Chapter 118 Jinjiang First Release Chapter 118 The Guibang has been released, but...
From that day on, Fang Shu would send a letter home every two or three days, sometimes including some local specialties and snacks. This was thanks to Hong Huan's help, as "mailing" was free. Otherwise, Yu Qinglong suspected that all the money he brought to Fang Shu would have gone on postage.
But no matter what, receiving letters is a joy, and opening envelopes has become one of his favorite things to do recently.
The next thing to do was dig potatoes. The official autumn harvest had begun. This year's potato crop was plentiful, with some fertilized potatoes reaching the size of two of his fists. While this was rare—most potatoes were about the size of his fist or smaller—the result was still quite satisfying, not to mention the abundance of fruit on each plant.
To preserve the potatoes as intact as possible, Yu Qinglong commissioned the Wu family to create a batch of special rakes. These rakes have longer front tines than ordinary rakes, and their tips are less sharp. Each digging operation covers a large area, carefully avoiding areas where potatoes might bear fruit while still digging. This manually breaks up the larger clumps of soil, allowing for the extraction of numerous potatoes.
Yu Qinglong had people carefully sorting the taro, sorting them into four categories: large, medium, small, and extra small. The extra small ones, no bigger than a ping-pong ball, were dug up and washed clean the same day, skinned, and used to make potato sauce with pork belly. He also added dried beans he'd grown and dried himself, as well as dandelions, chili peppers, and perilla leaves.
After the dish is prepared, the meat is very fragrant, the potatoes and beans are a bit chewy, and it is slightly salty and spicy. The dandelion can also reduce heat, and it also has the fragrance of perilla, which is very appetizing and goes well with rice.
As for the small potatoes, steam them, slice them and dry them.
The large and medium ones are kept for eating. The ones that are not in good shape or are accidentally damaged when digging are used to make starch, regardless of their size.
Yu Qinglong's home has been quite busy these days. Potatoes are being pulled back in carts. Some people are fetching water, some are washing potatoes, and some are grinding them.
At first, everyone was confused as to how this fruit-like thing could be made into flour, since it wasn't a grain. But after grinding and washing, the flour turned out to be much whiter than wheat flour.
Yu Qinglong also tried making potato flour. He didn't know how to make it at first, until he happened to see Fang Wu making steamed dumplings. He saw Fang Wu boil half the flour, then add the other half and cold water to knead it into a dough, then roll it into dough. Inspired by this, he tried boiling potato flour, then adding the flour and kneading it into a dough, then rolling it into strips. To his surprise, he actually succeeded.
He made a big bowl of hot and sour noodles, which everyone in the family loved, especially Yuan Sihan, who could eat a whole bowl at a meal without feeling it was too much.
That day, Yu Qinglong sifted the dried potato starch into a bag and said to Mrs. Wu, "Mother, I'm planning to go to the county town. Yangyang and Xiao Shitou will have to be looked after by you and father for a few days."
"Are you going alone? Or with Brother Han?"
"With Han Ge'er. He wants to buy a house there. Shuang Ge'er has already helped him find a few, and he wants to go and pick one out. I'll also stop by Fu Yue Restaurant. Potato flour can be used to make some delicious things, and I'll go and exchange it for some silver."
"Okay, then you can go without worry. Your father and I are here to take good care of the children."
Originally, Yu Qinglong had intended to wait until Fang Shu returned before going. But Qin Yushuang had sent word that the houses were all very good, with many people interested in buying them, and the sellers couldn't wait too long. Since he also wanted to buy a house in the county town, he figured he'd stop by and take a look.
Fang Shu sent a letter every two or three days. The letter he wrote two days ago said that his return would be postponed because a distinguished person from the provincial capital came and asked to see Fang Shu.
Fang Shu was very troubled, but he couldn't refuse. Yu Qinglong decided not to wait for him and go to see it himself.
At dawn the next day, Niu Quan led a team to escort Yu Qinglong and Yuan Sihan to the county town. Qin Yushuang had waited until her hair turned gray, but they finally arrived. While welcoming them at the Fuyue Restaurant, he said, "I'll be running out of excuses if you delay any longer. Those houses are perfect in both location and price. You'll definitely like them."
"Is it close to your home?" Yuan Sihan asked.
"It's close, only an incense stick's worth of time to get there. That's why I rushed you here, fearing someone else might have bought it first." Qin Yushuang said, "Brother Yuan, if you really buy a house over there, I can come visit you every day. And Long'er, weren't you looking for a house with a large courtyard? There are two families that have over two mu of land. The courtyards are large and bright."
"What's the price?"
"One family wants seven hundred and twenty taels of silver, and another wants eight hundred taels."
This was a huge sum of money for Yu Qinglong in the past, but now he can take it out in full at any time.
Although he hadn't written any more storybooks that year, he had earned over 1,300 taels of silver from the sales of clothing and glove designs. Rich men and women, in particular, would sometimes request a custom design, wanting to wear something different from everyone else's. Such designs could fetch 30 to 50 taels of silver each. A good, intricate design could fetch 20 to 30 taels of silver per design.
