Chapter 132

Although I knew that Gu Er Niang was in Jianzhou and that she had bought an island, I only found out the name of Dunzi Island after I arrived in Jianzhou.

It is also unclear in which county or village in Jianzhou it was located.

A state has more than ten counties under its jurisdiction, and there are dozens of villages in the counties. Not to mention that Qin Si is from Fengzhou, even the locals of Jianzhou don’t know where Dunzi Island is.

So Qin Si came to Jianzhou and asked around for Gu Erniang's whereabouts, but he was still not sure which county in Jianzhou she was in, so he went to the Fuzhou Trading Company.

He also thought that since the business had to collect goods from everywhere, its network of contacts naturally needed to be wider than that of ordinary shops. It was at this time that Manager Xu met Qin Si.

Just as Manager Xu and Gu Ran had said, when he saw this travel-weary young man come into the store and ask the waiter about Gu Er Niang, he immediately became wary.

The matter between Gu Er Niang and General Qiao was now a hot topic, and people in the city were discussing it heatedly, but it was just general talk. It was the first time he had seen someone like this who wanted to further inquire about which county town and village in Jianzhou Gu Er Niang lived in.

He asked in such detail that he was definitely not just casually asking for fun.

So Manager Xu stepped forward, ordered the clerk who had spoken to the man to get back to work, and personally asked, "Sir, our company is open for business, not for casual conversation."

"What are you talking about? How can I be idle and casual? I'm clearly asking about someone!" Qin Si brushed off the new clothes he had specially made for going out and looked at Manager Xu with dissatisfaction.

"I heard everything. You're looking for General Qiao's savior, Gu Er Niang, right?" Manager Xu snorted coldly. "Lately, everyone in the city has been talking about General Qiao and Gu Er Niang!"

"Yes, I just want to know what happened to Gu Erniang?"

"Who are you then? Why do you insist on coming to our company to inquire about Gu Erniang's whereabouts?"

"I am..." Qin Si wanted to say that he was Gu Er Niang's husband, but then he thought, this is not something he can say. He is still Gu Er Niang's ex-husband. If he wants to say it, he should wait until he and Gu Er Niang are reconciled. Otherwise, if he says it, he is afraid that people will ask about his background and then mock him for being blind. So he stopped talking, "Who I am is none of your business. I just want to ask if you know where Gu Er Niang lives."

"I don't know, please come in." Manager Xu raised his hand, with an obvious intention of seeing the guest off.

Someone who hides his identity definitely has bad intentions. Gu Erniang is one of Fu Sheng's major customers, so naturally he has to protect her.

Qin Si left the business in a rage. He turned around at the door, glanced at the business signboard, and spat in anger.

"A dog's eyes look down on people."

When he gets back together with Gu Er Niang in the future, he will definitely bring her here to visit and see if she will envy these lowly people to death.

He walked around the provincial capital several times but did not get any confirmed news. Finally, he left the city and arrived at the port.

How come the matter has become so serious, but so few people know exactly where Gu Er Niang is?

Everyone knows that it is an island and that it is called Dunzi Island, but no one knows where exactly the island is located.

Where is the island in Jianzhou? We don't have to go to Quanzhou, do we?

Qin Si was worried at the port when he heard people passing by talking about: "Is that shop up ahead really owned by Gu Er Niang?"

"Of course it is. It was Uncle Yang's family at the port who said that. The Yang family opened the shop in partnership with Gu Er Niang, and it was Gu Er Niang who taught them how to make this roasted grass jelly!"

"Is it tasty?"

"It's delicious! Didn't you see so many people rushing to He's shop to buy this roasted grass jelly?"

Qin Si was excited when he heard this. He quickly followed the passers-by and headed towards the front machine. A hundred meters away, he heard a waiter shouting, "Selling roasted grass jelly. Made with Gu Er Niang's secret recipe, it's appetizing, refreshing, and calming!"

"Which Gu Erniang?"

"And which Gu Erniang? Of course, it's the Gu Erniang who saved General Qiao!"

"What does your He family's herbal jelly have to do with Gu Erniang?"

"Then I'm still from the Yang family, selling the He family's roasted grass jelly... No, our He family's roasted grass jelly is the same as the He family's roasted grass jelly in Yongchang County, right?"

