Chapter 596: The Imperial Examination Family-Raising System (5)

Song Jinzhi was skillfully weaving a straw hat; even when she looked up at Xie Yang, her hands did not stop weaving.

Xie Yang noticed that in the gaze she held for her, besides admiration, there seemed to be a hint of envy.

Envy of what? Envy that she was fat? She couldn't help but find it amusing: "Don't you think I'm fat?"

The little girl nodded with great seriousness: "Fat is good! It means you're blessed!"

Xie Yang laughed: "That's just a polite way of saying things."

"It's not! Being fat means you can eat your fill. People who can't eat their fill don't have the qualifications to be fat."

"..."

That sounded remarkably reasonable!

She simply changed the subject: "Where are the others in your family?"

"Grandma went back to her room, Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle went to the fields, Eldest Cousin went with his wife to visit her parents, Eldest Aunt went to visit Eldest Cousin-in-law—she just gave birth to a baby a while ago. Second Aunt took brother Jiabao out to play, and Third Cousin and the others must have gone up the mountain to dig for wild vegetables..."

No wonder the courtyard was so quiet.

Xie Yang looked over this traditional rural Heyuan, but what she was thinking about was the location for a bridal chamber.

In any case, it was impossible for her to live in the same room as her parents-in-law and sister-in-law.

The entrance to the village was nice; it was close to town, making it convenient to visit her parents' home later on.

The end of the village was a bit far from town, but it was close to the mountain. The acre of poor land allocated to the third branch was right at the foot of the mountain. If she built the house at the end of the village, it would be convenient for both mountain work and field work.

It was just that she didn't know if the mountains here were allowed to be bought and sold. If they were, she would buy a hilltop, build a Farm like the one in the previous plane, plant seasonal vegetables for all four seasons, and raise some chickens, ducks, pigs, and sheep. If they couldn't finish eating it, she would put it on consignment at her parents' shop. Selling raw meat earned little, so when the time came, she would share a braised meat recipe with her parents' home and expand a small storefront to sell braised dishes exclusively; that would also be good...

Just as she was thinking this, Lin Shi walked out of the room and nervously invited her in: "Miss Xie, sorry to keep you waiting. Yanqing... has a few words he would like to say to you."

"Alright."

Watching Xie Yang enter the room, Lin Shi picked up her sewing basket and sat under the soapberry tree, so that no one would get close and overhear the conversation inside.

"Mother, will Sister Xie really become my sister-in-law?"

"Shh—" Lin Shi hurriedly raised a finger to her lips in a gesture for silence, "You're just a child, don't meddle in adult affairs."

Song Jinzhi's lively eyes rolled, and she pursed her lips, smiling silently.

She was already nine years old! She wasn't a child anymore!

"Mother, I'll go up the mountain to gather firewood in the afternoon. If I go now, I won't be able to dig up any fresh wild vegetables anyway."

She wanted to be the first to know if Sister Xie would become her sister-in-law.

Lin Shi gave an absent-minded "Mm."

Song Jinzhi sat back down on her small stool and began weaving the straw hat with peace of mind.

Regardless of whether Sister Xie would become her sister-in-law, she wanted to give this straw hat to her.

Since it was a gift for her benefactor, she wove it very meticulously, unlike in the past when she wove it roughly to save time.

Inside the room, Song Yanqing met Xie Yang's smiling eyes with a serious expression. He tried his best to suppress the waves of heat rising at his earlobes, lowered his gaze, and asked with forced composure: "Miss Xie previously only said you came to propose marriage, but I do not know why you came to propose?"

The reason had to be asked clearly.

Xie Yang looked at him with a smile and said: "Because you are good-looking."

"..."

"..."

Song Zhisheng, who could not enter or leave the room as freely as his wife and daughter and could only lie on the bed like a corpse pretending to be asleep, choked suddenly and was almost strangled by his own saliva.

Although Song Yanqing was not as exaggerated, the blush on his earlobes could no longer be suppressed, and it turned bright red all the way to his neck.

