Peasant woman

Chapter 45

Hearing Mrs. Li's doubts, Xu Cao hurriedly put the last small jar of jam into the jar, put it outside in a ventilated place to cool it down, and then said: "Mother, don't worry, I made some last year and sold it for twelve taels Yinzi, let’s take these jars to the town tomorrow and sell them.”

Naturally, Mrs. Li would not object, and the two went to the town the next day. Xu Cao went to Ma's house with ease, and when he heard that they were delivering jam, the young man immediately invited Xu Cao and Mrs. Li in, " Last year, it was the jam that this little lady gave to my lady, right? This year, my lady has never forgotten about this thing, and she was still nagging a few days ago, saying that it is so comfortable to drink some water soaked in the jam at this time. "

Xu Cao hurriedly said: "I'm really sorry for your lady. I only made two jars of the wild fruit last year, and I went to pick them in the mountains, and they are gone. This year, as soon as the wild fruit is ripe, I will make it for you immediately." The lady sent it over."

Soon, Xu Cao and Mrs. Li followed the young man to an exquisite small courtyard, and then two handsome maids led them into the courtyard. After the maids reported, the Ma family The lady just came out.

Xu Cao apologized first, but Miss Ma didn't blame her, she chuckled lightly and said, "It's okay, I guessed it was because there was no fruit, that's why I couldn't make this thing, by the way, how many did you bring over today?" ?”

Taking out the three jars of jam she was holding in her arms, Xu Caocai said: "Miss, I only have three jars today, and I can continue to make them after I go to the mountains to pick wild fruits. The price is still the same as last year, do you think so?" "

Miss Ma's family nodded, "Of course, you can give as much as you have, and I'll take it all." It's cold, so it's no problem to put this thing on tomorrow spring, and when the weather gets hotter, their Ma's family will also have My own ice cellar, I don't worry about this thing breaking down at all.

Then Miss Ma's family asked someone to take ten taels of silver and give it to Xu Cao.Xu Cao remembered that Miss Ma gave her two jars of jam last year, but Xu Cao didn't care. After all, Miss Ma gave her the extra jars of jam, and she could make some jams in the future, which would earn her a lot of money. money.

The two thanked Miss Ma's family, and then the two delicate maids were sent out of Ma's house.

Li Shi never came back to her senses, she never thought that ten taels of silver would be so easy to earn.She and the head of the family worked hard in the field, and it was not bad to be able to save a few hundred coins all year round. Never thought that she could earn ten taels of silver in just one day.

Mrs. Li was so shocked that she was silent all the way. When the two returned to the village, Xu Cao looked around and took out the money from her arms, and handed it to Mrs. Li. keep it."

Looking at the five taels of silver in Xu Cao's hand, Li Shi hesitated, "Big girl, I didn't do anything, it's too much for you to give me five taels of silver."

Xu Cao stuffed the money into Mrs. Li's arms, "Mom, just keep it. The honeycomb that Dad gave me in the mountains is a good thing. Without this thing, the taste of the jam will be much worse. Besides, You have helped me so much, in the future, we will make the jam together, and my father will be responsible for finding honeycombs in the mountains, and we will share the money we earn."

Only then did Mrs. Li no longer shirk, and collected the five taels of silver.

When Mr. Xu came back in the evening, Mrs. Li told Mr. Xu about the jam, and Mr. Xu was also taken aback, "You can earn ten taels of silver this day? Big girl will give you five taels ? It's too much."

Mrs. Li hurriedly repeated what Xu Cao said during the day, and then continued: "In the future, you should be more thoughtful, go around the mountains, and bring back some honey for Da Ya."

Father Xu nodded, then remembered something, and hurriedly said: "Since this jam is so profitable, why do you want to make wine?"

"As I said, there are too many wild grapes in the mountains, and they can't be finished. That's why they make wine, and the remaining part is reserved for jam."

"Then you have to pay attention, don't let this way of making money slip out."

"It's up to you to say, definitely not."

Only a fool would reveal such a way to make money.

On weekdays, Fu Gui would bring back some wild grapes from the deep mountains when he went hunting. When Father Xu was free, he would wander around the mountains and find some honeycombs.

The jam made lasted for another half a month. After calculation, Xu Cao and Li Shi made a full 100 taels of silver, and each of them shared 50 taels.

At this time, the wild grapes in the deep mountains were nothing. When delivering jam to Miss Ma's family for the last time, Xu Cao told Miss Ma's family that there might be no more jams in the future.

