Xiaoyao Nongjiazi

After eating and drinking, Zhong Qingran remembered that he had not been out for a short time, if he hadn't told his family last night, his grandma would have sent someone to look for him by now.

After sitting for a while, Zhong Qingran said goodbye and went home when his mood completely calmed down.

Hearing the movement, Tong immediately called Zhong Qingran to the upper room and asked, "It's already half-morning, have you had breakfast yet?"

"have eaten."

"People send away?"

"Well, let's go early in the morning."

"The big family has a lot of right and wrong, and they have ignored it for so many years. At this time, I don't know what their plan is to take Qing's letter to Beijing." Tong muttered a few times, and was pulled by Mr. Zhong, and pouted towards Zhong Qingran.

Seeing Zhong Qingran's look a little sluggish, Tong finally remembered that there were only two of the third grandsons who played well in childhood, and now one of them is gone, it's not normal if they don't feel sad at all.If it was such a cold-hearted person, she should be worried.Realizing this, Tong abruptly changed the subject and talked about Zhong Xin's engagement.

In the past few days, the Zhong family was full of joy. This was the first marriage of the younger generation, so it had to be done in a decent way, not to mention how good it was, at least it should be hard to pick.

Zhong Qingran didn't care too much about Zhong Xin's marriage, but he needed something to divert his attention right now, so it didn't hurt to listen.

The life of the Zhong family was not very good before, and they might not be able to prepare other dowries, at least there was no shortage of wood, and they were prepared early in the morning.Of course, this has nothing to do with getting married. It's just that although the auspicious date of marriage has not yet been set, the general date has been determined. After next spring, the dowry and other matters will be arranged from now on.Compared to this matter, engagement has become incidental.These days, the Ming family has been busy with Zhong Xin's dowry.

Zhong Qingran felt that the wedding was a little rushed, and on second thought, yes, if they didn't get married before the township examination, then there was no need for the He family to propose marriage for He Xiucai now.

Soon came the day of Zhong Xin's engagement, that day Zhong's family came and went, neighbors from all over the neighborhood came to watch, it was very lively.

Zhong Qingran met He Chengzhou, the future eldest brother-in-law. He looked good, but his eyes were too flexible.

The engagement was a small banquet, and the Zhong family didn't invite people in a big way, but only set up a few tables for those who were close to them. Even so, the Zhong family was too busy, and they didn't stop until the banquet was over.

Sometimes too many people is a troublesome thing, Zhong Jiaguang has many relatives within three generations, no matter how to reduce expenses, this number will never go down.Most people are very self-conscious, and the whole family will not come to the seat, but there will always be one or two top dishes, which are too bad to eat, but they cannot be bypassed.These days, as long as they don't completely turn against each other, it is difficult to break the relationship between relatives. It is conceivable how thick-skinned they are if they can do such a thing. They are not afraid of being looked down upon, and completely abandon their face. No way.

Although Tong's money is a little looser, his budget-minded temperament has never changed. The dishes are not very good, but they are not bad at all.

For the next few days, Zhong Qingran lived very peacefully.

Soon, it will be the year before.The festive atmosphere in Hewan Village is very strong. Not long after the twelfth lunar month, every household began to prepare various New Year's supplies.It was the first time for Zhong Qingran to celebrate the New Year in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and he had a hard time experiencing it.

The Zhong family had Zhong Zhengxin who was born as a child, and he took care of all the couplets, blessings, etc., which saved the Zhong family a small amount of money.

Zhong Qingran's handwriting is not bad, compared with Zhong Zhengxin, it pales in comparison.This is normal, anyway, Zhong Zhengxin has practiced for more than ten years since he was a child, how can Zhong Qingran be compared for three to five years?Regarding this, Zhong Qingran was not dissatisfied at all. In this way, he could still be lazy, so why not do it.

On the [-]th day of the twelfth lunar month, in the middle of the afternoon, the sky was overcast, with sporadic snowflakes floating from time to time, Zhong Qingran nestled comfortably on the kang in the upper room.

"Grandpa, shopkeeper Fu will come to transport mushrooms tonight, and I will live on the mountain at night, accompanied by Mingyu and Shen's family, so you don't have to worry."

