In April, the northwest finally showed signs of spring, with flowers blooming and grass growing, and the colors outside becoming more and more vivid day by day.
It's no different in the countryside, but the people don't have much time to worry about it. Most of them have been busy with spring plowing for more than half a month and are now in the final stage.
The Qiao and Zhang families bought land relatively late, but fortunately the land sold to them by the boy's family had already been planted with crops. Wheat seeds were planted in the best fields, and barley was also planted on the hills.
There are only medium-sized fields where nothing is planted and the land needs to be cultivated.
Miao Wan didn't want to wait for the land to be cultivated, so she planted the wheat and barley seeds. They would be useful after the harvest, so she asked Old Zhang and Old Wu to keep an eye on them.
But it’s a pity to leave the two families’ 20 acres of medium-sized fields empty. It would be much better to use half of them to grow soybeans and the other half to grow sugar beets.
This requires her to quickly ferment the quick-hand fertilizer, preferably in the first half of the month, so that it can be sprinkled on the land after sowing.
When Qiao Ruichen returned to Xiping County, Miao Wan was thinking about the Zhang family's pig manure and chicken manure, so she got up early to see him off.
"Awan..." Qiao Ruichen was very happy. He went out later on purpose just to see if his wife was angry.
"Mr. Xiang, please be careful on the road. Wear this mask I made for you so you don't have to travel all the way and get tired and eat dirt." Miao Wan smiled and took the mask made by Aunt Geng for herself and presented it to Qiao Bailao to curry favor with her.
It's not like she has no contribution either, she spoke out and pointed fingers!
Qiao Ruichen looked at Miao Wan carefully, "You... aren't mad at me, are you?"
"Why should I be angry with my husband?" Miao Wan blinked innocently and said, "I just hope that my husband can come back more often in the future. Taotao and I will miss you."
So, hurry up and go, it’s better to come back early after leaving.
Comrade Qiao Bailao had to work hard on fertilizing, purchasing seeds, collecting wool from Bayin, and even collecting sheep and cow dung.
As for what happened the night before yesterday, Miao Wancai didn't have time to be angry with him. However, she was also happy and didn't turn around and ignore him.
Mainly because she ate too much and she had a lot of things to do, so she pretended to be pitiful and called her mother-in-law back.
When sending Qiao Ruichen off to the pigpen behind Zhang's house, Miao Wan was still thinking that she had gotten a great deal by this calculation.
Even though she was not the one who shared the bridal chamber with Qiao Ruichen, it was just reincarnation. After confirming that she would not be replaced, Miao Wan found that she did not care.
It's not like she loves Qiao Ruichen to death. As long as this man doesn't sleep with other people and disgust her in the future, she has already given birth to a child, so why would she care who sleeps in the bridal chamber?
Besides, she is not the one who has to endure the pain of the bridal chamber. The man is still working hard to practice his skills, and she will also suffer the pain of losing her virginity in the future... If you ask who is more miserable, hehe, Miao Wan thinks it is definitely not herself.
"Oh, Awan is here? As soon as she was able to go out to the fields, she got up early to send your husband back to the military camp." Yang was feeding the pigs. She looked up and saw Miao Wan and teased her.
Miao Wan had been teased several times yesterday, and now her face had become thicker. "Of course, my husband only comes home for a few days a month, and I miss him so much. Second sister-in-law is like a well-fed man who doesn't understand the hunger of a hungry man."
Yang's eyes turned, and she suddenly pursed her lips and smiled, "Oh, but why did I hear that you didn't ask Brother Ruichen to come into the room last night?"
Miao Wan took a closer look at the piglets. They looked quite good, less than a month old, and had become much docile after being castrated. They ate the pig feed made from bean dregs, wine dregs and pig grass, and were gaining weight right away.
Because the piglets were all grunting, she didn't hear anything wrong in Yang's voice. Anyway, it was just the two of them, so Miao Wan had to talk her talk out of control.
"That's because my husband is so awesome. If it weren't for my second sister-in-law, how could I bear the pain and ask him to sleep with my father?"
Yang: "Oh, so next time Brother Ruichen comes back, we won't cause you any trouble..."
"Then I must stick with my husband!" Miao Wan replied casually.
She thought to herself, if you don't cause me trouble, will I, Miao Shiren, let you go? You're kidding.
She felt that the piglets were not growing fast enough. Scientific pig farming in later generations actually meant letting the pigs move more and eat more while ensuring sanitary conditions.
Four to six meals a day, just like walking a dog, if you chase the piglets around more, they will eat more and become stronger. This will prevent them from catching a cold, and the chance of them getting sick will be reduced.
