The reassurance of the Lu brothers was soon heard from the Lu brothers' mouths to the two masters of the Lu family.

The winter sun is warm.

Old Master Lu Taiheng sat on the lounge chair and basking in the sun. There were a few snacks on the stool near him. He squinted his eyes and listened to the words of his two grandsons. He pointed his sucking lips at the chimney of the hookah and blew out the ashes with a thud.

He knocked at the soft satin cloth shoes with a thousand-layer sole, and he was skillful in his movements.

He slowly twisted the yellow and soft tobacco into the cigarette, and blew the fire paper with a thud. Two thick smoke came out of his nostrils, saying, "This is Mr. Xu's teaching. Look, the noble kid who did not understand etiquette before would do such an excellent job, and he cannot do it without the teacher's teachings. You will bring two boxes of high-quality snacks, gifts, and prepare some silver and money to send them to the ancestral hall for Xu Xiucai."

"Dad? What do you say? It's fine to have a snack, but you can even give me money?"

Lu Zilin was a little reluctant to let it go.

He couldn't get out if he could not get a deal, so he would give Mr. Xu money, which would cost at least seven or eight taels. Besides, a box of snacks would cost a few dollars. At this moment, ten taels of silver were wasted.

The money from the wealthy owner is not wasted like this.

"Ha? What do you know!"

Lu Taiheng snorted, and his turbid eyes revealed an unquestionable look. He waved his hand and asked his two grandchildren to retreat, and then said slowly: "Give gifts to Mr. Xu to show our Lu family's kindness and righteousness! After inquiring, the son of our Lu family's chief worker learned from Xu Xiucai. After the chief worker resigned, he not only did not make a fuss with the master's family, but instead became friends..."

"What does this mean? The gentleman teaches well, our Lu family is also kind and righteous! There is also the friendship between children who borrow books..."

"So that's it!"

Lu Zilin also had some understanding.

Giving gifts to Mr. Xu has become world-famous and has made Mr. Xu famous. Similarly, he has made famous for his Lu family and his two sons. With this name of benevolence and righteousness, he will look up to him everywhere.

Bai Jiaxuan proposed to build a ancestral hall, run schools, and support the son of the chief worker to go to school. These things are spread throughout the countryside. Even the county's parents, Guan Gu County Magistrate, heard it. When he once routinely advised to study, he said that many wealthy families would learn from Bai Jiaxuan. This reputation was praised at once.

Although he followed Bai Jiaxuan and also donated money and food, he left Bailu Village. Who knew that Lu Zilin?

Just like the top scorer, everyone knows the first one, and the second one is just picking up people’s teeth!

Now he gives gifts to Xu Xiucai and thanks Xu Xiucai for his education. Once this matter is promoted, everyone knows that Bailu Village was taught by Xu Xiucai and is a village of benevolence and righteousness. When the matter is spread, the Lu family will also be mentioned...

"In this way, you can suppress Bai Jiaxuan!"

Lu Zilin was a little happy. Buddha fought for a stick of incense, and people fought for a breath. Bai Jiaxuan's lineage has always been the patriarch of Bai Lu Village. The previous patriarch was Bai Jiaxuan's father Bai Bingde, and the previous one was Bai Bingde's father. It was never the Lu family's turn...

Bailu Village is divided into two families. When the Hu surname was first changed, the main one was the Bai surname and the small one was the Lu surname.

It has been the past century that the Lu family has made a fortune.

He is richer than the Bai family, but his status in the village is not as good as that of the Bai family.

"Scared! It's not just this! You have to know that the county exam is not a secret, and a good reputation has reached the ears of the county magistrate. Do you think the county magistrate will look up to you when he is judging the paper?"

Lu Taiheng spit out the smoke ring and sneered.

He also participated in the imperial examination and was very familiar with the condoms of the county examination. During the county examination, an admission quota secretly awarded fifty taels of silver, but in order to show fairness, the county magistrate often consigned not many bribes, with less than ten people.

The quota for these ten people is not shared by the Lu family.

But there are only so many candidates in the Zishui County test. Under the same test paper, the famous candidates must be among the top, while the unfamous candidates are among the bottom...

