pastoral fragrance

Chapter 261 Three years later
The second elder brother, Qiu Song, went to the state school alone with a letter of recommendation from his village teacher in the early morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year.

This year, the sound of the second elder brother Qiu Song's reading, the figure of him reading and holding a pen, and the broad back of him carrying a machete to cut bamboo in the bamboo forest are missing in the family. Everyone still feels a little uncomfortable.

The second brother has been away for three years, even if he can go home for a few days in the middle, it is extremely short.Three years, whether it is long or short, but for relatives, it is full of longing and lovesickness.For lovers, this kind of longing is even more self-evident.

Ever since Qiusong turned her head three times to bid farewell to everyone, Mei Xiang seemed to have changed her appearance, no longer the innocence, liveliness, willfulness and cheerfulness of before.When everyone was picking mushrooms in the woods, or when they went to the river pond to cook fish fry, they could notice that she suddenly fell silent, her eyes became extraordinarily soft, and she was full of missing.

Because the old emperor passed away and the new emperor came to the throne, the whole country had to mourn for the old emperor for three years.As a result, the marriage between eldest sister Qiuyue and brother Ah Cheng was delayed.Many boys and girls in the village have not yet married and had children by the age of 20, and they have become standard leftover men and women.

Three years whizzed by among the withered and yellowed vegetation in Luoshui Village, as if it was just a blink of an eye.Nowadays, the villagers in the village have more or less made a fortune by planting mulberry and silkworms, digging ponds to raise fish and lotus roots, and planting herbs and fruit trees.Compared with three years ago, the village has undergone earth-shaking changes.Those low and dilapidated adobe houses have gradually disappeared in front of everyone's eyes, replaced by patches of beautiful and solid blue brick houses.

Now in this village, mulberry and fruit trees are planted everywhere in the wilderness of the fields, and the fish ponds are also big and small. What a great place to live!

Now Qiulin's family has a stretch of fertile land. There are millet and lotus roots in this field, and some are specially used to feed eels.There are many things grown in that field, such as honeysuckle, dry pinellia, sand ginseng, Codonopsis pilosula, as well as wheat, bract corn, sweet potato, yam, soybean, soybean and so on.

Some of these fields were bought by Qiulin's own family, and some of them were farmers who could not survive and put the fields under their family names and became tenants.This is because Qiusong now has the fame of juren, and juren in this dynasty enjoys the privilege of tax exemption. Those farmers who cannot pay taxes and corvee have no choice but to make such a move. It's good to be overwhelmed by exorbitant taxes.

Some of these fields are cultivated by tenants, while others are cultivated by servants bought by the Qiulin family. The Qiulin family has little labor and does not have to go to the fields themselves.

In addition to buying land, the Qiulin family continued to purchase more than 500 acres of barren hills and slopes, all of which were used to grow fruit trees, oak trees, bamboo, and herbs.The former fifty acres of barren slopes are now full of trees and lush greenery.After four and a half years of growth, the fruit trees, oaks, and bamboos on the slopes have grown tall.There is no trace of the Luotuo at the time of opening up wasteland.

In spring, there is a sea of ​​flowers on the hillside.The white ones are like snow, the pink ones are like clouds, and the red ones are like fire. From a distance, the clouds are steaming and glowing.In the summer, the flowers have fallen, and the greenery is lush. When the breeze blows, the branches and leaves in the dense forest are swaying, like waves rolled up on the sea.At this time, the fruit trees in the forest are also beginning to bear fruit.In autumn, the scenery in the forest changes to yellow and orange. The golden color looks like a painter painted it with paint, which is very charming.In winter, most of the trees in the forest have lost their leaves and are bare.But if it snows, those bare branches are covered with snow, which looks good.

This day wandered and changed among the changes of the four seasons in the forest, and soon it was the midsummer season three years later.At this time, peaches, plums, watermelons, grapes, cherries and other fruits planted on the slopes are ripe.Now this slope is managed by Qiuyue Qiulin, Xiaoqing from Hu Manzi's family, and Xiaohong from Hu Mingzi's family.Seeing that these fruits became more and more moist and attractive day by day, everyone hurriedly picked two burly young men from those who were busy in the field to help harvest the fruits.

After the peaches are harvested, those fresh big peaches are taken directly to the town to buy. This kind of peach juice is delicious and sweet, and it is especially popular. Like the slightly smaller ones, the skin is blue and the top is slightly red. For those who do, roll it in boiling water to make dried peaches.Plums are not easy to sell, and they are usually left at home to be eaten by the children.Watermelons are the most popular at this time of year, but they are easy to break. The skin of a ripe watermelon is thin, and the skin is easy to break when transported to the town, so not many can be sold.This thing is usually eaten by men who have been busy in the fields all day. After freezing the cold water in the well, it quenches their thirst better than drinking tea!The cherries are made of ice molasses, and the grapes are directly made into wine.