"How come they are of the same origin and lineage?"

"Because Gu Erniang is from Yongchang County, the roasted grass jelly at the Yongchang County dock is also in cooperation with Gu Erniang. The He family is our Yang family's in-laws, so we are of the same origin and lineage."

"You're kidding, right? Didn't I hear that Gu Erniang grows oranges?"

"That's right. I was planning to buy some oranges grown by Gu Erniang this year. How come the grass jelly is also sold by Gu Erniang? Don't just borrow everything from her because she's famous."

"Well, if you don't believe me, go into the store and ask our shopkeeper, or Uncle Yang at the port, if we're cheating."

Qin Si squeezed next to the waiter and said, "You said that Gu Erniang is from Yongchang County? Which Yongchang County?"

"There is only one Yongchang County in Jianzhou. Which Yongchang County is it?"

Qin Si wanted to ask for clarification, but the waiter ignored him and continued to shout: "Selling roasted grass jelly..."

He looked at the crowded shop and instead of going over, he stepped aside, feeling secretly happy.

It turns out that this wild woman not only grows oranges, but also does this business privately. It seems that she has accumulated quite a bit of wealth over the years, which is great.

Qin Si smiled happily and went to the port to find a boat to Yongchang County.

Since she lives in Yongchang County, and everyone is talking about her now, when she arrives in the county, will she still worry that no one knows where she lives?

When we arrived at the Yongchang County dock, we immediately saw the He family's grass jelly stall packed with customers. Many people were shouting, "Are you going to Dunzi Island today?"

"There's no point in going. The guards at the Dunzi Island ferry are very fierce now. They won't even let you go to the island, but they'll chase you away if you go over to take a look."

"That's right, you said. We didn't go to the island to destroy anything. We just wanted to take a look at the deserted island where General Qiao was stranded. Why are you so mean to us?"

"Don't mention it. It's because the island was bought by Mr. Gu's family, so we can't go there."

"Since we can't go to Mr. Gu's island, why don't we just come and eat Mr. Gu's roasted grass jelly?"

Dunzi Island? Is Dunzi Island also in Yongchang County?

Qin Si also joined the queue and bought a bowl of roasted grass jelly. He finally found out where Dunzi Island was and which village Gu Erniang lived in.

It turned out that it was not in the county town, but in a village called Xiaxi Village.

Of course, at this time, Qin Si also heard that Gu Er Niang had gone to the capital to meet the emperor and had not returned yet.

Logically, he should go home and come back next time, but Qin Si felt that since he was already here, he should explore the way first, so that it would be much easier to find her next time.

So he not only went to Xiaxi Village, but also found out the small house where Gu Er Niang lived.

Looking at the small house, Qin Si frowned.

How could such a small house accommodate the entire Qin family? No, when she comes back, she must use the money she received as a reward to build a bigger house for them.

Also, I heard that there are a lot of raccoons kept there. Even if he is outside now, he can still hear the cries of these little beasts.

Why keep so many little beasts? When she comes back, let her throw these little beasts away, otherwise he will not get back together with her.

Finally, she took a boat to the Dunzi Island that was rumored to be bought by her. She circled half the island and measured the approximate size of the deserted island. Only then did her brows relax a lot.

Yes, this island is big enough. Maybe we don’t have to go to that small village to build a big house. We can just build it directly on this island.

Qin Si was on the boat, looking at the ferry of Dunzi Island from afar, feeling happy, as if the island already belonged to him.

After returning to Pingtan Village, he told Mrs. Qin, Mr. Qin Sanye and others about where he had found out where Gu Er Niang lived. The whole family was overjoyed.

Only Grandma Qin looked at Qin Si with concern: "Uncle Si, are you sure that Gu is willing to reconcile with you?"

The sunshine on Qin Si's face was suddenly dimmed as if it was drowned by the heavy rain.

"Why not?" Madam Qin glanced at Grandma Qin and sneered, "Tell me, that Gu divorced our Silang, how many years has it been? If she could have married, would she have waited until now and still be a single woman?"

"I knew she couldn't let me go." Qin Si also said, nodding.

"Even if she couldn't get married before, now that she has status and position, will she still..." Choose Fourth Uncle to marry?

