When Ye Yutong and Li Yunze returned from the base.
Ye Dafeng and Yongchang were preparing to go to the racecourse and discussed with Xie Dong about organizing people to go hunting.
The Chinese New Year is coming soon, so I’m going to prepare extra meals for everyone.
Li Mingze put down his things and went with them.
Ye Yutong went directly back to the small courtyard, where Li Wenxiu and Qiaoer were sewing.
Qiaoer is as clever as her name. Although he is not yet seven years old, he can embroider handkerchiefs.
At this moment, he was holding a small purse in his hand and embroidering it, talking and laughing with Li Wenxiu.
Ye Yutong knocked on the door twice and asked with a smile: "What are you two talking about? Are you so happy?"
"Sister, are you back? Didn't you and your brother-in-law go collecting medicine? Why were you out for so long?"
Qiaoer happily got off the kang, poured a bowl of hot water from the stove and handed it to her, "Sister, drink some hot water to warm yourself up."
Ye Yutong took the water, pinched her cheek, and praised, "Qiao'er is so good."
Li Wenxiu took the bundle from her daughter, touched her hand again, it was warm, and then smiled:
"When you and Ping An went out, Qiao'er was always at home with me. Qiao'er is so smart, and now he has learned how to embroider purses."
Li Wenxiu showed her the small pink purse in the basket again.
Ye Yutong took a closer look. Although the needle angles were not quite uniform, it was already very good for a six or seven-year-old child to be able to do this.
"Qiao'er is really great. My sister can't even embroider a handkerchief now. Our Qiao'er can make socks and embroider purses."
Qiaoer was a little embarrassed by the two people's praise, "Sister, you are so busy every day, you don't need to learn these things. From now on, I will embroider purses and handkerchiefs for you, and when I learn how to make clothes, I will make them for you too."
Ye Yutong held her in his arms strangely and rubbed her head, "Okay, then sister, let's wait for our Qiao'er to make clothes for me."
Li Wenxiu waited for the two little sisters to finish making love before asking: "Tongtong, why are you alone? How are you safe?"
"Ping An followed dad and eldest brother to the racecourse."
"Then you sit on the kang to warm yourself up, and Mom will go make you something to eat."
Li Wenxiu put on her cotton coat and went to the big kitchen.
Ye Yutong took off his coat, lay down on the kang, and sighed comfortably.
Qiaoer sat next to her and recounted what happened during this period.
Who quarreled with whom, who fought with whom. How did Ye Dafeng deal with it? Everything is explained in great detail.
Ye Yutong lay on the kang and listened.
Now that there are more and more people, there are bound to be conflicts. As long as these people behave and don't make trouble.
As for minor quarrels, as long as they don't affect the work, just let the captain adjust it, and don't push people too much.
It was already evening when Li Yunze and the others came back. After dinner, a circle of torches was lit in the martial arts training ground.
All the adults and children in the valley stood around.
Xie Dong and several masters from the racecourse were sitting next to him. Li Yunze invited them to be judges.
Mantang and Zhang Daqian stood obediently in the middle of the martial arts training ground.
Li Yunze glanced at a few people and said: "You have been my disciple for more than a year, but I have never ranked you. I will set the ranking for you tonight."
"Yes, Master."
They were notified while they were having dinner.
I thought the master was still testing their martial arts as usual.
Unexpectedly, they were being ranked today, and several people were very excited after hearing this.
Especially Mantang, he has the best martial arts among them. If nothing happens, he will be promoted to senior brother tonight.
Ye Mingzhe asked Li Chaoyang, "Chaoyang, do you want to go out and give it a try? Although you have only been practicing martial arts for a short time, you are fast and have good light skills. I feel that except for Man Tang, the rest are no match for you."
"My brother disagreed and said that since I was his younger brother, I could no longer be his apprentice."
Li Chaoyang said this casually, but the raised corners of his lips proved that he was in a very good mood.
