When the pears are green

Chapter 176 Red Contract

Song Li brought the washed and dried peanuts into the kitchen to cook. As the water in the pot gurgled, a rich peanut aroma wafted into the yard, attracting Jiang Qingye and Li Yi, who were squatting on the ground writing, to throw away the wooden sticks in their hands and push each other into the kitchen.

Li Yi and Jiang Qingye gathered around the stove and took a deep breath of the aroma coming out from the gap in the pot lid.

"Don't be impatient, you two. It will taste better if you cook it a little longer. Li Yi, go and clean the table, Qingye, go and help Qingzhou peel garlic." Song Li, who was making a fire, quickly assigned tasks to the two little gluttons. If they were asked to wait here, they would probably become even more anxious.

Li Yi and Jiang Qingye smelled the fragrance again when they left. They quickly completed the tasks assigned by Song Li. Jiang Qingzhou, who had cut the vegetables, sat on the stool with them and looked at Song Li eagerly.

Song Li was amused by the expressions of the three people, and she stopped adding firewood to the stove. When the fire in the stove became smaller, the mellow peanut aroma and the light sweet pumpkin smell collided back and forth in the kitchen.

When Jiang Qingzhou saw Song Li waving at him, he quickly put the ladle and the ceramic bowl on the stove and consciously put the peanuts into the ceramic bowl.

"Qingzhou, bring it to the table first. We'll be able to eat it after the dishes are cooked." As soon as Song Li finished speaking, Jiang Qingye and Li Yi brought over the lard can, chopped garlic, and Artemisia selengensis.

Li Yi sat in front of the stove and made a fire, while Song Li washed the pot and cooked. Jiang Qingzhou put the steamed bread from another pot into a bamboo basket and handed it to Jiang Qingye, and then ladled the pumpkin soup into four bowls on the stove.

The four of them worked together perfectly and the food was quickly served to the wooden table.

"I'll give you a riddle. Whoever can guess it, I'll grant him a request. A hemp house, a red tent, and a fat white man living inside." Song Li said to the three people who were about to peel a peanut, smiling while holding a peanut in her hand.

Li Yi and Jiang Qingye shook their heads and looked at each other, then they began to think about the answer with sad faces.

Jiang Qingzhou, who had not intended to participate, casually peeled a peanut. He was stunned for a moment, then looked at the peanut carefully again.

"I know, it's peanuts." Jiang Qingzhou held the peanut shell in one hand and the peanut kernel in the other hand to show to Song Li.

After seeing this, Jiang Qingye and Li Yi slapped their heads in annoyance.

"It's peanuts. Qingzhou can make any request you have, but it must be within my ability." After saying that, Song Li ate the peanut kernels that Jiang Qingzhou handed over.

Jiang Qingzhou didn't want to waste this opportunity, so he said he would wait until he had thought it over before bringing it up.

Song Li smiled and nodded. She then went on to tell Jiang Qingzhou that he was going to buy a house tomorrow, and asked Jiang Qingye and Li Yi to go to the town with her to set up a stall tomorrow.

"Okay, sister."

"Sister-in-law, I understand."

Li Yi and Jiang Qingye quickly agreed.

As soon as the sky turned light the next day, Jiang Qingzhou first sent Song Li, Jiang Qingye, Li Yihe, the bean sprouts and ten chickens to sell to the market. Then he returned to Jiangjia Village to ask the head of the village, two cousins ​​and neighbors to act as middlemen and witnesses for him.

Jiang Qingzhou went to find Jiang Chuan last. When Jiang Chuan and Jiang Qingzhou arrived at Jiang Qian's house, there were already more than ten people waiting in the yard.

Jiang Chuan first went up to greet the village head Jiang An, then asked Jiang Qingzhou with a smile: "Brother Dahu probably didn't invite so many people to his wedding, but you bought a house and made it quite grand. Are you afraid that I will default on my debt in the future?"

"Brother Chuan, what are you talking about? You know that my family is poor and we two brothers only have one house. This will let everyone know that I, as the elder brother, have lived up to the trust placed in me by my parents before they left. Let's let the second brother write the deed quickly. He still has to read books later." Jiang Qingzhou invited so many people together because he was really afraid that Jiang Chuan would make a fuss about the money in the future. He politely led Jiang Chuan to Jiang Qian's study and asked Jiang Qian to start writing the deed.

Jiang Chuan was illiterate, so he took the deed paper and smiled as he asked the village head Jiang An to read it.

Jiang An took the deed, and the rest of the people gathered around him and listened to him read the contents of the deed: "The seller, Jiang Chuan, a villager of Jiangjia Village, is short of money and voluntarily sells the ancestral home of Jiangjia Village (east of Li Mu's house, west of Jiang Dahu's house, south of Jiang Lian's house, and north of Zhang Lun's house) to Jiang Dahu, a villager of this village, for two taels of silver. Both families are willing and neither will regret it. Words alone are not enough, so this deed is kept as evidence."

After hearing this, everyone looked at Jiang Chuan. One of Jiang Qingzhou's cousins ​​asked, "Jiang Chuan, is there something wrong?"

Jiang Chuan quickly replied with a smile: "Uncle Heng is really a joker. This is written by a scholar, so there is no way it can be wrong."

Jiang An returned the deed to Jiang Chuan and told him, "Since there is no problem, go ahead and put your fingerprints on it. Da Hu asked me to be the middleman. I will sign after you finish the work."

Jiang Chuan nodded, handed the deed to Jiang Qian, and then he and Jiang Qingzhou respectively pressed their fingerprints on the deed.

