You are unlucky and I am tough

Chapter 158 Relocation

Three days before the Chinese New Year, Cheng Lizheng once again called a meeting of all the families in the ancestral hall to discuss the move after the New Year. This year, the whole village would have the New Year's Eve dinner together. Each family would contribute some food and vegetables, and he would pay for the meat and vegetables.

The next day after the agreement was reached, Cheng Zhengde drove two pigs back from town and bought a lot of chickens, ducks, fish and meat. Cheng Shuang had a lot of chickens and ducks at home, but she was too lazy to move with them, so she donated them all.

Each family worked together to build a few temporary stoves in the threshing ground, and each family sent some firewood to be piled up for use.

The weather was good on New Year's Eve. There was no snow and the sun was out, making people feel warm. A group of children were running and playing in the threshing ground. A dozen men in the village were slaughtering pigs and preparing chickens and ducks at the headman's house. Twenty or thirty women with nimble hands and feet were helping to pick and prepare vegetables. The whole village was immersed in the joy of the New Year, temporarily forgetting the uneasiness and melancholy of leaving their hometown.

The whole village had this New Year's Eve dinner from the afternoon until the evening.

After the New Year, the villagers began to count the days on their fingers. As soon as they received the news that a Feng Shui site had been selected in Huanhua County, Cheng Lizheng began to arrange the relocation of the village's graves.

It took nearly a month to choose an auspicious day, prepare items, offer sacrifices and prayers, provide guidance for the requiem, and dig the grave. Cheng Shuang also got the urn of the original owner's parents.

In February, at the beginning of spring, several large ships came from the provincial capital and docked at the Qushan County wharf. Among them were official ships and merchant ships. The official ships were sent by the government, and the merchant ships were borrowed by the government from merchants in the provincial capital.

Chengjia Village and the neighboring Lijia Village were the first to move. A few days ago, government officials came to notify the villagers to pack their things. The transport team entered the village early this morning. Hundreds of empty cargo carts were all used to transport things for the villagers. A team of yamen runners was responsible for maintaining order and issuing boarding passes to each family.

Every household in the village opened its doors and was busy moving things in and out, including rice, flour, grain, oil, pots and pans, clothes, bedding, tables, chairs, benches, and various work tools. They took everything they could, and put chickens and ducks in cages and tied them to carts. The vegetables in the fields were also pulled out, and they almost took the roof tiles off and took them away.

Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang were too lazy to bring these things from so far away, which made them seem much more wasteful. All they brought were their clothes and bedding, some books and personal belongings, as well as a litter of baby rabbits born by the mother rabbit.

He didn't take anything else with him, and the little donkey was taken to the town by Wei Qinglang and sold half a month ago.

But the total amount of things was not small, because there were also 200 kilograms of sweet potatoes and potatoes each. These were specially left by Cheng Shuang, and the rest were given to County Magistrate Zheng to be used for seeds.

There wasn't much food left, so Wei Qinglang simply packed it into a bag, carried it to the car and threw it in, and that was it. Everything was done.

After packing up, the family took one last look at the bamboo house they had lived in for only eight or nine months before getting in the car and leaving. Wei Nanxing rode a horse, while Xiao Si, who was sitting in front of him and complained that he had never ridden a horse before, had already left.

The village was in a mess, and Cheng Shuang had no intention of waiting for them. She planned to transport the things over and load them onto the boat and wait.

The large merchant ships can carry about two to three hundred passengers. The official ships sent by the government are of similar size. Two of them are docked at the pier, and the ones behind them that cannot enter are parked outside.

After arriving at the dock, the officer leading the guard was He Zhou's confidant Dalong. Although He Zhou had resigned and left, Dalong had not forgotten that Cheng Shuang had saved him in the mountains. After checking the boarding credentials as a routine, he called a few yamen runners to come and help. With so many people, all the things were moved in just two trips.

Black Moonlight was also led onto the boat under Wei Nanxing's comfort. Afraid that it would run around and fall off the deck due to fear and anxiety, Wei Nanxing immediately found a place to tie it up.

