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With last year’s experience, Lin Lixuan was able to do farm work this year. He planted seedlings, fruit trees, and grafted melon seedlings with ease. The land on the barren mountain had been renovated into a large empty area that was ready for seed to be sowed. This year, Lin Lixuan planned to grow a few mu of watermelon and plant some more fruit trees.
Till now, Lin Lixuan had accumulated more than 400 taels of silver. He planned to build a new house when he had free time. He’d contacted craftsmen from the county town. With the blessing and help from the Shuishen and Huoda brothers, who had strong connections in the county town and knew many people, they introduced a few old craftsmen to him.
It took more than half a month to draw the blueprint for the new house. While he was drawing it, Lin Lixuan started buying materials from all over the place. He didn’t know how to build a house, so while the craftsmen prepared the blueprint, he gave input.
The new house was going to be built at the foot of the barren mountain. It wasn’t too far from the old house. He chose a courtyard-style house, similar to the old courtyard house. It would be surrounded by white walls and fruit trees and vegetable patches would be planted in front of the house. Behind the house, he wanted to build grapevine trellis and build a stone table and benches for them to rest during summer.
The new house would have a total of ten rooms, including a kitchen, a bathroom, and two halls. One of the halls would have open air. There would be five bedrooms. One of Ger Yan and Lin Lixuan, one for Ger Yu, one for Zhao Liniang, and the remaining two empty rooms would be for future children. And if they didn’t have children in the future…
On the other side, they set up the warehouses and firewood sheds. The little donkey, domestic chickens, and lazy fat pigs would also have new homes that had windows going from north to south. The ventilation was very good.
In addition to the workers he hired from the county town, Lin Lixuan recruited several young adults from the village to help. He gave them a generous salary of 80 wen a day. Many people were willing to come to earn this extra money.
Not only could they make money, it also included food. After all, building a house was a labor-intensive job. If they didn’t have oil or water in their diet, how would they have strength to move bricks? Lin Lixuan originally planned to find a cook who could make big pots of food to help, but Ger Yan took the job instead, saying he could cook for 20-30 people.
Ger Yan’s move wasn’t to save money but to avoid trouble. Of course, he also had a small wish and that was to use more energy and strength and reduce the fat on his body.
He didn’t want to end up being a little chubby piggy that was being kept in a pen.
Lin Lixuan couldn’t persuade him, so he let Ger Yan come over and cook. It happened that he was also going over to oversee the work. They all ate Ger Yan’s large pot of fried rice together.
Fortunately, Ger Yan was a good cook. These craftsmen and the villagers were blessed. The Lin family was generous, and each meal had meat and vegetables, and there was plenty of meat. Since Lin-dage was also eating with them, how could Ger Yan let his sweetheart eat badly.
Besides, if you hired a cook, they wouldn’t dare use as much oil as Ger Yan. Oil was such a precious thing. People in Jade Creek Village didn’t dare use too much oil since they all came from a poor background. They had never heard of stir-frying vegetables with oil. Ger Yan didn’t dare cook like this before, but after a year of training, his cooking became more lavish. The faces of the four members of the Lin family were becoming more and more ruddy.
They could eat pork everyday. They could also drink chicken soup and fish soup every three to five days. They could eat chicken and fish, too. Ger Yan was a good cook, and life was beautiful. Even the craftsmen from the county town would say to everyone, “In the past when I built houses for the rich people in the county town, I didn’t even eat this good.”
“The little husband from the Lin family has great cooking skills.”
The craftsmen in the county town were full of praise. Not to mention the villagers in Jade Creek Village, who couldn’t even swallow anything else after eating so good. They didn’t want to eat their food back at home.
“Ger Yan’s craftsmanship is so good. He is the most skilled Shuang’er in the village.”
“He’s really well matched with Xiucai Lin, um, I mean Boss Lin. These two are a perfect match…”
“In other words, this Ger Yan is such a blessing. You see, since he married into the Lin family, the luck of the Lin family has been getting better and better. First, Xiucai Lin became clear-headed again, and as for the Lin family, wealth kept rolling in.”
“That makes sense. After reading Ger Yan’s fortune, I saw that he will live a life of prosperity.”
This marriage, which was once seen as something unfortunate, had now become a match made in heaven in the eyes of the villagers. However, where there was sunshine, there was shadow. Some people secretly cursed them behind their backs.
“These two have been married for a year and a half. Look at the three couples who were married on the same day. Ji Ya’s wife ran away, Ji Qian and Song Qiao’er’s son was born, but as for Ji Yan, why hasn’t there been any movement in his stomach?”
“…Could it be that Ger Yan can’t get pregnant?”
The person who said this was Liu Tiao’Er from Jade Creek Village. He was also a Shuang’er from Jade Creek Village with a mediocre appearance. He married into an ordinary family. His husband, in order to earn wages to support the family, also went to build a house for the Lin family.
Liu Tiao’Er disliked Ger Yan since they were children. He was jealous at how good-looking Ger Yan was. They were both Shuang’ers. And when Ger Yan married a fool, he didn’t have any sympathy and had even gloated for a while. No matter how beautiful a Shuang’er was, he had still married a fool.
