsticks again, he was at least a big boy of eighteen years old and didn’t even have a copper coin in his pocket.
“Isn’t it possible that Third Uncle has a girl he likes?”
Song Wangyue suddenly came up with a question.
Song San Xiao was startled, the chopsticks in his hand fell to the ground and subconsciously denied, “Which, which has ……”
This reaction of his was so abnormal that the table looked at each other, before looking at him in unison.
Song Sanxiao’s heart jumped as he was looked at, bending down to pick up the chopsticks, “They’re all dirty, I’ll go wash them.”
“Lao-san.”
When he heard this cold cry from Grandma Song, Song Sanxiao’s hand shivered and the chopsticks he had just picked up fell back to the ground.
“No, there’s really nothing! If you don’t believe me, ask your second brother and sister-in-law.”
If he dared to say that he had fallen in love with Miss Qi, his family would guarantee that he would not be allowed to go to the county even once.
Grandma Song looked to the two Song Shu.
They shook their heads in confusion. Song San Xiao did not leave the stall day after day, and they did not see which girl he liked.
But Grandma Song looked grave, “Old Third, if you really have a girl you like, come back and tell Mother, and I will ask someone to inquire about her, and if she agrees, Mother will help you marry her. But if you dare to have any unwarranted thoughts about her, I will break your legs!”
……
The next day.
After the three Song Shu had left, Song Lin and Song Laozi went to level the foundation.
In a few moments, the village headman came over with a dozen people, and with a wave of his hand, the crowd flew to work with their tools.
The village chief stood at the edge with his hands backwards, “Song Gui, come here.”
Elder Song stuck his shovel in the ground and walked over.
The village headman’s eyes were fixed on the people working and he said to him, “Where are the people, I’ve recruited them all, see when you can get them to sign the deed of sale?”
“Young master Gu said to bring the deed of sale later and just have them put their handprints on it.”
As he said this, he heard the movement of the carriage and said, “Here they are.”
The village chief and he arrived at the gate just as Gu Yi got off the carriage.
“Grandpa, the village headman.”
The village chief said attentively, “Young master Gu, wait a moment, I’ll call out for someone.”
“I’ll trouble the village headman.”
“No trouble, no trouble.”
The village chief strides off to call out to the men, and in no time at all, he has all ten women here.
These women could not read or write, so Gu Yi gave the village chief the deed of sale, and the village chief read it to them word by word. Hearing that it was the same as the village chief had said, except that the secret recipe could not be divulged, and that the rest was no different from the ordinary, the ten apprehensive hearts went back to their original places, and one by one they went forward and put their handprints down.
The village chief respectfully handed the hand-stamped deed of sale to Gu Yi, who took it with his hand and handed it to Xiao Si, looking askance at Song Shen.
Song Shen stammered, “You, you go outside to help on the foundation, the work, the pay starts today.”
The ten women were overjoyed, they had just been wondering when they would be able to come to work at home, but they didn’t expect to be able to earn money today.
Only after the village chief and the women had left did Song Ming’s daughter-in-law come out of the house, and Song Wan Yue took two copies of the deeds of sale and asked her and Er Ya to put their fingerprints on them and follow them to work.
Gu Yi got up, “Little girl, let’s go, if you don’t go, Dr. Yao will go crazy.”
……
Dr. Yao was really going crazy, furious!
Song Wangyue, who was learning acupuncture, was a three-day fisherman and a two-day sunbather, not smart enough and still refused to work hard. He really regretted that he had agreed to teach her acupuncture for the sake of the pill’s formula, and had lost his reputation for nothing.
“Doctor Yao, I’m here.”
With a light and cheerful voice, Song Wangyue lifted her feet and walked into the house.
Doctor Yao grunted heavily, not even raising his eyelids.
Song Wangyue smiled and jerked the book out of his hand, “I’ve memorised all the human acupuncture points, so you old man start teaching me acupuncture.”
Doctor Yao was incredulous, “Miss Song, you can’t talk big, it’s very important to know the acupuncture points, if you make a slight mistake, you won’t be curing the disease but harming people.”
“You can test me.”
“Shen Ting.”
Song Wangyue pointed it out to him unhurriedly.
“The hundredth meeting.”
Song Wangyue turned around and pointed with precision.
“Fengchi.”
Song Wangyue remained correct.
“Juqui, Shenqui, Tianshu, Dazhi, Lingtai, Fate Gate Tianzong, Guangyuan ……”
The faster Doctor Yao spoke, the faster Song Wan Yue followed his rhythm and pointed out all the acupuncture points without panic.
“You, when did you remember this?”
