In the night breeze, Zhuifeng and Wangcai were still quite excited, howling as they ran in front of the carriage, while the two parrots had already fallen asleep in the straw basket carried by Dabao.
The carriage rocked and swayed, and in a short while the Yang siblings fell asleep. Normally at home, they would have fallen asleep long ago. Chen Ahfu and Huang Mama each held one child, wrapped in a small blanket.
Although Dabao was also a little sleepy, he did not let his mother hold him. Instead, he took care of the sleeping parrots and covered them with a towel.
Children from poor families grow up early. Chen Afu looked at Yang Chao in his arms, then at Dabao, and felt a little sad. He said softly and apologetically, "Brother Chao is a guest."
Dabao rubbed his head against Chen Afu's arm and said, "Well, my son knows and won't be jealous of Brother Chao."
Mother Huang said softly, "Dabao is such a good kid."
As soon as they entered the house, A Lu came out to greet them.
Chen Afu felt embarrassed. Today was one of the most important days in A Lu's life, but he was not the first to share his joy.
A Lu wanted to talk to his sister, but when he saw Yang Chao sleeping in her arms, he stopped talking.
After Chen Afu settled the two children, he took Dabao, who had regained consciousness, to the east bedroom of the old courtyard, where Chen Ming, Wang Shi and A Lu were all waiting.
The family huddled together on the warm kang and listened to A-Lu's detailed account of what happened in school today. Chen Ming and Wang Shi listened several times, but they still couldn't get enough of it with a smile on their faces.
Several people encouraged him, and Chen Afu even put his arm around his shoulders and said, "Sister is just waiting for your brother to succeed and support the family."
Nearly half an hour later, everyone went to rest.
The next day, Chen Afu got up early again and made two pots of golden silk cake, one of which he wanted to take back to the Yang family.
After breakfast, Yang Mingyuan rushed to Chen's house. Yang Chao and Yang Qian cried and made a fuss, but were still carried to the carriage.
The carriage had already gone some distance when the little brother and sister stuck their heads out of the window and cried, "Aunt Chen, next time we come to your house, we'll stay longer."
Chen Ahfu smiled and nodded, and Dabao said in a hoarse voice, "Okay, we'll wait."
Later, Chen Afu learned that Yang Mingyuan had sold all the restaurants in the county to raise funds, and took all his property to start a business in Beijing. What an adventurer!
Winter has arrived. With strength in numbers, the bushes have been cleared a few days ago and the house has been built.
The two courtyards were built at the same time. Chen Ming wanted to move in before the New Year.
There were not enough people in the village, so they hired a team of tile workers who specialized in building houses in the county town. In this way, they had to provide meals, and they also paid the people in the third grandfather's family to help cook and deliver the food to them at noon. The third grandfather had many children and grandchildren, so they looked for work everywhere during the slack season. Not only did the two grandsons help build the house, but the women also helped cook, earning several wages at once.
Chen Ming's yard is slightly smaller, only three mu, and he used the half mu of land as a "separation zone" between the two yards. Chen Afu's yard is slightly larger, more than three and a half mu, because it also serves as a kindergarten, and even the extra three mu of land is added in, totaling three mu and eight fen.
Both houses have curved two-story courtyards, with wells in the main house, east wing, west wing, back house, and back room.
Chen Ming's home was similar to that of most small landlords in the countryside. There were some flowers, trees, stone tables and stone benches planted in the front yard, while the backyard was planned to be used as a cowshed, pigpen, chicken coop, and vegetable farm.
Chen Afu's family was different from them. Not only did they plant flowers and trees like the rich families, but they also had carved railings and painted pillars, large lattice windows, and the four rooms in the west wing had to be paved with wooden boards. What was even more different was that they had a children's playground.
Originally, Chen Ahfu asked Chen Ming to do a better job, at least with carved railings and painted pillars. But Chen Ming was unwilling to do so. He considered himself a small landlord, so he strictly followed this standard to decorate his home. He said that this was practical, and there was no need for those fancy things in the countryside.
Every day when going to work in Tangyuan, Dabao would take Chen Afu to see their new house and spend a lot of time there. Almost every day he would ask the same question, "Mom, when will the new house be built and when can we move in?"
Chen Ahfu would always answer with a smile, "Our house is more complicated, so we have to wait until after the New Year. Grandpa's house will be repaired first and we will move in before the New Year. We will live in grandpa's house first."
Grandpa's house is also a big tiled house in a new courtyard, and Dabao was so happy that his face was beaming with joy.
The furniture for both families was contracted to Wu Carpenter. Chen Ahfu drew some blueprints and asked Wu Carpenter and the iron shop in the town to help make some strange things.
When she went to find Wu the Carpenter, Wu Changsheng looked at her with great resentment and kept trying to get closer to her, but was scolded by Wu the Carpenter and ran away.
Wu Changsheng has already gotten engaged to her cousin and they will be getting married next year.
Even after Chen Ahfu left the Wu family, Wu Changsheng ran out and said to her, "Sister Ahfu, from now on, I will treat you as my own sister. If you need my help with anything, I will help you as before."
Chen Ahfu was touched when he saw his injured eyes, and said with a smile, "Thank you, Brother Wu Er. I also wish you a happy life."
During these days, Abbot Liaochen stayed at Tangyuan for two days, so Chen Ahfu only rested at home during these two days, and spent the rest of his rest time with the little girl. However, Manager Luo gave her five taels of silver as monthly salary at the end of last month, which was much more than the two taels he had originally said.
On the afternoon of the fifth day of the winter month, Chen Ahfu was playing with the children in the living room when he saw Luo Yuan wandering around the door. He had gone to the city the day before to do some work, and had helped take the two sets of clothes, the auspicious cat doll, the bag, the cotton nightgown, and the cotton slippers to the Nishang Embroidery Workshop, and had just returned.
Chen Ahfu clapped his hands twice and said, "Okay, get out of class is over."
Chen Afu walked out the door and heard Luo Yuan say that Shopkeeper Luo liked those things very much.
Because of those buttons, the Nishang Embroidery Workshop not only has a good business, but also has a better reputation. Many young ladies from wealthy families only use buttons made by the Nishang Embroidery Workshop, and using buttons to decorate clothes has become a fashion. At the same time, the fabrics of the embroidery workshop are also selling better than before.
In fact, many wealthy families now have sewing rooms, and they don’t necessarily buy ready-made clothes from embroidery workshops. But if there is a set of beautiful and unique ready-made clothes or beautiful accessories hanging in the embroidery workshop, the women will buy the fabric from the embroidery workshop and make them in the same way. If the ready-made clothes of an embroidery workshop are unique and beautiful, the women will often patronize that embroidery workshop. Some buy ready-made clothes, and some buy fabric.
Therefore, beautiful ready-made clothes and accessories are not only sold for money, but also serve to attract customers for the embroidery workshop's fabrics.
Luo Yuan also said that Luo asked Chen Afu to lead people to make more auspicious cat dolls and bags and send them to the embroidery workshop regularly. This job was requested by Chen Afu for Wang and Gao.
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