In the afternoon, when Shen and Zeng Ruixiang returned, Zi Qing only knew that there were no other guests at her aunt's house. The maternal family had one table, and the paternal family had one table with the married sister and brother, and there was no outsider. It was said to be a treat, but in fact, there was not even a decent dish for the child's birthday banquet. Shen smiled and sighed, "Next time, it will be even harder to find someone to accompany me to your aunt's house." After finishing speaking, she deliberately glared at Zeng Ruixiang and covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.

  Zi Qing saw Lao Die hum a sound, and he went out with a flick of his hand. He quickly pulled Lao Niang to ask for details. It turned out that the watermelon in Chun Yu's family had almost no harvest. The villagers' customs were not good, theft was rampant, and this year's drought reduced the yield. Their family's watermelons were picked by people before they even grew up.

  Tian's inquiry led to Chunyu bursting into tears and Yan Renda starting to scold. Tian naturally couldn't bear to see his daughter heartbroken, knowing that his younger son's family had bought a barren mountain and their days were getting better and better, completely disregarding the difficulties of his own sister, and took the opportunity to reprimand his son a few times. Shen was still indifferent, having heard too much, her ears were numb. Zeng Rui Xiang couldn't take it anymore, as a scholar's face is thin, and his mother's nagging had no end, all saying unreasonable demands, but he didn't dare to argue with his mother like Zeng Rui Qing did. If not for waiting for the old master and others together, Shen would have wanted to return home long ago.

  After Zeng Ruixiang stormed out of the house, he thought about the dry land at home and came over to take a look. He found that the sweet potatoes were ripe and saw that the four acres of sweet potatoes would definitely have a bumper harvest. His mood gradually calmed down, and he couldn't help but feel grateful to Shen Shi, glad that he had married a good woman.

  The three old ladies' five sons first harvested the sweet potatoes from their own home, with a good yield, and sold a large portion to exchange for food. They were grateful for Shen's kindness in sending seeds, so they came over voluntarily to help Zeng Rui-xiang busy for two days, harvesting all the sweet potatoes from the four-acre land. The sweet potatoes at Zi Qing's home had already sprouted, so they helped with the planting for another two days. Of course, when they returned home, they didn't forget to cultivate seedlings for another batch.

  The days passed quickly to July 15th, Zeng Rui Xiang and Zi Fu sent a basket of sweet potatoes to Lao Fang Na's house, bidding farewell as the holiday came to an end. In the evening, the whole family sat in the study, all feeling a bit reluctant to part ways. Zi Qing and several others surrounded Zi Fu, listening to him talk about his experiences and interesting stories from school. Shen Shi was somewhat distracted while finishing up her embroidery work, having spent nearly half a year completing this piece, "Children at Play". Shen Shi had originally wanted to sell it, but Zeng Rui Xiang wouldn't allow it, saying it should be placed on the screen in their bedroom, where it would be appreciated as a fine thing.

  Shen put down the embroidery and discussed with Zeng Ruixiang, whether to buy some paddy fields or a shop in the city. After thinking for a while, Zeng Ruixiang said: "Why not buy some paddy fields? This drought is severe, I reckon there will be people selling their paddy fields. Let's not buy dry land, no one will take care of it and it won't be easy to rent out. Besides, our new courtyard still has ten mu of barren land, enough for us to manage ourselves. If we buy paddy fields, we can rent them out to others to farm, and in a year, we can at least harvest three dan of rice and half a dan of rapeseed."

  Shen's family agreed, and Ziqing knew that his parents must have a lot to say, so he excused himself and returned to his room early. Zifeng also reminded Zilu and Ziqing to disperse after half a day.

  See off Zeng Ruixiang and others, Shen Shi and Zi Qing went to the city together. One is to deliver a message to Zhou Zhanggui, sell potatoes, and the other is to go to the middle person's place to see if there are any fields for sale.