Who knew that after marrying a fool, Ger Yan actually ascended into the sky in one step. On the day he got married, the fool became clear-headed. His mother-in-law, Zhao Liniang, also treated him like a lucky star. Liu Tiao’Er thought that Lin Lixuan wouldn’t take a fancy to Ger Yan after he became clear-headed, and that he would drive Ger Yan away sooner or later.
Who knew that Ger Yan, this illiterate Shuang’er, could actually make Lin Lixuan, who had once fallen in love with a woman and tried to commit suicide by throwing himself in a river, fall in love with him.
The Lin family was getting richer. Look, their family had built this kind of big courtyard that only the rich and noble families could afford. But his own husband could only be reduced to a helper and take a salary from the Lin family. Liu Tiao’Er felt indignant in his heart.
What made him even more angry was that when his husband came back, he dared to praise Ger Yan in front of him, saying that Ger Yan’s food was so good. Saying that he was beautiful and could cook well. He even said that he couldn’t eat Liu Tiao’Er’s food after eating Ger Yan’s food.
It was very frustrating. The jealousy in Liu Tiao’Er’s heart was even worse now.
Ger Yan had been married to Lin Lixuan for more than a year but still hadn’t given birth to a child. Xiucai Lin still treated him like a treasure. Hmph. Even so, Liu Tiao’Er felt that Ger Yan’s good life wouldn’t last long.
Wait another year or two, and if Ger Yan still couldn’t give birth to a child, then he’ll live a miserable life. Lin Lixuan could make money now, so he’d definitely marry a younger person from the city. When the time came, Ger Yan’s life in the Lin family wouldn’t be easy.
He wanted to see the ending of Ji Yan.
When the Lin family recruited workers to build the house, Ji Ya also applied. Since his wife, Zhao Qingqing, ran away with another man, Ji Ya had been depressed. He was gloomy, so people ignored him. When someone from the village called out to him, he would ignore them. Slowly, he’d become an invisible person.
After the Ji family separated, the relationship between Eldest Ji and Second Ji’s family had become much better. Maybe it was because of the same hatred or the loss of the giant pressure that loomed over their heads, the two families finally became ordinary relatives. They occasionally had contacts.
Second Ji’s wife was a shred and manipulative person. They used to have Old Lady Ji above them,and her shrewdness was always used to be lazy. Now that she was the head of the household, her shrewdness was used to be practical.
The Second Ji’s family was earning more money too. Thinking that his youngest son was still single, even if Liu Yufeng didn’t like Ji Ya, she could still handle the marriage for his son. She contacted the matchmaker to find someone for a blind date.
But Ji Ya didn’t agree. Who knew if he still had Zhao Qingqing in his heart, but when his mother asked him to go on a blind date, he turned a deaf ear. He didn’t say anything all day. No matter how harsh Liu Yufeng’s scolding became, he endured it. 。
Seeing Ji Ya, Lin Lixuan was surprised, but he wouldn’t refuse the other party. Lin Lixuan observed the other far for several days and found that Ji Ya was different from before. Although he was still taciturn, he was now down-to-earth and serious, and a silly smirk would sometimes appear on his face.
It wasn’t until Lin Lixuan saw a Shuang’er coming to bring Ji Ya water that he knew what had changed in the other party. It turned out that he’d started a new relationship.
That Shuang’er had a mark on his face, which should be a birthmark. The marks were scattered in the corner of his eyes, which looked scary. He couldn’t say it was particularly ugly, but compared to Zhao Qingqing, who had an excellent appearance, it was like comparing the sky and the dirt.
He was mute and couldn’t speak. He could only express himself with sign language and gestures, but his eyes were full of feelings toward Ji Ya.
He smiled and wiped the sweat from Ji Ya’s face with a towel. The birthmark on the corner of his forehead was covered by his hair. His delicate chin carried a hint of embarrassment. Ji Ya’s face had always been honest, and he had a simple and silly smile on his face. He lowered his head and let the Shuang’er wipe the sweat from his body.
Seeing his scene, it could be seen that good things were coming.
While Lin Lixuan built the new house, Ger Qiu and Du Feibai got married. Lin Lixuan and Ger Yan attended the wedding and drank the celebratory wine. Seeing Ji Ya and the mute Shuang’er, he thought that before long, there would be another wedding.
Even after marriage, Ger Qiu still helped out at the store. Lin’s Restaurant relocated in April. The shop he originally rented was too small, and now that he had money to spare, he decided to get a bigger place.
Lin Lixuan rented a two-story wooden building that was at least six times bigger than the original shop. The first floor was used to sell food and ingredients. The second floor had tables, chairs, and benches for customers to eat and rest.
Nowadays, the store sold a variety of products, such as fried tofu, dried tofu, various types of vermicelli including ones made from mung bean flour and sweet potato flour, and various vegetables grown at home. As for cooked food, there were Mandarin rolls, mantou, xiaolongbao, mooncakes, tofu pudding, melon seeds and peanuts, fried soybeans, bone brother, herbal tea, soy milk, and seasonal fruits.
Now that the shop had expanded and there were more seats on the second floor, Lin Lixuan was thinking about expanding his business as well. Most of his customers for Mandarin rolls and mantou were workers from the dock and a few small shops, and that they didn’t have time to take care of their breakfast and lunch, so they could only buy bread.
Perhaps, he could expand into the fast food industry…
