Wealthy beyond measure, yet you call me a sister-supporting-brother demon?

"Uncle Chunsheng, you heard me right, my brother-in-law said he'd help me build five big brick and tile houses!"

Zhou Chunsheng still couldn't believe it. He looked around. The Yuan family themselves lived in mud-brick houses and four small thatched huts, yet they wanted to build five large brick and tile houses for their son-in-law?!

The price of blue bricks is not something ordinary people can afford. They are for building houses for wealthy families in the city and landlords and gentry in the countryside. They are not for commoners like us!

Zhou Chunsheng touched Zhou Changlin's head. "He doesn't have a fever!"

Yuan Pan'er brought over a bowl of water. "Uncle Chunsheng, have some water. What Changlin said is true. My brother made a small fortune and is going to build us a big brick house. We're currently living at my parents' house because we can't rebuild it. Once our new house is built, my family will move in, and then we'll rebuild the new house at my parents' house."

"Oh, I see." Zhou Chunsheng finally dared to believe that the other party was going to build two large houses together, not just for the son-in-law.

Five large brick and tile houses, the bricks and wood are of good quality, they cost more than two hundred taels of silver. How did the Yuan family make such a fortune?

"Pan'er, what does your brother do to earn such a large sum of money?"

Before Yuan Pan'er could speak, Zhou Changlin said, "Uncle Chunsheng, it's not convenient to talk about it now. I'll tell you when it's convenient."

"Well, we'll talk about it when you're ready." Although Zhou Chunsheng was very curious, he didn't ask if Changlin and the others didn't want to talk about it.

Zhou Changlin took out ten taels of silver. "Uncle Chunsheng, my back won't get better anytime soon. My father-in-law will buy the bricks and roof beams. I'll need you to help me with the rest of the house construction."

"It won't cost more than ten taels of silver. We'll hire a feng shui master, prepare offerings, scatter grains, and have a Taoist priest pray for blessings. It won't cost much. As for laying the foundation and building the walls, we can use people from our clan. Your Uncle Chunshen and Changman are both bricklayers. We'll have them help out, and they'll just provide a meal."

"The foundation for building a large brick and tile house must be well laid. Large stones are needed to build the foundation. My family had some stockpiled before. You can take them to use first, but it probably won't be enough. We'll have to buy some more. One tael of silver should be enough." Unlike adobe bricks, bricks are heavy, so the requirements for the foundation, base, and beams are much higher.

“Those six acres of land on the hillside were originally the ancestral land of our Zhou family. Before, it was half an acre of residential land. I asked the village head to change the document to make it six acres of residential land. Half a tael of silver is enough.”

"All of these together, I estimate three taels of silver will be enough. Give me three taels of silver first, and I'll give you the rest later."

As Zhou Chunsheng was speaking, Yuan Sheng entered the house. "Uncle Chunsheng, my brother-in-law is injured, and my sister needs to be taken care of, so it's a bit inconvenient for her to cook every day. How about this, we pay the clan members the normal wages for a bricklayer's laborer, that way it's more efficient."

Zhou Chunsheng became agitated upon hearing this, “We’re working for our own people, how can we ask for wages? Yuanbao, that’s not how you do things. Paying wages to people from the clan is treating us like outsiders. A meal is enough.”

Yuan Sheng made this suggestion mainly because they themselves ate well, with top-quality rice costing twenty coins, high-quality noodles costing ten coins, and various meats and vegetables. There was no reason for them to feed the helpers bran, coarse grains, and vegetables; he and his sister and brother-in-law couldn't bring themselves to do such a thing.

Uncle Chunsheng was thinking about ordinary meals. He felt that treating someone to a meal every day was much cheaper than paying wages.

The Zhou family didn't come from famine; they were native to Dongshan Village, so there were many of them, and they were quite united. Yuan Sheng offered to pay them wages because he thought there were few ways to make money these days, and this would be good for the Zhou family who were helping out. He didn't think about being too formal, which was a bit inconsiderate.

