The heavy bell tolls opened layer by layer in the dark night, representing the arrival of a new year. Lin Qingwen lifted her eyelids and pulled herself out of her drowsy sleep, "The New Year has arrived..."

  Lin Yuhu rubbed his eyes and woke up, outside had already started to fire firecrackers, Old Zhongbo hurried in with a bow, "Young lady, sister, we should also set off firecrackers."

  "Then just let it go."

  Lin Qingwan led Lin Yubin out and personally lit a string of firecrackers, then handed the incense to Lin Yubin, "You also come to light one."

  Lin Yuhbin's eyes sparkled with excitement and a bit of nervousness as she cautiously approached, it was her first time lighting firecrackers, so she tried three times before succeeding.

  As soon as the firecrackers exploded, she jumped back and covered her ears with a big smile.

  The aunt and niece covered their ears together, shoulder to shoulder, watching them set off fireworks, both of them letting out a big sigh of relief in their hearts.

  New year new atmosphere, everything will be better next year!

  The two girls slept soundly in the same quilt, and the next day they were awakened by the noisy cries of "wa wa" outside.

  Lin Qingwan struggled to get up, and Bai Mei came in to attend to her, smiling softly: "Young lady, the children outside have come back three times."

  Lin Qingwan asked dazedly, "What are you doing here?"

  "Come to pay New Year's greetings! Just got some candies and haven't even kowtowed to Grandma and the sisters yet."

  Lin Qingwan got a headache, "Isn't this too early?"

  Bai Mei suppressed a smile and said, "It's getting late, in another hour it will be time for lunch."

  Lin Qingwan only then discovered that outside was sunny and bright, with the sun already high in the sky.

  She sighed and turned around to push Lin Yubin: "Don't sleep anymore, or you won't be able to sleep tonight."

  Lin Yuhbin rarely overslept, so he simply wrapped himself in the quilt and curled up into a cocoon, his entire head buried under the covers.

  Lin Qingwan twitched the corner of her mouth, resignedly got out of bed to dress and wash up. "Have someone prepare the red envelopes, bring the children in, I'll give them out."

  Lin Qingwan's generation is still considered high, but there are those higher than her who are also younger than her.

  For example, a four-year-old boy, wearing white clothes, hiding behind a pillar, staring at her with wide eyes.

  Lin Qingwan was giving red envelopes to the children in the last row who were kowtowing to her, when she looked up and saw him, and couldn't help but wave and smile: "Come over quickly, why are you hiding there?"

  Lao Zhongbo took a glance and whispered in her ear, "Young lady, that's the child of a side branch, not even in line for inheritance. However, he's from the same generation as Old Master, so you should call him Uncle."

  Like Liu Shu and others who were separated from the direct line by five degrees of mourning attire, boys were still placed together in order of birth, and those not placed together had more distant blood ties.

  But they are just living in the same Linjiazhuang village, and their ancestors are from the same ancestor, there is not much relationship, and the generation can only be seen by the word generation.

  This four-year-old kid is obviously of high generation.

  But it's always been that juniors give seniors a head bow and ask for lucky money, no wonder this kid is hiding behind the pillar and not coming forward.

  Lin Qingwan got up and went to pull him, smiling: "Niece is giving her younger uncle a salute." She took the thickest red envelope from Bai Mei and stuffed it into his hand, laughing: "This is the niece's filial piety to you, take it and go have fun."

  The child shrank back and said timidly: "No, Mother will scold."

  Lin Qingwan was taken aback for a moment, then hugged him and laughed: "You just tell your mother that this is a gift from her niece, she won't hit you."

  Then patted his head and said: "Go back quickly, it's time for lunch soon."

  The child hesitated for a moment, clutching the red envelope, then ran off with it.

  Lao Zhongbo sighed and said, "He's also a pitiful one. His father passed away two years ago due to illness, and they had to sell all their land to pay for the medical expenses. Now they can only make ends meet by relying on his mother doing laundry work for others. As he is of high birth, every year during Chinese New Year, many mischievous kids would run to their house to kowtow to his mother, and she would have to prepare red envelopes for them. Although each envelope only contains a couple of cents, the total expenses add up. But with their situation, it's all expenditure and no income..."

  Lao Zhongbo shook his head and said, "In our clan, families as poor as theirs make money during the New Year. Only their family is an exception. Last year, this child was only three years old and didn't understand things. He followed the other children to kowtow and pay respects, but a woman from the third house ridiculed his mother, saying she was so eager for money that she had her uncle kowtow to her nephew... His mother was furious and beat him in front of everyone. This year, he must have been specially reminded, so..."

  Lin Qingwan felt a pang in her heart as she recalled the time when she was a child, her grandfather had taken her to her father's house for Chinese New Year. The people who came to pay their respects were all secretly and excitedly glancing at her, but no one dared to talk to her. She sat alone on one end of the sofa, while the opposite side was bustling with activity, yet she felt as if she was trapped in a small corner, unable to escape, and those inside couldn't come out either.

