It wasn't until the day before Lunar New Year's Eve that Shi Zhen and his group returned to their hometown.

Many places in the county have changed. For example, roads that used to be just leveled are now paved with asphalt or cement.

There are also many more motorcycles here. As long as you pay, they can take you to the nearby villages very quickly.

It's not very safe. Shi Zhen saw a motorcycle carrying two adults, neither of whom were wearing helmets, speeding past his tractor.

When they returned to the village, Shi Dalin and Zhao Meiyun were still surrounded by a large group of people who listened to them talk about what was happening outside.

Although Shi Dashan and his family earned a lot of money outside, Shi Zhen and his family earned even more, which made everyone more curious about their lives.

Moreover, they have a telephone at home, and I heard that Shi Zhen also has a mobile phone... When people from the village come to their house, they all want to take a look at Shi Zhen's mobile phone.

Since arriving in the mountains, there has been little to no cell phone signal. Now, its only purpose is to be visited by people, who then praise Shi Zhen.

Moreover, Shi Zhen also discovered that... the villagers' attitude towards their family was now noticeably different.

Even the matchmakers for Zhao Qiujuan have all stopped, and everyone assumes that Zhao Qiujuan will no longer look for a partner in the village.

After all, Shi Zhen's family has bought houses elsewhere, and they might stay there and not come back in the future.

However, no matter how powerful their family was in the eyes of the villagers, at this moment... they still had to live in a dilapidated house.

This house is really dilapidated; the roof is full of holes that leak when it rains.

Shi Dalin slept in the main room all night, and the next day his nose was still stuffy.

He kept blowing his nose and complained, "This house is really uncomfortable to live in."

Without thinking, Zhao Meiyun said, "Yes, last night a mouse scurried out of our room. It ran up the wall and almost scared Tingting to tears."

Although she only stayed one night after returning, Zhao Meiyun already felt dissatisfied with everything there.

Putting everything else aside, it's very inconvenient for the three women to sleep in one bed.

As for rats, back then, rats ran around Shi Ting, but she wasn't afraid at all and would even kick them. Once, Shi Zhen killed a rat, and she even asked if she could eat it... Now, when she sees a rat, she actually screams and jumps around!

As Zhao Meiyun spoke, she prepared to make breakfast, but then she felt uncomfortable again.

Their family lives in Anshan Town, and they have a complete set of appliances, including a rice cooker, a gas stove, and a coal stove, so cooking is very quick.

But cooking with an earthen stove here is incredibly inconvenient.

Take this pot for example, it's so big and heavy. After she finishes cooking a dish, she wants to wash it, so she has to pour water in, scrub it, and then use a gourd to scoop out the water. It's not even clean after just one wash.

She used to cook dishes without washing them and would move on to the next dish, but now she can't stand it.

Shi Dalin said, "Azhen, could you let Da Niu and the others stay here a few more days after the New Year to help us build a house? That way, when we come back next year, we can live in a new house!"

"Dad, I heard that Anning Road in Anshan Town is going to be extended, and the land on both sides will be sold... Once we buy the land, we can build a house along the street. Don't want a house in Anshan Town, do you want to build one here?" Shi Zhen asked Shi Dalin.

The largest road in Anshan Town is Anning Road.

It used to be a river, but it was filled in and turned into a road.

The road is not long. To the south of the road is a residential area, and the house that Shi Jia rents is in a small alley on the south side of the road.

On the north side of the road, there are also many alleys leading out, where there are markets, cinemas, and other shops.

Further north from the market and movie theater, you'll find primary and junior high schools.

Anshan Town will undergo development, requiring the relocation of surrounding farmers and expanding the town. During this process, Anning Road, which runs from west to east, will be lengthened, and several more roads will be built from south to north.

Then, because development requires money, and there isn't enough money... in Anshan Town, they sell land along the roadside to people to build houses and charge them money for it.

After receiving the money, they would compensate the farmers, but of course, this money would not be enough. They would then give the farmers a piece of land by the roadside as a bonus, allowing them to build houses on the roadside using the compensation money.

Because of the lack of money, and because farmers couldn't bear the thought of not having land, the demolition process was a bit slow. However, later on, all the young people went to work in factories and were no longer willing to do farm work. As the economy developed, the rent for ground-floor shops along the street was two or three times the money earned from farming. So everyone was scrambling to ask for demolition compensation.

They demolished it slowly and slowly, and ten years later, even Guanjia Village, which was some distance from the town, was completely demolished.

The demolition issue has little to do with the Shi family. The house that Shi Zhengang just bought is surrounded by old houses crammed together, and the town will not consider demolishing it for the time being.

The cost of demolishing old houses in the town is much higher than the cost of expropriating land from surrounding farmers.

At this time, if farmers are expropriated from one mu of land, they only need to give a few thousand yuan. In a town, how many houses would be built on one mu of land?

