Chapter 99: Offering Laba Festival Gifts - Yeli's Gentleness and Compassion
The group entered the city at dawn and headed straight for the vegetable market.
I need to buy a lot of meat, so I have to go to several butcher stalls. If I go too late, the good cuts will be gone.
The workshop had a total of 28 people, each with 5 catties of meat, for a total of 140 catties.
Of course, he converted Jiang Ya's New Year's gift into cash and gave it to the little guy last night.
Ye Li didn't want pork belly today. He'd had too much braised pork and twice-cooked pork, and the two little ones couldn't eat too much mutton, so he decided to buy some spare ribs instead.
Moreover, the gifts from Liu Yi and Ye Adie were also left at his home.
Therefore, he only needs to buy some pork ribs.
They arrived early and only visited two meat stalls before buying all the meat they needed.
The villagers grind their own flour; there's no need to buy it.
The rice also weighed 140 jin (70 kg).
Seven coins per pound, totaling nine hundred and eighty coins.
Tomorrow is Laba Festival, and Ye Li plans to give each person two catties of porridge mix—Laba porridge tastes better when it's sticky and thick, not watery and thin. Each employee represents a large family, so two catties is just the right amount.
Ye Li uses rice, glutinous rice, millet, and corn as the main ingredients, and adds some red beans, peanuts, dried longan, and raisins. The total cost is about 20 coins per pound.
It cost a little over 1,200 coins in total.
Jiang Fuzheng felt a little embarrassed by this number.
His family has two employees, and they can get four catties of cash, which is eighty coins.
On the way here, he thought Laba porridge was made primarily of rice, with a few peanuts, a handful of red beans, and a few dates.
Seriously, people wouldn't have been willing to drink porridge like this before.
In the past, given the conditions, people would just cook some egg noodle soup or red date and millet porridge on Laba Festival. Who would bother to buy rice to cook porridge?
As a result, Ye Li went into the grain shop and bought glutinous rice directly. Glutinous rice was three coins more expensive than regular rice, and ten coins per catty.
To get enough of the eight ingredients, Ye Li went out of the grain shop and then to the dried fruit shop to buy dried longan and raisins, immediately raising the price by half.
That's a bit of a waste of money.
Therefore, as soon as he left the dried fruit shop, Jiang Fuzheng couldn't help but mutter, "You've spent money again. I think we should reduce the amount of the New Year's gift."
Ye Li laughed upon hearing this: "Uncle Jiang, consider this my treat for everyone to have some porridge. After all, it only happens once a year."
"Furthermore, the New Year is just around the corner after the Laba Festival. If we drink sweet porridge tomorrow, the New Year will surely be sweet too."
"I'm feeling really happy right now. I've lived most of my life, and this is the first time I've had such a prosperous New Year."
Jiang Fuzheng couldn't help but say.
Ye Li placed the basket on the oxcart and said with a smile, "Uncle Jiang, the New Years to come will definitely be sweeter than this year."
"Let's go, let's go to the county school, Jiang Ji's get out of class is almost over."
Jiang Fuzheng boarded the mule cart and said, "Then let's hand over the next clan chief to young Ji."
"Let's talk about it later, Uncle Jiang. You can live for at least another fifty years. By then, Jiang Ji will be old."
Ye Li said with a smile.
These words made Jiang Fuzheng laugh, and he thought that he would live to be a hundred years old.
However, he knew that Ye Li was changing the subject, but he had made up his mind that the next clan leader must be Jiang Ji.
To be honest, there are really no benefits to being the clan leader.
Because everyone was poor in the past, the clan had little property, and blood ties were somewhat weak, so as the clan leader, one could not get any personal gain. One had to set an example and be fair and just—otherwise, no one would recognize the clan leader.
In addition, I occasionally have to mediate disputes.
So troublesome!
However, it's not to say that there are no benefits at all.
If anything happens, just give a call in the village, and every household will contribute their resources.
Although there are few people in Yezaopo, they can still muster over a hundred laborers—might makes right, after all.
Of course, this small benefit was not enough to attract Ye Li and Jiang Ji.
But now the whole village works in the workshop, and Ye Li has to pay for building a village school, buying farm tools and digging wells for everyone. The villagers are dependent on Ye Li for their livelihood.
