After fleeing famine, I have thousands of acres of fertile land

Mr. Gu in the village also bought two acres of dry land. Although there was a lot of grass on the dry land, the soil was better than that of wasteland.

Mr. Gu likes the atmosphere in the village and has completely regarded Kaoshan Village as his own home. He bought some land and harvested the crops, which can supplement his family income.

Ye Chenjing and his colleagues’ couplet business was very popular. They went out early and came back late every day and made a lot of money.

The two people were writing couplets at home, but they could not keep up with the sales, so they thought of other ways.

I subcontracted the writing of the couplets to the private school in the village and found a few people who were good at handwriting to help write the couplets.

Ye Chenjing provided red paper, two pairs for one penny. Master Gu took the money and bought pens, inkstones, and paper to reward the children who wrote well.

As time went by, the New Year was approaching. Boss Ye began to arrange to send New Year gifts to various places. He first sent chickens, ducks, pork, rabbit meat, and cakes to Ye Erlang's master.

Then I went to give Master Jiang the New Year gift and the tuition for next year.

Several families with good relations did not forget to send gifts. Some people also came to the Ye family to give New Year gifts. Because of his vermicelli business, Liu Bao sent Ye Qing several kinds of cakes and also went to the village head's house to sit for a while.

Several relatives also had to go and send gifts, especially the Wei family, as Ye Dalang had just gotten married this year and had to send a heavy gift.

After the gifts were given, it was already the twenty-ninth day of the lunar year. The scholars had finished their couplet business and were lying down at Ye's house to divide the money.

After deducting the costs, each person could get one or two taels of silver, which was already a lot for several children.

Ye Chenjing gave his share to Zhou, "I'll give you all the money. Save it for buying meat for the New Year."

Zhou looked at her son with satisfaction, took out four hundred coins from the bank and returned them to him.

"Good boy, we'll still split the money 4:6, just like your brother and sister. You should keep some money and go out for dinner with your classmates."

Ye Chenjing also knew the rules of his family, so he took the money and carefully put it in his own cash box.

In the blink of an eye, it was New Year's Eve, and Ye Erlang also came back from vacation. He got up early in the morning and pasted the couplets inside and outside the house.

Even several ox carts were posted with the words "safe travel, good luck, smooth sailing and meeting noble people".

After pasting the couplets, the family started to chop stuffing and make dumplings. This year, the family prepared two kinds of stuffing, one is radish stuffing and the other is leek stuffing.

This little bit of chives is not easy to come by, but it is enough for a meal of dumplings. Old Man Ye grows them in a wooden box in the backyard, surrounded by straw mats, and burns some wet firewood underneath every day to raise the temperature.

Put up the mat when it is windy or rainy, and open it up to dry in the sun when the sun is out.

I planted a large wooden box and harvested just a little bit, which can change the taste.

This year is Wei Xin’s first Chinese New Year at home. The family prepared sixteen dishes, and Ye Erlang was the chef.

After the stuffing was chopped, Li prepared the stuffing while Wei Xin kneaded the dough.

"Sister-in-law, I'll roll the dough and you wrap it." Ye Chenjing only knows how to roll the dough.

Li took her granddaughter and granddaughter-in-law to make dumplings. In half an hour, they had filled two large round baskets, enough for the whole family to eat in the evening.

Ye Erlang and Zhou had also cleaned up the kitchen and were waiting to start cooking when the time came.

After finishing all these, the family members started to take a bath, change their clothes, and put on new clothes for the New Year.

After changing into new clothes, the New Year atmosphere arrived and firecrackers were set off everywhere in the village.

Old Man Ye brought his children to the Ye family's ancestral hall to worship their ancestors. This year the village was richer, so the worship was held in a very formal manner.

In the evening, the Ye family's New Year's Eve dinner began. It was a rare occasion that Ye Lao Da accompanied Old Man Ye to drink some wine.

The meal lasted almost an hour before we stopped. We did not finish all the food on the table, which also meant that there would be plenty every year.

