Xiaoyao Nongjiazi

Zhong Qingran was very curious after not visiting the slopes for several days.He only told Jian Mingyu the types of fruit trees he needed and the distance between them. Only Jian Mingyu knew the details.Zhong Qingran didn't ask, and Jian Mingyu didn't take the initiative to mention it, so the current situation came into being.

When he arrived at the field, Zhong Qingran was not surprised, and once again saw Jian Mingyu working hard on his own three acres of sloping land.He is probably the only one in Hewan Village who takes such meticulous care of the fields.

After all, most peasant households have a relatively large population, and correspondingly cultivate a large amount of land, no matter whether it is their own or rented, a strong labor force will not only need to bear a few acres of slope land, naturally there is no way to take root in the land like Jian Mingyu Compared with the people on the ground.

Because he was passing by the previous few times, he only took a quick look at it, and Zhong Qingran didn't pay attention to what was planted in Jian Mingyu's field.This time it was relatively free, so he decided to take a good look.

The sloping land is very different from the flat land. The land is in small pieces. According to Zhong Qingran's visual inspection, most of the sloping land in the vicinity is divided into three or four pieces per mu, like steps, going up one level at a time. superior.

Looking at the lush green crops in front of him, Zhong Qingran felt a little sweaty. He couldn't be sure what these were, so he had to face up and ask.

Jian Mingyu looked at him with eyes like an idiot, and when he thought that Zhong Qingran didn't have to go to the ground when he was young, he understood, and patiently explained: "These are peanuts, you should know the ones next to it, right?"

Looking in the direction of Jian Mingyu's finger, Zhong Qingran couldn't resist the urge to beat up the person in front of him. If he couldn't recognize the ears of the corn, he didn't grow up in the countryside. This is teasing him brightly.

Seeing the black line appearing on Zhong Qingran's forehead, Jian Mingyu stopped talking, his shoulders kept shaking.

"Laugh if you want, you just don't know Peanut, what's the big deal." Zhong Qingran pretended to be angry, pointed at Sanqi and said, "Do you know that one?"

Jian Mingyu shook his head.

"Look, you don't even know this, and you're not much better than me." Zhong Qingran made an argument, he understood very well in his heart, how can ordinary people have access to herbal medicine, it's normal for Jian Mingyu not to know, he just wanted to hit him , I don't know why, thinking so in my heart, so he did it.

Jian Mingyu didn't care about these at all, and asked him for advice sincerely.This put Zhong Qingran in a dilemma. He knew it clearly in his heart, but he couldn't speak it openly, which really made people uncomfortable.

Zhong Qingran is not a stupid person, as soon as he thought about it, he made up his mind: "I won't tell you."

Immediately, he changed the subject: "It's a pity that a tree died."

Jian Mingyu echoed, leaning on a hoe.The unknown plant was pretty good, only one did not grow alive, and the survival rate of the other fruit tree shoots was really not high, it would be good if half of the dozens of trees survived.Not to mention the ones that are dead, the ones that are still alive are also wilted, making it difficult to grow.

But even so, Jian Mingyu still had some admiration for Zhong Qingran.He didn't know exactly how to do it, but the result was in front of his eyes, and it was hard for people not to believe it.

As a large village close to the level of a small town, Hewan Village has only a few fruit trees planted in the yards of each family. So far, no one has built an orchard. Usually, if you want to eat fruit, you have to go to the mountains to find it. The main reason is that fruit seedlings are hard to get. .Seed propagation farmers know that the problem is that many fruit trees, such as peaches, have the core as the seed, and the thick shell is difficult to germinate without treatment.No matter how low the survival rate of cuttings is, it is much higher than that of seed planting.

Of course, if you really want to go to the mountains to look for it, it’s okay to collect a few acres. The key is that the fields are tightly planted with food, who is willing to use it to grow fruit trees?It was only the Zhong family who produced Zhong Qingran, who was a miracle in the eyes of others.

Jian Mingyu obviously doesn't think so. Food is important. After all, ordinary people may not be able to buy food even if they have money during the famine.But in normal years, Jian Mingyu felt that planting fruit trees might not be as good as growing grain.This is the case with his own few pieces of land, which are enough for him and his younger brother to grow food, and the rest of the land is planted with crops to sell for money, such as peanuts, which Zhong Qingran doesn't know before, is one of them.