Ye Mingzhe slapped his head and said, "I forgot about this, just like I am his second uncle and cannot be his apprentice."
He put his arm around Li Chaoyang's shoulders and said mischievously: "From now on, your brother and we will be of the same generation. If these brats dare to disobey, we can teach them a lesson."
Li Chaoyang glanced at him, and although he agreed with his statement in his heart, he still said seriously:
"Isn't this bad? If my brother finds out that we bully his apprentice, then he still has to deal with us?"
Ye Mingzhe chuckled, "We've been sleeping in the same bed for several months, and I still don't know what your virtues are? Don't try to flatter me here."
The two looked at each other and laughed.
This contest lasted for more than a month
The hour has just ended, and Mantang has become a senior brother without any suspense.
Zhang Daqian was second, Ye Song was third, Mao Dan was fourth, Zhang Daqian was fifth, Dayuan was sixth, Daniu was seventh, Ye Cheng was eighth, and Goudan was ninth.
There are only a few female dolls left, and Mao Dan’s sister Xiaoli ranks tenth.
Qiaoer ranked eleventh.
There are twelve younger sisters in the hall, Chunyan, and the thirteenth junior sister ranked last is Ye Chun, the five-year-old daughter of Yongchang.
Several children from the Shitou family and the Daming family have just started practicing martial arts, so they were not allowed to participate in this competition.
Li Yunze also promised them that if they practice well, they will be accepted as disciples next year.
Several children were very happy after hearing this. Although they did not place in the rankings this year, they decided to practice martial arts and strive to join next year.
Li Yunze led the villagers to hunt for three consecutive days and then stopped.
Let people take most of the prey to the yard over the horse farm.
There are few people on this side of the valley, leaving only two wild boars and some small prey.
The New Year is coming tomorrow, and everyone gets up early in the morning to prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner.
This is also their second year in the mountains.
When Ye Yutong got up, Ye Dafeng was taking several of his brothers to fish at the pond.
Mr. Pei and the others also gathered around to watch the excitement.
Even Uncle Lei and his son, who had always been taciturn, looked at the big fish they had caught with smiles on their faces.
Several of Ye Yutong's maids were helping in the kitchen. When they saw her getting up, they quickly came over to salute, "Why does the girl get up so early?"
"Get up if you can't sleep. Just get busy and don't worry about me."
Ye Yutong smiled and waved to them, then went to the pond.
The maids all know their master's temper and don't like to be served around.
Now they learn medical skills from Mr. Lei in the morning and practice calligraphy from the masters in the afternoon.
The rest of the time, I help in the kitchen, and when I have free time, I do sewing with my master’s mother and sister.
The people in the valley are very kind, and they treat servants like them well, and they even eat together.
At first, they were not used to it and dared not serve it at all.
It was the master who gave the order, saying that the conditions were difficult now, so they would eat together until conditions improved.
The New Year's Eve dinner was a lively one. Ye Mingzhe and Ye Yutong took charge of it themselves and cooked several large pots of spicy pickled fish.
Ye Dafeng asked Li Yunze and Ye Mingxuan to invite Xie Dong, Mr. Ouyang and several doctors over.
Ye Mingzhe filled a large wooden bucket with a bucket full of spicy pickled fish and asked them to take it over to the guards.
Ye Yutong also followed. She stewed a large pot of braised pork in the space in the afternoon, and also braised a dozen chickens and ducks, which were prepared for the guards at the racecourse.
There were thousands of horses in the stable and they couldn't leave. The villagers nearby should also keep an eye on it.
We can't let them come to the valley for a reunion, so we can only prepare some delicious food for them.
When he was approaching the racecourse, Ye Yutong took out two wooden barrels.
One bucket contains braised pork, and the other bucket contains whole braised chicken and duck.
The three of them went to the racecourse first, where there were only four people guarding it.
Xie Dong led the rest of the people to maintain law and order in the nearby yard.
Li Yunze brought the buckets of stuff to them, said a few more polite words, and then went to the next door.
