Zhou Shuren washed his feet and stopped thinking about it. This person is not easy to choose. The main reason is that the money is paid by the government. The selection of people involves too many people and needs to be more cautious. "By the way, is Mr. Zheng gone? Last time he said he would stay for a while and then go back."
Zhulan really knew, because her mother's family had a lot of land, and she had been back quite often recently. "The old man is back. This time he came mainly to see you. After meeting you, the old man left."
Zhou Shuren's mouth twitched. He really came to see him. He first sighed, and then felt regretful that the Zhou family did not have a boy who could marry into the Zheng family. The old man did not hide the fact that he did not like Chang Zhi, but he was thinking about Ming Yun, but he was distracted by him. Bah, he came to his house and despised his son, and still wanted to think about his grandson, no way.
What's more, he was scared of this old fox, so he didn't want to marry her!
Zhou Shuren didn't want to mention the old man anymore. "It's getting late. Go to bed early."
Zhulan took the pillow and said, "The autumn harvest in my hometown should be over. The last time I received a letter was more than half a month ago. I should have set off."
Zhou Shuren pulled Zhulan and said, "Go to sleep. Don't worry. They are all adults with families and can take care of themselves. They will arrive naturally when the time comes."
Zhu Lan knew that Zhou Shuren was worried about her, so she lay down and said, "Okay, okay, I won't worry about it. Go to sleep."
Zhulan didn't say anything, but she was calculating the days in her mind. She estimated that Zhou Laoer and the others should arrive in late November. As she calculated the days, Zhulan closed her eyes and thought about hiring people to pick apples. It would take a lot of people to transport the apples down from the mountain. Oh, this was all a hassle.
The only thing that made Zhulan feel relieved was that she had signed a contract with foreign merchants for her own apples, and the price was fifty cents per pound, regardless of the size of the fruit.
Zhulan made a calculation in her mind before falling asleep. Zhou Shuren opened his eyes and tucked the quilt into Zhulan, muttering, "You are such a worrywart."
The next morning, as soon as Zhou Shuren left, Li and Zhou Lao Da went out shopping.
Zhulan called Eryue and asked her to hire people to prepare for picking apples five days later. Many people in Lizhou City followed suit and planted apples, so many people were hired, which was also an extra income for the people.
Zhulan's family did not sell any of their grain, and the settlement for the extra grain was still half grain and half silver, twelve cents a day, two pounds of cornmeal, and a meal of coarse grain vegetarian buns for noon.
The Yang family’s orchard also signed a contract. Zhulan sent someone to the Yang residence to ask her father, and they would pick the fruits together when the time came.
Zhou Shuren was the prefect. No matter whether the merchants were from foreign countries or from the dynasty, no one dared to withhold payment of silver. They all paid in cash and received the fruits in return.
After Zhulan had made the arrangements, Boss Zhou and Li came back. Zhulan looked at the things Li had bought and asked, "I gave you ten taels of silver, and you bought a few pieces of fine cotton cloth?"
Zhulan calculated the time. The couple had been shopping for about three hours and a half, and they only bought a few pieces of cotton cloth
Li touched her purse, she was reluctant to spend it. In her hand she held the monthly allowance from the eldest wife, plus her own savings and the money her mother-in-law gave her from time to time, a total of only one hundred and fifty taels of silver. Not to mention the ten taels of silver from yesterday. In the future there would be more children, and as a mother she could not help but give them money, so it was enough to just satisfy her craving today. If the needlework room had run out of fine cotton cloth, she would not even want to buy it.
Zhulan pressed her forehead and waved her hand, "You must be tired after walking around for the whole morning, go back and rest!"
Boss Zhou moved his lips. He felt uncomfortable. Although Li was carefree, he was very clear about money. He still did not give Li the confidence.
Zhulan saw this and didn't keep the eldest brother. First, the family had little property, and the money she had invested was not enough. It was impossible for her to give the family property to the eldest brother to manage. Her partiality would not break the balance. The family was full of sperm. Once she favored the eldest brother too much, she would never be able to keep it in peace.
For the next few days, Li did not go out and used the newly bought cloth to make small clothes.
After arriving in Lizhou City, there was a sewing room. Zhulan would allocate money to the sewing room every month to buy cloth to make clothes. She and Zhou Shuren would make two new sets of clothes a month, and Zhou Lao Da, Li and others would make one set of clothes a month.
There are twelve months in a year, and except for her and Zhou Shuren, each person has twelve sets of clothes, which means three sets of clothes in a quarter, which is quite luxurious.
But there was no way. Zhou Shuren became an official, and Zhulan received many invitations. Several invitations were sent to her every month. She had to take her daughter-in-law or daughter out, and her son and grandson were also invited. The whole family could not always wear the same clothes, so she had to spend a lot of money to look decent.
In the blink of an eye, it was time to pick apples. Zhulan went to the orchard the day before picking the apples. The closer to the top of the mountain, the sweeter the fruits tasted. Zhulan asked people to keep all the twenty apples on the top of the mountain for her own consumption.
The fruit trees in Zhulan's house are five years old, which is the peak production period. Although some of them were damaged during the transplanting, each tree still produces 30 kilograms of fruit.
The history of apples in the fictional dynasty is that apples were introduced from Europe by the previous dynasty. They were first settled in the northwest region. There were apples in the local area as well, but they were of different varieties and were not called apples. The fruit had less water and a poor taste. Later, European apples were introduced and the local ones were eliminated.
Butler Ding went to Chuanzhou to buy fruit trees. It is said that the apple varieties introduced here are the best. Although the taste is still not as good as the modern ones, it is not bad. The valuable thing is that they are pure natural without pesticides and fertilizers.
The Zhulan family hired fifty men to work in the apple orchard, which covers more than one hundred acres. Due to various problems such as transportation, it took six days to finish picking the apples. Most of the time was wasted on transportation and picking the fruits.
Although all fruits, big or small, are needed, there are some bad fruits, such as those eaten by squirrels, mice, birds, etc. These bad fruits must be picked out.
The merchants also want the picked fruits, but they are very cheap.
Of the 30 kilograms of fruit a tree produces, only about 20 kilograms can actually be sold. As winter approaches, animals come out in search of food and set their sights on the orchard.
Zhulan had a total of more than 3,000 apple trees, including those that were given away, and more than 2,600 of them survived. The mortality rate was quite high. Excluding the 20 apple trees that were left, only a little more than 2,600 apples could be sold.
Finally, after settling the accounts, I received more than 2,700 taels of silver. I didn't make back my one-year investment. If it weren't for the large number of dead fruit trees, I would have made back my investment this year. The only consolation is that this is the first year, and next year will basically be pure profit.
In fact, the profits from growing apples are still very great, and a tree does not only bear fruit for one year. Of course, the premise is that there is no drought, otherwise the fruit trees will die of drought and all the investment will be wasted.