Volume 1 Chapter 59: Treasure Canopy Brother, Patching Clothes Maiden

  Xu Changling said: "That ancestral house, don't repair it for now."

  "Father, why?" Xu Qingyu was taken aback.

  "It's not suitable to make a big noise before the third selection," said Xu Changling, "You're making such a big fuss, it will only attract the attention of the Ge family. You should know that the Ge family has always wanted to climb up the high branch of the Mo family, who knows, maybe tomorrow the Ge family will send someone to inform the Mo family."

  "What about Father's opinion?" asked Xu Qingjie, thinking that they couldn't let Xu Yang and his sister continue to live in the old broken house.

  Xu Changling said: "Fifty miles south of Linwan City, there is a Xu Town. Let's give that piece of land with the house to Yang'er."

  Xu Qing's heart skipped a beat, the Xu family's estate was extremely vast, covering over a thousand acres, taking up nearly half of the entire town of Xuzhen. There were several hundred farming households alone, this old man is really generous.

  "Yang Er, these days, you can cultivate in the Xu Town Manor if you want to, or you can cultivate in your original old house if you want to. The family will not interfere with your freedom." said Xu Changling.

  Xu Yang's heart stirred, and he decided to cultivate in the villages outside the city, where no one would disturb him. He could take this opportunity to practice some mysterious techniques, in preparation for the upcoming Three Selections of Haiyun Institute.

  The city of Lin Yuan governs over one million people, but these one million people are not all living in the city. Among them, there are tens of thousands of farming households that are attached to the estates of various powerful families and are called "zhuang hu". These estates are mostly located on the outskirts of Lin Yuan City, forming large and small villages.

  Fifty miles south of the city is Xuzhen, a small town with a population of three thousand. More than half of the households in the town are dependent on the Xu family, and the name Xuzhen also comes from this.

  Today, in the largest mansion of Xuzhen, there was an unusual bustle. The villagers were busy sweeping and cleaning the courtyard, making the entire mansion look brand new.

  Two door-wiping young masters, after a hard half-day's work, rubbed each other's shoulders that had become sore from the exertion and straightened up.

  "Boss Gao, is there a big shot coming this time?" A young man with a childish face and soot on his face asked.

  The young master of the Zhuang family, nicknamed Bao Ge, about 17 or 18 years old, shrugged and said: "Who knows? Anyway, Old Master Xu has given his word, letting us serve him like a father... Humph, I'm guessing, he must be a young master from the city."

  "Dinner is ready! Dinner is ready!" Just as two young men were chatting, a voice came from outside the inner house door, and both of them felt delighted.

  "My stomach is hungry early, go eat quickly!"

  Two people, three steps in unison, rushed out of the inner courtyard gate, only to see two long benches arranged in a straight line in the yard, with a large pot standing upright at the end of the benches, emitting waves of steam.

  Several households with tattered clothes sat on a long bench, each holding a dirty big bowl in their hands, slurping and drinking porridge.

  "This porridge is so thin it can reflect a person's shadow, I wonder how many grains of rice are in this big pot," Baogai Ge scolded angrily. "Xu Bopi, you're treating people like this."

  "Alright, Bao Gai Ge, being able to have a bowl of hot congee is already not bad. In the past, wasn't it just doing work for Xu Bo Pi for nothing, and couldn't even get a sip of hot water?" The young face with a hint of childishness, his face covered in dust, was actually quite open-minded, walked over and scooped two large bowls of thin congee, giving one to Bao Gai Ge.

  "Huh? There are even a few pieces of vegetable leaves in this porridge. When did Xu Bopi become so kind?" Baogai Ge asked strangely.

  A young farmer nearby burst out laughing: "Bao Gai, you overestimate Xu Bopi too much. What kind of person is he? He's the kind of ruthless guy who would squeeze oil from a mosquito's leg! Would he add dishes to our porridge? --- This time it was Supplemented Sister who cooked the meal."

  "No wonder." Bao Gai's face flashed with admiration and yearning, but he said nothing.

  "It's all your fault! You bunch of lazy good-for-nothings, you deserve to be poor for three lifetimes!" a shrill and hoarse voice shouted.

  The crowd of onlookers were shocked, but then they saw the corner gate flash open and a middle-aged man wearing a cotton robe with thief-like eyebrows and eyes, sporting two mouse-whisker mustaches, walking in with an unsteady gait.

  "What a pity! It's actually the yellow dog under Xu Bapi's command. Disperse quickly!" A strange and gloomy voice echoed from the crowd, and everyone retreated together.

  This yellow-skinned dog, said big not big, said small not small, but the mouse-whiskered man who had just entered listened to it very clearly, and immediately pulled down his face and stepped forward quickly: "All of you stop! Who said that?"

  "What's with you?" The one stopped by the whiskered man was indeed Bao Gai, who looked innocent, "I'm on my way to work, what do you want from me?"

  "Who called the yellow-skinned dog? Come out!" The mouse-whiskered man was furious, his darkened complexion turning alternately pale and livid.

  All the villagers were laughing and having a great time. That sentence was clearly said by Bao Gai Ge, now everyone is teasing this mouse-whiskered man.

  The man's name was Huang Zhukeng, his father was also a farmer, he worked hard all his life to let Huang Zhukeng read books and learn characters, with the full expectation that he would have a good future and find a job in Linwan City that involved writing and calculation.

  But little did he know that Huang Zhong was lazy by nature and didn't study hard, wasting a lot of money without learning anything. His attempt to find a job in Lin Yuan City naturally came to nothing. His father was disappointed and ordered him to return home to farm, but this good-for-nothing was cunning and deceitful, and the fields he managed were all barren.

  The father of Huang Zhong's son was so angry that he got sick, and the family was even more hungry for a day.

  When poor, think of change. Huang Zhukeng thought of ways to climb up the high branch of Mr. Xu's house and transformed into a manager. Although he didn't have much real power, this kind of person was born with the ability to make a big deal out of nothing. He would extort his fellow villagers today and flirt with women tomorrow, doing all sorts of evil things. Huang Zhukeng's father was so angry that he died, but this young man didn't feel any shame at all. His usual threat to others was "I'll tell Mr. Xu".

  Such a person would naturally not be given any respect by the villagers.

  "Isn't it?" Huang Zhuke's eyes widened in anger, but he didn't dare make a move, and instead looked around nervously.

  "Ah!" Just then, Huang Zhukeng found a usable excuse and said, "Today's lunch is plain congee, who told you to steal the green vegetables? You can't even live well, but your mouths are so sharp! I'll tell Master Xu about this!"

  "Ha! You're not seeing things, Huang the steward? This pot only has a few wilted leaves, most of which are already yellow and withered. What 'green vegetables' is he talking about? Even if you threw them on the ground, hardly anyone would bother to pick them up."

  "I say it is, so it is!" Huang Zhuke straightened his neck and glared with his triangular eyes, "You bunch of lazy good-for-nothings! Hurry up and get to work for me. Today, you must thoroughly clean the entire estate. Master Huang will come to inspect it himself later!"

  "How can this be?" Baogai angrily said, "Wasn't it said that the big shot wouldn't arrive until three days later?"

  "Hmph, this is the new rule set by Huang Xin. What are you going to do about it?" Huang Zhuke hummed, "If you can't finish it, I'll tell Master Xu and have him properly punish you thieving slaves!"

  "Huang Guan, these vegetable leaves were picked by Bu Yi from the fields and not stolen by Bao Gai, please investigate clearly." A bright and clear female voice came from outside the corner door.