sjar Chapter 418 Reincarnation, Xu Li's Thatched Hut Dreams of His Past Life
Chapter 418 Reincarnation, Xu Li's Thatched Hut Dreams of His Past Life
Xu Li was not so cunning, but Changming and Bomu were both specially assigned to him by Xie Zhaozhao. They were literate, well-informed, and both were smart people from the Xie Mansion.
Chang Ming poured Xu Li a glass of wine and said with a smile: "General Xu, I have also heard that all the prefectures planted long-staple cotton in March and harvested it in October. Now the looms have never stopped, and every household has ten or eight rolls of cotton cloth!"
After Changming finished speaking, Ying Wenlong also smiled and said: "Our prefecture master submitted a report to His Majesty about the bumper harvest after the autumn harvest. His Majesty was very happy and specially rewarded the prefecture master.
In our county, the long-staple cotton harvest is quite good. I was thinking of bringing some sweet potatoes to Your Majesty when General Xu returns. You may not know that our county was named the Sweet Potato King this year..."
Xu Li listened and smiled happily, but didn't say anything. He understood that he was a person trusted by the emperor and could not agree to the requests of local officials casually.
Besides, he didn't come back just to visit relatives and friends.
While tasting the wine, Mr. Xu became much more polite, toasted Xu Li, and tried hard to recall what Xu Li was like as a child.
It is said that Xu Li was very cute when he was a child, because he was very honest, and everyone in the village didn’t like him. Xu Li felt that Mr. Xu was not talking about him (●?????●)
After eating at the village head’s house, Ying Wenlong and Xu Li went to Xu Tiezhu’s house together.
The village hasn't changed much over the years, and in my memory, the courtyards of each family remain the same.
He was too young when he left. He only remembers the layout of the village, but he really can't remember the people in the village except his neighbors.
The Xu family's yard is very large, with four main rooms, two east rooms with a storage room, and three west rooms. After Xu's father and mother died, Xu Li and his two brothers, the second and third sons, lived in the west room.
The courtyard was obviously cleaned up in a hurry, especially the main living room, which was fully furnished with tables, chairs and benches. The west room, where Xu Li had lived before, was also furnished with a table and a new bed, and cleaned.
Xu Tiezhu's wife was Liu Ermei, and she and Xu Tiezhu had three sons and two daughters.
The eldest son Xu Dalang got married and the eldest daughter got married.
When Xu Li arrived, Xu Tiezhu's three sons, Dalang, Erlang, and Sanlang, and his youngest daughter Xu Qiu were standing in the yard.
When they saw Xu Li, they all looked excited and called him "Uncle" in unison.
Changming and Bomu immediately gave them gifts.
Four rolls of silk, and four rolls of dyed and printed cotton.
These are all fine fabrics that the people of Xujia Village may rarely see in their lifetime.
Liu Ermei called him "little uncle" more affectionately.
Ying Wenlong accompanied Xu Li around the village to learn about the people's livelihood issues in the village. He left two yamen runners to take care of Xu Li's daily life, and then he said goodbye and returned to the county government office.
It would not be easy for the village head to stay at Xu Tiezhu's house all the time.
The village head patted Xu Tiezhu on the shoulder and said, "Tiezhu, don't always think about taking advantage of others. Your brother has made a difference, and our whole village is happy. We will build a yard for your brother here. If he comes back often, we will help him thrive. Do you understand?"
Xu Tiezhu nodded and smiled: "Uncle Lizheng, don't worry, my brothers are capable, but we all listen to Uncle San."
After all the "outsiders" left, Liu Ermei began to cry, and Xu Tiezhu also began to cry, saying how difficult their lives had been over the years and how they had been bullied by the villagers.
Xu Li said: "Don't cry anymore, I'm back, no one will dare to bully you anymore."
After hearing what he said, Liu Ermei said, "Uncle, people bully our family because we are poor, our crops failed, and we owe a lot of debts. It's almost the New Year, and you're back. We can't let the creditors come to our house. Can you help pay them back?"
