Sharing the Money  

　　There were half hens and half roosters in the first batch of chickens. Only a few roosters were left, and the rest had been neutered. Now each one weighed about four pounds, after lunch, Tang Chunming and Li Feng took Teng Yu and shopkeeper Qi to the chicken coop in the back mountain. The roosters foraging outside were full of energy and had bright feathers they looked very healthy.

　　The batch of chicks that were caught later were also moved here. Uncle Tie took most of them, and a few were kept here. The chicks, which had just begun to form wings, looked particularly cute, and they followed the grown hens to peck at the food.

　　They now had a new batch of chicks in the yard, it took a lot of effort to find these chicks. Some were bought from the family who used to sell chicks, and some were hatched by the family who had hens in the village. They have gathered hundreds of chicks when the hens can hatch, they’ll have a continuous batch of chicks. 

　　Tang Chunming kept increasing the number of chicks to sell by the end of the year, he fed them good food, so they grew faster than other farm chickens. Others don’t know why he uses food to feed chickens, but once the chickens are sold, they won’t would complain, and the chicken farmers are reliable and won’t gossip in the village.

　　Tang Chunrong also followed, and he was happy to see the mountain behind his brother’s house becoming more and more lively.

　　”There won’t be a shortage of eggs daily, so I’ll take those too.” Teng Yu made the decision immediately after asking for Manager Qi’s opinion.

　　”As long as you can afford the price, it’s no problem.” Tang Chunming waved his hand, seeming to be very easy to talk to, but every word he said was about money, which made Shopkeeper Qi and Teng Yu’s mouths twitch.

       They also had the simplest scrambled eggs at noon, so how could they not understand now? Tang Chunming was waiting for them here.

　　”Okay, an egg outside costs one cent, how about I give you two cents for one egg?” Teng Yu thought for a while and said.

　　”Haha, no problem, Boss Teng is a straightforward person, just ask Manager Qi to send someone to pick up the goods.” Tang Chunming laughed and for a moment he got carried away and patted the outside of Teng Yu’s arm twice. Because Teng Yu was not short in height, it was not convenient to pat his shoulder.

　　Teng Yu’s body stiffened momentarily, and Li Feng moved even faster. Just when Tang Chunming was about to land the third blow, he quickly grabbed his hand. Tang Chunming, whose excitement was interrupted, glanced at Li Feng in confusion, saw his dark face, and reflected on himself. It seemed that he had not done anything excessive.

　　Seeing Tang Chunming’s oblivious look, Teng Yu secretly laughed at himself. He shouldn’t have treated Tang Fulang as an ordinary ger. It seemed that he didn’t have much awareness in this regard. Li Feng would be worried about him in the future.

　　”Big brother, you guys go and do your work, Afeng and I will take them to other places.” Tang Chunming asked Uncle Liu’s son, who was a little uncomfortable with Teng Yu, to continue with his work and not accompany them. He was finally out of the cage this time, so how could he go back so soon? Besides, after buying the mountain, he only looked at its foot and the surrounding area before he gave birth, and he had never been to a higher place in the mountain.

　　Li Feng did not let go of Tang Chunming’s hand, and the two walked hand in hand beside Teng Yu and the others. Shopkeeper Qi stared at them secretly, when would his young master have the intention to get married? Tang Fulang was about to get married.

　　Tang Chunrong felt complicated, he was glad that his brother was happy, but also felt that someone had taken away his brother. Moreover, as a young man, he felt very embarrassed to see this scene. He silently turned his head in another direction, and the tips of his ears quietly turned red.

　　The pond between the two chicken coops has been dug, with an area of ​​one acre. Of course, it was done by Li Feng. According to Tang Chunming, it was disinfected with quicklime before water was added. On the day when it was being filled with water, Tang Chunming took a walk and took the opportunity to add some space spring water. Some fish and shrimp have been put into the pond, and about 200 ducklings have been caught.

　　Some of the fish and shrimp were bought from the market, others from the children in the village, and some were purchased by Manager Qi after he found out about it. Willow branches were also planted on the edge of the pond. It doesn’t look that awe-inspiring for now, but it will look very different by next year.

