On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, Peng Zhang boarded the ship back to Beijing with 2,000 lip balms, 1,000 boxes of hand creams, and 200 baskets of vegetables that Tian An and his men had hurriedly produced.
At Huanyanfang, lip balm sold for 50 wen per tube, so Tian An charged Peng 45 wen per tube. Hand cream sold for 150 wen per box, so he charged Peng 145 wen.
The price of vegetables for the restaurant was two taels of silver for a basket of fifty jin. Tian An gave him five more jins in each basket for the same price.
When Peng Zhang left, Tian An directly received more than 600 taels of silver, which immediately made up for the emptiness she felt from spending money on buying the farm and the shop.
When the villagers saw Tian An's family taking out cartloads of vegetables and heard that they were still selling them to the capital, they were all furious. They would run to the village chief's house every day when they had nothing to do.
The village chief didn't indulge them. In a word, if you want to build a greenhouse, no problem! Prepare the money yourself and go to Tian An, and bear the profits and losses yourself.
How could they have the money? Even if they had the money, they wouldn't dare to do it themselves! As long as there is a little money in their pocket, everyone would value it more than their life!
The villagers had no choice but to watch others make money. But soon, they became happy because Zhao Yiming was going to hold a thank-you banquet for Tian An.
When Tian An was in trouble, many villagers braved the heavy rain to help him go up the mountain to look for people. Regardless of whether they helped or not, you should always show some appreciation for the effort they put in.
Originally, this thank-you banquet should have been held when Tian An was almost recovered from his illness, but unfortunately, Peng Zhang had to return to Beijing, so it was delayed in order to rush the work for him.
Now, as soon as Peng Zhang leaves, things have to be put on the agenda, otherwise people will talk about him.
This year, it seems that we can’t make that money, but everyone is still very happy to be able to have a good meal before the New Year.
Chen Qiang was Tian An's housekeeper, so naturally he was responsible for organizing the banquet. Early in the morning, he prepared three menus for Tian An to review.
Most of the dishes on the three recipes were made with ingredients already at home, so there wasn't much to buy. Tian An chose one and asked him to prepare it.
There are many people in the village, including their own farmhands and people from the farm, so two or three pigs need to be slaughtered, as well as chickens, fish and other things.
We have pigs and chickens raised at home, and there are also vegetables in the vegetable garden, so we can just pick them directly. The only things we need to buy are fish, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and wine. A banquet cannot be held without wine.
It’s great to have a housekeeper. You don’t have to worry about anything, everything is ready.
The next morning, Mangzhong delivered a set of goose yellow embroidered white rabbit fur quilted jacket and skirt, along with matching gloves, a scarf, and earmuffs.
After changing her clothes, I helped her comb her hair into a beautiful bun.
Ever since Mangzhong saw Grandma Qin combing a bun for Tian An on the Mid-Autumn Festival, she took the initiative to learn from Grandma Qin for a while.
Now her hair-combing skills have become more refined. Not only is it quick, but it also looks good and suits her perfectly. Tian An knows how to apply makeup, but she feels completely helpless with the complex buns of ancient times. So, whenever she styled her hair, she would always style it in a bun on each side, which she managed to keep neat and symmetrical.
The banquet was held in the village school. Six tables were set up at a time. After one round of eating, the next round could not be started until all the tables were cleared. This continued until everyone had eaten.
The tables and chairs were set up early in the morning. When Zhao Yiming took Tian An, Xiaokang, Grandma Qin and Mr. Han to the village school, many villagers had already arrived.
Chen Qiang prepared a lot of peanuts and sunflower seeds for everyone to munch on. Those who had already arrived gathered in groups of three or four to chat with those they knew.
Seeing Tian An arrive, he took the initiative to step forward and say hello:
An aunt looked at Tian An and said, "An An, you are finally well again! You seem to be in good spirits."
Tian An replied with a smile: "Thank you for your concern, Auntie. I'm almost well now."
The grandmother beside him said seriously, "Getting caught in the rain in the middle of winter is no joke. Girls tend to get cold easily. If you don't pay attention, you'll suffer when you get married."
Tian An knew what she meant and knew she meant well, so he stepped forward and thanked her, "Thank you for your concern, Grandma. I will pay attention and won't let the disease develop."
Hearing this, the old lady nodded with a look of satisfaction and said, "Just keep it in mind. A girl's health should never be taken lightly. This is a matter of a lifetime."
Several women nearby also joined in the conversation: "Who says it's not true? There was a little girl in my mother's village who fell into the river in the middle of winter. After being fished out, she survived, but unfortunately our family was poor and couldn't afford to buy her food and take care of her, so she developed a cold."
At this point, the woman looked around and lowered her voice, "After I got married, the first time I got pregnant, the baby died right after birth. I got pregnant a few more times after that, but each time I couldn't keep the pregnancy, and later on, I just couldn't get pregnant anymore.
It was a serious sin for a woman to be unable to bear children. Her husband had no feelings for her at all and divorced her directly, then married a widow from the same village.
Everyone was so excited that they asked the woman what happened to the girl she was talking about.
At this time, many people came and saw Tian An, and they all came over to express their concern and condolences. Tian An was busy dealing with everyone, so he didn't listen carefully to what the woman said.
I vaguely heard that after the girl was divorced and returned home, her brother and sister-in-law disliked her for wasting the family's food, so they bought two pounds of brown rice from a lame old man in the next village and sold her. Life after that became even worse, with frequent beatings...
Alas! Women in this era have such a miserable life! Tian An sighed a little, but she couldn't let herself live like this.
Gradually, more and more people arrived. Seeing that the time was almost up, Chen Qiang began to arrange the banquet. When the meal started, Tian Ande went to each table to express his gratitude. After a whole morning, he was exhausted.
After the thank-you banquet, Tian An and Mangzhong started making facial cleansers, moisturizers, and the like. Huanyanfang's business was booming, and even though they were working hard every day, they still didn't have much stock, and sometimes they even had to make pre-orders.
Not long after dinner, just as it was getting dark, Zhao Yiming came personally to urge Tian An to rest.
"There's still light outside, and it gets dark early in winter. It's too early to go to bed now!" Tian An said she was not sleepy at all.
Zhao Yiming also knew that it was a bit early to go to bed. Seeing that Tian An was unwilling, he did not mention it again. But he also did not allow her to continue with those breasts.
However, when it was time to go to bed at night, Zhao Yiming actually brought her a bowl of chicken soup.
Tian An: ...What's going on? Why does she feel like Zhao Yiming is a little strange?
Suddenly, Tian An had an idea. Could it be that he had heard what those women said today?
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