In this situation, if the next clan leader is not Jiang Ji, then who can win the hearts of the people?
Apart from Jiang Ji, anyone else who goes up there is just holding the title of clan leader in name only!
Therefore, Jiang Ji is the only one who can become the next clan leader!
After some planning, the group soon arrived at the entrance of the county school.
After waiting for about fifteen minutes, the familiar, dull chimes drifted in through the biting cold wind.
The county schools are on holiday.
Because of the upcoming annual examination, most scholars were carrying book boxes or holding books in their arms.
Ye Li first waited for Peng Ximing.
He ran very fast with his hands empty. When he saw Ye Li, he hurriedly greeted her and ran away without stopping.
Ye Li sighed with some emotion. With all that hard work training for long-distance running every day, it's no wonder Peng Ximing had the idea of living off a woman.
He did not mean to look down on Peng Ximing.
Having been beaten down to this extent by life, it's only natural for Peng Ximing to choose to give up.
A short while later, Jiang Ji came out carrying a basket on his back.
So they got on the bus and went back to the village.
The villagers were sure to gather in the workshop just like last time, waiting to receive the festival gifts. So the group didn't have lunch in the county town. When they came across a pancake stall, Ye Li bought a few pancakes for everyone to have a bite to eat.
Ox carts and mule carts entered the village and headed straight for the workshops.
Having learned from the experience of distributing festival gifts last time, this time the villagers who were not employees dared to gather around the workshop entrance to watch the excitement.
When these people saw Ye Li and Jiang Fuzheng returning from afar, they were overjoyed.
Some of them, Ye Li and Jiang Fu, were waving.
Some cheered.
This prompted the employees who were staying in the workshop to come out as well.
This time, the employees were more experienced.
They carried baskets on their backs, which contained cloth bags.
Jiang Dahe even brought a mule cart.
His family has four employees.
So many holiday gifts, we have to use a car to transport them!
Jiang Jinyu was holding a scale and a kitchen knife in her hand.
The freshly ground flour was also carried out of the small house.
Everything is ready, and we're just waiting for Ye Li and Jiang Fuzheng to return.
Jiang Ji watched this scene, and a faint smile appeared on his handsome face. He loved watching the joyous and lively atmosphere.
Ox carts and mule carts quickly entered the workshop.
This time, Jiang Fuzheng didn't even need to give any instructions. The employees lined up automatically, and the non-employees also surrounded the line on both sides, their eyes shining as they stared at the meat on the oxcart.
Jiang Fuzheng looked at everyone's expressions and coughed heavily.
Don't rush to send out holiday gifts.
He randomly pointed to someone and told them to go to the hut and bring out the large basket that was usually used to hold beans.
The porridge ingredients have to be prepared on-site.
In addition, he will have to say a few words later.
Ye Li spent so much money on porridge ingredients today, so the villagers should remember Ye Li's kindness and be more attentive and efficient in their work in the future.
Everyone must do their best to maintain such a workshop that can be passed down to future generations.
After bringing the baskets, he placed the two large baskets on the mule cart and poured the four staple foods—rice, corn, millet, and glutinous rice—into the two baskets respectively.
Then he opened the cloth bag containing peanuts, raisins, dried longan, and red beans, and divided these four ingredients into two portions, pouring them into two baskets.
Just as he had expected, the villagers who were watching were all surprised when they saw the two valuable dried fruits, raisins and dried longans.
Raisins are available locally, not imported from the south, but they are not cheap, costing eighty coins per catty. Ye Li bought three catties in one go.
As for dried longan, most villagers don't even recognize it!
In the past, everyone was poor and dared not enter dried fruit shops. So when they saw the plump dried longans, they couldn't help but whisper among themselves and ask what they were.
Jiang Mantang, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but explain loudly: "This is called longan. It is a fruit from the south. When it is transported to our Beiyang County, it costs 180 wen per catty."
"Li Ge'er bought three catties in one go."
One hundred and eighty coins?!
This number caused everyone present to gasp in astonishment.
This isn't dried fruit, it's more like copper coins!
Jiang Dahe was heartbroken.
They're just a bunch of country bumpkins; how could they possibly deserve to eat such expensive food!
