Second Zhou had long since gotten over the unease of being sent back to his hometown by his father; now all that was left was excitement. He slowly realized that living together as a family meant he had no opportunity to compete, even if he wanted to. Aside from helping to drive the cart, he couldn’t contribute much to the family at all.

Returning to his hometown, he can not only help look after the family’s fields but also let his father see his abilities. Based on his understanding of his father, his father’s arrangement of them brothers was definitely a test!

After lunch in the afternoon, Zhulan asked Second Zhou to buy a lot of pork ribs. She instructed Second Zhou and Chang Lian to go to the pond to dig some lotus roots to make lotus root and pork ribs soup in the evening.

Second Zhou and Chang Lian dug out a lot of lotus roots. The two of them had nothing to do, so after digging the lotus roots, they took the children fishing.

Zhulan divided a portion of the lotus roots they dug out and took out three pork ribs. She said to Li Shi, who was washing the lotus roots, “We’ll make lotus root and pork rib soup tonight. Take these back to your mother’s house and let your mother have a taste.”

This morning, Li Shi’s parents sent two large baskets of vegetables. The in-laws were so sincere.

Li Shi grinned, “I’ll send it over in a minute.”

Lotus root, this was a good thing. Last year, her mother-in-law didn’t dig much to eat, so she kept thinking about it when she came back!

It was getting dark when Zhou Shuren came back. The family was waiting for him to come back for dinner. Li Shi prepared a big pot of lotus root and pork rib soup. The children ran to the door several times, waiting for Grandpa to come back for dinner!

Zhou Shuren came in, “Oh, pork rib soup, this is a good thing to nourish the body.”

Zhulan looked at Mingteng eagerly and said, “We’re waiting for you to come back for dinner!”

Zhou Shuren sat in the main seat. He was very hungry after running all day. He filled a bowl of pork rib soup for himself, took a sip, and said, “Let’s eat.”

Zhulan took a sip and thought that Li Shi’s cooking skills had improved and the food was better than last year.

Jiang Sheng drank the soup and sighed in his heart again. His two boys really knew how to choose the day to be born. They knew whose family would be most comfortable!

His wife was in confinement at her parents’s house. She ate well and used good things, so her milk supply was naturally good. The two little ones were so blessed.

If his father-in-law and mother-in-law didn’t come back, he would be the only one to take care of his wife during the confinement period. His cooking was not very good, so he really couldn’t take good care of his wife during the confinement period!

After the meal, Zhulan looked at her daughter, who drank two large bowls of pork rib soup and ate a bowl of rice porridge. This was multiple meals a day. Her daughter ate five meals a day.

Xuemei also felt that she had eaten a lot, and her face flushed, “Mom, I don’t know what’s wrong, I’m just so hungry.”

Zhulan was clearing the dishes. “You’ve lost a lot of strength after having two children. It’s normal for you to eat more. I will definitely nourish you well when I’m home.”

Xuemei felt even more embarrassed. She had chicken soup last night, pig’s trotter soup at noon, and pork ribs at night. Her mother had to spend a lot of money to stay at her mother’s house for confinement, and she was the only one who depended on her for her family of four. “Mom, it must have cost a lot of money to feed our family and nourish me!”

Zhulan, “Just rest and take care of yourself. This little money is nothing. It’s not even enough to buy the fur I brought back for you!”

Speaking of the things she brought back for her eldest daughter, Zhulan really brought a lot.

Xuemei, “.”

She was indeed thinking in vain. Her father was a juren, and as his daughter, she received many gifts because of his status, not to mention her father in Pingzhou.

Zhulan sat aside and told Xuemei what she brought: “When your father became a juren, many people came to give gifts, and I received a lot of skins. I kept all the good ones, and I divided up some of the skins that were not so good. I brought back a mink skin for you, and three more, one for each of your two sisters-in-law and your brother’s wife, but I didn’t give them any.”