So she turned around and prepared to talk to Yang about the pig walking issue, and then she saw Qiao Ruichen standing not far away with a horse, staring at her intently... and Yang covering her mouth and laughing.
Miao Wan: “…” Eliminate!
She knew that she couldn't say bad things about others behind their backs, otherwise she would be caught by the law of time travel, but no one said that bragging would be allowed to happen!
Miao Wan took a deep breath and walked over expressionlessly, "My husband, are you reluctant to leave me or Taotao? Are you not going to the military camp anymore?"
Qiao Ruichen was relieved of a worry. Miao Wan's words just now made him very happy, but now looking at his wife's expression, he knew that if she laughed, he would never be able to enter the house again.
He suppressed his laughter and said, "I have something to trouble you with, but I came back too late yesterday and forgot to tell you."
Miao Wan walked out angrily, "Then what were you doing just now?"
When they reached a deserted place, Miao Wan rubbed her feet, trying to get rid of all her embarrassment. "Go ahead."
Qiao Ruichen looked down at her, and after she glared at him, he smiled and said, "Bayin will find a way to buy the restaurant on the street in a while."
He felt that his wife had always been thinking about the restaurant on the street, and she would be very happy if she knew the news, so he couldn't help but want to let her know as soon as possible.
As expected, Miao Wan immediately raised her head and looked at him with sparkling eyes. "Are you going to sell it to us? Or use the goods as collateral?"
If we use goods as collateral, we can buy a few more young men and let Uncle Geng and his family take them to make more goods. If we sell them, we can have a restaurant that makes a lot of money every day and we won’t have to worry about not having money to buy a shop.
Qiao Ruichen needed money to go out and do some business. After she had built the house and bought servants and land, she had more than 600 taels left, and she gave most of it to him.
Yesterday, she and Sun Yaozu checked the accounts of Jufu Restaurant. After deducting the costs, the shop made a net profit of 2,260 taels.
Of course, it cost more than three hundred taels to reopen the shop after closing for three days, mainly because iron products such as stoves and iron cauldrons were relatively expensive.
That still left 1,940 taels, which meant they had doubled their earnings within two months of opening the shop.
Miao Wan left 140 taels for Zhang Sanzhuang as cost and emergency expenses, and took out 200 taels as bonuses, which made the Zhang family, who had been busy for a month, very happy.
She and Sun Laohuo each received 640 taels, and the Zhang family also received 320 taels.
In this way, even if the prices at the restaurants on this street are a bit higher, she can make back her money in just two or three months, so...
Wouldn't she soon be a wealthy woman with a five-figure balance?!
Thinking of this, Miao Wan excitedly wanted to go up to Qiao Ruichen and hug him and kiss him. Qiao Bailao was indeed reliable!
"The shop belongs to the Wuliangha family, but I will hand it over to you to manage. It will no longer be a restaurant. I hope... you can do business as a woman." Qiao Ruichen approached his excited wife, not at all disgusted by the faint stench on Miao Wan's body. "Can we return to Beijing earlier? I'm afraid it will be hard for you. Besides the essential oils, can you sell the facial cream and rouge you mentioned..."
Miao Wan immediately understood that this was related to the capture of General Dingbei. In the novel, it took more than ten years until the Chen family was completely wiped out, with the Regent's jumping around in between.
Whether in the northwest or returning to the capital, she didn't want someone to hold her head down and threaten her life for more than ten years. The sooner the better.
She placed the hand that had touched the piglet on Qiao Ruichen's lips and said, "Don't say anything, my husband. I will listen to you."
She was expressing her determination, not intentional revenge.
Qiao Ruichen didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He grabbed Miao Wan's small hand and squeezed it in his palm. "Okay, I've told Dad everything. I'll discuss it with you in detail later on how to arrange it. I see you've used up all the wool you had. If you need new wool, just tell Dad to collect it. Then he can discuss the details with Bayin."
Miao Wan: "...Oh, then why did you call me out and tell me so much?"
Qiao Ruichen smiled and kissed her lips gently. "I just remembered that I forgot to tell you that I missed you too."
Miao Wan: “…”
She stared at Qiao Ruichen's back until he disappeared from her sight, then she hummed twice, became happy again, and almost jumped up and down to continue looking at the piglet.
Yang was amused by her lively appearance and laughed, "We've only been talking for a short while, and you've been so coaxed by Brother Ruichen that you've lost your mind?"
"Second sister-in-law doesn't know this, right?" Miao Wan thought about the two-story building and the money she was about to earn, and smiled with her eyes narrowed. Before continuing to speak, she looked around and made sure that there was no one around before continuing to brag.
