Sure enough, when Mrs. Wei found out the price of the strawberry seedlings, she was so angry that she scolded Wei Yin.
Wei Yin said, "This is my pocket money."
"What pocket money? Isn't that family money?!" Old Mrs. Wei was furious.
Seeing how angry Old Lady Wei was, Wei Jin added fuel to the fire, "Yes, second sister, you are too extravagant. Although our family is rich, we shouldn't spend it this way. I think the same goes for my two younger brothers and sisters. Ah Yin is young and ignorant, why don't you two try to persuade her?"
Although Chen Xuan was quiet and honest, she also had her own likes and dislikes. She didn't like Wei Jin. Seeing that Wei Jin didn't persuade Old Lady Wei, but even added fuel to the fire and made trouble, Old Lady Wei's cold eyes turned to Li Chen Xuan. Chen Xuan hurriedly said, "I heard from Ah Yin that this kind of fruit called strawberry is extremely expensive. If it is planted well and bears fruit, it can't be bought for even one dollar per pound. We buy these seeds and grow fruit, and we can get our money back." Chen Xuan had calculated on the way. This kind of seeds are very expensive, and the fruit must not be cheap. The vendor said that one dollar of seeds costs one dollar, so if it bears fruit, it will cost at least one dollar per pound.
Li didn't dare to speak, but she also stood on the side of Chen Xuan and Wei Yin, so she nodded quickly.
Old Madam Wei was furious. She looked Chen Xuan up and down and asked her with a sullen face, "Can you grow such an expensive fruit?"
Chen Xuan didn't want to listen to Mrs. Wei's scolding. She said, "You know, old lady, I don't understand things in the city, but I have been growing vegetables and fruits since I was a child. I am familiar with this work. I have also asked about how to grow it. Ah Yin also thought that this fruit is very expensive. Even if the family has money to buy it for the old lady to eat, you, old lady, will not be willing to spend it. She bought the fruit seeds, thinking that if she grows fruit, she can honor you. Ah Yin is really kind." Because she was too familiar with Mrs. Wei's temperament, Chen Xuan thought about how to deal with Mrs. Wei on the way home. She went through this set of words several times in her mind, and now she said it very fluently, without any stumbling. In addition, Chen Xuan was born honest, and her words were particularly credible.
Wei Yin was a very smart person. She immediately said, "That's right. I just want to show my filial piety to mom. Look at you, mom. You don't even allow others to say a word. You just yell and curse at me! If there is anything good in the future, I won't think of you anymore!"
Mrs. Wei calmed down a little and muttered, "I wish you could really grow some fruit!"
Wei Yin said firmly, "Just wait and see, Mom!"
Because Chen Xuan and Wei Yin looked as if they would "definitely grow fruits", Mrs. Wei stopped talking.
Chen Xuan put the seeds in her room, thinking of planting them in the garden at night. Speaking of which, the vegetable garden planned for Chen Xuan had no place to plant these precious fruit seeds!
Chen Xuan thought about it for a while, and went to the backyard to clear another large plot of land. Because this packet of seeds was more than three qian. While clearing the vegetable plot, Chen Xuan thought that the vendor probably only had this one packet of seeds, and it would not be easy to sell. When she met Wei Yin, she was a sucker, so she hurriedly sold them to them.
The seeds of this plant called strawberry are extremely small.
The backyard was occupied by her and her eldest sister-in-law, Li, while the front yard was occupied by old lady Wei and old grandfather Wei with their two daughters, Wei Jin and Wei Yin. After clearing the land, Chen Xuan carefully broke up the small pebbles, and from time to time, she would grind them with her hands. She also went to the back stove and scooped up a basket of wood ash from the stove, and buried it in the ground as fertilizer. Chen Xuan had never planted such precious things before. She was a careful person, and she only used the wood ash as fertilizer for half of the land. She didn't use the other half.
Moreover, how to plant these seeds? Chen Xuan thought the vendor said just bury them in the soil.
Chen Xuan is a meticulous person. She can bury the seeds directly in the ground, or put them in a plate, put a piece of cloth under it, cover it with another piece of cloth, and spray some water on it, so that it will germinate in the shade and moisture. Chen Xuan wants to grow vegetables anyway, and she is familiar with these vegetable seeds. For example, she can buy seedlings of tomatoes directly and plant them in the vegetable garden directly.
But strawberry seeds are extremely precious, so Chen Xuan decided to try both methods.