Dalong had also been feeding Black Moonlight for a while. He patted the horse's neck to soothe it, then took out two wooden plaques and handed them to Cheng Shuang. "Madam Wei, take these and you can check in to the rooms upstairs. This time, we're borrowing some of the ship from merchants. The top-floor cabins are closed to the public. Only villagers are allowed to stay in the cabins on the first floor and the ordinary bunks on the second floor. Official ships don't care about that. However, the rooms are limited, so the county magistrate specifically requested that two rooms be reserved for your family. Also, the journey to the capital will take a day and a night, so remember to prepare some food if there's nothing on board."

Wei Qinglang, who was standing next to him, took the sign and said, "Thank you for the reminder. I'll be more than polite. Please thank the county magistrate for us."

Dalong bowed and said, "You are too polite, Lord Wei. My Lord asked me to thank you two for sending several hundred kilograms of potatoes and sweet potatoes to the county government office. If these two kinds of food can truly benefit the people of the north, you two will be blessed."

After Dalong left, Wei Qinglang asked Wei Nanxing to get off the boat to buy some food on the street. Cheng Shuang and the others walked around on the boat. Except for Cheng Shuang, it was the first time for everyone else to take a boat. They turned their heads curiously and looked around. The three little ones giggled and chased and played on the deck.

When they got tired of running, they ran to the fence, grabbed the railings and watched the busy dock. There were a lot of people at the dock, and the porters who were unloading goods were shouting slogans and carrying boxes of goods on their shoulders, which attracted several children to stretch their necks to look down.

Cheng Shuang leaned against the railing and felt the breeze. After a while, she felt a little cold and reminded her brothers and sisters, "Don't stay on the deck and enjoy the breeze. Be careful not to catch a cold."

After saying that, Cheng Xu ran towards her, and with a somewhat unsteady step, he rushed over to her, "Sister, this boat is shaking so much, it feels like sitting on a swing and feeling dizzy."

Cheng Shuang was startled, "Xiao Si, you are not seasick, are you?"

Although the boat was not moving, the hull was still shaking a little because of the strong wind and the fact that there were boats coming in and out from time to time.

Cheng Xu shook his head. He didn't know what seasickness was.

Cheng Shuang took his hand and checked his pulse. Sure enough, he had some spleen and stomach reflux, which was a symptom left over from not having enough to eat in the past. Even after taking medicine to regulate Xiao Si's spleen and stomach, his spleen and stomach were still relatively weak. People like him are prone to motion sickness and seasickness.

Cheng Guqiu came over and asked with concern, "What happened?"

"It's okay, Xiao Si is a little seasick, I'll take him to the room to rest."

Cheng Shuang dragged Xiao Si up to the third floor, found the room corresponding to the wooden sign, and opened it. While the room wasn't as luxurious as the Lu family's, it was remarkably clean and elegant. Cheng Shuang had Xiao Si lie down on the bed, gave him a few acupuncture needles, and told him to get some sleep. Then, she bought six or seven herbs from the system store, prepared a few prescriptions, and stuffed them into her bag.

About an hour later, the Wei Qinglang brothers came back, having bought a lot of food, and each of them was holding a large food box.

After moving a table to the third-floor deck, Wei Qinglang opened the food box. "We happened to meet Shopkeeper Meng when we passed by Taibai Tower. He heard we were leaving today and insisted on sending us something. This is the freshly cooked mutton tripe soup. Let's have some."

Cheng Shuang smelled the fragrance and moved closer. Inside was a large white porcelain pot with a lid, filled with a pot of milky mutton soup. The aroma made her feel hungry immediately.

It was just past noon, time for lunch. There were ten sets of bowls and chopsticks and several plates of pastries in another food box. Wei Qinglang took out the pan-fried buns he bought on the street. The family started to eat lunch and discussed where to stay for the night.

This ship can carry two to three hundred people, but the bunk beds on the second floor can only accommodate sixty to seventy people, and the rest of the people have to squeeze into the cabin on the first floor to spend the night.

