It turned out that on the Dragon Boat Festival, Tian's family brought back Xia Yu. Who would have thought that a few days later, Xia Yu and her husband really returned? Xia Yu couldn't walk such a long distance, so she took a buffalo cart for part of the way, walked along a mountain road, crossed a single-plank bridge, and then took another buffalo cart. In short, according to what she said herself, it was very difficult to come back this time. It had been more than three months since they got married, but there was no news of pregnancy, so her husband's family was anxious. Xia Yu couldn't say anything, so she thought about going back to her parents' home to rest for a while and also finding a familiar doctor to take a look.

  Xia Yu returned to her mother's house and brought some local products from the fields to Zi Qing's family. Although the things were not valuable, they were a kind thought. Shen Shi invited them over for dinner. After dinner, Qiu Yu and Xia Yu sisters took a bath together. When leaving, Qiu Yu smiled and said: "Every time I come to Er Ge's house for dinner, I say I want to take a bath, but every time it ends in an unpleasant way, it's been half a year, today I finally got to take this bath, it feels so good! Father, mother, if you ask me, you should also soak one. My second aunt is really good at enjoying herself, having money is great!"

  Xia Yu scolded her in a low voice: "You've got what you wanted, where did those idle words come from? You won't be satisfied until everyone is unhappy?"

  Zi Qing saw Lao Yezi and Tian Shi staring at Shen Shi, and hastily said: "Little sister, where can my mother enjoy happiness? This is what my father and older brother want to do. They say that my mother, a woman with so many children, works too hard from dawn till dusk, and taking a hot bath at night can relieve her fatigue."

  Zi Qing successfully saw Tian Shi's face change, and said with a huff: "Not finished washing yet, why haven't you left?"

  See them off. Shen's hand patted Zi Qing's head, shook her head, and Zi Qing quickly pulled Zi Shou saying: "Little three, sister will take you to see if the watermelon is ripe?"

  After that, Zi Qing almost went to the ground every day to knock on the watermelon. There were not many ripe ones, and after waiting for a few more days, it was May 15th. Zi Qing finally took a melon to deliver a message to Zhou Zhanggui and asked: "Zhou Zhanggui, can you discuss with your master about giving us some extra hardship allowance? You see, this year's drought has reduced the yield of watermelons, but they are sweeter than last year's. If you take one back to taste it, you will know. Moreover, this year's watermelon is 10 days earlier than last year's. Go ask your master if he can give us a little more hardship allowance."

  Zhou Zhuo took the melon and smiled, saying he would definitely pass on the message. The next day, Zhou Zhuo brought people over to pull the melons and informed them of Dongjia's intention: 20 cents per catty, which could be sold until the end of this month; from June 1st to mid-June, it was still 18 cents. Although it didn't reach the expected target, Zi Qing was still relatively satisfied. Which businessman doesn't pursue profit?

  Seeing off Zhou Zhanggui, holding the one hundred and two silver coins in his hand, Zi Qing asked Shen Shi to find Li Zheng. Shen Shi asked: "It's not like buying a piece of pork on the street, such a large sum of money, you're so anxious to send it to someone, why?"

  "Oh, mother, don't worry about it anymore. Father has already agreed, hasn't he? Besides, didn't I raise this watermelon myself? Don't you trust me? I want to raise a lot of chickens and sell them at a good price before the New Year." Last year when selling couplets, Ziqing asked around in the market and found out that capons were sold for up to 20 cents per catty before the New Year. And we even thought that selling them to Zhou Zhangguan for 18 cents was already a favor to him. The most important thing is that Ziqing wants to raise a thousand chickens, use their manure as fertilizer for the mountain, and then raise some sheep. This will provide enough nutrients for the fruit trees. But all these can't be explained clearly, so I can only pester and whine."

  The Shens couldn't get past Zi Qing, so they had to bring a small basket of eggs and visit the Lis. Zi Qing followed them. He Shi accompanied Zi Xi and Zi Shou for a few days after the festival, then Shen Shi sent someone to pick up her mother again. When they arrived at the Li's house, Mr. Li was out, and Mrs. Li stood with Shen Shi at the door chatting. Seeing the basket of eggs in Shen Shi's hands, her smile became more genuine. Zi Qing saw this and smiled secretly, thinking that things were going well now.