The output of the sloping land is not high, but it is more than enough to supply two children. In addition, Jian Mingyu is quick-witted, he grows things by himself, processes them for resale, and raises some chickens and ducks at home. The life of the two children is not as embarrassing as everyone expected.

Of course, there is a premise for this, that is, although Jian Mingyu is not very old, he has more strength than ordinary middle-aged people, otherwise, the two brothers would not know what kind of life they are living now.

Zhong Qingran didn't know what Jian Mingyu was thinking, his eyes were all on his own land now.The originally empty slopes are now covered by sporadic patches of green.

Zhong Qingran counted, there are a total of more than a dozen trees of various types, except for small fruit trees, most of them have not grown yet.Even this was beyond his expectation, he didn't expect Jian Mingyu to be so strong.There is even a lot of fruit hanging on one tree, and it seems that it will soon enter the full fruit period.The money was well spent, Zhong Qingran sighed.

Seeing that the sun was getting higher and higher, Jian Mingyu began to pack up the farm tools. Zhong Qingran had seen enough, and it was no fun to stand against the sun alone, so he and Jian Mingyu went home together.

As soon as he got home, Zhong Qingran heard the breaking news. Last night, the patriarch accidentally damaged a painting, which was worth a lot of money.Today, the maids and servants in the house of the Dachangfang were very careful, no one dared to come forward to flatter the old man without summoning him.

Zhong Qingran just let it go with a smile and didn't take it to heart.

"Tuk Tuk."

"Come in."

"Third brother, do you think I made this, does it look good?" Zhong Qing closed the door, with a pair of small hands behind his back, and when he came to Zhong Qingran, he suddenly took out his hands and held them up high like offering treasures. A smug look that seeks praise.

Zhong Qingran was very cooperative, with a solemn expression, took it with both hands, and took a closer look. Isn't this one of the golden pig cloth toys that he asked his elder sister and fourth younger sister to make a few days ago?The appearance is there, but it is a pity that the seams are crooked and the color of the fabric is not right, but the matching is very creative and interesting.

Zhong Qingran touched Zhong Qing's head, and praised her innovation: "This is very interesting. When your needlework gets better, I can leave it to you."

After a pause, Zhong Qingran realized something was wrong: "This little thing is a bit difficult to make. You haven't started sewing for a long time, so how do you do it? I remember that there are simple patterns suitable for you in the pattern given, why not?" Don’t do those? You have done one, how is the progress, big sister?”

Zhong Qing scratched her head, and she was very happy to hear the third brother's praise, but she didn't know how to answer the third brother's doubts, she lowered her head slightly, and whispered: "Third brother, this pig is much cuter than the meat pigs in the pigsty. Yes, I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it, what else do I care about?"

Zhong Qing's voice became softer as she spoke, until finally it was like a mosquito buzzing, but when it came to Zhong Xin, her tone rose back to normal: "Elder Sister is doing it, and it's much prettier than mine, but the money spent on it She doesn't have much time, and she spends most of her time embroidering handkerchiefs and purses. I often go out, and I don't spend much time with my eldest sister. I don't know exactly how many times she has done. Why don't I ask later? "

"No, it's not urgent. Since you like little golden pigs, you might as well try to make one with braided thread. It's enough to be as big as your palm." Zhong Qingran just said no, because he didn't know, he would know Some of these have been seen before, some of them are still copied, and the rest are designed by him.

Zhong Qing gladly took it, and walked away bouncing around.This is exactly what she wants, the Zhong family is not a wealthy family, and Zhong Qing has limited fabrics, most of which are used on the piglets, and she can't do anything else, but the thread for making the netting can take out a lot of fabrics. Not much, but the difficulty is more than a little higher than sewing with cloth, Zhong Qing frowned, a little unconfident.

Fortunately, the thread can be reused, and if the weave is wrong, it needs to be dismantled and then restarted.In the next few days, the little girl got involved with the weaving piglet, and when Zhong Qingran found out, he admired her unyielding character and praised her, which made Zhong Qing even more enthusiastic about it.

