HCB Chapter 51 Disaster Relief Sites
Chapter 51 Disaster Relief Sites
At Li Wancai's suggestion, Wen Yuxia chose Xinghua Village for Wen Dashan's family.
Xinghua Village is less than 30 li from the county seat and only 5 li from Biyun Town, making transportation convenient. During the off-season, it is easy for villagers to go to the city to work or start a small business in the town.
After comparing housing prices and commodity prices in the prefectural city, county town, and towns, Wen Yuxia decisively rejected her previous decision to settle in the prefectural city and instead chose to register her household in Xinchuan County.
Grandpa had already prepared a house and money for Wen Yuxia, so why would she want to live in the county town? Had Grandpa not yet told her about the house?
Fu Bao looked at Li Wancai, who was sitting at the head of the table, with a puzzled expression, and asked, "Sister Wen, why do you need to worry about the house price? Grandpa has prepared a house for you, you can just move in directly!"
Upon hearing this, Wen Yuxia chuckled and said, "Fu Bao, it's enough that your household registration is in the place I've chosen..."
Li Wancai did indeed prepare a manor, an estate, and silver notes for her, but she declined. She would take what was rightfully hers, but she wouldn't touch anything that wasn't, not even a single copper coin.
Fu Bao said with some reluctance, "Brother Hong was the first friend I made in Nanzhou Prefecture. Now that he's gone, there will be no one to play with me."
Fu Bao's surname is Li. His father, Li Chengjie, was a poor scholar who, after taking the provincial examination in Nanzhou Prefecture, was chosen as a son-in-law by Li Wancai. He is now a teacher at the Imperial Academy.
The mansions and shops in the capital city, as well as the farmland in the suburbs, were all part of the dowry that Li Wancai, Fu Bao's maternal grandfather, prepared for Li Xiuwan, Fu Bao's mother.
Li Chengjie's parents and three brothers now live in Li Xiuwan's house, and Li Xiuwan subsidizes their living expenses with her dowry.
Grandpa Li and Grandma Li had four sons: Li Chengxin, Li Chengyi, Li Chengjie, and Li Chengyan. All four are married with children.
As the three brothers stepped from the countryside into the bustling capital, their horizons broadened, and their ambitions swelled accordingly. Their three sisters-in-law also secretly envied Li Xiuwan's attire.
No one knows who was so heartless as to give Li Chengjie a drug that would kill him, and even had the wicked idea of harming Li Chengjie's only child, Fu Bao!
Fu Bao suffered several accidents at home, and Li Xiuwan discovered that Li Chengxin and Li Chengyan were responsible.
Because of Old Master Li's favoritism, Li Chengxin and Li Chengyan offered a verbal apology, and the matter of Fu Bao's accident was thus lightly dismissed.
To protect Fu Bao from further harm, Li Xiuwan dispatched people to send Fu Bao to Nanzhou Prefecture for temporary refuge.
Thinking that she would have to stay in Nanzhou Prefecture until she reached adulthood, and that her only friend Wen Yunhong didn't live there, Fu Bao lowered her head in frustration.
Wen Yuxia said softly, "Fu Bao, I'll bring Hong'er to the prefectural city to see you when I have time."
"Grandpa, can I go to Xinchuan County with Sister Wen and the others?" Fu Bao looked at Li Wancai pitifully.
Li Wancai said sternly, "No."
Fu Bao is his daughter and son-in-law's only child. If something happens to him, how can he explain it to his daughter and son-in-law?
"Fu Bao, you can't go to Xinchuan County with your sister now. I'll pick you up to play after I've settled in, okay?" Wen Yuxia said softly.
Upon hearing this, Li Wancai immediately said, "Fubao, your grandfather has a manor in Xinchuan County. How about I take you there for a short stay in a few days?"
“Okay,” Fu Bao replied with a smile in her childish voice.
Fearing that Fu Bao would again insist on going to Xinchuan County with her, Wen Yuxia quickly bid farewell to Li Wancai and prepared to set off for Xinchuan County immediately.
Li Wancai had someone bring out a set of headdresses suitable for a woman of marriageable age: a gold necklace, two gold bracelets, and a longevity lock.
He smiled at Wen Yuxia and said, "These things were prepared by Fu Bao. If you don't accept them, he definitely won't let you leave."
"Thank you, Grandpa Li, thank you, Fu Bao," Wen Yuxia accepted the gifts generously without hesitation, and then led Wen Yunhong in a mule cart to the inn to pick up Wen Dashan and his grandson.
After driving the mule cart away from Nanzhou Prefecture, Wen Dashan, who was sitting on the shaft acting as the driver, sighed with emotion: "Finally, we can live a peaceful life."
Wen Yunhai asked in a low voice, "Grandpa, once we've settled in, can we go and bring Father back?"
"Hai'er, don't worry. Once the house is built, your second uncle and the others will come to pick up your father," Wen Dashan said sadly.
On the way, Wen Dashan chatted idly with his two grandsons, while Wen Yuxia didn't join in the conversation. She was silently calculating her assets in her mind.
The silver notes, gold ingots, silver ingots, broken silver, and copper coins totaled one thousand two hundred and eighty-eight taels. Originally, there were only two goats in the space, but after the ewe gave birth to three lambs, there were five.
The rice, wheat flour, and wheat in the warehouse were basically untouched. Of the 1,000 jin of brown rice and 1,000 jin of black flour that were purchased before fleeing the famine, 500 jin were taken out on the way to support the villagers of Xiaowang Village.
"Let's camp here tonight. The mules have had a long day and need a rest," Wen Dashan said, as he parked the mule cart steadily beside the road and told Wen Yunhai to lead the mules to the river to drink.
Where there is water, there are fish. Wen Yuxia suddenly felt a craving for fish soup, so she said, "I'll go to the river to catch fish, Grandpa will build the stove, and Hong'er will gather firewood."
"Grandpa's here to gather firewood. Xiaoqi, you go with Daya," Wen Dashan said with a smile, taking on the task of gathering firewood and letting Wen Yunhong go with Wen Yuxia to the river to catch fish.
A short while later, Wen Yuxia returned to the resting place carrying two cleaned carp, her face beaming with a bright smile. She said with a grin, "Watch me show you how to cook them!"
At night, Wen Dashan and Wen Yunhai kept watch, while Wen Yuxia and her brother slept soundly until dawn. When they woke up, Wen Dashan had already cooked a pot of thick brown rice porridge.
After breakfast, Wen Dashan and Wen Yunhai took a nap in the mule cart, while Wen Yuxia drove the cart slowly towards Xinchuan County.
Before the city gates closed, the mule cart successfully entered Xinchuan County. Having learned that the disaster relief camp was located in the north of the city, Wen Yuxia drove the mule cart towards it.
Upon arriving at the disaster relief site, Wen Yuxia stared blankly at the large open space in front of her and said, "All the sheds at the relief site have been removed. Have my second uncle and the others already been moved to the village?"
"It's alright, we have the approval slip. We'll go to the yamen tomorrow morning and ask," Wen Dashan said rationally.
"Father, Father!" a sudden voice rang out, followed by several people running towards them.
By the light of the moon, Wen Yuxia could clearly see that the two people running in the lead were her second uncle, Wen Zibai, and her third uncle, Wen Zihua.