Upon hearing this, Granny Zhang, who had come over to join in the fun, immediately offered enthusiastically, "Village Chief, I have nothing to do, I'll help them clean up!"
The village chief glanced at her unhappily and snorted, "When the village spends money on things, we naturally want to find people who are quick and efficient. I wouldn't dare hire a lazy woman like you!"
Granny Zhang was known throughout the village for her laziness, but she was also the one who loved to take shortcuts. Naturally, she liked to come out and cause trouble at this time.
He Jiuniang glanced at her silently and made a mental note of it. This woman was notoriously lazy and liked to use her cunning to take advantage of others. There was no need to befriend her in the future.
Granny Zhang never expected the village chief to expose her like this in front of the newcomer. She felt embarrassed and ashamed, especially since the others were laughing at her with glee. Even the thickest skin couldn't withstand the shame, and she slunk away with her head down.
After that, no one spoke. The village chief said, "I will consider the selection carefully. I know how everyone has performed in the village. Those selected will each receive five coins. Those not selected will have opportunities in the future if they perform well. Over the years, everyone knows that I have always been fair in my dealings. If you have any opinions, you can raise them now. Anyone who dares to gossip behind my back will be dealt with!"
The village chief's face was very stern when he said this, and he managed to keep the villagers in line. It seems that the village chief is quite capable, otherwise he would not be able to manage such a large village.
After everyone settled on their chosen locations, they paid the village chief six months' rent upfront. Knowing they were eager to settle in, the village chief immediately arranged for several honest and hardworking people to help with cleaning and repairs.
Then, the remaining group went to see the homestead.
They first looked at a small plot of land, about five-tenths of an acre. Several families decided to build a few mud-brick and thatched houses to live in first, and then think of other ways to make money later.
This would require a lot of thatch, and since they would be building a thatched hut that very night, the village chief, remembering He Jiuniang's request, said to the villagers, "Anyone who has dried thatch can bring it to sell to the Lu family; they need a lot of thatch."
Someone immediately asked, "How much can it sell for? We're not willing to pay too low!"
The village chief subconsciously looked at He Jiuniang, who smiled and said, "Just follow the usual price, we won't let anyone suffer a loss."
With that said, the village chief said, "Alright, the price of dried thatch is usually two coins a bundle, so let's sell it at that price. Take as much as you have at home!"
Every household has thatch, since roofs need repairs or fire starters, so everyone has some left over. Now that they heard they were going to buy some, they stopped watching and ran home to get thatch to exchange for money.
At first, everyone was not very welcoming to them, but seeing how much money they made for the village as soon as they arrived, everyone immediately stopped caring about those things. This was the first time they had seen new villagers who didn't argue over the land. Such people are hard to find. If it were someone else, who knows how much more trouble they would have caused!
As a result, without the Lu family's knowledge, their image in the hearts of the Anping villagers improved considerably.
When everyone finally saw that Old Man Lu's family had bought two acres of land for their homestead, their eyes lit up. It turned out they were really rich, buying two acres of land so easily.
Just as Old Man Lu was hesitating about whether to join everyone in building thatched houses, He Jiuniang pulled Sun Shi and her two sisters-in-law aside to talk: "Mother, in my opinion, since we're going to build houses, let's just build brick houses from the start. Anyway, we have money now, so let's build more rooms. After all, we have many children in the family, and Leizi and the others will be able to get married in a few years. It's very necessary for each of them to have their own room."
Yu and Qin stared intently, for they thought the same thing, but dared not voice their opinions for fear of angering Sun.
Sure enough, the next second Sun was about to hit He Jiuniang's arm, but He Jiuniang was prepared and dodged. Before Sun could curse, she continued, "This is something I've thought about many times. First of all, we need to stay in Anping Village permanently. If we don't want to be bullied by the local villagers, our family needs to flaunt our wealth appropriately so they know that our family is well-off and not easy to bully."
Secondly, it really is a matter of having several children. There are so many children in the family now, my two sisters-in-law are still young, and my younger sister's family also lives with us. It's lively with many people, and who knows, they might give you and Dad a bunch of big, healthy grandchildren in a couple of years. If we don't build it now, we'll definitely have to deal with all the trouble in the future.
Finally, no matter what, we need to keep two guest rooms at home, so that we'll have rooms for guests in the future, right?
As she listened attentively to her words, and seeing that she herself said that Lu Guilan's family should live with them, Madam Sun couldn't help but ask, "Don't you mind that your married sister-in-law is living at her parents' house with her whole family?"
Her original intention was to lend some money to Lu Guilan and the others so they could buy five acres of land to build a house. She wanted to ask everyone's opinion about the loan that evening, but He Jiuniang spoke up first.
“What’s there to worry about? My little sister is my parents’ own daughter. Her in-laws are in trouble. The two young couples don’t know anything yet and need an elder like my mother to help them. It would be best if she lived with us. Of course, this is just my opinion. We still need to ask my little sister and her husband if they are willing. If they are not, we can give them money to build their own house.”
He Jiuniang smiled indifferently. The Lu Guilan family was easy to get along with, and she naturally enjoyed associating with them.
Madam Sun then looked at her two other daughters-in-law and asked, "What do you think?"
Madam Yu and Madam Qin quickly replied, "What my third sister-in-law said is exactly what we were thinking!"
Seeing how well they got along, Mrs. Sun was also happy. They were both born from her womb, so of course she loved her only daughter dearly. She would be happy if she could live with her.
So, Sun nodded and pulled Lu Guilan and Zhang Yong's wife, Shen, to the other side to ask them what they thought.
Sun first explained He Jiuniang's idea and asked them if they were willing. Lu Guilan and Shen were both shocked.
"Did the sisters-in-law really say that?"
Lu Guilan couldn't help but speak up, and Madam Sun glared at her irritably: "Would your old mother lie to you?"
"Then we should ask Father and my two older brothers for their opinions, right?"
Lu Guilan was very tempted, but she still held back from asking.
"What objections could they possibly have?"
Sun glared at her again, clearly displeased. Didn't her daughter know that she was the one in charge of the household?
The old man is her husband, and her eldest and second eldest sons are her sons. How can she not handle them?
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