Shen Qingyu was woken up by Cui Xi.

It turned out that the village head's pig had already been slaughtered, and even the stew was cooked, all they were waiting for was Shen Qingyu to arrive so they could start eating.

Shen Qingyu quickly tidied herself up, feeling embarrassed, and followed Qi Yunxiao, who was already dressed, to Uncle Lizheng's house.

"It's all your fault! You didn't sleep in the middle of the night and made me oversleep!" Shen Qingyu said angrily and kicked Qi Yunxiao's leg.

Qi Yunxiao seemed oblivious, chuckling, "We're finally home, we should at least have a good meal."

Shen Qingyu: "You shameless bastard!"

Qi Yunxiao disagreed: "How am I shameless when it's my own wife?"

Well, there's no way I can argue with a man like that.

When Shen Qingyu arrived at the village head's house, she found that the clan elders and influential people in the village were all there, and there were three tables of people.

When they saw Shen Qingyu and Qi Yunxiao arrive, everyone greeted them. The village head invited Qi Yunxiao and Shen Qingyu to take their seats.

Shen Qingyu wanted to say that she was just a junior and shouldn't sit there.

But Qi Yunxiao had already gone over there first: "Come on."

“That’s right, don’t be so polite. You’re a princess now, you can speak up for the emperor.” Cui Xi smiled and pushed her to sit down next to Qi Yunxiao.

Shen Qingyu stopped being stubborn and sat down next to Qi Yunxiao.

"Slaughtering pig stew" is simply a big pot of pork intestines, blood, and chopped pork, all boiled together with just salt, and it's so fragrant it makes your mouth water.

Shen Qingyu and Qi Yunxiao were quickly filled to the brim by the enthusiastic elders, who scooped food from one bowl to another.

Looking at the white meat and brown pig's blood in the bowl, Shen Qingyu felt very fortunate: Shen Changshou and his wife had been making braised offal with her at home for so long that they knew how to clean these things to make them taste better.

Otherwise, one would never dare to cook the intestines into this "pig-killing feast".

After finishing the pork stew, the men in the village would buy some meat in twos and threes to take home for the New Year, while the women would start preparing to steam glutinous rice, make glutinous rice cakes, and rice puffs.

Shen Qingyu went to call Zhao Yuzhu and her three children over to do these things together.

The children were also very excited: they had never participated in these things before.

Erbao, who was pressing glutinous rice cakes on the side, was so happy that his eyes lit up: "Mom, I didn't know this could be made while it's still hot!"

Shen Qingyu felt a pang of sadness upon hearing this, and smiled, "If you want to do it in the future, you can do it anytime."

The woman making glutinous rice cakes next to her chimed in, "We used to not have enough to eat, how could we afford to make glutinous rice cakes?"

"That's right! In the past, we couldn't afford to buy meat for the New Year, but this year every household is buying meat."

"Thanks to Qingyu! If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been able to bear it."

"That's right, your family even built a big brick and tile house this year!"

"Oh dear, if you want to get married, you need to build a house and find a wife before the New Year!"

Everyone burst into laughter: "Yes, yes, you'll be able to hold your grandson next year..."

Laughter filled the air, and everyone's face was beaming with genuine smiles.

After the glutinous rice cakes were made, everyone started making rice puffs.

Place the original-colored glutinous rice at the bottom, cover it with the dyed red glutinous rice, press it flat inside a bamboo hoop, and a rice puff is ready.

After they finished their work, someone cooked sweet glutinous rice wine and added the freshly made glutinous rice cakes to it, so that Shen Qingyu and everyone else who had helped with the work could eat together...

When they were almost done with their work, it was already noon, and everyone finally dispersed.

Shen Qingyu wanted to go home, and the village head insisted on giving her some pork and glutinous rice cakes.

Although Shen Qingyu didn't lack these things, the sentiment behind it was still very touching, and it warmed her heart.

When they got home, Shen Qingyu discussed with Qi Yunxiao, "How about we slaughter a pig and treat everyone in the village to a meal?"

Qi Yunxiao naturally didn't object: "I'll do whatever you say."

Zhao Yuzhu, however, supported herself with both hands and feet!

"This is a great idea! If you ask me, we've made a lot of money this year, and everyone in the village has made a lot of money too. We're sure to have a prosperous New Year. Many families have even saved up to build houses and get married! It's something to celebrate!"

Shen Qingyu then made the decision.

The pigs we raised at the beginning of the year were mostly taken care of by Xiao Taohua and Shen Dasong. Now that they're fattened up, slaughtering them for everyone to eat is a good option.

So Shen Qingyu sent the Dragon Guards to inform everyone to slaughter the pig.

Qi Yunxiao, however, thought of the Dragon Guards on the back mountain.

The refugees were arranged by His Majesty of the Great Qi, but the Dragon Guards were all there to do the work.

The living conditions and food I have now are incomparable to those in Beijing, and it has even delayed my marriage and having children.

Although His Majesty only assigned these people temporarily, fearing that Qi Yunxiao and Shen Qingyu wouldn't be able to control the refugees, the refugees have now been settled...

It's not enough to just feed these people; they also need to start families and make a living.

Qi Yunxiao thought of the method of garrisoning troops through farming, but we can change it up a bit...

"Buy a few more pigs, and let the Dragon Guards in the back mountain slaughter them and have some meat!" Without saying a word, Qi Yunxiao ordered the Dragon Guards to go and buy pigs.

When the imperial guards heard that pigs were going to be slaughtered, they were all very happy: after managing these refugees for the past few months, they no longer looked like the emperor's close advisors.

Many of the Dragon Guards realized the situation in private: His Majesty felt that there were too many Dragon Guards back then, so he simply released half of them and let Qi Yunxiao support them!

The Dragon Guards train hard, learning only how to kill. What else can they do if they stop doing that?

These past few months have been quite eventful; they've learned everything from personnel management and various farm chores to dealing with all sorts of people.

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