Chapter 102

As if in response to Pei Liu's wishes, he grew taller every time a period of time passed.

Every time he went out with Gu Ran, he had to quietly stand behind her and use his eyes to check whether she had grown to the height she required.

But now that Gu Ran takes Pei Liu out, he feels more secure.

Before, Liu Niang was good at fighting, but she looked weak. If she was used as a bodyguard, when the two of them stood together, she was older and taller than her, and she felt a little guilty.

Now that Liu Niang was tall and stronger than her when she stood outside, she could use her to command others without having to worry about whether she had a guilty conscience or not.

Especially after she grew taller, Liu Niang always liked to wear men's clothes.

When you go out, it's like having an extra bodyguard brother who is both talented and handsome. How great!

Gu Ran, who was unaware of the truth, had no idea how happy Pei Liu felt when he found an excuse to wear his husband's clothes again. It was for this reason that Li Ji, who was in charge of guarding on Dunzi Island, saw that Pei Liu had good martial arts skills and tried his best to invite him to be his deputy.

At least when she is on the island, she can serve as a backup guard if needed.

Pei Liu hummed inwardly, but silently agreed considering that this orange grove was a business he and Gu Erniang had collaborated on.

A month later, with everyone's careful care, they discovered the defects and diseases of the orange trees in time, removed the dead branches and leaves, and refilled the soil. With these measures, except for more than 20 trees that did not survive, the rest of the orange trees, after adapting to the climate and environment on Dunzi Island, grew roots and branches and flourished.

In early April, seeing that the orange trees were growing well, Gu Ran led the farmers to start pruning the branches of the orange trees, trying to reduce the weak side branches before the orange trees bloomed, and retain as many strong fruit-bearing branches as possible.

By the end of this month, the orange trees in front of the valley will be the first to bloom.

Tiny white flowers bloom among the green orange leaves like snow, one after another, like summer winter snow drifting in the forest, with a fragrant smell.

In May, the orange trees behind the valley are also covered with snow, like a fairyland.

But the fine snow in front of the valley was falling, and after the flowers had faded, the tops of the orange trees were bearing thumb-sized green fruits.

After confirming that this batch of orange trees had successfully produced oranges, Gu Ran could finally put his mind at ease.

We have spent so much money, manpower and resources to take care of the orange tree for so long, but if it doesn't bear fruit, all our efforts will be in vain.

Now that the truth has been revealed, the only thing left to do is to wait for the oranges to ripen.

The three old farmers, who had just come from the Liu and Zhu family orange orchards and had seen many orange trees that only bloomed but did not bear fruit, were also laughing happily when they saw the oranges on the trees.

It's not easy. I haven't seen any fruit in the orange grove that I've been tending for more than a year, two years, or even three years. When I was invited to the island to take care of these orange trees, I was afraid that it would be like the Liu and Zhu families' orange groves, with no fruit. I looked at these orange trees every day and was very worried!

Now that the fruits have grown well, I can't help but be so excited that I shed tears!

Well, the orange tree that Mrs. Gu has on Dunzi Island can bear fruit. This year, I can see the tree full of oranges, and I feel relieved.

I can continue doing the job at hand.

Now that the fruits are ripe, Gu Ran and Pei Liu go to the island more often, especially during the hottest days of June, when they can escape the heat in the big house on the island.

Now the ferry crossing where people get on and off the boats has been repaired, making it much more convenient to dock the boats.

A single cabin was built at the ferry, which was used to provide tea and water to people getting on and off the boat, and also served as a temporary shelter for the guards who came from the orange grove to guard the ferry.

There was a sign next to the ferry: Private deserted island, please do not enter or leave at will.

In addition, a stone gate was built at the entrance of the orange grove when entering the island from the passage, serving as the first line of defense when outsiders come to the island.

Although ordinary people would not want to sneak into such a deserted island, they still keep it there just in case someone with bad intentions comes here specifically to steal or destroy trees.

Especially now, when the orange trees have already borne fruit, we must protect the fruit well.

Fortunately, during that period of time, most of the people who knew that the second mother of the Gu family had bought Dunzi Island were from Xiaxi Village. In order to recruit their sons to work on the island, these families did not tell outsiders about the orange orchard on the island.

