It took Xiaoli quite a while to make Daya laugh.

Xiao Li noticed that Daya's clothes were faded from washing; they were clearly altered from Daya's mother's clothes. She had grown quite a bit taller this year, and her clothes were too short. Daya, being half a head shorter than her, could wear them just right.

"Wait a minute." Xiao Li opened the box containing the clothes and took out three sets of clothes, all of which were about 80% new spring shirts and summer dresses.

"Here, these are too small for me. You can take them back and wear them yourself or give them to Er Ya or Xiao Ya." Xiao Li said a little embarrassedly, "Don't mind that they are old clothes."

Daya hurriedly declined, saying, "No, these clothes are all in good condition. They can be altered and still be worn. Besides, Xiaojiu can wear them too. If all else fails, they can be made into shoes."

These days, no clothes are wasted. It's not an exaggeration to say that clothes can be patched and mended for three years. Only Yun Yu Niang feels sorry for Xiao Li and makes her new clothes every year.

"Little Jiu'er is too young to wear these, we'll make them for her later. You keep them, you know my mother, she loves me the most, I've never worn patched clothes. I'll accept what you made for me, and you can keep these too, okay?"

That's true. Da Ya never expected that she would bring home three sets of earrings after bringing over one set. Knowing that Xiao Li had helped her out, she was touched and only hoped that she could repay her in some way when things got better in the future.

After seeing Daya off, children from the village came one after another to offer New Year's greetings. Xiaoli was impatient to go out and deal with them, so she hid in her room and didn't come out.

Little Jiu'er was quite diligent, helping Yun Yuniang pour tea and serve fruit platters. Yun Yuniang hugged Little Jiu'er and her heart melted completely.

Xiao Li had a leisurely New Year, but Shen Qi was in dire straits.

Since he acquired the jade pendant space, he transferred his assets into it and even retrieved his mother's dowry, putting it in there as well. Although he didn't care about the money, he just didn't want to benefit his stepmother.

His actions infuriated his stepmother and half-brother, who were helpless against him.

With his eldest son around, it was practically impossible for Marquis Wu'an to request that his eldest son be made heir apparent. So they had been waiting for an opportunity to bring Shen Qi down.

He finally had some free time during the New Year, but he was still tricked in his own yard and almost died. Fortunately, his martial arts skills had improved a lot recently, and he fought desperately to kill the last assassin and barely entered the space. He wanted to get medicine but fainted.

When he woke up, his injuries had healed considerably. He seemed to still taste the water the little girl had fed him last time, but he couldn't figure it out and gradually let it go. He'd find out someday.

Shen Qi told her maternal grandfather, the current prime minister Su Lie, about this matter. Su Lie had not remarried since his wife died in childbirth, and he only had his newborn daughter Su Ningning to rely on.

But his daughter was short-lived; she suffered a difficult childbirth and passed away, leaving behind only Shen Qi. Su Lie transferred all his love to Shen Qi, who is now his only family.

Upon hearing this, Su Lie was furious. After an investigation, he confirmed that it was related to his stepmother, Lady Mei. However, Marquis Wu'an insisted on protecting her, even at the cost of breaking with the Prime Minister. Since there was no evidence, there was nothing he could do.

Su Lie had no choice but to swallow his anger and oppose Marquis Wu'an at every turn in the court. Marquis Wu'an reciprocated in kind.

The world is not at peace, so the emperor relies heavily on military officials. The emperor sees the Marquis of Wu'an's suppression of the prime minister, but can only turn a blind eye.

Not long after, the Marquis of Wu'an found a weakness in the Prime Minister's records and, under duress, forced the Prime Minister to resign and return to his hometown.

The contest ended in failure. Instead of getting justice for his grandson Chen Qi, he also got himself involved, and Su Lie still felt resentful about it.

Shen Qi refused to take his grandson away from the capital, insisting that he would turn the Marquis's mansion upside down before he could vent his anger.

It's good that his maternal grandfather left Beijing; he no longer has any worries.

Shen Qi fought bandits everywhere and used his spatial abilities to plunder wealth, accumulating a huge fortune in a short period of time. He used this wealth to win people's hearts, open shops, and cause most of the shops in the Marquis's mansion to go bankrupt.

He set a trap for Shen Yu, causing Shen Yu to get into a fight and become crippled, thus losing his chance to become the heir apparent.

Shen Qi also secretly cultivated a young courtesan, promising her a fortune and freedom once the matter was settled.

He sent the courtesan to the Marquis of Wu'an, finally turning the Marquis's mansion upside down. In the end, the Marquis of Wu'an lost his third leg, and his stepmother was sent to a Buddhist temple.

Shen Qi kept his promise and had the courtesan fake her death and leave the Marquis's mansion, giving her a thousand pieces of gold and setting her free. But he himself had nowhere to go.

In the end, he took away the Marquis's treasury and the Marquis of Wu'an's private treasury. He decided to go find his maternal grandfather and spend the rest of his life with him.

Xiao Li, Xiao Jiu, and Xiao Yuan watched the spectacle with great interest. The jade pendant space was truly dazzling, with all kinds of gold and silver jewelry coming in box after box and going out box after box.

Xiao Li said that even if she had a dozen boxes, it was only a fraction of what others had. It was truly eye-opening.

The entire winter passed by in a whirlwind of eating and drinking. Spring quietly arrived, and Mo Qingshan, Mo Yunxiao, and Chen Niang went to sow seeds, preparing for spring plowing. Xiao Li took the opportunity to replace her seeds with those cultivated in her spatial dimension, hoping for a larger harvest.

Whether it was because the snow was too thick last winter or because the house was too old, there had been a lot of spring rain recently, and the roof was leaking. As Xiaoli looked at the thatched house, an idea suddenly came to her mind.

After dinner, Xiaoli asked, "Mom and Dad, how many years has our house been built?"

Yun Yuniang looked at the roof and then at Mo Qingshan. "This house isn't newly built; it was just renovated. It's been about twenty years since then."

“When your mother and I separated our family property, we needed to buy a new one because we didn’t have enough land. But your mother just happened to fall seriously ill and used up half of the money from the separation. We didn’t have enough money to build a new house, so we had to buy this existing dilapidated house and land, and then do some simple renovations to move in.”

“Yes, those were really tough times. You two were too young to help. Those were the years when natural disasters struck, and your father had to work in town to support the family.”

"Thankfully, we've finally made it through. Things will only get better for our family from now on," Mo Qingshan said, holding his wife's hand to comfort her.

Yun Yuniang blushed, glared at her husband, and pulled her hand back to hug Xiao Jiu'er to avoid embarrassment.

Xiao Li and her brother exchanged a glance, secretly amused.

"Mother, our house is getting too small. Xiao Jiu'er is growing up and can no longer live with Chen Niang. My brother is about to go on a blind date, and his marriage is probably coming up soon. Why don't we rebuild our house?"

Xiaoli decided to be frank and say that the house was indeed not big enough.

Yun Yuniang pondered the money and shook her head, "We don't have enough money. Although we made some money last year, we're still short."

"How much are you short? I have some here."