Chapter 41 Chapter 41
When Kang He and Fan Jing returned home, Chen took Kang He away.
"Your dad has finally come to his senses and learned how to sell fat!"
"I persuaded Dad to make and sell fertilizer. We have a lot of chickens and ducks at home, and we have compost materials. We can't use them all ourselves, so we sell some to people in the village who want them. He thinks it's good too."
Kang He repeated his words of advice to Father Fan to Chen.
Chen was delighted to hear this: "I tried to persuade him before, but he wouldn't listen. You're the real winner. I'm glad he can earn some money. I can earn that selling konjac and tofu. I don't need his small fortune for drinking."
I opened a door to sell fertilizer outside my home, and people came to buy fertilizer every few days.
Not only do we need fertilizer for spring plowing, but many families have also reclaimed wasteland, so manure has become in short supply.
Outside, a load of fertilizer costs eight cents, and a cart of fertilizer costs thirty cents.
Following Kanghe's advice, Fan Shoulin charged lower prices than the outside market, only seven cents for a load of fertilizer, and twenty-five cents for a whole cart.
He sold it at a low price, and the fertilizer was not bad. Even though it was only a few cents less, farmers were willing to choose the more affordable one.
Not only did the people in the village buy it, but people from other villages also heard the news from somewhere and came to ask about it.
There were not enough to sell at the moment, but people were willing to wait and made reservations with Fan Shoulin first.
Fan Shoulin suddenly became very energetic. He worked in the fields all day and did not rest when he came home. He went straight to the manure shed and did not stop until dinner.
That day, the fields were no longer busy, so Kang He and Fan Jing went back to the cabin in the forest.
In April, the temperature in the mountains has risen a little and is no longer as cold as in early spring.
They hadn't lived here for some time. The trees had shed their leaves, and a thick layer of dead leaves had accumulated on the roof and in the yard. Some of them had rotted in the rain, and there was a damp and foul smell.
Kang He picked up a rake and scraped the dead leaves and branches off the roof, then used a broom to sweep the leaves on the ground into a pile, lit it on fire and burned it.
A cloud of white smoke rose up, and no one dared to leave and cause a fire, so the two of them stayed inside.
Fan Jing was also busy. Taking advantage of the sunshine on the mountain at noon, he packed up the bedding, mattresses, animal skins and furs, and two sets of clothes, and hung them on the pole in the yard to dry out the damp and moldy air.
Although we didn't plan to hunt this time when we went up the mountain, we would have to stay there for a day or two, and it would be too rushed to go back and forth in one day to get honey.
I was busy packing up the day I came up the mountain and didn't go out to see the honey.
Kanghe made the gauze hat that kept out the bees more solid, checked his gloves, and cleaned the honey bottles and filters and hung them out to dry.
Although I didn't go out to circumambulate the mountain, it was already late when I finished the work in the wooden house.
Fan Jing brought the bedding and mattress that had been dried in the sun back into the house and had just made the bed when Kang He pounced on it and rolled around on it.
The mattress absorbed some sunlight, but there was still a smell of the mountains and forests. After all, it was not as good as drying the mattress and clothes at the foot of the mountain to absorb enough sunlight.
Kang He lay on the bed, looking at Fan Jing, and said, "I've boiled some hot water."
Fan Jing knew what he meant.
The two of them were more restrained at the foot of the mountain. Chen and Fan Dad had been married for many years, and it was okay for the old couple to know what was going on, but there were still two half-grown girls at home.
This time we came up the mountain alone, so we had to seize the opportunity without saying anything more.
Fan Jing said, "Not eating dinner?"
After hearing this, Kang He guessed that Fan Jing also had the same intention, so he pulled him over and said, "Take some dry food. You can have a couple of bites when you get hungry later."
Fan Jing didn't say anything else.
The two of them soon made the wooden bed that was put together creak. The forest was damp and the loose wood was easy to rot. Hearing that the sound was not right, Kang He tried to comfort them by saying that he was afraid that the bed would be broken and they would not be able to sleep, and pulled Fan Jing to the table at the end.
Kang He thought about it during the day, but he guessed that Fan Jingdang would not agree, so he had to wait until dark.
But the wait was not in vain. It was the first time for the two of them to be together outside the bed, and Kang He was particularly happy.