　　Further ahead was a row of newly built sheep pens, waiting for a batch of new sheep to move in. Teng Yu didn’t understand Tang Chunming’s enthusiasm for raising sheep. Seeing that the sheep pen was not small, the number of sheep would not be small. He walked on the hillside with his hands behind his back and asked curiously, “Tang Fulang, what are your plans for raising sheep?”

　　”Sheep? How about opening a restaurant that only serves mutton?” Tang Chunming felt his saliva was about to flow down as he spoke. Li Feng smiled secretly when he saw Mingge’er’s expression and squeezed his hand.

　　”A sheep restaurant? What does that do? Does it sell lamb?” Shopkeeper Qi also asked. Most people don’t eat lamb because it has a strong mutton smell.

　　”Yes, wow! what a taste, just wait. When it gets cold I’ll have someone slaughter a sheep and then you can come and have a taste, I guarantee you won’t want to leave after eating it.” Tang Chunming savored the taste.

　　”Haha, then Lao Qi and I will wait.” Teng Yu agreed with a smile.

　　Shopkeeper Qi twitched his lips, he felt that Tang Fulang came up with several money-making ideas, probably just to satisfy his appetite.

　　There were men busy outside the sheepfold, Teng Yu was curious about what they were doing. Li Feng had been following them and naturally knew what was going on. He replied, “Plug in wolfberries, just like the ones on the fence outside the chicken coop.”

　　”Wolfberries? Tang Fulang wants to grow some medicinal herbs?” Teng Yu didn’t know Tang Chunming’s thoughts. After Li Feng finished speaking, he also thought of the sparse bushes he had seen outside the chicken coop before.

　　Tang Chunming waved his hand and said, “It’s just making full use of the space. I didn’t intend to grow medicinal herbs. But wolfberry is a good thing, it doesn’t have to be used as medicine.”

“ It’s also good for making tea or stewing soup, and the wolfberry heads can also be used to cook. Anyway, these wolfberries were found in the mountains, and they are easy to grow. It only takes a little effort to grow them.”

　　”Is there anything else?” Teng Yu couldn’t help but ask, always feeling that there was more.

　　Tang Chunming replied simply: “Of course I have, and there are also lots of raspberries and so on. I plan to transplant some of them and give them to the children as food, the chickens and ducks can be fed the rest.” In his opinion, it will take another two or three years to achieve scale, and by then the chickens raised will probably have even better meat.

　　Teng Yu looked at Shopkeeper Qi, he didn’t know much about these things, and Shopkeeper Qi also shook his head silently. Not to mention the young master, he had never seen anything like this. But he began to look forward to it, if the chicken were well raised, some of the young master’s farms could also copy it. Although they won’t compare to Tang Chunming’s work, it was better than the original breeding method.

　　Tang Chunrong also showed his anticipation, he had gone into the mountains with his friends to pick wild fruits. After he went to school, he had fewer opportunities. But he still remembered the sweet taste, although he was an adult now, it was okay to taste it occasionally. Yes, that’s it.

　　Some people were clearing weeds and useless trees ahead, but it was clear that some of them had been preserved. Seeing Li Feng and Tang Chunming coming, the workers greeted them enthusiastically.

   Nowadays, Shopkeeper Qi comes more often, and they know that he is the shopkeeper of Jinji Restaurant in the town. The status of the young man in fancy clothes next to him must not be low, so they would inevitably talk about him after they walked away.

　　”What do you think Brother Feng wants to do with these wild pear trees? The fruits on these trees are so sour and astringent that even the children can hardly eat a few bites.”

　　”Yes, just hiring us to work these days, the money spent makes me feel regretful.” A man was clearing weeds under a wild pear tree and trimming the overgrown branches while glancing at several figures going away.

　　”Just get back to work, Feng Xiaozi and Brother Ming must have their reasons for doing this. No matter how much money they have, they can’t just throw it into the water. The chickens down there are doing well, who would dare to raise hundreds of chickens before? I bet there will be even more in the future.”

