"Also, my little sister isn't young anymore. After she goes to the capital, I can rely on my brother's official position to find her a good marriage."
Hu Zi is now a fifth-rank military general, a high position, and serves in the imperial guards. He will be able to find a son of an official for his sister.
Jiang Erlang glanced at his daughter and said, "She is only six years old."
Yan Ru glared at her husband and said, "She's six years old now. Won't she grow up in a few years? Besides, ladies in Beijing need to learn a lot of things. If we move there now, we can hire a teacher to teach her slowly."
Jiang Erlang scratched his head. "It will cost a lot to invite a gentleman. How can we just sit there and eat all the money? Although Hu Zi is a fifth-rank official, he has a lot of expenses. He has to pay favors to his colleagues, and he has to eat, buy a house, and support several servants. If we go, won't it cause trouble for him?"
Yan Ru paused.
Yes, it does cost a lot of money to go to the capital. Without extra income, how can Hu Zi live a life like a wealthy family with just that little salary
"How about we take some golden ear and white ear mushrooms?" Yan Ru said, "Last time in the capital, I went to the pharmacy to ask about the price of white ear and golden ear. A small box of dried white ear costs twenty taels of silver. I estimate the weight to be at most half a pound."
Jiang Erlang was silent for a moment, then said, "Alright, I'll discuss this with Ying Bao later."
Mushrooms are very delicate and their quality will deteriorate drastically if you are not careful. It would be a waste of effort if I brought them all the way to the capital and they go bad.
His little niece is very good at growing mushrooms. All the mushroom strains in the villagers' hands were cultivated by her, so he wants to discuss with Yingbao how to bring many mushroom strains safely to the capital.
Yan Ru was delighted to see her husband agreed, "Okay, let's go back and discuss it with Ying Bao."
...
At this time, Ying Bao and Wei Zhan were checking the planting conditions of farmland in various townships of Qinchuan County.
At present, cotton is planted throughout the county. The amount planted in each township varies, but most of them are still mainly used as food.
"County Magistrate Mao is a man of great talent," Ying Bao praised.
This county magistrate had just taken over last year, and he and his younger brother Jiang Jie were both successful candidates in the same imperial examination.
Judging from the reports, he had a plan for agriculture and sericulture, and he had stipulated how many acres of cotton, wheat and rice, how many soybeans, etc. each household should plant each year.
Moreover, Magistrate Mao also encouraged villagers to reclaim wasteland by asking them to cut grass and use it as fertilizer to nourish the fields. He also promised to exempt the wasteland from taxes for the first two years and to reduce the taxes by half in the third year.
In addition, he also asked each household to raise more chickens and pigs, and then pile the manure and leaves together to ferment. After the fermentation is complete, they can be used as fertilizer in winter.
Wei Zhan smiled and said, "Qinchuan County is under the management of County Magistrate Mao, so we can focus all our energy on Zhouhe County."
Judging from the tax situation, the lives of people in Qinchuan County are much better than those in Zhouhe County. No wonder some people would flee here and settle down.
Ying Bao closed the documents and handed them to Wei Zhan: "Wait until the people from the county government come on duty, then go check on the situation at the charity granary."
The charity granary is the reserve grain for the county's military and civilians, and is also the lifeline of the entire county. Once a natural disaster or man-made disaster occurs, the grain in the charity granary can come in handy, so that place is of utmost importance and must be understood clearly.
Wei Zhan nodded: "Okay."
"Also, have the county magistrate gather laborers to dredge the river in Chuanhe Town."
The water area in Chuanhe Town floods every few years, and it has always been like this, causing the fertile fields on both sides of the river to be unable to grow crops. The area at the former site of Guangdong Chen Village is as large as hundreds of acres.
Now that we have a very capable county magistrate, why not ask him to clean up all the rivers
"Well, but we have to wait until after the Lantern Festival." Wei Zhan said.
"I know about this. Just inform Magistrate Mao first."
The Lantern Festival is here in a blink of an eye.
Yingbao didn't go to the night market, but stood under the lantern stand at the door of her house to look at the colorful lights.
An Rou followed by holding Wu Yang.
Wuyang was so excited that he stared at the lanterns with his dark eyes.
Erni was eating a handful of snacks while sitting at the door with her stepmother Yanru and third aunt Chunniang, looking around.
There was nothing they could do. Yingbao didn't allow them to go out. She just had someone set up a lantern rack at the gate, with twenty or thirty lanterns of various colors hung on it for people to see.
But Wei Zhan and his father-in-law went out, reportedly to inspect the streets with the county magistrate and others.
Yingbao was holding Jiang Xiaomei's hand and teaching her how to guess riddles when she suddenly heard someone calling her name: "Yingbao."
Looking in the direction of the voice, she saw a man in a green robe standing not far away and looking at her.
"Xiao Mo?" Ying Bao frowned and looked at him warily: "Why are you here?"
Xiao Mo walked over and stood in front of her.
The guard tried to stop them, but Ying Bao waved them off: "Take them back to the mansion."
Mu Dan agreed and let An Rou and the children go home first.
Before Chunniang and Erni could figure out what was going on, they were sent back to the courtyard by the guards and palace maids.
"Yingbao, no wonder I always felt like I've seen you somewhere before." Xiao Mo smiled, "So you're the little demon I've been looking for."
Yingbao's mouth twitched and she said coldly: "You are the monster." Your whole family are monsters!
Xiao Mo didn't waste time talking to her and asked directly: "Yingbao, is Xuanwu here with you?"
"What Xuanwu?" Yingbao pretended to be confused.
Xiao Mo lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then said, "It's just a little golden turtle."
Yingbao said expressionlessly: "I haven't seen it."
Xiao Mo looked at her calmly, "But I can smell its scent on you."
"That's because I had stewed turtle meat for lunch." Yingbao answered while secretly contacting Xuanwu, but it didn't say a word.
Xiao Mo looked around and said, "Yingbao, stop pretending. You and I don't belong to this world. Why don't you come back with me?"
Yingbao said nothing, her eyes becoming increasingly cold.
Xiao Mo continued, "I was negligent in what happened back then. You don't have to worry about it. I will give you justice in the future. But this place is not suitable for you at all. You should leave with me as soon as possible."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ying Bao said coldly, "You are not from this world. Are you from the underworld?"
Xiao Mo: "Yingbao, stop deceiving yourself. I'm telling you, Wei Zhan is actually your cousin. You two are related by blood."
"Bullshit!" Yingbao was angry and was about to summon the divine sickle.
Xuanwu hugged the trembling divine sickle tightly and communicated with Yingbao in fear: "Don't be fooled by him! None of the human cultivators are good! He wants to provoke you to take action first, and then break the taboo, and you will be pulled out of this world!"
Is it really like this
Yingbao gradually calmed down and smiled at Xiao Mo: "Xiao Mo, what do you want to do by telling me this? Are you trying to alienate Wei Zhan and me?"
Xuanwu knew best whether Wei Zhan was related to him by blood.
And although the Tianyan Book cannot explain everything, it has brought him through many lifetimes and it clearly records the eighteen generations of ancestors of people related to him.
Xiao Mo stared at Ying Bao for a long time before saying, "Your grandfather and Wei Zhan's grandfather are cousins. There is no doubt about that."
"How did you know that?" Ying Bao asked back with narrowed eyes.
Even though Xiao Mo had a high level of cultivation in another life, he was suppressed by the laws of nature here, and he was a mortal, so he could not use magic to explore his bloodline.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have noticed that his bloodline had long been different from before.
To put it bluntly, his current body was condensed by Xuanwu's cultivation.