Old Mrs. Song is reborn; get out of here, you scumbag husband and illegitimate child!

"Yes." Song Xianglan swallowed the porridge in her mouth, then scooped up another spoonful. "No matter what delicacies you eat outside, this bowl of sweet potato porridge is still the most comforting."

The ugly woman laughed so hard that all the wrinkles on her face were bunched up together.

She took a bite of a clam seed, spat out the shell, and then got down to business.

"Lanlan, I plan to hold Xiaofang and Wang Zhihe's wedding this year."

Song Xianglan took a bite of a spring roll and looked up at her.

The ugly woman's eyes were crinkled with wrinkles, and her face looked like a chrysanthemum as she smiled.

That joy was impossible to hide.

"You know Zhihe's mother, she'll bring some of the good stuff to our house."

Last time she brought half a basket of eggs, and the day before yesterday she brought a fish. It's not that I'm greedy for those things." Liu Chounu tapped her chopsticks on the rim of her bowl, "It's just that I feel she values ​​my Xiaofang. A mother-in-law who treats her daughter-in-law well will have a smooth life."

She paused, then said:

"They say that when a daughter is getting married, you should look to her mother-in-law; when a son is getting married, you should look to his mother-in-law. Although Zhihe's mother is a bit gossipy, she really cares about Xiaofang. I'm satisfied with this marriage."

Song Xianglan nodded.

Getting to where we are today is a natural progression.

"You'll be eating pig's feet noodles this year," Liu Chounv said again.

"As an elder, I also need to give a red envelope. Did Xiaofang agree?"

"Yes. I agree."

Song Xianglan ate two bites of pickled cucumber and oysters, the salty and fresh taste flowing down her throat, making her feel very happy.

Liu Chou-nv changed the subject to the land: "By the way, Lanlan, what are you planning to do with those wastelands you contracted before? They haven't been cultivated, it's a waste to leave them there."

"I plan to grow vegetables and sell them."

"Vegetables?" The ugly woman's chopsticks stopped. "So much land is all planted with vegetables?"

"Grow some off-season vegetables."

Song Xianglan took a sip of porridge to moisten her throat.

"We'll sell them up north. Nothing grows in the fields up north in winter, so we rely on storing cabbages and radishes in cellars for vegetables."

Winters here aren't too cold; we can still grow fresh leafy vegetables in a plastic greenhouse. Even at several times the price, people are scrambling to buy them.

The ugly woman was stunned.

"Plastic greenhouses?"

"Yes. It's just using bamboo poles to build a frame, and then covering it with a plastic film. The greenhouse is warm inside, so the vegetables can still grow." Song Xianglan said it simply, but she had already gone through the methods of greenhouse vegetables she had seen in her previous life several times in her mind.

In those days, there was a major shortage of vegetables in the northern winter.

Whoever fills it in first makes money.

"Even in Qingyang, some vegetables need to be grown in plastic greenhouses to survive the winter. The real money is made in the northern market."

The ugly woman put down her chopsticks.

He rested his hands on his knees and looked intently at Song Xianglan.

"And mushrooms."

Song Xianglan added, "The mushroom production at the workshop is increasing, but there aren't enough cultivation sheds. I plan to open more sheds on the wasteland to expand the scale."

"I encourage villagers to grow mushrooms, and I will buy them for further processing."

After listening, the ugly woman remained silent for a while.

She had farmed all her life and knew that farming could only earn her enough for food.

What Song Xianglan said was beyond her comprehension.

What off-season, what northern market, what plastic greenhouse...

She could understand every single word.

Just putting them together gives me a headache.

She understood Song Xianglan.

This woman never fails to do what she says she will do.

"Then I'll grow mushrooms and vegetables with you?"

Liu Chou-nv spoke up: "Tell me what the fees are. I've saved up some money over the past two years, and I can't keep taking advantage of you."

