CH 75.1

Chapter 75

On the 29th day of the year, Zhang Fangyuan closed his shop and put up a sign saying that the shop would go out of business. This year, would end here.

They had already prepared everything for the New Year, but before going home today, he still bought some small things in the city, such as pastries and fruits. It was Chinese New Year, everything must look good even a plate for dinner, and there were still things for the children who came to the door.

He tied a load of things on the horse's back. He came to open the shop in the city alone, so he didn't bring the carriage. Although it was colder to ride the horse only, it was very light, convenient and fast.

When he went back, he went to the tea shed first. The tea shed would be closed tomorrow, so those who lived around the tea shed and hadn't bought the new year's goods came here to buy it.

Such as soy sauce, vinegar, oil, tea, wine, incense, candles, firecrackers, etc. In short, his tea shed was like a grocery store, and the villagers became more and more dependent and always came here to buy things. They came to ask what was not sold in the tea shed, and urged them to buy the goods.

It was still bustling when he passed by, a few children pestered the adults to buy some fruit to eat, and Chen Si was still selling pork here.

"How is the business today?"

"It's okay, almost sold out." Seeing Zhang Fangyuan came back, Chen Si wiped the pig butcher's knife and put it in the basket. After that he raised a pig's hind leg from the bottom of the chopping board where the pork was placed: "Here, take it!"

"What is this for?" Zhang Fangyuan didn't go to pick it up.

"For you to eat something during the Chinese New Year, a bit of my regard, so you don’t have to buy it anymore."

Zhang Fangyuan laughed, he knew what Chen Si meant. The two of them didn't shirk back and forth like village women, and he readily accepted: "Work hard next year, and the business will prosper."

Chen Si laughed happily: "It's natural."

"No, the house is not big, how much can a house with five rooms cost?"

He hired someone to build a house within two months of selling pork, and it didn’t cost much to build an adobe house in the village. After he and his fulang moved in, life became much cleaner now, and they no longer had to quarrel with the sister-in-law everyday.

There was a saying that people would be in good spirits on happy occasions, and the pork would sell better this month.

Zhang Fangyuan nodded, everyone was happy when they had something to strive for.

After talking with Chen Si, Zhang Fangyuan went into the tea shed and explained to his second aunt and fourth aunt. He told them to close the tea shed early and go home early, so that tomorrow they could have a good New Year.

Zhang Fangyuan rode back to the village with the pig's hind leg Chen Si gave him.

Everyone sighed, the Zhang family really made money, and they didn't even want the land. If they built such a big house, there would be so many people to live in it. But when they thought about it carefully, it was a good thing that the Zhang family built the big house in their own land, otherwise they had to spend money to buy the land, and the cost would be even higher.

Everyone was pointing and estimating how much the cost of the construction of Zhang family's house.

"It's so large, and it's not an adobe house, but green bricks, with thick tiles on the roof. At least it must be more than seventy taels of silver!"

"Aunt Wang, that number is just enought for these bricks and tiles only. If it’s the cost for a whole house, it will cost at least a hundred taels."

A villager who worked in the kiln couldn't help but interjected.

The woman exclaimed: "It costs so much money, the Zhang family is really prosperous! Do you make so much money in the business these days?"

"It's incredible, it's really incredible."

The woman was amazed and regretted at the same time. When Zhang Fangyuan couldn't find a daughter-in-law, why didn't she allow her little ge’er and girl to marry him? It was really a pity, that Matchmaker Gan also came to her house before to talk about marriage.

And it was not just her, the Hu family was the one who regretted it the most. First, the matchmaker Gan came to their house to talk about marriage, but instead of agreeing, the wife of the Hu family even scolded so badly in front of the fourth aunt. This time, let alone taking about marriage, even if her man wanted to come here as a helper, he didn't have the face to come here, and he blamed her to death at home.

A group of villagers were active in their minds, trying to find out how to make good relationship and get some benefits.