Chapter 94 Chapter 94 was given for free (including Zhang Shili and Xiaoqiu's drama...
The tree of the mountain pepper has upright berries and soft leaves. In spring, it blooms with clusters of small yellow flowers with a very fragrant smell. The flowers can even be picked and placed in a vase. The smell is completely different from that of the mature mountain pepper.
Each one is smooth and round, unlike green pepper seeds which have some small bumps. The taste is spicy, and those who love it will love it, while those who don’t like it will not be able to smell or taste it.
The green pepper tree is a long, wide tree, and its fruits grow in clusters. However, its branches have thorns, which hurt like a bee sting.
When they were planted, Father Fan spaced the green pepper trees at some distance, fearing that the trees would grow too tall and become tangled together, making it difficult to pick the fruits. He trimmed the branches whenever he had time, and as a result, he took good care of them, preventing the branches from forming a network.
Kang He called Fan Jing to pick mountain pepper. He crouched down under the green pepper tree, bent down and picked the peppers, even breaking off the small branches.
When you first walk under the green pepper tree, you will smell a spicy fragrance, but after a moment, your nose will become numb and you will not be able to smell anything.
"Brother Kang, the spices in your house are growing really well. Normally, I couldn't smell much of the fragrance from this side, but now that I've picked them, I can smell the fragrance from far away."
A young woman working in the fields in the village saw Kang He picking green peppers with a basket hanging in front of his chest, so she came over and chatted with him for a while.
He said the spices were good and that Father Fan would take good care of them. Then he asked Kang He for some fresh peppers to take home and eat.
Kang He knew very well why people came. If he didn't give it to her, he would seem stingy. If he gave it to her, he was afraid that others would hear it and come to ask for it too.
Although there are quite a few green peppers on the trees, they are not worth giving away for free. They are sold at a high price by weight outside.
Kang He was silent for a moment, then he grabbed a handful of green pepper seeds and gave them to the young lady, saying to her, "These trees have been planted for several years, and this field has not yielded any harvest for several years. We were almost exhausted, but fortunately, they finally bore fruit this year."
"Please tell your relatives and friends that we have a lot of green peppers and wild peppers this year. They're all freshly picked, and the villagers give us a good price."
The young lady got the fresh spices and ordered the ingredients. Before she even saw Fan Jing in the ingredient field, she was still chatting with Kang He with a smile: "Brother Kang, when you have time, come to our house to play. At home..."
At this moment, Fan Jing came out from inside. He didn't say anything, but the sound of breaking the branches of the pepper tree was heard.
The young lady was frightened and even called Fan Jing to come over to play. Fan Jing did not respond to her, so the young lady ran away in shame.
Seeing that the person had left, Fan Jing threw a worm-eaten mountain peppercorn at Kang He, hitting him squarely on the forehead.
Kang He covered his forehead and said, "Are you unhappy if I give you some green peppers?"
Fan Jing said, "I'm afraid people don't just want a few spices."
Kang He tutted his words, "How can you be so mean? I can't bear to give you more green peppers, so how can I bear to give you anything else?"
Fan Jing glanced at Kang He and said, "Would a man be reluctant to give? I've seen most of them give eagerly."
Kang He suddenly laughed when he heard this: "Why are you talking about this in broad daylight? If you say so, then I will tell you, I am only happy to give it to you."
Fan Jing didn't respond to his words. If he continued, it would make people feel uncomfortable to listen.
The two of them picked about four or five pounds of spices and went home. Kanghe slaughtered a chicken and stewed it, adding two strings of fresh green peppers. The whole pot of chicken soup immediately gave off a fresh and fragrant aroma that made people salivate.
At noon, the whole family enjoyed a delicious meal.
Even Dafu felt unsatisfied after gnawing on a large chicken drumstick, so he ate a fat wing.
Chen Sanfang took some mountain pepper to make pickles. If the mountain pepper is crushed before it blooms and used as a dipping sauce, it will have an endless flavor and is best eaten with eggplants and thick-skinned vegetables.
Now that it is ripe, it can be used as a seasoning for meat dishes, or pressed into mountain pepper oil and stored. It is not like green pepper seeds, which are as fragrant even when dried, so it can only be eaten fresh.
Kang He wanted to do three things with these spices. First, he would pick them every day and sell them fresh in the shop. Second, he would dry the remaining ones in the sun and store them. Third, he would press them into spice oil.
Spices are rare, so there is no need to worry about buying and selling them.
That day, two baskets of green peppers and mountain pepper were placed in front of the stall, and people came asking about them.
"So you think your shop still has to go to the mountains to get these spices? Or do you collect them from farmers in the mountains and sell them on your own? They are big, fresh and fragrant."
