Sheng Xiping spoke quite loudly, and Liu Changde heard him clearly, so he replied loudly in response.

"Quickly, come inside. Qinglan, bring the children in and have a seat."

Sheng Xiping and Zhou Qinglan led the four children into the east room of the Liu family's house. Just then, Qin Qiuyan finished tidying up and was sweeping the kang (a heated brick bed) with a broom.

"Oh my goodness, when did Xiping come back? You've been gone for two years, and your master has been thinking about you all the time."

As Qin Qiuyan asked the question, she looked Sheng Xiping up and down.

"You've gotten darker and thinner. Being away from home is never as good as being at home. Come on, sit down, everyone."

"Look at you, what are you bringing here? All you do is create a scene every day."

Qin Qiuyan happily invited everyone to sit down, then she turned around and went to make tea.

Sheng Xiping casually put the things he brought on the kang (a heated brick bed) and sat down next to Liu Changde at the head of the kang.

"Master, are you the only ones at home? What are my elder brother and sister-in-law up to?"

"Oh, they've all gone up the mountain to gather the clover."

Last autumn, we planted 500 feet of Chinese tallow trees, but this spring we were too busy to finish them all.

"Isn't this the May Day holiday? All the children have come back. Your eldest brother and sister-in-law, and second sister-in-law, took the children to work on the mountain," Liu Changde explained loudly.

"Wow, my older brother is really capable, planting a five-hundred-foot club. He must have hired a lot of people, right? If there aren't enough people, he can't handle it."

Sheng Xiping took out a cigarette, lit it for Liu Changde, and chatted with him.

How's the market for mallets been these past two years? How's the income?

"The market is just so-so, much worse than in 1987 and 1988."

"There's no other way. We've been growing ginseng for decades. What else can we do but grow it? We can't just go out and do business with it all. Should we abandon our family?" Liu Changde sighed and said.

"If you ask me, the market can't stay this bad forever; there will always be a good time."

Besides, ginseng roots are worthless right now, and ginseng seedlings and seeds are also cheap.

Let's plant them. We'll have to work for a few more years until the children finish their studies, get married, and start their own families.

If they all pass the exams and go abroad, they'll settle down in big cities, and there will be so many expenses involved.

To be honest, the Liu family didn't necessarily have to grow ginseng, after all, Liu Yuhe was away from home.

He made a lot of money, and Liu Yujiang owned a share of that money.

If it weren't for staying behind to take care of his parents, Liu Yujiang could have gone out with Sheng Xiping and the others to earn money.

Besides, the farm is doing very well now, and its scale has expanded several times over compared to before.

Putting everything else aside, the farm alone can earn at least 100,000 to 200,000 yuan a year.

Liu Yujiang and his wife are both people who can't sit still, and besides, they have four sons.

The eldest son, Liu Qiang, was admitted to Shenyang Aviation Industry College two years ago. The second son, ***, is in his second year of high school. The third son, Liu Meng, is in his third year of junior high school and will soon take the high school entrance exam. The fourth son, Liu Xin, is entering junior high school this year.

Having four sons is an extraordinary achievement in the eyes of outsiders, something to be envied, but it also carries a heavy burden.

When the children settle down, get married, and have children in the future, what doesn't cost money? Can we really rely on the children to earn all of that themselves?

If you don't save up now while you're young, where will you find money in the future?

"Yes, my master is right. The price of ginseng can't stay low forever. Maybe it will be better in a couple of years."

"My older brother and his gang might make a fortune then." Sheng Xiping nodded.

It seems like in my past life, around 1995, the price of ginseng rose. Although it couldn't compare to the price in 1987 or 1988, it was still pretty good.

Sheng Xiping hadn't been back for several years, and today he came with his wife and children. The Liu family should at least arrange a meal for them.

At this time, there weren't many vegetables in the garden, but fortunately there was a lot of fish and meat frozen in the refrigerator, so Qin Qiuyan went to rummage through the refrigerator and busied herself preparing to cook.

Upon seeing this, Sheng Xiping quickly stopped him, saying that he had only come to visit his master and mistress and would not be eating lunch there.

When Liu Yujiang and the others return in the evening, we'll go to the Sheng family's house for dinner together. It's been a long time since we've seen each other, so it'll be a good opportunity for both families to get together.

Despite Qin Qiuyan and Liu Changde's best efforts to persuade him, Sheng Xiping refused to stay. Besides, the meat and such was something that couldn't be prepared in a short time.

Helpless, Qin Qiuyan could only put the things back and said that she would cook something delicious at home another day and invite the Sheng family to come over for dinner.

Sheng Xiping and his family played there for a while, and seeing that it was getting late, they said goodbye and left.

After lunch, Sheng Xiping led the children to change into waders and boots and go to the river to set up nets to catch fish. They caught a small bucket of miscellaneous fish and also caught some crayfish by turning over rocks.

Zhou Qinglan and Zhang Shuzhen were at home, and they chose a few dishes.

As evening approached, when the Liu family had all returned, he sent Sheng Xinhua and Sheng Xinyu over to invite Liu Changde's family to dinner.

Liu Yujiang led his wife and children up the mountain to work all day. They were all covered in dust and dirt and exhausted.

They had barely stepped inside their house when Sheng Xinhua and Sheng Xinyu arrived.

Upon hearing that Sheng Xiping had returned and that they were to be invited over for dinner, Liu Yujiang was overjoyed.

He quickly told the children to hurry up and tidy up, and change into clean clothes.

After everyone had finished getting ready, Liu Changde and his wife led their children and grandchildren to the Sheng family's house.

On the Sheng family's side, Zhang Shuzhen and Zhou Qinglan, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, finally managed to come up with eight dishes and a soup.

Chicken stew with mushrooms, pork ribs stew with dried green beans, braised small fish, braised pork belly, pig's head meat, fried peanuts, stir-fried onions and wood ear mushrooms, stir-fried leeks and eggs, crayfish and tofu soup.

Right now, there's nothing in the vegetable garden except sprouting scallions and chives.

The chives were grown so tall because Sheng Liancheng had covered them with plastic greenhouses long ago. In other people's vegetable gardens, the chives were just sprouting, and they were nowhere to be found.

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