  Lao Zhongbo saw Lin Qingwan's face was solemn and her expression was somewhat off, so he hastily called out: "Eldest Miss?"

  Lin Qingwan snapped back to reality and forced a smile, asking "Isn't there anyone in your clan who can help?"

  "Naturally, every year they would receive a share of grain from the village, and before the Spring Festival, they would also receive assistance with grain. However, the mother and daughter had not even an inch of land to their name, and as a widow and orphan, those things were just a drop in the bucket."

  "What's his mother's name?"

  Lao Zhongbo furrowed his brow and thought for a moment, "His maternal family name seems to be Lu? Everyone calls her Er Yun's mother, but I've forgotten what her surname is."

  Lin Qingwan nodded, "We, the elder rooms, aren't we also supposed to allocate some things to support the poor and widowed in our clan? To add more thickness to their households."

  "The goods have already been sent."

  "Just repeat it again." Old Zhong Bo was in charge of the main house's affairs and also managed this side of more than 300 mu of small farmland. The output was used to manage and repair the main house, so the annual income was not recorded in the account book.

  Lao Zhongbo was loyal and honest, never embezzling or misusing those things. Except for taking out a portion each year to repair the main house, he stored the rest away, then sold the old grain at the autumn harvest of the second year to exchange it for new grain.

  So there was a lot of grain in the granary of the main house, and since she had made up her mind to get along with her relatives, she naturally wouldn't begrudge this bit of grain.

  Lao Zhongbo also understood and turned around to make arrangements.

  Only when the relationship between the master and the clan is more harmonious will the master often come back to live.

  Lao Zhongbo led his son to move out the grain, divide it well, and send it to each family with his daughter-in-law. "We should often mention our master's kindness, we don't expect them to repay us, but they should know the favor."

  His daughter-in-law responded with a "yes" and asked in a low voice: "When is the young lady planning to check out?"

  Lao Zhongbo smiled happily and said in a low voice: "We should be able to stay until the seventh."

  Lin Qingwen and Lin Yuhong have to observe filial piety, so even during Chinese New Year, they cannot visit others to pay their respects. At most, they can only let people send over prepared gifts.

  Apart from the elders in the clan, there were also the Shang family, Lu family and Zhou Cishi in the city, and even Zhao Sheng who was still in Suzhou had a share of New Year's gifts.

  No matter how you fight with each other, on the surface, the two families are still relatives by marriage, and as long as they have a connection, they won't turn against each other.

  Of course, these people also have gifts in return.

  Because Lin Qingwan and Lin Yuhbin were spending the New Year in their old home, the gifts from each family were also sent to the old home.

  Moreover, every day in the clan, there are people coming to pay New Year's greetings to the two sisters, and the main house is bustling with activity, making it lively.

  It's been busy until the fifth day of Chinese New Year. All those who should have come to pay their respects have done so, and all the gifts that were supposed to be given out and received have made a round trip.

  Lin Qingwan watched as the accountant entered the items into the ledger, and only then did she feel a sense of relief wash over her. She turned to Lin Yubin and said, "When the weather warms up, we'll go live in the western suburban villa for a while, take a walk on the green paths, and see how the spring rain brings out the new shoots."

  "I'll listen to my little sister."

  "Madam, Zhong the steward has arrived," Bai Feng brought over the tea and reported: "Also, the third wife of the second house is here with two children. She says she wants to pay her respects to you, but I think she doesn't look like she's here to pay respects, rather like she's come to collect a debt. Old Zhong has blocked them outside."

  "Lin Guanjia isn't at home, let him handle it, don't let Old Zhong bear the blame, invite Clock Da to take charge instead."

  Zhong Daguan came to report on the Jiatian matter, "I've already talked to the original tenant and we're keeping the land rented to them at the same price. We'll take care of the taxes. The notice for recruiting tenants is still posted at the west city gate and people have been spreading the word, but so far only 22 households have signed up. There's still a lot of good land that hasn't been claimed. Spring plowing will start in two or three months and we need to get the fields ready...

  Lin Qingwan said: "If it can't be rented out, just hire long and short workers. Aren't there many idle labor forces in the city? This matter is not urgent, how did you ask Lin Quan?"

  Zhong Daguan paused for a moment before saying, "I've sounded out his views, that young man is not honest, he can't bear hardships and has long been unwilling to stay in the old mansion. He wants to go manage a shop instead, but now we only have a few bookstores left, how can we let him manage a bookstore?"

  It's not that Zhong Daguang looks down on Lin Quan, but the other party is really arrogant and incompetent, and is not suitable for being a manager. If the master wants to promote him to repay his loyalty to Lao Zhongbo, then he is wrong.