Miss Ma's family waved her hand to show that she understood.

When the work was over, the little girl Niu gave birth to was just full moon.Xu Cao remembered that the girl Niu gave birth to was called Osmanthus fragrans, the name Niu gave her.

Little sweet-scented osmanthus, full moon, and Xu Cao sent two of the pheasants that Fugui had hunted back.

Xu Cao led Miao Miao and Fu Gui came to Yang's house with a pheasant.The people in the Yang family's courtyard were all the relatives of the Yang family and the Niu family. Now that Niu's mother-in-law and several older brothers were all there, Chen did not dare to talk nonsense.

Seeing Xu Cao, Niu showed a rare smile, "Brother and sister-in-law are here, hurry up and go in."

Xu Cao was not too polite, and took Miao Miao to see the sweet-scented osmanthus. The one-month-old doll didn't look much at all, her skin was still a little red, and she was sleeping with her eyes closed, but Miao Miao was very fond of the little doll. Interested, kept watching.

After eating the sweet-scented osmanthus milk baby's full moon wine, Xu Cao and Fugui went back. Miao Miao was a little sleepy and went back to sleep.

Fugui was busy digging a cellar in the backyard. Now that the weather is a bit cold, dig a cellar to store things in winter.

Some of the corn planted at home should be harvested. After Xu Cao rested at home for a while, he followed Fugui to the field to break the corn. There was only a few corns planted at home. Not much, and he finished his work in one afternoon. Ri Fugui and Xu Cao were busy harvesting the corn stalks in the field again, so that they could be used as firewood.

Then I harvested the corn in the field. The family has a total of two acres of land, one of which is still planted with potatoes, and the potatoes can be harvested in the next month. Almost all the potatoes left by the family have been sent to the town. In the Lefeng Restaurant above, those potatoes also earned ten taels of silver.

After Mrs. Li's family was busy with farm work, Mrs. Li discussed with Mr. Xu that they would build two houses next door. Now they live in the thatched hut they shared more than ten years ago. Yu, now that he has earned some money with Da Ya, he naturally wants to build two better houses, so that Xiao Shan will not have to worry about marrying a wife when he grows up.

Mrs. Li discussed it with Xu Cao, and Xu Cao naturally agreed, isn't making money just to live a good life.

Xu Cao also agreed to build a house, and Li's family didn't have much farm work, but there was still an acre of potatoes, which would be ready to be harvested in a month's time.The next day, Mrs. Li and Mr. Xu went to the town to get the materials needed to build the house. After the materials were ready, they hired the craftsmen in the village.

It's very fast to build a few houses, and one month is enough.A month later, there were two more spacious rooms next to the two thatched huts of the Xu family.Looking at the two spacious rooms of the Xu family, many people were jealous.Thinking about the things that Mrs. Li and Xu Cao picked in the mountains in the past two months, everyone in the village knew that they must have made money.

The thin-skinned ones secretly inquired with Li Shi or Xu Cao whether the wild fruits picked in the mountains made money, and they were taken there.Some thick-skinned people can ignore it, just open up and ask, the two of them will naturally not talk.

Even so, there were many rumors in the village that Xu Cao and Li's made a lot of money, some said it was the wild fruit in the mountains, and some said it was the potatoes grown in the field.The house had only been built for a few days, and a wave of relatives who had nothing to do with each other in eight lifetimes came to ask for ways to make money.

The two ignored it, but now the weather is getting colder and colder, and the potato seedlings in the field are starting to turn yellow. Xu Cao knew that the potatoes were about to be harvested, so she hurriedly told Mrs. Li that the two families took the potatoes in the field. All dug out.

Mrs. Li roughly calculated the yield of one mu of land, and was immediately frightened. Her one mu of land produced almost [-] catties of potatoes.

Xu Cao didn't think there were too many of them. On weekdays, she and Mrs. Li took good care of these potatoes, fertilizing, weeding, and watering without being sloppy at all.The output of more than 1000 catties is considered small. In modern times, better potato varieties can produce at least [-] catties, and better potato varieties of [-] to [-] catties are not a problem.

"Mother, we can sell some of our potatoes to the restaurant, and sell the rest to the villagers." It is impossible to monopolize these potatoes, so it is better to let the village grow them together. This is a new crop. If you can earn some money, it will be worthless when you plant a large number of them in the next few years.

Mrs. Li was a bit reluctant, "It's good for us to keep the seeds for ourselves. Those people in the village spoke so badly a few days ago, what do we care about them?"