On New Year's Eve, everyone in the family stayed up. We were busy all year round, so it was rare to have time to chat.

Everyone talked about their plans for the new year. Ye Dalang wanted to earn more money, while Ye Erlang wanted to work harder this year and strive to become an apprentice as soon as possible.

Ye Chenjing just wanted to study hard, but Ye Qing’s ideas were more practical.

She wanted to build a workshop, a larger workshop, with separate areas to increase production.

Ye Qing drew the workshop plan he had in mind and showed it to his family, and everyone gave him suggestions.

"Dad, I'm going to build a workshop after the New Year. Should we expand our home? We don't have much space to build on our one-acre homestead."

Boss Ye was a little surprised. He didn't expect the topic to turn to him. He hadn't thought about this. His family was still big enough to live in.

Ye Qing saw what Ye Laoda was thinking and explained it to him. "Dad, you see, there is no place for everyone to live in our house. Let's build another yard. You and grandpa and grandma can live in the backyard, and brother and sister-in-law can live in the front yard."

Boss Ye thought about having a grandson next year and really had no place to live. He and Zhou looked at each other and understood each other's thoughts.

But Wei Xin was still here, and he didn’t say it out loud because he was afraid that she was too shy.

"Qingya, that's fine. We're going to expand the house and dig two more cellars." Boss Ye agreed.

Ye Qing became even more excited and discussed the expansion style with his brother and sister-in-law.

Wei Xin also hopes to build two more rooms so that his two younger brothers can occasionally come and stay for a few days and have space for them.

Finally it was midnight. After setting off firecrackers, everyone went to bed as they had to go to pay New Year's greetings early the next morning.

Ye Qing felt like he had just closed his eyes when he was woken up. He got up to set off firecrackers to welcome the God of Wealth and eat dumplings.

When Wei Xin, a new daughter-in-law, paid New Year’s greetings for the first time, her family prepared big red envelopes, and her second and third uncles’ families also gave big red envelopes.

On the second day of the Chinese New Year, Ye Dalang and Wei Xin returned to their parents' home. Because of this, all the relatives in the family were preparing to visit relatives on the third day of the Chinese New Year.

This year it is the turn of Ye Laoer's family to cook and entertain relatives. Every year, they eat and chat at one house, which saves trouble and they don't have to go back and forth to bring things to visit relatives.

After a few families have had a lively dinner, the New Year is considered over.

Ye Erlang went to work, the scholars went to study, and everyone returned to their usual busy life.

Tietou, my cousin from my eldest uncle's family, dropped out of the private school and followed Ye Qing to work in the workshop.

Ye Qing first asked his cousin to wash the sweet potatoes and then cut them. Each step took half a month.

Get familiar with the process first, so that when you encounter problems in the future you will know where the problems occur.

Ye Qing first talked to Ye Xuan, worried that he would misunderstand that his cousin came in to take his place.

Ye Qing has plans for the future of both of them. As the workshop expands, more and more talents will be needed.

Tietou has been here for more than a month and has adapted very well. He has a good personality, is willing to work hard, and is humble and likes to ask for advice. Ye Qing has observed him for a while and is very satisfied with his performance.

Boss Ye was busy working on the newly purchased land at home. He happened to have a newly bought plow, so one person led the ox while the other held the plow, and they could plow an acre of land in half a day.

Boss Ye rushed to farm after the spring plowing and returned home only when it was almost dark every day.

"Da Lang, it's already this late, why haven't the students come back yet? Usually they would have come back a long time ago." Boss Ye looked outside worriedly.

"Dad, let me go and greet them. Maybe the car broke down on the road." Ye Dalang was also worried.

As they were talking, they heard the sound of an ox cart outside. After a while, Ye Chenjing pushed the door open.

Before Boss Ye could speak, Ye Chenjing spoke first, "Dad, the teacher wants you to go to the private school tomorrow."

Boss Ye looked serious, "Wulang, did you have a fight in the private school or something? Why did you call your parents?"