Linghua stamped her feet in anger: "Sister! You are so mean!"

After hearing what Xia Daohua said, Lihua thought for a moment and realized that there was some truth in it. She hugged Linghua, who was still jumping up and down, pressed her head into her arms, and said with a smile:

"Okay, I'll wash Linghua first. If you feel the water is too cold or dirty, just let me know and I'll get you some more water."

Xia Daohua nodded: "Yeah, don't worry, I won't be polite with you."

The Xia family settled down in this large courtyard.

The Hu family lived on the west side, the Zhao family lived on the south side, and on the east side lived the landlord's family, the landlord's two younger brothers' families, and the landlord's mother with her underage sister.

After resting in the slum for a few days, the Xia family felt a little overwhelmed, especially the women in charge of the family, such as Zhou.

It’s simple, the cost of living here is much higher than when I was in Beiguan Village.

In Beiguan Village, every family has fields and vegetable gardens, and there are mountains and forests outside the village.

If you want to eat food, grow it yourself. Although there are times when you need to buy food, as long as it is a peaceful year, the time you need to buy food only accounts for about one-third of the year.

If you want to eat vegetables and meat, grow them yourself, raise them yourself, and go into the mountains to hunt them.

If you want to burn firewood, go into the mountains to collect it. If you are willing to walk farther and deeper, you can also cut down trees.

But after arriving in Jixiang County, although he rented a house to live in, Yang Yang still had to spend money to buy the seven daily necessities of life: firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea.

The price changes every day, and there is no pattern.

Today you think it’s cheap, so you buy two more pounds, and tomorrow the price is even lower. Today you think it’s expensive, so you buy two less pounds, and tomorrow the price doubles.

The Xia family is such a big family. Sitting at home and eating every day, even if they only drink porridge, it is still a considerable expense.

Even if you buy two kilograms of grain, it is not enough for the whole family to make porridge for two days.

The Xia family was inevitably a bit anxious, even Erlang, Taohua, and the fourth wife who had some money in their hands. Not to mention those who had little income and originally relied entirely on farming.

The Zhao and Hu families were also a bit anxious.

These days, they have been running to the brokerage firm frequently to look at the fields, houses, and shops.

The Xia family was also a little restless.

Old Master Xia and Mrs. Zhou stayed at home, while the other adults went out to look for work on the streets.

Even if I do some temporary work as a waiter in a restaurant, it is better than sitting at home and eating out all my savings.

Xia Dalang soon found a livelihood:

He held Ah Liu in his arms and ran to the carriage shop, where he set up a stall and wrote letters for people. Although business was not very good, he could still make a dozen copper coins a day at the lowest.

Of course, he will still go to the academy after the whole family is settled.

But now, the family’s livelihood has not been settled yet, and Xia Dalang is not willing to eat for free, so he sets up a letter-writing stall and earns a penny.

Erlang went out for a walk and found that there were coolies recruiting at the dock. There was no threshold for this job, but he felt that it was not suitable for the Xia family to do it - if they did coolies for a long time, firstly, their bodies might not be able to bear it, and it was not uncommon for them to be overworked and vomit blood. Secondly, if they saw money every day, it might be difficult for them to settle down to farm.

He also went to various restaurants and came back to talk to Xia Daohua:

"Daohua, did you bring your pickle pickler? I've been to several restaurants here, but I found none of them sell the pickles we have."

Xia Daohua nodded in support. "I brought it. Besides, it's not that difficult to make that thing. I can find someone to make two sets now. Oh, and I have samples here. Let's go see if anyone is willing to buy them."

Erlang nodded readily, "Okay. But the customs here are different from Bohai County. If you go with me, there might be some tactless people who say things that are unpleasant to the ear..."

Xia Daohua naturally doesn't mind what others say.

So Erlang took Xia Daohua out with him. Xia Daohua took two small jars of samples, each holding one pound, one containing kimchi and the other pickled radish.

The two went to the restaurant that Xia Erlang had visited and thought had potential for cooperation to "shop around".

Xia Yougui and his brothers walked around several areas of the outer city under the scorching sun, then returned home in a depressed mood to discuss business with the old couple:

"The carriage business is hiring, but they need people who can ride horses and drive carriages. The docks are hiring coolies, but Erlang doesn't think that's the right job.

We brothers don’t think it’s very successful.

We don't have the ability to use that kind of cleverness, so I'm afraid we can't do it. If we exhaust ourselves, we won't be able to regret it.

I think we farmers still have to farm. Let's hurry up and buy some land!

The price of buying land at this time is also lower."

The old couple also felt that land was the foundation of life, so naturally they had to buy some land.

Although the county town was prosperous, everything required money; although the countryside was lonely, firewood and rice were easier to find. So the Xia family also began to go to the yahang to look after the fields.

He also did not forget to ask the Zhao and Hu families for advice and inquire about their experience in land viewing.

The three families thought about it and decided that if they bought the land in the same place, they could look after each other. So whenever one family asked a real estate agent to look at the land, the three families would each send one person to look at it together.

This way, we can also look at larger plots of land. If everything is suitable, the three families can take it over together.

I ran around like this for several days but still couldn't buy suitable land.

Either the price is not right, the location is not right, or there is something wrong with the land itself.

Come to think of it, Jixiang County is different from Beiguan Town.

Beiguan Town has a large land area and a small population, and there are also large areas of wilderness and forests. If there is no land to farm, there will be food to eat if the land is reclaimed.

But in this auspicious county, everything has been planned and arranged, and the population is large.

Rich families are buying more and more land, while small families don’t even have enough land to farm. Unless they encounter some natural disaster or man-made disaster, who would be willing to sell their land?

Old Master Xia ran twice himself, and was busy all day long. He was so tired that his legs were swollen, and at night he even had difficulty taking off his shoes.

After all, age is not forgiving, you have to accept it!

The old couple of the Xia family handed the matter over to the second and fifth sons.

The second son, Xia Yougui, might not have been a very good person, but he was a good farmer and could tell the difference between good and bad land. Furthermore, as a somewhat unscrupulous person, he wouldn't be fooled by others when he saw unclear boundaries.

With the reliable Old Five in charge of financial matters, Grandpa Xia feels more at ease.

The Xia family actually still has quite a bit of money.

Especially Zhou, the fourth wife and her husband, as well as Xia Xuejiao, Erlang, and Taohua, they can all be considered wealthy people.

Zhou's money was the wealth accumulated by the Xia family over decades.

The fourth room's money, apart from the money the couple saved carefully, came from the pickle workshop business.

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－－

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