After sending Luo Fengtang away, the twelfth lunar month was soon ushered in.

Farmers are working hard to make a living from the beginning to the end of the year.

It's finally the twelfth lunar month, and the crops in the fields are still dormant and have to wait until next year's spring breeze to wake them up.

Therefore, this twelfth lunar month is a month of slack farming.

Every household is preparing for the upcoming New Year.

This is also called a busy year.

However, the men of Lao Yang's family are busy with another thing.

That is to build a school!

Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang invested money to build a piece of land on the edge of the woods behind the village, along the river, on a hillside with a wide view.

It is planned to build a courtyard with two entrances to be used as a school.

"Dad, these are the school's drawings. I drew them on paper. You can take them and compare them with the craftsmen."

In the hall, Yang Ruoqing handed a piece of paper to Yang Huazhong.

"I plan to use the front courtyard as a classroom for teaching between these two courtyards."

She explained at the side, "The wing rooms at the back are the teacher's living room, the students' sleeping room, the cooking stove and the dining hall, and the last one is the toilet."

Yang Huazhong squinted his eyes, looked at it carefully, and asked: "Why do we need to build so many sleeping rooms later? And this kitchen, aren't the students all from nearby villages? The road is so close!"

Yang Ruoqing said: "When making a sleeping room and a kitchen, there are two main considerations."

"First, the school recruits students from eight villages within ten miles. The villages are both far and near."

"Close ones are like our Changping Village and the nearby Zhengjia Village, Lijia Village, and Yujia Village. You can go back and forth between home and school in just one bag of cigarettes."

"But if it is further away, such as Jinjia Village and Liujia Village a few miles away, it will be difficult for students to travel back and forth."

"When the weather is bad, with wind and rain, it will be very inconvenient for them to go to school."

"With this kitchen, they don't have to go home to eat at noon, and they don't have to bring cold dishes and rice to school to satisfy their hunger."

"At noon, you can take a nap in your bedroom to recharge your batteries for the afternoon study."

"You can even stay in the school at night if you are far away."

After listening to Yang Ruoqing's analysis, before Yang Huazhong had time to express his position, Sun fell to the side and clapped his hands in praise.

"I agree with Qing'er's approach. This really provides convenience to students!"

Sun continued: "Take Da'an and Dajie for example. They used to go back and forth to the school in Lijiacun to study. There was no food there at noon, so they brought it from home."

"I make dry food cakes for them, but the children don't grow long after eating them."

"Sometimes when it's windy and rainy, my clothes are all wet when I come back from school."

"Now I go to a school in the town to study. I have food in the school and a carriage at home. It's really much better."

"If the school in our village can be like this, then Da'an and Dajie won't have to go to town." Sun said.

Yang Ruoqing smiled and nodded.

Then he looked at Yang Huazhong: "Dad, what do you think of this idea?"

Yang Huazhong said: "From what you said, it's really not bad."

"It's just that if this happens, we will have to hire another cook in the school. Who will be allowed to do it..."

Yang Ruoqing said: "Originally, we had to hire someone to sweep the floor and wipe tables and chairs in the school. When the time comes, we can just hire a woman who is quick at work and has clean hands and feet to work in the school."

"Our wages are high, and many people want to do this job."

"Qing'er, can I go? This way we can save a lot of wages!" said Sun.

Hearing this, Yang Ruoqing and Yang Huazhong looked at each other, and both father and daughter laughed.

Yang Huazhong said: "There is enough work at home, as well as crops and vegetable gardens in the fields. My dear, these are all enough for you. Let Qing'er hire someone else for the school!"

Yang Ruoqing turned around and took Sun's hand and said, "Mom, how about this? Find someone to do odd jobs in the school, and leave this job to Mom."

"Mom is looking for candidates in the village. You can tell me when you're done, okay?"

When Mrs. Sun heard this, she nodded happily: "Okay, okay, I will go and ask Guihua Dayun and the others later to see if any of them want to go."

Yang Ruoqing also explained to Mrs. Sun the wages and benefits of the job in the school, so that Mrs. Sun would have a good idea when she went to talk to them.

…

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.

Yang Ruoqing got up early and put the dried fruits and glutinous rice soaked last night into a large pot to cook.

Today is the Laba Festival, and it is popular to drink Laba porridge in Changping Village.

Relatives and friends also have to give gifts to each other.

Yang Ruoqing put a lot of thought into this Laba porridge this year.

Because there were floods in the previous summer, there was no harvest of rice grains, and the harvest of other agricultural and sideline products was also poor.

Therefore, she specially went to Wanghai County to buy many of the ingredients in this Laba porridge, such as glutinous rice, yellow rice, barley, etc.

Carefully cook a pot of Laba porridge and drink it for yourself and your family to nourish your body and warm your spleen and stomach in this cold winter.

Also give some to relatives and friends to deepen the relationship.

"Mom, Laba porridge is ready, you can try it."

Yang Ruoqing brought breakfast to Tuoba Xian's room, where Tuoba Xian was sitting cross-legged on the heated kang.

There is a small kang table on the heated Kang, which was made for Tuoba Xian when Luo Fengtang came to his house last time.

There is a sewing dustpan on the table, with circles of colorful thread in it.

Tuoba Xian is picking up a pair of small tiger-head shoes.

Hearing Yang Ruoqing's voice, Tuoba Xian put the small tiger-head shoes in her hand into the dustpan and put the dustpan aside.

"It smells so good. Is this your Laba porridge?"

Tuoba Xian asked with a smile.

Yang Ruoqing nodded lightly: "Mother, try it and see if it still suits your taste."

She put the tray on the small kang table, a bowl of colorful Laba porridge, a fluffy white steamed bun, a poached egg fried to golden brown on both sides, and a pile of minced meat and mustard.

Seeing this nutritious yet elegant breakfast set, Tuoba Xian's eyes flashed with admiration.

Especially when Tuoba Xian's eyes saw the last small plate of green vegetables, a strange look appeared on her face.

"Qing'er, this is... emerald jasper?"

She pointed to the small plate of green vegetables with a trembling voice.

Yang Ruoqing smiled softly: "The name Jade and Jasper is really elegant, but I'm still used to calling it Laba Garlic."

Tuoba Xian raised his eyes and looked at Yang Ruoqing: "Did you also make this Laba garlic?"

Yang Ruoqing nodded: "Yes, this is the first time I'm making it. I don't know if I'm too jealous. Mom, just make do with it."

Tuoba Xian quickly raised her chopsticks, added a piece of green garlic and chewed it gently in her mouth.

Then, her eyes became a little wet.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"Is it not done right?"
Chapter completed!