"Besides, do you want Zhaopeng and Zhaohai to stay under the Bai brothers for the rest of their lives?"

Lu Taiheng said something quietly.

"Dad, right now!"

Speaking of this, Lu Zilin immediately became energetic. He wanted to suppress Bai Jiaxuan for the rest of his life, but it was difficult. Over time, he would no longer have the competitive spirit.

But it wouldn't work to make your two sons not as good as the Bai brothers!

Mr. Lu mentioned the county examination just now, which reminded him of Mr. Zhu, who is the chief of Bailu Academy in the county and Bai Jiaxuan's brother-in-law.

Although Mr. Zhu doesn't look like a person who is good at personal affection, this is indefinitely.

Even if he doesn't work hard on the county magistrate, the county magistrate, for Mr. Zhu's sake, as long as he does his work well, he will basically pass the county test level.

...

A few days have passed.

Bai Gui and Bai Youde also moved into a new home, which is an old house at the east end of the village.

Bai Youde was not a tenant at the beginning, but a long-term worker.

From the 11th year of Tongzhi to the 12th year of Tongzhi, severe drought in the north, and drought affected most of Jin, Shandong, Henan, and Qin, and almost all the Yellow River Basin, and even affected the Yangtze River Basin. By the fifth year of Guangxu, according to statistics, more than 13 million victims died of starvation this time.

Bai Youde's father couldn't stand the hunger, so he sold the few acres of dry slopes and three-quarters of paddy fields to the Lu family, and signed a contract with the Lu family, hiring the Bai family as a long-term worker for the rest of his life, and could not terminate the contract without authorization. The Lu family agreed to the contract because he was jealous of the Bai family's three-quarters of paddy fields, which was a good farmland and could be connected with the more than 40 acres of paddy fields on the riverside of the Lu family.

Long-term workers are semi-constrained in personal relationships. Some owners have good family members and eat much better than being a self-cultivated farmer.

However, Grandpa Bai Gui was not an unworthy descendant who sold land completely.

Instead, most of the land sold to the Lu family adopts the permanent tenancy system.

The so-called permanent tenancy system means that one field and two owners are permanently separated from land ownership and use rights. The land is divided into two parts: the bottom of the field and the surface of the field. The landlord possesses the bottom of the field. The power of the land is to collect rent from the tenants and the surface of the tenants possesses the land. The power of the land is to permanently use the land.

I sold the land, but I didn't sell it completely...

While the meal was on the stove, Zhou Yuan saw that there was no one around, so he closed the door, took out a few books from his arms mysteriously, and said to Bai Gui with excitement: "Brother Bai, I went back on vacation a few days ago. I specially asked the servants in the family to collect some emerging current affairs in Xi'an City. Look..."

After Bai Gui told a major change that had not been seen in three thousand years, Zhou Yuan felt that his knowledge was shallow, so after the wolf disaster stopped for a while, Xiangwu returned home during the holiday and entrusted his servants to collect some current affairs articles.

"Yeah?"

Bai Gui held a steamed bun, which was made of sugar and some lard. It was much better than the previous steamed buns, fragrant and sweet.

After moving to a new home, he didn't want to feel wronged.

He walked to Zhou Yuan and looked around for a few casually. Most of the so-called current affairs articles were compiled by newspapers in the south to compile some recent major events into a book, including "Chinese and Foreign Affairs News", "Qiushibao", "Shanghai Affairs New News", "Shiwubao", etc.

This kind of papers are sorted together and compiled into books and sold in later generations has become rare in modern times.

However, the north and the south are almost two different worlds. The information in the north is blocked, and the Qing court deliberately curbed it, so there are very few newspapers in the north and very few news materials. It is profitable to edit news into books, and it is natural to sell them.

"Wait, is this "Half-crying and half-laughing Poetry Grass"?"

Bai Gui flipped through it and was shocked when he saw a collection of poems. This was a true anti-poem, and the author signed it as the author half-cry half-laughing poster.

This is different from Li Shoumin, the owner of Huanzhu Tower who wrote the Xianxia novel.
Chapter completed!