Song Xianglan glanced at her and raised the corner of her mouth slightly.

"Old man, you've made some money, huh?"

The ugly woman muttered, "If you don't help me out, where will I get the money?"

"Okay, I'll explain the specifics to you later. I've hired an expert in mushroom cultivation and vegetable planting; he'll be over in a few days."

"Does this require someone to teach you?"

"Sure, they're professionals."

The two finished their meal.

The ugly woman took the bowls and chopsticks away. She couldn't understand why the old farmer, who had farmed the land his whole life, wasn't a professional?

Yang Dafu knocked on the door.

He was carrying two chickens and two ducks.

In his other hand, he was carrying a cloth bag, which was bulging with contents.

Only when you get closer can you see that the cloth bag contains two packets of milk powder and two bottles of wine.

Yang Dafu's eyes were still red, and his eyelids were swollen.

She had changed her clothes, but her hair was still messy, so it looked like she had come directly from the clinic.

He stepped into the yard.

Seeing Song Xianglan sitting there, his voice went hoarse.

Without saying a word.

He bent his knees and was about to kneel down.

Song Xianglan grabbed his arm and lifted him up.

"Get up."

Yang Dafu stumbled as she pulled him, staring at her in astonishment.

Song Xianglan released her grip, her expression anything but pleasant. "Don't kneel down so easily. Every time I see you kneeling before me, I feel like Yang Dashan is kneeling before me. That deadbeat won't have a single day of peace."

Yang Dafu opened his mouth, but a sentence stuck in his throat.

Yang Dashan and he were cousins ​​from the same branch of the family, but they were already beyond the fifth degree of kinship.

Song Xianglan cursed the man surnamed Yang quite a bit.

With the relationship between the two families deteriorating to this point, Yang Dafu always felt inferior.

He never expected Song Xianglan to save Yang Xiaoming.

It was someone else.

They have such a big grudge against the Yang family.

Don't even mention asking for help.

Even just standing on the shore and watching is considered a good deed.

Yang Dafu straightened up, placed the things on the stone table, took a deep breath, and then spoke:

"Auntie, if you hadn't squeezed the water out first, even if the person had been brought in, they wouldn't have survived."

His voice was trembling:

"You saved my son's life."

Song Xianglan: "If it weren't me, it would be someone else. I saw someone in the village already leading a cow there."

You all know how to put a drowning person across a cow's back; as the cow walks, the water will wobble out of its mouth.

Yang Dafu: "But it was you who took action to save Xiaoming."

Song Xianglan didn't want to get entangled in this matter, so she pointed to the pile of things on the table.

"Take all your chicken, duck, and milk powder back with you. Xiaoming just escaped death; he needs to recover. If you give me this stuff, what will you feed the baby?"

No one is wealthy these days.

"Auntie, I won't be able to live with myself if you don't accept it."

Song Xianglan frowned. "Take this back to Xiaoming and give it to him. It'll be more useful than leaving it here."

Yang Dafu pursed his lips again and again.

They didn't budge after all.

He took the milk powder and wine out of the cloth bag and put them on the table.

Chickens and ducks were also placed on the edge of the table legs, tied tightly with straw rope.

"Auntie, Zhou Yun said that once Xiaoming is feeling better, she wants to bring the child over to kowtow to you in person."

Song Xianglan raised her voice again, "Tell her to stay home and take good care of the child, and stop with all this nonsense. The child getting better is more important than anything else."

Yang Dafu remained silent, turned around, and walked out.

Song Xianglan followed behind for a couple of steps, calling out to his retreating figure:

"Take the milk powder and chicken/duck back to Xiaoming to help him recover."

Yang Dafu didn't even turn his head; instead, he quickened his pace and quickly turned out of the courtyard gate.

The shadow disappeared into the night.

Song Xianglan stood in the courtyard, staring at the pile of things on the table.

Stubborn as a mule.

