Zi Qing rushed into her parents' room and shouted, "Dad, Mom, let's slaughter a sheep and eat it. Eating mutton will warm us up on a cold day." She had no idea that she had caused her parents to blush brightly.

  "Mutton? Mutton is still better to eat with a pot, need to use some good ingredients to season it. I'll go to the city tomorrow to take a look, if I can buy a copper pot back that would be great. Today I'll find someone to slaughter the sheep and make some bone soup and cook some mutton intestines to eat, I haven't had this for many years." Zeng Rui Xiang said.

  Zi Qing thought there was still hot pot, and he was worried about how to push out the mutton slices. Father even knew about the mutton offal soup.

  Ziying smiled and went out to prepare things. There were more than 30 sheep at home that could be slaughtered, and there was also a batch of young lambs. Just after giving birth, Ziying wanted to squeeze some sheep's milk to drink, but unfortunately, she didn't know how. She asked Shen Shi, but she didn't know either.

  Zeng Ruixiang went to find Zeng Rui, the eldest son of his third uncle's family, who was a butcher and occasionally helped villagers slaughter pigs. Zeng Ruixiang saw that the weather was gloomy and seemed to be snowing, so he slaughtered two sheep in one breath, each weighing about 30-40 kilograms.

  The two of them brought the sheep from the rape field outside the courtyard wall, and Zeng Rui Xiang divided it into five portions of about three kilograms each. He asked Zeng Fa to take it back and share it with his five younger brothers, and also set aside two portions for Zi Fu to send to the old house. Then he took a knife and slowly cooked the large bones in a pot, while on the other side, hot water was prepared to clean the sheep's intestines. Shen Shi wanted to help, but Zeng Rui Xiang sent her into the house, saying that he was afraid she would think it was dirty and not want to eat.

  Ziying thought that in ancient times, people wouldn't know how to handle internal organs and many female leads relied on selling internal organs to earn a small fortune. But it's clearly not the case here, as previously there were people who gave birth and received pig stomachs. Now, looking at Zeng Ruixiang, he first uses some ice alkali to scrub several times, then rinses with vinegar twice. Ziying is a chemistry major and didn't expect that ancient people would also know about acid-base neutralization, she's very surprised, almost thinking that her own father was also from the future, hastily asking: "Dad, who taught you how to wash internal organs like this?"

  "I saw your aunt washing like this before. I learned from her. She used to follow the master, and they were poor at home. The internal organs of the hunted animals were not thrown away, and the two masters tried many methods, finally finding that washing them like this would eliminate the strange smell, now everyone knows." Zeng Ruixiang said.

  It wasn't. Zi Qing put aside her disappointment and saw that her father had skillfully cleaned all the internal organs, put them in a large pot to cook for a while, then took them out and chopped some more to throw into the bone soup to continue cooking. Shen Shi came out to prepare dinner. Suddenly remembered something.

  "What about the sheep's pelt? You're not going to throw it away, are you?" asked Shen.

  "What can I do? I threw it outside, all bloody and messy, afraid you'd be scared if you saw it. Wait till tomorrow when I go into town to buy some things. I learned from my aunt how to tan hides, once I clean it up, I'll make a rug or a mattress for you."

  "Dad, we need both the carpet and the mattress. Our family has a lot of sheep. But you have to do it properly, don't let them smell bad." Zi Qing didn't quite trust her dad, who was a scholar but could also farm, hunt, and tan hides, and had even traveled far. He was a man of great experience, and his mother had truly found a treasure in him.

  "You're quite nosy. It's fine if you just use it." Shen poked Ziying's head.

  The dinner was very rich, not only was there mutton soup, but Shen also stir-fried a large plate of mutton shreds with dried chili peppers and scallions, which wasn't gamey at all. Zi Qing was worried that someone wouldn't eat it, but as it turned out, everyone else ate more than she did.

