Chapter 171 Shocking news
The first ray of sunshine in the morning shines on the earth, bringing life to all things.
The villagers of Yunfeng Village have already started to get up and move around, and wisps of smoke are already rising above the kitchens of some residents.
Smoke was rising from the kitchen of Liang Laoer's house. Yinhe was helping to light the fire in the kitchen, while Yinhua and Manager Ji were standing by the stove helping to make pancakes.
Now that there are servants in the family, Mrs. Liu has her work much more relaxed. Breakfast is almost always made by Yinhua, and if Steward Ji has nothing to do, he will also help. Yinhua's cooking skills are quite good.
Wenjie got up early in the morning and reviewed his homework in his room, while Tu Dou helped him grind ink.
The weather is getting colder now, but Qianhuan curled up in the quilt in the morning and was unwilling to get up. It was not until Liu called her for breakfast that she slowly climbed out of bed.
Qianhuan said to Liu while getting dressed, "Mom, the New Year is only three days away. I plan to go to the county town with Jifeng later to buy New Year's goods. We'll also go to the bank to exchange some copper coins. I plan to start buying soybeans in the village this afternoon, and prepare the ingredients needed to make soy sauce in the days before the New Year. Please notify the village head and ask him to ask the villagers to send their soybeans to our house to sell. We will charge you the same price per pound as the outside world. After the New Year, we will start making koji and soy sauce."
"Okay, after breakfast, mom will call your dad to go to the village head's house together."
Liu knew that her daughter was still angry with her father and didn't want to pay attention to him. It was obvious that Liang Laoer should do this, but she insisted on asking her to go, so she could only act as a middleman.
After she finished speaking, she went to the kitchen to have breakfast.
"Bang bang bang..." Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Qianhuan was gargling with salt water in the yard. When she heard a knock on the door, she guessed that it must be the water tank being delivered to the door. She quickly spat out the salt water in her mouth and responded, then ran to the gate of the yard to open it.
When I opened the door, I saw that it was indeed the guys dragging the jars to my door. There were more than 200 jars, and the carts were lined up in a long queue at the door.
Everyone in the village ran out to watch, and everyone was discussing, "Why did Liang Laoer's family buy so many large water tanks?"
"Who knows? His yard is so big, and there seems to be a workshop behind the house. These jars should be used in the workshop."
Qianhuan directed the men to move all the jars to the yard at the back of the workshop. All of the jars had wooden covers, so they didn't have to worry about getting wet on rainy days.
Qianhuan waited until all the tanks were neatly arranged before going to have breakfast.
Liang Laoer and Liu had already finished their breakfast. Liu called Liang Laoer and they went out of the yard together and went to the headman's house.
When the couple returned from the headman's house, Qianhuan deliberately ignored Liang Laoer and only asked Liu: "Mother, have you discussed the purchase of soybeans with the headman?"
"Well, it's settled. The head of the village said he would go and inform the people in the village later."
"I said I would not buy the soybeans from the Cao family. Did you also say that about the Jiang family and other families?"
As for the families that Qianhuan mentioned, there is no need to mention the Cao family and the Jiang family, who have been openly and covertly disparaging her.
Several other families were particularly contemptuous of others. Last time Jiang Lin passed the imperial examination and his family had a banquet, he sat at the same table with Liang Laoer's family. In order to curry favor with Jiang Lin's family, those families looked down on them and deliberately went to other tables. Qianhuan secretly remembered these families at that time.
"Yes, he did. The head of the village said he would tell you when he issues the notice."
"Well, then I'm relieved."
Everything is ready, we just need to wait for the soybeans to be purchased and then we can start making soy sauce.
After breakfast, Qianhuan took Yinhua and Jifeng to the county town in a carriage. She went to the bank to exchange a lot of copper coins, and put all the copper coins in a burlap bag. Then Yinhua carried the burlap bag and put it on the carriage.
Qianhuan planned to go back and string some copper coins together with a red string so that she could give them as rewards to her servants during the New Year, and use the rest to buy soybeans.
Afterwards, they went shopping for new year's goods such as melon seeds, peanuts, candies, cakes, and also bought things like couplets and window decorations.
When they returned home, Liu and Manager Ji had already prepared lunch in the kitchen.
Yinhua helped bring the food to the lobby, and then she went back to the servants' room to eat.
The family was happily eating and chatting about the pre-New Year cleaning, pasting window flowers, writing couplets and the like, when suddenly there was a rapid knock on the door.
Yin Hua got up and ran over to open the door, only to see Liang Wenyong standing in front of Qianhuan's new yard with red eyes.
Liang Wenyong saw that it was a stranger who opened the door and thought he had come to the wrong place. He asked uncertainly, "Is this Liang Laoer's house?"
Qianhuan had already come out when she heard the voice. She was shocked when she saw her eldest cousin's appearance. She asked in surprise, "Cousin Wenyong, what happened?"
"Qianhuan, our uncle is gone. When our aunt heard the bad news, she vomited blood and fainted. The doctor said that our aunt had tuberculosis for a long time and didn't live long anyway. Now she is suffering from a heart attack and will soon die."
Wen Yong cried as he spoke. Although he hadn't seen his uncle for several years, he was the oldest among his cousins and had grown up playing with his uncle.
When Wenjie heard the conversation between the two people at the gate of the courtyard, his hands trembled and his chopsticks fell on the table. He was extremely panicked and stood up and rushed to the gate of the courtyard.
"What? Third brother is gone?" Liang Lao Er heard his eldest nephew's words in the house, and he suddenly stood up and ran to the gate of the yard.
"Wen Yong, this can't be true, right? Isn't our third brother going to retire and come back next year? It's only a year away." Liang Lao Er looked at Wen Yong nervously. He hoped that Wen Yong could tell him that his third brother was still alive.
"Uncle, it's true. My uncle is gone. The body has been carried back. Several people from our village who joined the army are also gone, and some of them even have their bodies nowhere to be found. Grandpa asked me to tell you to hurry back to the old house to help with the funeral." Wen Yong said while crying.
Wenjie looked at Liang Wenyong, whose eyes were red, and said tremblingly: "Cousin, you are joking with Wenjie, right?"
Wen Yong felt very sorry. His cousin was only eight years old and would be only nine after the Chinese New Year, but now he had to endure the pain of losing both his parents.
He couldn't help but said, "Wenjie, you are a little man, you have to be strong, okay?"
"I don't believe it, I don't believe it, I want to go home..." Wenjie said and ran home madly.
Seeing this, Qianhuan quickly hugged him and said, "Wenjie, don't worry, let's go back in the carriage together."
"Ji Feng, go and pull the carriage out." Qian Huan shouted into the house, and she arranged everything calmly.
Liang Lao Er also fell to the ground, looking somewhat distraught.
"Dad, don't be too sad. We have to go to the old house to help. If you don't cheer up, what will happen to Wenjie?"
Qianhuan persuaded Liang Laoer that although they had severed ties with the people in the old house, they had not severed ties with their uncle's family. Now that something like this had happened, they certainly could not stand idly by.
"Yes, his father, cheer up." Liu came out and naturally heard the bad news. She wiped her tears and comforted her man.
Ji Feng led out a carriage, and several people got on the carriage and rushed to the Liang family's old house.
"Manager Ji, I'll leave the household to you first. If someone sends soybeans here later, please bring Yinhua and Yinhe to buy them. I have put the copper coins in a sack and placed them in my bedroom." Qianhuan instructed Ji Fengniang before leaving.
"Okay, miss, don't worry, I'll take care of everything at home. You can just go and help with the funeral." Manager Ji solemnly promised Qianhuan.