Mrs. Jiang Liu knew that her son and daughter-in-law had not seen each other for a long time and must have something private to talk about, so she took Yingbao out and winked at her husband before leaving.
Old Man Jiang understood and walked back with his hands behind his back.
This morning the eldest son drove the clan elders to the county town, so he was not at home.
His eldest daughter-in-law, Mrs. Zhou, and his eldest granddaughter also went to work in the fields, leaving him and his wife alone at home.
When Yingbao walked into her uncle's yard, she saw chestnuts piled all over the yard, and a pile of chestnut shells at the corner of the wall.
"Grandpa, have all the chestnuts been harvested?" she asked.
Old man Jiang kicked the chestnut shells away from his feet to prevent the thorn ball from poking his granddaughter. "No, your second brother told us to hit them bit by bit. If we hit them all, they would get moldy."
Yingbao looked around and found several large bamboo plates in the yard, with purple chestnuts in them.
Jiang Liu said, "Let's peel the chestnuts and give them to your aunt to make chestnut cakes. When your second brother comes back in a few days, he can take them to the shop to sell."
Yingbao nodded, picked up a purple chestnut, bit open the shell, picked off the fur with her fingernails, and started eating it with a crunch.
The chestnuts are very sweet and big, much larger than the roasted chestnuts sold by vendors in Washi, the county town.
Seeing her granddaughter chewing raw chestnuts, Jiang Liu peeled two and stuffed them into her hands, admonishing her, "Don't eat too many raw chestnuts, or your stomach will swell."
"Yeah." Yingbao nodded obediently.
"Yingbao, tell Grandpa about what's happening in the capital."
Old Man Jiang sat on a bench made of old tree roots, peeling thorn balls while asking, "What does the emperor's palace look like?"
"Beijing has many people, many cars, and even more people doing business."
Yingbao couldn't describe the prosperity of the capital, so she used her storytelling skills to say, "The place where the emperor lives is like a fairy palace, with golden tiles. When the sun shines on it, it is bright and dazzling. Oh, by the way, I also brought back lychees from the capital."
Yingbao rummaged around in her bag, took out a bunch of purple lychees, and handed them to her grandparents.
The lychees should have been out of market by this time of year, but the ones she kept in the cave were not rotten at all and were still fresh and tender.
"Oh my!" Jiang Liu took the lychee from her granddaughter and exclaimed, "This is a lychee. This is the first time I've seen one."
Old Man Jiang had seen it, but he had never eaten it.
The old couple peeled a lychee each and put it in their mouths, exclaiming: "It's so sweet!"
Jiang Liu quickly peeled another one for her granddaughter and watched her finish it with a smile.
After talking with grandparents for a while, Yingbao said goodbye and went home.
At this time, Jiang Sanlang and his wife were sitting in the main room. When they saw their daughter coming back, they waved and said, "Bao'er, come here."
Yingbao walked over and took a closer look at her father. She saw that he had an unshaven beard and a haggard face, and looked much older than he was two months ago.
Jiang Sanlang asked his daughter to sit on a chair next to him and said, "The mushrooms you planted earlier have been harvested and dried. There are a total of 28 kilograms of golden fungus and 27 kilograms of snow fungus. I made a note of the amount and asked Erquan to transport it to the shop in the county town."
He took out an account book and handed it to his daughter: "Keep this safe. Brothers should settle accounts clearly. Your cousin also has a copy. By the way, the specialty shop is doing good business, and Erni has been asked to help."
Yingbao took the account book and flipped through it, and saw that it not only recorded the number of golden fungus and snow fungus, but also the weight of preserved fruits, grapes, apples, and pears.
Even the number of gourds taken away was recorded in the account book.
This account book not only contains the quantity, but also the price, and is signed by my second cousin and counted as the purchase price.
It seems that the shop is really on the right track under the hands of my eldest and second cousins.
Jiang Sanlang added: "Your second cousin also brought some cotton cloth woven at home, which is in short supply in the shop. From now on, we can sell all our cotton in the shop."
Of course, the family's textile workshop must also be opened, because weaving cotton cloth can make more money than simply selling cotton.
Yingbao closed the account book and asked, "Is it time to harvest our cotton?"
Jiang Sanlang nodded and said, "I will close it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I have already hired some people and they will come over tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
Oh, by the way, I have already had the backyard of your shop cleaned up, and I have hired more than 30 bricklayers to build the house. It will probably be finished before the end of the year."
Jiang Sanlang took out a blueprint and unfolded it: "I asked them to build five main houses, a kitchen, and a stable. After the houses over there are built, we will clean up the barren mountain over here."
In the first half of the year, Jiang Sanlang bought a large piece of wasteland on the east side of Nanpo, but he has not had time to clean it up.
After the busy autumn season is over, he will hire some people to reclaim the wasteland. In the spring of next year, he will plant pepper and various fruit tree seedlings on the barren hill, and then dig two ponds.
As the number of residents on the south slope increases, water supply becomes a major problem.
In the past, they lived by the Sichuan River and didn’t feel that it was very convenient. They could just go to the river to do laundry and vegetables.
But now living on the south slope, not only is getting water a problem, even washing is inconvenient, not to mention that each household has to carry water every day to irrigate the crops and vegetable gardens.
Therefore, we must organize people to dig more ponds.
Yingbao stretched her head to look at the blueprint and was very satisfied. Suddenly, she remembered the fruit tree seedlings in the cave.
"Dad, next spring, I'm going to plant lychee trees on the mountain, as well as mandarin oranges and longans."
Jiang Sanlang smiled and said, "Okay, then our villagers will also have lychees and mandarin oranges to eat."
But what is the longan my daughter is talking about
But never mind, it's all good stuff.
Now, every villager in the village has their eyes wide open, staring at the Jiang family. As long as they find out what Jiang Sanlang plants, they will definitely plant the same.
Take Jiang’s grapes for example. Now every household in the village cuts branches and takes them home for cuttings. Some even use apple cores to grow their own seedlings.
It’s no wonder that the grape cuttings all survived, but I don’t know if apple seedlings can be grown from apple cores.
Then, Yingbao told her father about Li Xu and her son.
"He owed me money for medical treatment, so he came here to teach to pay off the debt."
Ying Bao said proudly, "Li Xu agreed to teach here for three years. After three years, he will go back to take the imperial examination. I will give him the round-trip travel expenses at that time."
In order to make Li Xu and his mother get better quickly, I gave them several bottles of medicine.
Li Xu is now in much better shape, and his mother An's eyesight has also recovered a lot, but at night, her vision is still a little blurry.
"Is he really a scholar?" asked Jiang Sanlang.
Yingbao: "Yes, he passed the imperial examination at the age of seventeen, so his future is limitless."
Jiang Sanlang chuckled, "That's great! We must treat him and his mother well, and it would be best if he never wants to come back."
It is a very honorable thing to have a scholar as a teacher in the village school.
It probably won’t be long before their village becomes even more famous.
Although there was a private school in the town run by an old scholar, he was too old and had limited energy, so he could not teach too many students.
Moreover, that person was quite conceited and arrogant, and could not accept other people's opinions, so not many students under him became famous.
But Li Xu was different. He was only twenty years old, in the prime of his life, and had novel learning methods and exam experience.
Even if it is only taught for three years, it is enough for the children in the village.