It's hard for my elder sister. I rely on the mountains to farm and pay off my debts.

In this way, in order to prepare for the summer harvest, each household had to build a kang and the cement roads in the village had to be paved.

The villagers of Songjia Village are busy and enthusiastic.

Fortunately, the work of picking forsythia leaves in the village has come to an end. Except for those who want to sell jelly and those who come to Song Zhi's house to help build the house, there are still people picking forsythia leaves.

The rest of the people were either working in the cement workshop or busy making their own kangs. All the extra laborers, regardless of gender, were organized by the Song clan leader to pave cement roads in the village.

As a member of the village, Song Zhi's family naturally had to contribute labor to pave the cement road in the village.

Song Youshan's hands could not support gravity, so Song Ping did the job for him.

The house built by Song Zhi's family is almost at the final stage of putting up the beams and laying the tiles.

Early one morning, when Song Zhi was carrying cakes to the county town, she was stopped by Wu.

She picked up the basket under the eaves and said to Song Zhi, "Tomorrow we have to put up the beams at home. I'll go to the county town with you to buy some things for the ceremony."

"Grandma, just tell me what you want to buy so you don't have to make an extra trip."

As Wu led her granddaughter out, she said to her, "We need to set up the altar with chicken and pig heads, incense, candles, fruits, firecrackers, red cloth, rice wine, and two tables of decent meals. How can you carry so many things by yourself?"

Song Zhi came to her senses and realized that from ancient times to the present, raising the beam has always carried a very important meaning, which includes the simple hope for peace in the family and the beautiful vision of a more prosperous life.

As the grandfather and grandson walked through the village, the villagers were already busy carrying cement, paving roads, and swinging their arms.

The villagers saw the two from afar and began to greet them warmly, "What are you doing so early in the morning, grandfather and grandson?"

Mrs. Wu would also smile and reply to the villagers, "The beams will be put up tomorrow, so we need to prepare some incense, candles, and fruits for tomorrow!"

The women nodded repeatedly, "That's right, that's right. We can't be careless when putting up the beams."

Someone even started to make a fuss, saying, "Tomorrow when Auntie's house is going to put up the beams, we can go grab some steamed buns and fruit to eat and share in the joyous atmosphere."

Wu said cheerfully, "Come on, come on!"

The grandfather and grandson said goodbye to the villagers and continued on their journey to the county town.

Not long after walking on the official road, we met a coachman who was riding an ox cart straight to the county town.

The ox cart moved slowly along the way, and when it was about to reach the county town, Song Zhi's gaze passed through the sparse crooked trees and fell on the outline of the county town that was gradually becoming clearer in the distance.

The sunlight shines on the ancient city walls, giving the mottled marks a faint golden glow.

As the ox cart got closer, the bustling scene below the city came into view more and more clearly.

The busy figures of the laborers kept shuttling back and forth under the city wall. Some of them carried heavy loads on their shoulders, while others carried huge stones on their backs. Sweat slid down their cheeks, but they had no time to care.

Bamboo ladders were placed on the outer edge of the city wall, and the people worked carefully on them, repairing every loose brick and stone and filling the gaps in the city wall.

Unlike in the past, although there are still guards at the city gates, they only check the goods coming in and out.

The guards carefully checked the cargo list of each vehicle, occasionally lifting the curtains to inspect the items inside.

In comparison, the people entering the city seemed much more relaxed.

The guards simply took a quick glance and let them pass, without even conducting the usual random household registration checks.

Looking at this scene, Song Zhi couldn't help but mutter in her heart, it seems that Zhou Yu must be rich now, and even has money to repair the city wall.

She remembered that a few years ago, this county town was in ruins due to war, the city walls were damaged in many places, the people lived in poverty, and even the city gates were often closed to prevent the intrusion of refugees and bandits.

Now that the war has ended, the people can finally breathe a sigh of relief and live a peaceful life.

She hoped that the people in Qishui County where she lived would no longer have to worry about invasions by barbarians as they did in the past, and that everyone could live and work in peace.

To this end, she is willing to contribute her own efforts.

Song Zhi sighed in her heart while queuing with her grandmother to enter the city.

The two of them first went to Wei Yue Fang, delivered the goods and received the payment, and then went to a nearby incense and candle shop to buy incense, candles and firecrackers.

After leaving the incense and candle shop, the two went directly to the vegetable market.

Song Zhi just stood at the usual meat stall, and the butcher immediately greeted her when he saw her.

"Miss Song, would you like some more lard today?"

Ever since Zhou Yu ordered two hundred yuan worth of mugwort soap from her last time, Song Zhi would buy a lot of lard every time she came back to the county town. The stall owner who didn't sell meat would ask her about it as soon as he saw her.

Zhou Yu's two hundred bars of soap have been made and are now placed on the drying rack. However, since she wants to do the soap business, she still has to stock up on the necessary goods.

She nodded. "Yes, in addition to the pig's lungs, heart, liver, and offal, I'll also get a pig's head, 15 pounds of pork belly, and 10 pounds of hind leg meat."

The butcher smiled and immediately started cutting the meat and weighing it.

Mrs. Wu pulled her granddaughter and whispered, "You bought too much meat. Ten kilograms of meat is enough for two tables of people. We don't need all this!"

Song Zhi counted them off, "The uncles and aunts who helped build the house will have their own table. And my aunt's family is close to ours, so they should always let us know when things happen at home, right? And I want to invite Doctor Zheng's family too, so that's more than just two tables!"

"There are also neighbors who used to visit our family. They will definitely come when we have something going on at home. I estimate there will be three or four tables. It won't go wrong if we prepare more!"

If we also invite Dr. Zheng and his family, the two tables will be too crowded, so we let our granddaughter prepare them.

After the final calculation, these things cost a total of four hundred and five coins.

The butcher waved his hand, added a zero to the price, and finally gave all the big bones on the butcher counter to Song Zhi.

Mrs. Wu placed the meat in a backpack padded with hay, and then the grandfather and grandson followed the crowd out. When they were about to return, they stopped by a cloth shop to buy some red cloth to tie beams, as well as some fruits and wine for the celebration.

When Song Zhi was about to leave the bustling vegetable market, a sudden noise interrupted her thoughts.

"This is my territory. Who told you to leave your things here? Go away, go away! If you don't leave now, don't blame me for overturning all your things!"

As these sharp words fell, Song Zhi's pace slowed down involuntarily.

My eyes were deeply attracted by a scene in the distance. I saw a burly woman pushing an elderly woman roughly.

The old lady was hunched over, with wrinkles all over her face, and her eyes were full of panic and helplessness.

She held the basket full of yellow apricots tightly in both hands, kept apologizing, and was obviously at a loss as to what to do after being intimidated by the fat woman.