Zhang Zhaoci said, "It's not that easy. It's a long journey from the south to the north, with high mountains and long rivers. If the road is easy to travel, that's fine, but I don't know what the conditions will be like on the road. I really don't dare to go."

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the trade market was bustling for a few more days. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhang Zhaoci traded for a lot of good furs and yarn, and even a lot of medicinal herbs that could only be found on the grasslands. He needed to send New Year's gifts home for the Spring Festival, and Zhang Zhaoci felt that sending furs was more practical than other gifts. Furs were expensive in the capital, and it wasn't easy to find good quality ones, but they were cheap here. Sending these things back was both prestigious and practical. Most importantly, the prices were really low now. Small families had to be careful with their money to make ends meet. Otherwise, the family's daily food and drink, the dowries for their two children's future marriages, and most importantly, their daughter's dowry—all of these things required money. If they didn't plan ahead, wouldn't they be scrambling to make ends meet later?

Xu Di returned when the first snow fell in Hexi.

The kang (heated brick bed) in the house was already heated. Xu Di had come with the Zhang family's caravan. Along with the caravan came Zhang Zhaozhi, the third master of the Zhang family, as well as the eldest, second, and fourth masters of the Zhang family.

Zhang Zhaoci didn't expect her brothers and younger brother to come. She burst into tears when she saw them, which made Zhang Zhaozhi a little unhappy. He said that his younger sister didn't cry when she came last time.

Xu Di has grown much taller and darker, and he really looks like a teenager now.

Xu Di not only went south with Zhang Zhaozhi, but also went out to sea once. However, the ship did not go too far, and the round trip took a month. Xu Di's purpose in going out to sea was to find plant seeds. This time he brought back corn seeds, a sack of sweet potatoes, a sack of potatoes, and even chili pepper seeds and spinach seeds.

Xu Rao was the happiest when he saw the seeds. He never expected his son to be so capable, bringing back what he had been longing for. With these seeds in hand, he would try planting them next spring, check the yield, and then quickly promote their cultivation. With these things that could be eaten as food, how could he worry about the people not having enough to eat?