"Actually, crabs are edible too." The little kid said to Chen Gu, "If there is oil, they are delicious. You soldiers are so rich, you can eat crabs, which are much better than beans and melons."

Chen Gu and his friends all speak Sichuan dialect, which is very similar to the accent in Wuhan, but there are still some differences, so it is easy to distinguish them.

"Are you trying to sell me crabs?" Chen Gu asked with amusement. There were indeed people in the army who ate crabs, but they just caught some and took them home to eat. There were too many crabs and no one would spend money to buy them.

"I'll sell it to you at a lower price, how about five cents a bucket?" the little brat said, looking at Chen Gu eagerly.

Chen Gu thought for a moment and said with a smile: "Teach me how to fish, and I'll give you five cents!"

The little brat showed disappointment on his face, but finally nodded and said, "Okay, I'll give you a bamboo pole, and you can fish by yourself!"

Chen Gu smiled, went down the hill to the riverside and picked up a bamboo pole. There were two crabs on it. Chen Gu put them both into a wooden barrel, looked at the bait, and found that it was actually a frog with a stone tied to it, but no hooks or anything like that.

"Why tie a stone on it?" asked Chen Gu.

"Because the river is flowing and there are waves, it will float if we don't tie a stone to it," the little kid explained.

"Haha, that makes sense, these are all knowledge!" Chen Gu nodded and asked, "What should I call you, little brother?"

"Just call me Wang Er. What's your name?" Little Wang Er asked casually.

Chen Gu smacked his lips and said with a smile: "You can call me Chen Da, why do you catch so many crabs?"

"Feed the chickens and ducks, and give some to the sows as well. The chickens and ducks will lay eggs more diligently after eating it, and the sows' legs will not be weak after eating it. It's a pity that they don't like to eat after eating a little. It would be great if they were willing to eat as much as they could!" Xiao Wang Er said a little disappointedly.

"That's not the case. If the chickens and ducks are willing to eat, I'm afraid it won't be your turn to catch crabs." Chen Gu said with a smile.

Xiao Wang Er thought about it, nodded and said, "That's right. If that's the case, I'm afraid all these crabs will have to follow the official's surname!"

"That was in the past. Our Huaxia officials never bullied you!" Chen Gu said with some dissatisfaction.

"It's all the same. The old man at the entrance of the village said that officials are always nice to people at the beginning, but gradually they will become not so nice, and then they will get worse and worse!" said Little Wang Er.

Chen Gu couldn't help but sigh and said, "Maybe the Huaxia Department will always be so good?"

"Maybe. I don't know anyway."

"What's there to not know? Is your life better now than before?" Chen Gu asked.

Little Wang Er nodded and said, "That's much better. I used to go to the fields with my sister to pick up things that people didn't want to eat. After your Huaxia tribe came, I can eat something hot and full now!"

"Is there no adult in your family?" Chen Gu asked in surprise.

"No, since I can remember, it's just been my sister and I." Little Wang Er said nonchalantly.

Chen Ju sighed and asked, "Have your family divided up the house and land?"

"We were given two acres of land but not a house. My sister said that when we have money in the future, we can build a new house on the original foundation." Xiao Wang Er said.

According to the laws of the Huaxia Department, children can be allocated land at birth. In places like Jiangjin County where there is a lot of land, they can be allocated five mu. In Wuchang, where there are many people and little land, each person can only be allocated three mu. However, there are exceptions. For those who are between fourteen and eighteen and have no one to help with farming, they will be allocated two mu of land temporarily. If Xiao Wang Er is alone, he will not be allocated land, but will go to school and live there until he is fourteen years old.

"How is the food in school?" asked Chen Gu.

"It's pretty good, but there's always a lot of fights over food." When talking about school, the little guy finally showed a sweet smile on his face.

"Aren't you full?" Chen Gu asked with a frown.

"Of course I can eat enough. As for the dishes, every time I eat, everyone fights for them, especially the few slices of meat. If you run slowly, you can forget about getting them. My sister is so good, but in more than a year, she hasn't even managed to get ten slices of meat for me." The little guy sighed.

Chen Gu was helpless about this. The school was only responsible for the orphans' meals. They could eat as much as they wanted. As for vegetables, they could also eat them. Chen Gu stipulated that no matter how much there was in each meal, there must be some meat.

In fact, there was no condition to eat meat, but Chen Gu's order was there, so they could only get some meat symbolically. Many times it was not meat, but fried food, which could more or less allow these orphans to taste some oily and meaty food.

"It's okay. When you grow up and get a share of the land, you'll have meat to eat," Chen Gu comforted him.

"Of course, when I grow up I will join the joint defense team first, then join the army. When I become a general, I will have endless meat to eat." Little Wang Er said excitedly, but then he became a little disappointed, "Unfortunately my sister won't let me join the army. Even if I join the joint defense team, she won't let me leave Wuchang."

Chen Gu smiled and said, "You are the only son in your family. Not only will your sister not let you leave Wuchang, but even the military will not transfer you out."

"Oh, that's no hope!" The little guy sighed in a condescending manner.

"It's not completely hopeless. Although you can't be a military officer, you are not restricted to civil servants. If you study hard and don't become a general, you can still become an official!" Chen Gu said with a smile.

"It's very difficult. Math is okay, but Chinese is very difficult. The characters are so big and have so many strokes. It's difficult to write them. It's not easy to recognize the characters. There's also word formation and sentence making. I heard that seniors can write essays."

The little guy trembled a few times as he spoke, "It makes me uncomfortable just thinking about it!"

Chen Gu twitched the corner of his mouth, thinking of the days when he used a brush to write traditional Chinese characters in Suan Xiucai's house, he couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable, and then looked at Xiao Wang Er with a little sympathy.

Chen Gu frowned and thought about it, considering whether he should ask people to simplify the traditional Chinese characters. This would also help train the students of the Huaxia Department to become talents as quickly as possible, and at the same time completely abandon the old literati.

After all, the two different fonts can be used to divide the literati into two generations. The new generation of literati belonging to the Huaxia department will all use simplified characters in the future, while the previous decadent Confucian literati will use traditional characters.

Changing your thoughts can start with changing your words.

The more Chen Gu thought about it, the brighter his eyes became, and he felt that this method was completely feasible.

"Do you know what this is?" Chen Gu stood up and prepared to leave. Before leaving, he took out a banknote and handed it over.

The little guy's eyes lit up when he saw the banknotes, and he grabbed it as if he was snatching it away, "Yes, this is money, one hundred coins, sir, you have it."

"Haha, this is for you. Study hard!"

(End of this chapter)