41 Buying Things
At half past seven, when Madam Liu brought the brats home, Old man w.a.n.g was making a new bamboo fence with his sons.
“Father! Grandfather! Uncle, Third Uncle!” Ah Yu saw them from afar and shouted happily.
When they heard the sound, they looked up and smiled when they saw Little Ah Yu.
Their daughter was still the best. She even greeted them when she returned home. Those brats never greet anyone when they come home.
Madam Feng and Madam Ma were cleaning up in the house. When they heard the commotion outside, they smiled.
As expected, the addition of a girl at home was different. Everyone was much happier.
w.a.n.g Wulang could not hold it in anymore. As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he shouted excitedly, “We caught pheasants! There are three of them!”
As he spoke, Liu Shi had already put down the basket. Her basket was not too big, and she could barely fit three pheasants in it. On the surface were the wild vegetables she had dug.
It was just spring, so there were not many wild vegetables, and they did not grow tall. However, with all the wild vegetables added together, they could still cook a large pot.
The w.a.n.g Family could no longer be bothered to look at the wild vegetables. They were all staring at Liu Shi’s basket. When they saw Liu Shi take out the pheasants from the basket, their eyes widened.
“It’s really pheasants?!” w.a.n.g Chuanman ran up in big strides and picked up the nearest pheasant. He weighed it in his hand and said happily, “This pheasant weighs two catties.”
Compared to domestic chickens, pheasants usually only weighed two to three catties each, especially since they had just survived winter. It was already not bad for a pheasant to weigh two catties.
Old man w.a.n.g was also especially happy. His family had just received the food distributed by the Imperial Court, but no one could bear to eat it. They basically all split a portion and used it as grain seeds.
Compared to ordinary grain seeds, the effect of these seeds was naturally much worse. However, they had no choice now and could only use it reluctantly.
“How did you catch the pheasants? Did you find the pheasants’ nest?”
w.a.n.g Dalang was very excited. He was 16 years old this year and still had the heart of a child. However, because of his responsibility as the eldest of the grandchildren, he could not follow the rest to play.
Speaking of this, w.a.n.g Wulang was extremely excited.
“It’s a long story. We originally planned to look for Fourth Aunt, but on the way, a pheasant suddenly flew out. We quickly went to catch it.”
At this point, w.a.n.g Wulang kept them in suspense. “Guess how we caught three pheasants?”
“How did you catch them? Didn’t you catch them with your hands? Oh, did you set up a trap?” w.a.n.g Sanlang was also especially curious.
In the past, after farming, they would also go out to catch pheasants. However, out of 10 trips, it was already not bad if they could catch any pheasants in one trip.
The pheasants were especially agile and very difficult to catch. Unlike wild hares, which at least walked on the ground, the pheasants would fly after being frightened. They did not have wings, so how could they catch up?
“This is all thanks to our Ah Yu!” w.a.n.g Wulang opened his hands especially exaggeratedly. “You don’t know this, but when we went to catch that pheasant, Ah Yu and the little lamb caught two! Isn’t that especially magical?”
“How is that possible?!”
Seeing his brothers dumbfounded and shocked, w.a.n.g Wulang felt extremely satisfied.
He continued, “I think our Sister Ah Yu is a very lucky person. Look, when did we catch so many pheasants so smoothly in the past? And when did we ever catch three at once? This is all thanks to Sister Ah Yu!”
Not to mention w.a.n.g Dalang and the others, even Old man w.a.n.g and the others were stunned when they heard this.
What? Ah Yu could actually catch pheasants?
“Fourth Sister-in-law, is what Wulang said true?” Old man w.a.n.g was too curious.
Otherwise, usually, he would not move around to talk to his daughter-in-law.
Liu Shi hurriedly said, “When I came, they had already caught them. I didn’t see them clearly.”
Actually, Liu Shi did not believe it either.
How old was Ah Yu? She looked like a two-year-old child. Could a two-year-old child catch a pheasant?