She just wanted to see how worried Li Shi was. Zhao Shi had leather given by a wealthy family, so she made a cloak. Dong Shi had enough of it, but Li Shi was the only one who didn’t have one. Well, she just wanted to tease Li Shi.

Xuemei saw smiles in her mother’s eyes and knew that her mother was teasing her sister-in-law again.

Zhulan continued, “I won’t go into detail about the cotton and fabrics I bought for the child. I made a set of silver bracelets, silver locks, and silver collars for the child. I didn’t expect you could have a set of twins, and so I need to make a set. I also gave Miu Miu a head flower and popular toys from Pingzhou City, and Jiang Du a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone.”

What the Zhou family had the most now was pens, ink, paper, and inkstone. They received quite a few gifts this time. As for the toys, they were all wood carvings with many small mechanisms. Zhulan played with them for a while after buying them and was impressed by the wisdom of the ancients. Many of the mechanisms were very tricky. She couldn’t help but take them apart, and then she couldn’t put them back!

She brought it back now and bought it again.

Xuemei counted carefully in her mind and found that her mother brought back a lot of things for her!

Zhulan chatted with Xuemei for a while, then she pushed the door open and was startled. She stared at Li Shi, “Why didn’t you make a sound outside?”

Li Shi looked at her mother-in-law with resentment, “Mom, I heard everything. You have already divided the skins.”

Zhulan, “.”

Amazing, Li Shi actually eavesdropped.

Li Shi saw that her mother-in-law’s eyes were not right, and she reacted, “Mom, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. My sister-in-law was washing the dishes and waiting for you for a long time but she didn’t bring the dishes back, so I came to check.”

Unexpectedly, when she heard her mother say that the skins had been divided, she realized that her mother had been teasing her all along!

Zhulan knew that she had misunderstood Li Shi, and that was right. Li Shi did not dare to eavesdrop, “Take the bowl from here!”

Li Shi: “Mother.”

Zhulan walked out and saw Li Shi’s head drooping from the corner of her eye. She curled her lips and said, “I’ll give it to you when I get back.”

Li Shi grinned, “I know that mother loves me.”

Zhulan, “.”

She seemed to have been fooled. Li Shi had learned a lesson and even learned how to act pitifully. Well, it seemed that the fool at home had figured out her tricks. This was not good!

Zhulan returned to the room, and Zhou Shuren raised an eyebrow, “Are you in a good mood?”

Zhulan came closer to Zhou Shuren and said, “I’m telling you, I was tricked by Li Shi.”

Zhou Shuren put down the book in his hand and sat beside Zhulan, untying her hair, and asked, “Are you happy?”

“I think it’s interesting so I’m happy. Have you bought the land for the clan school today?”

Zhou Shuren untied Zhulan’s hair and took the comb to comb her hair. “I bought it and the ownership has been transferred.”

“Any news about the twenty acres of land our family wants to buy?”

“There is no land near Lijia Village, but there is one in Zhoujia Village. I am thinking of buying some and exchanging it with someone so that the 40 acres of land can be connected into one piece. What do you think?”

Zhulan had no objection, “It’s good. It’s easier to manage if they are connected into a piece.”

Zhou Shuren added: “Next year, I want to entrust 40 acres of land in Zhoujia Village to the clan members in the form of helping them to cultivate it.”

Zhulan knew that Zhou Shuren had already selected the people he would use in the future. “What about Jiang Sheng?”

“Help us harvest crops every year, and distribute seeds in the spring.”

Zhulan heard this and asked, “We don’t need Jiang Sheng to take care of the seedlings anymore?”

“Well, there are too many plots of land, and it would be too much trouble for Jiang Sheng to take care of them. It would be better to distribute the seeds at the beginning of the year. Each person would be responsible for as many plots of land as he could, and Xuemei and her husband would have less worries.”

Zhulan said, “This is good. Jiang Sheng has two more children, so he doesn’t have as much energy as before.”

(End of this chapter)

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