Happiness Consist in Contentment

Chapter 41 Farmer’s Wife

By the way, Aunt Chen also has a fourth elder brother. Although her parents were very old, they were still alive and very healthy.

After getting off the boat from the town, the fourth brother of Chen family came to pick them up with his nephews. Driving eight mule carts to pick up the whole group and their luggage, and then went to Qingshan Village.

When they arrived in the village, there was a lot of excitement between relatives meeting each other.

The Liu family lived in the village for a few days, and Father Liu decided that the whole family would really settle there.

In the first place, the Chen family was already a big family in the village. The four brothers got married and had children, each has separate families. After their children got married, they separated again, forming a big family.

Because of the affluent life, each family has its own house, which was a brick house, and the area was also very large. Otherwise, it would not be able to accommodate the Liu family.

They settled here, and with the Chen family as their support, they don’t have to worry too much.

Secondly, the folk customs in the village were simple and honest. Basically, it was just some daily trivial matters. Life was bustling and lively, and there were not so many intrigues.

In this way, the Liu family was willing to settle here.

Now that they have decided to settle down, they have to buy land and build a house. They can’t live in Chen’s house all the time.

So, Liu Fan and his brothers started to get busy, the young madams also started to inquire with the villagers about the customs. To avoid making fools of oneself when building a house and buying land. That would be bad.

If it was said that Farmers’ life was busy, it was really busy. There seems to be no rest time throughout the year, but if it was said not busy, there were time when it was quite idle.

During the slack season, the Liu family built a house, and everyone in the village came to help. There was enough manpower, so in less than half a month, the Liu family’s house was built. There was a fuss for several days for the relocation banquet before the work was really over.

Father Liu didn’t build a big yard this time. The family still continued to live together. Instead, he took this opportunity to divide the family, bought a large piece of land, and built seven yards. It was also very spectacular.

But the yards were actually not very big. In rural areas, there were no things like the first gate, the second gate, the front yard, and the back yard. there were not many rules here.

It’s just that the Liu family still built two large yards each. After all, they were used to it, and they can’t bear the situation when opening the courtyard door everything in the backyard could be seen like the people here. So two entrances were built, at least there was a room for relaxation.

But the actual area was really not that big, just normal.

In addition, Liu Fang was now living with Aunt Chen at Liu Mo’s house, not at Liu Fan’s house.

It’s not that Madam Liu didn’t want to live with Aunt Chen, nor was it that Liu Fan and his wife don’t want them to live here, but Aunt Chen didn’t like it.

Aunt Chen was not happy about it, Liu Fang felt that everyone lived close to each other, so she lived with Aunt Chen.

Father Liu and Madam Liu naturally wanted to live with the eldest son, so they separated.

With a new home, the Liu family really settled down. The next thing was how each family lives.

After Father Liu thought, his family didn’t know how to farm. Even if they bought a field in the future, they could only rent it out to others.

Although they have hidden a lot of money in private, they can buy a lot of lands, and the land rent alone will be enough for them to live by then.

But you can’t let the children have nothing to do, can you?

Therefore, Father Liu decided to open a private school. Anyway, the eight of them, father and sons, have all passed imperial examinations, and each has their own merits. Even if they were not officials, they were still cultural people. It was more than enough to enlighten the children in the village.

Regarding this, Liu Fan and others also agreed. Only Seventh Master⎯⎯Liu Sheng wants to go to the town to open a shop and do business.

Father Liu saw that he really didn’t want to be a teacher, so he agreed: Now their family can’t pay attention to such things as being a businessman.

[Being a businessman or merchants, they were looked down upon in ancient Chinese society. They were disliked because they made money off of the work of others by trading goods othersmade]

As long as everyone can keep busy, the days to come will naturally get better and better.

Because Liu family came at an unfortunate time. Even if they want to buy fields they can’t. They can only wait and talk about it later.

Liu Sheng went to the town to open a shop, which can be done right away, but the family needs to open a private school, which means building a house again.

Fortunately, they bought a hill and basically built their houses here, and it’s fine to build a yard in front.

In the beginning, this was suggested by Liu Fang. Because they have a large family member and were foreigners.

That’s why they bought a large but not too high barren hill at the end of the village.

The mountain was still in the process of being reclaimed. If they can’t buy fields in the future, these wastelands can be opened up to grow some food.

What’s more, Liu Fang has placed a plan for this place, some of which were planted with fruit trees, some of which were planted with wood, and some of which were used as terraced fields.

With such a large area, it will definitely be able to support them if they manage it well.

The private school didn’t need to be too big. After all, Father Liu and the others were only giving enlightenment for the time being. They will discuss it later If there was not enough space in the future.

Building houses one after another, land reclamation, and so on, plus daily life, the Liu family has less and less money.

Seeing this, Liu Fang took out a pair of hundreds of flowers that she had embroidered earlier and gave it to Liu Fan, asking him to sell it in Fucheng and exchange it for some money.

Liu Fan looked at the embroidery in his hand and really didn’t know what to say.

“Fourth sister, you don’t have to be like this, the family still has money.”

Liu Fang smiled. Although their family was far away from the capital, they have caused a lot of trouble along the way. It was really not suitable for them to show their wealth too much now. Even if they have a lot of money in their hands, they don’t dare to spend it.

