happy event

Chapter 86
Everyone started working together, went back and forth two or three times and finally moved the boxes to the hut on the top of the mountain.Dong Rong looked at the half-filled east room, wondering if it's time to expand the house.If you live occasionally for a short time, you can make do with it, but if you live permanently, it will be a bit crowded.At least two rows of wing rooms should be built, and there should be an ear room used as a warehouse, and the kitchen should also be enlarged.

Dong Ping saw his sister staring at the boxes in the room in a daze, and thought she was worried about money, so he quickly whispered, "Sister, things in Kyoto are good and cheap, so I bought more."

As soon as Dong Rong heard that her younger brother had misunderstood, she pulled him out and smiled, "As long as it is useful, you can buy it for a few thousand taels, and my sister doesn't feel bad. My sister thinks the house is a bit small, thinking about it. A few more rooms will be built in spring.”

"That's great, my sister will definitely reserve a wing room for me, and I'll come back to live in it when the academy is on vacation."

"Okay, no one's place can't be missing from our master scholar."

The siblings were chatting and laughing, Zhang Guanshi had sent the coachman back, and Zhao Qingshan also led the handyman down the mountain with a very winking look.Xizi smiled and squatted in the lee not far from the door, pretending to look at the scenery, which made Sha Zhu amused, and closed the door, so there were only four masters and servants left in the room.

Manager Zhang took out an oil-paper package from his pocket with both hands, and peeled off layer after layer, finally revealing a thick stack of banknotes inside.He carefully pushed the paper bag in front of Dong Rong, and raised his voice slightly to report, "Thanks to my master, this trip to Kyoto went very smoothly, and the three sets of fruits cost a total of 7000 taels of silver. I found Jingdu Koubei The best Huitong bank exchanged it for 500 taels of large-value bank notes, a total of 54. One of the second young masters used it to buy things, and this is all the remaining 53, a total of 500 taels. Please the owner Keep it!"

"Ah, so... so much!" Dong Rong was so surprised that she stuttered a little. You must know that she has been busy all summer, and including the ice business and the orchard, her entire net worth is less than 600 taels.Now it has suddenly increased by more than forty times, and no one is so happy that they don't know what to do.

Although Murong Huaide had received the news from the capital a long time ago, he was a little dazzled when he saw the actual tens of thousands of taels of silver bills.Unexpectedly, just a few small fruits can support the income of all his shops for more than half a year, no wonder his daughter-in-law has always called this fruit "Golden Apple".

"Cough cough." Dong Rong suppressed the desire to scream, tried to put on a calm expression, got up and gave a half bow to Zhang Guanshi, and thanked Zhang again, "Zhang Zhang has worked hard, although our fruit is miraculous and rare, But without Zhang Guanshi running around and worrying, there must be no such generous rewards."

Manager Zhang hurriedly got up to avoid the side, and responded in a loud voice, "My boss is serious, this is what I should do. What's more, the second son really helped me a lot during this trip to Kyoto, even the last cooperation The Jin owner who sells fruit is also befriended by the second son. The little one only puts out his strength, and really dare not be greedy for credit."

"Oh, Brother Ping still made friends in Kyoto?" Dong Rong was curious about how his younger brother's shy temper usually made friends in a foreign land, and joked with a smile, "But which female ruffian likes Ping My brother is handsome, and he wanted to capture him as the master of the village, but he happened to meet a hero and shot him..."

"Oh, sister, where do you want to go?" Dong Ping stared in embarrassment, and retorted loudly, "We only met Brother Jin when we went to the fruit shop. He is generous and forthright. Thanks to him this time." He helps."

Dong Rong put away her joke and asked, "Since I've helped you a lot, can you thank me well?"

This remark touched Dong Ping's sore spot. All the way, he wondered whether the friends he made with great difficulty just broke up like this.So he sighed and replied, "Before I came back, I thought about how many banknotes I had in my hand. If someone had malicious intentions...well, that's why I didn't say hello to Brother Jin when I left."

Dong Rong heard these words vaguely, and after pondering for a while, she realized that her younger brother sneaked back without saying goodbye because he was guarding against robbery by his friends.It stands to reason that he should be praised for being so vigilant and defensive.But if you think about it from the side of that friend, it is indeed a bit chilling and irritating.

"Forget it. You are in other places. It's not wrong to be on guard against evil people, but you should act more safely next time. Tomorrow, you can take more money and go to the county to buy some wild goods and fur caravans and send them to Jindong's house. Take care of yourself." Make an apology to others."

"Yes, elder sister. I will go to the county early tomorrow morning."

Seeing her younger brother's dejected expression, Dong Rong interrupted, "If that Jin Dong's family is serious and generous, they will definitely understand your difficulty of leaving without saying goodbye. Come on, don't think too much about it. Tell my sister how you are. Selling the fruits, isn't Kyoto very lively during the holy birthday?"

Dong Ping gained a lot of insight during this trip. Hearing his sister's question, he talked about the interesting things on the road with great interest, and how he sold fruit to the Zhongshan Prince's Mansion, and how he won a lot of money by cooperating with Jin Beiwang.Of course, Zhang Guanshi will add a few words in due course for the parts that he is not clear about.At the end, Dong Ping thought for a while and said, "Sister, when I saw the refugees outside our city, I felt very miserable, but the further south I went, I found that there were more and more refugees, begging on their knees, and selling their children. It’s everywhere. I heard from Brother Jin that there was a lot of quarrel between the court and China over the opening of warehouses for disaster relief, and even a speech official was killed at the Shengshou banquet.