　　”Ming Ge’er is also good at raising chickens, the chickens he raised in the spring are still half-grown chickens at other families, but Ming Ge’er’s chickens have already started laying eggs.”

　　”I’m just worried that if I raise too many chickens, they’ll get sick.”

　　”That’s someone else’s family matter, Ming Ge’er wouldn’t have thought of raising such chickens. But look at those chickens below, and compare them with the chickens we raise at home.”

     “Ming Ge’er is educated, so he has extraordinary experience. The same is true for Brother Feng. He has seen the world, otherwise, other families would not allow their Ge’er to do such a thing.”

　　”By the way, have you heard something, right? It is said that our village may also open a school next year. I have made money here at Brother Feng this year, so next year I will also send my children to school to study.”

　　”Really?” someone asked in disbelief, his voice carrying a hint of surprise.

　　”It would be great if it were true, the tuition fees for a year in a school in other villages are too high to afford. We can pay less in our village, so our children can also study for a year or two. They don’t need to be well-educated, but just don’t become blind like us.”

　　”Ha ha……”

　　Tang Chunming and his team turned back before they had climbed halfway because the road ahead was getting harder and harder to walk on and hadn’t been cleared yet. But when Li Feng told him there were chestnut trees there, Tang Chunming was very happy.

     He could come here to pick wild chestnuts and roast chestnuts with sugar. Oh, and prepare some osmanthus flowers. Tang Chunrong was also eager to move, but his brother tapped him on the forehead and said, “Stay in the academy and come back when it’s your day off. If there are any left, I’ll keep them for you.”

　　”I know, brother, I didn’t think about asking for leave.” Tang Chunrong’s face turned red when he was scolded by his brother in front of others. Apart from his brother’s matters, he didn’t plan on asking for leave, he had his own goals.

　　

　　It rained just after Asen’s full moon celebration, and the weather was visibly getting colder. The ice shop in the county town would definitely not be able to operate, so the village head discussed it and decided to close the shop. After Zhang Changming came back, he brought the account book to Tang Chunming’s house to explain the accounts for this period to everyone, plus the dividends for each family.

　　Before proceeding with other matters, Zhang Changming first said: “Ming’Ge’er, what are your plans for that shop? It’s such a waste to keep it closed. If you only sell ice, you can only sell it for two or three months a year.” Although the profit is immense, if the shop can be rented out during the vacant time, the rest of the rent can be recovered.

　　”This… I have some ideas, but there is no way I can do it this year.” Tang Chunming scratched his head. Selling ice was an idea he came up with temporarily, it was not originally in the plan. Moreover, he bought the shop instead of renting it because he did not want the secret of ice-making to leak out, it would be better to use it.

  Moreover, this shop is quite unique there is more space in the back. After he bought the shop, he specially asked someone to dig a cave in the backyard to serve as a temporary ice cave.

　　”What do you think, Brother Ming?” Zhang Changming’s eyes lit up. Although it was a bit hard to do business during this period, he worked very hard and felt more motivated and fulfilled than farming in the village.

　　Li Feng understood Ming Ge’er’s idea and explained: “Originally, he planned to open a shop specializing in selling mutton after raising all the sheep in the back mountain. This way, it would be a good opportunity to avoid the season of selling ice cream. Mutton is very popular, so he postponed it for a while in summer, which is just right for selling ice cream.”

　　After he finished speaking, seeing Zhang Changming’s more expectant expression, Li Feng’s eyes also showed a smile. He glanced at Ming Ge’er and said, “You will be the ones to take care of it when the time comes. Ming Ge’er has to take care of things at home and has two children to take care of.”

　　Wang Mo felt that his husband was being too eager, so he reached out and pinched the soft flesh on his waist. Zhang Changming gritted his teeth and then showed an embarrassed expression: “If it works, I can be a waiter.” He still had self-awareness.

     Selling food was different from selling ice cream, and there were many more requirements. He just wanted to learn more from him, he was also very diligent during this period, and he could even barely understand some of the common words on the account book.