Adding in the contributions from Fuyue Restaurant and those from his relatives and friends, he had nearly three thousand taels of silver in his hands. It wasn't difficult to buy a house worth seven or eight hundred taels.
He wanted to buy this house because, firstly, he wanted to have a fallback for his family, in case a disaster struck the countryside and they had nowhere to go. Secondly, he wanted to make it convenient for him to bring his family over to visit in the future.
It is not suitable for children to stay in a restaurant, after all, there are too many people and it is noisy.
And most importantly, Fang Shu had just finished his exams. Whether he passed or not was unknown, but if he did, Fang Shu had recently been open to the idea of becoming an official. If he were to become an official, buying a house afterward would be a source of criticism, so it would be better to buy one now. Huaitong County was already well-developed and close to the coast, so housing prices weren't likely to drop anytime soon.
Qin Yushuang found a reliable real estate agent and personally took Yu Qinglong and Yuan Sihan to look at houses. Yuan Sihan didn't like the size of the house either. Firstly, he considered it a short-term residence, and secondly, he felt that if it was too big, it wouldn't attract people unless there were a large family.
"I just want to have a place to live here." Yuan Sihan quickly decided on the one closest to the Qin family.
"Long Ge'er, what do you think?"
"I'll take the one with eight hundred taels," Yu Qinglong said. "We'll talk about the price later."
Qin Yushuang also thought that the house was good. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he felt a sense of enlightenment. So he negotiated with the seller and finally reduced the price by another eighty taels of silver. Originally, it was impossible to reduce the price by so much, but when the seller heard that it was Yu Qinglong, who had provided relief to disaster victims last year and was on good terms with the Qin family, he happily gave more.
The two parties completed the transfer of ownership on the same day.
As the money became more and more, Yu Qinglong couldn't convert it all into cash, so he kept some banknotes, which came in handy now.
After buying the house, Yu Qinglong decided to keep the couple who were already responsible for cleaning the place. Seeing how efficient they were, he decided to keep them. The owner of the house had sold his house and was planning to move to another county town. His son was an official there, so they had found a new house there and planned to live with him. As for this place, they also had some businesses and a shop, so they would have a place to stay for a short period of time.
The cleaning couple were of good family background and had no intention of following. This saved Yu Qinglong the trouble of finding someone else.
Everything went smoothly. After completing the paperwork, Yu Qinglong went to Fuyue Restaurant and taught Guo Hengan how to make sweet and sour pork, selling him some potato starch. He also taught Guo Hengan how to make potato flour: "It's similar to mung bean flour. But mung bean flour is cold, while potato flour is much better."
Guo Hengan slurped it up, and the vermicelli slipped into his mouth, slithering around like a small loach. Guo Hengan couldn't help but say, "This tastes quite interesting."
Yu Qinglong said: "You can rub it into any thickness you like, and you can make it into slices, make soup, or stew it."
Guo Hengan also thought of putting it in the hot pot. Yu Qinglong only brought a bag of potato flour. He felt that with the number of guests they entertained in a day, it would be gone in a few days. "Is there any more left?"
Yu Qinglong thought about the potatoes he still hadn't dug up at home, and that his family wouldn't be able to eat that many this year, so he said, "Yes, I'm going to buy a house here, and I'm in a hurry, otherwise I'd get more and come back. Besides, they might not sell all that quickly."
Guo Hengan smiled and said, "Hey, let me tell you this, none of the recipes you gave me sell well. People even come from other provinces just to try the snow-covered bean paste. I can sell dozens of hot pot skewers a day. In the middle of the year, I opened another shop in the south of the city, and business is just as brisk. Come with me to Lao Zhuang's place later, and I'll give you your dividends. You haven't been here for over six months, and it's been driving me crazy. A few days ago, a foreigner came over wanting to buy our Fushan cake recipe, but it's a big deal, so I haven't agreed yet. If you hadn't come, I would have sent someone to ask you."
"How much will they pay for it?"
"One hundred taels of silver."
"It's not a small amount. But this one hundred taels of silver won't do much good. Why don't we go back and see them next time and ask them to find a good artist to paint some of their local fruits and vegetables, and paint all the ones they can bring over. Then we'll have a look and ask them to bring some seeds, and we'll trade them for the recipe."
After all, they were separated by an ocean, and there were many things they wouldn't bring that couldn't be stored. Even if they brought seeds, they'd have nowhere to plant them, and nothing to display their finished products. But he knew which ones were edible and which ones could be planted, so he could just look at the pictures and buy the seeds.
Guo Hengan already knew that Yu Qinglong was a man of few plans, so he said, "Okay, I'll tell them the same thing the next time they come. By the way, have you heard anything about the brothers guarding the city participating in the Autumn Examination this year?"
Yu Qinglong said, "The results haven't been announced yet. But it should be in the next two days."
Honestly, he thought it was normal for Fang Shu to fail the exam this time. He had a lot going on during the later stages of his pregnancy, and Fang Shu had to do a lot of things. After the birth, Fang Shu had been busy taking care of the children, leaving him with little time to study. So the result didn't matter.
