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Closely following behind, time entered the month of December.
As it was the first month since the Shen family arrived, their days were filled with busyness.
Grandpa Shen and Grandpa Zhang Man Cang had already gone with Zhu Li Zheng to the county office to handle the deed for the purchased house.
Zhu Li Zheng also inquired in the village if anyone was willing to sell their land, and coincidentally, one of the families who wanted to sell their fields happened to be the current tenants of the house they were renting.
The owner of the house the Shen family currently rented was named Liu, with the full name Liu Mao.
They had opened a noodle restaurant in the town, and business was going quite well. However, the Liu family had few members, only a couple with two children living in the town.
With the booming business in the town, they had little time to tend to their fields and land in the village.
They had initially wanted to sell the fields, but unfortunately, they couldn’t find a buyer.
Coincidentally, on that day when Zhu Li Zheng and the Shen and Zhang families went to the county office to handle the deed, they passed through the town and Zhu Li Zheng remembered to inform Liu Mao about the matter of renting the house.
The Shen family and the Zhang family were generous, and Zhu Li Zheng had a favorable impression of them. He was willing to share any information they didn’t know.
On the way there, Zhu Li Zheng briefly explained the situation of the Liu family.
Both parties, one wanting to sell the fields and the other wanting to buy, naturally came to an agreement when they met.
The Liu family had ten acres of paddy fields, which would cost sixty taels of silver to purchase in full.
Out of these ten acres, the Shen family took seven acres, while the Zhang family took three acres.
As blood brothers, they settled the accounts clearly. Since they had already settled in the village, the money for purchasing the fields naturally came from each family’s own resources.
Grandpa Shen and Zhang Man Cang directly handed the money for purchasing the fields to Liu Mao.
The group of people went to the county office again and completed the transfer of the fields.
During the transfer, they also heard a piece of news.
During these days, there were also other refugees who arrived here one after another, but they were arranged to go to other places.
The local government also posted notices informing these newly arrived refugees.
They were allowed to reclaim land in their settlement area, and the land obtained through reclamation could be freely managed by the reclaimer.
Moreover, the newly reclaimed land would be exempt from taxation for five years. However, only the refugees from this particular influx were eligible for reclaiming, while the original residents were not.
However, there was a time limit to this opportunity, as after the autumn of the following year, reclaiming land freely would no longer be allowed.
Upon hearing this news, grandpa Shen and grandpa Zhang Man Cang were delighted.
Just as they had resolved the matter of the paddy fields and were considering where to buy two acres of dry land, this opportunity presented itself unexpectedly.
Even if the yields from those uncultivated lands wouldn’t be good in the first two years, having something was better than nothing.
With the completion of the land deed and field matters, the heavy burden in everyone’s hearts was lifted, and they wholeheartedly focused on building houses.
After Shen Yu’an went to the town that day, she immediately put her thoughts into action.
She rummaged through a corner of the space and found several martial arts and fantasy novels.
From that day on, the most entertaining activity for the Shen family became listening to Shen Yu’an telling stories before they went to bed each night.
As Shen Yu’an told the stories, the literate children in the family took notes on paper, and now there was already a thick stack of them.
Shen Yu’an was thinking about how to find a suitable opportunity to deal with these manuscripts.
Since the Shen family arrived in Longxian Village, aside from the incident with Pan Hou, even if there were occasional disagreements, they were all trivial matters that didn’t cause any harm. Everything else went smoothly.
After settling in the village, they cleared a small piece of land next to their house and bought some seasonal vegetables from other households in the village to plant.
On the fifth day of December, the Zhang family’s new house was completed.
Ding Hehua stood outside the yard, looking at the brand-new brick-and-tile house, her mouth unable to close from joy.
She clapped her hands and said with a smile, “Oh my, oh my! In this lifetime, I actually get to live in a house like this. It’s truly worth it.”
She grabbed Zhang Wendong, who was standing nearby, and pulled him inside.
The others followed suit, and the courtyard was spacious enough that even with everyone inside, there was still room.
