Ziying originally wanted to have Xiu Ying and her sister stay overnight, but neither of them had the time as they both had children at home. Ziying could only pack some snacks and dried fruit for the kids. Xiu Shui picked out a set of Ziying's old clothes, including a bright red velvet coat with a fur collar. The two women were roughly the same size, and when Xiu Shui showed her liking for it, Ziying also gave her a peach-red embroidered jacket and matching skirt that was almost new. Xiu Shui hugged Ziying tightly and said, "Our Ziying is really generous."

  Ziying took the opportunity to ask her about her situation over the years while she was picking out clothes, and learned that she had already divorced, had two children, and was living a mediocre life. Ziying also gave her a piece of cotton fabric to take back and make some clothes for the kids, and told her to come visit often.

  Xiu Ying and Zi Qing's relationship is not as close as Xiu Shui's, so she didn't ask for clothes, only some dried fruits and snacks.

  As soon as they left, Xiao Shi and Wen Yu also got up to bid farewell. Zi Qing stood up to see them off, while Qiu Yu whispered to Zi Qing: "That down jacket of yours is still so good, just like new, you're willing to give it to her, my own aunt didn't dare ask for it, but she dared to ask, what else did you give her?"

  Zi Qing knew that Qiu Yu was a bit envious, but since the Shen family was present, she couldn't say that she wanted it for herself. So she smiled and said: "Xiu Shui has always taken good care of me since we were young, often bringing things from home to eat, and every time she had some copper coins, she would insist on taking me out to buy food, we've always been close."

  "This Xiushui, from a young age, had one bad habit - she loved to eat. She wasn't a bad person, it's just a pity that she didn't have any sense of thriftiness in her heart. These days are said to be getting worse by the day. The people at her husband's house aren't easy to get along with either, and none of her brothers from her natal family are willing to take charge. I don't even know if they've managed to keep that bit of dowry safe? Alright, we should hurry up and leave now, we still need to go visit my sister's place and see my mother." said Xiao Shi.

  Ziying immediately instructed Xiaolan to pick up the basket of eggs, two packages of cakes, a piece of sky-blue cotton fabric suitable for an old lady, and a string of money. One piece was returned to the Zeng family, asking Xiao Shi to deliver it to her elderly aunt.

  At night, there were no outsiders in the house either. Zi Qing and Shen Shi lay on the bed talking.

  "Mother, this time for grandma's birthday, how are the three aunts going to divide things up? Why didn't grandma say let Guiying make the pouch that day. Isn't she also idle?"

  "Your younger aunt's day is the best, this time she is in charge of buying a set of silver jewelry, and sixty handbags. Your second aunt is in charge of clothes, your eldest aunt's family has the least, only taking care of shoes. Probably because your grandparents are not at ease, afraid that she will not be willing to part with it when the time comes, and mess up the matter. So, they gave her the most cost-effective task. That day, while eating at your uncle's house, I heard them discussing, I didn't follow along, just doing my own part is fine."

  "What about Guiying? She's already eighteen and still hasn't gotten married?"

  "It can't be helped. It seems that the eldest in our family, because he couldn't afford to marry a wife, his elder sister rushed to settle on one, and even sent me an invitation letter, but I didn't go. The eldest aunt also didn't go. Originally, they had set their sights on another household with slightly better conditions, whose wife had just passed away, planning to have her as a replacement wife, but unexpectedly that family didn't take a liking to her either. This one, although poor, is at least a young man. I reckon she won't be getting married this autumn? If they wait any longer, San Mao and Gui Hua will also be delayed."

  Just then, He Shi and Zi Yu came in, everyone chatted and laughed for a few sentences, and then went to bed.