　　”Don’t worry, Brother Changming,” Tang Chunming said with a smile, “I will need someone to help me look after the shop by then. Since Brother Changming is interested, I would love to have you. However, the number of sheep is too small now. Why don’t you bring people to help me find some half-grown rams during this period, and raise them for a while? I think they will be available when the weather gets cold.” 

   Originally, he planned to expand the scale of breeding slowly, but it would be a shame to have a shop and not use it, so he decided to put it to use as soon as possible.

　　”Okay, leave it to me. I’ll go out for a walk tomorrow.” Zhang Changming patted his chest.

　　The next thing was the profit from selling ice cream, Tang Chunming had been flipping through the account book while talking to them. He remembered the accounts clearly, and when he turned to the last page and saw the total profit, even though he was mentally prepared, he was still shocked.

　　”In just a month, we earned nearly four hundred taels of silver?!” It was simply a huge profit. Tang Chunming deeply regretted not thinking of this idea earlier, if he had opened the shop since the beginning of summer, he might have made even a thousand taels of silver by now. And this was just a county town, Tang Chunming didn’t dare to think about any further profits.

　　”Hehe, we just happened to catch the summer season,” Zhang Changming was also very proud. Of course, he also knew that they couldn’t do this kind of business with just a few people.

   “And thanks to the owner of Tingjing Pavilion who introduced many wealthy people to our shop, Tingjing Pavilion also purchases a lot of ice for use.”

　　As for the others, their performance was not much better than Tang Chunming and was even worse. For ordinary country people, it was considered very good if they could earn a few taels of silver or even dozens of taels of silver by working hard in the fields all year round.

    It also depended on whether God took care of them, if they encountered natural disasters or man-made disasters, they would not even be able to fill their stomachs after working hard all year round, and they would have to tighten their belts to pay various taxes. Now that such a large sum of money suddenly appeared, they all felt it was hot.

　　The village head took two puffs of his pipe and accidentally choked on it, which caused him to cough. Shen Fulang had to pat him on the back to calm him down, and said angrily, “You are so ignorant that you are frightened by this?”

　　Zhang Xiu and Dashan, who were originally equally dumbfounded, also reacted and laughed. They were not frightened but would be scared by so much money one day.

　　”Haha, there will be more next year, hurry up and divide the money,” Tang Chunming waved his hand indifferently when he saw someone hesitate to speak, 

   “Don’t say anything, just do as we agreed. And I’m the same as you, this is unexpected money, so while I can still keep the recipe for a few years, let’s make as much money as possible.”

　　Dr. He did not get involved but just listened from the side, when he heard what Tang Chunming said, he laughed happily. He felt that Tang Chunming’s mentality was just right, he would not stick to the prescription and not know how to adjust. He would know how to let go when it was time to let go.

　　The other children were playing outside and were not allowed to hear about this so that they wouldn’t let it slip. Only Asen, the carefree boy, was held in Dr. He’s arms, drooling foolishly.

　　Tang Chunming took a homemade charcoal pencil and calculated the silver of each family. 383 taels of silver on the account was the net income after deducting the wages of the shopkeeper. After dividing them equally, his family finally got 90 taels of silver. Zhang Changming and his wife got a little more than the others.

   After all, they had been busy in the shop and had to be counted as wages, so they also got 80 taels. The other three families each got 70 taels, there were still 3 taels of broken silver left on the account, which Tang Chunming left to the village.

   Everyone discussed it again and decided that except for Tang Chunming’s stepmother’s family, each family would first take out 5 taels of silver to use for the village school, hire teachers for the village, and to subsidize the tuition for the children in school, and then take out part of the profits from the ice shop next year to maintain the school.

　　Tang Chunming was very much in favor of hiring a teacher to run a school in the village. It would be even better if the little ger could go to school and learn to read. Of course, he was just thinking about it in his heart and had no intention of fighting against the custom of this world. He would just teach his child.

　　Dashan and Zhang Xiu smiled at each other and said happily, “That’s good, we don’t have to send Da Mao and Er Mao to go to school outside the village. They can go directly to school in our village, it saves them from spending a lot of time commuting every day.”

