Li Lanzhen saw her daughter off at her wedding, and the New Year was just a few days away.

These past few days, the boat in Peach Blossom Spring has been going to Youzhou City every day.

After Han Shunde went to work as the manager of a general store in Youzhou City.

The affairs of the village were handed over to Han Dazhong.

He arranged for adults to take the children by boat to Youzhou City every day.

Let them also go and browse Youzhou City to buy some New Year's goods.

The villagers have been busy since spring.

Both adults and children were exhausted, but they gained a lot.

After calculating the annual output of Taohuayuan, the village committee gave Li Lanzhen 70% of the net profit.

For the remaining cartloads, calculate how much silver is equivalent to one work point.

After the calculations were completed, the village committee members were extremely excited.

Because one work point is worth half a penny.

The family that received the most silver was Han Dazhong's family.

That year, their whole family earned 8 taels of silver.

The day of releasing silver is even more lively than the New Year.

Han Dazhong informed everyone in advance to prepare money pouches. Those with small pouches should bring several, or sew larger pouches to hold copper coins.

This made everyone laugh heartily, and they happily prepared purses to hold the coins at home.

Li Lanzhen took more than a dozen purses to Li Erhan's house to deliver them.

When I pushed open the door, the whole family was sitting in the main room talking.

Seeing her come in, Tonghua jumped up, pulled her to sit down at the table, and quickly poured her a bowl of water.

"Big sister, you're amazing! You actually led so many people to find such a great place where we have plenty to eat and drink, and we're not oppressed or bullied by others."

Most importantly, they can earn this much money in a year.

Li Xishui also spoke to her with great enthusiasm.

"Yes, sister, our whole family, young and old, earned more than 6 taels of silver a year just from work points."

Li Erhan was also very happy, drinking the sugar water, squinting his eyes, and looking extremely blissful.

“My daughter, I can see that you are a person of great talent.”

Dad is grateful that when we were fleeing famine, they came to the village and took Dad and his family out.

"Following you through the famine, I've actually earned so much silver!"

Ye patted Li Lanzhen's hand. "That's right, girl. Back when we were in Yejiawan, we worked ourselves to the bone all year and could only earn a little over one or two taels of silver."

After finishing one meal, I worry about where my next meal will come from.

Once you arrive here, you'll have no worries about food and drink. Every day you'll eat meat and eggs, and you'll even have money to share.

What a wonderful day! Thank you, Mother!

The same topic was being discussed in every household's courtyard.

Han Dazhong returned home and handed over the money, which contained the work points earned by the whole family, to his wife.

"Old woman, keep this safe."

The family sat in the main room, sometimes laughing and talking, sometimes on the verge of tears.

In short, Han Dazhong was filled with mixed emotions, and he slapped the table as he spoke.

"I really never imagined that one day I, Han Dazhong, would earn more than 8 taels of silver in a year!"

Han Youliang said, "Dad, this is the money we earn from work points. Usually, Mom and my brothers' wives also earn a lot of money by selling the mountain products they collect."

A bonfire was lit in the courtyard of Hong Sange's house in the small mountain village, and the villagers were sitting around it.

They were also discussing the year's achievements.

At first, she spoke excitedly, and then tears started streaming down her face.

This year alone, the money I earned from work points is more than I could earn in three to five years in the same small mountain village in previous years.

"That's right. Back then, we were in the mountains, risking our lives to save wild animals in order to earn a little silver."

Upon hearing this, Brother Hong lowered his head sadly.

"My grandfather and my father came back covered in wounds from fighting that tiger back then. They dragged the tiger to the county to sell it and got eight taels of silver."

But my father and grandfather were both injured by a tiger, and even after spending eight taels of silver, they couldn't be saved.

Hong Sange's words made the villagers sitting in the courtyard lower their heads, as they thought of their deceased relatives.

"Sanwang, you got more than three taels of silver, plus more than one tael of silver from selling the mountain products."

You must save them carefully and not spend them recklessly.

"One day you will be going to the capital to take the imperial examination; this is all the travel expenses."

Shanxing carefully gave Sanwang instructions.

"I know, Sister Shanxing. I eat my fill every day, I have nowhere to spend money, and I won't spend it recklessly."

Douhua and Shitou earned two work points each day by cutting pig feed, and over the course of the year, they received more than 200 coins.

It was put in a large purse, making a rustling sound all the way back to the courtyard, where it was handed to Li Lanzhen, who was told to keep it safe.

As for the money earned from the vegetable greenhouses from now until next spring, it can be distributed again.

In that case, the money can be distributed twice a year.

With money in their hands and enough to eat, people felt at ease.

So they went together by boat to stroll around Youzhou City.

For the safety of the children and women, the village always arranges for people to go in batches.

So no problems arose.

The grocery store didn't close its doors until the 29th day of the Lunar New Year.

They returned to Peach Blossom Spring by boat, and after their return, the large boat never went out again.

The busiest place during this period is the cafeteria.

All the women went there to work.

Steamed cornbread, steamed buns made from two kinds of dough, dumplings, fried dough sticks, fried pancakes...

Fried fish chunks were made, and large carp were fried out one by one.

Three large, fat pigs were slaughtered, each weighing nearly 200 jin (approximately 100 catties).

They slaughtered hundreds of chickens, ducks, and geese, and also killed five sheep.

These past few days, Li Lanzhen has been busy braising pig's head, pig's trotters, and pig offal.

I braised chicken, duck, and goose, and also braised a large pot of duck eggs.

Because Bai Houpu and the people from the Medicine Valley were all coming here to celebrate the New Year together, they didn't send any livestock over to them.

They gave the training camp for Scrophularia ningpoensis three large, fat pigs that had been slaughtered.

Han Shunde brought back the red paper and handed it to Master Xu.

Master Xu led the children in cutting paper and writing couplets. After a busy day, every household had pasted the character "福" (fortune) and couplets on their courtyards, houses, and doors.

The doors to the kitchen and dining room were also decorated with the character "福" (fortune) and couplets.

The adults were busy in the kitchen, but they didn't neglect the children's appetites.

The fried dough twists were filled into a large bowl, sprinkled with a little white sugar, and brought to the dining room so that the children could enjoy crunching them.

We also scooped out a bowl of the fried dough sticks and brought it to the dining room for them to try.

Those few days really felt like Chinese New Year!

The New Year's Eve dinner was very lavish, with various dishes including fried, braised, stewed, stir-fried, chicken, duck, goose, fish, lamb, pork, and eggs.

The laughter of adults and children never stopped that day. Their mouths were greasy from eating, their eyes were bright, and they greeted everyone with clasped hands and blessings, wishing each other prosperity!

After the New Year's Eve dinner, the adults and older children who stayed up all night made dumplings in the dining room.

Li Lanzhen held dumplings in her hands, listening to everyone talk about the happy things that had happened throughout the year.

Suddenly, she heard the rapid clatter of horses' hooves approaching from afar.

She quickly dropped the dumplings and rushed to the door to see!