After the New Year, a new year begins. During the Spring Festival, Jiang Zhi sent the orphans who were fostered in Xujia Village back to their relatives' homes.
Each of these orphans wore a new set of clothes and took a small handful of noodles with them back home; these were New Year's gifts that Jiang Zhi had prepared for them.
The foster children also have relatives. Jiang Zhi needs to see if there are any good people among these relatives so that she can consider returning the children to their home when they are older. After all, Jiang Zhi only said she would help raise the children, not that she would buy them.
Before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, all the children returned. Only one of them was still wearing new clothes. The other four had changed their new clothes into tattered ones, and even their shoes had been taken off.
Some children are too young to explain themselves and can only cry.
But some people who were good at talking would tell their uncles, aunts, or other relatives about their intentions, saying that they should take more things back with them, and that some people would be beaten for not taking enough.
Jiang Zhi didn't need to visit each family to find out if what the children said was true; just by looking at their behavior, the children's situation was very clear.
The following Spring Festival, Jiang Zhi did not send those children home again. She had asked Lao Song to find the village chief and clan head of those children to write an abandonment agreement. All the relatives put their fingerprints on the agreement to abandon the children and not to acknowledge them again.
And the child who comes home wearing new clothes can reunite with their relatives at the end of the year, carrying a big bag of things.
An unhappy life is always filled with misfortune, while a peaceful life is monotonous and devoid of any novelty.
Xujia Village is like a reservoir; apart from the occasional small stone thrown in, it is mostly calm and still.
The people of Xujia Village are busy making money every day, and gossip is just a passing interest. Even the wild boar Peppa Pig, which now roams around the village, no longer attracts attention. Only Xu Changming still follows closely behind with his manure basket.
He's in charge of everything from the heavens to the earth, and now he's keeping a close eye on this wild boar that habitually defecates and urinates outside.
Peppa is so annoyed by this person who likes to watch her poop; she suspects that this person wants to eat poop, and likes it hot.
So whenever he saw Xu Changming, he would immediately turn and run, and Xu Changming would chase after him, shouting, "Don't poop anywhere! If you're going to poop, poop in my basket!"
The more he shouted, the faster Peppa ran, until she plunged into the nearby field and wouldn't come out.
Every family has its own things to do, and every family has its own life.
Wang Xiaoju still manages the mosquito coil workshop, and you can hear her urging calls from a great distance.
Lotus and Pi still come to work at Sishuitang to make body lotion.
Now that there's Peiqi in Sishuitang, the two of them are much more reserved, afraid that if they go out to slack off, they'll be spotted by the wild boar.
Qin and Li Laoshi did not return home for the New Year, partly because business was too good during the holiday and they couldn't leave.
Secondly, Li Laoshi felt sorry for the child traveling and insisted on waiting until the child was older before returning. Now he wouldn't even listen to Qin Shi's words.
But Li Laoshi sent a letter to Xu Genqing, along with five taels of silver, saying it was for the two children's New Year's money.
Raising dozens of pigs is too difficult. In order to reduce the burden of cutting pig feed for the Shi family, and also for Peppa Pig's freedom.
All the large pigs and piglets raised by the Shi family were eventually sold at the riverside market in Lihua Town, leaving only two sows to produce piglets later.
Peiqi likes to wander around Shijiazhuang, and only returns to Sishuitang after eating and sleeping every day.
In the blink of an eye, only four years had passed since Ma Guan signed the indenture agreement with Jiang Zhi. He had already told Er Rui that he wanted to register his family's household registration in Xujia Village.
The Huang family, who had originally signed a ten-year contract, also said this. When they signed the contract, they said that after the ten-year term, the Huang family could return to their hometown. They also said that they would not leave and would settle down in Xujia Village.
This was easy to handle. The pharmacy needed experienced people like them, so Errui directly arranged it for several families at the county government office.
A new employment contract was signed, and the previous sales contract was voided.