"You don't need grandpa's help?"

"No. Grandma, if someone comes looking for me, just say I'm out to play."

"Okay, I'll save this, and I won't cause any trouble." Tong's tone reassured, "I'll make you dinner in advance?"

Zhong Qingran shook his head and vetoed: "Grandma, just do as usual, the less conspicuous the better."

"Be careful yourself." To be honest, Mr. Zhong was a little worried. He wanted to follow him, but felt that it was too conspicuous.After all, he is not the third grandson, young man, if he sleeps outside occasionally, it will not cause suspicion, but he is an old man, he is known, there must be a lot of suspicion.

Although Zhong Qingran said that it would be fine to cook as usual, Tong still asked his daughter-in-law to cook dinner earlier, but even so, when Zhong Qingran went out, it was already dark.

Stepping on the snow, making a creaking sound, Zhong Qingran tried to keep his footsteps as light as possible. In order not to be noticed, he didn't even turn on the lights.At this time, at this point, it is not an exaggeration to say that a drop of water turns into ice.Zhong Qingran was wearing a thick cotton coat and leather boots on his feet, with only a pair of eyes exposed, even so, he could still feel the invasion of the cold air.

After leaving the entrance of the village, Zhong Qingran lit the qi-death wind lantern in his hand, walked a little further, and saw Jian Mingyu waiting in front, and beside him was a pair of baskets, which were filled with chrysanthemums, which Zhong Qingran delivered one day in advance. Hericium erinaceus from Jian Mingyu's house.In order to send out these things, Zhong Qingran made a lot of troubles.

"How long have you waited?"

"Just arrived."

"Tired or not, how about I choose?"

Jian Mingyu looked at Zhong Qingran's undeveloped body, the meaning in his eyes was very obvious, Zhong Qingran was completely defeated, so he could only lead the way ahead with a lamp.

Since both of them were fully armed, it was not very convenient to talk, so there was no conversation on the road. In the dark night, only one light was shining.

When the two arrived at Xiaoshan, it was quiet in front of the mountain gate. Obviously, shopkeeper Fu and his party had not arrived yet.

After walking for about half an hour, his whole body was supposed to be warm, but unfortunately the time was wrong. It was a cold night, and Zhong Qingran felt that he was dressed so thickly, as if he hadn't, and the cold air spread from the soles of his feet to his face. , It didn't warm up until I covered it on the kang for a long time.

Zhong Qingran was feeling comfortable and didn't want to move, when he heard the sound of horseshoes coming from a distance, so he had to put on his armor again.

Fortunately, the house was built a lot back then, and the four members of the Shen family only occupied one room, and the other room was Zhong Qingran's special room, which contained everything and saved him a lot of trouble. Just like now, staying for one night is very convenient.

Shen Changgui's family has packed all kinds of mushrooms according to Zhong Qingran's request. There are dry goods, more fresh goods, and a very small part, even baskets and mushrooms, all packed into wooden boxes together.In such a cold day, the mushrooms will not go bad in a short time.In fact, to Zhong Qingran, it doesn't matter whether it's bad or not, as long as not all of them go bad, the more bad they are, the higher the profit may be.Without him, shipping is such a hassle that the raised prices more than make up for the lost goods.

This time it was a real harvest, and they had been saving seeds before.The previous estimates had a relatively large deviation, and the actual output of mushrooms was higher than expected.The three mushroom cultivation rooms add up to only about one mu. So far, more than 1000 catties have been harvested. Counting the ones that have not yet matured, it can reach almost two thousand catties.

This mu yield scared Shen Changgui's family and Jian Mingyu.Zhong Qingran didn't feel his heart beating faster at all. Although he didn't know about it in detail, he had heard news occasionally that the yield of many mushrooms could reach tens of thousands of catties per mu.Obviously, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the current planting method. He cannot provide advice on how to operate it, and can only let professionals come.

As soon as Zhong Qingran moved, Jian Mingyu retreated into the inner room as agreed.

The sound of horseshoes was getting closer and closer, and in the empty night, it sounded a little penetrating.

