After the Spring Festival, Shopkeeper Xian will be returning to the outside of Shanhaiguan. Before he left, he hoped that the village could decide on the location and scale of the Xiazhuang Primary School. With the shadow of the school in her heart, she would be gratified as she walked. After Xia Zongfeng, Changliang, and Xia Zongru's discussions, they had initially chosen a few plans. The first was the north of the village, the second was the pear tree garden in the west of the village, and the third was the well south of the village, the landlord of the old house, the west of the new house, and the open space on the main road in the south. Shopkeeper Xian thought that two or three would do, but three was the best, because it was in the middle of the village, convenient for the children on both the east and west sides. Shopkeeper Xian thought that it was better to be further away from the main street and closer to the south end of the main street. This was because it was closer to Wang Village and convenient for the children of Wang Village to go to school.
" Xia Zhuang built a school. Why would they consider the convenience of Wang Zhuang's children?" Xia Zongfeng and Changliang were a little puzzled.
Shopkeeper Xian took out a notebook and opened a page, saying," Zhuang Xili's stele is to the west of Xia Sect's Hefang. Have you seen the stele by the road?"
"Yes, it's still there, but I haven't read the words in detail."
"Do you know what that Dao is?”
"I don't know."
I'll read it out to you. I copied it down.
Shopkeeper Xian read:
"People who have always been virtuous must have many grand deeds, and there has never been a grand deed like Wang Junhui of my southern village. The king's virtue is simple, and all kinds of good deeds are not listed. Only in my Xia Village Xi Shi place by the road you people are very happy to praise. Our village faces south from the west, without fear, only the grain cart Jingtian is inconvenient, Wang Jun can not help but feel sad, took the land two dozen four ridges, south long to the top, North long to the main road, east to the Xia surname, west to the Wang surname, very generous to each other, let our village always build roads, in order to bear the burden. Give up the land of one's own kind, the road of others, if not with Shengde who can do so, my Zhuang Ming heart carved monument may be immortal.
Wang Zhu 1000 Yang Rongzhi 600
Xia Yongde 600 Zhang Chunshi 600
Zhang Deqian 600, Xia Kefeng 500
Zhang Chunxue, 600, Xia Keli, 500
Zhang Huaiqing 600, Xia Yongjian 500
On the auspicious day of the first month of the sixth year of Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty, the people of Xiajia Village and others stood together."
At this point, Shopkeeper Xian raised his eyes and said loudly,""How is it? Do you understand what's going on?”
" I roughly know. Zhuang Xili's road was given to him by Wang Zhuang. He's a good person."
" Oh right," Shopkeeper Xian said with a smile,""More than a hundred years ago, the people of Wang Village gave a road to our village without taking a single cent. How noble! Today, our village has built a school and our children are all going to school. How can we ignore their children who can't go to school?
"So I thought that if we go back to school, we'll be more spacious. The two villages are so close, and we're close. Changliang," he looked at Changliang and said," Your daughter should stay in Wang Village. In the future, your nephews and nieces will come to school, isn't that good?”
" That's good," Nagara said with a smile,""Shopkeeper, you think too far ahead and stand high.”
At this moment, Shopkeeper Xian took out a piece of paper from the cabinet and handed it to Xia Zongfeng." Look, I want to cover it roughly like this. What do you think? I didn't think too much of it."
It turned out that after the initial location of the three blocks was determined, Shopkeeper Xian thought that the place in the middle of the village was the best, so he walked around the open space many times in the morning and evening and came back to draw a simple floor plan. Xia Zongfeng, Xia Zongru, Changliang, and the others all said that it was pretty good. He could look for a carpenter to study the details and construct it according to the drawing. After it was completed, he would guarantee that the shopkeeper, the villagers, the students, and the teachers would be satisfied.
Shopkeeper Xian said,"That's good." He then called Changxin to the cabinet to bring his leather bag. He opened it and took out a small cloth bag. He handed it to Xia Zongfeng and said,""This is two hundred and fifty yuan," Xia Zongfeng said." Let Xia Changli take the money." He was the militia company commander in the village. He was smart and reliable. Xia Zongfeng wanted him to take the money. Chang Li opened the bag and counted it, saying,"" Two hundred and fifty yuan, exactly the same." He then put the money into a cloth bag.