Kang He said, "These are the ones we planted at home. We've been taking care of them for a few years, and they're finally bearing fruit. I decided to pick some and sell them. I just picked them yesterday afternoon, and the leaves are still pretty vibrant."
It was the autumn moon, the harvest season, and there was a lot of everything on the market. It was not just him who was selling spices. Many farmers went into the mountains specifically to get mountain products to sell. Things like green pepper seeds and mountain pepper were good products that could be sold at a high price, so people loved to look for them and sell them.
However, this thing is difficult to find in the wild, and some farmers don’t have the idea of making a living long-term, so some cut down the trees in order to make it easier to pick.
It will take at least three or two years for this kind of tree to grow and bear fruit. How can it withstand such harsh weather? It is even harder to find it in the mountains.
Some farmers do have the idea of planting trees like Kanghe, but firstly, they don't know how to take care of them. Secondly, they have to use their own limited land to plant trees, and the harvest will take three to five years. There is also the risk of many trees dying in the middle of the process. Ordinary households cannot afford it.
Few larger households engage in this business because there are no professionals selling seedlings outside. They have to sow seeds and raise seedlings themselves, which is a tedious task and the returns are slow, so people are unwilling to do it.
At that time, Kang He was running around in the villages and towns, and he met mountain people. He picked up two seedlings from here and a few seedlings from there, and finally he was able to plant an acre of land by patching them together.
Therefore, even if it is sold in more than one or two street markets during this season, it will still sell well.
"Weigh two taels for me. There's an old man at the market who brought a few pounds to sell. I just went over and asked the chef from a restaurant to buy them all."
The guest said, "These spices are only good when they're fresh. They're delicious when you cook fish or stew soup. Eating them in other seasons, as they're dried up, doesn't taste like fresh spices."
Kang He skillfully weighed the fruits for the man and said he knew how to eat and was a particular person: "There's still some in our fields these days. If the ones we brought from the shop are all sold out, come over and tell me. I'll pick as much as you want the next day."
A pound of fresh peppers sells for two hundred and eighty coins, and if it is dried peppers, the price can go straight to five hundred coins.
Because it is inconvenient to dry and store mountain pepper, it is only sold fresh. The price on the market this season is more expensive than that of fresh peppers, and one pound can be sold for three hundred coins.
Although the price by kilogram sounds a bit inflated, it is not too bad if it is calculated by two or three taels.
This spice is not like radish or vegetables, nor is it like meat. It is a seasoning with a strong smell. One or two ounces is enough for a long time.
After Kanghe had been selling for about an hour, shoppers from the restaurant came over after hearing the noise.
People buy a lot and ask for it all.
Kanghe originally started selling the spices on the first day, and he planned to sell them slowly so that more people would know that they had spices here.
It was still early, so I asked someone to buy all the food for him, but he was still a little reluctant.
Kang He then discussed with the buyer, "I don't have many spices I picked today. Do you think it's too little? If not, I can send you a full supply tomorrow. If you don't need them urgently, I can send you fresher ones tomorrow."
The buyer asked, "Do you have any more goods?"
"I've planted a few trees at home, and I'm not going up the mountain to pick them. Now is the perfect time for them to bear fruit."
He was so happy about the purchase that he gave Kanghe a hundred coins as a deposit, saying that he would use it to pick three pounds of green pepper seeds and three pounds of wild pepper.
Kang He readily accepted the money, made a note of the name and store location with the person, and planned to deliver it to the person's door the next day.
“This good thing just won’t have trouble selling.”
He Xiaoqiu saw many people coming this morning asking about the price of spices, and they all bought some.
Not only is it a rare thing, but it is also very delicious.
A couple of years ago, he created a new flavor for braised meat. He used yellow-footed chicken weighing two or three pounds, and after braising it, he added lots of dried chilies. The taste was spicy and numbing, and it was loved by many wine lovers.
The tavern here would come over several times every day.
However, the spices were expensive and only a few people bought them, so he made a small quantity and only sold two or three spicy chickens a day.
If someone gives further instructions, I will do it later.
Kang He said: "That's right."
"When you're done, come in and try the duck meat I just made."
Kang He raised his eyebrows: "A new taste?"
He Xiaoqiu smiled and went into the house to look for Fan Jing first.
Their shop didn't sell many groceries before, but in the past two years, because they have more land, they grow a variety of crops, such as beans, rapeseed, sesame, sesame oil...all these things can be found in the shop.
Now that the shop is full of miscellaneous things, it feels even smaller.
Fan Jing was inside the house cleaning up the mung beans that a guest had spilled.