　　After everyone took the silver and left happily, He Lao hugged ASen and said with a smile: “Look at your mother who has become a money-spending ger and is still so happy.”

　　“Ahh…” Little Asen clenched his fists and kept yelling as if he was agreeing with something.

　　Li Feng looked at Tang Chunming counting the silver like a money-grubber, with a smile in his eyes becoming more intense. He said, ” Ming’er is good like this.” He loves money but is not greedy. Fortunately, he decided to come back and take a look, otherwise he would have missed this person.

　　Old He looked at the young couple with a smile, and walked out with Asen in his arms: “Little Asen, you are the only one to accompany Grandpa, Grandpa will take Asen out to play and find little brother.”

　　“Ahh…”

　　”Hey? Where’s Dr. He? He was in the room just now.” Tang Chunming, who was counting the silver with great joy, looked up and found that the man was gone.

　　When Wang Ying came the next day, he almost threw the silver away and asked suspiciously, “Why is it so much? You didn’t give me your share, did you?”

　　”How is that possible!” Tang Chunming rolled his eyes. His relationship with his stepmother was quite strange. They were close, but they didn’t get along as well as Zhang Xiu and the others. But he knew in his heart that this relationship was more solid than Zhang Xiu and the others. “How about I take out the account book and show it to you?”

　　”Forget it. I won’t understand it even if you show it to me, It’s enough for me to know that you didn’t support me yourself.” Wang Ying took a long breath to digest this shocking fact and then accepted it calmly without even trying to refuse. Tang Chunming stared at his stepmother’s back in surprise.

　　” It’s good this way, mother.” Li Feng walked up from behind and said.

　　Tang Chunming also laughed. Yes, this is good, If they get any closer, he will feel uncomfortable.

　　The village head has been very busy these days, but he was still very happy. After so many village heads, it is his turn to open the school. Even other elders in the clan and village will no longer say he is not doing his job properly.

　　The school was placed directly in the ancestral hall because it had been renovated before and could be used directly, a carpenter was hired to make some tables and chairs. The village head was not busy with other things now, but the important matter of finding a teacher, because the quality of the teacher was directly related to the future academic progress of the children.

　　He also often heard his two sons talk about the teachers in the school some teachers were well-educated, while some were not only poorly educated but also prejudiced against their students.

   So he not only had to look for a teacher but also had to inquire about the teacher’s character. After running around for many days, he finally found an old scholar who was quite old. He promised him a monthly salary of three taels of silver, and he would come to the village to teach after the busy farming season was over.

　　When the news spread in the village, it caused a sensation. Villagers who were preparing to move to the countryside came out to inquire about the news from each other, especially those who had children of school age. They were particularly concerned about the situation of the school and how much tuition they would need to pay to send their children.

　　Before, Shen Fulang had time to go to Tang Chunming’s house to help him care for the children, but now, many people come to his house every day, and he has no free time he had to explain to them.

    The same is true for the village head, after he settled the matter of the teacher and returned to the village, the elders all came to his house, and there was movement at the ancestral hall. The matter of running a school was a foregone conclusion, but they were all curious about where the money would come from to hire a teacher.

    Although the village head was more well-off than other families, he had two sons studying in the county, and the burden was not light.

　　The village head originally wanted to find a time to talk about this matter, but now he doesn’t have to look for anyone. He didn’t want a few families to pay the money but not let the villagers know. This is a charity, and other families in the village should know which families benefited from it, and not be jealous of them behind their backs and ruin their reputation.

　　”It’s like this because Feng Xiaozi and Ming Ge’er are kind-hearted so they took a few of us to do business. Since we made some money, they wanted to do something practical for the village. I thought I would tell everyone after I found a teacher, if I told everyone too early, I’m afraid everyone would be disappointed. Finding a teacher is not an easy thing.”

　　The village head emphasized Li Feng and Tang Chunming’s names and asked the elders in the village to take more care of them in the future and keep an eye especially the third uncle of the Zhao family. Now the head of the village thinks that he has gone a little crazy and does not mention the matter of Mingge’er’s children being included in the family tree.

