You are unlucky and I am tough

Chapter 168 Don’t Always Get Stuck in Household Chores

After the two cousins ​​left, Cheng Shuang took out a pen and paper from the room. Just as she was about to pick up the pen, she saw Cheng Pan coming out of the kitchen with a bucket, intending to feed the chickens and ducks.

"Pan'er, come here for a moment."

Cheng Shuang stopped her and said, "Let Xiang Sui take care of feeding the chickens and ducks from now on. I'll leave things to you."

Peng Xiangsui, the daughter of Peng Laosan, heard this and quickly ran over to take the things from Cheng Pan's hand. "Second Miss, from now on, just leave everything to me."

Cheng Pan felt very uncomfortable being called the Second Miss, and walked over to ask Cheng Shuang, "Sister, what do you want me to do?"

Cheng Shuang asked her to wait a moment and went back to the room to get the account book.

"This is the account I kept of my family's money, as well as the account I made when I did business with Taibai Tower. Take it and have a look."

"Show me?" Cheng Pan frowned slightly. "Why show me?"

Cheng Shuang pulled her to sit down. "I know you like to keep accounts. Now you have learned to use the abacus quite well. I will teach you arithmetic and how to keep account books. From now on, all the money transactions in the family will be in your hands."

"Leave it to me?" Cheng Pan opened his eyes wide in surprise. "No, that's not good. I've never done it before. What if I can't learn it? I'm afraid I'll make a mistake."

"If you can't learn, you can learn slowly. If you make a mistake, it's okay. You're my sister, and I'll support you in everything. What are you afraid of? If you like it, just do it. Don't always get stuck in the chores. Go out and you'll find a broader world, okay?"

After hearing her words, Cheng Pan bit his lower lip while holding the account book in his hand. He thought for a moment and nodded heavily, "Yes, sister, I like accounting. I will definitely learn it well."

Cheng Shuang patted her head gently and said, "Go ahead. If you don't understand something, I'll explain it to you."

The women who stayed at home were actively looking for work to do. They cleaned the kitchen inside and out and swept the yard. They were all very diligent.

Wu Junniang drew water from the well, took out all the cups and tea sets in the main room, washed them, and then made tea for Cheng Shuang who was painting in the yard.

"Madam, have some tea." Wu Junniang poured a cup of tea and placed it on the table.

"Thank you." Cheng Shuang took the teacup and thanked him, then she remembered something and said, "Sister Wu, please clean up that empty room later. There are only men at the foot of the mountain, and it's not convenient for you women to squeeze into the straw hut with them. You can sleep on the floor in that room for a few days until the house is built. You can also bring Xiaoqi with you."

Wu Junniang didn't expect Cheng Shuang to consider all this for them. She was immediately moved and knelt down excitedly, "Thank you, my lady. You are such a good person."

"Get up, get up." Cheng Shuang reached out to help her. "I didn't do anything. Didn't I tell you not to kneel? I'm just an ordinary citizen and I'm not used to this. Besides, you're all older than me. I'm afraid kneeling like this will shorten my life."

Upon hearing this, Wu Junniang quickly stood up and said, "Yes, madam, please don't blame me. I will remember this."

After Wu Junniang called several other women to clean the room, Cheng Shuang, who had nothing to do, continued her painting. She drew the layout of the house at the foot of the mountain. These more than 30 people, both men and women, definitely could not live together, and there were more than 200 acres of land at the foot of the mountain. It would be easier to look after them if they lived separately.

After working for a long time, he finally finished the painting and called out to the house, "Xinyi, come out for a moment."

Wei Xinyi, who was reading in her room, pushed open the door and ran out. Cheng Shuang handed her the paper and said, "Send it to your brother in the peach blossom forest and have him build his house according to this layout."

Wei Xinyi didn't ask any more questions, just took the things and ran out. She trotted all the way to Wei Qinglang and handed him the drawings.

A group of people were busy at the foot of the mountain. Wei Qinglang was the commander on the scene. He took the blueprint and opened it curiously, then frowned and turned in several directions before he understood what it was.

"The painting is really ugly." He couldn't help but complain.

On the paper was a mountaintop drawn with a few simple strokes, along with some random flowers, plants, and trees. Then, at the foot of the mountain, a few branches and flowers were drawn to represent a peach forest. In the open space next to the forest, a few boxes were drawn, with the words Peng's Family and Song's Family written on them respectively. There was another circle nearby with the words kitchen, canteen, warehouse, toilet, etc. written on them.