The several old farmers who were hired were very low-key because the orange trees had just been planted and they didn't know whether they could survive or not, let alone whether these orange trees planted on the island could bear fruit. Therefore, the news that the second mother of the Gu family planted orange trees was not spread much.

Therefore, in recent months, many people still thought that Dunzi Island was still an uninhabited deserted island, and few people came to the island to cause trouble. Li Ji's job as a guard was also very easy. His most important responsibility was to patrol the outer edge of the orange grove every day and pay attention to whether there were any signs of outsiders or wild animals.

After Gu Ran moved to the big house on Dunzi Island, the first thing he did was to fill the compartment under the bed in his room with ice.

This was the request that Gu Ran put forward when Uncle Wu San was building the house.

At that time, I told Uncle Wu San that a bed should be built similar to the kang in the north, but it was improved a bit so that the residual heat from burning charcoal could be introduced into the interlayer in winter, so that it could keep warm like a kang.

And when summer comes, you can put ice cubes in there one by one, and then completely seal the entrance on one side - the charcoal fire inlet. In this way, the bed above it can be cooled by the ice cubes in the interlayer, right?

With the help of a mezzanine kang bed, she can keep warm in winter and cool in summer. She is really smart.

Of course, considering the ice melting situation, Gu Ran also designed an underground pipe on the spot to divert the ice water. The ice water will eventually flow behind the house, seep into the soil, and moisturize the flowers and trees. It's really nice.

Gu Ran was so happy that he almost didn't want to leave the room as he could enjoy the cool world by closing the door.

However, she came to Dunzi Island with other purposes.

After the New Year, Xu San returned to Jianzhou and told her that the orange jam and canned oranges she made were very popular. She had anticipated this at the time, so around the New Year, when oranges were on the market for a few months, she not only bought a lot of oranges herself, but also asked Manager Xu to go to Guangdong to buy 200 kilograms of oranges.

Afterwards, Pei Liu and I prepared a lot of orange jam and canned oranges in the cottage in advance.

When Xu San came to order this year's orange marmalade and canned oranges, they sold him the batch of finished orange products as soon as possible.

The processed orange jam and canned oranges are sealed again. As long as they are refrigerated during transportation, there is no need to worry about them spoiling in a short period of time. After being transported to the north, they are equivalent to off-season fruits and can naturally be sold at a high price.

In this way, she earned her first money of the year, a total of one hundred and sixty taels.

The reason why we come to Dunzi Island now is because the remaining orange peels after making orange jam and canned oranges during the New Year are all hung up to dry.

Because there were so many of them, there wasn’t enough space in the small house to dry them, so we moved to the big house on Dunzi Island.

Above the warehouse of the big house is a drying platform, which was designed when Uncle Wu San was asked to build the house. It was intended to be used for drying dried goods. Since the main product is oranges, dried tangerine peel should naturally be included.

Now is the perfect time to take such a large amount of dried tangerine peels up for drying.

Considering that there might not be enough space in the future, a drying platform was built on the valley slope.

The orange peels dried this year were dried there, and the drying platform above the warehouse was used to dry the dried tangerine peels that were already one year old - two years ago, she and Pei Liu had dried some dried tangerine peels together, and now it was just right, so they could be used to make candied dried tangerine peels or Yanjin dried tangerine peels.

This batch of dried tangerine peel was intended to be used to pave the way - to be sold to Fusheng Trading Company, and to have Xu San take it back to the north to see if there is a market for this candied dried tangerine peel and Yanjin dried tangerine peel.

Candied tangerine peel is made by cutting tangerine peel that has been sun-dried for more than a year into strips or tearing it into pieces that are easy to eat. Then soak it in water until softened, wash it clean, put it in boiling water and cook it for a while before taking it out.

Then add hay, appropriate amount of sugar and honey and cook together. Stir evenly during the cooking process so that the sugar can penetrate into the tangerine peel. After the water is boiled dry, you can remove from the pot.

The next step is to dry it in the sun. When the sun is good, slowly let it dry.

As for Yanjin dried tangerine peel, the processing method is similar.

The two types of dried tangerine peel can be eaten as snacks, soaked in water, used as a condiment in cooking, and even used as a medicinal ingredient. It has a wide range of uses.

