The next day, after Zifu returned home, Zilu also followed him to the state school. Ziqing thought of that family and took some vegetables to go take a look and greet Shen Shi. Since Lin Kangping was accompanying her, Shen Shi didn't hold her back, only instructing her with one sentence: "Leave early and return early."

  Tzu-ching thought for a moment, then picked up paper and pen, and came to Ling-shang Village with Lin K'ang-p'ing. Tzu-ching stood outside the gate and said: "Two words should be written here, 'Orange Garden'. From now on, this place will specialize in growing oranges. What do you think?"

  "It's up to you, whatever you say is fine. I'm really not good at farming, when I have time, you can teach me."

  The two of them entered the gate, and the family was sitting idly. Lin Kangping led Zi Qing over and said: "This is your future mistress, when I'm not around, you'll all have to find her if something comes up, from now on, you'll all have to listen to her orders."

  "Yes." The couple bowed their heads respectfully and replied in unison.

  "I'd like to know where you're from, how old you are and what you used to do at home?" asked Zi Qing.

  The two were originally from Lianshan County near Changzhou, and their family made a living by farming. The Wang family was poor, and Wang Tieshan, who is 25 this year, was the eldest son in the family. His biological mother died giving birth to him due to difficult labor, and his stepmother gave birth to several more children. From a young age, he was neglected and unloved. After much difficulty, he finally got married and had children, but his stepmother refused to divide the household and instead relied on this couple to do farm work. This year, there was a severe drought, and she complained that they were eating too much, and since the younger ones in the family had grown up, she drove them out of the house.

  "I usually do general farm work at home. My wife mainly cooks, raises chickens, feeds pigs and grows vegetables." Wang Tieshan replied.

  Zi Qing saw the hands of these two people and indeed they were hands that had been working hard for many years, so she asked: "Are you willing to sign a dead contract or are you willing to sign a living contract?"

  The two of them looked up at Zi Qing, not understanding what she meant. Zi Qing had no choice but to explain: "A dead contract means that your whole family sells themselves to us, while a live contract means that you two, at the very least, sell yourselves to me for ten years and work for me for ten years without any body price, just paying you wages. After ten years, if you want to leave, you must inform me in advance. Of course, I welcome those who are willing to stay long-term." Zi Qing was still a modern person at heart, hoping that everyone would be equal, and thinking of Lin Kangping's experience, she decided to give this family's children some hope.

  "We'd better sign a labor contract, don't worry, my wife and I will work hard, we can endure hardships, any hardship. When the children grow up, let them find their own way out. We'll be grateful for your kindness all our lives." Wang Tieshan heard that he didn't have to sell himself, but could stay and work for wages, and hastily nodded in agreement to do a good job.

  Lin Kangping wrote the contract and said: "Let's sign for ten years first, so we don't need to go to the government office to file. Your monthly salary is one tael of silver, you can grow your own vegetables in this courtyard to eat, and raise chickens later. You can also eat chicken eggs freely, if you do well, I'll give you a red envelope with two taels of silver at the end of the year." After finishing speaking, he asked the two men to press their handprints.

  Ziying handed over half a dollar and said: "This month just arrived, you also need to settle down, first give you half a dollar, and then every month on the first day, pay last month's wages. This month I will find something for you to do, to make up for it. By the way, your family head should go out with us to buy some farm tools." Then asked Wang Tieshan what tools were needed to dig tree holes, and took him to the blacksmith shop to buy pickaxes, hoes, iron shovels and other things.

  After sending Wang Tieshan back to the Orange Garden, Zi Qing and Lin Kangping returned home. Zi Qing found a large wooden board, had Lin Kangping tidy it up, apply oil paint, and asked Zeng Rui Xiang to write the two characters "Orange Garden" on it. She also found some old clothes of Shen's family and those of her children, Zi Yu and Zi Xi, filling two big packages. Then she thought for a moment, went into the kitchen, found a piece of meat and a bone, and pulled Lin Kangping back to the Orange Garden.

  Zi Qing handed over the meat and bones, saying: "The children are still young, these days have been worrying and fearful all the way, I'm afraid they haven't had a full meal. Make them a good meal to eat. I've found some seasonal clothes for you, they're from my family's old clothes, take a look, just make do with it for now. If there's anything missing, there are vendors at the foot of the mountain, your husband also knows the place, tomorrow is the market day, you can go take a look. The vegetable field has been dug up, you can save some money on vegetables too. I've brought some vegetable seeds for you."

  Li took the meat and bones, and suddenly burst into loud wailing, saying that the children had long forgotten what meat tasted like. Seeing Zi Qing open the package, the clothes inside were still 50-60% new, without a single patch, tears flowed out uncontrollably. The two children also accompanied her in tears, poor people's children have to take care of the household early, Zi Qing remembered that when she first came, seven or eight-year-old Zi Lu was busy with Shen Shi outside all day, and even if there was no farm work, he had to go up the mountain to gather firewood and pick pine needles.

  Li hugged two children and let them kowtow to Zi Qing to thank her, but Zi Qing hastily dodged away.

  Zi Qing asked Wang Tieshan: "Have you dug a tree hole?"

  "Dug, three feet square."

  "Alright, I want to plant trees on this land, two cents per tree hole, will you dig?"

  "Madam, didn't you already pay us our wages? Working is what we should be doing, how can you still ask for money?"

  Zi Qing was taken aback, glanced at Lin Kangping, and didn't bother to explain. "Alright, since you said so, I'll leave this task to you and your wife. Tomorrow, first clear the vegetable field, then dig tree holes, starting from the innermost part, digging one every 15 feet. I'll find someone to help you draw lines. Two cents per tree hole. In two or three days, I'll come to plant trees, and we'll settle the account then. I know your financial situation is tight right now."

