Chapter 106 Chapter 106 Moon
The room was filled with joy and bustle. Kang He looked at the tiny Fan Erfu wrapped in swaddling clothes, and felt both touched and blessed.
"He's a boy, very well-behaved."
Kang He sat next to Fan Jing's bed and looked at the child.
The little guy has a small face and is not heavy, just a little over five pounds, not as heavy as Dafu when he was born.
Because of its small body, it is easier to give birth to a baby than a big one, but I don't know how such a tiny baby can make such a fuss when it is in the belly.
"Daddy, Daddy, I want a hug too."
Dafu stood by the bed and was very happy to see Kanghe and Fan Jing holding their little brother. He even opened his arms to hold him.
Seeing him like this, Kang He couldn't help but smile: "Okay, little brother, let big brother hug you too. After all, big brother read a lot to comfort little brother when he was in your belly."
After that, he carefully handed Erfu to Dafu. Fan Jing frowned slightly: "Be careful not to fall."
"Yes, I know."
Dafu gently took Erfu in his arms. Even through the swaddling clothes, he could feel the baby's softness and tenderness.
He was able to hold his brother in his arms, but he was very careful, fearing that he might drop him.
Fifteen, who was standing by, saw Dafu holding the baby, so he came over to take a look.
The child went to the toilet when school was about to end. When he came back, he found that Dafu was gone. He only saw his schoolbag still on the desk, so he thought he had gone to the toilet as well.
He waited in the private school for a long time. All the students had left. Fan Xin saw that he had not gone home yet. Xiaomei saw that he was not going to leave, so she just waited outside and told him that Dafu had already gone home.
Fifteen grumbled unhappily, but still took his schoolbag and handed it to him. Only then did he know that his little father had given birth to a younger brother today.
The child does not remember anything from his early childhood and was very surprised to see the baby in the cradle.
"Did we also grow taller like this?"
"That's natural. When Fifteen was born, he was the same size as a baby."
Fifteen's eyes narrowed when he saw Dafu holding the baby. He also said, "I want to hold it, too."
Dafu and Shiwu have always been as close as brothers, but Dafu became stingy this time. He held Erfu and refused to give in to Shiwu.
"You're too weak, you'll drop your brother."
Fifteen frowned when he heard that and pouted, "I can't do that. I'm very strong. I was the one who carried your schoolbag back!"
The two children's conversation made everyone in the room laugh.
Fifteen begged Dafu, "Just give me a hug, Brother Dafu."
Upon seeing this, Dafu gently handed Erfu from his arms to Shiwu.
Seeing this, Kang He also went to help, but he was afraid that the two children were curious and might accidentally drop the little one while carrying him around.
Fifteen held the baby in his arms as if he were holding a basin, feeling very precious to him.
His eyes became round and sparkling: "The baby smells good."
Everyone in the room was laughing and celebrating. Chen Sanfang still shouted and gave red envelopes to the midwife who came to deliver the baby and Doctor Zhu who took the pulse.
There were two happy events in the family, and she was generous for once, giving gifts of joy to the servants who worked hard at home.
Fan Jing felt a little tired, so Kang He stayed by his side, holding his hand. Although the autumn moon felt a little warm, it made him feel particularly at ease.
Not long after, he fell asleep, and when he woke up again, it was already the next morning.
He first heard the crying of a child. He was still a little dazed in his dream and felt that the crying did not sound like Dafu's. He wondered where the child came from.
When he woke up, he realized that he and Kang He had another baby.
Just then, when Kang He returned to the room, he saw Fan Jing, who was a little sleepy and looked a little confused. He went to the bedside and asked, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Fan Jing shook his head: "I heard the child crying."
Kang He said, "This little guy, he didn't eat much milk, but he cried loudly. Jiang Cai Niang fed him goat milk, but he vomited it after just a few mouthfuls and cried and refused to eat."
Fan Jing's brows tightened when he heard this: "What's going on?"
"Maybe he's not used to goat's milk. Mother said she'd go out and find a wet nurse to feed him."
Kang He said, "Before, Dafu was too careless. He drank whatever milk he wanted. Feeding milk was the cheapest way. I also wanted to let Erfu drink goat's milk. I didn't expect that the little guy didn't like it. It was also my negligence. I should have found a wet nurse in advance."
