Shuxia Village, once a quiet and backward mountain village, has undergone tremendous changes over time.
Thanks to the county magistrate's publicity efforts, the Li family workshop became famous far and wide.
When it comes to tofu and dried bean curd, people immediately think of Li's Tofu Workshop.
Caravans of all sizes were willing to make a trip here, and with the local merchants' patronage, there were quite a few merchants who came and went to Shuxia Village every day.
There were also many servants from wealthy families who came to the Li family to place orders with Madam Yan and her family.
Nowadays, peddlers who travel from street to street are more willing to go to the vicinity of Shuxia Village.
Many villagers also took Li Xuming's advice and hired people to renovate their homes, freeing up some rooms to rent out to the merchants and earn some rent.
Some villagers even set up stalls near the Li family workshop, selling meals, snacks, and refreshing tea.
The Li family workshop does not provide lunch, and now that there is a large flow of people in Shuxia Village, the villagers are indeed able to earn some money.
Because of the increased traffic, the road at the village entrance has been widened considerably.
The villagers greeted each other with smiles.
Life is much better now.
Zhao Qi lay in the shade of a tree in the courtyard of his house, enjoying the cool air, while his wife fanned him with a fan.
"Things have gotten much better, thanks to the Li family."
Zhao Qi's eldest son now works for Li Xujiang. He can endure loneliness and doesn't find carving things tedious every day, and he can earn some money.
The youngest son works in the workshop and earns a lot of wages each month.
He and his wife take care of the farm work at home, and the workshop will be closed during busy farming seasons.
Moreover, his eldest son's marriage was settled. In the past, people disliked him because he was weak and couldn't earn money. He relied entirely on his parents and brothers for support, and they thought he would have to work himself to death after marrying into the family.
Now that he can earn money himself, his brother has joined the Li family workshop, and Zhao Qi's family is preparing to build a new house to rent to merchants. Even if the price is higher, they won't have to worry about finding tenants. This will bring in another source of income for the family, so the eldest son's business is improving.
They are already engaged and will be getting married in a few days.
Not only has Zhao Qi's family changed a lot, but the Liao family at the entrance of the village has also undergone tremendous changes.
The Liao family has no sons, only four daughters.
Liao Shengnan is the eldest daughter of the Liao family. She rushed to register on the day the workshop opened and was successfully selected.
Now, like other men, he earns five hundred coins a month, and he walks with a dashing and spirited gait.
Liao Shengnan's father is no longer as ashamed as before. He holds his head high every day, and if anyone says he didn't have a son, he can turn around and scold them for having a son.
"Who says women are inferior to men? My family surpasses men by a great margin. Do you think you can earn five hundred coins a month?"
"Has your son joined the workshop? Oh, no, my daughter has."
He's so shameless. If he weren't so tall and strong, he might have been sacked while walking down the street.
Similarly, Liao Shengnan's marriage prospects have also become hot, but she has already announced that she will be looking for a husband.
The fourth son of the fifth branch, Li Xuhe, and his family fenced off a piece of land in the village to raise chickens and ducks, becoming the owners of the Shuxia Village breeding farm.
They specifically supplied raw materials to the Fang family's braised food shop in the county.
Chicken and duck products, as well as eggs, are all delicious when made into braised dishes, and they're cheaper than pork.
Fang Da and Li Xuhe also signed a contract, saving Fang Da the time of going out to find sources of goods, and Li Xuhe's family also had a stable income.
Every household is undergoing tremendous changes under Pan Jinhua's influence.
During the Dragon Boat Festival, every household makes zongzi (sticky rice dumplings).
Pan Jinhua also brought her children to make rice dumplings, as alkaline water rice dumplings are popular here.
Once steamed and opened, the zongzi is golden yellow with a bright color.
It tastes great even without sugar coating.
Hanging the mugwort was also done by the children in the family. All the adults were too busy, so Li Qingjing had to take care of her younger brothers.
After lunch, Pan Jinhua called all the children in the family to her side and smeared realgar wine on each of their foreheads, necks, and behind their ears, hoping that they would be safe, happy, and grow up healthy.
Each person was given a sachet before being released.
I received a letter from the Qi family a few days ago, saying that Qi Wan has already set off.
Li Furong and Li Mudan also sent letters to send their greetings, and in their letters they also mentioned a major event.
The fourth branch of the Li family, Li Shida and Yuan's daughter, Li Cao'er, is gone.
This was very sudden and dealt a heavy blow to the fourth branch of the family, especially to the Yuan family.
When the Li family was imprisoned, Li Cao'er did not visit them, which infuriated Yuan Shi, who cursed loudly in prison.
Even when they were exiled, their daughter and son-in-law didn't come to see them off, which completely chilled their hearts.
Madam Yuan had said more than once that she should just pretend she didn't have this daughter.
Since the workshop opened, Yuan has been in charge of managing the female workers, and now she has regained her former glory.
To her utter astonishment, she learned of her daughter's death from someone else, a fact that seemed utterly absurd to Yuan Shi. Overwhelmed with grief and anger, she fell ill for several days and aged considerably.
It was from Li Mudan's letter that everyone learned the whole story.
Li Cao'er is another Li Qingruo in her previous life.
After the Li family's incident, Wu Gui's family changed their attitude and started beating and scolding Li Cao'er at every turn. Wu Gui's mother even dumped all the chores on Li Cao'er.
Not only did Li Cao'er have a hard time in the Wu family, but her two children also had a very difficult life.
The Wu family has many children, and Wu Gui's parents don't care much about this grandson and granddaughter. Seeing that the two children dote on their mother, they dislike them even more.
When the Li family lost power, the Wu family lost many of their jobs. The Wu family blamed all these losses on Li Cao'er, forgetting that if it weren't for the Li family, they wouldn't have had such great power.
Wu Gui was no better; as Li Cao'er's husband, it was bad enough that he didn't care about his wife.
After the Wu family lost all their work, they continued to loaf around every day, getting drunk and then beating Li Cao'er when they came home.
When the two children first tried to stop him, Wu Gui was somewhat hesitant. However, when he saw that his son and daughter were not liked by their parents and were ungrateful (they were closer to their mother), he realized that they were not good friends.
So when the two children tried to stop them again, all three of them were beaten together.
The Wu family didn't care and sometimes even made sarcastic remarks.
On the day the Li family was exiled, Li Cao'er had just had her leg broken and fainted from a fever.
The two children were too busy taking care of their mother to be told that their maternal grandparents had been exiled on that day, and so they missed the opportunity.
The two sisters, Li Mudan and Li Furong, didn't have much contact with Li Cao'er. Li Cao'er herself didn't want to trouble others and just wanted to endure, endure, endure.
In the end, he was beaten to death by the drunken Wu Gui.
On the day Li Cao'er died, she was filled with regret. She kept trying to endure it, afraid of causing trouble for her cousins, her parents, and her brothers.
She was dying when she finally remembered her two poor children.
The Wu family is a den of iniquity. She couldn't protect them while she was alive, and her children couldn't die if she died.
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