I don't know how long it took, but the sky outside was completely dark. The mountains were always particularly quiet, so any sound was particularly loud.
Fan Jing felt that some noises might be heard outside, but it was not a big deal.
I ate a pancake with soup twice.
Well, the two of them took a hot shower together in the yard, returned to the house, and before going to bed, they started again somehow.
I took a shower once in vain, and when I took a shower the second time I felt really tired, so I just lay down on the bed.
There was a warm yellow glow from the stove in the room. Kang He contentedly hugged Fan Jing's waist and inhaled the refreshing scent on his body, which he found particularly pleasant.
Fan Jing's hands and feet were weak, and he lay on his side, too tired to move.
"You didn't even say anything, leaving me feeling so alone."
Kang He buried his head in Fan Jing's neck, his voice slightly hoarse.
Fan Jing replied, "I'm tired. Why are you making any more noise?"
Kang He chuckled softly, his voice tinged with tenderness: "I'm talking about when we were doing that thing. There's no one in the mountains, are you still embarrassed?"
Hearing this, Fan Jing opened his slightly closed eyes a little: "I don't want to."
Kang He kissed Fan Jing's ear and said, "Why don't you think about it anymore? Are you unhappy? But I saw that you were quite happy before, happy to torment me for so long."
Fan Jing is not someone who gets shy easily, but when he heard Kang He say this, his ears couldn't help but turn red.
I thought that this person not only talks a lot, but also can say anything.
"Since you like to listen to sounds, catch a few larks and lock them up so you can listen to as much as you want."
Kang He snorted and laughed, "I'm not following a lark, so why would I bother listening to it barking?"
He touched Fan Jing's flexible and thin waist: "How can there be someone like you who doesn't understand romance?"
Kang He was helpless. No matter what he did, this man seemed to be deliberately going against him. He clenched his teeth tightly. When it hurt, he would just groan a few times, and when it felt good, he would just breathe rapidly.
If he hadn't resisted and occasionally responded clumsily, Kang He would have had the illusion that he was being forced.
Fan Jing couldn't understand why he had to listen to his voice. Apart from the first time on the wedding day, it wasn't a painful thing.
He kept saying it was no big deal.
"Why?"
Kang He looked at Fan Jing who turned over and asked him.
A pair of eyes stained with lust were not as cold as usual, but filled with serious confusion.
He found it particularly alluring.
Kang He took the opportunity to move forward and kissed him on the mouth: "If you don't say anything, I won't know whether I did it well or not."
Fan Jing's eyebrows twitched, he felt that this was too fake.
When he clearly couldn't bear it anymore, he would grab his arm and signal him not to use too much force, but he was like a deaf person. Not only did he not restrain himself, he even went even further.
Fan Jing didn't listen to him, nor was he deceived by him.
He said, "I'm asleep."
Seeing him act like this again, Kang He was so angry that he bit his chin.
The next day, Kang He and Fan Jing went to see the beehives. There were four hives, and honey from three of them could be taken. The remaining hive had been taken before going down the mountain. Although there was some new honey, it was not much. If honey was taken frequently, it would be detrimental to the bees' survival.
Kanghe shook off the bees and carefully took out the honeycomb. The bees were very active during the flowering period, and the honey on the honeycomb was ripe and good.
It is heavy and you can smell a sweet fragrance when you take it out.
Kang He broke off some pieces and fed them into Fan Jing's mouth.
"how?"
Fan Jing moved his mouth and said, "It hurts my throat a bit."
"That's right, only good honey without adulteration tastes like this."
After the two of them collected three boxes of honey, Kang He calculated that the honeycomb weighed about 15 kilograms. He went home and extracted the pure honey according to the previous method.
The next day, I went to Zhang Shili's hill to collect honey again.
Zhang Shili also placed four boxes in Kanghe, but only attracted two boxes of bees. Fortunately, they were strong bee colonies. The locust flowers were in full bloom in June, and they also collected wild nectar sources. During the nectar flow period, the honey is always better.
The two boxes contained about eight kilograms of honey.
Kang He originally wanted to give some to Zhang Shili, but he waved his hand and said that he didn't like this thing and there was no one in his family who could eat it, so he told him to keep it for himself or give it to others or sell it, and he didn't want to waste it.
