My sister became the empress, but I'm still growing vegetables and raising chickens

Normally, the Si family would have saved nearly a hundred taels of silver in the last three months of the year, after deducting various expenses. However, after the fallout with the Xu family, rent could no longer be paid monthly, so they paid a lump sum of sixty taels of silver for the first six months of the new year. At the end of the year, Si Muyan was generous again, giving everyone in the shop, including the Zhu family, large red envelopes, and also preparing red envelopes for the beginning of the new year.

By this calculation, the amount of silver that the Si family can come up with is only more than thirty taels.

And we need to keep some for emergency use in the spring of next year.

The younger sister was worried, and when she saw her elder sister dressing Xiaoxia up beautifully and going out to show off to others, she was even more speechless.

Everyone in the family wore linen clothes, but since they started making money, my eldest sister has used silk cloth to make Xiaoxia's clothes. Before the New Year, she even made Xiaoxia two sets of winter clothes using silk cloth.

"Xiao Xia is still young anyway, so it won't take much cloth." Si Muyan measured the silk cloth and said happily, "Mrs. Zhu can make hair ornaments. With the extra cloth, I can make a few more for Xiao Xia. It will look so pretty when she wears them on her head."

But it was cold in winter, so they made two more hats for Xiaoxia. The flower could not be pinned on her head, so the eldest sister asked Mrs. Zhu to sew it on the hat.

The second sister came in grumbling, "Little sister, did you see that? I just gave Xiaoxia a bath, and I insisted on dressing her in new clothes and taking her out to play. Xiaoxia has grown up in the blink of an eye. Aren't these little clothes wasted?"

Not to mention the village, even in the homes of ordinary people in the county town, who would have such a small child wearing good clothes? They were all worn out and torn by adults, and then re-tailored to fit the child's body.

"And that hat? It's just linen, but why are there silk linings inside and out? Silk looks good, but it's not warm at all."

My younger brother had just done the math with my third sister, and when he heard what my second sister said, he nodded: "Alas, there's not much money left at home now, and my eldest sister is still so generous with her money. Are you really not worried at all?"

The second sister frowned and said, "The family has no money to open a workshop? Why not build a wooden house instead of a stone brick house?"

"We only have enough money to build a wooden house, and my eldest sister isn't happy about it," said the younger brother. "Besides, even if we only build a wooden house, all our savings will be used up, leaving nothing. What will we do if something happens?"

My younger sister was worried at first, but after hearing them talking like that, she suddenly felt relieved and started laughing instead.

"It's okay, Big Sister will find a way. Big Sister said that our Xiao Xia'er deserves the best."

The younger sister picked up a pen and started to plan the remaining money again.

Si Muyan came back in the evening and just smiled when she heard her little sister's question: "It's okay, let's wait until the sixth day."

The Si family has no relatives to visit. Other families need to visit relatives and friends, but the Si family does not, so all six days are holidays.

Whenever there was a need to visit, Si Xingzhi would take his talkative younger sister and his only male brother to take care of it. Si Muyan would either accompany Xiaoxiaer or go to the vegetable garden behind to look at the various vegetables all day.

Mrs. Zhu was very happy to have her daughter and son-in-law with her this New Year. The only thing was that Zhu Meihua didn't bring her two children with her, which she missed a little.

The son-in-law, Zhao Bai, was a man of many words: "Yuanjiang is not far from Lingnan. When we have time, we will bring the children to visit you."

Mrs. Zhu was very happy. She took out the cloth given to her by Si Muyan and made two sets of clothes for her two little grandsons. She also gave all the money she had saved to Zhu Meihua.

"Mom, you are old. It's fine if I can't fulfill my filial duty to you, but how can I ask you for money?" Zhu Meihua refused.

Mrs. Zhu stuffed the money into her arms and said, "I am your mother, but you were raised by your father-in-law and mother-in-law since you were a child. I owe you too much. This little money on hand is not enough to make up for it."

Zhu Meihua's eyes were filled with tears. She hugged Mrs. Zhu tightly and said, "Mom, we finally met each other. What's the point of making amends?"

After all, she was a mother of two children, and given the Zhu family's current situation, it would be inconvenient for her to stay for too long. So on the second day of the Lunar New Year, Zhu Meihua said goodbye early in the morning.

Except for Zhu Lao Da, the other three branches of the Zhu family came to see him off, and Zhu Lao Si also packed up a lot of dry goods from the mountains.

"These things are rare in your city. We picked them in the mountains during the New Year and dried them ourselves. You can take them back and let your elders and children taste them."

Zhu Er and Zhu Lao San have been earning money in the county town for the past two months, but they have nothing special to give to the Zhao family, and they feel very embarrassed.

After Zhu Meihua left, Zhu Laosi looked at his two brothers and called out hesitantly, "Second brother, third brother..."

Zhu Lao Er snorted coldly: "Don't you listen to the boss the most? Whatever the boss says is what it is. Just follow the boss."

Zhu Laosi's face was embarrassed: "Second brother, haven't you been fine these past two days? Why are you suddenly..."

"That's fine because my sister is back. I'm too lazy to say anything, but that doesn't mean we didn't see what you did before!"

Zhu Laosi wanted to explain something, but Aunt Zhu Si pulled him aside and said with her head down, "Second brother, Third brother, we were blinded by greed in the past, so it's no wonder you're angry. No matter what, we will definitely treat mother well in the future."

Zhu Laoer thought about it and said nothing more. After all, they were away from home and seldom came home. But his mother was old, and if anything happened, there had to be someone at home.

After sending her daughter away, Mrs. Zhu ignored her sons and returned to the Si family. She had been accompanying her daughter for the past two days and had not spent enough time with Xiaoxia.

"The eldest lady is taking Xiaoxia with her. She should be going to the vegetable garden."

Mrs. Zhu hurried to the vegetable garden. Following Si Muyan's instructions, she used rags, branches and other things to build several greenhouses in the vegetable garden, and the vegetables grew well.

The weather in Lingnan is not particularly cold even in winter, which is very suitable for planting.

Mrs. Zhu took Xiaoxia'er over with a smile and asked, "Yan girl, these vegetables are growing very well. I'll plant more when the new year comes. It's a waste to leave so much space next to them empty. When the shop needs vegetables, our family can provide some, which will save us a little."

Si Muyan shook her head: "No, I'll leave a small piece for growing vegetables next year, which will be enough for my family to eat. I'll use the rest of the land to grow the ingredients I need."

Mrs. Zhu didn't know much about aniseed, but she knew some of the crops were new to her, and she didn't know where Si Muyan got the seeds.

Si Muyan said, "Many ingredients were unavailable, so I used other things to replace them, but the flavor was always lacking. For example, chili peppers. Other ingredients, whether pungent or spicy, lacked a little bit. After the chili peppers were grown, the flavor became right. But it was far from enough. Even if I planted chili peppers all over my vegetable garden, it would not be enough for my daily needs. So..."