  Zi Qing is a directionally-challenged person, and her mother isn't much better. The two of them spent half the day wandering around the city before finally finding the middleman's place from that day. They didn't run into any familiar faces from last time, and after asking around, they couldn't find any suitable paddy fields - either they were too far away, or too remote, and also too scattered. The Shen family wanted to buy the paddy fields together, which would make collecting rent more convenient. It seems like this trip was a waste of time, and the mother-daughter duo left feeling somewhat disheartened.

  Unexpectedly, when I arrived at the grocery store, Zhou Zhuang said that due to drought, grain production has decreased and potato prices have risen. One catty of potatoes increased by one cent, and Zhou Zhuang also said that there is a lot in stock, take as much as you want. Zi Qing thought that her family had just harvested 7,000 or 8,000 catties of potatoes, and before winter, they could harvest more than 10,000 catties, so this year's income from selling potatoes would be considerable.

  Not only did Zhixin bring prosperity to his family, but also brought a bit of wealth to many of his relatives, and in his heart, he still felt a small sense of accomplishment, which was good news.

  Who would have thought that when the two returned home, Mrs. He said that someone had come to look for them earlier, seemingly wanting to sell some land or other, and after waiting for nearly half an hour without seeing Mr. Shen return, they left, saying they would come again in the evening. Upon hearing this, Mrs. Shen didn't even bother to cook a proper dinner, instead waiting anxiously to see who it was that wanted to sell what land, which led Mrs. He to tease her for still being so anxious at her age.

  The sky was not yet dark, and someone came to the door. It was a farming household from the village, whose paddy field was adjacent to Zi Qing's family. Because the old mother in their house was ill, and this year's harvest was not good, they wanted to sell one mu of paddy field to get through the current difficulties. Although it was only one mu of paddy field, it was next to their own house, and they urgently needed money to save a life. Shen immediately agreed, and they made an appointment to go to the town government office to handle the formalities the next day.

  Zi Qing saw that the family's affairs were getting more and more complicated, so she advised Shen Shi to hire a long-term worker or something. Shen Shi said she didn't like having outsiders living in the house, besides there weren't any adult males in the house, it was just not convenient. Zi Qing listened and only then realized that she had been too simplistic in her thinking, so she stopped interfering with these household matters.

  Although Shen didn't listen to Zi Qing's words and hire a long-term worker, he also considered that he really didn't have the ability to cultivate, so he rented out these two mu of paddy fields to Zeng Ruiyu. They agreed that every year, for the second season, they would hand over six shi of glutinous rice and one shi of rape seeds, because the paddy fields needed to be rested in rotation. The rest depended on how well he managed it himself. This way, his own family wouldn't have to worry about not having enough fertilizer either. Originally, the yield per mu of paddy field here was around 500 jin, and two seasons could reach 1,000 jin. Generally, tenants would take six tenths, but in years of disaster or drought, it would be a different story.

  The sky is slowly cooling down, and the days are slipping away into August. Zhou Tianqing came to send gifts for the festival, so he took Xia Yu back with him, and also took his father-in-law and mother-in-law to stay at their place for a few days. Tian heard this and was overjoyed, as she had always been worried about her second daughter not living well. This time, she could go see for herself, and there's no reason not to be happy. Because the small road is not easy to walk on, Old Master Zeng planned to take a detour via Anzhou Prefecture by ox cart. From Anzhou Prefecture to Qiaocun, there is a section of official road, and Qiaocun is only three miles away from the official road, so Tian and Xia Yu can both make it down. However, this way, it's equivalent to walking along two right angles of a triangle, and it will take almost a whole day's effort on the road.

  Shen's family prepared some food and a basket of eggs to send to Tian's family. Autumn Jade didn't want to go, saying she wanted to stay home and take care of the house, but Tian wasn't at ease, so he had Zi Qing go over in the evening to keep her company. Even though Zi Qing was unwilling in her heart, there was nothing she could do about it.