Su Tai didn't know whether to laugh or cry when she heard Su Changxi's inappropriate praise. "Uncle, please stop making fun of me! Come in and have some hot tea."
Su Changxi walked in, sat down, and then asked, "Xiaotai, uncle wants to ask you something, do you still need strawberries?"
Su Tai nodded, "Of course it is necessary."
Su Changxi let out a long sigh, his tense expression relaxed a little, and pointed happily at the old man beside him, "This is Gao Zhi, the village chief of Ximen Village. You can call him Uncle Gao. Do you know him?"
Su Tai really had no impression of the village chief of Ximen Village, but she would not let Su Changxi down. "I think I have met him before."
"It's good to have seen you! It's like this. In recent years, the villagers of Ximen Village have no extra income except for farming and growing some apples. Your uncle Changfu is also very troubled. I want to ask, can we let them grow strawberries as well?"
Gao Zhixin, who was standing by, also smiled up, with a bit of flattery and a bit of timidity and humility in his smile.
She couldn't stop thinking about all sorts of things in her mind. In the past, Su Tai was a fool that everyone talked about, but now she is the wife of a town official and has a marquis as her backer. Now that her brother's wife's younger sister has married into the royal family, not to mention the county magistrate, even the prefect would have to be polite to her.
As expected, everyone has their own destiny. If Mo Chunxiang from their village doesn't break off the engagement...
Gao Zhi hurriedly shook his head. With Mo Chunxiang's personality, she hoped she would make Shen Yi's life even more miserable. He even found it ridiculous to expect her to share the hardships with Shen Yi.
Su Tai thought about it for a moment and agreed.
"Strawberry jam is in greater supply than demand now, at least in the next two to three years. People in Ximen Village can come to my house to buy fruit seedlings if they want to grow it, but they must give priority to selling the strawberries they grow to us. Of course, we will also give a fair price, and we will not cheat anyone. Of course, we will not buy all of it, and we will keep some for you to sell yourself. If you want to sell all of it to us, that's fine too."
Gao Zhi was so happy that he nodded without thinking, "Of course I should."
In front of Su Tai, he didn't even dare to ask the price of the fruit seedlings. After getting her approval, he couldn't wait to go back and tell the villagers the good news.
Su Changxi sent him out and talked for a while before coming back in.
He sighed, "Thinking back to when the drought hit, the people of Ximen Village were so arrogant. Now, people from their village can't even hold their heads up when they go out. They even avoid our village and Zhongmen Village when they go to the market."
"Grandpa, why is this happening?" Shen Yuezhang walked into the room carrying a snack, tilted his head, and looked at Su Changxi curiously.
Su Changxi liked her intelligence and cleverness, and analyzed it carefully for her, "Because they are poor! The best-off families in the whole village have living conditions equivalent to the poorest families in our village, or even worse. Look, are there still people in Dongmen Village wearing patched clothes now?"
Shen Yuezhang shook his head in thought, “I haven’t seen it before, but there are more of them recently.”
"That's because they have to work in the fields, so they don't feel bad about wearing torn clothes. It's not the same thing! They don't even have a good piece of clothing. When they meet them on the way to the market, they feel ashamed and inferior, right?"
Shen Yuezhang nodded thoughtfully.
Su Changxi sighed again and looked at Su Tai. "Everyone is counting on your family to get rich, but it's your family that Ximen Village has offended. Your uncle Changfu really doesn't have the face to come to you, so he can only think of a solution on his own. Even their village planted apples, but your uncle Changfu persuaded everyone to plant some after he had talked them into it.
Now that the apples are bearing fruit, they regret not planting enough. Oh! I really don’t know what to say. However, they are poor, and it is unrealistic for them to spend so much money to grow apples. Strawberry seedlings are cheaper, so they can still afford it to some extent. "
Su Changxi was willing to explain so much, so Su Tai could naturally understand.
In the evening, Su Chunlin and Han came back from farm work. When they learned that Su Tai agreed to let Ximen Village grow strawberries, they couldn't help but say a few words and go over old accounts.
Su Tai drank chicken soup and listened silently.
I stayed at my mother's house for one night, and went back home with my four children after breakfast the next day.
The twins had obviously played too much at their grandparents' house and kept making a fuss and refused to leave. Shen Yuezhang glared at them and forced them into the carriage.
The two little ones in the carriage were half crying, hugging Su Tai's arms, one on each side.
"Mom, when can we come to my grandparents' house again?" Shen Congyu looked at Su Tai pitifully.
Su Tai pinched his nose amusedly, "Are you so reluctant to leave?"
Shen Congrong said: "Mother, my brother did it on purpose. At my grandparents' house, he either climbed a tree to take bird eggs or went to the stream to catch small fish. He also stepped on cow dung to play. It was so smelly that my grandmother didn't want it anymore. She scolded him every day."
Shen Yuezhang almost fainted when he thought of Shen Congyu falling on the cow dung, “Stop talking, I won’t be able to eat in a while!”
Su Tai looked at her youngest son in surprise, "Does your father know that you are so naughty?"
Shen Congyu clenched his little fist and sniffed, “Dad is busy, Mom and my brothers and sisters didn’t tell me, so Dad doesn’t know!”
"I say!" Shen Yuean smiled evilly, showing eight teeth.
Shen Congyu immediately glared at her, "Mom, my sister went to the field to steal strawberries, picking one and eating one, and came home when she was full, and couldn't even eat."
"Hmm?" Su Tai tilted her head to look at her youngest daughter.
Shen Yuean was anxious, "You didn't even sleep in the middle of the night and sneaked out to play!"
"You secretly cut your sister's hair."
"Put loaches under Grandfather's pillow."
"you"
The more Su Tai listened, the more shocked she became. She wondered whether she should use a rattan cane or a wooden stick to beat the child. No, the wooden stick was too thick. If the child was hurt, it would not be worth it. So she decided to use the rattan cane.
Shen Yuezhang and Shen Congrong looked at each other and lit candles for their younger brother and sister in their hearts.
After the carriage arrived home.
Su Tai rushed into the house without saying a word and took out the rattan.
There were sounds of children howling in the yard.
Mother Zhang led Shen Xi into the house in a panic. Without saying a word, she snatched the cane from Su Tai's hand and protected the child behind her. "We just came back, why are you beating me? The child is young and ignorant, don't hurt him!"
Under the ladder given by Mrs. You Zhang, Su Tai stopped and glared at the two kids, "I'll let you off today, but you'll have to copy the books when you go back. If you make trouble again, I'll beat you up next time!"
The two children walked into the main room crying.
There were no secrets in the village. By the evening the whole village knew that Su Tai had beaten the twins.
Many people urged Shen Yi to go home and persuade Su Tai.
As soon as Shen Yi got home, he started complaining before he even asked Su Tai, recounting the twins' "great achievements" in Dongmen Village.
Chen Yi was also overwhelmed after hearing this, "They deserve to be beaten! Beat them hard! Don't be angry, wife, I will punish them later."
The twins who were writing in the main room glanced at the yard with resentful eyes, and quickly continued to write.
Shen Yi walked in and took a look at the two children's big handwriting, and was happy, "Not bad! Your handwriting has improved." (End of this chapter)
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