Mrs. Qin scolded Qin Si.

"Sister-in-law, look at you. Brother has been dead for so many years, but you still often miss him and feel sad. If you can do this, why can't Gu?"

Qin San and his wife glanced at Grandma Qin with dissatisfaction, then looked at Qin Si: "After all, our fourth brother was also handsome and graceful when he was in the capital. In this Minzhou, which man has such a magnanimous demeanor?"

"That's right. Besides, Fourth Brother is her husband. They were married in a formal ceremony. After a year of living together, there must be some affection. As the ancestors said: A day of marriage brings a hundred days of grace. I'm afraid that since the Gu family has someone as good as Fourth Brother, how could they be interested in someone else who is not as good as them?"

After hearing what Qin San and his wife said, Qin Si's face gradually brightened up.

"However, fourth brother, next time you go to meet someone, you should be more humble and try to coax her. Once she softens her heart, she will be able to talk to you easily."

Seeing that everyone was sharing their ideas and strategies to teach Qin Si how to please Gu, Grandma Qin shook her head slightly but said nothing.

If Qin Si could really reconcile with Gu, wouldn't that be a good thing for her and Lu Ge'er?

It was really difficult for her to support Lu Ge'er to take the imperial examination with the little money she earned as a teacher.

If Gu really became the fourth grandmother of the Qin family, she would not treat her sister-in-law and nephew badly!

Therefore, everyone in the Qin family is still looking forward to Gu Er Niang's return to Beijing and Qin Si's reconciliation with her.

Qin Si later went to Xiaxi Village again in a hurry. Gu Erniang still had not returned, but Dunzi Island allowed outsiders to go to the island. It was Lu Bo who saw that he could not stop the curious people from coming to the island to commemorate General Qiao's years of decline, so he offered to collect money and let these idle people go to the island for sightseeing.

Qin Si also spent twenty cents to get the qualification to go to the island and took a walk around Dunzi Island.

Others came for General Qiao's hard times, but he came for the island itself.

He looked at the vast mountains on the island, saw the houses outside the orange grove, and on the other side of the closed gate, the orange trees covered with flowers like the first snow were blooming in the forest, and they smiled wildly with the corners of their mouths raised.

All of these will belong to him in the future.

It belongs to him, Qin Zhikai.

In June, it was heard that General Qiao's savior had finally returned. Not only that, it was rumored that the Gu family's orange grove was now a tribute orange for the royal family. Presumably, this year's orange harvest would be good, and more money could be earned.

This time, Qin Si was confident and went straight to Xiaxi Village.

Gu Ran had no idea that her "ex-husband", who had nothing to do with her at that time, would come to Xiaxi Village in the near future to reconcile with her and remarry her. Instead, he was buying furniture and other things for his new house on Mangdunzi Island.

It was a rare opportunity to ask Uncle Wu to build such a beautiful house, so of course she had to decorate it well. Moreover, she had more money on hand now, so she naturally would not be stingy with the software configuration of the house. After going to Jianzhou to find Manager Xu that day, she looked for many antique items in several carpentry shops. She couldn't afford the most expensive ones, so she still enjoyed the expensive ones.

Agarwood carved lotus bed, gold-threaded sandalwood cabinet, peach wood cloud-patterned dressing table, ebony jade-inlaid screen, rosewood flat-angle table and rose chair, etc.

In addition, she picked out high-quality bowls, teacups, boxes, bottles, jars, etc., and if she didn't know much about them, she would ask Mrs. Shen and the eldest grandmother to help her judge them - the Shen family was wealthy and they were more familiar with the quality of such goods than she was.

After a few days of this, the house was decorated neatly and securely, and it looked very grand.

Of course, a lot of money is also spent.

Originally, he brought back nearly four thousand taels of silver, but now there are only more than two thousand left. This is the money Pei Liuyi saved by taking out half of the silver.

If it were three years ago, Gu Ran would never have thought that he could afford more than 3,000 taels of silver to buy a house. Such a large sum of money, if saved slowly, would be enough to last a lifetime.

But now, she has spent so much money, and the remaining family assets are still rich enough, not to mention that she also has nearly 20 acres of orange groves, which bring in a stable income of several hundred taels every year, so it is reasonable for her to spend some money to enjoy herself.