Fan Jing let out a breath of foul air: "Bring her in and I'll comfort her."
Kang He followed his instructions and brought Erfu in. The little guy was crying loudly, with tears on his eyelashes and his eyes and nose were red.
She fell into Fan Jing's arms, and strangely enough, she stopped crying after a while and fell asleep peacefully.
Kang He sat beside Fan Jing and asked in surprise, "Is it because of the different smell on his body? When Dafu was little, he refused to sleep, but he would calm down when you held him. Look at this little guy, he was crying so hard just now, but now he's quiet in your arms."
Fan Jing said, "Maybe that's the case."
When he was young, he was particularly attached to his mother.
Kang He was afraid that Fan Jing would have a backache from sitting for too long, so he let him hold the child for a while before taking him over and carefully placing the child in the cradle.
He then brought some nourishing soups and taught Fan Jing to eat.
"You were already thin. You didn't gain weight when you were pregnant with Dafu and Erfu. Now that you're pregnant with Erfu, you've lost a lot of energy. You should eat more meat to replenish your energy."
Fan Jing hummed and said, "Then you can cook in the kitchen this month."
After saying that, he thought about how Kanghe had to be busy with business every day, and he also had to work hard to prepare three meals a day. It must be hard for a family with so many mouths to feed.
Then he added: "Just do mine."
Kang He couldn't help but laugh: "I don't know whether you are worried that I will be tired, or you are being overbearing and only allow me to cook for you."
Fan Jing did not argue with him.
Kanghe had another son, and his face was rosy all day long.
He caught all the poultry raised at home and prepared various kinds of nourishing food for Fan Jing. However, he was afraid that Fan Jing would get tired of the food, so after a while he went out to buy pigeons and turtles, and also collected some nutritious game that hunters brought from the mountains.
After being cared for in this way, within a month or so, some flesh began to grow on Fan Jing's face.
That day, thanks to his good mouth, Chen Sanfang finally found a wet nurse who had just given birth in the next village.
I heard that she had plenty of milk and her two children born recently were both very smart. I sent someone to tell them and they came here today to deal with the matter.
Kang He was not sure about choosing a wet nurse, so he handed it over to Chen Sanfang. When the person came, he took a look at her and saw that she had a kind face, not a sarcastic or mean look, so he was satisfied.
He gave her a good price and asked her to take care of Erfu.
This kid is really picky about food. He used to make noises when drinking goat's milk, but now he has a wet nurse and he finally stops making noises.
Everyone in the family couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. They were just worried that this little baby wouldn't want to eat anything and wouldn't be able to grow up.
"You said that after giving birth to Erfu, you won't have any more children. So let's call Erfu Xiaofu."
One day, Fan Jing held Erfu in his arms and coaxed him for a while, and suddenly said this to Kanghe.
"Why are you so concerned about the name?"
Kang He was a little surprised.
"There's a guy called Zhang Erfu in our shop, and it's not pleasant to call him by the same name."
Zhang Erfu was a short man who was lazy and gluttonous. He also didn't like cleanliness and had a mouthful of yellow teeth. He often picked his teeth in front of people passing by at the entrance of the alley after lunch.
He also likes to spit everywhere, and few people can stand it.
When Kang He heard what Fan Jing said, he immediately thought of this guy. No store wanted to send goods to someone's door, and they didn't like to ask him to do it, for fear that the buyer would return the goods because they thought they were shabby.
Thinking that although their waiter was noisy, Bai Xue was cute, it was inappropriate to have the same name as such a person.
"Then it's up to you. Let's call him Xiaofu. Since the elder brother's full name is Zhongyang, the younger brother can't just use a nickname. Since the elder brother was born in February, he should be called Zhongyang. Since the younger brother was born in August, how about Yueyou?"
Fan Jing found the name a little awkward to pronounce, but it was probably because he had not read much and was not used to the fancy name.
He replied, "Okay."
During the month that Fan Jing was in confinement, Kang He spent most of his time by his side, taking care of him personally.
When Dafu was born, I didn't pay much attention to the confinement period. At that time, I just felt that I was young and in good health, so I didn't listen much to Chen Sanfang's advice.