"Mother, someone who knows a little bit about potatoes will know how to plant them at a glance. Rather than offending the villagers for this, it is better for everyone to plant them together. If we are alone next year, the villagers may make it worse." , that's not worth it."

After thinking about it, Mrs. Li realized that this was not the reason, so she gave up and agreed with Xu Cao's statement.

The potatoes sent to Lefeng Restaurant cost twelve cents a catty, and Xu Cao, a villager, didn't plan to sell them cheaply, the price was the same as in the restaurant.

People in the village were horrified when they heard that this mu of land could yield a yield of [-] jin.He also heard that Xu Cao planned to let the villagers plant this thing together, so he was relieved.Not to mention whether this thing can make money, just this output can make them have a good harvest and not go hungry. The most important thing is that the planting period of this thing is short, and it can be planted twice a year.

Thinking of it this way, the villagers felt a little more grateful to Xu Cao, and felt a little embarrassed thinking about how he had embarrassed him a few days ago.

Xu Cao also said that the potatoes cost twelve cents a catty, and if she was willing to buy them, she would also inform them of the planting method and the things that should be paid attention to.

The twelve cents is a bit expensive, and the big guys are a little hesitant, but looking at the output of more than 1000 catties, the big guys feel that twelve cents a catty is not expensive.

There are only a few dozen households in the village, and Li and Xu Cao together have three thousand catties of potatoes. Excluding the potatoes sent to the restaurant, each family can only get dozens of catties of potatoes at most.

When Lizheng in the village learned about this, he praised Xu Cao well, and first bought dozens of catties of potatoes for next year's seedlings.

Then people in the village approached Xu Cao and Mrs. Li one after another, and they all paid twelve cents a catty.

Xu Cao told everyone the planting method and precautions, and told everyone that although the potatoes tasted good, they couldn't be eaten if they germinated, and everyone firmly remembered them.

Li Shi's sister-in-law, Xu Cao's aunt Qian Shi also approached Li Shi today, and said she wanted to come, "Second brother and sister, I see that your potatoes are really good, give me two hundred catties."

Mrs. Li has earned a lot of money in the past few days, and the newly built house is not to mention how happy she is. Even if it was Mrs. Qian who came to make trouble, she smiled and said, "Oh, sister-in-law, this can't be done, everyone in the village There are people, and each family can only share a few tens of catties at most. You came late, and now everyone else in my place has booked, and there are still fifty catties left. If you don’t mind it, I will give it all to you, but This price should be calculated clearly, a catty is twelve Wen, and this fifty catty is six hundred Wen."

Qian's heart felt uncomfortable when he heard that, and he raised his eyebrows and said, "Second brother and sister, it's your fault. Just save this money-making method for your family. Why do you need the whole village to know about it?"

Mrs. Li smiled, but said nothing. She was in a good mood and didn't bother to argue with Mrs. Qian.

Seeing that she was silent, Qian said: "I heard that you have to deliver potatoes to the restaurant in the town every few days. I have heard that, and the price is only twelve yuan. Since the restaurant can't afford it I think the high price is fine, don’t give the rest to the restaurant, give it all to me, so we can keep some varieties and have a good harvest next year.”

Li Shi said: "That can't be done, it's an agreement, and the restaurant has increased the price of potatoes by three Wen, fifteen Wen a catty, it's not taking advantage of us."

Mrs. Qian and Mrs. Li spent a long time scribbling, and seeing that Mrs. Li didn't let go, and only gave her fifty catties of potatoes, she was so angry that she waved her hand and said, "Forget it, fifty catties is just fifty catties, give it to me quickly. "

"Sister-in-law, the total is [-] Wen. If you give it to me, I will give you the potatoes."

Qian was anxious, "Why, are you still afraid that I will lie to you about dozens of catties of potatoes?"

"Sister-in-law, no matter who comes to buy potatoes, the price is the same. The money is equal to the goods. If you give the money, I will naturally give you the potatoes."

Qian Shi was cursing but she didn't want to give money. Her original plan was to take the potatoes and leave. If Li Shi asked her to get up in the future, when the potatoes were harvested next year, she would just return the potatoes.It's a pity that Mrs. Li has eaten the weight and made up her mind. If you give money, you will give potatoes. If you don't give money, you can't even see the shadow of potatoes.

Qian had no choice but to go back and get six hundred Wen, and took back fifty catties of potatoes.The six hundred coins can be regarded as loving her to death.

(End of this chapter)