Guo Hengan smiled and said, "Then let's hope for a good result."
Yu Qinglong nodded, still feeling a little worried about Fang Shu's talk of meeting an important person.
It's not often shown in TV dramas that a handsome scholar who passes the imperial examination, or a handsome juren who achieves the highest or highest position in the imperial examination, will be noticed by the elders of prominent families and become their sons-in-law. Some straightforward girls will even be attracted to the man themselves and beg the elders to facilitate the marriage.
He wasn't worried that Fang Shu would let him down, he was just worried that this guy would be embarrassed. Because with Fang Shu's personality, he would definitely not accept it, so he must not offend him again.
In the afternoon, Yu Qinglong and Yuan Sihan went to a stationery store and bought some pens, ink and paper, and then had a meal with Qin Yushuang.
Yu Qinglong planned to stay one more night before heading back. He didn't notice it when they saw each other every day, but this sudden separation was truly strange. It was fine during the busy day, but when the night settled in, he always felt like something was missing, and couldn't calm down.
Sometimes he would inexplicably feel that someone was calling his name, but when he turned around, there was nothing.
"You must be missing Yangyang and Xiao Shitou too much." Yuan Sihan said, "It would be better if you go back."
"Um."
Yu Qinglong couldn't put his finger on what was odd, but he felt like someone was looking for him. Later, he concluded that it was probably because they were missing their child.
He asked the couple to take care of the house, and then he and Yuan Sihan returned to Xiaxi Village.
Before anyone even entered the house, they heard the cries of the two little ones. Yu Qinglong was heartbroken, thinking something had happened, and hurried in: "Mom, what happened to them?"
Fang Wu said, "Oh, Brother Long, you're back. They're looking for you."
Yu Qinglong: "Ah?"
Fang Wu said, "They are still young and can't speak, but they always cry and make a fuss when you are not around at night. It makes your father and I very sad. Hug them and comfort them."
Yu Qinglong quickly washed his hands and took off his coat, then hugged the two little ones and started to coax them.
It was amazing, they were only five months old, yet they knew his voice. When he held them, they cried even harder, as if expressing their grievance. Yu Qinglong's heart was broken, and he held them in his arms and coaxed them for a long time before they finally fell asleep.
Fang Wu and Fang Dingman each had dark circles under their eyes. Seeing that their two precious grandsons were sleeping soundly, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Fang Dingman said, "I won't dare let you go out alone again. Your mother and I are really worried that they will cry themselves to death."
Yu Qinglong felt distressed, as he thought the little one's voice had become hoarse from crying. He said, "I'll take them with me wherever I go from now on."
Fang Wu asked, "By the way, have you eaten yet? If not, I'll make you some food."
Yu Qinglong said, "No need, mother. We can just eat whatever is left in the pot."
Fang Wu said, "We have steamed buns and salted duck eggs. We also have two bowls of gourd tofu soup."
That was enough to eat. Yu Qinglong saw that it was still warm, so he and Yuan Sihan finished dinner together. Yuan Sihan was used to living with them now, and could quickly adapt to any kind of life. After dinner, the two returned to the study. At this time, Fang Wu came with three letters: "He came once on the day you left, and again later. They are all here. Shu'er may be coming back, he only sent one letter."
Yu Qinglong quickly opened the letter. It should have been written seven days ago. It said Fang Shu was about to return, the list of candidates had been released, and both Fang Shu and Yan Xikuan and Ma Qinchui had passed!
Yu Qinglong quickly turned to the second page and confirmed that Fang Shu had indeed passed the exam.
He said to Fang Wu, "Mother, Fang Shu said he passed the exam!"
Fang Wu was a little sleepy at first, but she perked up immediately after hearing this: "Really?!"
Yu Qinglong said: "That's what he said in his letter, and he was even the top scorer in the provincial examination!"
As expected, what Fang Wu said was right. This guy wasn't good at other things, but he was surprisingly good at studying. He hadn't studied much for so long, yet he could still get such good grades.
After reading the letter, Yu Qinglong gradually calmed down. He had a vague feeling that Fang Shu didn't seem happy about it.
However, the letter did not mention the reason, so he did not tell his family. When Fang Wu came to see Fang Dingman, he asked Yuan Sihan: "Brother Yuan, did Brother Hong's letter say that a distinguished person from the provincial capital wanted to see Fang Shu? Who is this distinguished person?"
Yuan Sihan said, "Prince Rong. The younger brother of the current emperor."
Yu Qinglong: "...Then how old is this Prince Rong this year?"
Yuan Sihan said, "He's over thirty, maybe thirty-five or thirty-six."
That means the child is probably sixteen or seventeen, or eighteen or nineteen?!
It shouldn’t be that bloody!
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Author's words: Qinglong: Shoucheng, are you being targeted by someone? [question mark]
Fang Shu: Yes, what should we do? Long Ge'er [bursts into tears]
Qinglong: ...Who knows [melted]
PS: Yesterday I accidentally poked my finger on the wall with quite a bit of force, and it was swollen. I'm feeling much better today, and will be back to updating as normal.
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