  After dinner, the family sat in the hall, Zifu and Zilu were busy writing couplets on the Eight Immortals' table, Shen Shi was making a cotton gown by the brazier, Zi Qing was making a cloak, and Zeng Rui Xiang pointed at Zifu and the others for a while before suddenly asking: "You say where I should open my private school?"

  "Where do you want to open it? Anyway, it's not possible at home." Shen said first.

  "Are we going to build a few more houses? We can't even make ends meet, and now we have to put in our own money. Isn't that a bit inappropriate? And where are we going to build them? The new courtyard's melon patch?" Zeng Rui Xiang asked.

  "That's not good, who knows what kind of people will come? Looking at our family's large patch of melon fields and fruit trees, it's hard to guarantee that there won't be anyone with envy, and those with envy will have crooked thoughts, that would be a loss." What Shen said was exactly what everyone was worried about.

  Besides, once the private school is opened, the children from my elder sister's family will definitely come to study here, and I don't like them," said Zi Qing.

  "Dad, then let's buy another piece of wasteland. I think the one at the village head is not bad. That year we wanted to buy it but thought it was too small and it's also a distance from here, just right." Zi Fu suggested.

  "It costs twenty or thirty taels of silver to buy land and build a house. What if I fail to attract students and can't make it for two years? Wouldn't that be a waste?" Zeng Rui Xiang still hesitated.

  "What a waste! The land is occupied, and it's still close to the town. There are at least two or three mu of land, which can be used for the children's marriage in the future." said Shen Shi.

  Mr. Shen's words dispelled Zeng Ruixiang's last doubts, and Zeng Ruixiang planned to go find Li Zheng the next day to settle this matter, so he could rest his mind early.

  The land purchase went very smoothly, and Li Zhengyi was even more enthusiastic when he heard that it was for a private school for the children in the village. He calculated the nearly three mu of wasteland as two and a half mu, and after obtaining the deed, Zeng Rui Xiang still went to find Luo Shifu, whose family's house and courtyard wall were all built by him.

  Lao Shifu heard that it would take only seven or eight days to build a simple three-room house with green bricks. Fortunately, the winter in the south was not freezing, and the foundation could still be dug easily. Zeng Rui Xiang deliberated for two days and decided to build a courtyard wall after all; otherwise, when the children were studying inside, people outside would gather to watch, affecting their concentration. As soon as Zi Qing heard about building the courtyard wall, she strongly requested planting over ten peach trees inside, so that when the peach blossoms bloomed, the children could sit by the window and gaze at the falling petals outside, full of poetic charm.

  "You understand what? You only recognize a few characters, and you're being poetic? Just say you're naughty and be done with it." Shen said with a smile, teasing her daughter.

  Who would have thought that Zeng Ruixiang listened with his eyes closed, imagining himself reciting poetry in a peach blossom grove. Scholars are always a bit romantic, and he suddenly felt a strong desire, saying: "What do you know? It's better to listen to Qing'er, I think we should plant more trees, fill the empty space in the courtyard. When the peach blossoms bloom, you'll go see them and understand how beautiful they are."

  "I think it's great too. Reciting poetry in the peach garden is what many scholars yearn for, and who knows, maybe we can even attract a few more kids," said Zifeng.

  Just in time, Zi Qing had cultivated a batch of peach trees last year and planned to transplant them to the new courtyard after the warm weather, now they are just in use.

  A few days ago, the house and yard were finally completed. The tables, chairs, and door frames can only be made by Master Xu's apprentices after the New Year, which won't take long. Zeng Rui Xiang felt that he could finally relax and celebrate the New Year properly. He accompanied Shen Shi on a trip to Anzhou, bought all the New Year's goods, and returned with Zi Fu to send New Year's gifts to the old house. Shen Shi asked him to bring all the finished cotton robes and jackets.

  Zeng Ruixiang was in the past, Qiu Yu was also coming over to send New Year's gifts, and Zeng Ruixing's whole family was there. Zeng Ruixiang handed the clothes to Tian Shi, but Tian Shi didn't even crack a smile, unlike usual when she would always be smiling whenever she saw something. Zeng Ruixiang found it very strange.