    It’s good this way, Mingge’er has done good deeds, and the two children will be included in the Li family’s family tree in the future. Presumably, the people in the family will not have too many objections. They can’t just receive someone’s favor and then turn against him.

　　”You are really something, you actually hid it from everyone before, and only told everyone after it was done. If we all knew about it, we could look for the person together. But, you did a good job on this matter.

    Haha, in the future the kids in our village will be able to go to school at their doorstep.” This was the elder of the Li family who supported the village head. He had heard the news before, after all, he couldn’t know anything about such a big commotion.

　　”It’s not easy for Feng Xiaozi and Ming Ge’er, fortunately, they still care about the village. In my opinion, many people are working for them and earning some money. In the future, our village should also take care of them and not let them feel disappointed.”

    This is because many people have benefited from the village and some thought of the previous events, they can’t push such families out of the village. If so, Pingshan Village will be the one that suffers. Let’s not talk about others, just talk about Feng Xiaozi, his friends can definitely protect the village.

　　The third uncle of the Zhao family shook his hands and wanted to say something but finally closed his mouth. Looking at everyone’s expression, he knew that they all sided with the village head. After all, every family has young men and everyone hopes to have a scholar in their family.

　　Someone looked at the village account book and saw the donated silver from several families. After thinking for a while, he said, “We can get by in the next one or two years, but what about in the future?” The villagers could not afford the monthly donation of three taels of silver on their own.

　　Of course, the village head had thought about this issue long ago, and several families had also discussed it. To them, this amount of money was like money falling from the sky, so they were not reluctant to give more: “The business in the city will continue next year, and then several of us will give out some money.”

  “ If possible, we can use this money to add a few acres of ancestral land to our village and use it specifically for the school in the future. In this way, the school in our village can be run for a long time. If you are willing, you can also give a little, these will be recorded in the family tree in the future to let future generations know everyone’s contribution.”

　　”You have thought it through carefully, so we have nothing to say.”

    In fact, as long as someone pays, they really don’t have much objection. Of course, they also know that they cannot offend the person who pays the money at this time, otherwise, they will suffer the loss.

　　It’s not that no one is curious about what kind of business the village head and his family did with Tang Chunming’s family to make money so quickly. It’s only been a month, and a family can actually pay out five taels of silver.

    Then they must have several times more left in their hands, which makes people jealous. However, if it were another family, they would probably just hide it and not spend it so generously in the village. Therefore, when they go back, they have to warn the younger generation not to go around causing trouble and gossiping.

　　When the elders left, most of them were quite satisfied. Of course, there were a few who were not sure what they were thinking.

　　Some people had sided with Li Conggen’s family before, but now, Li Feng’s actions seemed to slap them in the face. They couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, although they felt that Li Feng would rather help people who were not surnamed Li than ease the relationship with his uncle’s family, they knew they couldn’t speak up now.

    However, they still couldn’t understand Li Feng’s behavior, Dashan’s family was fine, they were Li’s family members, but what about Zhang Changming’s family? They were people from other families. Why didn’t they take care of the Li family when there were so many Li family members?

　　The third uncle of the Zhao family returned home angrily, he sat alone in the room and smoked his pipe, which made a loud puffing sound. No child in the family dared to get into trouble at this time.

　　In his opinion, Tang Chunming’s actions were simply asking the villagers to go against his Zhao family. He was now using the money to do good deeds, and when the time came, he would want to include his name in the Zhao family’s genealogy. If the Zhao family stopped him, then other families would only say bad things about the Zhao family instead of Tang Chunming.

　　Third Uncle always believed that the Zhao family should be the best in the village., there was a member of the Zhao family who had served as a fourth-rank official.

    Although he was just a child of a side branch at that time, he knew that the glory of the family at that time was something that the peasants in Pingshan Village had never seen.

    Even though the Zhao family fell into decline and their members scattered all over the place, he still remembered the glory of that time and wanted to bring back the glory of his ancestors in his branch of the Zhao family who had drifted to Pingshan Village.

　　Therefore, he placed high hopes on Zhao Laosan, because Zhao Laosan had some of the enterprising spirit of his ancestor who was a high-ranking official. With time, it would not be impossible for him to bring the Zhao family into the ranks of officials again.