For this purpose, she also bought two carriages on Dunzi Island, one for carrying people for her own use, and the other for carrying goods to be sent to the big house in the orange grove.

Then, whether traveling from the mansion to the orange grove or from the orange grove to the ferry, it would be faster, and there would be no need to borrow the Shen family's carriage in case of emergency in the future.

Thinking that he might spend more time living on the island in the future, Gu Ran also thought about reclaiming some wasteland on the island for farming.

This idea was proposed by Uncle Lu.

There was a lot of woodland and overgrown weeds on the land outside the orange grove where the servants lived. As the orange grove grew bigger and bigger, more and more people were hired to come to the island, especially those who opened small shops outside the area planned by Gu Ran to make a living. They came to the island to live for quite a while, and some of them raised chickens in the houses they rented. When they saw the uninhabited wasteland, they wanted to farm there too.

But this island belongs to Gu Dongjia. If Gu Dongjia is not here, then letting people go to the island for sightseeing is just a matter of taking a trip. As long as the resources on the island are not used, Lu Bo naturally dares to act first and report later. But if he wants to open up Gu Dongjia's land for farming, he has to ask Gu Dongjia himself.

After Gu Ran learned about it, he thought this was a good idea.

She rented out the wasteland to the workers, who reclaimed it and cultivated it. She harvested 30% of the rice grown, and the workers could keep the remaining 70% for themselves or sell it directly to their orange grove. If there was enough woodland, not only rice could be produced, but also vegetables and fruits. Wouldn't the orange grove be self-sufficient?

Gu Ran immediately approved the proposal, and Lu Bo went to take care of the specific matters. After measuring the wasteland outside, he rented it to the guys on the island one acre at a time.

Even the Shen family had this idea. They rented a few more acres of land from Gu Ran and planned to let the slaves who guarded the villa do some farming work, just to provide food for themselves and their family when they came to the island for vacation.

Gu Ran saw that since everyone wanted to farm on Dunzi Island, shouldn't she, as the island owner, also respond to the call and allocate more land for people to reclaim and farm?

Well, once it’s opened, the problem becomes who to hire to farm it.

When Uncle Lu heard this, he raised his hand and said, "This is easy to do. Ask the people from Li Ji's family or Liang Er's family to come over and ask. They might be willing to come to the island to do this."

Although Li Ji has not returned from Zhengzhou yet, his elder brother, Uncle Li, is in charge of the Li family.

Although Li Ji himself only has his father and son, Uncle Li has three sons in his family, Li Da, Li Er and Li Si.

Li Da and Li Er are both married. Except for Li Si who came to the island with Li Ji as guards, Li Da and Li Er are both farming in Xiaxi Village. They are only hired to work on the island when the orange harvest is good.

Now the Li family has settled down in Xiaxi Village. They have many sons and daughters, and they are used to doing farm work. Now they can fully cultivate the 40 acres of land in Xiaxi Village. Besides, Uncle Li's family, plus the two large families of Li Da and Li Er, will eventually become unable to live in the big house built by Li Ji. Even if they don't split up, they will have to live separately.

What Uncle Lu meant was to ask Li Da or Li Er whether they wanted to bring their family to the island to work.

As for Liang Er, his family also had many people.

The Liang family not only has grandpa and grandma, but also Liang Da's family, Liang San's family, Liang Wu's family, and Liang Er himself brought his wife here. They all have a son and a daughter. Now they all live in a big house in Xiaxi Village temporarily, which seems crowded.

It is completely possible to ask one or two families to come to the island to make a living.

"That's right. No matter where the land you want to open up is, you have to provide people with a place to live, right?" said Lu Bo.

Uncle Lu's family was not large, consisting of only his and Lu Er's families. Uncle Lu had a son and a daughter, and his son had just moved to Xiaxi Village and settled down. As for Lu Er's family, they only had their eldest daughter, her mother and daughter after their divorce, their only son, and their youngest daughter. The land in Xiaxi Village was enough for them to farm.

"Okay, I'll plan this out first. After a while, when the busy farming season is over and we've planted the rice, I'll discuss it with Uncle Wu."