At this time, the gate of the mountain was already wide open, and Zhong Qingran stood at the gate, feeling the invasion of the night chill.

The black spot in the distance is getting bigger and bigger until it is right in front of you.

Shopkeeper Fu jumped out of the carriage, walked up to Zhong Qingran, and said with a smile, "Qingran, I was a little late because of the delay."

"No problem. Shopkeeper Fu, please come in." Zhong Qingran looked at the person brought by Shopkeeper Fu in front of him, and said casually, "Do you want to help?"

"No, it's just a few things, they're enough. Let's go, take me to have a look." Shopkeeper Fu proposed directly without even taking a break.

Zhong Qingran glanced at him, and immediately led him to the mushroom cultivation room, while the others stayed outside.

After Shen Changgui received Zhong Qingran's signal, he directly moved the packed mushrooms from the door of the room to the outside, and left him alone for the rest of the steps. The person brought by shopkeeper Fu took over.

The temperature in the cultivation room is very high, at least about [-] degrees.Shopkeeper Fu looked at the layout inside, his eyes flashed with surprise.I want to ask, but I feel it's not the right time. Now that there are people brought by him outside, I can let them know a little bit about these things. Even if they are sincere enough, try to avoid letting them know more information.

Both cultivation rooms were planted with straw mushrooms, so Zhong Qingran skipped the second room and went straight to the third room.The mushrooms planted here are very mixed, and so far, some species are still in the growth stage.There are many small partitions in this room, each of which contains a kind of mushroom. It looks a bit messy, but it is not obtrusive.

After turning around, Zhong Qingran led shopkeeper Fu to the outside of his bedroom.

There are no earth dragons here, only warm kangs.When guests came, Zhong Qingran didn't bother to ask someone to make another charcoal basin, so he just put another layer of bed sheets on the kang.

Shopkeeper Fu sipped his tea, didn't rush to speak, thought for a while, and then said: "Qing Ran, you are powerful enough, if it were me, I would never have thought of it."

"Hehe, it's nothing."

"That thing wasn't there just now, was it?"

"En." Zhong Qingran turned around and pointed behind him, "It's all here."

Shopkeeper Fu stood up and saw two baskets at the end of the kang. He opened one of the lids, and what jumped into his eyes was a bunch of Hericium erinaceus, which had not yet fully grown and were sent to Shangjing. when.

"These seem to be in good condition, and so are the others?"

"no big difference."

"only these?"

"The whole plants that can still be seen are here, those that have been picked are placed at the bottom, and the remaining ones have to be kept for planting."

Shopkeeper Fu understood it as soon as he heard it, and without asking any further questions, he took out an ingot of gold from his pocket and pushed it in front of Zhong Qingran: "I don't know the specifics, but this is an advance payment."

Zhong Qingran did not refuse, picked up the gold and weighed it in his hand, the heavy feeling was not bad.

The people brought by shopkeeper Fu moved very neatly, but within a cup of tea, they had already moved all of them.Shopkeeper Fu didn't stay long, told Zhong Qingran to look for him after the Lantern Festival, and got up to leave.

As the sound of rattling horseshoes faded away, Xiaoshan returned to calm again.

Seeing that the person had gone far away, Zhong Qingran went back to his room and asked Jian Mingyu to wash up together.After everything was settled, both of them lay down on the kang in the inner room.This is not the first time they slept in the same bed, but before Zhong Qingran had something on his mind, he didn't feel much about it. Now, there is an extra heat source next to him, and it is quite difficult for him to ignore each other.

Zhong Qingran turned his attention away and asked, "Is it okay to be alone at home tomorrow morning?"

"It's okay, it's almost Chinese New Year, no one will go to Hewan Village to cause trouble. The villagers don't have to worry, who will make everyone bad at this time?"

"That's good. I'm afraid that he will scare me when he wakes up at night in the dark." Zhong Qingran turned to Jian Mingyu, as if thinking of something, sat up halfway, picked up the coat on the kang, took out a piece of silver and stuffed it into the bed In Jian Mingyu's hand, "The specific accounts will not be settled until next year. This is prepaid. You hold this money first, and then the excess will be refunded and the deficiency will be compensated."