  On this day, Zi Qing saw that the weather had cleared up and the rain had stopped, so she let Lin An go find Wang Tie Shan and his wife to transplant the watermelon. The empty space in Zi Qing's home was less than three mu of melon field. Lin An and two little maids went down to the fields together to learn how to plant seedlings. Five people spent two days and finished it, and the remaining seedlings were given to her mother's family by Zi Qing. Zi Qing calculated their wages individually for the five of them, and Lin An and the two little maids were happy as it was their first time.

  However, this year's watermelon is about two months later than in previous years. It is estimated that it will be ripe at the end of July and early August, so I'll just keep it for my family to eat. It won't sell for a good price anyway.

  Ziying had nothing to do, so she thought of tidying up the wasteland. She would plant soybeans early and still have time for a crop of sweet potatoes. Even if the harvest wasn't much, it was better than letting it go to waste. Ziying changed into an old short-sleeved shirt and pants, and had Lin An, Xiaoqing, and Xiaolan accompany her to take a look at the wasteland. It was the sandy land from her memories. Looking out, three sides were surrounded by mountains, forming this patch of flat land. On top, wild grasses and thorns grew sparsely, and only after digging down three or four inches could the red soil be seen. No wonder no one had developed it before.

  Ziying asked Zeng Ruiyu to hire people to till the land, bringing their own oxen and farming tools, 50 cents a day. In the middle of the wasteland, dig a pond. This year's heavy rainfall has reduced the yield of early rice, which is inevitable. The villagers are worried about their livelihoods, and when they hear that Ziying has work to do, they come to ask him in droves. Ziying uniformly pushes them all to San Tangshu, Zhou Yunjiang is in charge of keeping accounts, as well as handling some miscellaneous matters.

  The days quickly approached the end of the month, and during this period, Ziqing lived in her mother's house. Shen Shi changed her cooking methods every day to make delicious food for Liu Shi, Chen Shi, and Ziqing. Four maidservants assisted with the cooking, including two pregnant women and one postpartum woman. The food was exceptionally good, and Ziqing quickly gained weight.

  On this day, Li from Wang Tieshan's family came over to deliver the account book and silver. Before the Dragon Boat Festival, they had sold five or six hundred capons, as well as the money for this month's eggs. Ziqing received her in Qing Garden. Li was also heavily pregnant, nearly full-term. Ziqing thought to herself, what kind of year is this, all these pregnant women are having their babies at the same time.

  The two chatted idly for a while, and Zi Qing gave her some things before Li Shi left. Feeling somewhat sleepy, Zi Qing stayed in the garden to take a nap.

  Lin Kangping quietly entered the house, looking at his sleeping daughter Ziying, who was round and plump like a pearl. He felt both happy and sad. Happy that Ziying was eating well, sleeping soundly, and in good health. Sad that she didn't have him by her side, living a carefree life.

  Ziying slept soundly, feeling something licking her, and in a daze, the familiar scent made her snuggle into his arms until she found a comfortable position. Lin Kangping saw Ziying's appearance and let out a satisfied sigh, hugging his wife tightly as they both fell asleep.

  Ziying woke up to find herself in Lin Kangping's arms, looking at her husband's tired face, Ziying felt a pang of heartache. She thought that he must not have been able to rest easy, rushing back day and night, without even having time to shave his beard. Ziying gazed blankly at him, tracing his eyebrows and eyes with her hand again and again, losing track of time.

  Lin Kangping opened her eyes to see Zi Qing staring at her without blinking, gently pecked Zi Qing's lips and said: "Qing'er, I'm back, I miss you so much."

  Tears slowly rolled out of Ziying's eyes, and her hands wrapped around Lin Kangping's neck, saying: "Kangping, I miss you too, really really miss you."

  As the saying goes, a short farewell is better than a long goodbye. But with Zi Qing's two-month pregnancy, she didn't dare let Lin Kangping get too excited, so he could only hold her and gently nibble on her. Even so, they couldn't bear to part ways, and spent half a day entwined in bed before finally getting up.

  Zi Qing glanced at the Western clock and found that it was almost eight o'clock. Xiao Qing had already prepared the meal, and this time she followed Shen Shi and learned some simple dishes.