Only after ten years or so, when old houses affect the appearance of the city, will they be demolished and renovated.

Returning to the topic of buying land, this was something Shi Zhen had planned for a long time.

Shi Dalin and his group have some savings, as does Zhao Qiujuan. Shi Xingchao and Shi Dashan should also have a considerable amount of savings now.

The two families could easily pool their money, buy a plot of land on the street, and build a house together.

At that time, Anshan Town required that people who bought land along the street must build five-story houses.

These houses are sold on plots of land that are approximately 140 square meters each.

In other words, excluding the ground floor shops, there are four apartments upstairs, each nearly 140 square meters.

At that time, many families in the town lived in very cramped conditions, so they partnered with others to buy a piece of land to build houses. Each family had two houses upstairs and two shops downstairs, one for each family.

They all made a fortune later on.

Back in the early 2000s, the rent for a shop could be as high as 10,000 to 20,000 yuan, and even more expensive in good locations!

As for the houses above, they are becoming more valuable year by year.

After he brought Shi Dalin and the others out, he initially bought them houses facing the street from rural residents who were being relocated due to land expropriation.

At that time, some residents who were relocated would share a staircase to save costs and make their houses bigger. So he bought one house for each family and bought two houses across from each other for Shi Dalin, Zhao Meiyun, and Zhao Qiujuan's family to live in, which cost him 250,000 yuan.

He didn't have much money back then. After buying two houses, he didn't have much left. Shi Ting and Zhao Dongjuan weren't married, and he thought they could live with Shi Dalin and his wife, so he didn't buy them any houses.

Later, Shi Ting got married and moved in with her in-laws. As for Zhao Dongjuan... she kept making a fuss, so Shi Zhen bought her one of those cheap one-bedroom dormitories that factories in town used to provide for their employees.

Unfortunately, Zhao Dongjuan felt it was too small and was never satisfied.

In the early 2000s, a house cost more than 100,000 yuan, but now, buying land and building a five-story house only costs a total of 100,000 yuan.

There's no harm in buying it!

Moreover, with more money in their hands, Shi Dalin and his group might come up with some strange and unusual ideas.

In his previous life, Shi Zhen realized one thing: for most people like him who came from the countryside and suddenly became rich, having too much money in their hands was not a good thing.

Women are a little better off, but men, especially young men, are particularly prone to getting carried away. Once they get carried away, they think they are rich and powerful. They want expensive cigarettes and good alcohol, and they want to buy luxury cars. The worst cases are that they will gamble and play around with women.

The best way to deal with them is to wait until they have some money, then let them spend it all. They'll immediately behave themselves again.

Of course, this money shouldn't be spent recklessly; it's best to buy a house instead.

Speaking of Shi Xingxing's future husband, Liang Weiguo, he was quite arrogant. Back in 2008, when the couple made some money, he immediately bought a car worth 200,000 yuan. He even hinted that he wanted to make more money and buy a luxury car worth millions.

Then Shi Xingxing scolded him.

Later, whenever they had a little money, Shi Xingxing would buy a house, putting up a lot of mortgages for the family... He never had time to think about luxury cars again, and he even drove that car until Shi Zhen passed away, fourteen years later, without changing it.

Shi Dashan and Shi Dalin were not young, and they were quite down-to-earth. Shi Zhen believed that they would not gamble or play around with women, but Shi Dalin did seem a bit lost after he got money.

He still longs to build a house in the mountains.

It's better to let him spend the money.

Oh, and one thing to be wary of after you have money is getting scammed.

In her past life, Zhao Qiujuan was swindled out of the money she had worked so hard to save.

From beginning to end, Shi Xingchao was the only one who kept his money in his hands and was never cheated out of his money!

"Buy land and build a house?" Shi Dalin was a little confused: "How much would that cost?"

Shi Zhen said, "The land is quite expensive, probably costing around 70,000 to 80,000 yuan to buy, but building a house isn't expensive. The money doesn't have to be paid all at once; we can pay it little by little."

Shi Zhen told everyone he knew about his past life.

Although buying land is expensive, if Shi Dalin and Shi Dashan go together, 40,000 yuan each is enough.

When the time comes, we can divide it up, and each family will have a shop and two houses, which is just right. Any more than that... they can't afford it.

At this time, it would be very difficult for Shi Dalin and his group to get a loan.

Speaking of which, besides buying land along the street, there's another rather interesting practice in Changxi City.

The idea was roughly to promote buses, but since there wasn't enough money, people were asked to contribute funds to buy buses, and the profits earned after the buses were put into operation would be distributed among those who bought the buses.

Because of the large flow of people, and the fact that taking the bus is not cheap at this time, many people who bought cars made a fortune.

Shi Zhen had no idea about this before; he only found out recently.