Zhong Qingran learned that he would go to Pingyang County with Mr. Zhong tomorrow, so he sat by the bed, opened the money box, poured all the copper coins on another old cloth, and counted them one by one.

Zhong Qingran never had any interest in counting coins in modern times. When he came to the Great Zhou Dynasty, he never tired of counting copper coins. Seeing that he was about to run towards the direction of money fans, Zhong Qingran had to remind himself from time to time, this habit looked cute, and he didn’t want to. stained.

Most of the earnings these days were given to Tong's, and Zhong Qingran's daily income was not much higher than that of Jian Mingyu.For this reason, Mr. Zhong and his wife were all smiles all day long. Those who didn't know it thought that there was some happy event in the Zhong family, but when they asked, they were only confused by the two.Forget about other things, even Tong Shi, who loves to show off the most, knows the importance of this kind of matter about money, how can he tell others about it?

It was thanks to Zhong Qingran's self-awareness that, given his status in the hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Zhong, if he wanted to hide his benefits, the old couple could only help cover it up.The fact is that it is so unacceptable, not only the Zhong family is like this, it is like this everywhere.Whoever holds the power has the initiative. Everyone has emotions and desires, so it is inevitable to be selfish. As long as it is not too much, a family can survive.

Each house of the Zhong family has its own estimate of how much money Mr. Zhong has in his hands, and the details are not clear.The operability of this is strong. No wonder, there are conflicts of one kind or another within every family, and it is extremely rare that there is no real discord at all.

After counting it again, the total number and the previous number can be matched, and there are more than 600.Most of these are private houses saved by the original owner before, and the usual pocket expenses are basically used up. These hundreds of copper coins are accumulated from yearly New Year's money.

With the Tong family as the backer, and the Ming family as a copper coin, don't even try to take it away from Zhong Qingran.The original owner spent money lavishly, and spent the money as soon as he got it, but the New Year's money was hardly touched, which made him cheaper.Zhong Qingran has no intention of moving the original owner's things. He has assumed the responsibilities and obligations of the original owner, so he should also enjoy his power, so there is no need to be taboo about it.

Zhong Qingran thought for a while, took out the change, and returned the remaining six hundred coins to the cash box.The weight of copper coins is not light, and it always weighs eight or nine catties. If you want to carry all of them, don't you have to carry them in a backpack?In the Great Zhou Dynasty, copper coins were really a painful and happy burden, and some people wanted them but couldn't get them.Zhong Qingran was happy to himself, this money box was only discovered after he recovered from his leg injury, and it was beautiful for a long time at that time, although he is not as excited as before, every time he counts the money, he can still feel the joy of holding the money in his hand.

A good night's sleep.

Early the next morning, Zhong Qingran was called up.This time was not like the first time, the family's ox cart was used for another purpose, he and Mr. Zhong had to take the waterway from Qinghe, and there was a fixed time for the boat trip, if they missed it, they would have to wait for the next one, which would be a delay.

It was along the river when we went, and the boat was faster than the ox cart. When the two arrived, it was the busiest time for the Pingyang County Market.Mr. Zhong's purpose was not for this, he took Zhong Qingran to the academy to find his younger son first.

Not everyone can enter the academy. When they arrived, the students were in class, and the two were blocked from the door. After the first class was over, the door sent someone to call Zhong Zhengxin out.

"Father, what are you?"

Zhong Zhengxin was very bookish. He was wearing a fine cotton gown. Like Zhong Qingran, he had basically never been on the ground, and he didn't exercise much. He looked a little frail.Since coming to the Great Zhou Dynasty, this was the second time that Zhong Qingran had met his uncle, so he couldn't help but take a second look curiously.The image is quite bluffing, if he really can pass the exam next year, it will not be in vain for the Zhong family to train him for so many years.

It's just that I don't know what my uncle thinks. If he only focuses on the imperial examination, judging from the previous situation of the Zhong family, he probably won't be able to support him for a few years.Now, the situation at home has improved, so I don't know what his grandfather thinks.On this kind of matter, Zhong Qingran can't express his opinion, everything depends on how Mr. Zhong decides.