Jian Mingyu looked at the silver ingot in his hand, feeling very excited.It's not that he has never seen silver, but such a large piece has never been missed by his family.In the past few years, it was considered good to be able to eat enough. In the past two years, life has eased up a bit. Even so, the most common contact with them is only copper coins.Life has been really easy since Zhong Qingran asked him to help sell red crayfish this year.The house at home has been repaired and all foreign debts have been paid off. As long as there are no major incidents, next year's life will be really easy.

"Thank you." Jian Mingyu didn't say much, but he spoke sincerely.

"Why are you being so polite? Just this time. I accept your thank you, and I will trouble you a lot in the future, so don't do this again." Zhong Qingran didn't feel that he had done such a pure and kind thing. Ask for something.

"Ah."

"Go to sleep."

With the lights off, the room was plunged into darkness.

Silent all night.

With the money in his hands, Zhong Qingran was in a good mood, and coupled with the atmosphere of the New Year's Eve, this joy never went away. There was a smile on the corner of his mouth all day, which made people feel comfortable.

Happiness can be passed on, not to mention Mr. and Mrs. Zhong, as long as they have a good relationship with Zhong Qingran, there will be no frowning faces. Even if they are far away from their parents and alone, Zhong Qingzhu, who is only accompanied by his uncle and aunt during the festival, is still happy all day long .

The Zhong family's income is good this year, and this year is much better than before. There is no shortage of chicken, duck, fish, vegetables, fruits and snacks.

Time flies, and the festive New Year's Eve comes to an end soon.

After the Lantern Festival, Yazhu Garden of Tongfu Inn.

This time shopkeeper Fu arrived earlier than Zhong Qingran.Seeing the undisguised joy on his face, Zhong Qingran knew in his heart that shopkeeper Fu must have gained a lot from this trip.

As a businessman, you can't always keep a sullen face. When facing your partners, you have to cover up your inner thoughts. You always wear a mask on your face. At Zhong Qingran's present, shopkeeper Fu thinks it's unnecessary, even though he also has business dealings. But it's not just a cooperative relationship, there are other reasons in it: "Qingran, the things are selling well, these are the supplementary money, please take a look at the account book."

Zhong Qingran was not polite at all, just took it over and read it.

The names of various mushrooms on the ledger were replaced by serial numbers, and shopkeeper Fu directly mentioned the mushrooms corresponding to various serial numbers.After Fu Yunzhu was officially launched, Zhong Qingran's memory became very good. After listening to the shopkeeper Fu, it seemed that there was no problem with the accounts.

After a quick check, Zhong Qingran closed the account book, and said with a smile on his face: "The account is all right, please help me to thank your boss."

Shopkeeper Fu nodded in response, bent down to pick up a lot of things from the stool, and pushed them in front of Zhong Qingran: "This is a little care from the boss, it's not worth much, I hope you accept it."

Zhong Qingran: "..."

It seemed very impolite to look at the gift in person, seeing the attitude of shopkeeper Fu and not allowing him to decline, Zhong Qingran had no choice but to accept it.

Stepping out of the gate of Tongfu Inn, Zhong Qingran felt that the temperature of the sun above his head was a little higher.With a lot of things in his arms, it was not very convenient to move around, so he stopped thinking about walking around and went home by boat.

Along the way, Zhong Qingran never had a chance to unpack, so he could only go straight to Dongcijian.

I remember the first thank you gift, there were a lot more things than now, but Zhong Qingran didn't think this time the gift would be so light.Instead of looking at the gift first, he concentrated his attention and sank his mind into the lucky bead.Looking at the glowing red light and the abundance of good luck, he unconsciously opened the corners of his mouth, unable to hold it back even if he wanted to.

Slightly reining in his joy, Zhong Qingran began to unpack.Same as last time, they are all stored in exquisite wooden boxes, but there is a big difference in the categories of things.This time, one of the boxes contained a lot of silk flowers, the workmanship was exquisite, and it was not ordinary at first glance.Fortunately, there was a sticker in the box stating that it was not too rare, but the price was a little bit high, and it was within Zhong Qingran's acceptable range.He is most afraid of collecting items that can be recognized at a glance, that is too eye-catching.