"My husband, he's good at talking and... hehehe, he's a treasure inside and out!" His body is useful, and his heart brings wealth, hahahaha...
Yang: "..." My goodness, she is a woman who has been married for many years, but she made Miao Wan, a little girl, blush.
Young couples these days are really too unrestrained, it's so embarrassing.
Even though he thought so, when Zhang Erzhuang came over with more pig food, he was still glared at by Yang. He was useless inside and out, so what was the use of having such a man?
Zhang Erzhuang was stared at with bewilderment. What happened? He washed his feet before going to bed last night.
When Miao Wan saw Zhang Erzhuang coming over, she immediately asked him, "Second brother, where do you usually transport the pig manure and chicken manure?"
"Oh, isn't there an old temple mountain nearby? We can just carry all the manure to the west end of town. There are special night dung dealers who pay two copper coins for a bucket. Someone will use a cart to transport it all to the mountain and spread it in a deserted place. It can also protect us from wild animals."
Miao Wan asked, "Then if we give him the copper coins, or even a little more, can we let him transport the manure to our fields?"
"In the fields?" Zhang Erzhuang didn't understand. "Are you planning to use manure to fertilize the fields? Don't do that. Experienced farmers have tried it, but sometimes the crops grow better, and other times the seedlings die before they even sprout."
"I understand. I have a way to make the manure nourish the soil and make the crops grow better." Miao Wan said.
She knew that people had been using manure to fertilize the land for a long time, but the reason it was not widely promoted was that manure was used directly as fertilizer, which burned the seedlings.
Manure must be fermented before it can be used.
She heard from the village party secretary that in the early years, people could not afford chemical fertilizers, so they mostly used manure. Because the manure of various animals contains a lot of bacteria, it can easily affect crops if it is not fermented properly, and there are many requirements for fermentation.
It's too boring to do it at home, so it's better to move it to the field. She knows the simplest way to make compost, which is also the base fertilizer for the soil.
Because she was young at that time, it was okay for her to have the help of fellow villagers in sowing and fertilizing, and the only fertilizer she came into contact with was the base fertilizer.
After the crops grow, if you need to fertilize or harvest them, you have to hire someone to do it, and she, a child, will definitely not be allowed to participate.
But base fertilizer is just right for the current situation.
Zhang Erzhuang was not particularly familiar with farming. When Yang was a child, she had gone to her mother's land with her sister-in-law, but she didn't know much about it.
Right in front of them stood the God of Wealth who had just made the family earn over three hundred taels of silver. In other words, when Miao Wan said that farts were fragrant, they hesitated for a moment and were sure that there was something wrong with their noses.
"Okay, I'll go talk to that person. I know that person." Zhang Erzhuang said.
Miao Wan reminded him again, "By the way, we can pay him two wages, but human feces and animal feces cannot be put together. They must be separated."
Human feces can be directly added with water and fermented at high temperature, which will take less time and is easier to be absorbed by the soil.
However, animal manure, especially chicken and pig manure, needs to be diluted with straw and wheat bran, and then disinfected with charcoal powder and grass powder. Only in this way can the fermented fertilizer be used as base fertilizer.
When Yang returned home, she couldn't help but grumble to her mother-in-law, "Mom, how could Awan know this? She's never been exposed to these dirty things."
Miao Wan was originally from a noble family. She has probably lived for almost twenty years. She only started to see what farmland looks like last year, right?
But Madam Zhang felt that Miao Wan was definitely not making a fuss. "Why do you care how Awan knew this? My daughter can read and write. What's not in that book?"
Has there ever been a time when Awan didn't make money from it?
Madam Zhang put down her work. "Okay, Donkey Egg and Dog Egg are back from school. They said everyone has book baskets. Awan drew me a new design, saying it's a school bag. You can make them for your son and nephew while I go talk to Awan. We need to fertilize the fields, too."
Yang: "..." She already had a lot of things to do, why would she bother to nag her mother-in-law?
Madam Zhang went to the Qiao family, but found nothing.
Miao Wan was taken to the Jufu Restaurant by Zhang Sanzhuang's men in a mule cart. Zhang Sanzhuang said that some important guest had come and insisted on seeing the owner to discuss important matters.
Miao Wan asked the waiter, "Didn't you tell everyone that the boss is the second master of Wuliangha? Why do you want me to go?"
The waiter had no idea what was going on. He just said, "The distinguished guest is a lady who looks like she's from Northern Mongolia. The shopkeeper just said he'd definitely invite you over and didn't tell me anything else."