For example, the dowry that Madam Liu had hidden, as well as the remaining property of the entire Liu family – were all exchanged for banknotes and hidden in those humble coarse cotton shoes. It was still locked in the box and they dare not move it.

The Liu family’s recent money to buy land and build a house was basically from the money sent by those who sent them off, and part of the thank-you gift from the previous caravan.

It was Liu Fang who took it out, and Father Liu take it as a loan.

Now they see Liu Fang showing a pair of embroiderers again, they were really ashamed in their hearts.

Father Liu stroked his beard and sighed, “Forget it, when fourth daughter gets married in the future, let’s make up for her. Let’s just leave it at that for now.” 

After hearing this, Liu Fan put away the embroidery and sold it the next day.

Because of Liu Fang’s good martial arts in this mission, making embroidery was actually very easy, and the speed was also fast, and her skills improved a lot. Furthermore, after the last mission, her vision improved a lot, and the embroidered products were really rare treasures in this world.

Therefore, her embroidery sold for a high price. 10,000 taels!

Liu Fang raised her eyebrows, and after returning to her room, she asked Qiu Yun who followed in, “Did you tell your master?”

She suspected that it was bought by the caravan master. In other words, Qiu Yun has been exchanging messages with each other.

After all, although her pair of embroiderers was precious, It doesn’t mean that it can be sold for such an outrageous price of 10,000 taels.

Qiu Yun immediately knelt down and said, “This servant didn’t do it. Miss, you are the master of this servant!”

Liu Fang was surprised, “Then who bought it?”

Qiu Yu was puzzled and said: “Miss, the pictures of hundreds of flowers you embroidered are so lifelike. There is no worry about selling them, even if they are more expensive, it’s normal.” 

She didn’t understand why Liu Fang was struggling with this. Is it not good?

Liu Fang glanced at her, shook her head, frowned, and thought deeply, “I still believe it if it was about one thousand taels, ten thousand taels? Oh, do you really think the money is blown by the strong wind?”

After hearing this Qiu Yu felt that it was true, ten thousand taels was indeed outrageous.

Qiu Yun was still kneeling, she thought for a while and said, “Miss, probably it was the Inner Court secretary who bought it.”

Liu Fang raised her eyebrows, “Oh? How do you say that?”

Qiu Yun said, “September is the Empress Dowager’s birthday.”

Liu Fang suddenly realized I see! No wonder then!

As for the Inner Court Secretary, she naturally doesn’t care if he takes the emperor’s money to spend.

She shrugged and said to Qiu Yun, “Get up, don’t kneel down at every turn in the future, I don’t have so many rules. Besides, our family can’t talk about these rules in the future, after all, we live in the village now.”

Qiu Yun got up obediently, and with Qiu Yu, they salute and responded: “Yes.”

Liu Fang: …

Forget it, let them be, they won’t be able to change it for a while, and it will be fine in the future.

After the private school opened, the Liu family’s life gradually stabilized. Although the food and drink were simple, life was very peaceful, they gradually integrated into this place.

The days were stable, Liu Fang’s age was also the time to discuss marriage and look for a husband-in-law.

So, Madam Liu, Aunt Chen, and the young madams of the Liu family also started to get busy.

As for Liu Fang, she still teaches martial arts to private school children along with her family members, and Qiao Zheng her disciple on a daily basis. She either spends most of her time at home doing embroidery or caring for their family mountains.

In fact, as soon as the Liu family arrived in Qingshan Village, they attracted the attention of the villagers.

One, they were relatives of the wealthy Chen family in the village.

Second, their family’s demeanor, appearance, temperament, and speech were different from theirs.

Third, the Liu family spent a lot of money on building houses and buying land. They have money at first sight.

Finally, the daughter of their family was really very good-looking⎯⎯that was Liu Fang.

It’s not that the villagers never thought of Liu Fang for marriage, but looking at her relatives, most of them didn’t dare.

But there were still two families who dare.

The first family was the only scholar’s family in the village, the family was also very rich, and the only child in the family, who was admitted as a scholar at a young age, looks good, and has always been a romantic figure admired by women in the town and nearby villages.

This person was Scholar Yan from the Yan family.

Seventeen years old, a fresh and elegant young man.

When he saw Liu Fang enter the village for the first time, he was amazed by her appearance, and he wanted to marry her wholeheartedly.

The second one was the son of an ordinary farmer named Han Dong.

The Han family was originally a poor family. Han Dong’s parents passed away early, and only his grandfather worked hard to raise him. But this Han Dong was very hardworking, and he was a good hand in farm work in ten miles and eight villages!

Therefore, the Han family has gradually become rich over the years. They have built a new house, dozens of acres of land, and a cow. They were living a pretty good life.

However, compared to the Yan family, that was really a big disadvantage, and it was completely inferior, let alone compared with the Liu family.

This Han Dong also saw Liu Fang the day they entered the village, and was moved by her beauty, but he was very self-aware and had no intention of marrying Liu Fang.

It’s just he couldn’t help but run to the Liu family to help, and the brothers of the Liu family could tell the reason for his coming.

Regarding this, Liu Fang spread her hands: She doesn’t care, it doesn’t matter who she marries. It just depends on what Madam Liu and the others think.

What Madam Liu think? That’s not a good idea.

Although their family was down and out now and settled in the village, their origins will never change.

Not to mention Liu Fang’s hard work defending them along the way. Not to mention they only have this younger sister by their side now, how can they let her bear hardships in the future?