ch 53 – Building A New House (1)

　　After all, Gu Xiao had been to the war zone, the aggressive belonging uniquely to a military man naturally exuded from him. Most kids would find him scary. In her previous live, Gu Ye had seen many men way more vicious, so she didn’t think much of it. The way that Gu Ming reacted toward him was the natural reaction.

　　“You are both good kids! Grandpa brought some meat buns back from town. You two go head them up for dinner. Grandpa, on the other hand, will take the roast pheasant!” Gu Xiao was quite pleased with the two children. There were very grateful children, much better than that father of theirs!

　　Other than meat buns, Gu Xiao also purchased pots, pans, bowls, buckets, types of daily necessities; a bag of rice and a bag of white flour; and also several jin of meat. The village head’s donkey wasn’t strong enough to lug them all so he retrieved his horse that he had temporarily left with a native who lived outside of the town.

　　“Is this our horse?” asked Gu Ming as he stared intently at the maroon colored horse. He looked like he wanted to approach it but was a little intimidated.

　　“Yep! It’s ours!” nodded Gu Xiao.

　　Gu Ming was so happy he kept on circling the horse and couldn’t get enough of it. One must understand that a horse like this would cost at least 4 to 5 taels. Most families in the village, even after working for an entire year, might not make that much money. They barely have enough to eat, who’d have the extra money to buy a horse for transportation? The village head’s donkey was already the envy of everyone. Now that they have this horse, that would make them top in the village!

　　Gu Xiao’s horse was of a good breed from the Duke’s residence. It’d cost at least several hundred taels. Seeing how excited Gu Ming was, he picked him up and dropped him on the back of the horse and smiled, “Grandpa can teach you how to ride horses when he has some free times. Are you interested in learning?”

　　“Yes! I want to learn!” Sitting on the back of the horse, Gu Ming’s body was a bit stuff but he looked ecstatic at that suggestion. Still, he did not forget about his sister. He said to Gu Xiao, “Grandpa, you have to teach little sister too. She’s even smarter than me, I’m sure she will learn it faster than me!”

　　“Alright, alright! I will teach the both of you!” Gu Xiao picked up Gu Ye and plopped her onto the back of the horse also so she could sit behind her brother. With one animal in each hand, he walked into the village with a limp.

　　This huge horse naturally caused a lot of ruckus among the villagers. And, looking at all the supplies and food items on the back of the horse, the villagers immediately looked at Gu Xiao differently. So, everybody thought he was a beggar, but now that they thought about it some more, he had been in the military for dozens of years, how could he be so broke? Of course he has some money with him.

　　Those village women who weren’t so fond of Mrs. Gu all looked on happily: The Gu’s couple refused to recognize him as their father; they came up with so many ways to shove him up. Well, it’s too late to regret about it now!

　　Gu Xiao first went to return the village head’s donkey and also gave them two jin of fatty meat to repay them. For those living in the mountain who may only have meat a few times a year, this was a pretty sizeable gift. The village head tried very hard to decline before finally accepting it.

　　Next, Gu Xiao lead the horse with the two children on its back and headed to the clan leader’s house. That night, he borrowed the clan leader’s kitchen and asked his wife to help prepare a very luxurious meal. He treated the village head, clan leader, as well as a few elders of the clan to dinner; he and his grandchildren would be needing a lot of help from them in the future!

　　Everybody had a hearty meal over at the clan leader’s house; Gu Qiao and his wife felt so awful that they could barely eat. Gu Qiao regretted greatly: that old man retried from the military with an injury, of course he would receive supplement from the government. He shouldn’t have judge the book by its cover so quickly. Great, he had just shoved money outside his door!