Chen Xuan was busy tinkering with the seed germination process.
As a result, all the vegetables she planted in the front garden, including greens, eggplants, cucumbers, loofahs, beans, tomatoes, etc., sprouted in four or five days. But the strawberries did not sprout, even though Chen Xuan watered them diligently.
Because strawberry seeds are very expensive, Mrs. Wei was very concerned. She would get up early every day, wash her face and go to the backyard to check on the strawberries. As a result, the loofahs had already started to grow, but there was no sign of any strawberries. Mrs. Wei asked Chen Xuan, "Do you have any idea? If you know how to grow them, ask Ah Yin to buy the seeds with all this money. If they don't grow, it's a waste of money."
Chen Xuan kept silent.
Wei Yin always kept his word. "I wanted to buy it myself, why would my second sister-in-law stop me? Mom, if you are angry, don't take it out on my second sister-in-law!"
"Okay! Then let me ask you, why did you buy these junks that can't even sprout and bring them home!" Thinking of that piece of dollar, Mrs. Wei was so angry that she wanted to eat someone alive.
Wei Yin snorted, turned around and went back to the house to sulk.
Chen Xuan said slowly, "Once, my aunt's family planted peppers, and it took me half a month to get the seeds to germinate."
Old Madam Wei was not as experienced as Chen Xuan in farming. She counted the days with her fingers and snorted, "Then I'll wait for you for another five days!"
Chen Xuan didn't care how sullen Mrs. Wei was or how she criticized her. She just kept working and tended the vegetable garden when she had time. Wei Nian couldn't help but said, "Before A Xuan came to our house, we still had to buy vegetables. Look at how she has grown a large garden of vegetables. She can save more than a dollar a summer. Mom, just forget it. It's not a big deal."
Old Mrs. Wei was a person who would not give in even if she was right. Moreover, as a mother-in-law, she hated it most when her son favored his wife. She threw down her chopsticks and said, "I am talking about this!"
Wei Jin stirred the tofu pudding in the bowl slowly and said in a long tone, "My mother said that if we knew that these crappy berries couldn't grow, we might as well plant two yards of vegetables."
Wei Jinshi reminded Old Lady Wei, and Old Lady Wei said to Li, "Old man, go to the East Market tomorrow to buy two more packets of seeds and plant vegetables in the backyard garden. What crappy berries are there, they are not as good as vegetables!"
Chen Xuan said in a low voice, "It can be sent out."
Old Madam Wei was about to explode again, but Old Master Wei put down his chopsticks and spoke up, "Alright, it's just a packet of seeds, it's not worth getting angry about. I think our vegetable garden in front is pretty good, let the second son's wife plant some, she knows about this."
Only then did Mrs. Wei stop talking.
After breakfast, Chen Xuan went to the backyard and worked hard to build a fence for the strawberry garden.
In the evening, Chen Xuan brought in the water for washing her face to Wei Nian. Wei Nian said to Chen Xuan, "It's been more than ten days, and there's still no movement. Could there be something wrong with the seeds?"
"I can't say for others. Although I don't recognize this seed, I can tell at a glance whether it can be used. This seed is fine." Chen Xuan added hot water to test the water temperature and asked Wei Nian, "Brother Nian, if strawberries are grown here, will they be easy to sell?"
Wei Nian said, "Of course it sells well. There aren't many of these now, and they're mostly used as embellishments on Western cakes and pastries. Where can you find them in ordinary fruit shops?"
"But, are there many western restaurants in the city?" Chen Xuan asked again. She had never done business before, but she felt that things could only be sold if there were buyers.
While wiping his face, Wei Nian casually said to Chen Xuan, "When selling things, things are valuable because they are rare. This thing is rare now, and people don't see it very often. Those rich people may want to have a taste of it. For example, the Six Nations Hotel and the Beijing Hotel, these high-end places, the people who come are rich, they don't mind the price, they just worry that the price is not expensive and it lowers their status."
After listening to Wei Nian's words, Chen Xuan became more determined to grow this fruit called strawberry well.
Because she had confirmed the value of strawberries from Wei Nian, after washing up, Chen Xuan asked Wei Nian, "Does Beijing grow this fruit?"
"No." Wei Nian shook his head and said, "If there is, it must be sold in the fruit shop, not anywhere else. The one in the western restaurant is just a decoration, or it may be imported from abroad."