In the past two years, all the decisions Shi Zhen made have proven to be correct. Shi Dalin and Zhao Meiyun, subconsciously, listened to him.

Needless to say, Zhao Qiujuan had long been thinking about buying a house!

Shi Zhen mentioned that she could contribute one-third of the money, and then give her one of the two houses... What she's really thinking about now is her own house that's still just a dream.

Shi Ting also longed for the new house.

She wanted a room that was all her own.

After Shi Dalin made money last year, he couldn't resist and bought a color TV.

This year... He spent all his money opening the small shop and even had to borrow a lot from Zhao Qiujuan, so he didn't want to buy anything anymore and only wanted to make money.

But now that he has paid off his debts and even has savings, he has started thinking about what to buy.

Actually... he had discussed it privately with Zhao Meiyun, planning for the two of them to each buy a gold chain.

However, now that he wants to build a house in Anshan Town, he definitely won't buy the gold chain anymore; he needs to save up money first!

With the goal of making money in mind, Shi Dalin and Zhao Meiyun set up a stall in the countryside on the second day of the Lunar New Year, selling Huaguang stationery and various snacks.

He brought items that sold very well at his small shop, and they also sold very well here.

The kids around here get some lucky money during the Lunar New Year, so they have to buy things with it.

Take Shi Daniu's son, for example. Even though he's still young, he bought twenty yuan worth of stuff in one go. That's incredibly extravagant.

Shi Zhen and his group will stay until the eighth day of the first lunar month after they return, mainly because of Shi Xingchao's wedding, which is scheduled for the sixth day of the first lunar month.

If Shi Xingchao were to marry a local girl, they would have to start preparing by the fifth day of the lunar new year—the day before the wedding, the groom's family would slaughter a pig and send half a pig, along with many other miscellaneous items, to the bride's family.

After all that fuss, most of the day was gone. In the evening, the groom's family would cook several meals and invite the people who came to help to dinner.

Since Fang Miyan's family doesn't live here, everything for that day was skipped, saving a lot of money. As for the wedding day itself...

According to local custom, the wedding banquet lasts all day. Relatives only eat lunch and dinner, but the helpers are even provided with breakfast.

Early in the morning, Shi Zhen and his family moved all their tables, chairs, pots, pans and utensils to Shi Dashan's house, then went to help out and have breakfast.

The main dish for breakfast was rice cake porridge, and the side dishes included braised salted pork with dried bamboo shoots, braised salted pork with kelp, and stir-fried pickled vegetables.

Such a meal was considered a feast in their village. The villagers who came to help, like Shi Zhen, ate very happily and praised Fang Miyan repeatedly.

The one cooking was Fang Miyan, the bride!

What left them speechless was that... lunch and dinner were both cooked by Fang Miyan!

Here, wedding ceremonies are always held in the morning. Before the ceremony, Fang Miyan had already cut up the braised duck and other dishes. After the ceremony, the helper took out the dishes she had prepared in advance, and she cooked a few hot dishes on the spot.

Of course, the helpers did all the preparatory work for her, and Shi Xingchao also assisted her, taking care of all sorts of odd jobs.

Lunch included braised duck, salted pork and salted fish, and poached chicken... all quite decent.

However, Shi Zhen felt that these things shouldn't have cost much money.

After all, ducks are not cheap here, but they are quite cheap in Anshan Town. These braised ducks are made by Fang Miyan herself, so the cost is even lower.

"This braised duck is so delicious! It's the best duck I've ever tasted." The villagers praised it highly. They don't have the habit of making braised duck here, let alone Fang Miyan's braised duck. She even added seasonings like Sichuan peppercorns when making it, and the taste was really good.

"The soup she made is delicious. It's the best soup I've ever had."

"These stir-fried dishes also have new styles."

"I heard that Shi Daniu and the others are eating the bride's cooking every day. That's so enviable!"

"Shi Xingchao is more enviable, isn't he? No wonder he was so picky before... turns out he had such high standards!"

...

As Shi Xingchao's cousin, Shi Zhen was, by convention, the main force of the helpers.

He was in charge of serving the food, and he could only eat after everyone else had finished eating. Of course, this was mainly because there weren't enough tables.

However, Shi Ting and Guan Baiyu were allowed to sit at the table and eat.

Shi Ting is still young, so we don't expect her to do anything. As for Guan Baiyu, he is a guest from afar.

The villagers either drank alcohol or soda, but Guan Baiyu didn't drink anything. He served himself rice and ate while watching Shi Zhen.

When Shi Zhen brought the dishes to their table, he immediately picked up a piece of tofu skin wrapped with meat and brought it to Shi Zhen's mouth: "Brother!"

His brother has been busy, he must be hungry by now!

Shi Zhen stared blankly at the food that was brought to his mouth, then opened his mouth and ate it.