Yuan Sheng sighed, noting that apart from Zhou Chunqiang's family, the rest of the Zhou family members were all honest and kind. Zhou Chunqiang also seemed honest and kind, but he was outwardly loyal but inwardly treacherous; he only learned the superficial aspects.

Zhou Changlin said, "Uncle, how about this, it's inconvenient for Pan'er to cook every day. I'll send some meat to the uncles and brothers who help out, is that alright?"

"That's great, let's give them a taste of the good life." Zhou Chunsheng laughed. "Changlin, you've found a good wife and a good family."

After receiving the money, Zhou Chunsheng returned to Dongshan Village to arrange for Zhou Changlin to build a house.

He first went to the village head Li Changgui's house to explain Zhou Changlin's plan to expand his homestead and build a house.

Li Changgui wasn't too surprised. He knew Yuansheng was capable, and his younger brother had now latched onto Yuansheng's coattails. To help Yuansheng, he had hurriedly dragged him out of bed yesterday and lectured him for a long time.

He just didn't expect Yuansheng to be so capable, with so much money that he built a huge mansion for his brother-in-law.

He couldn't help but think that Zhou Changlin wasn't as naive as he seemed; he was shrewd too, and probably already knew how capable his brother-in-law was before severing ties. However, he felt no sympathy for Zhou Chunqiang. He forced his eldest son to leave with nothing and even demanded three taels of silver from him every year as a token of gratitude. No matter what, Zhou Chunqiang's family could never clear their name.

After completing the land registration procedures at the village head's office, Zhou Chunsheng immediately went to Xishan Village to invite Feng Shui master Mr. Wu to come and assess the Feng Shui.

Mr. Wu arrived at the hillside and examined it with a compass for a long time. “With a mountain behind and a stream in front, the surrounding mountains and water must have auspicious energy. This is a good omen. When the time comes, the five-room mansion will sit in the northwest and face the southeast, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, which will surely bring blessings to the Zhou family.”

Zhou Chunsheng repeatedly agreed, "Mr. Wu, when is the auspicious day to break ground?"

Mr. Wu calculated with his fingers, "Two days later."

Zhou Chunsheng thanked him repeatedly and quickly took out a red envelope containing two hundred large coins.

Once the location for building the house was determined and the auspicious time for construction to begin, Zhou Chunsheng began preparing incense, candles, fruits, flowers, and grains such as rice, millet, sorghum, wheat, and beans for the worship ceremony. He then notified members of the Zhou clan to attend the house-building worship ceremony two days later.

……

Zhou Changshui heard rumors from his cronies and came to find Old Man Zhou.

“Father, I heard from Daping that something big is going on in our Zhou family. Zhou Chunsheng went to many clansmen’s homes, it seems he’s going to build a house.”

Old Zhou's face darkened. "Li Daping is lazy and good-for-nothing. How many times have I told you not to hang out with him! Instead of wandering around, you should go weed the fields. It rained the other day, and the weeds have grown back. All he does is wait for me to do the work in the fields."

Zhou Changshui quickly went behind Old Man Zhou and rubbed his shoulders. "Dad, you've worked hard. Xiangqin's stomach has been hurting from time to time, so I've been helping her with chores at home."

Mentioning Ma Xiangqin made Old Man Zhou even angrier. This daughter-in-law was a lazy bum; all she did was eat. She didn't want to do any chores, and when she did cook, the vegetables were so dirty they couldn't even be washed properly—they were awful. Now, it was his wife who cooked and waited on her every day!

"Farmers aren't so delicate. Every daughter-in-law works her way to childbirth! Yu Chuan even gave birth on the field!" Mentioning Yu Chuan and thinking of Yuan Pan'er, Old Man Zhou got angry too. She was such a disobedient and unfilial child. And she even dared to scold him?

He'd leave the whole family with nothing, just to see if they'd be forced to kneel at his feet and beg for his life.