After being jilted, the entire neighboring village was filled with deep regret.

Chapter 206 The Tenant Farmer's Gratitude
Chen, who was usually very frugal, surprisingly nodded and asked, "Then where should we buy it?"

Upon hearing this, Huang Xinghua immediately said, "Look for Shen Yi! Shen Yi's wife's uncle comes to sell sheep every year. Last year, they reminded him not to raise too many. They heard that they raised too many breeding sheep before, so the number of lambs born was too many, and they couldn't reduce the number anytime soon. This year, they still brought them all over."

Fortunately, both our village and Dongmen Village made money, and quite a few families wanted to buy sheep. We originally wanted to buy some too, but we had a lot to do at home, and we didn't have a sheep pen yet, so we were worried about not being able to keep them alive and turned it down. Shen Yi, on the other hand, raised over thirty sheep this year, saying he'd relaunched his mutton-flavored flatbread. He only started selling it a few days ago. Mutton is expensive, and mutton flatbread isn't cheap either, so he doesn't make that much each day. He should still have quite a few left, so selling you one or two wouldn't be a problem.”

Without saying a word, Liu Jinhua went to find Shen Yi, her eagerness quite surprising her two daughters-in-law.

No one knows what Liu Jinhua said to Shen Yi, but when they returned after the banquet, Wei Gang and Wei Yi each had an extra ewe in their hands.

The two brothers, leading a sheep, were a little tipsy and their heads were spinning.

Once they got home, Zeng and Chen each explained the situation to the two brothers.

The Wei family had just married off a daughter, and there were still some chores to finish at home. Before they knew it, it was December.

Once the twelfth lunar month begins, there are endless things to do every day. It's either repairing houses and furniture, making clothes, cooking food, or preparing all sorts of things for the New Year.

At that moment, Shen Liang drove over with a cart full of goods.

Wei Yi was clearly very happy to see him, and he called out to Chen Shi, asking her to go to the kitchen to cook a meal to entertain her son-in-law.

This time, Chen didn't throw a tantrum and acted quite swiftly.

Shen Liang and Wei Yi exchanged pleasantries as they kept moving things into the house.

After making four or five trips and still not finishing moving everything, Wei Yi couldn't help but ask, "Son-in-law, what are you carrying all this stuff? Why are you making so many trips?"

Hearing this, Chen and Liu Jinhua also poked their heads out to see what was going on.

Shen Liang said cheerfully, "There are live fish and shrimp that my cousin got, as well as twenty catties of pork, twenty catties of beef, ten catties of brown sugar, ten catties of white sugar, two jars of fruit wine, which my cousin's wife brewed herself, some fireworks and firecrackers, and new clothes that Da Ya made for you, one set for each person, plus two pieces of fabric."

"Hiss!" Wei Yi gasped, rubbing his ears hard to make sure he hadn't misheard. He quickly stopped Shen Liang, "Do your parents know you've done all this?"

"I know! Some of them even helped me prepare them," Shen Liang said matter-of-factly.

Wei Yi was at a loss for words.

Chen, who was in the kitchen, realized what was happening and quickly sped up her work, cooking egg custard and sweet soup for Shen Liang.

Shen Liang sat at the Wei family's house for a while, ate something, said goodbye to Wei Laoqi, and then left.

As soon as he left, Liu Jinhua told Wei Yi and his wife to take all their belongings back to the main room, saying, "Just leave my and your father's clothes and shoes behind."

Looking at all this food, Wei Yi was both happy and worried. "Mother, we can't possibly eat all of this!"

Liu Jinhua glanced at the kitchen and said loudly, "Just take it back. Your wife can arrange it. What business is it of yours! I've looked around, and the things my eldest grandson-in-law brought this time are worth quite a bit of money!"

"Of course! Putting everything else aside, this wine alone isn't cheap! And there are such big fish, several of them, that would cost several hundred coins, plus the meat and spices, probably worth several taels!" Wei Yi, not understanding the situation, just echoed his mother's words.

Chen lingered in the kitchen for a while before coming out, exchanging a few more polite words with Liu Jinhua before taking the things back inside.

Wei Yi followed her inside and said with satisfaction, "Our son-in-law is really generous. Don't be so stingy. He's honest and straightforward and won't let us suffer. Don't be so narrow-minded and always eyeing those small things." Chen was unconvinced, but she didn't argue with Wei Yi. She just looked at the things and said happily, "Come back to my parents' home with me before the New Year and give them some things so they won't keep saying I'm unfilial."

"Why do you care what they're babbling about! Let's go." Although Wei Yi was unhappy, he did not refuse Chen.

A few days later, Shen Dagou also came to deliver New Year's gifts. Although the gifts were not as many as Shen Liang's, he had everything that was expected, including a large bucket of Liu Jinhua's favorite goat milk and peanut soup, which delighted Liu Jinhua.

The second branch of the family immediately began discussing how to reciprocate.

Busy as we are, it's almost the end of the year, and the Lunar New Year is just two or three days away.

Every household was filled with the festive atmosphere of the New Year, but the tenant farmers in the villages on the outskirts of Dahe Town were no different from usual.

They haven't even started working yet and are penniless. If it weren't for the landlord's kindness in letting them move in early, many of them would still be crammed into the woodshed and kitchen, let alone celebrate the New Year.

Fang was staying indoors during the winter when other tenant farmers came over to chat with him. He got up to entertain them and was happy to have some commotion.

"Brother Fangwei, what do you think we can eat during the New Year? I heard that the landlord is good at winter fishing and can catch a lot of fish. Why don't we go and try breaking the ice on the Daxun River?" tenant farmer Yan Yong suggested excitedly.

Fang Wei looked at him coldly, her lips twitching slightly. "You really have wild ideas. What are we going to use to break the ice? The farm tools the employer gave us? What if we break them with the ice? Who's going to take responsibility?"

Yan Yong was speechless, as if he had been doused with a bucket of cold water by a fart.

After a while, he slumped his head, his stomach rumbling. He quickly tightened his belt and asked with a wry smile, "We're not going to starve to death before we even start working, are we? When I broke ties with my family, I swore I would never go back."

Fang Wei rolled over and sat up with a thud. Just as he was thinking about what to do, a noise suddenly came from outside.

The two hurriedly ran out and saw Shen Yi leading a group of people, driving several oxcarts over.

"Don't just stand there, call some people over to help unload the stuff."

Shen Yi called out, and the two of them snapped out of their daze and quickly called for help.

Soon all sixty tenant farmers came out, each taking a little, and in no time they had moved all the things from the oxcart to Fang Wei's house.

The room wasn't big to begin with, and once things were put in, there wasn't even room to put your feet down, so we had to move to another room to talk.

Shen Yi explained, "The New Year is approaching, so I have prepared three thousand catties of grain, three thousand catties of vegetables, and some meat for you. These things are for your emergency use. You can return them to me after the autumn harvest. You don't need to bring the meat and vegetables; consider them my New Year's gift to you."

The tenant farmers were so grateful that tears welled up in their eyes, and some even cried out loud.

"Master, no one has ever been so kind to me in my entire life. You are like my second parents," a tenant farmer, who wasn't very old, said, his voice choked with emotion.

The others nodded in agreement.

Shen Yi was deeply moved and said some encouraging words to them before leaving.

(End of this chapter)