The ones who helped Gu Ran dry and process the tangerine peels in the big house were the Yang sisters.

Ever since Yang Jinling applied for the job to cook at the Orange Grove on Dunzi Island, she hired a kitchen helper after getting Gu Ran's permission.

Yang Yinling came during the busy farming season and no longer had to help her parents at home, so she also ran to Dunzi Island.

Because the Yang sisters had worked in the Liu and Zhu family orange orchards in previous years and were familiar with the work in the orange groves, in addition to cooking, they also helped the farmers with farm work such as pruning branches and leaves or watering and fertilizing.

Gu Ran happened to need people to dry the tangerine peels, so he brought the two sisters along.

Of course, nowadays it is just drying tangerine peel or orange peel. The more complicated candied tangerine peel and salted tangerine peel are still made by Gu Ran and Pei Liu themselves.

"Sister, look, the orange peels that Sister Gu and Sister Pei dry are different from the ones we dry." The sharp-eyed Yang Yinling immediately spotted the difference between the two.

"Don't talk so much. Just dry whatever Gu Er Niang tells us to dry. The ones they dry are different. I heard that it's because their batch has been dried for a year, while ours has just started drying!" Yang Jinling said.

"This skin, it still needs to be exposed to the sun for another year?" Yang Yinling sighed. "It's already been a year, what's the point of drying this skin?"

"Eat it!" Yang Jinling saw Gu Er Niang picking up some food while drying it in the sun and putting it in her mouth to taste it.

"Is this still edible?" Yang Yinling didn't believe it. It's been dried for a year, so the flavor must be gone. Is it edible?

So he turned around, pinched a small piece of the sun-dried orange peel, put it in his mouth, chewed it, and then quickly spit it out.

It’s dry and astringent, and tastes terrible!

Does Gu Erniang really intend to eat the orange peels she dries?

Yang Yinling was a little skeptical.

It was not until a few months later that the first batch of candied tangerine peel and salted tangerine peel was dried. Before Gu Ran and Pei Liu packed them into white porcelain jars, they called Yang Jinling and Yang Yinling and gave them some to try.

This time, Yang Yinling tasted something different from the orange peel she had eaten before and was surprised.

So this is what orange peels that have been dried in the sun for more than a year taste like?

No, it should be marinated with sugar and then dried in the sun, right?

"How is it?" Gu Ran asked the two sisters.

"It's delicious." Yang Yinling said.

Yang Jinling also nodded: "Not bad."

Gu Ran smiled and looked at Pei Liu, "Liu Niang?"

Pei Liu nodded.

"Then please help me put all these dried tangerine peels into the jars."

Gu Ran and Pei Liu divided out the roughly appropriate amounts of dried tangerine peel, and then Yang Jinling and Yang Yinling were responsible for packing the portions of dried tangerine peel into the white porcelain jars that had been prepared early in the morning.

Ever since he decided to make a living by growing oranges, when he sold products from Fusheng Trading Company, such as orange marmalade and canned oranges, and when he ordered jars, Gu Ran had people put the name of the company on them, calling them Gujia Xiaoju.

It would also help to build up her reputation. Once her reputation is established, she will not have to worry about sales for her citrus products in the future.

After a jar of tangerine peel was filled, he took out a candle, burned it until it melted, and then sealed it with hot wax.

Looking at the small jars of sealed dried tangerine peel, Yang Jinling and Yang Yinling glanced at each other.

It turns out that the dried orange peel is called tangerine peel. Judging from the situation, it is also used to trade with Fusheng Trading Company?

So, the dried skins they are drying now can also be dried into tangerine peels in the future?

She even thought of selling unwanted orange peels and tangerine peels. No wonder Gu Er Niang could make so much money!

Yang Jinling and Yang Yinling couldn't help but feel envious when they thought about the batch of dried orange peels.

However, this is Gu Erniang's family secret recipe. They just wanted to learn how to make the orange peels that had been dried for a year taste good. She only taught Pei Liuniang, which is a pity.

Thinking of this, Yang Jinling couldn't help but glance at Pei Liu twice, and couldn't help feeling a little jealous.

