Chapter 553: Humble Season
When the couple returned home, it was already completely dark.
"Dad is back!"
Si Niang shouted in surprise and went out first. Seeing the pears on the cart, she asked curiously:
"Dad bought so many pears. Can we eat them all?"
Liu Ji parked the ox cart, jumped off first, turned around to help Qin Yao, and as expected, was rejected and avoided.
Liu Ji shrugged his shoulders and prepared to unload the goods. He carried the four baskets of pears on the cart into the yard, one basket in each hand.
Dalang and his companions who came out later exclaimed, "So many pears!"
Sanlang stretched out his hand to take one to taste, but Liu Ji ruthlessly waved him away, "Go away, go away, this is picked by Dad himself for your mother, and mother hasn't touched it yet."
Sanlang pouted and immediately ran to find A Niang, looking up and saying loudly: "A Niang, I want to eat pears!"
"I want one too!" Si Niang immediately followed.
Qin Yao pulled the twins away from her body with amusement, motioned Awang to take the ox cart away, and instructed Yin Le and Li: "Wash a basin of pears and taste them. We don't know if such small pears are sweet or not."
Yin Le agreed and hurriedly brought a wooden basin to fill with a dozen pears and took it to the water tank to wash them. The greedy twins couldn't resist any more and followed immediately. As soon as the pears touched the water, they picked up the pears and took a big bite.
It was crispy, with a thick skin, but the juice was sweet. Si Niang immediately ran to A Niang and stood on tiptoe to ask her to taste it.
"Very sweet." Si Niang handed it forward expectantly. Qin Yao had no way of refusing. It was now right in front of her mouth, and the little girl would not give up without taking a bite.
This pear is not the thin-skinned and soft-fleshed snow pear, but a local native pear. It has a yellowish-brown skin and is spherical in shape. It is about the size of a seven or eight-year-old child's clenched fist. It matures in August or September. Now it is October, and this should be the last batch.
Under Si Niang's expectant gaze, Qin Yao lowered her head and took a small bite. The meat was thick and slightly hard, and the juice was not very abundant, but it was indeed very sweet.
"Have you picked all the pears from the mountain?" Qin Yao asked as she walked towards the water tank.
Liu Ji moved the basket that he was going to give to the teacher and senior brother to the corridor, told the children not to touch the basket, trotted a few steps to follow Qin Yao, and said with a smile:
"Yes, I personally selected each one. If it's not sweet, not big, or not round, I won't accept it. How about it? Do you think it tastes good? I heard from the original fruit farmer that it usually sells for seven or eight cents per pound."
But now it’s almost winter and the weather is getting colder, so pears will become harder to sell. Instead of letting them rot on the trees, it’s better to pick them.
Qin Yao automatically ignored the first half of Liu Ji's nonsense and only paid attention to the price of the local pears. Thinking that he had conducted an on-site inspection this time, she asked in detail about the year and yield of the fruit trees.
Liu Ji scooped water for her to wash her hands with, "That forest is very large, and it's all planted with yellow pears. The trees are all over ten years old, and they produce tens of thousands of kilograms of fruit a year. In a good year, they can be sold for a hundred taels of silver."
By the way, he recounted the story of renting out the shop and house, emphasizing how hard he had worked to find a reliable buyer and how he had gone to great lengths to get a good price for the rent.
Qin Yao raised her hand. She didn't want to listen to so much nonsense. She took the cloth handed by Liu Ji, wiped her face and hands, and asked directly: "Where is the silver?"
Liu Ji hung up the cloth and took out his money bag and presented it to her like a treasure. "I rented the shop for thirty taels, rented the courtyard in the suburbs for ten taels, and also the ten acres of paddy fields given by the Deng family. I thought it was too far from home, so I sold them all to a rich family in the village at eight taels per acre. The total is one hundred and twenty taels of silver. Please count it, my lady."
While Qin Yao was counting the money, he said, "I met a lot of people who wanted to ask me for favors this time, but I remembered my wife's teachings. As soon as they came forward, I immediately pushed them away!"
"I told them, Master, the money my wife earns is more than she can spend in her lifetime. Master, I am not short of money. Don't bother me with any dirty things!"
After saying that, his big eyes looked at her expectantly, blinking.
The money was correct. Qin Yao tied up the purse and put it in her pocket. She patted his shoulder with satisfaction and said, "Wash your hands and come to the table to eat."
"Oh, by the way, I want to drink pear juice, make me a bowl." After giving the order, he remembered something and turned back to ask Yin Ledalang and his sister who were chewing pears in the yard: "Do you want to drink pear juice?"
The four siblings said without hesitation: "Yes!"
Liu Ji glared, and Yin Le and Awang, who were about to say yes, silently closed their open mouths and bit the peeled pears in their hands.
Liu Ji nodded in satisfaction, and then said to the four brothers and sisters: "Since you have eaten pears, don't drink pear juice. Pears are too cold, and eating too much is not good for your body."
After saying this, without giving the four siblings a chance to refute, he picked up the three pears that Li had just peeled and went into the kitchen.
Chop the pears into pieces and mash them in a clean stone mortar. Then filter them with clean gauze. A bowl of fresh pear juice that doesn't look good but tastes very good is ready.
The remaining residue can be used to feed cows and horses, so nothing will be wasted.
At the dinner table, Yin Le, Awang and the four brothers and sisters all shook their heads as they watched Qin Yao eat her rice with a sip of pear juice, while Liu Ji was attentive beside her, adding more dishes and asking if she wanted another bowl of pear juice.
Humble, too humble.
Originally, Liu Ji brought so many pears that he was worried that they would rot if he couldn't eat them quickly.
But now that Qin Yao has three bowls of pear juice a day, the other people in the family haven't eaten it for a few days, and in the blink of an eye, all the pears are gone.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of food at home now, so I don’t have to worry about it too much.
The weather is getting colder day by day. It's okay when there's sunshine during the day, but the temperature drops sharply in the evening. Only by lighting a charcoal brazier at night can you avoid feeling cold.
After a night of heavy rain, the cold air poured in, the mountains became bleak, and it was so cold that no one wanted to go out.
Qin Yao's family urgently changed into last year's thick winter clothes, but the four brothers and sisters of Dalang were still shivering with cold as they had to rush to school early.
Sanlang sneezed and a bubble of snot blew out. Yin Le quickly took out a handkerchief to help him wipe his face clean. Awang then stuffed a water bag filled with hot water into his hand.
With the source of warmth, Sanlang's runny nose stopped. Not daring to delay, he quickly climbed into the windproof carriage, got into the thick mattress prepared by Li, and wrapped himself tightly.
Liu Ji walked out with his arms folded and looked at the gray sky, muttering: "It's so cold and the road is slippery, why don't we not go to school?"
After these words were spoken, even the studious Wang Erlang couldn't help but feel surprised.
Sanlang, who had already crawled into the carriage and wrapped himself tightly, immediately climbed out and looked at his father with wide eyes in surprise: "Really?"
Liu Ji raised his eyebrows jokingly and pointed to the main house with its door closed.
At this hour, there was no way Qin Yao would get up. She was still lazing around in the warm bed.
Liu Ji instigated Dalang and raised his chin, saying, "Go ask your mother. As long as she agrees, you don't have to go to school today."
Erlang, Sanlang, and Si Niang immediately called out expectantly, "Big Brother!"
"Isn't this a bad idea?" Dalang was a little hesitant. What if his mother got woken up and got angry?
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