Instead of giving him something, it would be better to prepare a good meal for him.
Kang He agreed and cooked a pot of spicy rabbit at noon. There were many wild vegetables in the mountains in spring, so he broke off a handful of bamboo shoots, picked some water celery, and picked some shepherd's purse... After washing them clean, he gathered around the stove and ate while they were boiling.
Zhang Shili did not hunt much in the spring because animals were multiplying and he would not hunt pregnant animals, so the amount of prey he could get was very little.
Hunters in the mountains rarely stay on the top of the mountain at this time of year, except Zhang Shili. He treats this place as his own home and refuses to go back to the village even if there is no hunting.
Murakami did have an old house, but the fields had long been abandoned and sold.
When Kang He and Fan Jing were in the mountains, he would go for a stroll every now and then. Now that they had come down the mountain, their lives became even quieter.
However, whenever he had free time, he would go to the city and stay there for two or three days.
In the evening, the two returned and collected the honey, and did not go down the mountain until the fourth day.
One pound of honeycomb can produce about seven ounces of pure honey. This time, the boxes of honey we took out totaled sixteen pounds and five ounces of pure honey, which is rare.
We will see how the beehives in these boxes are doing this year. If they are doing well, we will collect honey again in the fall.
In the first year of beekeeping, I dare not collect honey too often. After the bees have been well raised, I can collect honey one or two more times a year.
"You two went up the mountain?"
As soon as they reached the foot of the mountain, Kang He and Fan Jing ran into Xu Yang, who was dressed very brightly.
Kang He said, "I went up there a few days ago and I'm back today."
Xu Yang asked them what mountain products they had.
Kang He did not hide it and took out a small jar of honey, about two or three taels, from his backpack and gave it to Xu Yang.
It’s not that Kang He was generous. When measuring the land earlier, Xu Yang also helped, and he thought that he was Fan Jing’s childhood friend.
"Mountain honey, this is good!"
Xu Yang took the bottle, opened it and sniffed it, smelling a faint floral scent.
That was all. He asked Kang He, "Do you have any left? Sell some to me."
Without waiting for Kang He to speak, Fan Jing took out a jar from his backpack and handed it to Xu Yang: "Three hundred coins."
Xu Yang readily agreed. He took out a dime from his pocket and said, "I don't have that many copper coins on me. Should I give you the silver first or wait until I get back and get it from you?"
Kang He said: "It's the same if I take it another day."
"Okay. I bought the big jar, and the small jar is a gift from you, so I won't pay you any extra."
Xu Yang took out a piece of cloth from his body and wrapped the honey pot. He obviously had something else to do, so he said goodbye without chatting with the two of them any more.
Seeing the man leave, Kang He was surprised that Fan Jing would actually sell things to Xu Yang, and asked him what was going on today.
Fan Jing said: "The Yuan family is at the foot of the mountain. He must be looking for Yuan fruit."
As Fan Jing expected, Xu Yang carried the honey pot all the way to the small river at the foot of the mountain.
There are only two households at the foot of the mountain, and most of the villagers live in the area near the official road.
At this time, it is rare to see a human figure on this side.
There was only a thin figure squatting under a bamboo by the river.
He raised his arms a little high, revealing a piece of white wrist, and held a wooden hammer, beating the clothes in the basin with it, making a banging sound.
The shimmering water surface caused a few clusters of light to dance on his patched shoulders.
"Brother Yuan!"
When Xu Yang saw the person, he was extremely happy and ran all the way towards him.
Hearing the sound, Yuan Guo, who was squatting by the river, turned around and saw Xu Yang. His clear eyes were like the shining water surface.
"How did you get here?"
"I've just opened up the few acres of land I bought, and when I have some free time, I thought I'd come over to see you."
Xu Yang ran up to the group. He seemed like a very calm person in public, but when he came to Yuan Guo, his eyes sparkled with light, and he looked like a child of about ten years old.
Yuan Guo saw some sweat on Xu Yang's forehead, so he took out an indigo handkerchief from his body, wet it in the cool river water, wrung it dry, and wiped the sweat off Xu Yang's face.
