After preparing the skincare oil, Jiang Zhi immediately gave ten samples to each of Qin Shi, Wang Xiaoju, and the scholar's wife when the men who had been doing corvée labor and collecting stones returned in the evening, wanting them to see how effective the samples were.

Inside the wooden hut of the storehouse, Qin, who had spent the day collecting stones by the river, was soaking her feet.

He held the small clam oil with great fondness, touching and smelling it, but his words were unpleasant: "Sister-in-law, when did you become so refined and elegant, just like a scholar's wife?"

Look at this little shell! Tsk tsk tsk! It'll blow away if I sneeze!

Jiang Zhi glared at her: "You spray one right now, let me see if you're the reincarnation of the Bull Demon King, with nostrils so big they could point to the sky. If you don't want it, give it back!"

Qin, shameless as ever: "Who gives something away and then returns it? Just the smell of this is better than anything you honestly buy for me!"

Jiang Zhi snorted coldly: "Buying things again? Li Laoshi has only been married for a few months, and you've almost emptied his pockets. If you want to enjoy a few more days of comfort, you'd better take it easy!"

Qin glanced at him sideways: "What are you talking about? I don't understand! Honest only drove the mule today, I didn't even let him pick up stones, how could he be tired?"

Jiang Zhi got up, deciding to ignore this idiot who couldn't even understand what Li Laoshi was saying, and took the remaining clam oil to find Wang Xiaoju and the scholar's wife.

After Jiang Zhi left, Qin hurriedly shook the water off her feet and quickly opened the small clam's lid.

Sigh, this is far too little. How can anyone bear to use it?

Looking at the pale yellow medicinal oil inside, Qin sighed and carefully scraped off a layer of oil with her fingertip before applying it to her face.

Sister Jiang said that this is made by boiling medicine and can make a person's skin white and tender.

Li Laoshi had been outside the room the whole time. He only came in after Jiang Zhi left, picked up the foot-washing water from the bedside table, and casually splashed it outside: "What did Sister-in-law Jiang say?"

Qin was wiping her face: "Sister Jiang said you should be more diligent and not be lazy in everything you do."

Li Laoshi chuckled, "When have I ever not been diligent!" With that, he went to lock the door.

Qin was still wiping her face: "Honestly, take a look, don't I look younger?"

Li Laoshi went over and started getting mischievous: "Let me see which part is the youngest!"

"Oh dear! I just put on some perfume..."

The people of Xujia Village spent five days picking through the river, clearing out a section of the waterway.

After discarding some sharp-edged stones, most of the easily collectable pebbles were moved back to Xujia Village.

It was tiring, but the cobblestones paving the workshop were comfortable to walk on and to look at.

Paving the village roads with those pebbles gives it a different feel. I can't quite put my finger on why, but the village just looks exceptionally beautiful.

Over five days, each family could earn a few dozen coins. With that money, they could buy a piece of cloth to make new clothes, or save it to replace the thatched roof with a tiled roof the following year.

Over the past month, the newly arrived refugees, including the Xie family, have truly experienced the joy of being part of Xujia Village.

I used to work hard all year round just to make ends meet, and I still had to guard against other people's envy and jealousy.

Now, every household in Xujia Village is pretty much the same; no one is much poorer than anyone else, and no one is rolling in money.

Of course, the village chief's family was better off than everyone else's, but no one envied the village chief's family. Anyway, they could earn money by working harder.

Xujia Village was required to perform corvée labor, as were people from other villages. By the time people from other villages arrived, the elderly and children of Xujia Village had already returned home.

Those who remain are the ones performing their corvée labor duties. Only one person is left per household, and they can leave after a couple more days of leisurely picking up scraps, just like the people from other villages.

Moreover, other villages need to work until the end of the twelfth lunar month before they can leave, but Xujia Village is a village where the whole village is engaged in corvée labor, and they have already finished their assigned work!

Errui and Xiaoman took some time to go up the mountain, brought the clam oil to Chunfeng, and also caught the piglets that the Shi family was raising.

There are nine piglets in total, four spotted and five black, all of whom are Peppa Pig's offspring.

When the piglets entered the pen, Jiang Zhi called over everyone in the Shi family and solemnly instructed them to take good care of the pigs, not to let them go hungry or cold, and to come and ask immediately if anything happened. If the pigs died, the family's stone monkey would have to do hard work to pay for the damages.

