As soon as Ye Caiping arrived home, Ye Sanquan came running over, all excited.

After agreeing on the delivery time and the tasks with Ye Caiping, he happily left.

After a while, he ran back again, carrying a basket of eggs, which looked to be more than twenty.

Ye Caiping was taken aback. She tried to refuse several times, but to no avail, so she had no choice but to accept it.

Starting the next day, Ba Jin Er Quan and Ye Yong San Quan, the two groups, began working and delivering goods in an orderly manner.

Soon, it was the tenth day of the eleventh month.

At 9 a.m., Ye Erquan's homestead was already surrounded by onlookers.

Grandma Ye burned incense, and with Grandpa Ye's shout of "Good luck on the start of work!" Ye Erquan swung his hoe hard across the ground, breaking through the soil.

"Erquan, congratulations!" the surrounding villagers exclaimed.

Ye Erquan was so happy he kept scratching his head, and Madam Wei was also grinning from ear to ear.

There were at least twenty strong laborers from the village who came to help this time.

Ye Bajin, Zhao Tieniu, Ye Zhuzi, Liu Heigou, Zhao Facai's son Zhao Shuisheng... they were all on good terms with the Ye family.

All the men in Uncle Ye's family came; his family alone accounted for four people.

Mr. and Mrs. Ye Lizheng also came.

Including Old Man Ye, Ye Daquan, Ye Yong, and others, there were about thirty people just digging the foundation.

"Come on, let's get started!" Zhao Tieniu said. "Where do we go from here?"

“From here to here. There are lines drawn on the ground, let’s pick up stones first. We’ll dig down in a bit, we have to dig a zhang deep, because… hehe, well, I’m going to build a brick house.” Ye Erquan said, a little embarrassed.

Zhao Tieniu and the others exclaimed in surprise and envy. The Ye family was truly getting better and better!

In one go, they built a large brick and tile house and also built a plot of land of four acres!

After a moment of envy, everyone got busy.

Ye Caiping and other female relatives, including Old Lady Ye, also worked together.

The stones on the foundation were picked up one by one and piled to one side, to be used to fill the foundation later.

Ye Caiping had just filled a small basket with stones and was about to carry it out when a man suddenly jumped out and grabbed her basket.

"Hehe, Caiping, I'll help you."

Ye Caiping looked up and saw a man in his thirties with small eyes and thick lips grinning at her, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

Ye Caiping frowned and took a step back: "Who are you?"

"I'm your Xiong-gege! We grew up together, how could you forget me?" The man looked hurt.

Ye Caiping: "..."

"Pah! Where did this shameless person come from, claiming to be my little sister's childhood sweetheart!" Ye Daquan rushed over in three steps.

He only went a little far, and my little sister was in danger!

"Tch, it's Zhao Laizi. Stay away, don't come near my little sister."

Ye Caiping then remembered that this was Zhao Laizi, whose real name was Zhao Xiong. He was a shameless rogue, so everyone called him Zhao Laizi.

Hearing the commotion, the people around stopped what they were doing and looked over.

"Ye Daquan, I didn't do anything to her. I just wanted to help Caiping, what are you being so aggressive about?" Zhao Laizi said angrily.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Granny Lai jumped over. "Daquan, what did my Laizi do wrong?"

Ye Daquan's face darkened, and Ye Caiping pulled him away, saying to Granny Lai, "It's nothing."

He then said to Zhao Laizi, "I don't need your help, thank you."

Zhao Laizi scratched his head: "Hehe, I knew you cared about me."

The villagers were all stunned by what they heard.

Ye Caiping gasped, her anger rising, and sneered, "Can't you understand polite words? Then I'll just say it: get lost."

The faces of Zhao Laizi and his mother immediately fell.

Zhao Laizi looked hurt: "No matter what, we're childhood sweethearts..."

"Who said we were childhood sweethearts? Did I ever pay any attention to you when we were kids? If we're talking about childhood sweethearts, then Tie Niu, Zhu Zi, Shui Sheng, and Liu Hei Gou, who among them wasn't my childhood sweetheart? The whole village was."

“Of course, we’re childhood sweethearts. Do you want to spar with us?” Zhao Tieniu, Zhu Zishui, and the others all put down their hoes, clenched their fists, and stepped forward.

Zhao Laizi turned pale with fright and quickly scratched his head, laughing, "What's there to practice? We're all childhood sweethearts, best brothers."

Ye Erquan walked up, his face grim: "Zhao Laizi, we don't need your help here, you can go back!"

Zhao Laizi didn't feel embarrassed at all and laughed, "Alright, alright, you've got enough people. I'll be going now."

With that, he left with Granny Lai.

Old Man Ye and Old Woman Ye arrived just then. Upon learning what had happened, Old Woman Ye's face darkened, and she pulled Ye Caiping away, saying, "Caiping, Jin'er, and Huan'er, go back first."

"Okay, I'll go home and prepare lunch."

"Eldest son's wife and second son's wife, you two go back with Caiping."

Du and Wei quickly squeezed forward and left the homestead with Ye Caiping and Jin'er.

Along the way, Du kept cursing: "This Zhao Laizi has never been a good person since he was a child. Caiping, don't pay attention to this kind of person. Just go around him when you see him."

Ye Jin'er asked, "Aunt, is Zhao Laizi the son of that Granny Lai?"

"right."

“Last time when my mother and I were washing wooden tubs by the river, she even asked us for the secret recipe. How shameless of her.”

Wei said, "I haven't seen Zhao Laizi for many years, and now he's suddenly reappeared from who-knows-where."

Ye Caiping said, "Never mind him. Let's go back!"

It's time to cook.

Whether it's to return a favor or to hire a craftsman to build a house, lunch must be provided.

Back home, Ye Caiping and her sister-in-law, Wei, began cooking.

The family officially separated after Ye Erquan built his house.

For the past two months, Ye Caiping has been buying white rice for her family, so the brown rice and cassava at home have been left untouched and have hardly been used.

When the family divided their property, the old couple divided the coarse rice into two portions. The portion to be used this time belonged to the second branch of the family.

Ye Caiping asked, "Second sister-in-law, what dishes are we making today?"

Mrs. Wei said, "Cook some brown rice and cassava porridge, make it a bit thick. I thought that for the first meal, there should be some meat, so I bought twenty eggs, stir-fried chives, and stir-fried some cabbage."

Since the drought ended at the end of July, the weather has improved, with plenty of rain, and all the vegetables in the village have grown.

The climate in the south is warm, so there is no shortage of vegetables even in winter.

There are plenty of winter vegetables such as Chinese cabbage and radish.

Ye Caiping laughed and said, "Besides eggs, let's also make some pork belly. Don't cook porridge, cook it dry."

Mrs. Wei's expression darkened: "This... a few people would be fine, but so many people..."

"Don't worry, Second Sister-in-law, I'll take care of the meals," Ye Caiping said. "My construction team will also need to eat in a couple of days, so we can cook together then. It won't make a difference if we cook for a couple more days."

Ms. Wei's eyes lit up, but she was also a little embarrassed: "How can that be..."

"It's alright. Brothers and sisters should help each other out. If we're cooking from the same pot, there's no reason to cook two different dishes."