Although the children might be arranged to sleep in a dormitory, there were still too many people. In the end, it was decided to divide the two rooms into one for men and one for women. Those who couldn't sleep on the beds would sleep on the floor. Anyway, everyone could bring their own sheets and bedding.

Cheng Xu slept until the afternoon. Cheng Shuang left a bowl of soup for the little guy, and after he finished drinking it, she gave him some buns to eat. At this time, he heard people outside say that the villagers had arrived.

Cheng Shuang ran out and stood on the deck. She could see a large number of villagers following the transport carriage to the dock. Some were carrying loads and some were pushing carts. The scene was very lively and attracted many passers-by to watch.

The officers maintained order and let people pass one by one after checking their credentials. Each family then started to move their belongings onto the boat and put them in the bottom warehouse.

The villagers, who were traveling long distances by boat for the first time, had curiosity and excitement in their eyes. After moving their things, they walked around the boat curiously, chattering about something.

The injections given by Cheng Shuang were very effective. Cheng Xu no longer felt uncomfortable. He asked Cheng Chen to go down from the third floor to the first deck to play with his familiar friends in the village.

Cheng Shuang leaned on the railing and saw the Cheng family, the one she least wanted to see. Hu Chunhua was in front with her hands on her hips directing others to move things, while his beloved son Cheng Caijun, dressed in white, with his hair half tied with a headband and a fan in his hand, boarded the boat alone with the demeanor of a young master.

She also found that Bai Xiuqin was there, holding her daughter's hand and stepping onto the steps carefully with her big belly. Cheng Caipeng didn't seem to care much about her, and he didn't help her even if he was holding something in his hand.

After watching for a while, Cheng Shuang rolled her eyes unconsciously and said to Wei Qinglang who was walking over, "Aren't there a few more boats behind? How did they get on this boat? Luckily we have a room so we don't have to face them, otherwise this trip would have been so disappointing."

Wei Qinglang laughed and motioned her to look behind him. "Here, the spoiler is finally here."

Cheng Shuang turned her head and saw that it was Cheng Caijun who came up. He was holding a wooden sign in his hand. He was stunned for a moment when he saw the family on the deck. Then he pretended not to see his elder Cheng Guqiu and turned into the cabin without even saying hello.

Seeing his attitude, Cheng Guqiu's smiling face suddenly became embarrassed. She had been nice to Cheng Caijun before, but she didn't expect him to be so cold.

"It's okay." Cheng Shuang comforted her, "Aunt, just treat that family as strangers from now on. They're not worth it."

There were only seven rooms on the third floor, and County Magistrate Zheng had arranged in advance who would receive them. In addition to them, rooms were probably also allocated to several students in the village.

Sure enough, Zhao Xiuwen arrived not long after, carrying a load of luggage upstairs and bringing his parents up with him. Like Cheng Shuang and the others, they planned to sleep on the floor as a family, which was better than squeezing into the cabin with hundreds of people.

Cheng Lizheng and Cheng Mingli each had a room. Cheng Mingli lived in one room with his younger brothers, and Cheng Lizheng lived in another with his two little granddaughters. Only Cheng Caijun closed the door after entering the room and refused to come out. It was obvious from his appearance that he would not let his family members squeeze in and was prepared to live comfortably alone.

It is easy to delay when there are too many people. This time, two villages were relocated together, and a total of six ships were mobilized. It was already dark when everyone arrived and boarded the ships. The experienced captain told the officer in charge that the headwind in this season would make it difficult to sail, and it would probably add half a day to the journey. If they set off again at midnight, they could reach their destination in the early morning of the next day.

In this way, the ship stayed at the dock for a few more hours, and only set sail at midnight when the horn was blown.

Some people in the cabin were awakened by the horn. They climbed up and went to the deck to see. When they saw the ship moving, they started shouting. Then more people were awakened and ran out.

The big ship slowly turned around, cutting through the water and creating ripples. Realizing that they were really about to leave, the villagers watched the hazy pier gradually disappear into the distance under the moonlight, and their mood became increasingly complicated.

More and more people walked onto the deck and looked towards the direction of Qushan County. Even though they could not even see a hazy shadow, they were reluctant to go back for a long time.