Qingshi Village
Zhao Xing’er was using the soap Jiang Yimian gave her to wash clothes. She watched as, with a light rub, a lot of foam appeared on the clothes. The dirty areas, after a few rubs, quickly disappeared with the foam. She was so surprised that her eyes widened, and she repeatedly praised, “Wow, Yimian, this soap is easy to use! It produces foam much easier than soap beans and cleans better.”
Soap beans, when used for washing clothes, not only need to be broken into pieces, but also need to be rubbed to produce foam.
Moreover, the cleaning ability is not very strong, and many dirty areas on the clothes cannot be cleaned.
Others were also watching nearby, their eyes full of surprise.
To the extent that Zhao Da walked over, several people didn’t notice him. It was only after Jiang Yimian greeted him that everyone discovered the person who had been standing nearby for a long time.
Zhao Da was not wearing his usual clothes today, but the deep blue constable uniform issued by the Yamen. At first glance, it startled everyone.
Liu Dayong only praised, “Brother Zhao, you look really spirited in this uniform.”
Just looking at the uniform carried a strong sense of deterrence, not to mention the saber at his waist.
Gousheng and Wang Xiaohei were also attracted by the constable’s spirited uniform, and quickly went up to examine it, their eyes full of envy.
“Big Brother Zhao’s uniform is so handsome; bad guys will probably be scared away when they see it.”
Gousheng said, while gesturing with Wang Xiaohei.
The two of them, one playing the constable and the other playing the person being caught, made everyone laugh.
Zhao Da rubbed his head somewhat embarrassedly, glanced at Gousheng and Wang Xiaohei before jokingly saying, “If you want to go to the Yamen to be constables, you have to exercise and eat more. With your small frames, you probably won’t catch the criminal before collapsing from exhaustion.”
As soon as he said this, everyone burst into laughter.
Gousheng and Wang Xiaohei immediately became a little dissatisfied, puffed out their chests, raised their heads, bent their arms, and were about to show everyone their muscles.
Before they could boast for a few sentences, they caught sight of Zhao Da’s large frame, and immediately looked at it enviously, quickly lowering their hands.
Life in the small low-lying land was pretty good. Both of them had grown taller recently and looked stronger. However, when standing next to Zhao Da, the contrast was quite stark; their frames were indeed rather thin.
Seeing that the men who had been so proud and imposing just moments ago were now dejected, Old Man Liu quickly smiled and changed the subject, “Brother Zhao, please sit down. Why do you have time to come today? Where’s Zhang Li? That boy hasn’t sent a single word back since the second day of the Lunar New Year.”
Zhao Da quickly explained, “Grandfather, don’t be angry. There’s a lot of work at the Yamen recently, everyone is busy and barely touches the ground. Zhang Li has been patrolling other towns these days and will probably be back in a while.”
He only had free time today; tomorrow, he would likely have other things to do.
Old Man Liu then responded. He wasn’t really angry, but Zhang Li had lived in this small low-lying land for several months, and everyone had developed feelings for him. Gousheng and the other children missed him every day, making Old Man Liu miss the young man as well.
Seeing that the other party wasn’t really angry, Zhao Da quickly stated his purpose for coming, “Last time, I told the Magistrate that you didn’t want to relocate to other villages and just wanted to register your household registration.”
Hearing that it was about the household registration, everyone immediately put down their work and looked at Zhao Da.
Old Man Liu quickly asked, “What happened? Did the Magistrate agree? Or do we have to go to other villages?”
Having lived in the small low-lying land for almost a year, they had already become accustomed to its tranquility and really didn’t want to go to other villages and become dependents.
They had also visited Apricot Flower Village. Most of the houses had been burned down, and because of the mountain bandits, no one dared to live there at all.
Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Zhao Da didn’t keep them in suspense and said with a smile, “The Magistrate agreed. He allowed you to continue living on the mountain, and only register your household registration in the village. I’m here today to take you to register.”
The Magistrate heard that several families didn’t want to live in other villages and immediately agreed, after all, it wasn’t a big deal.
Others were all eager to move to other villages. Only these few households in the small low-lying land disregarded the dangers of the mountain forest and insisted on living on the mountain.
Upon hearing that the Magistrate had agreed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the worry in their eyes gradually dissipating and turning into uncontainable joy.
Jiang Yimian quickly asked, “Which village will we register our household registration in?”
Since the Magistrate had allowed them to live on the mountain and only register their household registration in the village, the village shouldn’t be too far from the hilltop. She wondered which village it was.
Several nearby villages had been robbed by mountain bandits and were probably not doing well now.
Zhao Da smiled and said, “That village is very close, at the foot of the mountain. It’s called Qing Stone Village. And, this village wasn’t robbed by mountain bandits. The houses in the village are all well-preserved, the crops in the fields haven’t been damaged, and they’re doing quite well, much better than the other villages.”
If they hadn’t been registering people from various villages in the town, they wouldn’t have discovered such a village that hadn’t been ravaged by mountain bandits.
It turned out that this village was surrounded by mountains on four sides, and the only road in and out of the village had been blocked by the villagers long ago. To find this village, one had to enter the deep mountains and take a detour, thus escaping the disaster.
Jiang Yimian was startled; she wasn’t familiar with this village and had no related memories in her mind.
The others were about the same; they didn’t seem to have heard of this village.
Old Man Liu slapped his head, nodded repeatedly, “Right, there’s a village in that mountain hollow. I’ve heard people mention it before, but I haven’t heard of this village for many years, I almost forgot about it.”
It was many years ago, when a young man from the village married a girl from Qing Stone Village. Because that village was quite far from Apricot Flower Village—although only a mountain separated them—to reach the other village without entering the deep mountains and taking mountain roads, one had to take a detour, so there wasn’t much interaction later.
Zhao Da also quickly nodded, “That’s the village.”
He was surprised when he heard about it. There were still many villages on the other side of the mountain; only this village escaped because there weren’t any extra roads leading into it.
Jiang Yimian experienced the benefits of underdeveloped transportation for the first time. Apricot Flower Village was located by the roadside, with several roads nearby. Because merchant caravans often passed through, it was well-connected, which led to it being occupied by mountain bandits in the first place.
After clarifying the situation of Qing Stone Village, Zhao Da took several people to the village to register their household registration.
Because the mountain road was difficult to traverse, only Jiang Yimian, Gousheng, Liu Dayong, and Zhao Dashu followed Zhao Da down the mountain.
The group went through a forest path. Because they were unfamiliar with the route, they had to search for the road, and it took almost an hour to go down the mountain.
This was Jiang Yimian’s first time here, and she saw the neatly arranged houses at the foot of the mountain from afar.
The continuous deep mountains were too vast. Jiang Yimian frequently went to the cave and lotus pond area, and was completely unaware that there was a village in this mountain hollow.
Although most of them were thatched huts, they had a lively atmosphere, and looking at them from afar made people feel relaxed.
At the foot of the mountain, there were several houses neatly arranged, but they were dilapidated, with several large holes in the roofs, appearing to have been abandoned for a long time.