Chapter 439: Chapter 428: The Top Scorer from a Farming Family
"They’re blooming, they’re blooming," Xiutong excitedly ran in and said. Logically, it is early winter now, and there was a light snow a few days ago. Most Chinese roses should be dormant now, but the Chinese roses at Ye Qiu’s home are indeed blooming.
The reason is that he had someone build a simple greenhouse behind the house two months ago. Not only have a few Chinese roses bloomed, but those they had grafted before are also growing well. According to this progress, they could enter the market by next spring.
The variety that bloomed this time is called "Golden Canary", a typical bun-shaped flower, tender yellow and delicate. Little Ya even said it shouldn’t be called Golden Canary but should be called Little Yellow Chick, which was dismissed with a laugh by her older siblings.
"So beautiful!" Xiuya said dreamily, then smiled softly, "It’s all thanks to Xiutong, I hardly did anything."
Indeed, that’s true. Ever since the greenhouse was built, it’s Xiutong who has spent most of her time in it, observing the growth of the Chinese roses every day, and carefully recording the strengths and weaknesses of each variety. It seems she truly enjoys it.
As for Xiuya, ever since Ye Qiu taught them to read and write, she has developed a greater love for these pursuits. In her free time, she would read travelogues and even write some scripts. Without formal education, she actually came up with two relatively good stories under Ye Qiu’s guidance, though there are some characters she still can’t write and sometimes needs Ye Qiu to write for her.
Naturally, these two narratives approved by Ye Qiu were also sold to Pear Garden. Although they were not as explosively touching as "Liang and Zhu", Boss Liu still paid a very handsome price for them. This gave Xiuya even more motivation.
Speaking of "Liang and Zhu," the opera adapted from this narrative has really become popular in the surrounding area recently, even attracting many audiences from the neighboring county, which has further increased Boss Liu’s profits. Delighted, he became more and more grateful to Ye Qiu, so he paid a high price for the scripts written later by Xiuya, especially since the scripts were indeed good, and he would not lose out anyway.
Speaking of "Liang and Zhu", the discussions in Ye Village are even more intense than the village chief’s family division.
Without any forewarning, one day Ye Baomin suddenly invited a few clan elders from the village to witness the division of his family’s property, which also became a topic of much conversation.
The biggest share naturally went to the village chief’s eldest son, Ye Ming. Out of more than thirty acres of farmland, except for the two acres of grain fields Ye Baomin kept for himself, Ye Ming inherited twenty acres, all of which were good, contiguous plots. The remaining twelve acres were given to the second son. The third son worked at the county government and did not plan to return, so he had no share in the farmland.
As for the house, the third son had his own small courtyard in the county, which was also funded by Ye Baomin in the past, so he got no share of the house. The old residence is now left to the eldest son, and Ye Baomin has also funded the construction of a small courtyard at the edge of the village, which is next to Ye Qiu’s home.
Although it’s a bit far from the top of the village to the edge, Ye Baomin had his considerations. Since the eldest and second sons’ families had grievances from living together for a long time, living too close to each other would unavoidably lead to friction. Moreover, the edge of the village, although far from the main road, is closer to the back mountain and the allocated farmland; this was also why he originally considered building on Ye Qiu’s property.
Despite the grumbling over the division of the farmland and houses, an agreement was eventually reached. The most difficult part, in the end, was the division of Ye Baomin’s silver.
The eldest, Ye Ming, argued that as the eldest son who would take care of Ye Baomin in his later years, he should receive the larger share. The third son, Ye Wei, claimed that since he got neither house nor farmland, he should get the larger share of silver. As for the second son, Ye Gang, he finally stood his ground, arguing that the new house lacked furniture and utensils and that he had worked the most in the fields over the years; therefore, his share should not be less.
It is said that the village chief, Ye Baomin, was so angered by the dispute over the silver among his three sons that he almost passed out.
After a half-day quarrel, Ye Baomin, to show fairness, took out the silver he had and divided it equally among the three households.
The three brothers got the money, but their resentment was not at all diminished. They even suspected that Ye Baomin kept a substantial amount of silver for himself. Whom was he planning to leave it to?
Indeed, their suspicions were not wrong. Ye Baomin had, in fact, kept a portion of the silver for himself; he feared that in his old age, with no one to take care of him, having some surplus food in hand would help him keep a peaceful mind, wouldn’t it?
Regardless, the family was now split. The second brother moved to his new home with his wife and son that very day. Mrs. Wang also acted dishonorably, insisting that since the household was divided, everything in the old home belonged to them. She didn’t allow the second brother’s family to take anything but their clothing, not even a blanket, and from that point on, the two brothers were openly hostile to each other.
Ye Qiu never expected that it was that one remark of his that caused Ye Baomin’s family to split prematurely. If he knew that his words had led to a fallout among Ye Baomin’s three sons, he would probably die of laughter.
"Brother, dinner is ready." Xiuya called him, then turned to Xiuying beside Ye Qiu and said, "Little Ya, when your big brother is studying, don’t keep pestering him. If he fails the exams, don’t blame me for being merciless."
"My name is Xiuying, not Little Ya," the little girl pouted, then ran to the table and sniffed vigorously, "Sister, did you add too much soy sauce to the Braised Pork Belly?"
"That nose of yours is quite sharp." Xiuya chuckled and tapped her forehead, "The firewood in the stove burst suddenly while I was cooking, so my hand shook, and I added a bit too much. Didn’t even have a taste and you’ve already noticed it, you really are a little foodie."
"Being a foodie is good, look how cute our Xiuying has grown," Ye Qiu replied with a smile.
Because the food quality improved, there was a significant change in the family in these past few months. The three sisters’ faces lost their sallow look and became fair and tender, and they had all grown quite a bit taller. Although Little Ya was still short, she no longer looked like a child of two or three and her eyes became lively, losing the dullness they had at the beginning.
Daya and Erya had changed even more, shooting up in height like bamboo sprouts, turning into two tall and elegant young ladies. Especially since they were naturally beautiful, and had now developed a certain demeanor from reading and practicing calligraphy, even their plain hemp clothes could not hide their beauty.
With a gentle smile, Xiuya set the dinner on the table. Having earned some money, she had changed from her previous frugal ways, knowing that all four siblings were in the stage of growing, she made sure each meal was meat and vegetable balanced, with proper nutrition.
Xiutong came out from the warm room behind the house and casually tucked a cut rose near Little Ya’s ear. Seeing Little Ya’s self-satisfied smile, Xiutong also cracked a wide grin. Previously timid, silent, and shy, she now joked naturally with the family, especially when talking about the flowers she cultivated, becoming quite the chatterbox.
"Let’s eat," Ye Qiu lifted his bowl and said to his three sisters. In his home, only when he started eating would others begin their meal. This was a rule Xiuya learned from reading books. The family needed to have principles, and since Ye Qiu was the eldest brother and contributed the most to the family, he should eat first.
Ye Qiu objected twice to no avail, and with strong support from Xiutong and Xiuying, the custom was thus preserved.