Shuanzi's father, who was dreaming of eating meat and drinking wine, was woken up by his wife's loud voice. He was furious and immediately started cursing, "You wretched woman, what are you wailing about! Do you know how hard it is for me to go to the county to find work every day? I can't even take a day off, what are you trying to do so early in the morning?!"

Eight-year-old Shuanzi also turned over, clearly woken up by the noise! ​​He then imitated his father and scolded his mother.

"Mom, what are you yelling about? Can't you just let me get some sleep?!"

"Oh, alright, alright, my little darling, you can go back to sleep. Your mother and father need to talk." As she spoke, she pulled the tattered blanket up a little higher. "Cover yourself up properly, don't catch a cold. Otherwise, you'll become stupid, just like Big Bear!"

Shuanzi mumbled a "hmm" in his sleep, thinking to himself that he didn't want to become that idiot Da Xiong.

Her noise made Shuanzi's father, Chen Guang'an, lose his desire to continue sleeping. He asked in an unfriendly tone what was wrong and told him to stop dawdling.

Liu Meixiang wasn't angry. She moved her buttocks a little closer to the man and said, "Husband, do you know that the few families who just came to Shiligou have already started building houses today?"

"Of course I know. You were nagging me about it the other day, how could I not know? That pretty boy said he was some kind of top scholar, and he wanted to open a private school in the village. Didn't he say he wanted Shuanzi to study there? If that weren't the case, why would I be looking for work every day?!"

Speaking of this, Chen Guang'an felt a bit resentful. That pretty boy, if you're going to open a school, you shouldn't charge such an expensive tuition! One tael of silver? His wife had nagged him twice this morning, and now all he could think about was where that one tael of silver would come from. Besides, if he had one tael of silver, he might as well gamble it out; maybe he could turn it into ten taels!

Liu Meixiang had no idea what was going on in his mind. She thought he was worried about his son's tuition fees, and she felt a little more sorry for him.

"If you want tuition fees, isn't this your chance?"

"What? Stop beating around the bush, woman. I don't like hearing that. Just say it. You said you could get it for one tael of silver?"

Chen Guang'an became interested, sat up, put on his old cotton-padded coat, and thought that if he could have a tael or two of silver as capital, he could rebuild his life in the martial arts world!

"Master, do you know how much the Qin family is paying? Twelve coins a day, plus a meal!"

Just now, He Xing and the others passed by our house. I could clearly smell the aroma wafting from the wooden bucket; it contained meat and vegetables! And rice! At least sorghum rice!

Liu Meixiang stared with wide eyes, looking as if she wanted to take all the food for herself!

At first, when the village head's wife went to other households to notify people of work opportunities, Liu Meixiang thought, "What kind of work is this in the dead of winter?! It's only two or three coins, it's worth doing here. We'll be doing the same work, why not go to the county? They pay ten coins a day there!"

On ordinary days, villagers help each other build houses, giving each other three or five coins and providing lunch! So, Liu Meixiang's thinking is not wrong!

"What did you say? Is that woman out of her mind? Giving so much money?! She must have nothing better to do! She has money to burn!"

Chen Guang'an slumped onto the edge of the bed, thinking that if this was the case, it would definitely be better than working in He County. There was even meat and vegetables? How long had it been since he had eaten meat?!

No, this is absolutely not going to work!

He also has to go to work!

But the woman here didn't call him. How could he sneak in?

"Wife, how many men from our village went? Who hasn't gone yet?" Chen Guang'an's eyes darted around, and a plan came to him.

"More than forty men from our village went away. The only ones left are the village head's youngest son, the lame man from the east end of the village, and the sickly man from Lan Hua's family!"

"Isn't this bullying? You're such a strong and healthy person, how dare they not call on you? Are they afraid we're too capable and will steal their credit?!" Liu Meixiang said indignantly, still furious when she thought about it!

The rest were all elderly, weak, sick, and disabled? After hearing what his wife said, Chen Guang'an also felt uneasy all over!

Damn it, that's really underestimating me!

This couple is a perfect example. Shiligou now has only 72 households. Apart from those who go out to work and those who don't have able-bodied men at home, what's left are the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled.

Even so, the village head's wife, Wang, was very farsighted and did not recruit Chen Guang'an, who was good for nothing, so as not to bring shame to Shiligou!

Liu Meixiang and her husband didn't think so. They figured the village head's wife was probably holding a grudge against their son, Shuanzi, for hitting her grandson. They didn't consider that adults couldn't do anything about a fight between children. Wasn't it because their grandson wasn't strong enough?! And now it was Shuanzi's fault?

However, it would be difficult to get them to disobey the village head's family. After all, the village head had a high reputation in Shiligou and would be the clan leader of the Chen clan in the future. If they offended him, they would inevitably make things difficult for them and their son Shuanzi in the future! In this day and age, even if you wanted to buy a piece of land, a house site, or even some grain seeds, you had to go through the village head.

The couple fell into deep thought; this was indeed a difficult matter!

If Qin Sanniang and her ilk were easy to deal with, fine, they could bully him a bit, but what could they do to him? But it's said that Qin Sanniang recently took down the tyrant of Willow Street in He County. She's no ordinary young woman! She's a tigress! Besides, there's Gu Qingshan, that strong and powerful man who can kill a wild boar. He doesn't seem like someone he can mess with, although he thinks it's probably just a rumor. How could one person kill a wild boar? Dream on!

"How's Lockhead? Did he go too?" Chen Guang'an asked, squinting his narrow eyes.

Liu Meixiang thought for a moment, and remembered hearing Chen Suotou's name when she was calling out this morning. So she said with certainty, "Honey, Suotou is inside. I even heard his name when we were dividing into groups! I can't believe that simpleton Suotou got pulled into the work. They're looking down on you, honey!"

Liu Meixiang is indeed a troublemaker; she doesn't even spare her own husband. In fact, she knows perfectly well what kind of person Chen Guang'an is!

From the moment she married into the family when she was young, she knew they were all lazy and greedy. What good was being diligent on her own?! So, over the years, she got used to it. She was just as lazy and gluttonous, and just as shameless, to live comfortably! Look, she finally made it through the years until her shameless in-laws died, and she finally became a mother-in-law herself. Sigh, Shuanzi isn't quite grown up yet, so he's not really a mother-in-law, but at least life is much better now!

Would Liu Meixiang care what her husband was like? Of course not!

What she cared about was whether she and her son would have enough to eat! And whether they would have enough meat to eat!