I have been farming since I crossed over.

The first day of the Lunar New Year is one of the most important days of the year, a time for families to gather and exchange blessings. However, for the Yang family, this Lunar New Year's Day was unusually lively, even a bit noisy.

The Yang family stayed at home all day, without going out to pay New Year's greetings or go out for fun. This was because since the morning, after the village chief, Grandpa Zhang, had come, many villagers had come to the house one after another, all of them to pay New Year's greetings to the Yang family and to visit each other.

In this way, wave after wave of guests came and went, leaving the Yang family overwhelmed. Although a little tired, they still warmly welcomed every guest. After all, this is a traditional custom during the Chinese New Year. In the evening, after the last group of guests left, the Yang family finally breathed a sigh of relief and could sit down and have a good rest.

Although New Year's Day was a busy one, the Yang family was very happy. The lively atmosphere made people feel the strong festive atmosphere and family love. It was also a good opportunity to connect with the villagers and strengthen friendships.

Yang Mingxi got up early on the second day of the Lunar New Year. She planned to go visit her uncle today and wish him a happy new year, and then come back to entertain the married aunts. The married aunts would go back to their parents' home to pay New Year's greetings today.

At the old Yang family's side, since it was the sixth wife's turn to cook, except for Aunt Six and Old Lady Yang, the other daughters-in-law took their husbands and younger children back to their parents' homes, leaving only the older children at home to entertain the aunt who had returned from marriage.

The fifth room was led by Yang Laowu and Mrs. Wu. They took Yang Mingqian, Yang Minghong and Yang Mingqing to Old Wu's house. Originally, Yang Mingxi was going to go too, but she had to visit her uncle first, so she didn't go this time.

When Yang Mingxi was about to leave, Yang Mingyu followed and said that he was going to accompany his sister.

Arriving at the village entrance, Zheng Huairen was also waiting. He thought that Yang Mingxi would definitely go to her uncle to wish her a happy new year today, so he waited by the roadside. Looking at Yang Mingyu accompanying Yang Mingxi, he felt unhappy for a moment, but still smiled and said, "Ayu, accompany Xier. It's good to have company!"

Yang Mingyu glanced at Zheng Huairen and nodded as a greeting.

The three of them arrived at the county town, where Yang Mingxi realized she didn't know where her uncle's home was. She went to the Mingyang Clinic, but the door was closed and no one was there. The three of them wandered around the county town and then returned to Changshan Village.

Thinking that her married aunt would be back today, Yang Mingxi grabbed Yang Mingyu, Yang Minghao, and Yang Mingze, and the four siblings grabbed their backpacks and went fishing in the nearby river. The two younger brothers went down to the river to fish, while Yang Mingxi scaled the fish and Yang Mingyu gutted them. Soon, they had a large basket full of fish.

When I got home, Yang Mingyun and Yang Mingmo were already there. Yang Mingyun had only been away from the old Yang family for three days, and today, she had returned with her children and husband to celebrate the New Year with her parents. Yang Mingmo and her second brother-in-law, Li Lin, had arrived shortly after the eldest brother-in-law. They had been going to the river to help with the fishing, but Yang Mingxi and the others had returned.

Yang Mingxi helped her sixth aunt Ding cook fish and entertained her aunt who had returned. The second day of the New Year passed like this.

Time flew by, and it was the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Yang Minghu was getting married the next day, and today was the day to host the banquet. Having already hosted three banquets in the past month, and with the Lunar New Year still underway, Yang Minghu chose not to hold a large one this time. He only notified Yang Minghu's maternal grandmother and his married aunt.

Early in the morning on the sixth day of the first lunar month, Yang Minghu took his brothers and the brothers of the Wu family to Zoujiazhuang in the north of the county to pick up the bride. They returned around noon, carrying his eldest sister-in-law, Zou, in a sedan chair.

Zou also knew that the Yang family held banquets almost three times a month, so she did not hold a big one this time. However, Zou still prepared gifts for everyone and made a big splash at the family recognition banquet.

According to the previous agreement of the Yang family, after Yang Minghu got married, the Yang family officially split up.

The previous kitchen was reserved for the Yang family. After Old Yang announced the division of the family, the other rooms were converted into small kitchens in their own backyards. The fifth room was the room Yang Mingqian had previously lived in, converted into a kitchen. Yang Minghu's previous room was cleared out and used as their bridal chamber. The remaining room was given to Yang Minghao and Yang Mingze, while the brothers Yang Mingyu and Yang Mingyang brought Yang Mingxi to live in the old Yang family house.

Looking at the crowded room in her own home, Yang Mingxi really wanted to go to the wasteland and build a house first, and use the remaining money for other plans. However, her whole family opposed it. They all agreed that they had to buy the wasteland first. Otherwise, after the seedlings were planted, people from other villages would find out and buy the wasteland first, and then all the hard work of the Yang family before the New Year would be in vain.

Yang Mingxi expressed her deepest frustration. She desperately wanted to earn money and escape this life as soon as possible. After the Lunar New Year, even with the arrival of spring, she couldn't go hunting in the mountains anymore. She could only occasionally hunt pheasants or rabbits. This cut off her income, and she'd been feeling rather irritable these past few days.

On the 16th day of the first lunar month, Yang Mingxi was preparing to remove the tarpaulin from the rice seedlings. Although everyone had been checking on the rice seedlings every day since the fourth day, it was never as spectacular as it was now, after the tarpaulin had been removed.

Today, almost all the people from Changshan Village were gathered on the wasteland. After listening to Yang Mingxi's explanation, everyone went to the fields, with several people responsible for each ridge. In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the tarpaulin covering the rice seedlings from the forty mu of land had been removed and piled in the open space in front of the small thatched house. The ridges were crowded with villagers.

Everyone was amazed to see the rice seedlings grow to about three or four inches tall in just two weeks. Normally, it would take only two weeks for rice to sprout from the fields. Yang Mingxi's method saved a lot of time compared to the old method, and everyone felt that three rice harvests a year was no problem.

After Mei Tingzhou followed Yang Mingxi to record the growth of the seedlings, more villagers came to Yang Mingxi's house to register for seedlings, including Mei Tingzhou's family. Yang Mingxi allocated 10 mu of land for seedlings to Mei Tingzhou's family, and several other families took away another 20 mu.

Seeing the rice seedlings growing well today, several families approached Old Man Yang to request seedlings, but were all turned down by Yang Mingxi. She said they could register first, but they wouldn't know if they had any until after the rice planting was complete. If any seedlings remained, they would be distributed according to the order in which they registered, but each family could only register for one additional mu.

After everyone finished looking at the seedlings, Yang Mingxi directed her brother to pull the oilcloth that had just been removed, wash it in the nearby river, dry it by the river, and put it away for later use.

There were actually six brothers from the Zheng family who stayed behind to help this time. Because their family members were not well enough when the wasteland was being reclaimed, they did not participate. Now they are all well, and with the half-month break for the New Year, they are no different from normal people. The six brothers who can be considered as laborers have all joined in the task of cleaning the oilcloth. Their family needs seedlings for 5 mu of land, and they have to help with the work as soon as possible so that they can exchange them for seedlings when the time comes.