Later, when the weather was cold, I felt a headache and weak energy. I went to see Doctor Zhu, who said it was some postpartum complications.
Kang He felt very guilty. Even though Qiuyue was very busy this time, he still had to make time to take good care of Fan Jing.
He went out less this month and spent more time at home, so he sorted out the household accounts and the money on hand.
The main sources of income for a family are nothing more than three things: the business at the shop, the livestock at home, and the land.
In addition to the pork shop, the share of the He family's braised pork shop can bring in a net income of ten to fifteen strings of cash a month, and more than one hundred strings of cash a year.
From the poultry and livestock, one can earn eighty to one hundred strings of cash a year; and from the crops and vegetables produced from the land, one can still earn about one hundred strings of cash a year.
Several businesses are closely linked to each other, and it is impossible to separate them completely to calculate the profit of each one.
Externally, commercial taxes are heavy, and production taxes are also not light. Even if the business is prosperous, almost 40% of the profits have to be contributed to the government every year.
Kang He calculated and thought to himself that if he didn't have to pay so much tax, he would make a lot of profit.
He just thought to himself that the imperial court was responsible for ensuring peace in the world, so how could he be negligent in offering sacrifices?
He would never dare to take advantage of that loophole, because if he did, all his hard work would be wasted.
In short, after all the calculations, I can still earn about 300 strings of cash a year, and now I have saved up a small amount of 1,000 strings of cash.
Although the income seemed quite generous, the expenses were not small. Although they were not the kind of people who liked to dress ostentatiously, they were not very frugal with their food and daily expenses. Besides the New Year holidays, various social interactions, and the hiring of servants and farmhands...
All the expenses would cost about a hundred strings of cash a year.
But no matter how you look at it, the life we have now is something we couldn't even imagine when we were in the mountains with Fan Jing a few years ago.
But the family is living a good life now, without any uneasiness or fear in their hearts. Others may only see that they live in a tall house in the countryside, go out with a mule-pulled cart to protect them from wind and rain, and there is rarely a lack of meat on the table.
Everyone in the room knew that their current life was achieved by the whole family working together. They worked hard together, invested in buying land together, and discussed plans together... Everything was saved up bit by bit.
Although he had some money on hand, Kang He did not feel lazy.
This amount of money is a huge sum for rural families, but it is nothing in the county.
Besides, my son is still young, and I don’t know how he will develop in the future. Now that he is in good health, I have to work hard and earn more for the family.
"You have to work non-stop for a long time, don't you feel tired?"
When Fan Jing saw Kang He checking the accounts and talking about his future plans, which seemed endless, Kang He had a smile on his face, so Fan Jing couldn't help but ask him.
"Now that I'm a father of two children, I have a heavier burden on my shoulders, so I have to strive for greater progress. I don't feel tired at all, I just feel more energetic."
When Fan Jing heard him say this, a smile appeared on his face.
In September, Fan Jing gave birth to a moon.
The countryside was once again filled with a scene of bountiful harvest. Fan Jing had stayed at home for a long time and was eager to go out and slaughter pigs and sheep to exercise.
Kang He drove out to slaughter the pigs. The two of them were out for some time. After the autumn harvest, there were more people buying and selling land than usual, so he bought some land.
After the autumn months, the fields will be vacant for a period of time, and it will be easier to buy and sell them. Secondly, some farmers have a poor autumn harvest and have to pay taxes, so they have no choice but to sell the land to make ends meet.
Because the couple traveled around a lot, they knew a lot of people. When they heard that he was planning to buy the land, some households would come to him.
In scattered pieces, the two of them were able to harvest about eight acres of land.
But these lands are scattered, and they are not one acre in the east of the village and seven parts in the west of the village, but one acre in the east of the village and three parts in the west of the village.
Now that the world has been enjoying peace for a longer period of time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find opportunities like those a few years ago where the county government has the final say in selling off large tracts of wasteland.
It’s a pity that I didn’t have enough money at the time, otherwise I would have taken the opportunity to buy more land and lived a comfortable life.
If you want to buy the land at a good price without taking any shortcuts, you can only get it in small amounts during the season.
