Chapter 94

Ling Ran lowered his head and, like the others, shoveled a large mouthful of food into his mouth. A tear quietly and quickly fell into the coarse pottery bowl.

He was thankful that it was getting dark, so they couldn’t see his emotional outburst.

The Fan family members were always passionate and serious about their meals.

Even after living better lives since separating households, having abundant food every day, they still cherished and loved their meals.

The youngest, Fan Hu, held a large coarse pottery bowl, his little head almost buried in it. He ate diligently until the last grain of rice, then satisfiedly put down his chopsticks.

Looking at Ling Ran, who still had half of his food left, he shook his head and shared his experience, “Brother Ling, eating like this won’t do. What if you need to fight for your meal with the laborers during lunch?”

“Yeah, you won’t stand a chance!” After finishing his meal, Fan He finally had a chance to speak and continued, “I couldn’t even beat them at lunchtime. Luckily, Ma left us some food, otherwise we’d only be half full. People like us can only eat half a meal. If it were you, Brother Ling, you’d probably go hungry.”

Fan Jiang thought of the lunchtime situation and worried for Ling Ran.

Ling Ran, looking at a group of younger kids who were all concerned for him, felt a bit embarrassed.

At fifteen, he was less capable than these ten-year-olds.

Yan Qiu looked at Shuiqing and suggested, “Auntie, I think you should also leave some food for Brother Ling tomorrow. Otherwise, he might not be able to compete.”

Shuiqing looked at Ling Ran, whose handsome face had turned slightly red from the children’s concern, and said helplessly, “He’s our family, he eats with us, of course we’ll leave him his share. Everyone is worrying unnecessarily!”

Upon hearing the phrase ‘our family’, Ling Ran’s eyes welled up with tears, barely able to hold them back.

He hurriedly lowered his head and ate his food in large bites.

The five children paid no attention to being scolded and continued to chatter around Ling Ran, “Brother Ling, isn’t Ma’s food delicious? Look at this shredded pork with chili. Ma calls it twice-cooked pork. It’s so fragrant and delicious. The chili has absorbed the oil, making it extra tasty!”

“And the scrambled eggs aren’t made with ordinary chives; it’s garlic chives! Did you notice? It’s more tender and tastier than ordinary chives!”

Although he didn’t understand what ‘taste’ meant, Ma often said this, and it really was tender and delicious!

“And the cabbage, after Ma stir-fries it, is tastier than what others make.”

Ling Ran silently thought that the food was indeed delicious and fragrant, warming his belly, but it didn’t warm his heart like this family did…

After Ling Ran finished his meal, Shuiqing began to plan for the next day’s activities.

“Yan Qiu, you only need to focus on brewing wine now. Xinghui and Dajiang, you two will assist your elder sister. The three of you only need to focus on brewing wine; you don’t need to worry about anything else.”

Yan Qiu quickly agreed, “Okay.”

Fan Jiang asked, “Ma, if I don’t do anything else, can we handle all the work at home?”

Helping only his elder sister would definitely be easier, but with so much work at home now, and Dad and Second Brother going to sell rice wine, who would do all the other work?

“Brewing wine is important. As long as the wine is brewed well and sold to make money, if we hire someone, won’t they do all the work that we don’t have time to do? If we delay brewing the wine and lose money, do you think doing other work will be useful?” Shuiqing asked in return.

She wanted the children to understand what was most important!

When doing things, they needed to distinguish what was critical and understand what was urgent.

Ling Ran was surprised and quickly glanced at Aunt Shuiqing.

Xinghui, sharp-witted, immediately understood Ma’s meaning and nodded vigorously, “Auntie, rest assured, I will prioritize brewing wine!”

Fan Jiang thought about earning money from selling rice wine and thought about how many people could eat rice, meat, and eggs every day. In the future, they would rely on selling rice wine. He nodded obediently, “Ma, me too!”

Shuiqing looked at the others and continued to instruct, “We have chickens, rabbits, and cows at home. Now we have three little piglets as well. Dad, you’ll take care of the cows and feed them grass when you get up early to cut grass. Dahuo, the rabbits are your responsibility.”

Later, she bought eight mature fat rabbits and now there are fourteen rabbits in the rabbit enclosure. Rabbits eat more grass. Fanhu is still young and can’t do other things. Occasionally feeding rabbits is still okay.

Fanhu nodded his head quickly and promised, “Ma, I will fatten up the rabbits!”

The last time he ate in the restaurant, the rabbit meat was so delicious!

He also wants to eat rabbit meat.

“Dahong, you and your dad go to the city to sell rice wine.”

“Ling Ran, wash clothes, cut pig grass to feed the pigs, mix chicken feed to feed the chickens. I heard you can also drive a cart?

When your Uncle Fan needs help, can you handle driving the cart with Dahong to deliver goods? Can you manage these tasks?”

“I can handle it!” Ling Ran promptly agreed without hesitation.

These tasks are not difficult, and compared to previous chores, they are much easier and less physically demanding. There is also time to rest during the day.

Shuiqing was very satisfied.

As for herself, she took care of the daily meals for the whole family.

Fan Jin waited until Shuiqing finished speaking before getting up to start clearing the dishes.

The five children also got up, each with their own tasks: fetching water, making fires, heating water for washing, and everyone had their own responsibilities.

Ling Ran looked at their family’s organized way of doing things and thought that their prosperity had reasons behind it.

With parents who were harmonious and intelligent, and children who were diligent and serious, their days would only get better and better.

Unlike his own family, where wealth slipped away and reputation declined day by day…

Over the next ten days or so, everyone in the Fan family was very busy.

Busy brewing and selling wine to earn money, using that money to buy cotton to make big quilts, buying fabric to make winter clothes and cotton shoes, buying plenty of candles, matches, lamp oil, and wicks;

They bought seven lambs to raise;

They even bought lime… The ox carts came and went, loaded and returned, without wasting anything.

On the 8th of November, the new house was finally completed and ready to move into!

Early in the morning, many people from Shanshui Village, who had a good relationship with Shuiqing’s family, came.

Some men who had helped build the house earlier came to help move for free.

Some women who had helped with washing continued preparing the feast in the new kitchen.

There were also more elderly people and children, coming to visit the new house.

Sun Jinhua brought her daughter, Fan Zhaodi, along.

She looked at the solid gates of the courtyard and sneered, thinking it was a waste of wood. Why would a farmer’s family need such sturdy gates? What did they have to guard against among their fellow villagers?

With the crowd, they arrived at the front row of five large rooms. Seeing the beds inside were bigger than hers, along with wardrobes and chairs, it was enough to make her teeth ache with envy.

Grandma Xu exclaimed in surprise, “Oh my, is this the house for Jiang, He, and Hu’s three children? It’s magnificent!”

Li Tiantian asked in confusion, “Strange, there are five rooms in a row, but only three have beds and bedding? Can’t Yanqiu and Xinghui stay here too?”

Sun Jinhua immediately perked up, “Of course, sons should sleep in big rooms on big beds. How can daughters compare with sons?”

She added with a spirited tone, “The two girls, Yan’er and Er’er, are probably in some corner of a nook!”