"Madam Su, how should we store the food to ensure a successful planting next year?"
Magistrate Jiang asked a very good question, and it's what everyone wanted to ask as well.
"It's very simple. After the seeds are dried in the sun, wrap them in a cloth and put them in a jar for storage."
This keeps the seeds dry and unaffected by moisture, allowing them to remain dormant and preventing insect damage.
After Su Luo finished speaking, everyone roughly understood that the methods for saving seeds for eggplants and cucumbers were similar.
“Your Honor, I can decide what’s right about my eggplants, but I can’t decide what’s right about the village chief and my uncle.”
The magistrate waved his hand, signaling his clerk to bring over the scales they had already prepared.
"I will not let the three of you suffer any losses."
Before the magistrate weighed them, Su Luo took three out of the basket. She kept one for herself, gave Zhang Xiujuan an extra one as promised, and gave the last one to Aunt Li.
Seeing that Su Luo had left her extra, Liu Fangfang also took two, but Village Chief Chen Yan told her not to take more, so she only took one.
The clerk took the remaining eggplants to be weighed, and Su Luo had nineteen catties left. The magistrate gave Su Luo nineteen taels of silver.
The village chief's family has 21 jin, and Liu Fangfang's family has 23 jin.
The magistrate settled accounts with them all at the prices set by Fu Man Lou.
This was the first time the villagers had ever seen Su Luo and her group earn so much money from selling eggplants, especially since they were selling them directly to the county magistrate.
There was a reason why Magistrate Jiang paid the money to Su Luo and the village chief in front of so many villagers. He wanted to use this opportunity to encourage the villagers to grow eggplants well.
"Fellow villagers, please take these eggplants home and plant them carefully. I will return next year at this time to collect the seeds from you."
After the magistrate finished speaking, he was very satisfied with the surprised expressions on the villagers' faces.
"Thank you, Magistrate. We will definitely plant them well."
The seeds were given by Su Luo, but the harvest was done by the government. Is there anything more reliable than this?
They saw firsthand how expensive a pound of eggplant was; if they had money, all the children in their family could go to school.
After seeing the county magistrate off, Su Luo went to the kitchen at the village entrance and gave Zhang Xiujuan a whole eggplant.
"Aunt Zhang, this is something I specially saved for you."
When cooking here, Zhang Xiujuan often told Su Luo to save more seeds for her, because she always kept her promises.
"Su Luo, this... I shared an eggplant seed with Tie Zhu's family, and you're giving it back to me? That's not very nice of you."
"That was what you shared with the villagers. This is a gift for you. Aunt Zhang, don't you want to grow more eggplants?"
Of course I want to! Who wouldn't want to earn more money?
"Su Luo, thank you so much, Auntie. You and your mother-in-law always take good care of me. I eat and drink well here every day. I am already very grateful to you."
These are Zhang Xiujuan's honest words. Her family didn't even have enough broken rice to eat, and they had to wait until the rice was ripe before they could harvest it.
Su Luo suggested that she and her husband come and work here, where they would not only have food but also wages, and they could save more on this year's rice harvest.
"Aunt Zhang, what are you saying? You exchanged your labor for mine, so there's no need for gratitude."
After thinking for a moment, Su Luo asked again, "Aunt Zhang, has Chen Xique returned home for the third day?"
Su Luo overlooked the custom of returning to one's parents' home in this era. Zhang Xiujuan usually liked to inquire about these kinds of gossip, so asking her was the most appropriate thing to do.
"This Chen Xique is a disgrace to our Changping Village."
Zhang Xiujuan shook her head and pouted, saying, "From ancient times to the present, there has never been a woman who didn't return to her parents' home after marriage, especially a concubine. It's a disgrace to give Luo Mei's family only ten taels of silver."
This suited Su Luo's wishes perfectly. With that old Taoist priest in the void, Chen Xique would never be able to leave the Xu family again, unless she died.
Su Luo gave one of the remaining two eggplants to Zhao Ruyun, kept one for themselves, and gave the other to Aunt Li as seeds.
Aunt Li is now pregnant and hardly ever goes out, and Li Niu doesn't let her go out either.
The two of them were extremely careful for the sake of this child.
...
August 25th was another market day. Su Luo took Yan Chuan and Yi Huan to the county, as they were out of practice paper at home.
Go buy some more and see if there are any books or similar items, and bring a few back to study as well.
"Mother, Yi Huan likes going to the county." Yi Huan said, leaning against Su Luo's chest.
"If you like it, I'll take you there often in the future."
There were only five people on the oxcart, so it wasn't crowded. But ever since Li Niu found out that Aunt Li was pregnant, he had become a completely different person.
Not only did he deliver tofu to everyone in the village, but he was in a good mood all day long.
Upon arriving in the county, they refused to accept any travel expenses from Su Luo and the two children.
“Yan Chuan’s mother, you don’t need to give me these fare fees anymore. From now on, my oxcart will be free for your family to ride in. Don’t treat me like a stranger.”
"Uncle Li, you've really gone to so much trouble."
Li Niu and Aunt Li had always wanted to repay her, but if she were to give Li Niu more money, it would make Li Niu uncomfortable.
"No trouble at all, no trouble at all. I'll be waiting for you here when we get back to the village."
Having brought Yan Chuan and Yi Huan to the county, Su Luo wasn't sure when they would return, so she said...
"Uncle Li, you don't need to wait for us. We might not be back until the afternoon. You should go home and keep Aunt Li company. Make her some good food to nourish her."
Speaking of his wife, Li Niu scratched his head and smiled, "Alright, you two be careful."
"Um!"
Let's take the two kids out for breakfast first: "Chuan Chuan, Huan Huan, what would you like for breakfast, steamed buns or noodles?"
"Noodles, where's your little sister?"
Yan Chuan had already eaten steamed buns at the village entrance, and he wanted to eat something else.
"Whatever my brother eats, Huanhuan will eat too."
Su Luo took the two children to a noodle shop. She had tried the noodles from roadside stalls before, and they weren't good.
After finishing the noodles, we went to the fabric shop to buy clothes. It's autumn now, and the weather is starting to get cooler in the mornings and evenings, so we need to buy some thicker clothes.
Once the cotton in the winter space has grown, it can be used to make cotton-padded clothes, so the two children won't get cold.
The four of them each bought two sets, put them in their baskets, and then went to Baozhai Pavilion to pick out books and paper.
The shop owner recommended two more books, but Su Luo decided to buy the cheaper kind for them to practice with.
"Yanchuan, are you ready to accept these two books now?"
Su Luo felt that it was a bit too early for Yan Chuan and Yi Huan to learn this book.
"Mother, I can do it."
“Mom, I can learn too,” Yi Huan added.
These two books are "Youxue Qionglin" and "Wenzi Mengqiu".
Judging from what the shop owner said, this kind of book is something that should only be learned in school. These two children are really beyond Su Luo's expectations.
"Alright, when we get back, I'll study it carefully and teach you the new book."
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