"Come, warm up over the kang first."
Aunt Hua brought over some dumplings and had Qin Xiangyang and his sibling take off their shoes to warm up first.
However, the siblings didn’t want to sit on the kang no matter what. With no other option, Aunt Hua could only let them sit at the small table and brought them big meat dumplings, which were generously filled with meat, a luxury only afforded during the New Year.
Aunt Hua also gave each of them ten cents as New Year’s money, treating them as if they were her own children. Whatever her own children received, Qin Xiangyang and his sibling received as well.
This was the first time Qin Xiangyang had ever received New Year’s money. Back at the Qin family, they never even got a penny. Even though now ten cents didn’t mean much to him, it was different, it was New Year’s money, the money every child looked forward to every year.
He happily pocketed the money and also put his sister’s ten cents in her pocket.
Qin Xiangyang hadn’t forgotten the original purpose of his visit, which was not just to collect New Year’s money or eat dumplings.
These past few months, selling pancakes, he had become more articulate and gained some insights.
"Uh, Yangyang, is something the matter? Are there not enough dumplings?"
Qin Xiangyang quickly shook his head. "No, no, Aunt Hua, there’s enough. I was just thinking, after the New Year, spring will start and the Village Chief said he’s going to allocate lands for my sister and me. Since we are both too young, we can’t farm all that land by ourselves. We thought of letting Aunt Hua and Uncle Hua farm it, and later, if we need to buy vegetables, Aunt Hua can just give us a discount."
Upon hearing this, both Aunt Hua and Uncle Hua were stunned. Aunt Hua’s family was strong and had many workers, but also many mouths to feed. With just four people at their home, and two youths almost grown who would soon be needing wives, their household was considered poor in the village, primarily because of the lack of land. But Qin Guohua’s situation was different; his family had many children but they ate less and had more land, earning more. But for Aunt Hua’s home, every family member, being another mouth to feed, meant just barely scraping by each year. However, with more land, they could grow more crops to sell and significantly improve their family’s circumstances.
"Yangyang, are you serious?" Aunt Hua was somewhat in disbelief—no one in the village would ever offer their land for others to farm; that would just be foolish.
"Yes, Aunt Hua," Qin Xiangnuan spoke up softly, her voice still kitten-like and endearing, "We don’t know how to farm. Let Aunt Hua farm it. Aunt Hua is always kindest to Nuannuan and my brother."
Aunt Hua didn’t know quite what to feel in her heart.
It was a terribly bittersweet feeling.
Such sensible children.
Uncle Hua took a drag of his homemade tobacco, knocked some ash on the table, and after a long moment, he finally said, "Nuannuan, Yangyang, if you really want to give the land to your uncle to farm, I might not be able to give you too much produce, but you can pick vegetables from the land whenever you want."
"No need, no need," Qin Xiangyang quickly waved his hand, "Uncle, just sell it to us at a lower price later on."