Chapter 70 pt 1 (1/2)

Zhao’er said that she wanted to do a big job and it was not just empty talk. The next day she called Jiang Wu, Gao Sheng and others.

Jiang Wu and others were responsible for going out and selling in various villages and towns in Huyang Township while Xue TingRang and others wrote at home. As for Xue Taoer, Sun shi Zhou shi, and others are in charge of logistics at home, and Zhao’er is in charge of deployment.

From the nineteenth of the twelfth lunar month until the twenty-fourth, they finally ran out of nearby villages and sold more than two thousand sets of couplets. There were also countless blessing characters and scattered spring couplets. Xue TingRang and the others were the most tired, almost always writing from early to dark, resting for a while when tired and then continuing after rest. Everyone is in a hurry because this is all money to be made.

Zhao’er can’t do anything else, so she can only make it up for the few people by cooking at home.

During this period, the other members of the Xue family were also curious about what these people were doing in the second family house every day. They rushed in curiously to take a look only to realize that the spring festival couplets that were raging outside were actually made by the second family.

Recently, couplets are popular. In the past, if anyone wanted the couplets, they had to ask the scholars in the village to write them. Every year by writing Spring Festival couplets, Xue Qingshan can get a lot of wine and meat. When you ask for something, you always have to give something in return, usually a jar of home-brewed wine or a piece of meat.

But this year was surprising. No one asked. Xue Qingshan was still wondering about this. Later, after inquiring about it, he found that some people in the village sold Spring Festival couplets this year, and the person selling Spring Festival couplets was the Jiang family.

Xue Qingshan was annoyed and curious. What he was curious about was where the Jiang family got the Spring Festival couplets. There were no scholars in their family. He specially found a pair to see that the calligraphy was just as good as his. Naturally, he was so angry that he couldn’t get the benefits this year. With Widow Xue, he also promised to give the other party New Year’s goods.

Now that the wine and meat are gone, can’t it be bought with the silver? But he has no money. The purse is cleaner than his face.

Whoever thought that the one who made trouble to the end and robbed him of his own business turned out to be his own family.

Okay, you second family!. Those two little bastards are always going against him!

It’s a pity that no one helped Xue Qingshan this time. It goes without saying that the third family and fourth family stood behind the second family. As for them, Father Xue and Zhao shi did not ask for money but for the harmony of the family. Although Zhao shi is biased, this time her favorite grandson is also included in this. Naturally, she will not turn against her grandson. Not to mention Yang shi, who seems to have given into Xue Juncai.

Especially when Xue Juncai came back with money. He did a day’s work, and the next evening, Zhaoer allocated the money to him. The next day, because of the abundant manpower, they ran around a lot of villages, and everyone was given two liang.

This was the first time Xue Juncai made money. Needless to say, his excitement was self-evident. He also knew that his mother had a prejudice against the second family, so he showed it to Yang shi when he got the money.

Regardless of how complicated Yang shi’s mood is, she never objected to her son going to work for the second family anymore. She didn’t ask for Xue Juncai’s money either. No matter how badly she needed it and even though the Chinese New Year was about to come and the family hadn’t bought anything yet. After all, this was her son’s first money.

However, Xue Juncai forced it on her. He knew that there was no money in the family, and all the money in the family had been spent on him. Of course, his father had taken a lot of it too.

“Mother, you take the money to buy things for the Chinese New Year. You can’t always let grandma give us money. After all, grandma doesn’t have any money.” Yes, the old couple are almost drained of money in their hands now even though the harvest was good this autumn and they also collected a lot of grain, but once the taxes were paid, there was only enough left for seeds and rations the next year, and there was not much left.

Especially this year’s harvest, the price of flour is cheap. They finally sold their harvest for two taels of silver, but Xue Qingshan took it saying it was needed for Xue Juncai’s tuition next year.

This was told to Xue Juncai by Yang shi, just to save him from worrying about tuition, but Xue Juncai knew that Xue Qingshan must have been lying, and the money must have been spent on Widow Xue. Therefore, this year’s eldest family’s New Year’s goods have not yet been organised. Only when the pigs are killed to divide the meat and keep some for their own food, the rest can be sold for money in order to buy other New Year’s goods.

Seeing that Yang shi was still talking about waiting to kill the pigs, Xue Juncai said, “Just take it, and the next time I get the salary from Sister Zhao’er, I will save it myself.”

Yang shi only accepted it then.

From the 24th onwards, people in the village started to kill pigs, and the ice and snow outside could not stop the villagers’ enthusiasm for killing pigs. It’s not easy for country folks to eat meat, so they can only eat it when they kill pigs during the New Year.

But this big feast is actually only a saying. Next year’s money for meat, children’s clothes, and needles and cloth will be taken from this pork money. Therefore, even if people kill the pigs, they will only keep enough for the New Year, and the others will be sold to the villagers who do not raise pigs at home.

Father Xue had long been to the neighboring village to make an appointment with the butcher. By this day, the Xue family got busy early in the morning.