"Qing Ran wants to buy a book on herbal medicine, and buy some dyes, pens and inks along the way. I'll come over and ask you which bookstore is suitable for you to buy."

Zhong Zhengxin suddenly lowered his head, and looked at the third nephew Zhong Qingran very much. He was a little surprised. He stopped writing after only three years in ethnology, and put it on others. It's fine if you don't have this talent, but the third nephew doesn't say how good he is. With his qualifications, if he takes the exam a few more times, he might be a scholar.

The Ming family had been arguing about this for a long time, but unfortunately the original owner didn't want to learn, and no one could do anything about it. Can Mr. and Mrs. Zhong force him to learn?The two elders were reluctant, and after confirming that he was really not interested in studying, they let him go.Although Mr. and Mrs. Zhong didn't say anything, they were very sad at the time.The two elders are looking forward to the day when their beloved grandson will be named on the gold list, whoever thinks that he is not happy, can only let it go.Now that several years have passed, Mr. Zhong and his wife have long been able to deal with this indifferently, but they can't say no to regret.

Zhong Zhengxin didn't know if he should be thankful that his third nephew quit the ethnology school voluntarily, otherwise, he didn't know if the Zhong family would squeeze him out when they couldn't afford the two students.

The matter is a foregone conclusion, now he benefits from staying in the academy to continue his studies, Zhong Zhengxin has no reason to be entangled in this any longer.

"Go to Pingyang Bookstore. It's the largest and has the most complete collection of books. If you can't find what you like, then go to other small bookstores."

Mr. Zhong briefly asked about his younger son's schooling situation, and before leaving, he stuffed a bunch of copper coins into his hand.

Pingyang Bookstore is near the academy, and the two of them arrived in less than half an incense stick.

The academy students are still in class, but there are only a few people visiting the bookstore.

Mr. Zhong also went to a bookstore in his early years. Although he admired learned people, he did not discourage him. Zhong Qingran did not feel any pressure in this regard at all. Not to mention that the original owner had studied ethnology for three years, he himself had studied for more than ten years at least. Nianshu, if he felt uncomfortable even entering a bookstore, his previous life would be considered wasted.

The bookstore is very quiet, only the rustling sound of flipping books.Zhong Qingran asked the bookstore clerk and walked directly towards the target.

He casually picked up a medical book, flipped through it, and saw that it was full of traditional Chinese characters. Zhong Qingran felt a headache. Even after several months of intensive study, he was still not used to it.I asked about the price and found that a mere [-] to [-] pages can be worth a hundred words. It seems that going to school is indeed beyond the reach of ordinary families.It is said that poor literature is rich in martial arts, and it is so difficult to learn Chinese, so the threshold for learning martial arts is even higher, of course, it is not counted if you learn only three melons and two dates.

Putting down the Chinese medicine book in his hand, Zhong Qingran carefully searched for the collection of herbal medicines and the books related to it, and finally selected a collection of "Hundred Herbs", which happened to have Panax notoginseng and ginger on it.After picking up the book, Zhong Qingran went straight to the painting area under the leadership of the bookstore clerk, where there were common paints and various pens and inks on the market.

The Zhong family had just started to make money, so Zhong Qingran didn't hesitate much, gave up the better quality ones, and directly picked the ones with the highest cost performance, including brushes, paper and dyes, Lin Lin finally calculated that it cost more than two taels of silver.

Mr. Zhong didn't even twitch his brows, and he paid the money without hesitation, which made Zhong Qingran re-understand his position in the family.It also made him understand that the family's business must be doing well recently, which made Mr. Zhong full of confidence.

After leaving the bookstore, Mr. Zhong took Zhong Qingran to buy lime. Everything went smoothly. When passing by Hongtai Restaurant, Mr. Zhong paused. Looking at the prosperous business in the lobby, he remembered his third son who was still in the restaurant. , his eyes darkened a bit, and then he pretended to be nonchalant and continued to stride forward.

It was not easy to come to the county seat. Seeing that the matter was over, Mr. Zhong took Zhong Qingran into the market to buy some meat.

Zhong Qingran weighed the copper coins in the bag, told Mr. Zhong, and then ran to the nearby shop to weigh a catty of fructose, which was the most effective way to coax the children.

