Chapter Thirty Building Houses

  The small building of the Yun family became a forbidden place in the village, and anyone whose cow called out in front of the bamboo building would be whipped by the old tribal elder. Children who dared to approach the Yun family's bamboo building would immediately be beaten by their parents. The whole village was waiting for Yun Dake to pass the imperial examination and become a scholar, so that people in the village could work for the Yun family and at least not be taken away by the officials to build fortifications in the freezing rain.

  Yun Erpa leaned on the railing, looking outside, and turned his head to say to Yun Da, who was roasting meat skewers: "Three kids have already been beaten by their parents, what if those villagers in the village find out you're roasting meat, won't they beat you to death with a hoe?"

  "Are you going to eat this? I've added a special seasoning, it's compensation for the roasted tofu with cured meat. Cloud carefully brushed some yellowish seasoning onto the thin slices of meat threaded on bamboo skewers and took a bite, nodding in satisfaction. Roasting without chili peppers is simply a nightmare, fortunately there's Sichuan pepper, which still has some spicy flavor even after being dried and ground into powder."

  Yun Er ate a few pieces and wanted to eat more, but Yun Da unhesitatingly poured all the contents of his plate into the cured meat dish. It's not good for kids to overeat barbecue.

  The old steward sent someone to deliver a pile of books, and it was only after seeing these books that the old clan leader looked at Yun Zheng with reverence. The books he had accumulated for a lifetime were just a set of Mongolian textbooks, while the books Yun Zheng brought back were all very new books, and there were many more than his own collection.

  Because the village already has a scholar, the old tribal chief now looks down on Old Zhou from Guangling Village on the mountain. What's there to show off about a 30-year-old child prodigy when his own village will soon have a 13-year-old child prodigy? So whenever he passes by Guangling Village, he never stays, doesn't even drink a sip of water, claiming that the water there is unclean. In reality, what he's most worried about is being affected by Old Zhou's bad luck and then passing it on to Yundadao.

  Yun Da and Yun Er's accents are now almost indistinguishable from their own, this is the child of their own village, whoever dares to say that Yun Da and Yun Er are outsiders will probably be beaten to death by them.

  Larou carried Yun'er out of the house, which was also what the old patriarch had asked for. For this period of time, Larou didn't need to do anything else, just take good care of Yun'er and not let him bother Yundage. He specifically instructed Larou that during this time, he was not allowed to get into Yundage's bed, or if he ruined the mood, he would definitely drown Larou in the pond.

  So the cured meat that was scared out of its wits always followed Yun Er to watch the mulberry-picking girl pick mulberry leaves. When spring arrived, the mulberry tree sprouted new branches and leaves, and the black silkworm eggs on the hemp paper had also hatched under the sun. Yun Er specially asked the mulberry-picking girl for over a hundred of them, preparing to raise the silkworm babies herself.

  Raising silkworms has always been a hard job. Not only must the room where the silkworms are raised be clean, but also the mulberry leaves fed to them every day must be clean. Most importantly, it is necessary to clear away the silkworm dung in time every day. Otherwise, the silkworms will get sick.

  Yun Er loved watching the silkworms crawl around on her small hands, it was ticklish and very interesting. Lao Rou also raised silkworms, she insisted that a home without silkworms wasn't like a real home, Yun Zheng remembered when they were raising pigs she said the same thing, as long as Lao Rou was there, their little bamboo house would definitely become a genuine mountain village home.

  Under the bamboo building, pigs are raised, and silkworms are raised upstairs. The cows leisurely chew on their feed in the cowshed. The house snake slithers back and forth to catch mice. The yellow dog sticks out its tongue on the stairs, and a diligent woman is busy with her work. Perhaps there should be several hens pecking around in the grass to eat insects. This is the most perfect family in the mind of the cured meat.

  Yun Zheng is a carefree person, he doesn't care if the cured meat is unconsciously transforming itself into an ancient thing, entering a temple to worship Buddha, following local customs is the best choice.

  In the early spring, the river water was still very cold. A large group of women stood naked in the icy water washing themselves. Yun Er was placed in a bamboo basket and peeked over the edge to watch these women bathe. At first, Yun Er was delighted, but after taking one look, he wanted to dig out his own eyes - it was too terrifying. This was vastly different from the beautiful women he had seen online.

  That fat woman walked past with a strange smell, and although she had already passed by, she still leaned against the bamboo basket and asked Ru Fang if he wanted to drink milk, saying that her own milk was too much and the maid at home couldn't finish it.

  Yun Er closed his eyes tightly and withdrew his head into the bamboo basket, refusing to show his face even if he were beaten to death.

  The women burst out laughing and said that children from families of scholars are particular about what they eat and won't even drink cheap milk from other people's homes.

  At the time when Yun Er was undergoing a hellish ordeal, Yun Da was talking to the old tribal elder and drinking tea that Yun Zheng had just fried. The old tribal elder didn't like tea without scallions and ginger, but seeing Yun Zheng drink slowly and steadily, he also endured the bitter taste of the tea leaves and drank it.

  "Building a new house is a big deal, Grandfather knows you've saved some money, but such lavish spending won't do. If you think this bamboo building is too old and worn out, we can build a new one, no need to build a mansion with blue bricks, that kind of house can't be built for less than 20 taels of silver." The elderly clan leader was worried.

  Yun Zheng poured away the tea roots and said to the old tribal chief: "Grandfather, can I be considered a member of the village now?"

  "Of course, you're just a child from the village. Has someone been spreading rumors? Tell Grandfather, I'll go tear his mouth apart right now." The old clan leader suddenly stood up, his face flushed bright red, and his chest heaved with rage.

  "No, young master just asked you, this is my home. Young master was given a way out by your elderly self when we brothers were at our most desperate. I am indeed born in this village, and that's what I told the old steward when he asked me. So if anyone dares to question my background, I will be the first to disagree. That's why young master wants to set up a home in the stockade, it must have a house, and it must be made of green bricks. Not only do I want to live here now, but also when I become an official in the future, and even when I'm old and no longer an official, I will come back to spend my final days here. I just hope you won't look down on me."

  Yun Zheng's words made the old tribal leader's eyes red, and he patted Yun Zheng's head, saying: "Child, I won't ask about your past, nor do I want to know. All I know is that you are a blessing from heaven for Dou Sha village. From now on, this will be your home. If you want to stay, you can stay. In the future, if you don't become an official, you can just be the village head here. Grandpa probably won't live to see that day!"

  Deceiving the old man moved his emotions, Yun Zheng always felt that there was a dark cloud in the sky following him, as if it was still brewing thunder and lightning. He quickly took out a handful of silver from the small wall corner and said to the old patriarch: "There are twenty-three strings of money here, I sold my ancestral jewelry and took out the money I earned from heaven, they are all here, please grandfather help me build a house during my exam period, everything is entrusted to grandfather."