The happy little days of the Ye family

When Mr. Ye went to the Yamen to buy Huangshan, his father was transporting a donkey cart full of winter bamboo shoots to the Liang family restaurant.

Since buying the Ye family's spicy duck recipe, the chef of the Liang family restaurant has developed several spicy dishes, and they are quite popular. The business of the Liang family restaurant is getting better and better.

With more people eating, more ingredients will naturally be needed. Shopkeeper Liang was very kind and directly wrapped the Ye family's winter bamboo shoots into balls, and asked Ye's father to continue to provide toon and wild vegetables to the Liang family restaurant after spring as he did last year.

Ye's father happily agreed. Ye Xilin did not go to school, but happened to be digging wild vegetables and picking Chinese toon at home.

After collecting the money from selling winter bamboo shoots, Ye's father planned to go to the dock to have a look. He also bought a few packs of snacks from the snack shop, which he brought for the patrolling detectives and the stewards on the dock.

Father Ye drove the ox cart to the pier. At this time, the pier was still deserted, no one was setting up stalls, and there were only a few small boats parked at the port.

Although there are few people on the dock, there are still detectives patrolling the dock every day, and there are still some carpenters working on the dock.

Father Ye has been thinking about moving the two stalls of his family together, preferably the tea stall of Ye's family as well.

In this way, the three of them can take care of each other, and if anyone has something to do and leaves, they can also help take care of the stall.

From the end of the year to before the Lantern Festival, the pier is the most deserted. During this period, almost no one sets up stalls, and some people will return long-term rental stalls at this time.

Years ago, Father Ye had already said hello to the steward at the dock. If someone wanted to cancel the lease, please help him stay. Father Ye came here today just to find out if anyone wanted to cancel the lease.

As soon as he arrived at the dock, he saw Agent Zhang on patrol. Father Ye greeted Agent Zhang cheerfully.

"Brother Zhang, have you had lunch? Here are some pastries to cushion your stomach later in the afternoon." He said and stuffed an oil paper bag into Agent Zhang's hand.

Agent Zhang was not polite, directly caught the oil paper bag, and then whispered in Father Ye's ear:

"Don't you want to move the stalls? I heard that a few stalls have to be rented out, but there are many people who want them. You can spend some money to check them out, maybe you can get them."

Father Ye's eyes lit up, "Thank you, Brother Zhang. I have something to do. Next time we have a drink together, I'll treat you."

Then Father Ye hurriedly went to find the steward who was managing the stall on the dock. Someone was indeed going to push down the long-term rented stall. Father Ye stuffed a couple of silver into the steward's arms, and the matter was quickly settled.

It happened that there was a stall next to Ye's father's stall that had been rented out, and Ye Donglin's stall happened to be moved over.

Ye Donglin's stall was originally used by his second cousin to sell tea and snacks. Although the three stalls were not connected together, his cousin was not far away from them and could be seen by looking up.

Father Ye said in a low voice, "It's a pity that you can't buy it from the stall on the dock. It would be great if you could buy it."

The steward at the dock nearby smiled and said: "You dare to think that even if this stall can be bought and sold, it won't be the turn of ordinary people like us."

"I've been taken care of by those big families a long time ago, so it's not up to you small-timers to buy it."

"The county magistrate is worried that the stalls here are monopolized by those wealthy merchants. He specifically ordered that the stalls on these docks can only be rented and not bought or sold."

Father Ye smiled and said, "The county magistrate is still wise."

Speaking of this, Father Ye was also very grateful to the current county magistrate, who was indeed a good official.

There is a lot of rain in the south, and there are heavy rains every year in the rainy season. Every few years, the county magistrate will organize manpower to dredge the rivers. Therefore, although there is a lot of rain, floods rarely occur.

Not only that, many large weirs were also built to store water, so that water could be released for irrigation during droughts.

Father Ye came back from the county. When he returned home, he happened to meet Mr. Ye who had returned from buying wasteland.

When Father Ye saw that Mr. Ye was in high spirits and had a smile on his face, he knew that the matter in the wasteland was settled.

As soon as the father and son entered the door, Mrs. Ye greeted them, "How is it? Have you bought the wasteland? How many acres of wasteland have you bought?"

Mr. Ye took out two land deeds from his pocket and said, "I bought it, don't you worry about me doing the work?"

"A total of 55 acres of wasteland were purchased, including 33 acres of wasteland at the foot of Zhulin Mountain and 22 acres of wasteland at the foot of Xiaohou Mountain."

"Excluding the corner areas and ditches and ridges that cannot be reclaimed, I estimate that about 50 acres of paddy fields can be developed."

Mrs. Ye said with a smile: "After the paddy fields are opened, the brothers Donglin and Xilin will each be divided into 20 acres, and the remaining 10 acres will be given to Qingqing as a dowry."

Ye Qingqing and Ye Mu heard the sound of the donkey cart and came out of the room. They happened to hear what Mrs. Ye said.

Ye Qingqing's eyes turned red on the spot. The Ye family did not favor boys over girls, and they loved her very much. However, Ye Qingqing never thought that her family would give her 10 acres of paddy fields as a dowry.

I heard that wealthy families would buy fields, shops, and even houses as dowries for their married daughters, but that was only wealthy families.

Common people usually only need a little money as a dowry, and the family's land and property must be left to the male.

Mrs. Ye was so moved to tears when she saw Ye Qingqing, she held her hand and said. “Although 10 acres of paddy field is not much, it is also a great effort on our part to prepare.”

"Most of the family property will be left to your two brothers, and you will be at a disadvantage in this regard. We have already discussed it, and when you get married in the future, we will give you more money as a dowry."

Father Ye teased his daughter with a smile, "You don't have to work in the fields. It would be good if you buy a shop or a house in the town and use it to collect rent."

Ye Qingqing whispered: "Having ten paddy fields is already very good. I have also made some money doing embroidery over the years. I will buy a shop and a house in the town by myself in the future."

Mother Ye hugged her well-behaved daughter and said, "Silly boy, it's one thing for you to have money yourself, but it doesn't conflict with what we, the elders, give you."

Seeing that Ye Qingqing was about to shed tears again, Mother Ye quickly changed the subject, "Has the mountain at my parents' home been bought?"

"After buying it, your father bought a hill next to the village chief's hill, and also bought more than 30 acres of wasteland below the hill."

"The village chief also bought the wasteland near his family's hill. He bought more than 60 acres of wasteland in total."

"In addition to those who bought wasteland, several families went to the Yamen together today and bought a hill to plant jujube trees and honeysuckle."

Mrs. Ye was a little worried, "With so many people planting honeysuckle and dates, will the dates and honeysuckle be sold by then?"

Mr. Ye: "The village chief has connections. This year, the honeysuckle and red dates sold by the village chief's family are sold to big merchants from other places. Although the price is lower than those sold in bulk, it is also easy."

"This year, merchants came to collect the red dates at the village chief's house, all costing 17 yuan per catty. I asked the village chief, and in the future, he will also ask merchants to collect the red dates and honeysuckle grown by other people in the village."

The village chief is a capable person. The person Mr. Ye admires most in his life is the village chief.

Father Ye's focus was different, and he said with a smile: "Although the price is much cheaper than what we sell in bulk, the village chief has a lot of red dates. This year the village chief has made a lot of money."