But the land is scattered far away and is extremely difficult to manage. If you want to plant some crops yourself, you have to travel a long way across the village, which is not only tiring and laborious, but when the crops grow, there will always be bad people who will steal or damage other people's crops because there is no one to watch over them.
What could he do? Kang He found two solutions.
One is to exchange land with others. For example, if someone from another village has land in their village, or a village close to theirs, like Dajing Village next door, he would take the land close to theirs to make up the difference in exchange.
Another way is to find a reliable tenant in the village where the fields are located and rent the land to him for farming, so that they can also make a profit.
The first method really depends on fate, but the second method is much easier.
In the end, of the eight acres of land he had collected from outside, he only exchanged one acre in the neighboring Dajing Village, and the remaining seven acres were rented to local tenant farmers.
Although it is difficult to manage so many people, fortunately the couple has to run around for business, so they can check every now and then to see if the fields are being carefully cultivated by the tenants.
That day, Kang He and Fan Jingcai handled the matter of finding a hired farmhand for the land. They took the land contract and went back home. When they got home, their fourth brother came running over and said,
"Just now, the wife of the General Tian family came over and said that she met a stranger at the village entrance. He said that he was asking about our home's location. Seeing that the man's accent didn't sound like ours, the wife was cautious and didn't tell me directly. She found me in the fields and brought back the message."
Hearing this, Kang He asked, "What does it look like? Why are you looking for our family?"
"Mrs. Tian said she was thin and had a lot of beard, and she wanted to do business with us."
After hearing this, Kang He said to Fan Jing, "When they say they are from a foreign place, I thought it was Brother Liu's family who came to visit. But from the description, they don't seem to be from his family."
"Since you said you were here for business, go and call the man over and see who he is and what he wants to do."
Kang He nodded and asked Brother Lian Si to pick them up.
They went into the house to wash and tidy up, and then called Xiaoxiang to prepare some tea, fruit and snacks.
It took about an incense stick of time for someone to lead Fourth Brother Lian over.
This time, there were two men. One of them was unfamiliar, and the other one was who Kang He and Fan Jing remembered when they saw him.
It turned out that it was in early October last year when the two of them drove to Fang County to look at aquatic seedlings and met a businessman who was traveling with them on the road.
This merchant was a foreigner. I remember his surname was Wan, but Kanghe vaguely remembered his name was Wan Huarong.
The two sides had a pleasant conversation and gave each other some gifts before parting. Mr. Wanjia was very happy to receive the peppercorns they gave him. He also asked for his address, saying that there was hope of doing business next year.
Kang He was also happy at that time, but he did not take this matter too seriously. Even if there was someone who really wanted to do business with him, he was busy traveling all over the world and things were unpredictable, so he did not have too much hope.
He later experienced many thrilling things and had long since put this matter behind him.
Who would have thought that this year, people would show up as expected on the autumn moon, most of them coming politely and bringing gifts.
Kang He warmly entertained the Wan family: "I thought I would never see Brother Wan again, but I didn't expect to receive such a pleasant surprise today. I am really happy."
"I had the good fortune to meet Brother Kang last year. I've been thinking about it from time to time. I'm going to Luan County for business and want to settle down there. I came here all of a sudden. It's really presumptuous of me to come here."
"Brother Wan, what are you talking about? If you hadn't come, I wouldn't have been able to find you even if I wanted to. But now that you've taken the trouble to come here and haven't forgotten me, my little brother, I can't help but feel overjoyed."
Kang He sat in the living room with others and asked, "Brother Wan, is your business going well this year?"
"I've been working so hard everywhere, but I can only earn enough to make a living. Now I'm here in my brother's spacious house, which is really enviable. It's so peaceful and leisurely. It's much better than us who have to work in the wind and sun."
The Wanjia people thought they were trying to flatter Kang He, but when they saw the size of the Fan family's house, they realized they were telling the truth.
Kang He smiled modestly and said, "My small family business is just a small showpiece, which makes people laugh at me.
"Brother Wan has traveled the world, and he has the ability to do this. I am a country boy with a short vision, and I can only work around in the fields and do simple things to make a living."
The two talked for a while before Wan Jia returned to business.
Kang He knew that they came for spices, so he didn't say anything else. He just led the two people to the material field to see for themselves what the materials were like this year.
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