All realms have enabled me to achieve the Great Dao.

After breakfast, Zhou Yongcheng called Zhou Yongqiang.

When Zhou Yongqiang answered the phone, he was busy preparing lunch for the cows, saying that he would come to his second uncle's house after feeding the cows.

"Second Aunt, when does Yongming start his summer vacation?" Zhou Yongcheng asked.

Zhou Yongming is from his second uncle's family. He is studying at a university in the Central Plains Province. He is a sophomore this year and will be a junior in the fall.

“He called me yesterday to say he’s taking his driver’s license test and won’t be coming back this summer.”

Did he not get a driver's license after graduating from high school?

Nowadays, most students get their driver's license right after graduating from high school.

"Back then, he was only interested in playing. When we asked him to take the exam, he said he wasn't in a hurry."

Zhou Yongqiang's voice came from outside after he had only been chatting with his second aunt for a short while.

"Yongcheng, what good news did you call me here for?"

"I need your help with something."

"Yongqiang, have you eaten yet?" Auntie asked Zhou Yongqiang.

"Not yet, what delicious food did Second Aunt make?"

"We just finished eating, the rice is still hot, and there are still dishes left."

"Just kidding. We eat early, and we only finish feeding the cows after we finish eating."

After exchanging pleasantries, Zhou Yongcheng said, "I came back this time to hire someone to repair the house. Before the repairs, we need to clear out the things inside the house and then demolish it. I called you here so that you could come with me to hire someone."

"Let's go then."

Zhou Yongcheng and Zhou Yongqiang then walked into the village.

The two chatted as they walked.

"How many people are you planning to invite? Are you inviting people from the village, or just people from our group?"

"What do you think?"

“Now, for minor matters in the village, each group usually helps each other, but when it comes to weddings or funerals, everyone in the village will come to help.”

"I see. Then let's ask our own team members to help."

“There aren’t many people in our group who can help. There aren’t many young people; most of them are older men or women. The only young people at home are the Ren family, but they usually work in town. They run a grocery store there. Then there’s the Hu family, who is now a village cadre and a member of the village committee. He has two excavators and takes on jobs in various places. All the other young people are working outside.”

"Is the Ren family's shop owner in town named Ren Xiaoyong?"

"Yes, that's him."

Zhou Yongcheng knew Ren Xiaoyong; he had heard of him when he was a child. Ren Xiaoyong had always worked away from home, but Zhou Yongcheng hadn't seen him for over ten years.

Zhou Yongqiang said that Ren Xiaoyong had only been back for a few years. He stayed at home taking care of the children and helping them with their studies, while his wife worked outside.

"What's the name of that village official from the Hu family?"

"Hu Xilin, he's been back for five or six years now. I heard he's doing very well outside, and now he's doing well in the village too. His house is the most beautiful one in the village."

"I've only heard of Hu Xilin, but I've never met him."

He didn't know most of the people from the Hu family's side who were older than him, because they had all gone out to work long ago.

Of course, he knew people of similar age, since they played together when they were in school, and sometimes he would even go to the Hu family's house to play.

“I didn’t know him before, we only met after he came back. After all, we were a few years old when he went out to work.”

Zhou Yongcheng and Zhou Yongqiang first went to Hu Xilin's house, which was only a few minutes' walk from their house.

“Yongcheng, you’ve grown so much! I used to hold you when you were little. You were only this short when I went out to work.” Hu Xilin said, gesturing with his hands.

"Brother Lin is much more handsome than I imagined," Zhou Yongcheng said with a smile.

Although Hu Xilin is in his forties, he is of the same generation as Zhou Yongcheng and others.

Zhou Yongcheng chatted with Hu Xilin for a while and then directly stated his purpose. Hu Xilin immediately agreed and said that he would definitely be there the next day.

Apart from Hu Xilin, the rest of the Hu family members were all elderly people in their sixties, and Zhou Yongcheng did not go to invite them.

Then they went to the Ren family and invited two uncles in their fifties.

Finally, there were the people from his own village, including Zhou Yongqiang and Zhou Yongkang's father, Zhou Guoyao.

Other people have their own work to do, and it's unrealistic to expect them to abandon their money-making jobs to help you.

After inviting everyone, Zhou Yongcheng suggested going to see the cattle raised by Zhou Yongqiang. Zhou Yongqiang led the way, and Zhou Yongcheng followed behind.

They walked down the village and soon came to a small stream.

Are there any fish in this river?

"Yes, but the fish aren't very big. I caught quite a few fish in the river a few days ago, and they were incredibly delicious when I fried them in oil."

"Wild fish must taste better."

After crossing a bridge, it took about two minutes to arrive at the place where Zhou Yongqiang raises cattle.

"I thought your cattle were free-range," Zhou Yongcheng said, looking at the cattle pen.

The dozen or so cattle that Zhou Yongqiang raises are yellow cattle, and judging from their size, they are already adults.

"I don't have the energy to take care of them if they're left to roam freely. Keeping them in enclosures is much easier; you just need to feed them every day."

"I see your ox is already an adult, why haven't you sold it yet?"

"The market is bad, and even cattle aren't fetching a good price; they're only around ten yuan per kilogram."

This price is indeed a bit low.

Zhou Yongcheng thought for a moment and said, "Once I've settled the house matter, I'll help you find a way to sell your ten or so cows."

Zhou Yongqiang was so excited that he kept saying thank you.

Zhou Yongcheng wanted to buy the cattle himself and then sell them at Zhengyangmenxia World.

Anyway, he's not short of money now, so he might as well do something to help his brothers make some money.

After looking at the cow, the two walked back.

"What else do you do besides raising cattle?"

“I planted some sweet potatoes. I took over all the land that no one was farming and planted sweet potatoes on it. After the sweet potatoes mature, I will dig them up and make sweet potato starch.”

"Sweet potato starch is also a good business, but it's hard to know how well it sells."

"Sweet potato starch only sells well around the Lunar New Year period. The sweet potato starch we made last year was sold out by May this year."

The two walked to the stream again, stood on the bridge, and Zhou Yongcheng looked at the direction the river was flowing.

"Has anyone thought about building a river embankment down here and turning this place into a fishpond?"

This river isn't very big. If we build a dam to block the water flow and use it for fish farming, we can earn a decent income once the fish grow up. We can also fish by the river regularly, which is quite nice.

"Someone mentioned that someone wanted to build a fishpond here before, but someone objected, so it didn't happen. If it were one of the families here, we wouldn't be able to come up with that much money."

Those who objected were probably the families who owned land by the river; perhaps the compensation wasn't sufficient.

“I want to build a fishpond here. I’ll talk to Uncle Guohua about it and ask him to help resolve the issue of the land along the river.”

"The land belonging to other families is easy to deal with, but Uncle Guoquan's land is a bit troublesome."

Zhou Guoquan's family is notoriously difficult to deal with in the village; anything involving them is generally hard to get done.

We'll see when the time comes.

After crossing the river, the two headed towards the village.

"If you have something to do, go ahead and do it."

"It's so hot, I can't get anything done at noon."

The two arrived at their second uncle's house, where their second uncle had also returned for his afternoon nap.

Zhou Yongcheng told his uncle and aunt who he had invited.

"Second Aunt, we need to prepare a few dishes for the person we're hiring. I'll go buy them in a bit."

"It's not like we're having a banquet, there's no need to be so particular."

"Okay, I see."

"If you want to buy groceries, just buy some meat. We can grow our own vegetables."

After sitting for a while, Zhou Yongcheng took Zhou Yongqiang to the market to buy groceries.