Unexpectedly, Village Chief Ma, who had returned from Liucheng, came in first.
Village Chief Ma had just finished dealing with Aunt Li's matter and only returned after witnessing her being taken away by the county officials. He was still feeling terrible.
One problem after another keeps happening in this village, how can it not be distressing?
Fortunately, the village had a good harvest this year, so Village Chief Ma thought he would come to Gufang to have some fun.
Unexpectedly, he actually encountered some good news. The village chief's gloom instantly vanished, and he seemed even happier than the Shen family: "Uncle Zhang, what did you say? How much?"
Grandpa Zhang made another gesture, and Village Chief Ma was so excited he almost jumped up.
Old Mrs. Shen laughed and told him to catch his breath: "Village Chief Ma, why are you even more excited than I am?"
"How can I not be excited? The whole country is suffering from a severe drought, but our Xinghua Village has a bumper harvest. Even the Jiangnan region, which has also been affected by the drought, only yielded two shi and four dou per mu. Our harvest here is even better than that of Jiangnan!" Village Chief Ma had already thought about what he would say when he went to the village ancestral hall to offer incense tonight. "This is truly a blessing from heaven. A blessing from heaven!"
Village Chief Ma's voice was loud enough that everyone outside the valley heard it. They found it even more powerful than Jiangnan's and rushed in to see what was going on.
When they saw the eight neatly arranged sacks of rice on the ground, their eyes widened in amazement.
"My God, there's still so much even after it's shed its shell?"
"I thought our Zhao family was already doing quite well, but I never imagined that the Shen family was the real winners!"
"Of course, we owe our harvest entirely to Lili, so the Shen family will naturally have more than enough."
"Hey, speaking of which, this year's rice looks especially cute, much more delicate than in previous years. I think it's all thanks to Lili!"
"Oh my, Lili is truly a lucky star in our Xinghua Village."
"That's right, Lili, we really owe you a lot!"
The conversation drifted to various topics, eventually returning to Lili, and the villagers began praising her once again.
Lili said she felt a little flattered by the praise.
Old Mrs. Shen coughed a few times: "Alright, alright, enough with the praise. Everyone, just give my Lili a few eggs to help her recover. She's at the age where she's growing taller."
The surrounding area erupted in laughter, finally giving the Shen family a moment to reload the sacks back onto the cart.
The rice is ready; we're just waiting for the county government officials to come and collect the grain tax soon.
The remaining grain was enough for the Shen family to get through one, no, several warm winters.
Village Chief Ma was happy to see everyone in the village gathered together in such a harmonious atmosphere.
Seeing that the Shen family was about to leave, Village Chief Ma hurriedly went up to them and stopped Old Lady Shen: "Auntie, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."
"Why are you being so polite with me, Auntie? We've asked you to take care of us quite a bit," said Old Mrs. Shen. "Is this about the Li family?"
Village Chief Ma: "No, no, things have settled down with the Li family as well. This morning, Magistrate Qin personally presided over the trial and the initial result of exile has been determined. We're just waiting for the trial at the end of the month. From what I've heard, Da Cheng wants to go to exile with Aunt Li."
Li Da Niang's husband was cowardly, but Li Da Cheng was a filial son with backbone.
Old Mrs. Shen sighed silently, said nothing, and then asked, "What is it?"
"It's nothing serious," said Village Chief Ma. "Auntie, you see, this year, only our Xinghua Village has escaped disaster. I heard that the imperial court's grain supply is not coming in, and the neighboring Xixiang County has even reached the point of exchanging children for food. Our bumper harvest is all thanks to Lili."
Old Mrs. Shen seemed to understand, but not quite, as she pondered what Village Chief Ma meant.
Village Chief Ma stopped beating around the bush: "Auntie, I actually know that Lili is a little different from other children."
Old Mrs. Shen immediately tensed up and stared at him with some hesitation.
"Auntie, don't be nervous. Lili is our village's little lucky star, everyone agrees. Sometimes I think, how come Lili fell into the water and was found by the Shen family right in our village? It must be that heaven is protecting us and sending Lili to help us."
The Shen family saved Lili, but didn't Lili also save the Shen family?
Xinghua Village took in Lili, and Lili is quietly repaying them in her own way.
"Everyone has seen the results of Lili's work, so next spring, I would like to ask Lili to start from scratch and help Xinghua Village grow higher-yield rice."
"this......"
Old Mrs. Shen glanced at Lili, who was running around with Shen Jialuo, and said, "This matter is something Lili should decide for herself."
Lili is capable, but she is still a child. It is difficult to expect her to take care of the whole village. Old Mrs. Shen is worried that she will get tired, and she is also worried that she will be blamed if she fails to satisfy others in any way.
Village Chief Ma said, "Of course, I will go and discuss it with her myself later. Before that, I hope you can tell Lili first, Auntie."
After thinking for a long time, Old Lady Shen finally nodded.
*
With the autumn harvest finished, the Shen family began preparations for building their new house.
Old Man Shen went to Village Chief Ma to inquire about vacant land in the village, and finally chose the largest piece of land, which was right to the left of Shen's current house.
It was quite a coincidence that this piece of land was expensive because of its large size and its proximity to the back mountain, so no one had ever bought it.
Firstly, because no new people have come to Xinghua Village in recent years, and everyone has houses to live in comfortably, so they won't spend so much spare money to buy a new piece of land.
Secondly, it's because it's close to the back mountain, which attracts many mosquitoes in the summer.
The main reason is that the area is large and the price is high.
Thirteen mu (approximately 70m x 125m) of land sold for twenty-six taels of silver, a sum that an ordinary family would have to save for more than ten years without eating or drinking.
However, this suited the Shen family's wishes perfectly. Building it behind the old house would allow the old house to be used as a small warehouse to store grain or Shen Lao Er's carpentry work after the new house was built.
The backyard was almost overflowing, so this old spot was perfect for storing things.
When the time comes, the two houses will be connected, with a small door in the middle; it will be wonderful.
After purchasing the land deeds from the village, the Shen family began to plan how to build the site.
First, the layout needs to be determined.
Traditionally, Old Man Shen and his wife lived in the main house, while the other three households each had their own courtyard. The couple shared a room, and their six children each had their own room.
Old Mrs. Shen had originally planned to build a few more rooms so that when her grandchildren got married and had children, she could also leave room for her great-grandchildren.
Unfortunately, the total budget was only around one hundred taels, and a quarter of it was spent on land purchases, so there was really no way to make any more.
Fortunately, Lili comforted her: "It's okay, Grandma. We can repair it when we have more money. Didn't Grandpa say that the land behind our house is also vacant?"
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