Chapter 270 Chapter 271: Taking turns
Chen Ping smiled and looked at Yang Chunyan's sisters-in-law, "Chunyan, Huaizhong and I have discussed it and we are also planning to lease some mountain land. When the time comes, I will ask your family Huai'an to cultivate the land and give you a more favorable price!"
Yang Chunyan nodded readily, "Yes, just let me know when it's done."
Li Yinfu felt jealous when he saw the others talking so excitedly, "Guilan, I'm afraid you never dreamed that the youngest would become the first in the village. This is a great honor for you!"
Before Zhou's mother could say anything, Aunt Zhou took over the conversation, "Sister-in-law, you used to say that the youngest son brought shame to the Zhou family. Now that the youngest son has done well, he has brought honor to us!"
Aunt Zhou nodded awkwardly, "Yes!"
Mother Zhou smiled and picked some vegetables for them, "Eat vegetables, eat vegetables!"
After eating, Yang Chunyan went to the kitchen to clean the soaked white fungus, added water into a jar, placed it on the earthen stove in front of the stove, took some charcoal from the stove and stewed the white fungus in the stove.
The party at the table in the main room lasted two hours before they finished eating.
Yang Weimin talked to Yang Chunyan for a while, then stood up and said, "Huaian has no problem driving the tractor, so I'll go back."
Yang Chunyan hurriedly said: "Brother, you stay here for one night and go back tomorrow morning!"
"Yeah, just stay here for one night, I'll take you there tomorrow!"
"No!" Yang Weimin looked at Zhou Huaian, "Remember what I said to you this morning. If there's anything you don't understand, take a look at the notes I gave you."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian agreed and said, "When we move to the new house, you must come and stay for a few days."
"I will definitely come when the time comes."
Yang Chunyan hurried to get him some boiled water to drink on the way.
Father Zhou and his men saw Secretary Xu off and were about to go to work in the earthen kiln. When they came back and saw Yang Weimin was about to leave, they hurriedly said, "Weimin, it's a rare trip for you, so stay here for a few more days before leaving."
Yang Weimin smiled and shook his head, "Uncle Nian, Huai'an has learned almost everything, and I am ready to go back."
The old man smiled and tried to keep the guest company. "I've been busy all morning and haven't even had a good rest. Why don't you stay here for two more days?"
Yang Weimin smiled and said, "When the beams are put up, we will come again."
When Zhou's mother saw that he was about to leave, she hurriedly got a can of rapeseed oil and ten pounds of sweet potato flour she had made last year, put them in Yang Chunyan's backpack and hung them on the back seat of the bicycle.
The family sent him to the door, and Yang Chunyan and her partner sent him to the main road. They watched him pedal away on his bicycle before returning.
Zhou Huaian said: "Yan'er, Ding Ding Mao said he wanted to make some furniture for us."
"How can that be so embarrassing?"
"I said no, but he told me to take the sewing machine back." Zhou Huaian spread his hands, "I can't do anything about his stubborn temper!"
"When he's reclaiming wasteland, you go and help plow the land."
"That's what I was planning too." Zhou Huaian looked at her, "You go and have a look at the wasteland. I'll go help Ding Ding Mao move the wood out of the woodshed."
Yang Chunyan nodded and said, "I'll go home and get a hoe to dig some lantern grass. Those are also herbs."
"Yes! You see, I haven't been into the mountains to look for herbs during this period. I've been selling dried herbs. I make so little money a day, and I don't even spend as much as I do."
"We have to plow the land. The autumn harvest is coming soon, and we have to go up the mountain to collect Magnolia officinalis seeds!"
"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian thought of the basket left at Zhou Yiding's house and looked at her with a smile, "Yan'er, we have brought back the things that we asked Doctor Xiao Wang to buy."
"Where is it? I didn't see you bring it back at noon!"
"I left it at Yiding's house. I'll bring it back after work this afternoon."
"Um!"
"I want to start teaching my third brother and the others how to drive a tractor after I come back from Ding Ding Mao, so that we can learn how to do it and go up the mountain with Ding Ding Mao to the southeast forest to have a look."
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan agreed and returned home. She saw Zhao Huifang and others peeling sweet potatoes and preparing to grind pink sweet potatoes into starch. "Sister-in-law, let's go to the mountain to pick lantern fruits and dig lantern grass."
Zhao Huifang looked up and asked, "Lantern grass is also a herb?"
"Yeah! So are the lantern fruits."
"Yes!" Zhao Huifang and the other two quickly peeled the sweet potatoes in their hands, put them in a large wooden basin, and went to pack up and prepare to go up the mountain.
Yang Chunyan went to the kitchen. "Mom, I've stewed some white fungus in the earthen stove. You can make some brown sugar water later. Do you still have the slaked lime I bought from Dr. Wang last time?"
Mother Zhou took out a bowl from the cupboard and said, "There is still half a bowl left, enough for making ice jelly."
Yang Chunyan looked at it and nodded, "Then my sisters-in-law and I will go up the mountain."
The four sisters-in-law carried their backpacks and wore straw hats and went out towards the wasteland. As soon as they reached the main road, they met Xiong Dahai's wife Zhou Sufang and her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law walking towards them.
When the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law saw Yang Chunyan and her companions, they thought of the brand new tractor and the bricks and tiles piled up like a small hill on the mountain. Then they remembered what Ma Changgui said about cows having bezoar in their stomachs, and they felt as uncomfortable as if they were being scratched by a cat.
If it weren’t for Zhou Laoyao, his family would have had bezoar, a brick house, a tractor... all of which would have been theirs.
Xiong Da's wife glared at Yang Chunyan and said, "Shame on you! You clearly got the advantage, but you still go around saying that my family is evil-hearted and that the sick cow asked him to pay for the healthy cow."
Xiong Er's wife agreed, "That's right. In just a few months, we were originally extremely poor, but all of a sudden, we had to build a kiln, repair the house, and buy a tractor..."
"If you had any shame, you wouldn't have brought the sick cow to my house and forced my parents-in-law to pay for a healthy cow." Yang Chunyan interrupted her and smiled at the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. "God sees what we do. When God sees that my Zhou family has suffered a great loss, he will give justice to my family."
Li Qiuyue took over and said, "That's right. My family renovated the house and bought the tractor with our own hard-earned money. Unlike some shameless people, they extorted 450 yuan of our hard-earned money and took a penny home to buy a bicycle, approve the foundation and build the house."
If I wasn't afraid of you guys biting me, my family would have divided the money long ago and bought each of you a tractor to make you mad!
"Li Qiuyue, what nonsense are you talking about?" Zhou Sufang said with a dark face, looking at Yang Chunyan, "Your youngest son chased my cow off a ridge and killed it, shouldn't you compensate my family for it?"
Yang Chunyan asked back: "Didn't my family compensate your family? You took the money and the signed receipt is still in my house!"
Zhao Huifang: "Exactly. When your old bear got the money, we were so happy that we almost broke our faces with laughter."
Xiong Er's wife pointed at her and said, "Ms. Zhao, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Stop pointing fingers at me!" Zhao Huifang slapped her hand away. "I didn't say a single word wrongly to you. Your son said it himself at school. The old bears and their sons started shouting as soon as they entered the main hall. Fortunately, there was Zhou Laoyao, the prodigal son and the sucker. He sold the sick cow for the money of the healthy cow!"
Mrs. Xiong stepped forward and pointed at her, "What I sold to you was not a diseased cow, but a precious cow. How dare you say that your family didn't make a fortune by relying on my bezoar to repair the house and buy a tractor?
(End of this chapter)
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