After breakfast, Gu Qian left his horse in the backyard of the shop, and he and Qiu Yan bought a lot of food such as rice, flour, and cooking oil. Then they drove the carriage back to the village with Gu Xiaoran.
The village was peaceful and serene.
Qiu Yan got off the carriage before entering the village and walked around.
When I encounter the women in the village, I occasionally greet them.
"Qiu Yan, that young man seems nice. A man's kindness to a woman is a kind of luck that you can't ask for. You should cherish it."
Qiu Yan smiled but didn't say anything more; she didn't like hearing those words.
Before she even entered the courtyard, she heard voices coming from inside.
Gu Qian had already parked the carriage and was now leaning against the courtyard gate, curiously watching the scene inside.
Without saying much, Gu Xiaoran started playing with the puppy as soon as she got back.
Qiu Yan walked to the door. In their courtyard, Wang Shi and a woman with dark skin, a burly figure, and a rough voice were sitting opposite her second uncle.
That figure, that physique, instantly reminded Qiu Yan of Li Kui from the Water Margin.
She subconsciously felt that an ordinary man would probably be no match for this woman.
“Brother Dafu, Cousin Guihua, why don’t you two have a private chat?” Wang said.
"Okay, cousin, you go ahead and do your work." Li Guihua took a liking to Qiu Dafu at first glance. She was not young either, and the two of them seemed quite well-matched.
Qiu Dafu was devastated at this moment. Why were these people always so concerned about his marriage?
Seeing that Osmanthus Flower was walking towards him, Qiu Dafu suddenly took a step back.
"Let's not talk alone. This house was built by Xiaoyan. I'm not good enough for you."
Li Guihua followed up: "Qiu Dafu, I don't look down on you. We'll live together from now on, and we'll eventually have a house."
Qiu Dafu backed down again, saying, "No, that's not appropriate."
Li Guihua went a step further: "Why is it inappropriate? Qiu Dafu, you're a grown man, why are you acting like a woman, all shy and hesitant?"
Qiu Dafu was exasperated. What was so good about him? "He's just not suitable."
He turned his head and suddenly saw Qiu Yan. It was as if he had seen a savior. He saw Gu Qian unloading things from the carriage, said "I'll go help," and then walked away from Li Guihua.
Wang was somewhat discouraged. She muttered to herself, "Women are only good at giving birth and raising children. Why is Qiu Dafu always so unwilling?"
"Osmanthus, never mind, I'll find you a better one another day."
Li Guihua stared intently at Qiu Dafu. "Cousin, I think he's a really nice person. I want to marry him."
After she finished speaking, she took a few steps forward to the carriage and carefully examined Qiu Yan.
"You must be my eldest niece. My name is Li Guihua. My cousin introduced me to this place."
As she spoke, she hoisted up a half-sack of cabbages.
Qiu Yan nodded with a stiff smile, "You can just sit here. Your second uncle and Gu Qian will help with this."
"It's okay, I'm used to doing it at home."
Qiu Yan looked at the tough woman in front of her. She was a bit dark-skinned and strong, but she seemed easy to get along with.
Qiu Dafu saw Li Guihua come over to unload things and then went to the craftsmen's place.
"Guihua." Seeing that Qiu Dafu had no interest in her cousin, Wang pulled Li Guihua away.
Before leaving, Li Guihua lingered, watching Qiu Dafu's retreating figure with increasing longing.
It's just about living together, why does he look down on me?
The house was halfway done. It was a sweltering day, and the craftsmen had worked hard. After Qiu Yan returned home, she and Wang Shi cooked a big pot of refreshing soup for the craftsmen.
When Ye learned that Qiu Yan had returned, she came over despite being nearly five months pregnant.
Gu Qian then learned that his teacher's wife was pregnant. Overjoyed, he quickly brought a stool for Ye Shi.
"Master's wife, please have a seat."
Ye sat down, supporting her back. "Qiu Yan, how's business lately?"
Qiu Yan smiled faintly, "It's fine. With my aunt's help, I can relax."
Because of the fact that Qiu Yan's family is building a house, many people in the village know that Qiu Yan is not short of money.
She had just returned when women from the village came to borrow money from her.
Mrs. Sun: "Qiu Yan, my family's harvest was bad this year. The money from selling the grain was used to pay off last year's debts. Could you lend my family some money for an emergency?"
Yuan Shi: "Qiu Yan, my house is too dilapidated to live in. I want to rebuild it, but we really don't have any money. Can you lend me a few hundred copper coins?"
Both of these families are among the poorest in the village because they have many children, and the poorer they are, the more children they have.
It's no exaggeration to say that their two families were so poor they had no rice to cook.
Their relatives all avoided them, because they really had nowhere else to borrow money.
Even the Qian family came to borrow money, but before they could even enter the courtyard, Qiu Yan shut the door shut.
Ye was furious when she saw Qian. After such a big conflict, how could she have the nerve to come and borrow money?
“Back when Qiu Yan’s third daughter was poor, you never helped her at all.”
Actually, the villagers had asked Qiu Dafu for money before, but he had refused them all because he was truly broke.
Qian left sheepishly, leaving the two women feeling quite uneasy.
Qiu Yan's gaze swept over Sun Shi and Yuan Shi one by one.
"Aunties, I don't have much money, but I'm thinking of hiring some people to grow herbs. It'll cost twenty coins a day. You can earn a little money with your own skills. Would you be willing?"
She wants to grow a large quantity of medicinal herbs so that she can open a pharmacy or become a pharmaceutical merchant in the future.
Ye felt that she couldn't describe Qiu Yan in words; she was just too capable.
She injured her body during her first pregnancy and also had a pre-existing illness, so her health was poor. Now she is pregnant again. If it weren't for this, she wouldn't be unable to take care of Gu Xiaoran.
The two women's gloomy expressions vanished instantly when they heard that Qiu Yan wanted to hire them.
They had always envied the Wang mother and daughter, who could earn money by working for Qiu Yan in the village. Now that they heard Qiu Yan say this, they were naturally willing to do so.
"Okay, we're willing. When can we start working?"
"One or two days."
After seeing the two men off, Qiu Yan told her second uncle about her plan to buy land, and then went to the village chief's house.
Gu Qian was heartbroken. He wanted to be alone with Qiu Yan, but Qiu Yan was always so busy.
When Qiu Yan went to Zhao Shan's house, she knew that Zhao Shan liked to drink, so she specially brought him two jars of wine.
Zhao Shan was pulling an oxcart back from grinding flour when Qiu Yan waited outside for a while before she saw him.
After exchanging pleasantries, Qiu Yan explained her purpose: "Uncle Village Chief, do you have any spare land in our village? I'd like to buy some to grow medicinal herbs."
Growing medicinal herbs? That's quite unusual. Zhao Shan thought for a moment, "There's no ready-made farmland, but there's some wasteland near the mountains. Do you want it? Wasteland is tax-free for three years, but you should think carefully, the harvest from wasteland is unpredictable."
Although they are exempt from taxes for three years, most of the villagers are very poor. They have no spare money to buy wasteland. They are lucky if they can have enough to eat and wear.
Qiu Yan also understood this principle. In this era, taxes were too heavy and crop yields were too low, so after paying taxes, the villagers could only barely make ends meet with the grain they produced in a year.
In years of famine, people freeze to death and starve to death.
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