After being jilted, the entire neighboring village was filled with deep regret.

Chapter 57 The Situation of the Ke Family

Su Ming opened his mouth wide in an exaggerated manner, "Brother Shen, your yard is much bigger than my house combined. However, my house also has a chicken coop for raising chickens and a hay shed for raising cattle, but we didn't build a wall around them."

The area next to the Su family's courtyard where they kept livestock was only enclosed by a wall about one person's height made of adobe bricks and wooden planks, which was not as sturdy as the stone walls of the Shen family's courtyard.

Su Tai examined the wall carefully for a long time before exclaiming in surprise, "These are all stones?"

Shen Yi nodded. "My old house was built with adobe bricks. After a severe drought, it was badly weathered. I thought about it and decided to use stones directly. At least houses built with stones can withstand the erosion of wind and rain. Shenjiazhuang is close to the Daxun River, so there is no shortage of large stones. These stones have been washed by the river for many years and have no sharp edges, making them excellent for building houses."

My family has a fishing boat and a donkey cart, which can haul stones several times a day, making building a house a piece of cake.

Upon hearing this, Su Ming was filled with envy. "Brother Shen's family is so much better. Although our family also built a stone house, the stones were all found in the mountains, and some of them had to be polished. My father asked most of the uncles and elders in the village to help us make it."

Su Tai also thought the house was excellent, it could be said to be unique in Shenjiazhuang, there was nothing to complain about, the rest was just the furniture.

The three of them discussed the furniture they needed. Su Tai, remembering her secret, said to Shen Yi, "Brother Shen, I also want to get a small stone mill, a stone mortar and pestle, and a stove in the kitchen. Is that alright?"

Shen Yi nodded repeatedly, "These are not problems."

Su Ming was speechless. "Brother Shen, you spoil my sister too much! How can you give her whatever she wants? What if she wants the moon?"

Su Tai smacked him on the forehead with a laugh and a scolding tone, "Nonsense!"

Shen Yi chuckled to himself without saying a word.

After Shen Yi sent the siblings back, Su Ming immediately complained to Madam Han, and also exaggeratedly described the Shen family's new house.

Han was overjoyed and had already begun to think about how to arrange Su Tai's dowry.

Two days later, Su Chunlin returned at dusk, his beard unkempt and his expression exhausted.

The Su family members breathed a sigh of relief.

Han brought him a large bowl of warm water and sat down next to him. "Well? Did you find the person?"

Su Chunlin gulped down a bowl of water, and only after recovering did he nod. "My older sister and brother-in-law's family moved again. I had to ask around on the icy plains for a whole day before I finally found their house."

Su Chunlin couldn't continue after saying just one sentence. He wiped his face, and his voice choked with emotion. "My sister's life was so hard! The family of five relied on those fifty sheep to survive. She said she used to raise eighty sheep, originally intending to find a wife for my eldest nephew, but jackals came in winter and ate five of them. My brother-in-law was also injured."

We sold two sheep to pay for my brother-in-law's medical treatment, and then we sold more than a dozen more because my little niece is constantly taking medicine. Now the whole family is stuck with fifty sheep and can't do anything else.

These past two years, all the children have been emaciated, except for the youngest, Yunyun, who is in slightly better condition. But her older sister always secretly wipes away tears when she talks about Yunyun, and she asked me if I could help find a doctor to check on her. I plan to ask my older brother about it later.

The most skilled doctor here is Dr. Li from town, but he's quite old and might not be able to cure Ke Yunyun's illness.

Upon hearing this, Madam Han's heart skipped a beat. "Then give them all the grain you brought!"

Su Chunlin nodded. "They were really happy to see the grain I brought. My older sister and brother-in-law didn't want to take advantage of me and insisted on trading sheep with me, but I refused. Don't blame me."

Han glared at him reproachfully and said irritably, "Am I the kind of person who's easily swayed? I'll only scold you if you actually take it. Did you tell them about Xiaoyu and Xiaotai's marriage?" Su Chunlin nodded. "When we got married, I took you to the Ice Plains. We haven't seen each other for over ten years since then, so I had to let them know about the family situation. My eldest sister is also very happy to know that our family is living a good life."

Seeing my older sister suffering so much made me feel bad, so I told them that now that the drought is over, sheep aren't fetching a good price in their area, but they're rare here. After the autumn harvest, when every household has surplus grain, they can bring their sheep over and definitely make a profit. At the very least, my older brother and I can help them sell some.

My brother-in-law was worried about his two children's marriages, and he was immediately interested when he heard about it. He said he would come after the autumn harvest, but wouldn't come for Xiaoyu's wedding, and asked me to explain this to my older brother and sister-in-law.

Han understood the Ke family's arrangement and explained it to Su Yu before going to inform Huang.

Busy days fly by like an arrow, and before we knew it, it was the end of May. Just a few days before Su Yu's wedding, Su Chunlin's newly built courtyard was completed.

All the furniture inside needs to be replaced, and since Su Yu insisted on getting married from that courtyard, further arrangements are inevitable.

Su Chunlin and his wife were so busy that they had no time to think about anything else.

Meanwhile, the ten acres of cabbages in Tu Shikong ripened.

With no one watching, Su Tai could safely enter the Earth Dimension to direct the gophers to work.

After harvesting ten acres of cabbage, she had 50,000 jin (25,000 kg) of cabbage, which she sold to an automated trading platform for 15000 virtual coins.

She doesn't plan to continue growing cabbages. After all, she'll be living with Shen Yi after the autumn harvest. Shen Yi knows her secret, so she doesn't need to hide it anymore. From now on, she needs to start planning for their life after marriage.

The first priority was to grow cotton and make cotton quilts.

She had already inquired and learned that there were no cotton clothes in Zhaohua County. The wealthy and powerful used brocade and silk, the well-off used fine linen and hemp cloth, and the poor could only use coarse cloth.

Having been here for so long, she still couldn't accept the feeling of coarse cloth rubbing against her skin, and the cold-proof measures of this era. Although the quilts with many miscellaneous cold-proof materials were warm, they felt like a thousand pounds on her body, making it difficult to turn over. She often worried that she would be suffocated by the weight of the quilt.

When it's made into a padded jacket and worn, it feels like carrying a heavy load, making even simple tasks difficult.

In short, she had a lot of complaints about getting through the winter.

When Su Tai asked the seed shop owner to buy cotton seeds, the owner was quite surprised.

At her request, the shop owner selected a high-quality cotton seed for her, priced at 200 yuan per kilogram.

One mu of land requires four jin, so ten mu of land would require forty jin, which cost another eight thousand coins.

After handing the cotton seeds to the groundhog, Su Tai eagerly anticipated the harvest four months later.

Before they knew it, it was Su Yu's wedding day.

Su Chunlin and Han got up early and busied themselves, killing several of the chickens they raised at home. Su Chunlin carried half a pig back from outside and processed it in the cowshed.

Su Tai and Ruan Xiaoyu were busy kneading dough to make steamed buns and mantou.