　　With this in mind, Third Uncle’s sense of belonging to Pingshan Village was not as strong as his younger generation, he always believed that the Zhao family would leave Pingshan Village one day.

   Even if the Zhao family became prosperous one day, he never thought about giving back to Pingshan Village. But now, Zhao Laosan was the first scholar in the village in recent years, but he didn’t enjoy much glory. He was robbed of the limelight by these mud legs, and the Zhao family had nothing to do with it, how could Third Uncle feel at ease?

　　”Come in.” He knocked on his pipe and called his youngest son in. “Go to the county again in a couple of days and ask Laosan about the marriage, bring some money with you so that he can study hard in the county school and make a name for himself as soon as possible.”

　　”Dad, you…” The younger son choked on his breath and almost jumped up to object.

　　”Okay, I know what you’re thinking it’s useless. Only when the third child stands up can our Zhao family hold up. When that day comes, you’ll understand why I insist so much, you haven’t seen that kind of glory.”

　　Seeing that his father was lost in his memories again, the youngest son slammed the door and left in anger. In his opinion, his cousin was a leech who not only sucked the money out of the Zhao family on his side, but now he was sucking the hard-earned money out of them, his father was forcing them to rebel.

　　Look at how prosperous the families who have a good relationship with Ming Ge’er are living now. Even though Uncle Zhao’s family is better off than theirs, Uncle Zhao is still a member of the Zhao family.

   He just showed a little kindness to Ming Ge’er and helped him a little, yet Ming Ge’er took such good care of their family. What does this show? It shows that he is a man who clearly distinguishes between gratitude and grudges. However, the Zhao family pushed away the son who originally belonged to their family and made enemies with them. How could they bear this?

　　On that day, as the elders returned home, some families were happy, but there were also a few families who made loud noises and even threw things at home.

　　Most of the children in the village were also happy, the elders in their families told them that they could go to school after the autumn harvest. They no longer had to envy Damao and Ermao, and they could also learn to read. These children couldn’t wait to run to the ancestral hall every day to see the increasing number of tables and chairs in the hall.

　　With such anticipation, the autumn harvest season arrived and the whole village was busy. Although they were busy day and night to harvest all the crops in good weather, they were happy in their hearts. This year, God was kind the weather was good, the harvest was more than in previous years, and they had more expectations.

　　The clearing of the mountain behind Tang Chunming’s house was temporarily stopped. Of course, the people originally hired had to go back home to work on their land. Li Feng told them to come back after they finished their work. Everyone agreed without hesitation. Where else could they find such a high-paying and stable job?

　　Li Feng now has more reason to harvest Chunming’s land as well. Even when he is too busy to handle it, Tang Chunming’s few acres of land are still the focus of villagers’ attention. Everyone is waiting for Ming ge’ers barren land yield to come out. If the yield is higher than theirs, they will want to buy seeds from Ming ge’er next year.

　　Mountain land is poorer and drier than other lands, so watering is often needed to replenish lost water. But that is the case for other families, Tang Chunming’s few acres of land have always grown more abundantly than others.

    The wheat ears are heavy and look fuller than those of other families, some families with less land simply came to help Li Feng harvest Ming Ge’er’s land first so that they could see the results earlier.

　　Looking at the wheat in his hands, he praised it in his heart: “You can know without weighing it that the output of this acre of land is no lower than that of the good farmland at the foot of the mountain.” In a year of good weather and harvest, the land at the foot of the mountain can produce 300 kilograms per acre, which is considered good.

   When Ming ge’er’s wheat was harvested and weighed, even Li Feng, who had been busy with him from beginning to end, was surprised. It was higher than expected, nearly 500 kilograms, almost doubling the output of such mountain land.

　　As soon as these actual figures were reported, even those families who were too busy working in their own fields to take care of other things were alarmed and ran out. Many families ran directly to Li Feng and Tang Chunming and asked them about next year’s seeds.

   They had to buy them no matter how much money it cost, because the extra grain was hard-earned money.