"How much do you owe?"
Liu Ermei looked at Xu Tiezhu, and Xu Tiezhu quietly extended a finger.
Liu Ermei then tentatively said, "I owe ten strings of cash."
Xu Tiezhu smiled embarrassedly: "Brother, I'm sorry, your sister-in-law..."
Xu Li looked at Changming, and Changming immediately went to the carriage, took out ten strings of money and handed them to Xu Tiezhu.
The nephews all looked very happy, but Liu Ermei looked regretful.
less!
She should ask for a hundred strings of coins!
Bo Mu asked Xu Tiezhu: "Which room does the general live in?"
Xu Tiezhu and Liu Ermei immediately pointed to the west room and said, "This is my brother's room. Our family is poor, otherwise we wouldn't let him go out so early."
Bo Mu and Chang Ming didn't say a word. They did their duties as servants, drove the carriage into the yard, and moved the things into the west room.
Liu Ermei smiled and said, "Let's put the box in the main room. The main room is securely locked."
"No, this is the paperwork the general needs."
Liu Ermei curled her lips. How could the documents be so heavy? They must be all gold, silver and treasures.
Xu Li drank too much at noon and felt a little sleepy, but he still forced himself to ask Xu Tiezhu: "Brother, where are the second and third brothers?"
Liu Ermei smiled and said, "Erlei went to the city to serve as a long-term attendant to Master Fugui, and Sanduo went to the northwest to help transport coal. They sent someone to write back during the Mid-Autumn Festival, saying that they would not be back for the New Year this year."
Xu Tiezhu immediately said, "If you miss them, I'll ask the head of the village to write a letter and ask them to come back early."
Xu Li nodded: "Brother, give me their address, I will ask someone to pick them up, and we will reunite during the New Year."
Xu Tiezhu said it was not easy to find, as the long-time attendant was usually unable to leave, and the third brother was traveling with others to sell goods, so it would be even more difficult for him to come back.
Xu Dalang said, "Dad, Mom, Uncle, what are you doing in the yard? It's freezing. Come inside and warm yourself by the fire."
After lighting a fire in the middle of the room, Xu Li, still drunk, said, "I'm going to go back to the west room and take a nap. I feel a little dizzy."
Liu Ermei immediately said, "Then go to sleep, brother."
Then he called to Dalang, "Go and light a charcoal fire for little uncle, don't let him get cold."
Changming and Bomu took the iron basin, got some coal and charcoal from the cart, and started a fire in the west room.
Mu left the doors and windows ajar, and seeing Xu Li sleeping soundly, the two of them covered him with a quilt, looked at each other, and sighed softly.
Xu Li was sleeping soundly and in a daze he felt that he was hiding in a cellar. The overwhelming number of Royal Guards surrounded Xie's mansion and killed people indiscriminately.
In the blink of an eye, he was walking in the vast snow again, braving the wind and snow, carrying a large bamboo basket on his back.
In the bamboo basket and the earthen jar are the ashes of Xie Anfeng and Xie Yu, and in the jade box are the ashes of Miss Xie.
The Wei family in the capital was killed by Ren Jialin, Emperor Hui was poisoned by Emperor Xiao (Zhou Jingrui), the Xie family was killed by Emperor Xiao, Emperor Xiao was killed by Concubine Xi, and the remnant of the Wei family, Wei Shixun, colluded with Western Xia and Uighurs and killed Concubine Xi.
Wei Shixun ascended the throne and took crazy revenge on Emperor Hui and the Xie family. All the ancestral tombs of the Xie family were dug up, and they also searched everywhere for the remains of Xie Anfeng and Xie Yu.
Xu Li had no choice but to secretly dig out the bones of the two and burn them, put the ashes into a clay jar, and put the ashes of Miss Xie picked up from Fanghua Garden into a jade box.
Bring their ashes back to Lizhou, back to Xujia Village, and bury them in their own fields.