After being rejected by the Lin family, she knew that there was no hope for her and Lin San, so her mother took her to Dunzi Island to do work. When she saw Pei Liuniang, she felt a little better.

At first, she thought that Pei Liuniang was the wife who might be proposed to Lin Sanlang, so she was always hostile to Pei Liuniang.

But now, not only was Lin San not interested in her, but Pei Liuniang, who was so beautiful, was also rejected by Lin San, right?

Otherwise, Mrs. Lin wouldn't have said she wanted to introduce her to her uncle, but there would be no further developments.

Even my mother knows about this!

Based on this mentality, Yang Jinling thought that she and Pei Liuniang were both wanderers in the world and were of the same kind. For a period of time, she felt much more comfortable when she looked at Pei Liuniang again.

Even sympathy can't help but arise.

It would be fine if she was looked down upon, but Pei Liuniang was also looked down upon, and she was such a beautiful lady. So Yang Jinling thought that Pei Liuniang was actually worse off than herself, and her attitude of treating Pei Liuniang as if she were facing a great enemy turned into sympathy.

So the hostility that Pei Liu felt appeared inexplicably at first and then disappeared inexplicably. That's what happened.

Later, watching Pei Liuniang grow taller little by little, and now she is much taller than himself, when he occasionally talks to her, he inexplicably feels a sense of suppression on his part, and the displeasure in his heart gradually emerges: We are both women, why is she so tall?

No wonder Lin San looked down on her, such a tall and stupid girl...

But when I saw her wearing a gentleman's suit, if I didn't look carefully, I would really think she was a handsome young man. My heart started pounding: Oh, although she is tall and stupid, she is still very beautiful!

Looking at Gu Erniang who always went in and out with her, the jealousy in her heart quietly changed direction: If only it was herself who had such a good relationship with Pei Liuniang!

Today, when he learned that Gu Erniang had openly told Pei Liuniang the secret method of cooking tangerine peel, he couldn't help but feel jealous of her.

But this little bit of jealousy soon disappeared. Seeing Pei Liuniang driving the donkey cart with Gu Ran and the batch of tangerine peels to the ferry, Yang Jinling looked at Pei Liuniang whipping the donkey and was distracted for a moment: How great it would be if this Pei Liuniang was Pei Liulang!

Pei Liu had no idea that the second wife of the Yang family had been thinking about him all these days. He drove the donkey cart out of the gate of the orange grove and followed the passage to the ferry.

When the guard who was guarding the ferry saw the two of them, he immediately greeted them with a smile.

"Shi Er, please drive the donkey cart back later."

Gu Ran and Pei Liu took down the small porcelain jars stacked in wooden barrels from the donkey cart, and then said to the guard.

This donkey cart was bought by Gu Ran after he earned money. It took a lot of effort to send it to Dunzi Island. The purpose of sending it to the island was to carry people and receive goods.

They drove the donkey cart from the orange grove to this end, and then left the donkey cart at the ferry, asking the guards on duty here that day to drive it back when they returned from their next shift.

"Okay, Mr. Gu, Mr. Pei, no problem at all."

Shi Er smiled and led the donkey cart over and tied the donkey to a tree on the side of the ferry.

Gu Ran and Pei Liu hadn't been waiting at the ferry for long when a small boat slowly came over: "Uncle Liu!"

"Hey, Gu Er Niang, are you going back to Xiaxi Village today?" The person on the boat was Liu the boatman who had been ferring them since they first arrived on the island.

The person is still the same person, but this small boat was custom-built by Liu Chengong, a shipbuilder, after Gu Ran made money.

Because the number of trips between Donglin Township and Dunzi Island increased, and because it was necessary to provide convenient transportation for other guys returning home from Dunzi Island, and because many things had to be transported to Dunzi Island, and the transportation of oranges in the future had to be considered, Gu Ran simply spent a large sum of money to order this small boat, which could carry both people and cargo, and was much safer than ordinary small fishing boats.

It was this small boat that was used to transport the donkey and the furniture and equipment from other small houses to the island.

If you have a boat, you also need a boatman. Because they had been interacting with Liu the Boatman frequently and saw that he had good boating skills, they hired him as a boatman.

In addition, Liu Xiegong was originally from Donglin Township, and there was space for small boats to be stored at the Donglin Township ferry, so hiring him also solved the problem of storing small boats.