But with so many people around, he couldn't very well ask Ye Li to cancel the order. He could only raise his hand and rub his chest. Really, even though it wasn't his money that was being spent, his heart still ached.
But after the other villagers came to their senses, they were all quite happy.
Hey, with their mouths like that, they can actually eat such expensive food. They must be savoring it carefully.
Sincere and enthusiastic thanks flew towards Ye Li.
Ye Li smiled and said what she had prepared beforehand: "Everyone has worked hard all winter, and the New Year is just around the corner. As the workshop owner, I will be generous this time and treat everyone to sweet porridge."
Without the hard work of his fellow villagers, he wouldn't have earned sixty taels a month.
Although it was a win-win situation, he won more.
Moreover, the only expensive ingredient in today's porridge is dried longan. The average cost per person is 20 coins for one pound of porridge, and 40 coins for two pounds.
He essentially received an extra two pounds of meat.
The villagers were so excited because of a dried longan.
Feeling guilty.
"Brother Li, this isn't just being generous, it's being kind and compassionate!"
Zhang Shi couldn't help but chime in with Ye Li's words.
Li Ge'er has always been generous.
Even more generous today!
This statement was met with considerable agreement.
Indeed, Ye Li is usually generous, but today she was even more generous than they could describe.
Anyway, I'm grateful.
I am very grateful.
Once the porridge is cooked, they will definitely send a bowl to Ye Li!
I will work even harder in the future!
Jiang Ji stood to the side, his gaze sweeping over everyone before finally settling on Ye Li.
Ye Li was dressed in a puffy outfit as usual, with only her face, which was red from the wind, showing.
At this moment, Ye Li wore a faint smile and gently instructed everyone not to bring him porridge. He seemed inexplicably serene and...compassionate.
Isn't that compassion?
Compassion brings peace and happiness to all.
Sorrow relieves the suffering of all living beings.
Ye Li accomplished this through silver and benevolence.
He and Peng Ximing are really only separated by the name Ye Li.
He gave Ye Li a deep look before looking away.
Jiang Fuzheng was preparing the porridge ingredients when he heard what everyone was saying, and he was very satisfied.
Indeed, before he could even say a few words, the villagers had already said what he wanted to emphasize.
We should be aware of this!
Otherwise, you don't deserve to stay in the workshop!
A moment later, he had mixed the porridge ingredients.
Among them, there are three catties each of dried longan and raisins.
Six catties each of peanuts and red beans.
Ten catties each of rice, glutinous rice, millet, and corn.
Peanuts and red beans have red skins.
Rice and glutinous rice are white.
Corn and millet are yellow.
Add to that pale green raisins and pale yellow longan.
The combination of several colors is truly beautiful.
Since the villagers were so enlightened, he stopped talking nonsense.
Send holiday gifts directly!
Then the part that the villagers had been looking forward to finally arrived. Everyone lined up and took turns receiving five catties of meat, five catties of rice and flour, and two catties of porridge.
There were few people, so it was all sent out in no time.
After distributing the ingredients, Ye Li instructed everyone that it would be best to soak the porridge ingredients tonight, so that it would be easier to cook and would save both firewood and time.
Of course, there's really no need to send him eight-treasure porridge tomorrow.
He definitely won't be able to get up!
Jiang Ji kept glancing at him, making him feel both nervous and expectant.
hey-hey.
His butt doesn't hurt anymore.
Soon, everyone dispersed and went home.
This time, Father Ye left some food for us, keeping it warm on the stove—pork stew with vermicelli and flatbread.
After eating such a hot meal, my whole body felt warm.
Jiang Jixian led the oxcart to Jiang Dahe's house.
Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya followed behind him like little tails.
As soon as Jiang Dahe saw him, he couldn't help but mutter about Ye Li's "extravagant spending".
He let it go in one ear and out the other, mumbled a few words, and then led the two little ones home.
When he got home, he saw Ye Li keeping accounts, so he checked Jiang Mai's homework and gave her some pointers. Since he couldn't be alone with her, he decided to take care of his business first.
I waited and waited, and finally it got dark.
I took a bath too.
The two of them moved into the bed.