After arriving home, Zhong Qingran divided half of the fructose, there were those smaller than him, and he didn't care about the ones older than him.

The little ones were all very happy biting the sweet fructose, running and jumping in the yard, expressing their joy.After all, although these days, as long as the children who can go out to play earn some money, but they are a little younger, they are all confiscated by their parents at home. Take care of it and it's gone.

Back in the room, Zhong Qingran sat upright in front of the desk, carefully flipping through the "Herbal Collection" page by page.What he needs to know most now is notoginseng and ginger. Most of these two plants can be used as rhizomes, which grow underground. If you are not familiar with them, even if you put them in front of you, you will only treat them as wild flowers and weeds. Zhong Qingran doesn't know peanuts. Plants are the best example.

The patterns of medicinal herbs in "Herbal Collection" are not as clear as the photos, and some deviations are inevitable. If Zhong Qingran didn't know all these medicinal herbs in detail, he might not be able to recognize the real ones just based on the illustrations.

Panax notoginseng is the main herb of Zhong Qingran's only family prescription, and ginger has a bright future as a seasoning.Because only some places are planted by medicinal farmers, and the rest are all obtained from the mountains and forests. It is only when the effect of removing fishy smell is known that ginger will show its power.

Zhong Qingran knew this well, if he didn't go to the city first, he would really be sorry for his grandfather's earnest teaching to him.

Remembering that he didn't find ginger in the mountain last time, Zhong Qingran planned to go back to the mountain to look for it in a few days.Since Mrs. Tong said it was on the mountain, it should be there, but he just couldn't find it.

Time passed quickly, and finally it was time to release the seedlings in the shrimp pond.Zhong Qingran divided the red crayfish into three grades according to their size. The first grade was ready to be served on the table. Due to the shortage of shrimp seedlings, it was kept as broodstock. The first grade was half-big, and the remaining ones were all placed in a nursery less than ten square meters. Cultivate in the pond, wait until it grows large enough, and then put it in a large pond.

At present, the breeding density of red crayfish is not high, and there are aquatic plants and other plants in the shrimp ponds, and the number of artificial feeding is not large.These matters have been taken over by Zhong Qingshu and Zhong Qingzhu, but Zhong Qingran is at leisure.

Standing on the foundation of the pond, watching the sparkling water in the shrimp pond, and occasionally red crayfish emerging from the water, Zhong Qingran was full of a sense of accomplishment, and turned to Zhong Qingshu Zhong Qingzhu who was standing beside him and asked, "What do you think?"

Zhong Qingzhu put his hands behind his back, pretended to be an old master, walked around and praised: "Not bad, not bad!"

Zhong Qingshu couldn't stop laughing, and habitually attacked: "This is just the beginning, and what will happen next is still unknown, so you are so sure that it will succeed?"

Zhong Qingzhu immediately failed, returned to his original appearance, scratched his head, and focused on how to respond: "I don't know the correct way to raise red crayfish, and the little knowledge I know now is also what I heard from you. But I have eyes to see! Look, most of the big muddy fields have been converted into shrimp ponds now. Doesn’t it look like that? You don’t think Qingran is messing around, anyway, I Do not believe."

Zhong Qingshu smiled and said nothing, how could he not know this?The reason why I said that was just to tease Zhong Qingzhu.

Except that it cost a little money to dig the shrimp pond and buy lime at the beginning, it doesn’t cost much money to feed it later. Feeding some river mussels can be regarded as the best of both worlds.

With the continuous business of the Zhong family every day, the number of red crayfish in Hewan Village has decreased significantly.Not only Zhong Qingshu, but even Zhong Qingzhu saw the business opportunities contained in it.This is the case here. The owner of Hongtai Restaurant should consume more. I think that after the red crayfish are caught on a large scale, the price will inevitably rise, and the red crayfish they raise will be worth a lot.

Otherwise, based on Zhong Qingran's prediction of the yield per mu of red crayfish in one mu of shrimp ponds a year, unless there is no loss at all, there will be a very impressive harvest of three to five hundred catties. Calculated at three pennies per catty, excluding the cost, the harvest in one year Maybe it's better than farming, why are they bothering to do this?