Chapter 4: Settling Down
"Ah……, young man, why are you up so early." Dog Egg's father stretched his waist and drawled as he opened the door, suddenly discovering that there was still Liu He, an outsider, outside. His own image was quite unseemly, and he somewhat embarrassingly greeted Liu He.
"Heh heh, Uncle Li, I couldn't sleep anyway." Liu He pretended not to see Dog Egg's awkward appearance. "Young fellow, you're worried about staying in our village, aren't you? Don't worry, I'll go talk to the village chief and he'll definitely let you stay."
"Dog Egg, come in and give me your clothes. Today it's my turn to wear them. You can go herd the cattle naked." "I won't." Suddenly a woman's voice came from inside the house, as well as Dog Egg's retort.
"Dog egg, why aren't you listening? Quickly take off your clothes and give them to your sister." "Uncle Li, can I ask why Dog Egg has to give his clothes to his sister?" Liu He asked curiously.
"Little brother, you don't know, are you guys always so wealthy? We're not even wearing many clothes here. Naturally, Dog Egg and his sister share a set of clothes, and I share a set with Dog Egg's mother. Besides, the weather is good now, Dog Egg won't catch a cold going out to herd cattle without clothes."
Suddenly, Liu He made a decision. Since he was wearing several layers of clothes, why not give some to them? "Doggie, no need to rush." Liu He noticed Doggie slowly walking towards the house.
"Hey, big brother, you have an idea." Suddenly Dog Egg's eyes widened, perhaps Big Brother could persuade Dad not to let himself send the clothes to his sister.
With a few rustling sounds, Liu He took off all the clothes on his body and only wore an overcoat. In this way, three pieces of clothing were taken out: one shirt, one T-shirt, and one undershorts.
"Uncle Li, look at these clothes of mine that I can no longer wear. Why don't you give them to your sister and aunt?" "You see, young man, how can this be good..." Just as Dog Egg's father was pushing the offer away, Dog Egg had already taken the clothes and sent them inside. "Hey, this little scamp! Young man, I'm really embarrassed... being poor and short on spirit... otherwise I'd go talk to the village chief right now and let you move into the house next door."
The words had not been finished, and Dog Egg Pa had quickly gone out. Even the tail of the words was still spoken outside the door: "Uncle Li, ah, Uncle Li is really a hot-tempered person." Liu He wanted to ask if he needed to pay money to live in this village.
"Thank you, Brother Liu." At this time, a 13 or 14-year-old girl walked out of the house. Liu He's eyes lit up instantly, and this was indeed a beautiful young girl, only a bit thin, apparently due to hunger. Her pale face had a pair of big, bright eyes that were full of spirit. She wore Liu He's T-shirt on top and his undershorts on the bottom, with the pant legs rolled up, giving her an especially stylish look.
"Big brother, is there something wrong?" Liu He looked up and down at the girl, who was getting a bit shy, lowered her head, and fiddled with the hem of her long T-shirt.
"Hehe, you look great in that outfit." Liu He smiled foolishly. "Sister, you're really beautiful," Dog Egg also chimed in with a timely compliment. The little brat knew what was beautiful, but it was just because he didn't have to give up his own clothes to wear with his sister.
"I don't like you guys, I won't talk to you anymore, I'm going back," the little girl turned her head and ran back into the house, this little girl is already shy.
"Big brother, why not marry my sister to be your daughter-in-law." Perhaps it was because of those few pieces of candy, or perhaps it was because this set of clothes had completely belonged to Dog Egg now, he spoke ingratiatingly with Liu He, and even sold out his own sister.
"You little stinker, do you know what a wife is?" Liu He slapped Dog Egg's head, "Big brother, my dad said not to hit the head, hitting the head will make one become stupid. Who doesn't know what a wife is? A wife is for cooking and warming the bed, and also for giving birth to a little kid. But big brother, why do people say giving birth to a little kid, but my mom says I was picked up from the water?" Dog Egg asked innocently.
Is this era starting to deceive children by saying they were picked up? Liu He thought it was only said in his era, "You'd better ask your mother, who knows where you came from." Of course, Liu He didn't dare to expose Dog Egg's mother's lie, he was afraid of being remembered by Dog Egg and constantly asking this question, who caused the trouble, or who should solve it.
"Little brother, little brother, your problem is solved, the village chief said so, you can just live here, but there's no land for you, huh? Here's the key." From afar, Dog Egg's father came running back shouting. It seems that household registration in this era is quite easy to handle, as long as you say a word to the village chief, you can move in.
"Uncle Li, how much does this house cost?" "What money? These are all houses left behind by people in the village who have no descendants or have fled. They naturally belong to the village now. I'll go talk to the village chief, and he won't even give me that bit of face."
It can be imagined that Li Shu went to the village chief and made a scene, otherwise he wouldn't have settled down so easily. This was also because of Liu He's few clothes, which in Liu He's eyes were nothing, but in Li Shu's eyes, they were a big deal. What's one broken house, there are over a dozen empty houses in the village anyway.
"Little Li, Little Li, why are you running away? I haven't finished speaking yet." Liu He couldn't help but steal a smile as he watched this big and rough man being called Little Li, which was quite amusing.
But Dog Egg Father didn't know what was so funny about it. "What's wrong, Village Chief? Are you reluctant to part with this broken house? It's good that our Liu family's young master is willing to live here, isn't it?" Dog Egg Father looked very unhappy, and even felt that the village chief had lost face in front of Liu He.
"Hey, Little Li, why didn't you listen to me finish? This is Liu's younger brother, indeed a talented young man. Welcome to our village for settlement." "Hello, Village Chief." Liu He bowed politely to the Village Chief, who was in his fifties or sixties, and it was only natural to show respect with a bow.
"Good, good, this young man is really polite, unlike you Little Li, not listening to me at all." "Village chief uncle is here, what delicious things did you bring for Dog Egg?" Dog Egg suddenly came out from one side and hugged the village chief's shoulder. "Haha, Dog Egg, Village Chief Uncle arrived just in time, didn't bring anything for Dog Egg to eat, will definitely make it up next time."
"Village chief, uncle, let's make a deal. Next time you come, you must bring me delicious food, or else Dog Egg won't be happy." "Alright, alright, we have a deal." It seems that the family of Dog Egg has a very good relationship with the village chief.
"Come on, young man, this is the deed to that house, you take it, otherwise when the county officials come down, they will drive you out." As he spoke, the village chief took out a very old paper from his pocket, naturally with some scribbles on it from east to west, and the original owner's name had already become blurred, apparently having changed hands several times.
"I said, young man, this is really a coincidence. There are many idle houses in the village, but only this house has a deed, and all the other houses have taken their deeds away by the owners. If they come back, it won't belong to you anymore."
"They dare, they've been gone for many years, how can they still want to come back and ask for the house?" Dog Egg's father roared angrily. "Hey, I'm telling you Little Li, can you keep your voice down? Look at my old ears, you're going to deafen me! Alright, I'm leaving, if there's anything, young man, you can find me or have Little Li tell me."
The village head walked slowly away with his hands behind his back.