So Liu Tangong and this boat became the means of transportation between Dunzi Island and Donglin Township Ferry. In addition to transporting her boss Gu's things, they also picked up and dropped off the servants on the island.

Gu Ran and Pei Liu moved the two buckets of dried tangerine peels onto the boat, but instead of returning to the Donglin Township ferry, they asked Liu the boatman to take them directly to the county pier.

Today is the day when Fusheng Trading Company comes to the county town to collect goods.

Now that she has a boat, she no longer has to use a donkey cart to squeeze into the market on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month. She can complete transactions on the water.

Xu San watched Pei Liu carry up two wooden barrels from Fu Sheng's boat. "Is that what you want to sell me today?"

Gu Ran nodded: "Xu San, you can try it first later."

"Food? What is it?"

"Chenpi."

"Medicinal herbs?"

"It's not just a medicinal material." Gu Ran explained to Xu San the wide range of uses for the batch of dried tangerine peel he made.

"oh?"

Xu San had heard of dried tangerine peel, but it was mostly used as medicine, and it was rarely used as an ingredient. Now, after listening to Gu Er Niang's explanation of the many uses of dried tangerine peel, he couldn't help but be very interested. When Gu Ran took out two small bags of dried tangerine peel with different flavors and asked him to eat them directly, he and Manager Xu tasted them carefully.

"How is it?" Gu Ran asked with a smile.

"Not bad, quite flavorful."

"Although this candied tangerine peel has a hint of bitterness, it is generally sweet and sour with a strong aroma. As for the Yanjin tangerine peel, it is salty with a hint of sweetness, and there is a hint of sweetness after chewing it carefully. Both are good." Manager Xu commented in detail.

"Besides, both types of tangerine peel can reduce phlegm and relieve coughs, strengthen the spleen and stimulate the appetite." Gu Ran said, "They are rare Fujian specialty snacks."

Xu Sanlang took a few more pieces and tasted them. "Okay, we at Fusheng Commercial Bank will take them all. Just these two flavors?"

"That's right. From now on, our Gujia Xiaoju tangerine peel products will only have these two flavors." Gu Ran smiled. "You can sell this tangerine peel at Fusheng Trading Company, or ship it back to the north and sell it there. It's either way. Both are good."

Manager Xu went to count the goods, while Xu San invited Gu Ran and Pei Liuniang to sit down and have tea. "Second Lady Gu, you have truly mastered the citrus industry."

Not only is citrus itself a hot-selling product in the north, but orange jam and canned oranges have also been proven to have a huge market in the north. With these three products, after konjac jam, Fusheng Trading Company has been very successful in Zhengzhou and Beijing. Now that Gu Er Niang has also produced a batch of such unique dried tangerine peels, I believe that when she returns to Beijing, Fusheng will set off another craze.

Although he knew from the beginning that Gu Er Niang was capable, it now seems that he still underestimated her.

"Of course. Now that I've bought an island specifically for growing citrus, of course I want to try out all the products that can be made from citrus."

There are also citrus juice, citrus soda, etc. By then, a large number of citrus fruits will be harvested, and we have to produce all the products in one go. They are all things that can be sold, and it also saves other efforts.

Gujia Xiaoju, Gujia Xiaoju, the trademark name is Gujia Xiaoju, of course it is the main citrus product!

"Or maybe when the citrus harvest is over, I can figure out something else?"

"Oh, what is it?"

Xu San looked at Gu Erniang and made no secret of his admiration for her.

Pei Liu, who was standing by, saw this and couldn't help but frown.

"Then you have to wait and see what I can come up with."

Xu Sanlang burst into laughter.

"Okay, I'll wait for you then."

There were not many dried tangerine peels in this batch, and after packaging, there were only fifty jars each. However, dried tangerine peels were not easy to dry, and they were also a secret product that was unique to Gujia Xiaoju, so Xu San paid a high price of three hundred coins for each jar.

So the thirty taels of silver were in hand.

As Gu Ran, smiling broadly, took the silver and told Pei Liu to leave, Xu Sanlang reminded him, "Mrs. Gu, don't forget I paid a huge deposit in advance for this year's konjac sauce."