  After dinner, Lin Kangping was still lying on the bed with Zi Qing in his arms, chatting about his experiences and gains from this trip. This time he made a net profit of over 1,200 taels of silver, and also bought two young servants, who were only twelve years old and came from farming families. They knew how to take care of crops and were responsible for the family's melons, fruits, and vegetables. They had already been arranged to live in the thatched hut in the peach forest.

  "It's not just a few people, the family says it's big or small, but there are also several acres of melon fields and vegetable fields, and that large lotus pond, which will also need to be manned at that time. Besides, the kitchen also needs a dedicated person, either a servant girl or an old lady, you take care of it."

  Lin Kongping responded with a sound, after a while, suddenly said: "Right, I also brought you a big bag of wool thread, several colors, and it looks good, but I don't know what to use it for. The embroidery is a bit rough, Dawei brought it over to see the market, hasn't sold it yet, I'll bring it over for you to take a look. Didn't give him any silver, exchanged one hundred pouches for it. He said he still wants your double-sided embroidery, the bigger the better. Next time I go to the city, I'll collect some. The ones embroidered by my family's Qing'er, I'm not willing to sell."

  Ziying heard him mention the yarn, guessing it was for knitting sweaters, and asked him to bring some over to take a look. Lin Kangping didn't want to move, but couldn't resist Ziying's gentle scolding, so he wrapped his arms around her and gave her two fierce kisses, saying: "How can I refuse you?"

  Ziying originally wanted to follow him down, but Lin Kangping pressed her back and she had no choice but to wait with a tilted head. Lin Kangping brought her a large paper package, which Ziying opened to find it was indeed yarn, the kind of medium-thick yarn that would make a high-necked sweater slightly scratchy around the neck. Ziying had learned how to knit sweaters from her mother and had even planned to make one for Liu Cen, but it never got done due to various reasons. Inside the package, she also found a small bundle of fine yarn, which felt like cashmere when she touched it, weighing about a pound, enough for Ziying to knit a whole garment.

  The next day, after breakfast, the two went to Zeng's house to pay their respects. After returning, Ziying couldn't wait to let Lin Kangping cut a bamboo stick, first grinding a fine needle, and then letting him grind a coarse needle. On Ziying's side, she had Xiaocyan and Xiaolan help her wind the thread, while she went to the warehouse to find some wooden blocks to make wooden buttons.

  Lin Kongping watched her use two bamboo needles, sitting there poking back and forth, and unexpectedly turned a thread into a piece of fabric. He was very surprised and said: "Isn't it that I married a talented wife? I've never seen such a thing before, how did you learn to do this?"

  Zi Qing listened, stunned, looking at Lin Kangping, thought for a moment and smiled: "Husband, you're really lucky to have found me, such a talented wife, it's hard to find even with a lantern, how did you get the bargain?"

  Lin Kangping said with a smile as he hugged Zi Qing: "It's not easy to find you, if it weren't for that lantern, how would I have recognized you?"

  Zi Qing couldn't help but "heh" laugh as he recalled the first time they met selling lanterns.

  Ziying spent half a month weaving the first sweater, green in color, and gave it to Zifu because he was going to Beijing at the end of May. Lin Kangping even drank vinegar for half a day because of this.

  Ziying took the sweater to give to Zifu, and asked him to try it on. "Big brother, this is a gift I'm giving you, not even Dad and Mom or Kangping have one yet, you're the first to get one. It's warm for winter, wear it close to your body, it's made of wool. You can also wear it as an outer layer in spring and autumn, see if I've been treating you badly? Look at all the good things I've given you."

  Zi Fu listened and smiled: "Really? These are all good things I've never seen before. Where did they come from? What's it called?"

  "It was Kangping who brought it from Guangzhou, from overseas, yarn made of wool is called woolen thread, clothes woven with woolen thread are called woolen garments."