  Shen handed over the basket, and Lǐ Zhèng's wife pretended to decline, but just as they were tugging at it, Lǐ Zhèng returned with his two sons. Shen explained the purpose of her visit, and Lǐ Zhèng grasped his chin thoughtfully before saying: "Madam Xiùcái, that mountain is connected to the land, and even if we estimate conservatively, there are about 40 or 50 mu (亩). Although the price of barren mountains is cheaper, with those 10 or so mu of barren land included, it would still cost around 180 taels of silver. This silver cannot be borrowed."

  "It's all right, my family also has many children and wants to make a living. The paddy fields are too expensive, and it's not easy to buy them for the time being. So we gathered some silver and bought some barren mountains and land. If we work hard to manage it, that's all."

  "As long as the silver is enough, it's easy to say. Selling to anyone isn't a problem. For so many years, this desolate mountain and land have been idle. I see your family's big courtyard is being built, raising chickens and growing vegetables will be very convenient. In the future, villagers won't need such a small piece of land for building houses anymore, and the village's wasteland should sell well. Even I want to build a big courtyard to live in. Tomorrow I'll go to the county government office, find someone to measure it for you, and get the procedures done at the same time. Just worry that we still need to go to the county school to find Zeng Xiutai to sign and stamp... Only, this trip is quite a run..."

  Shen hastily handed over four strings of cash and said, "Then trouble Lǐ Zhèng with this. Take it to hire a carriage and have a meal. When dealing with the yamen, you also need to grease their palms; can't let you pay out of your own pocket."

  "Alright, alright, you can rest assured and go home to wait for my good news." The face of the copper coin receiver lit up with a smile like a chrysanthemum. Money can make a ghost grind a millstone, this is true in both ancient and modern times.

  Two days later, Li Zheng brought the land deed and said that the surveyor had measured the wasteland yesterday. It was actually two small hills covered with thorns and wild grass, which was 50 mu (a unit of area). The price was one or two silver coins per mu. There were also 10 mu of barren land at the foot of the mountain, which cost two and a half silver coins per mu. Shen's family took out 80 taels of silver and asked Li Zheng to go to the county to find Zeng Rui-xiang to handle the formalities.

  Ziying walked around the foot of the mountain for about a circle, roughly a rectangle of about 200 meters long and 150 meters wide. However, there are two earth slopes inside the rectangle. The wall of Ziying's house is against the foot of the mountain. The wasteland is mainly on the east side of the mountain slope. After the villagers left, they basically walked from the west side because most of what faces the west side is paddy fields.

  Zi Qing saw that the wild grass on the mountain slope was very lush, and she was afraid that there might be poisonous snakes hiding in it, so she decided to set fire to it first. These things were naturally left to Zeng Ruiyu to do. Because Zeng Ruixiang was not at home, Shen Shi still invited Old Master Zeng to come, and he went to invite the ten people from the village who built houses to build a wall around the courtyard. This time, seeing the benefits of having a wall for growing melons, Shen Shi thought it over and decided to have the wall built, which saved Zi Qing a lot of trouble. Master Luo said that it would be better to finish it before the summer harvest, which coincided with Zi Qing's intentions.

  The old man went back and whispered to Tian Shi, saying that he didn't expect Shen Shi to buy another large piece of wasteland, and it's likely that a lot of silver was spent again. "It seems that this watermelon is still very profitable, and I don't know how Chunyu's family is doing? Look at Erniang, a woman who leads a group of children at home, and in just one or two years, she can make her life so prosperous. The eldest son-in-law's family has been separated for many years, but there's no improvement at all. I don't know what he's busy with every day. He has time to gossip, but it's better to think about how to live a good life. All he knows is how to drink and boast, and I don't know where Chunyu saw his merits? No wonder the eldest son doesn't look up to him."

  Zi Qing didn't know any of this, and for a while she had been focusing on the barren mountain. On the slope, every 20 meters or so, they set up a chicken coop, and every 5 meters, they prepared to dig a tree pit three feet square. The sheepfold was set at the foot of the mountain. Master Luo and his team spent 20 days before finishing, mainly because Zi Qing asked them to dig the tree pits on the slope together. The courtyard wall and chicken coops cost less than 15 taels of silver in total. Zeng Ruiyu's earth bricks were not enough, so he borrowed some from others, saying that he would return them later. Therefore, Shen Shi gave him four taels of silver, including money to buy stones.