Having no other choice, she had to catch the chickens and ducks and put them in cages in the corner of the yard.

The two chickens settled down as soon as they entered the cage, tucking their necks in. The duck, however, was restless, flapping its wings several times in the cage and quacking for a while before finally quieting down.

She kept the milk powder and wine in the kitchen cabinet.

I'll find a chance to get it back later.

The next morning, just as dawn broke.

Song Xianglan got up.

She heated up the leftover sweet potato porridge from yesterday on the stove, ate it with a piece of pickled cucumber, and then washed the bowl.

Then they took out the dates they brought back from Beijing.

They divided the portions into baskets one by one.

One portion for Widow Wang's family, one portion for Chunhua's family, one portion for Liu Dahua's family, one portion for the old Party Secretary's family... They counted the portions while their hands kept moving.

Liu Chou-nu came over from her own yard carrying a rice bowl.

As we walked and ate, we peeked out from the entrance of Song Xianglan's courtyard and saw her squatting on the ground, busy with something.

"Ask Gou Sheng to help divide it. How long will it take you to finish dividing it yourself? You weren't even finished yesterday!"

"I distributed the rest to you and Sanhua and Sihua yesterday, but I haven't sent them yet." Song Xianglan didn't look up, continuing to pack and count.

"We need to send a copy to Widow Wang's family, Da Hua's family, Chun Hua's family, Rong Hua's family, Wang Zhihe's family, the old Party Secretary's family, Uncle Hai Gen's family... and also to her maternal family."

The ugly woman finished the last mouthful of porridge in her bowl.

He placed it on the stone table.

"I'll run errands for the others for you. You should hurry to Songjiazhuang."

"We'll have to wait a bit."

Song Xianglan stood up and dusted off her knees. "Old Chen brought the renovation workers over today, so I need to go to the construction site to meet them first. I'll leave after that."

Liu Chou-nv nodded.

To distribute the dates to Song Xianglan, she asked Old Lin to go with her to deliver the dates.

Song Xianglan left the remaining dates in the main room, wiped her hands with a handkerchief, and went out to the construction site.

Construction has already begun on the site.

The clanging of hammers mingled with the rustling of cement being mixed.

Several workers were laying bricks on the wall.

Old Chen stood at the entrance of the expanded workshop, accompanied by a tall, thin middle-aged man.

The man was wearing a faded gray cloth shirt and holding a folding ruler in his hand, tilting his head to measure the width of the door frame.

When Old Chen saw Song Xianglan arrive, he waved her over and said, "Boss, this is the renovation worker I was talking about, Master Sun, who has been doing renovations for over twenty years."

Master Sun turned around and greeted him.

He put away the folding ruler and took out a small notebook from his pocket.

Song Xianglan didn't stand on ceremony and stated her requirements directly.

The warehouse needs to be divided into storage and sorting areas, the floor needs to be hardened, and the walls need to be painted white.

We need to build a drainage ditch over there in the workshop.

The stove area and the work area should be separated, with a low wall built in between.

The windows need to be enlarged for ventilation; they can't be as stuffy as they are now.

Master Sun listened and took notes in his notebook.

After Song Xianglan finished speaking, he flipped through the notebook and quoted a price.

Material costs, labor costs...

List them out one by one.

The total number is not small.

Song Xianglan had a plan in mind.

"Sure. When can we start work?"

"Once the main structure is finished, I'll go on stage."

"OK."

Song Xianglan took another walk around the construction site.

After checking on the progress of the expansion project and giving Old Chen a few instructions, he turned and went home.

She changed her clothes and got on her bicycle.

They went to Songjiazhuang.

Song Xianglan rode for more than half an hour, and when she was still about a hundred meters away from the village, she heard a commotion ahead.

It was unusually noisy.

Many people gathered together and shouted at the top of their lungs, mixed with the sharp cries and curses of women.

Song Xianglan parked her car on the side of the road and hurried over to see what was going on.