Qiao Shengwen heard this and stood at the door. "Awan, why don't you go over and consider what the distinguished guest said. If you feel it's inappropriate, you don't have to agree to it."
Miao Wan had just finished feeding Taotao and was burping her. She now held the child close to her father-in-law and asked, "Do you know who it is?"
Qiao Shengwen explained quietly, fearing to disturb his granddaughter, "It's probably someone from the Wuliangha clan. I think they want to tell you about a new business. We need to think carefully about this matter. We have to be very careful about any business we do. There's no need to rush."
Miao Wan understood now. Did the restaurant on the street have news? Of course she had to go.
She happily handed Taotao to her mother-in-law, spent some time preparing milk, and then followed the waiter to the restaurant.
As soon as she entered the door, she happened to meet the waiter serving the freshly made Mapo Tofu. The red and white Mapo Tofu on the tray was trembling, with distinct meat grains. The spicy and fragrant tofu flavor made Miao Wan swallow her saliva.
Not to mention, it’s already April and the customers have been eating barbecue for a month, so the novelty has probably worn off a lot, so everyone discussed and decided that Ju Fu Restaurant will focus on spicy grilled fish and mapo tofu this month.
The aroma in the restaurant really attracts customers.
As for the waiting area, several puzzle games have been added, such as poker, which is absolutely indispensable.
Games like Landlord and Royalist aren't very suitable, and the upgrades are too complicated, and Miao Wan herself doesn't even know how to do them.
I simply chose to play only Stride and Blackjack, and with the winner-gets-a-coupon gameplay, many customers in the waiting area were having a blast playing.
I just had lunch and dinner in the restaurant, and I could even take a nap on the kang if I was tired.
"Third brother, have the guests finished eating?" Miao Wan asked Zhang Sanzhuang.
Zhang Sanzhuang nodded. "They should have finished eating, right? The grilled fish and mapo tofu were brought in half an hour ago."
Miao Wan thought, there should be no portion for her, "Then Third Brother, can you give me another portion each? I haven't had lunch yet."
Zhang Sanzhuang remembered Geng's instructions, "But you still..."
"I've prepared rations for Taotao, and they don't need such heavy ingredients. Can't you tell Sun Ada to use half and make it smaller for me?" Miao Wan raised her hands and acted pitiful. "If I don't eat well, my brain might not work well either, and I might get ripped off."
Zhang Sanzhuang: "..." I think there's something wrong with your brain now, it's caused by greed.
He had no choice but to secretly tell Sun Laohuo, "Dad, put less ingredients, one-third... no, one-quarter will be enough. When you're done, only give her one bowl each. No more."
Sun Laohuo was willing to do so. He only asked, "Are you sure Awan won't get angry with you? Xun Xiu will be gone in a few days."
Zhang Sanzhuang: "...Dad, just give it half the ingredients. Serve the dishes as you like. Just pretend I didn't say anything."
Wuwu Qiao Am, I'm sorry. For the sake of more than a dozen of us, I asked Master to give Taotao a few fewer beatings. It's okay to let Taotao go hungry for a meal, right? My niece will definitely understand me!
Miao Wan had already arrived at the kang room reserved for Bayin, and was startled as soon as she entered the door.
She heard the waiter say that the visitor was Mrs. Beimeng, but she didn't expect that the maid standing by the kang was a Beimeng maid wearing a Beimeng robe and two big braids. But the middle-aged woman sitting cross-legged on the kang, with a high nose and deep eyes, looked more like someone from the Western Regions.
"Awan, is it? Come in! I am Su Rina, Agula's wife." Su Rina said with a smile. Her Chinese was more fluent than Bayin, without any accent at all.
"My Eji is a princess from the Western Regions, so I'm prettier than many Northern Mongolian women, right?"
Miao Wan nodded subconsciously, "That's not just a little bit, it's much more beautiful."
This Lady Agula is very similar to Sister Chenxi in terms of aura and temperament. She is even prettier than Sister Chenxi and looks very much like a queen-like superstar in later generations. She makes the floral mattress in the kang room look a bit more vibrant.
Miao Wan obediently took off her embroidered shoes and sat cross-legged opposite Su Rina, "Has Madam Agula eaten?"
Su Rina looked at Miao Wan calmly, "Call me by my name. I've been waiting in your restaurant for so long. Do you think I've eaten?"
"I mean, I haven't eaten yet." Maybe because Su Rina looked too much like Lu Chenxi, Miao Wan subconsciously raised her chin and gave a flattering smile.
Su Rina: "..." It's a bit silly. This doesn't look like the God of Wealth that Bayin talked about.
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