Chen Xuan widened her eyes and asked, "For a bite of food, you have to go abroad to buy it?"
"What's so strange about this? This kind of thing happens a lot. Many fabrics are imported from abroad." Wei Nian laughed at her for being surprised by something she had never seen before.
"That's true." Chen Xuan was still very surprised. After a while, she nodded, "It seems that this thing is really not cheap." Otherwise, abroad... How far is it abroad? I heard from Wei Yin that it takes two days and two nights by train to Jiangnan. Then abroad must be much farther than Beijing to Jiangnan.
After thinking for a while, Chen Xuan sat at the table on the kang in a daze.
Wei Nian thought she was still worried about the strawberries, so he said to Chen Xuan, "It's okay, even if you can't grow them, it's okay, don't worry."
"Stop saying such unlucky things." Chen Xuan was sure, "I can definitely grow them." After that, she stopped talking about strawberries and went to the cabinet to get a book to copy. This was the "Thousands of Poems" that the Xu sisters had just lent her. Chen Xuan had been busy with strawberry planting these days, so she copied it at night when she had time.
Seeing how seriously she copied, Wei Nian reminded her, "Vernacular Chinese is popular nowadays, and no one writes this kind of ancient poetry."
Chen Xuan said, "I don't understand poetry either, I just learned a few more words by reciting poems."
"You're so good at recognizing words?" Wei Nian admired Chen Xuan's spirit of recognizing words. Even now, Chen Xuan was worried about growing strawberries every day, and he would not forget to copy a few poems and recognize a few words every night.
Chen Xuan nodded vigorously, stopped writing, and said to Wei Nian, "That day, my sister-in-law took me and my sister Yin to the East Market. We walked there and saw many shops along the way. I recognized 99% of the words on the signs of those shops!" Chen Xuan's eyes were shining as she spoke. It had been more than half a month since she left the East Market. Chen Xuan was always happy when she talked about it, which showed how happy she was. Wei Nian was always smart, so he naturally saw Chen Xuan's joy, and the corners of his lips couldn't help but smile a little. Chen Xuan said seriously, "Brother Anian, this is nothing for smart people like you. But for me, it is a big deal," Chen Xuan thought for a while, and then said, "I'm not just happy, but I have an indescribable feeling. In such a big city like Beijing, I recognize the words, what shops I passed by, which roads, I know all of these, and I feel that my heart suddenly feels at ease. Brother Anian, do you know what I was thinking at the time?"
"What are you thinking about?"
"I thought at that time that I would not be afraid even if I got separated from my eldest sister-in-law and sister Yin. I have memorized the names of these roads. Even now, if you ask me to walk the road to the East Market again with my eyes closed, I can remember it." Chen Xuan closed her eyes and slowly described the route to Wei Nian, "From Ganyu Hutong where we live, through Dingzi Street, all the way south is Wangfujing Street. Your shop is on Wangfujing Street. We even saw it from a distance. We walked to the end of Wangfujing Street, and then went west along East Chang'an Street to the Dongdan Archway on Chongwenmen Street. Don't mention the bustle of the East Market. I have never seen such a bustling place in my life. There are so many people, so many goods, and there are so many vegetables and fruits that I don't recognize them. But I just think it's strange and beautiful. There are also strange people with green eyes, white skin and curly hair. Sister Yin said that they are foreigners, so I knew it. I didn't dare to look at them for long, but I think if you, brother Nian, see foreigners, you can speak to them in foreign languages."
Recalling the journey back to Dongcai Market, Chen Xuan asked, "Brother Anian, is the route I told you correct?"
"Yes." Wei Nian nodded.
Chen Xuan raised the corners of her lips and said to Wei Nian, "I don't know why, but I feel strangely happy inside."
Wei Nian joked, "I think you are not weirdly beautiful, you are very beautiful, extremely beautiful."
Chen Xuan couldn't help laughing twice. She was a sincere person and didn't deny it. "Yes, I feel very happy after this trip." So, Chen Xuan didn't take it to heart when Old Lady Wei kept finding fault with Chen Xuan these days. Because she felt that this trip had broadened her horizons, and it was worth it no matter what Old Lady Wei said. As soon as they talked about going back to the East Market, Chen Xuan picked up a pen and said to Wei Nian seriously, "Don't talk to me, I have to copy poems."
Wei Nian was mischievous and secretly gave Chen Xuan a nickname, Chen Temei.