With the land deed settled, Zheng Changhe was itching to get out and start clearing the land. But a glance at the biting cold outside made him sigh. "Everything's frozen solid out there. We can't get anything done. We'll just have to wait until spring to pick up our hoes again."
Yang Family said, "It's for the best that we can't. This is the only quiet month we get all year. Why not let the children rest? Besides, even with things being slow, Juhua is still busy running around in circles every day. Now that your leg is better, you can't do heavy labor, but you can stay home and help Juhua feed the pigs and chickens and light the fires. Let her catch a break for once! It's the slack time of the twelfth month, and we need to start preparing a lot of things for the New Year. Also, we're out of rice bran and cornmeal. The pigs can't live on just acorn kernels; we need to go buy some more bran."
