Old Man Jin shook his head and solemnly thanked them before he brought the whole group to the three-roomed building on the east side. The smile on his face became more sincere as he said, “This three-roomed building normally doesn’t have people living in it. You all can first place your luggage here. In a bit, when my three daughters-in-law come back, I’ll have them help you clean things up. Xiaohu’zi, quickly go to the back courtyard and pick some vegetables so we can start the fire and help the guests make food!”

“No need, no need! We will do things ourselves!” Without waiting for Xiaocao’s command, Chunhua and Qiushi began to clean up the rooms. The east building had three rooms. Zhu Junyang and Su Ran were assigned to one, Xiaocao and her two maidservants were in another, while the last one was for Hou Xiaoliang, who had gotten lucky this time and had his own room.

When Old Man Jin’s three daughters-in-law came back with baskets full of corn on their backs, they had already finished cleaning and organizing the three rooms. The beds had been made with their own bedding and Yu Xiaocao took her two maidservants to the kitchen to begin cooking. They made a large pot of preserved meat with rice and stir fried some old string beans with stewed meat. In addition, they also made simmered eggplant casserole, stir fried old...