Chapter 553： keep secret

   Mu Yangling directly borrowed the production from the land, because there were few people in the village, and only the yield of the wasteland was enough.

The villagers who needed to borrow food came to the door one after another, signed the contract and went home with a few bags of food, because Mu Yangling and the others were always unattainable in the hearts of the villagers. Except for Chen Ming who also communicated with them, they rarely saw the mansion. people in the courtyard.

The fourth grandmother would occasionally walk at the foot of the mountain with her two children, and seldom went to the middle of the village to play, so she was in awe because of the distance.

Borrowing food, the interest is only a few acres of land, the villagers feel that it is very cost-effective, and there is a subtle feeling of taking advantage of the landlord's family, so although the Zhu family is still unattainable in their hearts, but they also feel close. few.

As the weather gets colder and colder, people who go to the village to exchange food for food occasionally pass by this small mountain village.

Of course, the villagers will not exchange the food for life, but they will instruct the people who come to exchange the food to visit Zhu's house.

As a result, Mu Yangling received chickens and ducks one after another, and later even cattle and sheep started to be sent here.

Although Mu Yangling did not exchange all of them, most of them would exchange food for each other. When the villagers saw this, they took out the eggs and other items at home and exchanged food with Mu Yangling and the others. Now Chen Ming went to the market. The time is greatly reduced, because except for some more expensive ingredients, they can find use in the things they exchange.

"Have the prices of grain shops in town increased?" Mu Yangling asked.

"It went up a bit, but strangely it didn't go up much," the guard said, "I thought it would go up a lot."

"It seems that they don't want this small place to fall into chaos." Mu Yangling pondered, and turned his head to let Chen Ming change things for others in a small dilapidated house at the entrance of the village.

"You bring food there every day, and you can exchange it for them when you find something that can be exchanged. You don't have to bring people here all the time."

"Only five bags of food can be exchanged for at most every day, and there will be no more. Let's go."

The guards breathed a sigh of relief. Although there were not many villagers who came to exchange food every day, in twos and threes, their security pressure was also great.

Because Mu Yangling and the others did not do any propaganda, although there were word of mouth among the villagers, not many people came. Most of them were from a few nearby villages. Because the road was blocked by snow, they did not want more people. They came to exchange for food, so the news only spread among a few nearby villages. After all, the Zhu family had begun to limit the amount of food they exchanged every day, so it could be seen that they did not have a lot of food.

And as time went on, the number of people who changed food gradually decreased. In the end, it was fixed at seven or eight people a day. They knew that the Zhu family did not stick to anything, and they would change it as long as they saw it. Sometimes they would find a handful of fungus in the mountains. They can exchange a handful of grain when they come here, so they don’t change much grain each time. At the beginning, some chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep at home were exchanged for whole bags of grain, and then they went up the mountain to find some novel things to deliver. , more or less accumulated.

For example, because of the cold weather, the only vegetables that can be eaten are the cabbage stored in the cellar, but some people can grow radish seedlings around a field, and they pull some out every day to exchange for some food to go back. Except for Zhujia, no one really knows Exchange grain for radish seedlings to eat.

Because the later replacement is relatively fragmented, the five bags of grain are reduced to two bags a day. Mu Yangling will take two children to the foot of the mountain when there are few people, so that they can breathe.

This year's Chinese New Year, the villagers are much more enthusiastic than before. Many people send gifts to their homes. Although they are ordinary things, Mu Yangling and the others may not even eat them, but they always have a heart.

Mu Yangling thought about it and asked Chen Ming to prepare two or three kilograms of food for each family, and then send it with some cabbage and potatoes.

This year's Chinese New Year, because of the difficulties, few families would go to cut meat. In previous years, the village even killed one or two pigs to divide the meat.

Mu Yangling and the others killed two pigs, but they had twenty-three bodyguards alone, not to mention the servants who served them, so the two pigs are not too much to count, but this does not prevent the envy of the villagers outside. .

The village chief and Li Zheng who got the two pieces of meat had a much better impression of Mu Yangling.

During the Chinese New Year, the children went to each other's door to pay New Year's greetings. When they went to Zhu's house, a group of children looked like they were at the door and worshipped. Mu Yangling asked Chen Ming's family to take out a basket of candies and distribute them to them. He smiled and said, "The fourth grandma loves the children, so let them come in and play. The second and fourth young masters also have company."

Mu Yangling, who was still smiling at first, put away his smile and looked at the Chen Ming family. The Chen Ming family's heart skipped a beat, and immediately stood up, bowed his head and stood up. He explained, "My servant also sees that there are only two young masters in the family, so it is inevitable that I will be lonely, so..."

"You don't have to worry about this," Mu Yangling interrupted her. "Take the things out and share them with the children."

Chen Ming's head bowed in response, and took out the candy.

She was very annoyed. She had known that she would not mention this issue. The main family insisted repeatedly that the affairs of the house were not allowed to go out, including how big the yard was, how many rooms there were, and how many servants were not allowed to say it. After half a year, she can understand that the background of the mansion must not be simple. If nothing else, those guards are not like ordinary people.

There is also the great grandmother of the housekeeper, who is majestic and does not want to be mortal, even the female family members of the official family are nothing more than this, how can they look like a family member who is engaged in business?

This fourth grandmother is very approachable, and even likes to grow vegetables in person, but she has seen her say this to the guard several times with a sullen face. She just glanced at her, and her casual glance made her feel cold.

I don't know if the fourth grandmother would be angry with her for making such an idea, and wouldn't she turn around and kick her out?

Chen Ming's family absentmindedly distributed candies to the children who came to pay New Year's greetings. After sending them away, they hurriedly went to find the head of the house and said sadly: "Master, the fourth grandma won't be angry and drive me out, right?"

Chen Ming was also a little annoyed, and scolded in a low voice: "Why are you so out of your mind? Look at how many times our master has said that we are not allowed to gossip outside, how can you dare to bring those half-children into the door? The village chief and Lizheng can only sit in the flower hall in the front yard every time they come, and they don't even know what the yard looks like.

Chen Ming's family panicked: "Then, then I'll go and beg Fourth Grandma, kowtow and beg her not to be angry."

"Shut up," Chen Ming glared at her, "Fourth grandma hates this kind of thing the most, how dare you do it, didn't you admit your mistake before? Don't mention it again, just be cautious in your words and deeds in the future."

"By the way, you didn't go out and tell the women in the village about our master's house?" Chen Ming looked at his wife suspiciously.

"No, no," Chen Ming's family hurriedly waved their hands: "They asked how many people there are in my house and what they eat every day, but I didn't answer and changed the subject."

Chen Ming breathed a sigh of relief, at least he wasn't too stupid.