Ah! She seemed to have teased an underage cub!

Xie Yang sighed inwardly, but happily blurted out: "Food and sex, the nature of man. This is the original quote from Mencius; you scholars should know this."

"..."

Xie Yang did not know how the other party felt, but her own mood was quite pleasant.

Having settled the marriage and finalized the subsequent procedures, Xie Yang left behind a few pieces of broken Silver and departed first.

The original owner's purse had originally contained a few small two-tael gold ingots, but that carriage driver insisted that she was too heavy and had collapsed the carriage, forcing her to pay for the repairs.

Xie Yang was in a hurry at the time and didn't have time to argue with the other party, so she paid out of her own pocket.

Who knew that even by rushing, she still couldn't recover the Sub-system before it bound with Song Yanqing; it was truly a case of losing the lady and the army.

Fortunately, whether Song Yanqing was unconscious or awake, he grew on her aesthetic, and his character seemed okay for now. Living together in the future would be pleasing to the eye, and she wouldn't have to worry about the Sub-system's recovery anymore, because it would be right there whether she opened or closed her eyes. The day it unbound from its Host, she could recover it.

Perfect!

Thus, she left all the remaining broken Silver in her purse to Song Yanqing: "Use these for your family's emergency first. When I return to town, I will hire a doctor for you, and by the way, I will bring you some grain and essential daily necessities."

Before he could say anything, she said her goodbyes and left.

Song Jinzhi, however, was quick-witted and placed the straw hat she had woven onto Xie Yang's head: "Sister Xie, the sun is still very strong. If you wear this straw hat, you won't be afraid of getting tanned!"

Xie Yang gladly accepted the kindness of her future sister-in-law and, wearing the wheat-straw hat, hurried back to Guixiang Town from Qinghe Village.

When she came, it took a full half-hour, including the carriage ride and walking.

The return trip took only a little over a quarter of an hour.

This was why every time she arrived at a new plane, as long as she had enough points, she would definitely take a Physical Fitness Potion. There was no method of physical improvement that was faster or more effective than this.

Following the original owner's memories, she found her way home.

The Xie Family originally also lived at the end of town. Nine years ago, the old butcher who taught Xie Rong how to slaughter pigs passed away, and Xie Rong and his senior fellow apprentice had a dispute over who should inherit the Butcher Knife left behind by their master.

It wasn't that Xie Rong wanted to fight with his senior fellow apprentice, but this Butcher Knife represented his master's trust and expectations. Moreover, before his master passed away, he explicitly stated it was to be left to Xie Rong. It was his senior fellow apprentice who did not respect the master's dying wish and insisted on inheriting the Butcher Knife based on seniority, which led to bad blood between the fellow apprentices and a complete falling out.

After the falling out, Xie Rong, in a fit of anger, moved his whole family to the entrance of the town.

At that time, the end of Guixiang Town was much livelier than the entrance, because the end of town was very close to the pier. Every day, as long as there were merchant ships or passenger ships traveling to and from Fucheng docked there, the Pork stall would have business. The entrance of the town was only relevant to the villages below Guixiang Town.

But moving to the entrance of the town had one advantage—there were many ownerless residential plots.

Xie Rong bought ten acres of land in one go. Besides building houses, he also built a row of Pig Pens. They lived in the front and opened a meat shop, and raised pigs in the back; when the pigs grew up, they were slaughtered and sold in the meat shop.

Xie Rong would often take his sons to help the wealthy families in the surrounding area slaughter pigs and sheep, and during festivals and holidays, he would also go to the countryside to help farmers slaughter pigs, earning a fairly decent income over the course of a year.

When Xie Yang returned home, Xie Rong and his three sons had not long finished closing their stall and had all returned to their respective rooms to catch up on sleep.

Running a butcher shop is just like this; one must rise early in the morning to slaughter pigs, open the shop after the slaughtering is done, stay busy until noon to close the stall, and only then have time to catch up on sleep after eating a brunch.