Wasn’t that a joke!
w.a.n.g Erlang scratched his head and said in confusion, “Little Sister Ah Yu is very powerful to begin with. Didn’t she kill the python for us previously?”
In any case, in w.a.n.g Erlang’s eyes, he felt that Little Sister Ah Yu was probably the reincarnation of an immortal. She was powerful to begin with.
With w.a.n.g Erlang’s reminder, everyone recalled the terrifying python.
Yes, their Ah Yu was very different to begin with.
They could not help but look at Little Ah Yu, their eyes filled with curiosity.
Little Ah Yu blinked. She was even more confused than them. Why were they looking at her?
w.a.n.g Chuanman walked up to Little Ah Yu and asked her, “How did you catch the pheasants?”
And that little lamb. It only had four hooves and had yet to grow any horns. How could it catch pheasants?
When Little Ah Yu heard this, she stretched out her two small hands and gestured a hug before hugging him in the middle.
“I caught it like this!” Little Ah Yu gestured and hugged w.a.n.g Chuanman’s leg. She raised her head and said, “Father, I caught it like this!”
Wasn’t this a little too easy?
“Perhaps it’s some pheasants that haven’t recovered from the winter. They’re frozen and haven’t regained their strength yet.”
Everyone could only comfort themselves like this.
At this moment, Old Madam w.a.n.g, who was in Yongding County, had also testified with the villagers. The county council combined the facts and statements and made a judgment on the spot.
Shanyang Village ate children as food, which violated human ethics and caused a local panic. Because the children’s families did not pursue the matter, they only urged the local squires, Li Zheng, and the village head to supervise the villagers who ate children. If they committed another crime in the future, they would be punished with an additional crime.
In addition, Shanyang Village took the lead in causing trouble and it was judged that all the villagers of Hu Family Village were innocent. Shanyang Village was responsible for the medical fees of all the injured people in the two villages.
At the same time, after the spring tax was exempted, Shanyang Village would be in charge of the autumn tax on Hu Family Village this year, as well as all the conscription before June. They would also compensate them with some food and money.
The position of the village chief of Shanyang Village had been revoked. The entire family was not allowed to hold the position of village chief for ten years. Those who were paralyzed by the snake venom and those who were not poisoned but were involved in the trouble were also sentenced to prison.
On account of the fact that they were busy in the spring and there were not enough people in the village, they were allowed to serve their term after the spring festival. They were also allowed to work in place of prison.
“They got lucky!” The villagers of Hu Family Village were not very satisfied with this outcome, but even Lord Wei of the county had judged it.
It was time to punish the people from Shanyang Village. They had to pay the compensation. There was nothing to say.
However, she was still angry and wanted to beat up the people of Shanyang Village. Fortunately, Village Chief Hu kept comforting her.
After the verdict, it was already 15 minutes past midnight. The sky was not dark yet, but it was not early.
It was impossible to rush back to the village.
Naturally, they could not afford to stay in the courier stations and restaurants.
They simply squeezed into an alley outside the county office and stayed up all night.
The next morning, the shops in the county city opened one after another, and the noise from the various shops rose up.
Village Chief Hu said, “I’ll go to the rice and grain shop to see if there are any more grain seeds to buy. There’s not enough at home.”
When he came, he had brought a few taels of silver.
Old Madam w.a.n.g also brought some silver with her. It was given to her by Doctor Hu’s family.
“Village Chief, if you see any food, bring us 20 catties too. I’ll give you the money when we get back.”
Village Chief Hu nodded. “That’s easy.”
Wasn’t it just a matter of convenience?
The other four villagers also expressed their desire to buy grain seeds and borrow some money from Village Chief Hu. Village Chief Hu brought them to the rice and grain shop.
Old Madam w.a.n.g went to another street, planning to buy something for Little Ah Yu.
As soon as she arrived at the street entrance, she saw Zhang Zhan carrying two packages. When he saw Old Madam w.a.n.g, he strode over.
“Old Madam, please wait.”