It's really hard to just farm peacefully.

Chapter 231

On the last day of the fourteenth year of Jianyuan, Jiang Yan prepared a sumptuous meal for himself to celebrate his many escapes from death and to wish for good luck in the coming year.

Outside Dongshan Village, in Furong Village, which is far away from the mountains, the villagers who stayed behind and some of their families also prepared rich food. Everyone gathered in the meeting hall, toasting each other and welcoming the arrival of the New Year.

Of course, in order to ensure the safety of the village, the cups and bowls were filled not with grain wine, but with precious honey water.

Food was in short supply in the village, and even the village chief was reluctant to use it to make wine. Although honey was more expensive, if you walked through the mountains for a while, you would definitely come across a beehive or two.

On such an important occasion as today, it is a pleasure to scoop out a few spoonfuls for everyone to enjoy some sweetness.

After having enough food and drink, everyone dispersed and returned to their respective residences, leaving only the night watchmen still chatting in low voices.

Jiang He and Jiang Ju were not among the candidates from Furong Village to go to Beiting to protect the palace because they were young and the only males left in the family.

Fang Ertan was unfortunately left behind in the village because his brother was selected. At this moment, he was talking to other night watchmen about the situation down the mountain and expressing his longing for his family.

"All your family members are back, why don't you bring them up the mountain?" The person asking the question knew that Fang Ertan had gone home to look for them when they entered Rongyang County, but the Fang family ran away very quickly at that time. It was said that they moved away when they were fighting in Heyang County.

Fang Ertan scratched his head. "They are used to living at the foot of the mountain, and the neighbors around are familiar to them. It would be inconvenient for them to leave suddenly, and they still have land to farm at home."

"Your wife isn't coming with you? You missed her so much in the mountains." Another person joked, "Just follow Xiaohe and Xiaoma's lead and get the whole village to come."

Jiang He, who had been sitting quietly listening to their casual conversation, was suddenly mentioned and replied, "Everyone's situation is different. And my nephew's name is Jiang Ju, and that character is pronounced as Ju, not Ma."

"A colt is still a horse." The person being corrected didn't take it seriously and even started to complain, "I think that's the only bad thing about the village. It would be so much better if everyone could just fight and kill or farm. But they have to coax that girl into learning to read. Those things are useless, so why bother?"

Jiang He and Jiang Ju had learned some basic skills earlier, so they did not suffer as much as the other followers.

However, Fang Ertan had been away on business for a long time and had only recently returned to the village, so he happened to have missed the new literacy class in Furongzhai, and was a little confused when he heard it.

But when he thought of Kui Niang's joy and solemnity when she learned to read, he couldn't help but feel a little touched. "Some people want to learn but have no place to learn."

Seeing everyone looking at him strangely, Fang Ertan straightened his back and said, "I already know a series of characters. I know my name, my wife's name, and my county and village."

"Are you bragging?!" The person who originally complained didn't quite believe it, but keeping watch was boring, so he held up a torch and pulled Fang Ertan outside, motioning him to scratch in the snow pile on the side for everyone to see.

Fang Ertan did not refuse. He walked forward confidently, raised his index finger, and then stopped in front of the snow pile.

He just knew what those words looked like, why did his mind suddenly go blank...

"If it doesn't work, forget it. We brothers won't laugh at you." The people who were watching the fun were blown by the cold wind. Seeing that Fang Ertan had not taken any action, they could not help but took the initiative to persuade him.

"Don't rush me, I'll remember it right away." Fang Ertan wrote a few strokes with his index finger and then erased the traces. After repeating this several times, he finally wrote the first word.

"What does this say?"

"Qiao, my wife's last name is Qiao."

"Isn't your last name Fang? Where's your Fang?"

Fang Ertan had struggled to come up with the character "Qiao"; now writing another was a real chore. He shook his head, admitting he hadn't memorized it, but he still tried to save face.

"I can still write one word, but I don't know it."

Fang Ertan's writing was indeed very fluent this time.

Jiang He and Jiang Ju took a closer look, then looked at each other in confusion. It stands to reason that Jiang Yuan wouldn't teach such a simple and easy-to-write character to the villagers, right?