Traveling through the mountains and farming

Uncle Li and his family gathered in the yard and started to eat dinner.

When Uncle Li came back, Aunt Li couldn't wait to tell him that she had made money from setting up the stall today, and also told him that Lin Wan had promised to teach her the recipe for dyeing cloth.

Uncle Li was very happy to hear that setting up a stall could make money. However, when he heard that Lin Wan agreed to teach them how to dye cloth, he immediately said, "Even if she agreed, we can't accept it."

As he said this, he put the bowl in his hand on the table, making a "dang" sound.

Everyone present was startled by Uncle Li's sudden action, and their hands holding the bowls and chopsticks froze instantly.

Uncle Li thought that Lin Wan's family was poor and she had to raise two children. As elders, they were not only unable to help, but also asked for the precious cloth dyeing recipe. That was a secret recipe that could be passed down from generation to generation. How could they have the face to ask for it?

"Dad, don't get excited. Let mom finish her words." Chen Lian, who was brave and understood the situation, broke the deadlock first.

"Yes, we don't ask for it for free. We will share the profits." Wang Yu Niang added softly.

At this time, Aunt Li also said, "Old man, you interrupted me before I finished speaking. I really have no other choice. You see, the grain stored at home is barely enough to support the autumn harvest, and then we have to pay the autumn tax. Who knows if there will be an increase in taxes this time? How much grain will be left after paying the tax? Besides, the price of linen has been falling. I didn't hear that the price of dyed cloth could be more than twice as expensive, so I made that request in a hurry."

She put down her bowl and chopsticks, silently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and continued:

"Who would have thought that Wan'er would agree right away? I was so happy that I lost my mind. How could I refuse? But Wan'er and I agreed that we would give her 25% of the money from all the dyed cloth we sold, and we would also sign a contract."

When Uncle Li heard what Aunt Li said, he kept his head down and remained silent. His mind told him that he couldn't accept it, but this damn world made their lives difficult, and he couldn't decisively reject this hope that would allow his family to survive in the future.

He raised his head and slowly glanced at his family. He saw the watery porridge on the table. Except for the thicker porridge in the bowls of the men in the family, there were hardly any rice grains in the porridge for the children and women. Finally, he nodded and agreed.

When everyone saw the old man pick up his bowl and start eating again, they breathed a sigh of relief and continued eating. The dinner table gradually became lively.

Aunt Li told everyone that Lin Wan was going to build a house. Uncle Li went into the house and looked at the almanac, and found that it was advisable to start construction the day after tomorrow.

So he arranged for Li Changyi to be responsible for finding the person tomorrow, and asked all the men in the family to go and help but they could not ask for any payment.

They also directly took the wooden wall panels, headboards, wall slabs, wall hammers, earthen scaffolding and other tools needed to build the house. The main materials, wood and yellow mud, were dug from the mountain above their home, and the straw used to make the mud also came from their home.

All that's left is lime for mixing mud. Li Changyi will go to Taohua Village market to buy it tomorrow.

After Uncle Li had arranged everything for the construction of the house, Li Changyi asked:

"Dad, should I ask my second uncle if he can help me build the house?"

Uncle Li sighed and said, "I'll ask him later."

In Uncle Li's mind, he had actually roughly guessed the result.

Based on his understanding of Li Changren, it was unlikely that he would go to help.

But after all, it was Li Changren's eldest daughter-in-law's family who were renovating their house, and building a house was a big deal. Even though he knew there was little hope, Uncle Li still decided to go and ask.

~

Uncle Li came to Li Changren's house before it got completely dark, told him about Lin Wan's plan to build a house, and asked him if he wanted to help.

"Help? Why should I help? We have separated and are now two families. I have no right to interfere in their affairs, let alone want to." Li Changren said with an attitude that it was none of his business.

Then, Uncle Li helplessly advised: "You should at least consider Xiaole and Xiaoke. I didn't ask you to pay, but you can at least help out."

"Didn't we give them five taels of silver when we divided the property? That should be enough for them to repair their house." Li Changren continued to refuse.

Hearing him mention the money for the division of the family property, Uncle Li had more to say, "There are only five taels of silver. They don't need anything to eat or wear. There is nothing in that broken house. The bed is made of planks..."

"Okay, you don't have to say anymore. I really don't have time to care." Li Changren raised his voice and interrupted Uncle Li.

