HLnovel Chapter 363: On New Year's Eve, the sound of hurried horse hooves approached from afar
Chapter 363: On New Year's Eve, the sound of hurried horse hooves approached from afar
Li Lanzhen married her daughter off, and the Chinese New Year was just a few days away.
These days, the boat in Taohuayuan goes to Youzhou City every day.
After Han Shunde went to Youzhou City to work as a shopkeeper in a grocery store.
The affairs of the village were handed over to Han Dazhong.
He arranged for the adults and children to take the boat to Youzhou City every day.
Let them also go around Youzhou City and buy some New Year goods.
This year, the people in the village have been busy from spring to now.
Both adults and children were very tired, but they gained a lot.
After calculating the output of Taohuayuan that year, the village committee gave Li Lanzhen 70% of the net profit.
For the remaining carts, calculate how much silver one work point is worth.
After the calculation, the people in the village committee were extremely excited.
Because one work point was worth half a cent.
The family that received the most money was Han Dazhong's.
That year, their whole family earned 8 taels of silver.
The day of lending money is even more lively than the Chinese New Year.
Han Dazhong notified everyone in advance to prepare their purses. Those with small purses could take a few more, or else they could sew larger purses to hold the copper coins.
This made everyone laugh and happily prepared their purses to fill with copper coins at home.
Li Lanzhen took a dozen purses and went to Li Erhan's house to give them to them.
When I pushed the door open, the whole family was sitting in the main room talking.
Seeing her come in, Tonghua jumped up, pulled her to sit at the table, and quickly poured her a bowl of water.
"Sister, you are amazing. You actually brought so many people and found such a good place where we have no worries about food and drink, and we are not oppressed or bullied by others.
The most important thing is that I can earn so much money in a year."
Li Xishui also spoke to her with great joy.
"Yes, sister, our family, big and small, earns more than six taels of silver a year just from work points."
Li Erhan was also very happy. He drank the sugar water, squinted his eyes, and looked extremely happy.
"My daughter, Dad has seen that my daughter is a person of great talent.
Dad, thank you for coming to the village to pick you and your family up when we were fleeing famine.
I can actually earn so much money now by following you to escape famine."
Ye also clapped Li Lanzhen's hand. "Yes, my girl, when we were in Yejiawan, we worked very hard and could only earn a little over one or two taels of silver a year.
After eating the last meal, I worry about where the next meal will come from.
Once you come here, you don't have to worry about food and drink. You eat meat or eggs every day, and you also have money to share.
What a good day! Thank you, mother! "
The same topic was being discussed in every yard.
Han Dazhong returned home and gave his wife the silver that the family had earned from work points.
"Please keep it, old lady."
The family sat in the main room, talking and laughing at one moment, and about to cry at another.
In short, he was filled with mixed emotions, and Han Dazhong said as he patted the table.
"I really couldn't have imagined that one day I, Han Dazhong, would earn more than 8 taels of silver in a year!"
Han Youliang said, "Dad, this is the money we earned from work points. Mom and her brothers and sisters-in-law usually make a lot of money from selling the mountain products they collect in the mountains."
A bonfire was built in the yard of Brother Hong San's house in the small mountain village, and people from the small mountain village were sitting around it.
They were also discussing this year's harvest.
At first, he was so excited that he started to cry.
This year, the money I earned from work points alone is more than I could have earned in three to five years in the small mountain village in previous years.”
"That's right. At that time, we were in the mountains, exchanging our lives for the lives of wild animals in order to get a little silver."
After hearing this, Brother Hong San also lowered his head sadly.
“My grandfather and my father fought that giant tiger and came back with wounds all over their bodies. They dragged the tiger to the county and sold it for eight taels of silver.
But my father and grandfather were both injured by the giant tiger, and even after spending all the eight taels of silver, they still couldn’t be saved.”
Brother Hong San's words made everyone in the small mountain village sitting in the yard lower their heads. They thought of their dead relatives.
"Sanwang, you got more than three taels of silver, plus the more than one tael of silver you got from selling mountain products.
You have to save all your money and not spend it lavishly.
One day you will go to Beijing to take the imperial examination, and these will be your travel expenses."
Shanxing instructed Sanwang carefully.
"I know, Sister Shanxing. I eat well every day and have no place to spend money, so I won't spend it recklessly."
Douhua and Shitou earned two work points every day by collecting grass for pigs, and in a year they had earned more than 200 coins.
He put the money in a big purse, which made a rustling sound all the way. When he returned to the yard, he gave it to Li Lanzhen and asked her to keep it.
As for the money earned from the vegetable greenhouse from now until next spring, it can be divided again.
In this way, the silver can be distributed twice a year.
With money in hand and full stomachs, people's hearts are at peace.
So we went on a boat together to visit Youzhou City.
For the safety of children and women, the village always arranges people to go in batches.
So there was no problem.
The grocery store didn't close its doors until the 29th day of the lunar year.
They took a boat back to Taohuayuan, and after they came back, the big ship never went out again.
The cafeteria is the busiest place during this period.
All the women went there to help.
Steamed cornmeal steamed bread, steamed buns made from two kinds of flour, dumplings, fried oil cakes, fried cakes...
The fish pieces were fried, and big carps were fried out one by one.
Three big fat pigs were slaughtered, each weighing nearly 200 kilograms.
Hundreds of each kind of chickens, ducks, and geese were slaughtered, as well as five sheep.
These days, Li Lanzhen has been busy braising pig heads, pig trotters, and pig offal.
I stewed chicken, duck, goose, and a big pot of duck eggs.
Because all the people from Bai Houpu's Medicine Valley would come here to celebrate the New Year together, so no livestock were sent to them.
Three big fat pigs that had been slaughtered were given to Xuan Shen’s training camp.
Han Shunde brought back the red paper and gave it to Master Xu.
Master Xu took the children to cut paper and write couplets. After a busy day, the word "Fu" and couplets were pasted on the doors of every yard and house.
The doors of the kitchen and dining room are also pasted with the word "Fu" and couplets.
The adults were busy in the kitchen but it did not stop the children from eating.
The fried dough sticks were put into a large bowl, sprinkled with a little sugar and brought to the dining room for the children to chew to their heart's content.
We also scooped out a bowl of fried fruit and brought it to the dining room for them to taste.
Those days were really like the Chinese New Year!
The New Year’s Eve dinner is very sumptuous, with all kinds of dishes including fried, braised, boiled, and stir-fried, as well as chicken, duck, goose, fish, mutton, pork, and eggs.
On this day, the laughter of adults and children never stopped. Their mouths were greasy with food, their eyes were sparkling, and they bowed to everyone they met to wish them a prosperous and wealthy life. Congratulations on getting rich!
After the New Year’s Eve dinner, the adults who had been keeping watch and the older children made dumplings in the dining room.
Li Lanzhen held dumplings in her hands and listened to everyone talking about the happy things that happened in the past year.
Suddenly, she heard a burst of rapid clattering sound of horse hooves coming closer and closer.
She quickly dropped the dumplings and rushed to the door to see!