Although the land in Nanlin County was not as good as that in Jiangnan, it was still considered fertile land.
Buying a property requires nearly a thousand taels of silver, not to mention the subsequent management and wages of the long-term workers.
This presents numerous problems for the Shen family.
"Lili, buying a manor requires a lot of money. Although we have a little money now, we still have to work hard to buy a manor."
Madam Chen nodded in agreement: "Yes, it's too early to talk about buying a manor now, but I think it's not impossible. If Erlang's carpentry skills really take off, a single bed can sell for many taels of silver! Lili, wait for your second uncle. Once he's earned enough silver, we can buy one someday!"
Everyone laughed. In the past, they could barely make ends meet, but now they dared to say things they never dared to think about before.
Lili nodded thoughtfully, "Okay."
Perhaps it was what Lili said that completely opened everyone's eyes to the future, because Old Mrs. Shen brought up something more realistic: "Although we can't afford this estate, your father and I discussed it last night. Our house is quite old and hasn't been repaired in a long time. Many parts are aging. Didn't the roof beam in the kitchen fall down a few months ago?"
Speaking of this, Liu still remembers the events of that day.
That day was the day the Shen family met Lili.
If it weren't for Lili, she might have been crushed to death that day, and there wouldn't be a Liu family member who can eat meat every day now.
"Yes, yes, that day was terrifying! If it weren't for Lili, I probably would have gone to see my great-grandmother by now!" Liu Shi showed a relieved expression. "Mother, are you thinking of repairing our house? Great! That's wonderful! Your daughter-in-law is all for it. Otherwise, if that roof beam falls down again someday, it will be so dangerous!"
Everyone agreed that what he said made sense, but if they were to build houses, where would they live?
Are you suggesting we sleep on the ground in the square next door?
It's still hot these days, so sleeping on the floor isn't out of the question.
But the weather will soon turn cold after the autumn harvest, and with so many children in the Shen family, this is clearly not a long-term solution.
Everyone fell silent again.
Old Mrs. Shen interrupted them: "It's not about repairing the house, it's about building a new house."
Silence fell in the room.
Lili blinked: "Building a new house? Does that mean our family is going to have a new house?"
Old Mrs. Shen nodded: "Yes, your grandma and grandpa think that instead of repairing it, we should just build a new house. The old house, no matter how well it's repaired, is never as good as a new one. Since we're putting in the effort to repair the house, wouldn't it be better to just build a new one? The money that your three families have given me is about a hundred taels of silver in total. We don't even need a hundred taels to build a nice and big house."
Old Man Shen said, "There are many people in the Shen family. The children all sleep in one room. Jiahao and Jialu are already half-grown boys. Jiawen and the others will grow up eventually. When they get married and have children, they will all need their own rooms."
After a moment of silence, everyone burst into excited laughter.
Are we going to build a new house?
"Big brother, we're going to have our own house!"
"Then Lili wants her own room too!"
Madam Yang hugged her tightly: "You're still young, you sleep with your mother."
Old Mrs. Shen laughed and said, "Yes, yes, children always have to grow up."
Building a house is neither particularly difficult nor particularly easy.
These days, building a house doesn't cost much.
After discussing it, the Shen family unanimously decided that since they were going to build a new house, they might as well grit their teeth and spend all one hundred taels of silver to build a bigger and better one, with each person having their own room and a backyard to grow vegetables and raise animals.
We also need to build a few more rooms to keep empty, just in case.
Since we've already gritted our teeth, we might as well go all the way and build it all at once, so we don't have to put in the effort later.
The plan to build the house was decided happily just like that.
By dinner time that evening, everyone was in high spirits, completely immersed in the happiness of building their new house.
In such a famine-stricken year, they were still able to build new houses.
This is all thanks to Lili!
........
The day that everyone had been eagerly anticipating finally arrived: the autumn harvest.
Every household in the village was busy harvesting rice, and the Shen family was no exception.
Apart from Elder Shen, who had already led a caravan to escort the wooden bed to the capital the day before, the entire Shen family mobilized, with everyone, young and old, taking sickles and winnowing baskets to the fields. Even the rare free time at home, Physician Sikong, was quite interested in taking his small sickle for gathering herbs.
When the Shen family arrived at the fields, they found that the fields next to them were full of busy people.
Upon seeing that the Shen family had finally arrived, the villagers nearby all stopped what they were doing.
"Erlang, you've finally arrived! Everyone's been waiting impatiently!"
Shen Lao Er was confused: "Waiting for us?"
Another said, "You're absolutely right. Your rice is growing so well, everyone's curious about how much there is!"
The Shen family members were all taken aback. Old Mrs. Shen immediately said, "Da Cai, you've finished so quickly? I remember your rice was growing quite well, so the harvest must have been quite good, right?"
The man named Da Cai immediately smiled and said, "Yes, Auntie, it's all thanks to the pest control methods that Li Li taught us. With fewer pests, things are really much better than a few years ago!"
"Yeah?"
As the Shen family members talked, they took off their shoes and went to the field. The women waited by the field to collect the rice stalks, which were then put into winnowing baskets. After the rice harvest, the rice stalks would be transported over to be threshed.
Lili squatted by the field, looking at her half-finished work, and smiled broadly.
That's great! Now that we've had a bumper harvest, the villagers' yields have also increased to some extent.
Does this mean she can implement her planting plan next year?
Lili originally intended to do it this way from the beginning, but at that time she was just a lucky little girl who had just arrived, and the villagers would certainly not entrust her with the task of handling this vital food.
She has been in Xinghua Village for almost half a year now, and the people around her have gradually come to accept that Lili seems to be a little lucky star who has come down from heaven to undergo tribulations.
Although Lili knew she wasn't, she was just an ordinary person who had good luck in this life.
But that's not important. What's important is that the people of Xinghua Village have unknowingly accepted that the Shen family has taken in a little girl, and that this little girl is a lucky star.
In addition, everyone's rice has indeed grown much better, and Lili feels that nothing is more convincing than the facts.
Now, everyone can rest assured that they can entrust their land to her, right?
By then, all the rice in Xinghua Village must grow plump and healthy!
Food, food, so much food!
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