Qiulin and the others wandered around in the forest all morning, and they were so tired that they were out of breath, but the ripe fruits hadn't been harvested yet, so Qiulin simply sat down on the ground, staring at the round green-skinned fruit. The big watermelon said angrily: "Forget it, we can't collect it all. When Uncle Hu and Uncle Hu don't go to the ground, we will take it back first." With their small arms and legs Damn, do you want to receive the year of the monkey and the month of the horse?
Standing next to her was a girl in pink underwear. For the convenience of work, the skirt was modified into skirt pants, and the three thousand black hair was tied up with a silver hairpin.Her face is pink, her facial features are outstanding, and there is a heroic spirit between her brows that other women don't have.At this moment, she rolled her eyes and scolded the little girl who was discouraged just now. "If you have the time to sit and talk about this, it's better to take it back and talk about it earlier. You have a lot of time to be Uncle Hu and Uncle Hu. There are a lot of things in the field. This millet is in the period of filling grain, so it can grow well Pass. The soybeans will probably be harvested, and the corn will also be harvested in ten days and a half months. Besides, watering and manure need to be done, how can I be so busy?"

The little girl who was sitting on the muddy floor and didn't bother to move was about thirteen or fourteen years old. Now she heard what the girl said just now, although she felt it was reasonable, she kept pouting.Exhaustion is clearly written on a pink-faced face, hey, it seems that there are still not enough people!
The Qiulin family has already bought 500 or [-] servants, and ten of them manage the newly purchased wasteland of more than [-] mu connected to this wasteland.There are peaches, plums, apricots, bamboo, pine, and herbs planted there. Such a large piece of land can make these ten people busy.The other ten or so servants are managing the fields. It is okay during the slack season, but they will be a bit overwhelmed during the busy farming season.

There are also a few women who raise silkworms with their mothers, and now the number of silkworms raised at home has grown several times compared to the original one.The cramped space in the old house could no longer meet the needs of silkworm rearing at home, so Qiulin split more than ten acres of land in the backyard and built an adobe house with better ventilation for silkworm breeding.Connecting this old house with the backyard of Hu Mingzi's house, it looks quite spacious.

After the renovation of the vacated old house, Zhang Laosan's family lived in again. They were slaves bought from Qingshui Village two years ago.Zhang Laosan and his two sons helped take care of the crops in the field, and his wife, eldest daughter and Zhang helped Han to raise silkworms.

In addition, there are more than [-] chickens, ducks and three pigs in the family, and they are very busy all day long.

The two boys misappropriated by Qiulin are the children of Zhang Laosan's family.Qiu Lin held his mouth and thought for a while, the crops in this field had to be looked after well, I'm afraid there would be no manpower to pick the fruits.She looked distressed, thinking that there were not enough people, and she might have to buy them to get enough.

In the evening, the daughters-in-law who were working did not have to rest after they came back. They had to wash and boil the peaches and cut them into pieces to make dried peaches, and the grape skins and seeds to make wine. There's a lot going on in the yard.Fortunately, the chickens and ducks have already been locked in the chicken coop, otherwise it would be really crazy.

Fortunately, these daughters-in-law are also used to doing farm work, and they are quick to do things.If her hands and feet are not quick, she won't succeed. The owner said she was not diligent and sold her to other people.Although working in Xu's family is a little bit harder, the work is more than other places, but the owner treats them well, the wages are more, and the doctor is hired to prescribe medicine when they are sick, and they also have white rice, pork and eggs to eat. What are you dissatisfied with?
Naturally, it is conscientious and down-to-earth work.

It would be quicker for several people to do these tasks at the same time. In about an hour and a half, the dried peaches were cut and placed in the dustpan and placed in the yard to wait to dry.The grapes were all peeled and seeded, and they were put into jars and sealed.After a few days, the lid of the jar is opened, and the pulp is separated from the juice from the honey with fine gauze, and the wine is ready.

After finishing the work, everyone rested in the yard to cool off. Qiuyue Qiulin sliced ​​the big watermelon iced with well water into pieces and served them with washed plums.Quench the heat and thirst for everyone.

Adults like to eat the sweet taste of watermelon, and children also eat watermelon and plums. Although they have already eaten, these fruits are still popular. These things are all full of water. Eat too much It's okay.Children who are too young should pay more attention. Children who are a few years old do not have complete digestive function, and they will easily spoil their stomachs if they eat too much.

Within a few days, the dried peaches had dried up and the wine was ready, so Qiulin asked people to transport the dried peaches and wine to the town.A year ago, Qiulin's family opened a shop in the town that specializes in selling these flavored snacks produced in the forest, including dried peaches, honey pickled fruits, wine, sour bamboo shoots, lotus leaf chicken, spicy cabbage, mushrooms and so on.The name of the shop is "Xu Ji".When making candied fruit, Qiulin marked each jar with the word Xu. Later, the reputation of this candied fruit became famous, and "Xu Ji" came into being, and everyone liked to run here.

The manager of this "Xu Ji" was given to her by Murong Yunfan, but she was in her early 20s, capable and clever, and not like that treacherous and cunning person. Qiulin felt that this person was good at business, so he handed over the business of the shop to her. He takes care of it, and asks two juniors to help, and only checks the account once a month, so there is no need to worry about it.

(End of this chapter)