In front of everyone, Jiang Qingzhou poured the prepared copper coins and silver pieces on the desk. Jiang An weighed the copper coins and silver pieces with the scale (deng, an ancient weighing and measuring tool) he brought from home. He handed the extra twenty coins to Jiang Qingzhou, and then asked Jiang Chuan to take the rest.

Jiang Chuan was dumbfounded when he saw the piles of copper coins. He complained about why Jiang Qingzhou didn't take the silver.

Jiang Qingzhou hurriedly explained: "Brother Chuan, these are all earned by my wife and I from doing small business every day. We don't have any silver. These small amounts of silver were earned from selling pigs a few days ago."

Seeing this, Jiang Ping went to his room and got a piece of rag, and asked Jiang Chuan to use the rag to take the copper coins back. Jiang Chuan had no choice but to do as Jiang Ping said.

Jiang Chuan was afraid that he would be robbed if he was walking on the street with a large bag of copper coins, so he waited for Jiang An to sign the deed and asked Jiang An to bring a few people to take him back.

Jiang An blew his beard and glared at Jiang Chuan. He asked angrily, "Jiang Chuan, do you think I am not capable of managing the village? Which bastard dares to rob in broad daylight?"

Jiang Chuan quickly explained that he didn't mean that. After Jiang An got angry, he asked Jiang Chuan to catch up with him quickly, saying that he had other things to do.

"Brother Chuan, please pull out the radishes tomorrow." Jiang Qingzhou shouted to Jiang Chuan who walked out of the room.

"I understand." Jiang Chuan responded while following Jiang An.

After chatting with each other for a few words, everyone slowly dispersed. Before leaving, Jiang Heng told Jiang Qingzhou: "Qingzhou, the wall of that house is low. When you raise the wall, call me and your uncle Ji. What happened in the past is in the past. We must move forward."

Jiang Ji also came over and patted Jiang Qingzhou on the shoulder, then pulled Jiang Heng out who wanted to say something else.

Jiang Qingzhou lowered his head and took a few deep breaths according to Song Li's method. When he calmed down, he took out five copper coins from his purse and handed them to Jiang Qian, saying that this was a fee for Jiang Qian's writing.

"Qingzhou, take it back quickly. You and I are neighbors and brothers. It's just a few words. You don't have to be so polite to me." Jiang Qian closed Jiang Qingzhou's outstretched palm and told Jiang Qingzhou to take the deed paper and go to the town to get the red deed.

Jiang Qingzhou was no longer polite to Jiang Qian. He thought it would be the same if he asked Song Li to send some eggs over in the afternoon.

Jiang Qingzhou first went to the market to find Song Li. He first told Song Li that the house had been bought, and then asked where Jiang Qingye and Li Yi had gone.

"I asked them to deliver bean sprouts to the restaurant. They should be back soon. I just ran into Constable Chen, and he told you to go to the yamen and see him directly. He will take you to get the red deed." Song Li repeated Chen Yuan's words to Jiang Qingzhou. She was afraid that Chen Yuan would be anxious waiting for her, so she urged Jiang Qingzhou to go over quickly.

Jiang Qingzhou hurried to the yamen. The gatekeeper recognized Jiang Qingzhou. He asked Jiang Qingzhou to wait for a moment and ran into the yamen to call Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan followed the gatekeeper and walked over. He led Jiang Qingzhou around the yamen and found the clerk sent by the county government.

After the clerk heard Chen Yuan's explanation, he smiled and told Chen Yuan: "Since you are a relative of Constable Chen, you only need to pay the tax and take ten cents to print money."

Chen Yuan and Jiang Qingzhou thanked the clerk in a hurry. Jiang Qingzhou took the deed paper out of his bag and handed it to the clerk. The clerk read it carefully first, then took out the abacus. He told Jiang Qingzhou while turning the abacus: "Young man, you bought this house for two taels, and you need to pay 4% tax, which is 56 wen, plus 10 wen for printing money, a total of 66 wen."

Jiang Qingzhou counted out sixty-six copper coins from his purse and handed them to the clerk. The clerk took it with a smile, counted it, and then put it into the wooden box under the wooden table.

The clerk turned around and took out a piece of paper from the cabinet against the wall, saying that it was a document printed uniformly by the government. He pasted the document on the deed paper with paste, and then stamped the yamen's seal on the pasted place.

The clerk recorded the information on the deed again, then returned the deed to Jiang Qingzhou and said, "Young man, that's it. In the previous dynasty, the seal had to be stamped at the county government office. The emperor of this dynasty is benevolent and loves the people, so he specially allowed the towns and villages to make seals, which saved a lot of trouble. If you go to the county government office, from entering the government office to stamping, you will have to pay two or three hundred coins. You should thank Constable Chen for saving you twenty or thirty coins here. If you lose it by accident in the future, you must report to the government office in time."

Jiang Qingzhou thanked the clerk and Chen Yuan again. Chen Yuan sent Jiang Qingzhou to the gate of the yamen and asked Jiang Qingzhou to help keep an eye out for anyone selling land in Jiangjia Village.

"Detective Chen, I will pay more attention. If I find a suitable person, I will come to the yamen to find you again." After Jiang Qingzhou said goodbye to Chen Yuan and hurried to the stall.

There were no customers at the stall now. Song Li saw Li Yi standing next to the cart with a frown on her face and asked her what was wrong.

"Sister, will grandpa come back?" Li Yi asked softly.

Song Li smiled and comforted Li Yi: "The study is here, and the master's precious grandson is also here. He will definitely come back."

"Really?" Li Yi continued to ask.

Jiang Qingye nodded and told Li Yi after hearing this: "Yes, maybe the teacher will come to pick you up in the afternoon."

"I thought he would abandon me like my parents did?" Li Yi muttered softly.