Although everyone had visited many times, there was still a difference between a completed house and one that was still under construction.
Ding Hehua pointed to one of the rooms and said, “Wendong, when we move in, you’ll live in this room. It’s bright and spacious. When next year comes, I’ll arrange a marriage for you. If that happens, this mother’s heart will be truly fulfilled.”
Upon hearing his mother’s words, Zhang Wendong instinctively looked in the direction of Shen Yu’an.
Shen Yu’an was gently pushing her hand against the wall and didn’t pay attention to Ding Hehua and Zhang Wendong’s conversation.
Zhang Wendong withdrew his gaze and said with little enthusiasm, “Mother, there’s no rush for this matter.”
Upon hearing this, Ding Hehua’s palm struck Zhang Wendong’s back like a powerful strike from the Buddha’s palm.
She thought that Zhang Wendong was just being modest and didn’t want to discuss this matter in front of everyone.
She laughed and scolded, “Why isn’t it urgent? Another year passes, and you’ll be eighteen.”
“Mother will find someone for you first, and when we find a suitable match, we’ll go for the formal proposal.”
When he thought about the prospect of getting married and having children, Zhang Wendong instinctively wanted to refuse. However, he was afraid that if he spoke up, his mother would never stop nagging, so he simply remained silent.
He liked a girl like his cousin Yu’an, confident and radiant. But he didn’t know about his cousin…
Zhang Wendong pushed those thoughts aside, thinking that even if his mother introduced a girl to him, as long as he didn’t agree, it would be fine.
Meanwhile, Ding Hehua continued enthusiastically.
“We’re still new to this place, but I’ve asked the women in the village to keep an eye out. If there’s a suitable match, they’ll be sure to let us know.”
Ding Hehua felt that her own words were not enough, so she pulled Song Shi and Zhao Shi aside and said, “The eldest son and the second son are not young anymore. If there’s a suitable match, they should settle down. Children their age should already have a child crawling on the ground.”
Song Shi and Zhao Shi were clearly very interested in this topic, and the three of them huddled together and started gossiping.
Shen Dalang and Shen Erlang standing beside Zhang Wendong seemed a bit helpless. They stood on either side of him and patted his shoulder at the same time.
The two of them sighed softly, “Ah, it’s tough being brothers.”
Shen Dalang and Shen Erlang didn’t reject the idea of getting married like Zhang Wendong did.
They were also not young anymore. They had originally planned to become scholars before getting married, but now their plans were disrupted, so they were willing to adapt to the circumstances.
Outside, the three women were engaged in a lively conversation, while the others went inside the house.
The house had just been completed and was still empty. They had been working on various furniture and other small items during these days.
Tables and stools were already prepared, but for larger items like beds and wardrobes, they still needed to go to the town.
There was a family in the village surnamed Du who specialized in woodworking. They often helped the villagers with smaller wooden items.
Shen Yu’an and the others had seen their craftsmanship, the Du family is skilled in woodworking.
Grandpa Zhang and the others decided to purchase what they needed from them.
Shen’s house was large, so they needed more furniture. Since the larger items took time to make, they decided to order a considerable amount of furniture in advance from the Du family, so it would be ready when the house was completed.
After waiting for another five days, the Du family had finished making the furniture for Zhang’s family.
Shen’s family helped the Zhang family and the others carry the furniture into the house and arranged it.
Unable to contain her excitement, Ding Hehua asked, “When should we move our belongings in?”
Grandpa Zhang clapped his hands and said, “We’ll move today. It’s not far, just a couple of trips to bring everything over.”
The group made another trip and brought all of Zhang’s belongings to the new house. They were officially settled in.
That evening, Shen’s family and Zhang’s family, a total of four people, set up two tables in the courtyard of the new house to celebrate. Grandpa Shen even brought out a jar of monkey wine for everyone to taste.
Shen Yu’an had gone out for something and returned late, missing the moment when the wine was poured. She didn’t have a single sip, but she could smell the fragrance of the wine wafting over, which made her feel frustrated and impatient.