In addition, three boxes were drawn at different locations at the foot of the mountain to represent houses, and wavy lines were drawn in the blank spaces to represent fields. A dozen stick figures were also drawn on them. If you look closely, you can see that some of the stick figures are carrying hoes and holding sickles.

Wei Qinglang couldn't help laughing as he folded up the drawings and put them away. "I understand. I will build it according to her drawing."

There is no such thing as a secret wall when it comes to buying servants, let alone living in the same village. In the afternoon, Aunt Peng and her friends followed Cheng Guqiu to turn over the vegetable patch behind the house and were seen by villagers. Seeing so many unfamiliar faces coming to ask questions, the news spread throughout the village, and everyone knew that the Wei family had bought servants to work for them.

Mrs. Xu San even ran over to take a look, and seeing that there were five or six people, she pulled Cheng Guqiu aside and asked if the two of them were having a quarrel.

Cheng Guqiu asked curiously, "What are you betting on?"

"Of course it's about a fight. Didn't the young couple fight the day before yesterday? Cheng Shuang must have been provoked and deliberately bought so many servants out of anger. If that happens, the couple will definitely fight again. Aunt Cheng Shuang, you must try to persuade them. If you can't, come to my house and call for help."

Cheng Guqiu smiled as he recalled what happened the day before yesterday. "Yes, they did fight, but you misunderstood, Auntie San. They were just joking."

"Are you kidding?" Aunt Xu was surprised. "Then what are they going to do with all these people?"

"It's useful after all. I won't ask too much about the children."

Aunt Xu realized that she had been a bit too talkative and said with an awkward smile, "That's true. Cheng Shuang and his wife are both capable. If you need any help, remember to think of our Daqing."

Cheng Guqiu said, "Daqing and Qinglang have a good relationship. If there's anything, they'll discuss it on their own without me saying anything."

Grandma Xu thought about it and agreed, so she lowered her voice and said, "Actually, I came here for another reason. Cheng Shuang mentioned before that we can plant mustard greens this month, and I wanted to ask her if she still has any mustard seeds to sell to our family. Now that you've hired servants and have people to plant vegetables, you might be short of seeds."

"I'll ask for you when I get back. As for whether it exists or not, I don't know."

Cheng Guqiu was the one who took care of the vegetable garden at home, but she really didn't know anything about the vegetable seeds. She just thought it was magical. Cheng Shuang could always come up with all kinds of seeds that she had never seen before, and she could have as many as she wanted. She was always curious about where they bought them from.

Mrs. Xu thanked him and left. Cheng Guqiu returned to the yard through the small door on the side.

In the yard, Cheng Lishuang took a blank booklet and was writing the multiplication table at the table. Cheng Chen and Cheng Xu, who had gone out to play, also came back and lay on the table to watch curiously.

Cheng Guqiu walked over and told her that Aunt Xu San wanted to buy mustard seeds. Cheng Shuang stopped writing and looked up. "Yes, there are plenty of seeds. You can go and tell her if you want them. Come and buy them at her house. The price is still the same, 20 wen a bag."

Cheng Guqiu suggested, "Then let's plant some land and pickle some jars of sauerkraut for our family."

Cheng Shuang nodded. "Okay, leave five mu of the land behind the house for me to grow pepper seedlings, and the rest for growing vegetables for the family. You can plant whatever you want, but don't overwork yourself. You can ask Aunt Peng and the others to help."

Cheng Guqiu smiled and nodded, feeling a warm feeling in her heart. Ever since coming to the Wei family, the food and accommodations have been so good, it's a world of difference from her previous life. Her niece not only never looked down on the three of them, but also always helped out when she saw her working, worried that she was too tired. Now she even hired servants to help her. She didn't know what to say.

The two daughters are different now. After studying for a few months, they can now write beautifully. They are no longer the illiterate girls who were timid and could only do rough housework at home.

In the past, she never dared to dream that she could live the life she has now, now she just wants to protect it.

She has been worried about one thing these days. The relocation of several villages has not been completed yet, and Baijia Village will be there in a few days. I heard that because Baijia Village has a small population and the head of the village is too old to take care of things, it was directly merged into Lijia Village by the government when it was settled.

Lijia Village is just upstream of Chengjia Village, closer than before. By then, Bai Jinhu will definitely find her. She is afraid that Bai Jinhu will come and harass the family and cause trouble.