He gave his brother and sister-in-law the money that Xie Yu had stuffed into his pocket when he escaped, as well as the money that Miss Xie had originally rewarded him with, which totaled over a thousand taels.
He felt that his brother and sister-in-law would treat the ashes of Mr. Xie, Young Master Xie, and Young Miss Xie well no matter what.
However, Liu Ermei, who took the money, said: People are dead, why do they still occupy so many jars?
The eldest brother said: Just combine the two jars of ashes into one jar, and save one clay jar to make a water jar.
As for the jade box, they would not let it go. Xu Li had already buried it in the ground, and his sister-in-law asked Xu Dalang to dig it out.
"This jade box is very valuable. It's a pity to bury it like this."
"This box contains the young lady's ashes, you can't take it..."
Xu Tiezhu said with a dark face: "If you want to make a fuss, I will report it to the police. Anyway, they are looking for the remains of the Xie family everywhere now."
Xu Li fought hard and refused to let them take the jade box.
During the fight, the noise of the quarrel attracted the village head. Seeing them fighting over a few jars and jade boxes, the village head asked with envy, "What are you doing?"
Xu Li knew that he could no longer be buried in his own land.
So he wanted to take the clay pot with him.
Liu Ermei started to curse: "Your mother is a fucking bastard, we are almost starving to death, and you put the good jars and jade boxes into the ashes of the dead."
Block the way and don't let him leave.
"You can go away, but leave the can and the box behind!"
Xu Li knelt down and begged Xu Tiezhu: "Brother, please, these are my benefactors. They saved my life and raised me for so many years. I have already given you more than one thousand taels of silver. Please don't touch their ashes!"
When the village head heard that there was more than a thousand taels, he asked excitedly, "What's in this box?"
"Who else could it be? The Xie family in Beijing knows about this, right? The jar contains Xie Anfeng's ashes!"
During the quarrel, Mr. Xu also arrived.
He is the most prestigious person in the clan and the only scholar in Xujia Village.
Xu Li knelt in front of him and begged: "Second Grandfather, please help me..."
Master Xu talked a lot of nonsense, but Xu Li didn't understand anything. However, when Master Xu heard that Xu Tiezhu had given more than a thousand taels of silver at once, he immediately became jealous.
Mr. Xu said, "The Xie family is a thief. Are you going to implicate our Xujia Village? I suggest that the ashes be handed over to the government!"
The head of the village was also very happy: "The government must have a reward!"
When they heard about the reward, those people's eyes lit up.
"Hand over the ashes, sell the jade box, divide the reward equally among everyone, and no one should tell anyone!" They reached an agreement in front of Xu Li.
Xu Li cried and said, "No, I absolutely won't allow it."
He ran away, carrying the box and the jar.
"Crack"!
There was a clear sound of bones breaking above his head. Severe pain instantly spread throughout his body. Blood flowed down his forehead and he fell to his knees.
"Ah..." Xu Li screamed.
Xu Dalang and Xu Erlang were holding hoes in their hands, and drops of blood were dripping down.
Mr. Xu turned around with his walking stick.
The head of the village sighed, "Hey, Xiaopang, don't blame your brothers. They have children too. They can't let the whole family be implicated because of you!"
Xu Dalang and Xu Erlang swung their hoes and viciously hit him to death with one blow after another.
Liu Ermei snatched the jade box away, and Xu Tiezhu and his two sons buried him in the pit originally dug for the Xie family.
In the end, it was Master Xu who said that if Xiaopang was beaten to death, the ashes could not be proved to belong to Xie Anfeng's family, but instead would expose the relationship with the Xie family.
So they threw the ashes of Xie Anfeng, Xie Yu, Xie Zhaozhao and him into the pit and buried them together.
In an instant, the earth was covered with white. The heavy snow covered the uneven ground, burying his blood and his loyal soul.
Alas, life is but a dream, a hundred generations of reincarnation...