Chapter 32: The Land Allocation

“I bought the things for you. Take a look at these stationery items to see if they’re acceptable.”

Lin Qinghuan didn’t know if there were taboos about what scholars used. Some people had strict requirements for ink, others for brushes.

She knew nothing about any of it. She simply asked the shopkeeper for a good set.

“Fine. They’re better than what I used before.” Xiao Hanting’s expression didn’t change. For him, as long as it could write, nothing else mattered.

“Then you write well. I’ll go change the bedding for the children.”

After saying that, Lin Qinghuan carried the quilt to the woodshed.

This new quilt was different. Once laid out, it looked out of place in the woodshed, but it was much warmer.

Lin Qinghuan smiled happily and started preparing dinner.

Pork, spareribs, and trotters that couldn’t be finished could be smoked, which would extend their storage time significantly.

But the offal couldn’t. After all, it had a strong smell. If not eaten quickly, it would rot.

She decided to boil a pot of brine and braise everything together. That way she wouldn’t have to think about how to stir-fry it, and if the meal wasn’t finished, she could eat it next time. Kill two birds with one stone.

Saying it, she did it. Lin Qinghuan exchanged spices and a brine packet from her space, spending a total of fifty wen.

Anyway, she had made a lucky find of twenty taels today. Fifty wen was nothing.

While waiting for the water to boil, Lin Qinghuan took out flour and carefully washed the pig liver, lungs, and large intestines.

She rinsed the water several times until it ran clear, then put them in the pot to blanch.

After blanching, she added the spices and brine packet to simmer until flavored.

Just as she added firewood and turned up the heat to simmer, there was a knock at the door.

She thought it was Qingyu bringing the children back. She didn’t expect it to be Jia Dafu.

“Lin girl, now that you’re a daughter-in-law of the Xiao family, according to village rules, I need to reallocate private plots for you. That’s why I came over for this matter.”

Jia Dafu had taken a bribe from Old Madam Lin, so his eyes gleamed with cunning.

Having such a person as village head was truly the villagers’ misfortune.

Lin Qinghuan didn’t hold much hope, so she had already prepared for the worst. She waited to see which private plot he would assign her.

“You moved here with your younger brother. Scholar Xiao’s household also had three people. Now you’re a family of five. Don’t say I’m not looking out for you.

Isn’t there a large empty plot behind your house? All the way to the rock face over there, it belongs to your family. What do you think?”

Lin Qinghuan followed his gaze and let out a cold laugh.

That plot behind her house was dead land. It contained too many rocks. Everything planted there died, even worse than dry land.

Over time, the villagers stopped planting it and simply abandoned it.

Jia Dafu’s calculations were clever. On the surface, he gave her a large piece of land, but in reality, it was less useful than a palm-sized paddy field.

“Village head, are you allocating this plot behind our house to me?”

Lin Qinghuan wasn’t angry. Instead, she asked calmly again.

“Of course.” Jia Dafu didn’t see anything wrong. After all, nothing would grow there anyway. She could do whatever she wanted.

“Alright. From here to the rock face over there, from now on, it will be our private plot. I can do whatever I want on it in the future. Thank you, Village Head.”

Jia Dafu was dumbfounded. Ordinary people would have kicked up a fuss when they heard the plot he allocated. But Lin Qinghuan not only accepted it, she accepted it so calmly.

This made him feel that it wasn’t him playing tricks, but that Lin Qinghuan had something up her sleeve.

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