Of course Zhong Qingran didn't think it was for his use. Presumably, the young man in Chinese clothes had already sent someone to investigate his family background, knew how many sisters he had, and asked him to give them as favors.He counted ten flowers in total.There were eight sisters in the family, and Zhong Qingran was a little worried. Only then did he feel that it was troublesome not to have a separate family.He was a little unwilling to ask everyone to give it away, and it seemed unreasonable not to give it away, and things were a little difficult.Forget it, let's put it aside until I think of a way.

Similarly, this time there is also a box of paint, just to make up for the previous consumption.The rest were food, mostly seafood, Zhong Qingran's eyes lit up a little.

Hewan Village is not close to the sea, so although there is no shortage of river delicacies to eat, seafood delicacies are out of the question.For a whole year, Zhong Qingran didn't eat much, and he only had the most common items like shrimp skins, which he could afford only after Qinghefang was opened.

There are relatively cheap ones such as kelp and seaweed, and there are also relatively expensive sea cucumbers and sea urchins.The Zhong family had never eaten most of these seafood, so naturally they didn't know how to make them.Shopkeeper Fu was very thoughtful, and directly attached a simple recipe, which saved the Zhong family from embarrassment.

Except for seafood, the rest are all dried meat, there are various types, if not for the names attached to them, there are quite a few of them, Zhong Qingran would not be able to identify them.

The value of the gift was not as high as last time, but it was very in line with Zhong Qingran's taste.Seeing that package of beef jerky, Zhong Qingran's saliva almost flowed out.He has been in the Great Zhou Dynasty for nearly a year, and at the very beginning his grandmother gave him some beef, but he never encountered a beef sale at other times.There is no way, Zhong's family is not in the city, and he doesn't go to the market every time he goes to the city, the chance of bumping into it is really low.

Zhong Qingran swallowed his saliva, and ate alone without showing any loyalty.When he was hungry enough, he started looking through the rest of the jerky.Seeing venison, Zhong Qingran narrowed his eyes and decided to give some to his father.This stuff is too nourishing. At his age, it doesn't matter if he eats less. If he eats too much, he might get nosebleeds and feel hot all over.Do you want to give your brother some more food?Forget it, you can't be so unkind.

After flipping through, Zhong Qingran tidied up and carried all the raw food to the upper room.

"Auntie, let's cook kelp or seaweed at noon, these two things can prevent big neck disease, let the family eat some. Other seafood also have this effect to some extent, grandma can do whatever you want." Zhong Qingran followed Tong Tong's method. Shi said it again, saw Tong frowned, and said directly, "Grandma, it's okay, don't worry about memorizing it, just ask me when it's cooking."

"Do these two really work?" Tong opened her mouth wide, her face full of surprise.

"It will work, but the amount is a little small, next time I have a chance to buy more."

"All these are from Shopkeeper Fu?" Mr. Zhong also had a look of surprise in his eyes, but he paid more attention to the provenance of these things.

"Well, he said that his boss asked him to forward it on his behalf. Who knows who sent it?" Zhong Qingran said so, and he didn't care about it. Whoever gave it to him accepted it.

"That's good. With friendship, it's not easy to break up business." Mr. Zhong's face was full of gullies, and the smile deepened a bit, "If everything goes well, prepare some New Year's gifts for the end of this year, no need Pay more attention, just send some meaning of your own property."

Zhong Qingran readily accepted.

Mr. Zhong: "I made a lot of money this time, will I still use it to buy land?"

Zhong Qingran deliberated over and over again, and finally decided to tell some of his secret: "Grandpa, Grandma, this matter is very important, just listen to it, and don't talk about it in the future."

Zhong Qingran approached the two elders, and whispered in their ears: "I want to keep this money, so that the family will be safe. Last time, they were the only ones who helped grandpa and stopped the horse by the way."

Mr. and Mrs. Zhong's eyes were wide open, their eyes were full of disbelief, their chests kept heaving, and they both covered their mouths tightly with their hands for fear of shouting.