  The couple looked at each other, both surprised and disbelieving. They were actually being paid for this? This was truly an unheard-of good deal. In fact, Zi Qing had also thought of hiring outsiders to dig the tree holes, but first, it wasn't very urgent, and secondly, she mainly wanted to help these two honest and kind-hearted people.

  On the way back, Ziqing sat in the carriage, Lin Kangping drove outside, Ziqing stretched out her hand from the curtain and pinched Lin Kangping several times. Lin Kangping laughed loudly: "Master, I was wrong, is it not enough for me to admit my mistake? Be careful, or the horse carriage will capsize."

  The next day, after lunch, Ziqing and Lin Kangping took Zishou and Zixi to draw a line. As Ziqing studied engineering, it was easy for him to do so. He used straw ropes to pull the lines straight and marked them with white lime. Ziqing first drew one-fourth of the line, in the middle of which were a brick house and an empty lot. The empty lot was first made into a vegetable garden. Ziqing wanted to leave it there, just in case he needed to come over to live in the future and have a place to build a house. Mainly, Ziqing also wanted to build a villa-style house, and when the orange blossoms were fragrant, he would come over to smell the fragrance for a few days.

  "Sister, you're really amazing! You can draw such a neat square just by focusing on one point." Zi Xi praised.

  "This is just the beginning, you haven't seen your sister's true strength yet? Just like back then when I..." Zi Qing got so excited that she almost lost her composure.

  "What's the matter with you these days?" Zi Xi hurriedly asked.

  "In the old days, when I was five years old, I would wipe your butt for you, and it was always stinky poop. And I had to wash your diapers too. In the cold winter, my hands were all red like carrots." Zi Qing said, bringing on everyone's laughter and Zi Xi's playful chase.

  After drawing a line, Zi Qing had Wang Tie Shan dig a tree hole to try it out and see how much time was needed and what the soil quality was like. The few of them were frolicking on the side.

  After a while, Zi Qing heard Wang Tieshan calling: "Master, I've dug it up, come and take a look."

  "Haha, mistress, you're killing me! Sister, you're too eager to be someone's mistress. Brother-in-law, please hurry up and take your mistress home, don't leave her here to cause trouble for us." Zi Xi laughed and said.

  Zi Qing chased after him and was about to grab him, scolding: "You stinky little fourth, dare to provoke me? Look at my Nine Yin White Bone Claw!"

  "What a broken nine-yin white bone claw, I've never heard of it, don't show your face, you can't catch up with me. Pay attention to your image, be dignified, smile without showing your teeth. Look at your sloppy appearance, where is the elegance of a noble lady? Don't scare away your brother-in-law before becoming the mistress. If mother saw you like this, she would scold you. I'll go back and tell her, let her teach you a lesson." Zi Xi said with a smile, always staying a few meters ahead of Zi Qing.

  Zi Qing chased after Zi Xi, making a ruckus, and got tired after half a day without catching up. Lin Kangping came over to hold her and said: "Let's focus on the main task first, look at you running around all sweaty, be careful not to catch a chill in the wind, anyway he has to ride with us in the carriage going home, we can deal with him then."

  Zi Qing listened and had to let go, looking at the tree hole, well, this Wang Tie Shan is a good worker, this tree hole was dug quickly and neatly. Zi Qing saw that it was basically all red soil, without any sand or rocks, the red soil was relatively soft, easier to dig than the one in their backyard.

  "It's okay, I'll come over the day after tomorrow to plant trees. You guys are busy, we're leaving. Oh, and by the way, you can chop firewood from that small gate on the side, remember to lock it from the outside every time you go out." Zi Qing said to Wang Tie Shan.

  After returning home, Zifu brought his elder sister-in-law Liu into the house. At night, the whole family had a reunion dinner together. Liu wanted to stand and serve, but Shen let her sit down and said: "In our rural area, there are no such formalities. From now on, you don't have to be so polite. You all just live well, that's what matters most. We're all women, we've all been through hardships since childhood, and we know it's not easy being a daughter-in-law. Just consider this your own home, if there's anything you want to eat, help yourself. Our family doesn't have the habit of serving others."

  Liu heard that her eyes were slightly red, and Zi Qing teased: "Sister-in-law, why are your eyes red? Was it the chili peppers?"

  One sentence made Liu's whole family cry and laugh, standing there, making her look even more awkward. Zǐ Fú hurriedly helped her sit down and said: "I told you my family doesn't have these rules, but you still don't believe me?" He also gave Zǐ Qíng a sideways glance and said: "My family members like to joke around when they talk, after a long time you'll get used to it."

  "I'm leaving tomorrow, and when I'm gone, you're not allowed to bully Qing'er. When I come back, I won't be easy on you." Lin Kangping said hastily after seeing Zi Fu glare at Zi Qing.

  "Hurry up and take your mistress away, it's already good that she doesn't bully us, we wouldn't dare to bully her." Zi Xi said with a smile.

  "Master mother, what master mother?" Zeng Rui Xiang asked.

  "Xiao Si, you're talking nonsense again. Watch how I'll deal with you." Zi Qing explained.

  Zeng Ruixiang didn't mind it anymore after seeing this. After dinner, Liu wanted to collect the dishes and wash them, and Zi Qing helped her finish the work together. According to Zi Qing's idea, she had long wanted to buy a maid or an old woman to cook and do laundry, but Shen refused, saying that even if they didn't farm the land, this little bit of work was nothing. Besides, if they bought a maid, others would be even more jealous.