Zhao stopped crying, feeling that she had wasted her tears and it was not worth getting angry with a fool, so she continued to make dumplings with her head down.
Zhulan clapped her hands and heard the noise from the Zheng family, so she motioned for Li to go out and take a look.
Li went out to check and soon came back, "Mother, Wang Laosi and his family moved into the Zheng family and gave them five cents a day. Aunt Zheng is really evil-minded."
Mrs. Zhao sneered, "Who asked Wang Laosi to act so generous, as if he is richer than the landlord? If Aunt Zheng doesn't kill him, who else can she kill?"
She looked down on Wang Laosi. He didn't protect his wife and turned a blind eye when his daughter was abused. What honesty did he talk about? In her eyes, Wang Laosi was just a coward.
Her husband is still the best. He protects her and her daughter. Every time he goes out, he secretly buys delicious food for her and her daughter. When Zhao thought of her husband, her face blushed.
Zhulan didn't pay attention to the changes in Zhao's expression. She was feeling upset. Now they were neighbors. Fortunately, a new wall had been built, otherwise she would not be able to sleep well with Wang Ru living next door.
In the evening, we had two large pots of dumplings, and the table was filled with plates of dumplings. Not only did each of the four sons have two large plates, they also had several bowls of dumpling soup.
The eldest granddaughter, who is not very old, ate seven. If she wasn’t afraid of indigestion at night, she would have wanted to eat more.
In the end, not only were the two large pots of dumplings eaten up, but even the dumpling soup was drunk. Zhulan looked very sad. A meal of dumplings was not a full banquet, and it was still caused by poverty and hunger.
After eating, he didn't want to move. His grandson Mingteng touched his round belly and said, "It would be great if I could eat dumplings every day."
Li patted her son's head and said, "You are so greedy. It would be great if we can eat dumplings made of pure flour a few times a year."
If she were in another family, they could only have one meal together during the Chinese New Year. She felt very happy thinking about it. Her sisters at home all envied her for having a good marriage!
After knowing his family background, Zhou Lao Da was more confident and did not care about everything. Eating one or two dumplings was nothing. He smiled at his son's angry look, and thought of his father and asked, "Mom, did you say Dad went to Jiangnan?"
Zhulan specifically asked her nephew, it takes about ten days to get from the county to the canal by horse carriage without delaying the journey, and at least ten days to go south from the canal to Suzhou and Hangzhou, and that's with a favorable wind. If it's slow, it will take less than twenty days. She calculated in her mind, "I guess your father is still on the boat, and it will take some time for him to arrive."
Transportation in ancient times was really terrible, and this was even after the canals were dug. There were longer times without canals.
Zhou Laoer counted the days, "Wouldn't it be the New Year's Eve when Dad comes home?"
Zhulan: "Yes, a round trip takes almost two months."
This is the case when the canal is not frozen on the return journey. If it is frozen, you can only take the official road slowly, which will take longer.
Zhulan suddenly thought of the numerous beautiful women in Jiangnan, and wondered if Zhou Shuren would be dazzled by them. Humph, they were tied together anyway, so it was useless for Zhou Shuren to be dazzled.
Zhulan was a little upset and stood up, unwilling to talk anymore. "Old people, please clean up the table quickly and go back to rest."
Li's intuition was very accurate. She noticed that her mother was unhappy. "Okay, mother."
As soon as Zhulan left, Li complained to her husband, "Why are you bringing up such a big issue? Mom and Dad have never been apart for such a long time. Now Mom is missing Dad again."
Zhulan didn't walk far before she almost slipped and fell. Bah, who missed Zhou Shuren!
On the sailboat, Zhou Shuren touched the silver bills in his arms. He was really lucky. Zhuo County was the most prosperous transportation hub of the canal. There were countless merchants coming and going, and there were naturally many scams, especially in the counterfeiting industry. During the break in the escort business, he went out for a walk and happened to meet someone selling fake antiques.
He was not stupid enough to go up and say it was fake. Instead, he pretended to be the buyer's friend and took the buyer away. This way, the buyer could be prevented from being cheated and could also help him keep an eye out. As a token of his gratitude, the merchant received a total of two hundred silver coins.
Zhou Shuren was impressed by the merchant's wealth and also admired his shrewdness. Giving him so much money was a good deed. After the establishment of the new dynasty, the status of merchants became even lower, and it was easy for them to not offend scholars. He was also taking advantage of the scholars.
Li Shuan pushed the door open and came in. "My dear, I went to ask, and it seems that the journey is going smoothly, and we will arrive in two days."
Zhou Shuren was too tired to complain about the traffic. Well, he had had enough of fish. "We are finally here."
Li Shuan nodded, "I'm going to go crazy staying on the boat."
Zhou Shuren saw his relative-in-law take out the purse from his chest and look at it, then put it back carefully. He was afraid that it would be robbed as there were many people on the boat.
Li Shuan touched his purse with satisfaction. With this money, even if he failed to sell the prescription in Jiangnan, he could give an explanation to his mother when he returned home.
Zhou Shuren laughed. In Zhuo County, he took the opportunity to sell the recipe to a merchant he knew. The recipe did not require much technical skills, so the merchant bought it and cooked it at home. He sold it to the merchant at a high price of twenty taels for the sake of face and friendship. Later, he sold it to two more merchants and collected fifty taels of silver notes. His in-laws made a lot of money.
Zhou Shuren couldn't concentrate on reading anymore. He wondered if Zhulan was thinking about him!
The next morning, the sky was clear, and Zhulan could finally relax and no longer worry about the snowstorm. Instead, the snow was a good omen for a good harvest.
The weather had become even colder after the snow, and the temperature was high enough to freeze the meat. It was a good day for slaughtering pigs. After dinner, Zhulan instructed the eldest brother to find Li the butcher to slaughter the pigs.
Zhulan's family has two well-raised pigs, each weighing about 250 kilograms. In ancient times, a pig weighing more than 250 kilograms was considered a fat pig. Zhulan stood at the door of the pigpen with her mind full of blood sausage, steamed pig blood, stir-fried pork intestines, braised pork, sweet and sour spare ribs, cold-boiled pig ears, and braised bones. She couldn't help swallowing her saliva.