Gu Ran planned to use the land cleared at the foot of the mountain and the surrounding wasteland for cultivation near the mountain range, so the houses for the tenant farmers could also be built at the foot of the mountain or near the river.

Because it was close to the mansion she had built, she naturally wanted to hire some farmers who she knew well.

If it is the Li family or the Liang family, you can rest assured.

Sure enough, Li Er's family and Liang San's family both expressed their willingness to come to the island to farm.

So Gu Ran took advantage of the slack season to build two more houses for the two families.

Later, the two families of Li Er and Liang San worked together to open up 50 acres of wasteland, including paddy fields and dry land, to grow rice and vegetables. During the busy farming season, they could immediately hire workers from the orange grove to help with the harvest. During the slack farming season, they would work in the orange grove for daily wages and lived a happy life.

The increasing number of fields on the island really allowed Gu Ran and others to achieve self-sufficiency.

But that’s for the future.

Now that Gu Ran has decorated the house, and the weather is hot, he decided to stay on the island to escape the summer heat.

Gu Ran entered the room he had arranged and immediately closed the door. He took out the two ice jars placed under the bed, one at the head of the bed and the other on the bed. Then, with a loud noise, he poured the ice in the space No. 10 compartment into the jars, filling it up.

After a while, a slight chill spread and filled the entire room. Gu Ran then fell onto the couch and lay down.

In the dog days of summer, it really takes more cold indoors to feel comfortable!

He closed his eyes slightly and fell asleep in a short while.

Outside the house, at the foot of the mountain, Pei Liu was in the Cat House. He also carried two buckets of ice that he had moved out of the house into a large wing room: this was the place in the Cat House for the cat playmate and Maotuanzi to play.

He simply placed the two buckets of ice in two corners.

The heat-fearing fur balls had been staying in a corner of the house to cool off. When they saw him coming, they thought he was bringing them food, so they followed him despite the heat. When they entered the house and realized that it was cool, they immediately walked around the ice bucket and then lay down in the house.

In a short while, most of the cats that came to beg for food ran into this room.

Fortunately, the compartment is big and the cats are small, so it is not crowded even with so many cats living together.

Pei Liu closed the doors and windows, walked out, and was about to go to the kitchen next door to get some cat food for Mao Tuanzi when he saw a carriage galloping towards the foot of the mountain in the distance. He couldn't help but frown slightly, changed his mind and walked out.

The carriage approached closer and closer, arriving outside the wall of Mao Dacuo. Seeing Pei Liu at the door, the driver hurriedly smiled and said, "It's you, Second Master!"

"What's up?"

The orange grove's affairs? Why not just let Uncle Lu handle it?

"Hey, um, there's someone on our island who wants to see our Boss Gu." The waiter looked a little strange, "Is Boss Gu here?"

"She's inside the house. I'll go call her." Pei Liu walked towards the front yard and asked as he walked, "Do you know who's looking for her?"

"Yes, I heard it was a young man named Qin, and he was said to be the husband of Mr. Gu."

Pei Liu felt his heartbeat almost stopped for a moment.

Husband? Where did Er Niang get her husband?

The waiter saw her suddenly stop and wondered: Didn't you say you were going to call Mr. Gu? Why didn't she leave for no reason?

Pei Liu closed his eyes.

Qin? Oh, right, Second Mother, it seems she was once married to someone named Qin, but how long ago was that? Didn't they get divorced? Why would she still call him husband?

"That man claimed to be Second Lady's husband?"

"Hey!" The waiter also looked puzzled, "We haven't heard that Mrs. Gu has a husband, but Guard Li said that Mrs. Gu was once the fourth grandmother of the Qin family..."

"That's also my ex-husband. Now that we're divorced, he's no longer my husband." Pei Liu said sternly.

"Hey!" The guy didn't understand why Mr. Pei suddenly got angry. He scratched his head, feeling embarrassed.

Pei Liu grabbed the whip, turned his horse around and headed back.

"Hey? Second boss?" The waiter was stunned, and then shouted hurriedly.

"Second Mother doesn't like her ex-husband and doesn't want to see him at all." Pei Liu said angrily, "I'll meet him on her behalf."

They have been divorced for so many years, why should they meet? What's the point of meeting?

He went to see him and drove him away.