His voice was clear and gentle, and he spoke slowly, like the wind in April. "Why are you walking so fast? You look so sweaty. You must be tired these days. You've got a lot of tan."
"I don't feel tired at all."
Xu Yang looked at the Yuan Guo in front of him, and his heart felt particularly full. He couldn't help but ask him a series of questions about how he had been doing these days and how his father was doing at home.
Yuan Guo answered him one by one with a smile.
"Little Dad is feeling much better after taking the medicine you sent him last time. Now that the weather is warmer, he can do some light work. He's always talking about you. When I told him you were busy cultivating the land, he praised you for your hard work."
After hearing this, Xu Yang was even happier and took out two bags of cakes from his arms and gave them to Yuan Guo.
The two sat side by side on the edge of the field, eating candied fruit together.
"I happened to run into Fan Jing and his husband coming down the mountain. They had some honey, so I bought a jar from them. You can take it home and mix it with water."
"You always spend money recklessly. You should save some of your own money. You still have a long life ahead of you."
Yuan Guo looked at the large jar of honey and knew that the price must be high. She couldn't help but say to Xu Yang, "You always buy things here and waste money."
"I'm happy to buy things for you, so how can I say it's a waste? It would be a waste if I used it somewhere else. Besides, the money I save is for you, so it doesn't matter if I spend it sooner or later."
After hearing what he said, Yuan Guo pursed her lips and lowered her eyes in embarrassment.
There was a gentle and sweet smile on the corner of his mouth.
"I also wanted to go see Jing'er when he got married, but my father was coughing so badly that day that he couldn't move from his bed. I didn't dare leave, otherwise I would have been able to attend his wedding."
It was one thing that his young father was seriously ill, but it was also another that he couldn't find anything decent to give as a gift.
Yuan Guo said, "They're not often in the village, and it's hard to see them there. But one day a while ago, when I came back from the city, I saw her husband from a distance. He's a very talented man, and he and Jing'er are a perfect match."
Xu Yang also said after hearing this: "Her husband is quite interesting, much easier to get along with than Fan Jingke."
As he spoke, he felt a little jealous. He and Fan Xin used to worry about Fan Jing not being able to get married, but now this person got married before them, and the couple must be living a very good life.
Earlier, he saw the two of them holding hands on the mountain path. If they hadn't been in a hurry to look for Yuan Guo, he would have teased Fan Jing.
Fan Jing and Kang He were living a happy life, but Xu Yang still couldn't marry Yuan Guo, and he couldn't help feeling frustrated.
But he was still very confident and said to Tong Yuanguo, "Even if I don't rely on my parents, I have already bought 15 acres of land. When the election for village chief comes in two years, I will run. If I win, they won't be able to control me anymore. Then I will go to your house with drums and gongs to propose marriage."
Yuan Guo raised the corner of her mouth when she heard his words. She was very touched by Xu Yang's sincerity, but it was only for a moment, and her eyes were filled with heartache again.
"Ayang...I know what you mean, just..."
Before Yuan Guo finished speaking, Xu Yang became anxious: "I know I made you wait too long. It's also my fault that I didn't know how to improve myself and stand on my own feet earlier. I didn't make a name for myself in school, and I was late in starting a business.
You are so kind. I thought that when I grow up and tell my family, they will definitely agree. I just didn't expect that my grandfather and father, as teachers, are so corrupt! "
When Xu Yang was sixteen, he told his family about his intention to marry Yuan Guo, but his family thought he was too young and did not take it seriously.
When he grew up and they were thinking of finding him a reliable family, he made his feelings clear again, and his family only then realized that he was serious.
But the Xu family did not agree to this marriage, as the Xu family only has one descendant.
Xu Xiucai had only one son, and Xu Tongsheng had only one son, Xu Yang. Even though he was naughty when he was young and did not study like his father or grandfather, he was still spoiled by his family.
The Xu family is not a wealthy family, but they can be considered a scholarly family that has no worries about food and clothing.
He has many students and is well-known in the village. Even in the city, he has been invited by the county magistrate to dine with him.
Xu Yang is the only child in the family, so naturally I want to find a good marriage for him.
I'm not saying it has to be a very good family, but at least it should be a good match. The Yuan Guo family is really not good enough.