They lay on their sides, Ye Li's legs draped over Jiang Ji's shoulders, and Jiang Ji lovingly cupped Ye Li's face in one hand, kissing her gently and tenderly.
It moved slowly and deliberately, neither too lightly nor too heavily.
Ye Li kissed him for a while, then slowly realized something was wrong. So, after a long kiss ended, Ye Li tilted her head back before he could kiss her again, saying, "Wait."
"Hmm?" Jiang Ji asked, puzzled.
"No, didn't you really want that reward last time?"
Ye Li was also puzzled, her eyes, which were covered with a layer of moisture, were full of confusion.
"..."
He treasured Yeli.
But Ye Li wanted excitement.
OK.
Countless people are grateful to Ye Li.
Some people may also regard Ye Li as a saintly bodhisattva who saves people from suffering.
However, he was the only one who could do this with Ye Li.
Tomorrow, Ye Li will once again greet the villagers' enthusiasm with a gentle, compassionate smile.
But beneath the thick cotton-padded coat, his body was covered with marks he had left behind.
Thinking of that scene, his eyes darkened, and he moved his large hand down Ye Li's cheek.
The shameful yet familiar sound reminded both of the madness of that night.
The two exchanged a glance, and then without Jiang Ji's instruction, Ye Li obediently turned over and lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed).
The sensation of pleasure mixed with slight pain was so captivating that Ye Li not only didn't call for a stop, but instead urged Jiang Ji to go even faster.
After it was over, the marks on his body were even more pronounced.
The sense of satisfaction is also unprecedented.
He was so happy that he nestled in Jiang Ji's arms and kissed her again and again, unwilling to go to sleep.
Her feelings for Jiang Ji were also unprecedentedly strong.
whee.
However, with his mind active, he couldn't help but recall Jiang Ji's slow pace from earlier.
So he nudged Jiang Ji on the shoulder and asked, "I don't think this is right. Can you explain?"
"I'm just a little emotional; you're such a good person."
Jiang Ji honestly replied.
But to Ye Li, it took a different turn: "Giving me a friend card?"
"What is a 'good guy card'?" Jiang Ji was a little confused.
Ye Li frowned: "...Why are you praising me as a good person for no reason?"
"You have been generous and kind to the people, and you have made the whole village rich all by yourself."
"Moreover, if it weren't for you, I might end up like Peng Ximing."
Ye Li understood now.
It turns out it was a mix of感慨 (feelings of deep emotion) and感动 (feeling moved).
He laughed. "That's right, he knows how to be grateful."
Moreover, recalling Jiang Ji's saccharine gaze from just now, which seemed almost dripping with affection.
He couldn't help but feel smug.
That's how much she likes him.
He reached out and cupped Jiang Ji's face, then leaned in and kissed him: "My dear husband, I was being vulgar. Let's do it again, this time with our hearts!"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ji lowered his hand and gently pinched him, causing him to hiss in pain.
Meeting Jiang Ji's ambiguous smile, he hummed twice and then kissed Jiang Ji again.
The lower part is unusable, but kissing is allowed!
Jiang Ji smiled as he watched his lips descend, then opened his mouth and kissed him back.
The night is still long.
So on the day of Laba Festival, Ye Li slept until almost noon again.
He missed the villagers who came to bring him porridge.
I also missed making taro paste.
This is something Jiang Ji finds somewhat regrettable.
But in the afternoon, Jiang Dahe and Liang Erxiang, who didn't need to fry tofu puffs, came over to wash the taro, and Ye Li went out and sat by the well to chat with them for a while.
Just like yesterday in the workshop, he had a serene and gentle smile on his face.
And so Jiang Ji's imagination from last night came true.
Jiang Ji was overjoyed. Even though he could only do it once during the entire holiday, he didn't complain at all.
After the three-day holiday, Jiang Ji returned to the county school.
He will study for four more days this time, and then he will have a holiday on the fourteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.
These four days passed in the blink of an eye.
His holiday began at noon on the fourteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Peng Ximing was still thinking about the preserved eggs. It was already the fourteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, and some proactive families must have already started preparing for the New Year.
Missing a day means losing a day's worth of money!
So, on the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, he approached Yu Cai, intending to ask for two days off.
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