As soon as Fang Datong came over, everyone couldn't help but gather around and ask, "Brother Fang, what instructions does the lady have?"

  "Isn't he here to persuade us to change our nationality?"

  "I, I don't want to change my nationality..."

  Everyone saw Lin Qingyuan find Fang Datong and talk for half a day, with their hearts still suspended, but it was not good to go forward and disturb them, so they could only secretly guess.

  "Alright, alright. The mistress has indeed come with something to instruct," Fang Dasong raised his hand to quiet everyone and said: "The mistress said that previously when we released the good people, those who left for fear of burdening the Lin family can still return if they want to. If there are still people from the Northwestern Army coming to surrender, the Lin family will not refuse them like before. Also, the mistress wants to build houses for us, one house per household, four households as a neighborhood. Later we'll mark out the land and you can go choose your own plot."

  Everyone was overjoyed, "Really?"

  "Of course it's true, but Auntie said that spring plowing is imminent and the work in the fields cannot be neglected. We should cut down trees and cut grass as needed." Fang Da added: "The Lin family has been kind to us, we can't slack off either, we must do something within our power to repay them a bit."

  Liu Dàniáng gripped the sickle tightly and said loudly, "Dàtóng, don't worry, we all know that there are many things we can't do, but cutting grass and chopping trees is still something we can manage."

  "Yes, yes, we must speed up our work and cannot delay spring plowing."

  Everyone's enthusiasm for labor is soaring, not only are they moving twice as fast themselves, but also making the children run around in circles.

  The whole world is filled with laughter and joy.

  Lin Quan's short-term workers from the city have also arrived, and Lin Qingyuan had them divided into ten groups, with one group led by a servant of the Lin family, to work separately in the fields.

  There are people from the east, south and north of the city, some even come from villages, their homes are far away, it's impossible for them to commute back and forth.

  They mostly chose to spend the night in a broken temple or a large shed in the city, and come to work the next day. Lin Qing saw that this was too chaotic and difficult to manage, so she said to Lin Quan: "Go to Changfu Village and Qingfeng Village to ask if there are any villagers willing to rent houses, rent a few rooms for them to live in, it's convenient to go to work and easy to manage. It's just that the requirements must be strict, no stealing or sneaking around, and get along well with the local villagers."

  "Rest assured, madam, I'll keep them under control."

  Then, the short-term workers who came settled down in Changfu Village and Qingfeng Village. Every day, they went to work at dawn and stopped at sunset. The Lin family provided food and accommodation, and each worker received 20 cents in wages every day.

  Not to mention that it's still early for spring outings, everyone is idle. Even if they arrive, many people will choose to stay behind.

  A daily wage of twenty cents is not easy to come by, let alone some families have little land and losing one person doesn't matter much, while others simply have no land at home and rely on carrying loads as temporary workers to make a living.

  Looking at such a large piece of land, everyone is delighted. How long will it take to open up such a large piece of land?

  As long as they do a good job, there's no need for the Lin family to worry about keeping people on, and when the time comes, won't the money just keep flowing in?

  So the short workers were very hardworking and obedient, and by going out early and returning late, they avoided having too much contact with the villagers of Changfu Village and Qingfeng Village, and there was no conflict.

  Moreover, villagers from Changfu Village and Qingfeng Village also came to Lin Quan one after another, expressing their desire to find a job as well.

  As long as they can work and have no major flaws in their character, Lin Quan said he would accept them all. For a time, the Lin family's estate was bustling with activity.

  The task of building a house for Fang Datong and his family fell on Lin Guanjia, who not only had to find workers and buy materials but also had to go to the village head to buy land.

  The places they encircled, some were Lin's family land, and some were not, so they had to be bought.

  Those lands are wastelands and do not belong to individuals but to the state. So, Lin Guanjia had to find the village head to buy those lands and then apply for building a house.

  In addition to building houses on the existing homestead, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the Li Zheng and the Ya Men before building houses elsewhere, in order to prevent someone from privately building houses on good fields and occupying arable land.

  After getting everything ready, buying all the materials and completing the formalities, the rain has stopped, and it's almost February.

  Lin Guanjia didn't dare to delay, let Fang Datong and others choose a good location for the house and then bring people to dig the foundation.

  Fang Datong and his family worked in the fields during the day, and when they rested, they would go to their own house to help with the construction, and the speed of building the house was very fast.

  They built earth houses, with stone foundations and walls made of earth bricks. The grass cut from the fields was immediately put to use, except for being transported out to be chopped up as fertilizer or burned into ash, all the good grass was mixed into the mud and pounded into earth blocks.

  Lin Guan hired experienced builders, the speed is very fast, basically a group of four days can build a five-room brick house, divided into five groups to build.

  In less than a month, the villagers' houses were all built, and those who received the houses moved in one after another, leaving the courtyard empty.

  Changfeng Village became increasingly lively as the Spring Awakening had passed and the Spring Equinox was approaching, with spring plowing having begun.