The offering of our family's fruit just happens to refute the rumors that the royal family is not benevolent and deserves to be punished by heaven.The emperor was very happy, and finally exempted the taxes and grains of the four states affected by the disaster, and even rewarded our academy with a plaque.But the emperor didn't say that all the states should help the refugees who escaped from the famine. These refugees can't go back to their hometown now, they can only wait until next spring.Don't know how to survive this winter? "

Guanshi Zhang also sighed and said, "It's just separated by a wall. Inside the wall is singing and singing every night, but outside the wall is crying endlessly. It's really..."

Dong Rong frowned when she thought of the refugees who went into the mountains to find wild animals to feed their hunger.She glanced at the thick banknotes on the table, hesitated for a long time, and said, "Our family got this huge sum of money, and it is also a natural disaster. As the old saying goes, if you get a windfall, you must share one part. Fortune and misfortune depend on each other, too much fortune will lead to misfortune. So, if you all agree, take 2000 taels from this silver to help the refugees."

"Really? My sister wants to help the refugees?" Dong Ping straightened his back in surprise, and responded with joy, "Then I will go buy food tomorrow and build a shed to cook porridge..."

"Wait a minute, what are you in a hurry for?" Dong Rong glared at her younger brother, and said angrily, "The government and the wealthy households in the city are silent, so a small farmer in our family suddenly opened a porridge shed, wouldn't it be too eye-catching. "

"Then what should we do? Do we want to distribute copper coins to the refugees?" Dong Ping also lost his mind and asked with a frown.

Dong Rong didn't respond either, but just looked at Guanshi Zhang with a smile.

Manager Zhang hurriedly put down the tea bowl in his hand, just now Dong Rong discussed how to spend the money in front of him, and even asked his opinion, which obviously did not treat him as an outsider.His heart was warm, and when he heard these words, his brain turned quickly, and he thought for a while before he said, "The young one is a bit shallow, why don't the master and the second son listen to it, how about it?"

"Uncle Zhang has a way, just say it." Dong Ping had Zhang steward to take care of his basic necessities this month, and he was very close and trustworthy to him.

Dong Rong also nodded and smiled, "Uncle Zhang, but it's okay to say."

Zhang Guanshi was even more excited when he heard that the owner had also changed his name, and he said quickly, "Just now I seem to have heard the owner talk about expanding the house. Although it's cold here in winter, it's not too difficult to break ground. At least Just put in more effort. There are many strong and strong people among the refugees outside the city, so why not gather people here in the name of recruiting workers and building houses, and then distribute food and wages, wouldn’t it be the best of both worlds?"

"This is a good way." Dong Rong originally only wanted to think of a vague outline in her mind, but she heard what Zhang Guanshi said so clearly, so she praised, "It's still Uncle Zhang who handles things smoothly, even if it's a bit garish like this, it won't hurt." It’s too much. To expand the house at home, we need to go up the mountain to cut wood and cut stones, and to build a few more grass pavilions and three chicken houses at the foot of the mountain, which is a lot of work. If the arrangement is good, it will be enough to stretch until the beginning of spring.”

Dong Ping also calmed down now, and echoed, "We don't know how many refugees there are, and we need to gather food for the family, and where will the refugees live?"

Dong Rong patted his younger brother on the shoulder, and praised, "Brother Ping thinks carefully. In the future, you will think twice before doing everything. Even if you go to the end of the world, you don't have to worry about my sister."

Dong Ping gained more confidence after being praised, and reached out to pick up a pen and paper to start counting the food stored at home.Seeing this, Guanshi Zhang got up and left. Dong Rong left him to have lunch on the mountain before leaving, but he said with a smile that he would go to see the number of refugees outside the city, and inquire about the price of food in the city.

Seeing this, Dong Rong picked up a few sugar shortbreads that she had made a few days ago, and left them for him to pad his stomach on the road.Zhang Guanshi bowed his thanks and walked out. When passing by Sha Zhu, he subconsciously bent down and slowed down his pace.

A smile flashed in Shazhu's eyes, and he said in a low voice, "Thanks for your hard work."

"Ah, it's not hard, it's not hard!" Steward Zhang blushed with joy, saluted repeatedly and stepped back out the door.

Dong Rong sister and brother heard the sound and turned their heads for a glance, then continued to lower their heads and get busy. Silly Zhu remembered something, sat for a long time with a sullen face, and then went out and called Xizi, whose nose was running down from the cold, to go to the stove together.Boil a bowl of polished round-grained rice in half a pot of water until cooked, then put two bowls of garlic eggplant and salted cucumber in the pot, add half a dustpan of sugar shortbread, and the family's lunch is ready.

The Dong Rong sisters listed the supplies that Zhang Luo needed to buy, and then went to the storage cellar to look at the stored grain and the large pile of sweet potatoes, so they could barely feel confident.When I got back to the room, I saw steaming food on the table. Dong Rong slapped her forehead and said angrily, "I was too busy, but I forgot to make some good dishes to welcome you."

Dong Ping smiled while serving the porridge, "I still have a few days off, and I won't go back to the academy right away. My sister will have time to cook tomorrow. But I want to eat boiled fish, a big pot!"

(End of this chapter)