How could he not know that five taels of silver was far from enough for Lin Wan and her family to separate and become independent, but he had already weighed the pros and cons and made a choice in his heart.

Seeing that Li Changren refused to listen and no amount of persuasion was effective, Uncle Li shook his head helplessly, then turned and left.

When he left, he left a message: "I hope you won't regret it later!"

"We won't regret it!" Zhang listened to the whole process in the inner room, walked out and muttered in the direction where Uncle Li left.

Seeing Zhang coming over, Li Changren asked hesitantly, "I really don't want to go?"

"No, do you have the free time to go? I'm busy with all the housework. Besides, she didn't ask you for help. Even if she did, you're definitely not allowed to go."

~

Lin Wan was unaware of what had happened in the two branches of the Li family. They had just finished preparing dinner and were about to eat.

Since they had eaten pastries in the afternoon, they had a simple meal in the evening. They cooked fish porridge, stir-fried wild onions and kudzu, and cold-mixed wild chrysanthemum. It was the first time for the three of them to officially eat at the new table.

During the meal, Lin Wan talked about her recent plans with the two siblings.

Because they may start building the house the day after tomorrow, they only have tomorrow to pick the figs.

Later, during the construction of the house, in addition to making ice jelly in the morning, they had two tasks: one was to clear the vegetable garden in the backyard, and the other was to pick up pebbles from the river and dig moss from the mountain to pave the paths in the front and back yards and the paths in the vegetable garden.

After hearing this, the two immediately expressed their full cooperation, and then looked forward to moving into the new house as soon as possible with great joy.

But Li Chongle was a little worried. He frowned and asked, "Is it expensive to repair the house?"

After a brief thought, Lin Wan replied, "If it can be completed within seven days, the labor cost will not exceed three taels of silver, and the material cost will not exceed one tael of silver."

Li Chongle then asked: "Will we be left with little money after the house is renovated?"

He calculated in his mind that he had received five taels of silver when the family property was divided, and his family had recently purchased a lot of household items which cost a lot of money. Add to that the cost of renovating the house, and there was probably not much money left.

Lin Wan smiled and said, "I have money. Have you forgotten that I sold the Gastrodia elata today?" She didn't have time to tell the two siblings how much the Gastrodia elata was sold for.

Li Chongle felt that the money from selling Gastrodia elata was fixed after all, and once it was spent it was gone, so he still had to find a long-term way to make money.

Moreover, the current ice jelly business is okay in the short term, but it will probably be affected if the weather gets colder in the future, so we still have to find other ways to make money.

By the way, my sister-in-law dyed cloth today. I think she can make money from this.

Thinking of this, Li Chongle looked at Lin Wan and asked anxiously:

"Sister-in-law, let's go dye cloth to make money. What do you think? This will definitely make money."

Lin Wan, who was picking up food, was stunned. The food on her chopsticks fell off. This child's reaction was too quick.

Good, quite business-sensitive.

She put down her bowl and chopsticks, smiled and said, "You can make money, but dyeing cloth requires a lot of manpower and time and energy, which is not suitable for our family. I have promised my great-uncle's family that I will teach them the dyeing method, and they will give us 25% of the profit."

Li Chongle said unwillingly: "We can do less, dye the cloth and sell it ourselves, and all the money we earn can belong to us."

Seeing that Li Chongle didn't understand, Lin Wan put down her bowl and chopsticks and explained to the brother and sister seriously:

"Now the living standards of each family in the village are similar, so everyone can live in peace and tranquility. If in the future only our family makes a lot of money and lives much better than others, this will disrupt the balance of the village, and we will become the object of envy, jealousy, attack and even hatred. At that time, we will be isolated and helpless, and the more serious consequence will be the destruction of our family. Therefore, before we are strong enough to control everyone, we must learn to keep a low profile, develop allies, and quietly strengthen ourselves."

"I understand. Making money with my great-uncle and others is to develop allies for us. If there are more people making money, the villagers will not just focus on our family." Li Chongle suddenly realized.

"I understand too. Leading Luo Amai and the others to sell ice jelly also makes us allies." Li Ke tilted his head and said thoughtfully.

Lin Wan was amused by her expression: "Yeah, you are all smart kids."

This made the two siblings feel embarrassed, and they blushed and lowered their heads at the same time.