  Lin Qingwan goes to the fields every day to inspect and plan with Zhong Daguantie, and from now on, the main income of the Lin family depends on this land. Whether they live a good life or have to cut back on expenses will depend on this year's spring plowing and autumn harvest.

  The five mu of land brought by the other courtyard were all good land, and have always been cultivated by the tenants and long workers of the Lin family, so Lin Qingwan didn't need to worry about it. It was just that this side of the jiatian needed more attention.

  Most of the land was reclaimed and except for those rented to villagers in Changfu Village, the rest that could be cultivated were farmed together by the landlords and short-term workers.

  They came back late last year and the land couldn't be opened up, so they didn't have time to sow wheat, so this year they can only plant spring wheat.

  In places with more water, rice is uniformly sown and transplanted. In addition to these two staple foods, beans and peanuts are also successively sown.

  Lin Qingwan ran to the fields every day, her skin darkened by two shades, but her spirit was very good. During the Qingming Festival, when she took Lin Yuhong back to Linjiazhuang to sweep the tomb, the villagers couldn't help but lower their heads and shrink their bodies under her bright gaze.

  On her, they once again felt the pressure that the direct branch gave them, and the clan leader Lin Run was also more respectful to her by two points.

  Lin Qingwan stayed at Lin's village for only three days before returning directly to the other courtyard. The rice seedlings need to be transplanted.

  After the time for sowing had passed, Lin Qingyuan calculated that apart from the five mu of land brought by the other courtyard, only twelve mu were planted on the side of Jue Tian.

  The rest is still lying fallow.

  But Lin Qingwan was not in a hurry, thinking that everyone had been busy with the harvest recently and must be exhausted, so she let them have three days off, and they would start working again after three days.

  "Now that the spring plowing is over, let's clear out some space and plant fruit trees on the side of Qingfeng Mountain. The rest of the wasteland will also be opened up gradually. By September, we'll plant winter wheat."

  "Auntie, you've been busy with the spring harvest, I'm afraid you don't know that Master Zhao's second son has fallen ill?" Clock Da Guan Shi laughed and said: "I heard he had a fit of anger and has already returned to Jiangdu."

  "Oh?" Lin Qingyan leaned back in her chair with a hint of curiosity, smiling as she asked, "Why did he get angry?"

  Zhong Daguan couldn't help but laugh, "Didn't you go to Qingfeng Mountain and have someone find a bamboo stick to enclose the land? I don't know why he got angry, but I heard that after the Spring Awakening, he said he wanted to return home for the Qingming Festival and left early. The land he had just bought on Qingfeng Mountain was half deserted, and he didn't even have time to plant anything."

  "What a pity, I was thinking that when I'm free, I can visit Old Lady Shang's house and run into him, exchange greetings, and take care of each other in the future." Lin Qingwen happily took a sip of tea, hmm, Zhao Sheng is gone, she felt a sense of relief from head to toe.

  Bai Mei couldn't help but ask, "Lady, what do you think of this tea?"

  Lin Qing smiled after a moment of savoring, "It's even more refreshing, is the water different?"

  Bai Mei pouted and said, "You've finally discovered it. This water is from the cold spring on the back mountain. The other day, Big Sister took Yingyan and the others up the mountain, saw it, and had people fetch water from there every day. Now, all the tea we drink, rice we cook, and dishes we cook in our house are all using that spring water."

  Lin Qingwan's eyes widened in shock, "It's so...so precious! And that Cold Spring is quite far away."

  "It's not possible, but Big Sister likes it, so no matter how far, I have to go get it."

  Lin Qingwan smiled, "She's just like her grandfather."

  Lin Zhi didn't come here to build a villa just because of that cold spring on the mountain, did he?

  Lin Qingwan thought for a moment and said, "Alright then, tomorrow you all come dressed up, we'll take you to the Shang Mansion to see Old Lady Shang. If we don't go, she'll be coming after us with a knife."

  At the beginning of the year, Mrs. Shang sent someone to pick up Lin Yuhai, but Yuhai was in mourning and the Shang family wanted to invite people to set up a stage and perform opera, which would be inconvenient for her to attend, and Lin Qingwen also didn't want Lin Yuhai to think too much, so she refused.

  During this time, the spring plowing was busy, but that was for farmers. The old lady and young masters of the Shang family were very leisurely, so they invited Lin Yubin to go flower-watching. However, Lin Yubin saw that his younger sister went out early and returned late every day, and even ate poorly, so he felt a great sense of responsibility and didn't go.

  Instead, she stayed in the mansion to help Lin Qingwan with accounting and managing household chores.

  For the past three months, almost everything purchased had to go through Lin Yubin's hands. Lin Qingwan felt that even if she were to suddenly pass away, Lin Yubin should still be able to hold down the fort at home.

  Of course, in this case she wouldn't dare say it, because she's afraid that once she says it, another courtyard will be flooded.