During famine years, I had a divination slip in hand, and my whole family ate chicken, duck, fish, a

Ye Youliang tasted a piece of meat, and then ate two large steamed buns with the milky white soup, radish, and pickled vegetables.

Perhaps it's because he's getting old, but he feels that if he eats one less piece of meat, his children can eat one more.

Pork is one thing, but mutton has always been a delicacy for the wealthy; he never imagined it would appear on his family's dining table.

Watching the children eat mutton and steamed buns, he was so happy he almost forgot his own name.

Outside the window, the north wind blew snowflakes down, making the window paper rustle.

It looked like it was going to snow, but it was so warm inside that people wanted to take off their cotton-padded coats.

The aroma of stewed mutton mingled with the smell of charcoal, and the whole family ate until they were sweating profusely and their faces were flushed.

After a hearty meal, Li Chunyan and Ye Cuicui, along with Aunt Shuanzi, spread the cloth and cotton they had bought in town all over the kang (a heated brick bed) and raced against time to make quilts and mattresses.

With rice, flour, and meat in her belly, and new quilts to cover her before the snow, who in the whole Kaoshan Village has her standard of living?

She's been waking up laughing from her dreams every night these past few days!

Sure enough, by clinging to Er Yatou's powerful influence, the family's life improved dramatically!

The room was filled with the smell of freshly starched cloth.

In ancient times, rice starch was used to wash cloth. Ye Qingqing had never smelled this kind of smell in her own time and space, and she thought it smelled really good!

As the saying goes, "With grain in hand, one has nothing to fear."

Before the heavy snow blocked the mountain pass, the rice jar at home was full, and a lot of flour was also stored up.

The woodshed was piled high with pork, mandarin fish, roe deer meat, and half a mutton scrap. Even if the family had a broken leg, they could still eat their fill for a whole winter.

Now, Li Chunyan cooks large white steamed buns, white flour pancakes, and steamed rice for every meal, completely changing her "bad habit" of eating coarse grains.

With the thousand taels of silver in hand, Ye Qingqing finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The only downside is that after winter sets in, all we have at home are sauerkraut, radishes, cabbage, and scallions.

She eats every single day, and she's gotten so fat she's practically turned into a radish or cabbage!

Don't you have any fresh Shanghai bok choy, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, cabbage, celery, mushrooms, lettuce, or anything like that?

Vegetables that were commonplace and readily available in my own time and space are now unheard of here, let alone eaten!

Is anyone there?

Suddenly, the sound of mule and horse hooves came from outside, and someone shouted at the top of their lungs, "Is this the Ye Youliang family's house in Kaoshantun?"

"Who is it?"

Ye Dali, who was chopping firewood in the yard, saw a mule cart loaded with bricks and tiles parked in front of his house and looked puzzled.

"Who are you? What do you want with my dad?"

The man quickly stepped forward. "It's Ye Youliang's house, brother. We've come to deliver bricks and tiles: 5000 bricks, 2000 tiles, and 1,000 jin of lime mortar."

"Hey buddy, come over and check the goods. If the quantity is right, we'll unload the truck."

"What, what bricks and tiles?"

Ye Dali was completely stunned, his eyes wide open, "Brother, are you sure you're not mistaken? My family didn't buy any of these items!"

"Who would buy so many bricks and tiles in the dead of winter?"

The man was stunned and repeatedly checked the address with him, "It wasn't bought from your family? That can't be. It's from Kaoshantun, Ye Youliang's house. I'm not mistaken!"

"Dali, what's wrong?"

Hearing the commotion inside, Li Chunyan quickly put on her shoes and got off the kang (a heated brick bed). She was stunned to see two mule carts carrying loads.

"Who are you? Why are you delivering so many bricks and tiles to my house?"

"Didn't you buy it?"

The man stared at the two of them, then suddenly panicked. "No, no, I'm sure I didn't get the place wrong! Do you know Manager Zhou of Huimintang?"

He asked his assistant to order it from me, and even paid a ten-tael deposit. How could it not be from your shop?

"Manager Zhou?"

Ye Dali and his wife looked at each other, bewildered. "We know him, but we didn't ask him to order bricks!"

"Brother and sister-in-law, I placed the order."

Just as everyone was completely dumbfounded, Ye Qingqing's voice came from inside the house.

She slowly came out of the house and said calmly,

"Please, gentlemen, unload the goods into the yard."

This was something she had planned before going to town, but since she wasn't familiar with the town, she casually asked Manager Zhou about it while selling bezoars.

Unexpectedly, Manager Zhou said that his brother-in-law sold bricks and lime and also built houses for people, so he directly ordered the materials for her.

"That's more like it!"

The deliveryman was sweating profusely. He glanced at Ye Qingqing and said repeatedly, "Young lady, if you don't come out and say something, I'm going to take this stuff back to town!"

"Sorry, I didn't hear you from inside."

Ye Qingqing smiled and said, "How much more silver do you need? I'll go get it."

Li Chunyan looked at her with a bewildered expression. "Second girl, what are you doing buying so many bricks, tiles, and lime in the dead of winter? Are you building a new house?"

Ye Qingqing raised an eyebrow. "Buying bricks and stones is obviously for building houses, not for eating, is it?"

If a family has money, building a new house is inevitable, but I've never heard of anyone building a house in the dead of winter!

Li Chunyan almost couldn't catch her breath.

"Who would be so kind as to build a house in the dead of winter, Er Yatou! The mud and mortar freeze as soon as they touch water in winter, so the house won't be sturdy. Even if we do build one, we'll have to wait until spring when the frost thaws."

"It's not that the whole family is building new houses; it's just that a temporary room is being built."

Ye Qingqing raised her chin at the drafty, dilapidated woodshed and said casually, "We live in the house with a heated kang bed. Brother Dazhuang is still living in the woodshed!"

It's getting colder and colder. Once the heavy snow comes, the woodshed will be uninhabitable, and people will freeze.

So I thought I'd build a temporary woodshed, burn firewood for a few days to dry it out, and then it would be habitable.

As soon as the words were spoken, Li Chunyan and Ye Dali breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes, yes, Second Sister, you're so thoughtful!"

Li Chunyan waved her hand and said with a smile, "When it gets cold, the woodshed is indeed uninhabitable. It needs to be built more sturdily, and a kang (heated brick bed) should be built for heating!"

Brother Dazhuang is a man of few words, always silent; I almost forgot he's still freezing!

Ye Dazhuang also chuckled, "We neglected Brother Dazhuang. Thank goodness he didn't hold it against us!"

I'll unload the bricks and stones now, and tomorrow I'll get two people to help. We should be able to get the woodshed built in the next day or two!

As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeves and ran to join the deliverymen in moving bricks and tiles into the yard.

Ye Dazhuang also quietly joined the team carrying bricks and tiles.

In fact, he had already walked out of the woodshed. He just watched quietly as things were none of his business.

When Ye Qingqing said that she bought the bricks and tiles to build him a woodshed, a ripple suddenly appeared in his deep, calm eyes.

"Big brother and sister-in-law... Qingqing, thank you."

As he passed Ye Qingqing, a flicker of emotion welled up in his deep eyes, and he offered a soft thank you.

Ye Qingqing raised an eyebrow. "We're all family, no need to be so polite."

Today I build a brick house and a heated kang bed for my "benefactor," and one day he will give me a large estate!