The Yuan family was originally a family of outsiders. Yuan's father and his husband fled famine and settled in their village. They had never lived a rich life. In the past few years, when soldiers were conscripted one after another, his family had no money to pay taxes and be exempted from military service, so he had no choice but to go to the battlefield and never came back.
His young father missed her husband so much that he became ill when he learned that he had passed away. There was no son in the family, so Yuan Guo was the only little boy, and his life was miserable and hard.
If it weren't for Xu Yang, Yuan Guo, who was born with such a good appearance and such a family background, would have been taken away by someone with bad intentions at who knows when.
The Xu family turned a blind eye to Xu Yang's favoritism towards Yuan Guo, but they still refused to agree to the marriage.
Since his family did not respond, Xu Yang taught himself to stand up. When he failed in his studies, he followed others out to do business.
He was willing to work hard and earned some money, and the situation was looking good.
Just last year, Xu Yang received a letter from Fan Xin in a foreign town, saying that the bastard Sun Dasheng had been harassing Yuan Guo again and again, and that there were also a group of idlers in the village with bad intentions, which scared Yuan Guo so much that he dared not go out.
I didn’t dare go to the city, so I could only ask someone to help me bring things back home.
Xu Yang was very worried when he heard this, so he came back.
Seeing that he was getting older year by year, Master Xu wanted him to change his mind and started dating a quiet girl from another scholar's family, hoping to help him get married.
Xu Yang refused to agree, and the two had a quarrel. Xu Yang became so angry that he fell ill and lay in bed for seven or eight days.
Xu Tongsheng was also angry and scolded Xu Yang for disobeying his elders and committing treason, and beat him up.
Xu Yang also admitted to being beaten, but he refused to acknowledge the marriage.
His family couldn't do anything about him, so after he recovered, he refused to stay in the city and returned to the village.
Yuan Guo knew all this, and he felt uncomfortable. He was particularly distressed because his feelings for Xu Yang were real and not a false friendship created to rely on him.
He didn't want Xu Yang to cause such a quarrel with his family because of him. He should have been living a very good life, but he was dragged down by him.
Earlier, Yuan Guo also mentioned that he wanted to break up with Xu Yang, and asked them to follow the arrangements of their families.
Unexpectedly, Xu Yang was extremely sad and felt like he was half dead. After a month, he became so thin that he was unrecognizable.
He begged her, saying that he would not rely on his family anymore and would be able to stand on his own and marry him, and begged her not to break up with him.
Yuan Guo felt sad to see him like this. After all, they grew up together and how could she bear to be separated? So she asked Xu Yang to coax him back.
In fact, Yuan Guo didn't think that he had wasted his youth. His little father was often worried that if they didn't get married in the end, they would miss the best age and it would be difficult to find a good family.
But if he couldn't be with Xu Yang, it wouldn't matter who he married. What's more, he was getting married now, and with their family being in such a bad state, what good family could he choose from?
He is younger than Xu Yang, only nineteen this year, while Xu Yang is twenty-three. He has wasted his best years.
What's more, he didn't lie to fool him. Xu Yang was really learning to stand on his own feet. He used the money from his business to buy land in the village and developed it himself.
Even if they couldn't be together in the end, he wouldn't blame him at all.
"Don't blame yourself. You've done well. I'm not afraid of waiting for you. I just feel bad that you and Xu Xiucai and Xu Tongsheng have such a bad relationship. You are a child loved by the whole family."
If Xu Yang hadn't said that if his family really loved him, they wouldn't have let him fall into such a dilemma, that would be something an immature person would say.
Apart from the matter of marriage, his family had treated him very well since he was a child. He knew that his family was doing this for his own good, but he did not acknowledge this as goodness.
"Don't worry about it. I can handle it. But if they come looking for you, I hope you'll stand by me and don't listen to them."
The two talked for a long time. Seeing that it was getting late, Xu Yang carried the laundry basin and sent Yuan Guo to the door of her house before going back.
But when he returned home, before he even reached the house, he saw the car that his family used in the city on the road.
Xu Yang guessed that either his father or grandfather had returned.
He frowned, wondering what the reason was for him to return home. The results of the college examination would be announced soon, so he shouldn't have time to return home.
Xu Yang felt a little uneasy, but he still went to meet him.
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