When Jiang Zhi was selecting people, she intentionally chose those who were of similar age, such as the two children from the Huang family and the twin sons from the Ma Guan family, who are now thirteen or fourteen years old.
The four children completed two years of primary education at Qingquan Academy and have now started earning money at the pharmacy.
These children are all literate, can read and write, and even know a little martial arts. With proper training, they will be excellent successors for the pharmacy.
Eight years after the war, in the courtyard of Sishuitang, Jiang Zhi was practicing calligraphy with Caixia.
Outside, Xia Xiucai's son, Xia Yuan, was knocking on the door with two books in his hand. Madam Tan went over and opened the door.
Xia Yuanbin politely said, "Aunt Tan, I've come to borrow some books!"
Mrs. Tan invited him in: "Village Chief Jiang is home today, please come in!"
Jiang Zhi had already overheard their conversation. As Xia Yuan entered, he bowed and said, "Hello, Grandma Jiang!"
Jiang Zhi laughed and said, "You just borrowed the book a few days ago, and you've already finished reading it? Don't think it's like you're herding ducks across a river without leaving any trace."
Xia Yuan quickly said, "These books can't be read carelessly. My father and I made a copy these past two days so we can study them properly later."
Jiang Zhi has bought a lot of books from the city in recent years. She not only lets her own children, such as Caixia and Nini, read them, but also lets the children in the village borrow them. They can only borrow them again after they have read and returned them.
Xia Xiucai naturally wanted to borrow the books to read. He also bought books, but his collection couldn't compare to that of Sishuitang.
Now that the scholar receives more dividends in the village and a higher salary at the school, his wife no longer has to rely on embroidery to earn money every day. In her spare time, she experiments with cosmetics for Jiangzhi and teaches the girls in the village how to embroider.
Xia Xiucai couldn't bear to use his family's money to buy books, so he took his son Xia Yuan to copy books.
With the guidance of Xia Xiucai since childhood, Xia Yuan, now thirteen years old, has excellent handwriting, and the father and son can copy it very quickly.
Jiang Zhi was about to let Xia Yuan go upstairs to choose a book when she saw Cai Xia, who was practicing calligraphy, misspell a word again. This was the fifth time she had made a mistake. She said angrily, "When your brother Xia was your age, he learned by himself."
Back then, Xia Xiucai was still a madman. Even when he was lucid, he didn't teach very seriously. Xia Yuan practiced almost entirely on his own.
Caixia, who is seven years old, is different from Nini in temperament. She is a quiet little girl. When she heard her grandmother say that she was wrong again, she immediately lowered her head and tears welled up in her eyes.
Xia Yuan walked over and said, "Grandma Jiang, let me teach Caixia to write!"
Speaking of which, Jiang Zhi can read, but her calligraphy with this soft brush is not as good as Xia Yuan's. So, Xia Yuan took over her job and taught Cai Xia how to read and write.
Before long, Errui, who worked at the county government office, returned. He dropped his horse and went to find Jiang Zhi, whispering, "Mother, there's news about Xiaotian again!"
Jiang Zhi still knew a thing or two about Nie Fantian's affairs outside through the Huo family, and he had been rising through the ranks in recent years as a military leader.
Er Rui said, "The court has removed several treacherous officials and has already welcomed Prince Zhou to the capital!"
Jiang Zhi smirked: "Does this mean the war is over?"
With the King of Zhou entering the capital, Nie Fantian's path to becoming the Grand General of the State is now clear.
Errui nodded: "We can't fight anymore. Several neighboring countries want to attack the Great Yan Dynasty. The Diaoyu City has been under attack for several years. If this continues, the Great Yan Dynasty will fall apart."
After years of internal strife, people's livelihoods have been damaged, attracting the attention of foreign enemies. If things don't stabilize soon, we'll be devoured by outsiders. Even a lowly clerk in the county government knew this, let alone other officials.
Now that Magistrate Zhang of Pingchuan County has been promoted to Prefect, and other magistrates have replaced him, Xu Errui is still just a minor official.
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