Chapter 63: The Ninth Year of Wude Finally Arrived

  In the ninth year of Wude, it was a year with great events, and this year, something big would happen at the Xuanwu Gate.

  This year, Li Er will become the emperor. This year, Li Er will also be humiliated. This year, Yang Heng hopes that his old father can make a name for himself, but how can he let his old father make a name for himself? It's a difficult problem. The main reason is that his old father is far away from the military camp. When the Turkic invasion event occurs, it's hard for his old father to reach the city, and even if the urgent news is sent to the city, it can't be delivered to his old father here.

  Forget about it for now, we just passed the New Year's holiday, let's have some fun with the kids first.

  "Hehe, hehe, brothers, come and chase me!" Xiaoniang was overjoyed this time. She finally ditched her single board and started using a pair of twin boards, which were specially made for her by Xiao Shu. They were shorter, lighter, and had a harder wood quality, so they wouldn't break easily even if they hit rocks. Moreover, for the first time, Yang Heng's two small ice blades were installed at the bottom of the board, making it faster and more directional. This was what made Xiaoniang so happy.

  The secret of the ice blade on this board belongs to Yang Heng, Xiao Niang and Xiao Shu, a secret that other children are not allowed to see. They only know that Xiao Niang's skateboard runs fast, but they don't know there are so many secrets inside, so no one comes to check such things, maybe because of the shortness of this board.

  This time skiing, Yang Heng deliberately slid towards the exit of the river course. Although he made a bamboo raft last year, he didn't go through the river course to the outside many times, but just wandered inside the river course and came back quickly without going far. This time Yang Heng wants to explore the road carefully, maybe his father's promotion path starts from this river course.

  "Ha, Brother Yang is so naughty, he deliberately knocked down the snow on the tree and got me all wet!" The children would occasionally exclaim in surprise because Yang would suddenly speed up, then tilt to one side and run up the mountain. In order to figure out what kind of trees were on the mountain, he naturally needed to knock off the snow on the trees. This could be done by just bumping into them with his body or hitting them with a pole, causing the snow on the trees to fall down. This way, Yang was able to explore the situation of some trees in this section of the river within a few days.

  Time passed unnoticed in the children's play, and spring arrived. At this time, the mulberry trees of the five families were also ready to be picked for their leaves. In order to save time for other things, Yang Heng did not arrange for these five families to raise silkworms or spin silk. Instead, he contacted people in the village to come and pick mulberry leaves, so they could raise more silkworms and spin more silk. They would also give some silk threads to Yang Heng's family and his uncles' families according to the amount of silk produced.

  Actually, there aren't many mulberry trees in the village, so naturally, there are very few families that raise silkworms. But with Yang Heng's five households having mulberry leaves, it can be said that every household can now raise silkworms. Although they worked hard, their income increased a lot, didn't it? This is a win-win situation. When paying taxes, they can pay more silk threads, so they can pay less grain. The villagers' lives will also become much better.

  In recent years, Ah Weng's thoughts have also changed a lot. Although he doesn't say it on his face, he has already changed in his actions. His younger brother Yang An can now come to Yang Heng's house to play. Last year, his younger brother and sister-in-law got married. Many of the betrothal gifts were still given by Old Father. At this time, Old Father also understood that if he wanted to advance, he had to improve his family relationships. Otherwise, no matter how high his position was, as long as someone reported on him in terms of family relationships, his position would be taken away.

  After having a younger aunt, in the late period of last year, the maids from various families all came to Yang Heng's house to learn and then returned home. As a result, the west wing was left idle, and the younger uncle and aunt often lived in Yang Heng's house, sometimes staying for over ten days at a time.

  He had a younger uncle and aunt, but Yang Heng's title never changed, even in the village. Because this younger uncle is considered to be the son of Ah-yong's successor, there was no change in the order, only that Yang Heng called him "younger uncle", while the previous younger uncle was still the old younger one and couldn't change his title either. So Yang Heng ended up having two younger uncles, but this wouldn't cause any confusion.

  The old lady calls Yang Heng's younger paternal uncle "Xiao Lang", and the one in front of him is called "Xiao Shu". The old man calls the one in front "Xiao Ge", but calls his own older brother "Da Ge". This way, these two brothers will call each other "Da Ge". These ancient forms of address are really troublesome.

  Yang Heng's title is even simpler, with younger uncles being called "Uncle" and other uncles following a certain order. Even when referring to multiple uncles, the distinction is clear. As for addressing servants, they are all referred to as "Lang Jun", which is unlikely to be mistaken. This is usually done face-to-face or by calling out to someone from behind, and after a few repetitions, it becomes apparent who is being addressed.

  It's easy to understand why this uncle and aunt like to sleep at Yang Heng's house. After all, Yang Heng is his older brother, even if they have different mothers. Moreover, Yang Heng has a new house, who doesn't like new houses? And the food at Yang Heng's house is good too. Coming here also means they don't need to work. Additionally, Ah Wong and Ah Po are too embarrassed to ask them to return home, so they basically live in Sha Jia Bang permanently.

  It was under such circumstances that Auntie, following the other three aunts, also became pregnant. As a result, Mother didn't want to let this younger brother and sister return home even more, and had Lotus Sister serve her, and they spent Chinese New Year here too. It's just that Uncle occasionally went back to live for a while, but after going back for only a few days, he quickly returned again. Because Auntie was pregnant, Yang Heng arranged for Uncle to sleep in Older Brother's room instead.

  When Ah Weng and Ah Po found out that Auntie was pregnant, they wouldn't let her go back anymore. Now everyone in the village knows that Yang Heng's family has a good method to ensure the safety of pregnant women, and they also have connections with Dr. Sun, so occasionally when someone gives birth, they will come find Old Mother. Then Old Mother would arrange for Lotus Sister to go to the village, but now Auntie is pregnant, naturally there's no need to go to the village anymore, and the village has started training their own midwife, who still comes to Yang Heng's family to learn from them.

  Since the village had this midwife, the birth rate of children has greatly increased, and the safety of pregnant women has also been greatly improved. Now the old father's reputation in the village is very good.