The stone monkey was the lifeblood of the Shi family. Upon hearing that the stone monkey was to pay compensation, the silly second and third sisters of the Shi family immediately burst into tears.

Stone Monkey's mother was still fairly normal-minded, but surrounded by a family that was both stupid and stubborn, she had become somewhat dull-witted over the past ten years.

However, now that the stone monkey has grown up and developed its own opinions, the mother and son have begun to have opportunities to communicate normally with the outside world.

The monkey mother said, "As long as there's pig feed, we can raise them well!"

Jiang Zhi said, "Now that we have nine pigs, it's impossible for you to feed them all with the green oak leaves you collect. The new year will come soon and there won't be any more green oak leaves. I will send you sweet potato residue, rice bran, and wheat bran from now on."

The piglets ate more and more as they were raised, so it was unrealistic for the Shi family to fatten them up with wild fruits alone, and besides, the Shi family's grain was only enough to feed themselves.

The swill from the post station was divided between Xu Genyou and another family in the village, so Jiang Zhi still had to prepare pig feed herself.

Xiaoman's family still has land in the village, which is perfect for raising pigs.

Stone Monkey's father, the second son of the Shi family, muttered, "Feeding pigs is such a simple thing; just pluck a handful of grass and feed them."

This is a phrase used in fights; it can make someone furious. No wonder Monkey Mother used to raise pigs, but she stopped doing so.

The food for nine pigs isn't something you can just grab a handful of grass for.

However, Jiang Zhi knew that the Shi family had bad genes, so she didn't bother arguing with a half-idiot: "Second Brother Shi, from now on, you can just pull a big basket of pig feed back every day to feed them."

The pigs mustn't go hungry. I come every day to check if they've been fed and if their pen is clean.

"If you feed the pigs well every day, I'll buy you meat every month!"

From now on, Grandpa Xiaoman and Grandma Xiaoman will come over every day to check on things and bring their swill to feed the pigs.

After Jiang Zhi used a combination of threats and inducements, the Shi family members all agreed to obey. As for how much they would actually listen, that remains to be seen, but at least the stone monkey and its mother are of sound mind.

Soon it will be the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month again, and every household will cook oil porridge, which is also a specialty of Ba County.

Dice the cured pork and stir-fry until the oil is rendered. Stir-fry the dried tofu and diced fresh radish until fragrant, then add the homemade sweet potato noodles.

When the rice porridge has thickened and become oily, and is ready to be taken off the heat, cut freshly picked garlic sprouts into small pieces and blanch them in the porridge.

It has a bright green color, a fragrant aroma, a savory and delicious taste, and warms you up from the inside out after eating it.

Jiang Zhi also had Tan cook a large pot, and everyone ate their fill with leftovers.

Errui patted his bulging belly: "This Laba rice was so delicious today, did you serve it to Xiaoman and the others?"

Mrs. Tan replied, "It was delivered as soon as it was cooked. My uncle next door also cooked this."

Actually, Xiaoman's family invited the Tian family to celebrate the festival together today, and Xiaoman's grandmother originally wanted Jiangzhi's family to come as well.

Jiang Zhi declined, saying that Qiaoyun was not feeling well and that she should just eat something casually at home.

Things are different now than they were on the mountain. Xiaoman will need to become an independent family in the future, so it's time to step back.

Hearing that there were still leftovers in the pot, Jiang Zhi said, "Keep the rest on the stove and let Qiaoyun eat it whenever she gets hungry!"

Qiaoyun is eight months pregnant, and she gets full easily if she eats too much. She only ate a small bowl just now, and she will definitely be hungry again in a while.

Just then, a dog's frantic barking suddenly came from outside, followed by the sound of hooves rushing towards them, and it wasn't just one horse.

It was mealtime, and every household was celebrating the festival with their meals in their own homes. In the quiet mountain village, the barking of dogs and the sound of horses' hooves were particularly loud.

Jiang Zhi and Er Rui were both somewhat surprised. Could it be that there was an urgent matter at the county government office?

Er Rui got up and went to check outside the gate, but he froze as soon as the door opened, blurting out, "Xiao Tian, ​​is that you?"