Shopkeeper Xian emphasized a few more words in the end," The buildings in the northeast all have north windows. Our map is very heavy, so we don't have north windows. This is a habit. This time, we're going to have north windows for the school." He pointed at the map. For the houses here and north, leave the north windows. They can be smaller. For the houses in the south, open the south windows. This way, the rooms will be well-lit and airy." Everyone said,"We'll do it, don't worry."
After two days, Shopkeeper Xian left and went back to the shop outside the Pass.
After Shopkeeper Xian left, Xia Zongfeng, Xia Zongru, Chang Liang, and a few others quickly began to make the preliminary preparations for building the house. The first was to choose carpenters and bricklayers. The carpenter was Shi Changfu, Ma Laoliu of Shi Gezhuang. He was called Ma Laoliu because of the pockmarks on his face. He was a carpenter passed down from his ancestors. He had good work. He did all the carpentry work in the good houses of Xia Manor, including the houses of Xia Changren, Men Si, and Shopkeeper Xian. The bricklayer was Zhang Fengchi. He was skillful and worked quickly and well. Next was to buy materials, bricks, wood, and ash. Changliang and Changli went east to Xinzhai, north to Chuanlin, and near Hugezhuang and Sigezhuang. They went to the market repeatedly before they bought almost all the materials. Because of the large span of the school, it was not easy to buy a beam, so the village chose two of the largest poplar trees as the beam. In July and August, when the crops were all up, the school started to work.
Due to the ample preparation, the project progressed very smoothly. In ten days, the soil was put on the house, and the big wall connecting the north and south houses was completed. The brick work was basically completed. Seeing that the school was about to be built, the whole village was very happy. People looked at the school and said jokingly," We still have to thank the Japanese. They haven't come down for more than a month and let us build the school."
"Why are you thanking the Japanese? Are you a traitor?”
Take the bullets and grenades."
Probably in ancient times, Xia Manor was located on the coastline. To the south was the vast sea, and the plains on the shore were scattered with sand dunes of varying sizes. The further north they went, the larger the dunes became until they reached Swallow Mountain. There were mounds in the north, south, east, and west of Xia Manor. In the past few hundred years, since people settled on this land, these mounds had been chosen as graves for the dead. Xia Family Tomb, Zhang Family Tomb, Yang Family Tomb, Wang Family Tomb, Zhao Family Tomb, all the highlands had been used as graves. It could be seen that humans had lived on this land for a long time. There was a small temple at the east end of the Xia Village. The roof was made of green bricks and earth tiles. There was a platform in front of the temple. The floor was paved with green bricks and the sides were inlaid with stone slabs. In front of the platform, there was an ancient willow tree beside the road. On the branches hung a Ming Dynasty bell. Behind the small temple was the temple mound, which was nearly 30 to 40 meters above the ground. It could be said to be a "earth mountain" in Xia Village. It was like a good-looking steamed bun sitting at the east end of the village. There were dense forests on the north and west sides of the temple. There were two big trees behind the small temple on the south slope. East Chun and West Yu stood behind the small temple like two guards. This place could be said to be a "holy land" of Xia Manor. Needless to say, the small temple was a place where people burned incense and kowtowed. When the summer was hot, the "wise men and celebrities" in the village, adults and children, loved to sit on the temple mound and enjoy the shade. Especially the children, they were very happy as they climbed and played on the temple posts and listened to the adults talk about the north and south. The war had destroyed the peace here, and the adults had less time to relax. The children were fearless. As long as they did not " run away from the enemy," they would come here to play when they had time.
This afternoon, Ah Hui, Feng Zai, Dongqing, An Tai, Rui Yu, and Feng Fu were playing on the temple post. They ran, jumped, and played, climbing up and down. Later, the holly tree came up with a trick. It was a competition of climbing trees. The Chun tree and the elm tree behind the small temple would see who climbed higher and faster. Climbing trees was Hui's forte. He took off his shoes and hugged the tree barefooted. He climbed up the tree with his legs and soon reached the top of the tree. If he continued to climb, he would not be able to hold anyone up. He sat on a tree branch and looked at the people below. Some of them had begun to climb, while others were still looking at the top of the tree, wondering how to climb. At this moment, a gunshot was heard from the north. The children, who were already used to " running away " with the adults, immediately realized that the Japanese were coming." They're running away." After a while, the village was filled with noise, people shouting and horses barking. The children panicked. Feng Zai, Rui Yu, and Feng Fu, who were under the tree, hurriedly ran home. Those who had already climbed up the tree panicked and went down. Ah Hui was at the highest point, so she was naturally the last one to get off the tree. He was so flustered that he didn't care how high he was from the ground and simply jumped down. In fact, he was still very high off the ground. In addition, the ground was uneven, so he broke his leg and his left knee joint hurt very much. Seeing that the other children had run home, he just couldn't run away. He endured the pain and limped home. When she entered the house, her father, mother, and brother had all run away. It was getting dark. Where could she find her parents? Her legs hurt, so she couldn't run with the adults like every time she ran. She could even run faster than her mother. Who can carry me and run? Ah Hui didn't cry, nor was she afraid. Instinct and habit told him that he couldn't stay at home. He had to run out. Where could he run to?
His family's garden was next to Zhuangdong Road. It was planted with sesame seeds, growing tall and dense. During the day, Ah Hui had played with her friends and had gone inside. No one could find her there. As the sky gradually darkened, Ah Hui dragged her injured leg and endured the pain. She passed through the two open spaces of Zhang Fenglong's house and Old Zheng's house and limped into her own sesame field. Due to excessive sleepiness, Ah Hui fell asleep not long after and did not know anything about the Sesame Barley. The next morning, he heard people talking on the east road outside. There were footsteps, especially the rhythmic sound of metal clashing. Ah Hui woke up. He crawled out of the sesame field and curiously went to the road to watch. He saw a long line of Japanese soldiers walking north. A white towel was hanging behind the Japanese soldiers 'buttocks. On the other side, a white tea jar and a bayonet were hanging as they walked. It was the rhythmic sound of iron weapons that Ah Hui had heard in the sesame field. Ah Hui stood in a daze on the path that the Japanese soldiers walked past, silently watching the Japanese soldiers go north. He wondered why they were here. Why were their parents afraid of them? Why did they run away as soon as they arrived? He was a little cold, and his clothes had been soaked overnight by the dew on the sesame leaves.
Ah Hui knew that once the Japanese soldiers left, he could go home. He walked through the sesame field and headed home. Grandma was burning a fire by the stove. When she saw Ah Hui return, she was surprised and happy. She said,"Are your parents back?”
"No, I haven't."
"Why did you come back alone?”
"I couldn't find them yesterday. I was hiding in the sesame field in the east." Ah Hui said proudly,"I didn't find them yesterday. Grandma, I saw the Japanese soldiers just now. A large group of them went north from the east road."
"Aiya, my good grandson, why didn't the Japanese take you away! "You can't run around blindly in the future. If you can't run away with your mother, then find Grandma." Grandma's fire stopped burning. She was in her seventies, but she picked Ah Hui up and placed her on the Kang. She said,"Your coat is wet. Stay warm on the Kang. Don't move.”
After Ah Hui finished her meal in Grandma's room, her father, mother, and brother came back from Dongtuo Mountain. Her mother looked at Ah Hui sitting on Grandma's Kang and said with tears in her eyes,"Where did you go? I can't find you anywhere. I'm so anxious!，If they ran, they would not be at ease. If they did not run, they would be afraid of being caught by the Japanese. I ran out, but I was still thinking about you and didn't sleep the whole night." He let out a long breath and said happily,"It's good that you still know how to come to your grandmother..."
"He's not with me. He just arrived! Hiding in the sesame field for a night, my clothes are still wet."
Her mother hugged Ah Hui, tears streaming down her face. She said softly,"Don't run around in the future. Where can I tell Mom so that I can find you? If I can't find you, won't I be worried?"
Ah Hui leaned against her mother's shoulder and said," I saw the Japanese soldiers again. A large group. They didn't see me."
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。