He Xiaoqiu put the food box on the small table, went over to help Fan Jing clean up the mung beans, went to the back room to wash his hands, and came out to eat meat.
Fan Jing saw the food box opened and inside was a large plate filled with sauce-colored duck meat.
The duck meat was like braised meat, but the skin was covered with a layer of sauce, making it look moist.
He Xiaoqiu picked up the whole-cut duck leg and said to Fan Jing, "Try it quickly."
Fan Jing didn't hesitate and took a bite.
The duck meat still has the aroma of He Xiaoqiu's cooking, but the only difference from the existing braised food in the shop is that this time the duck meat has a distinct sweetness.
Fan Jing found the taste strange. It didn't have the fishy smell of duck, but was sweet and spicy. He ate the whole duck leg in just a few bites.
"How is it? Is it still edible?"
Fan Jing nodded and ate another piece of duck meat.
He Xiaoqiu smiled and said, "I knew you would like this taste."
When Kang He came in, Fan Jing had already eaten a lot of duck meat.
"Is it so delicious? I taught you to eat so much?"
Upon hearing this, Fan Jing picked up a piece and shared it with Kang He.
After eating it, Kang He took another piece and said, "This sweet-skin duck tastes really good. I haven't seen it sold outside yet. Xiaoqiu, you can make some more and try to sell it."
He Xiaoqiu was delighted to see that not only Fan Jing thought the food was delicious, and said that he would sell it to her in two days.
Fan Jing taught him to get another sweet duck, which he wanted to take home for his family to enjoy as a fresh treat.
Dafu just let him do what he wanted. He loved sweet food, so he might like the sweet duck meat.
This kid goes to bed early and gets up early to study, but he's not even two months old and he's become a little thinner.
He Xiaoqiu said happily: "Even if you don't tell me, I will teach you and Dafu to take some back."
In the afternoon, Kanghe was packing up and closing up, so Fan Jing went to He Xiaoqiu to get the sweet-skinned duck. When he walked into the back room, he smelled the fragrance of orchids.
He saw a pot of blooming orchids under the eaves of the back house. Based on Fan Jing's experience in the mountains in the past, he could tell at a glance that it was a wild orchid growing in the mountains.
He Xiaoqiu packed up the sweet-skinned duck and was about to give it to Fan Jing when he saw him take a look at the orchid in the back room. He said uncomfortably, "I bought it from a flower shop outside. I saw how fragrant it was and the price was not expensive, so I bought one too."
Fan Jing's eyebrows twitched slightly, thinking that the flower shop would never sell the mountain orchid at a low price. According to the nature of the flower shop, they would definitely decorate it, make up a set of excuses, and then sell it to such a scholar at a high price.
He didn't ask any more questions, just nodded lightly and went back with the sweet-skin duck.
They went home and called the people at home to pick the few pounds of spices that they had been assigned for the next day, so that they could deliver them early the next morning.
After a busy period, it was dark by the time we had dinner.
Dafu was a little tired from studying at Fan Xin's place today. He, Fan Jing and Kang Heyan had only learned twenty characters so far. His classmates had only learned fifteen or eighteen, but he was the most impressive, having learned twenty.
After reading it once and listening to it, Fan Jing took them to take a bath because they felt sleepy after eating too much sweet-skin duck. They sat in the bathtub with their eyes spinning.
Fan Jing quickly dried him off, carried him to bed, and then went back to the room to wash up.
After Kang Hedian looked at the household account book, he went back to the room to take a shower. After taking a shower, he put a towel on his shoulders and came out of the bathroom with his bare arms.
Seeing Fan Jing lying on the bed, he said, "I washed your pants. How are you going to thank me?"
Usually, Xiaoxiang would take their clothes and wash them, but they didn't want to ask such a girl to wash their underwear, so they washed them while taking a bath.
When Zhen'er was still at home, sometimes they were so busy that the clothes would soak in the basin and they had no time to wash them, so Zhen'er would wash them all.
Kang He felt embarrassed. After that incident, he could keep his outer clothes and wash his underwear with soap nuts.
Fan Jing was lying on the bed with his legs crossed and his arms as a pillow. He glanced at Kang He and said, "I washed yours yesterday, too. I didn't see you thank me."
Kang He threw the face towel on his shoulder onto the washstand and jumped onto the bed.
He leaned against Fan Jing and said, "I kept it for you on purpose so that I could wash you. Since you washed me twice more, I'll give it to you today for free as a thank you."
Fan Jing stretched out his hand to support the person who was about to press him: "When have you never given in for nothing?"
"You're saying that because you really want to settle an old score with me. I remember once I clearly told you I'd give it to you, but you didn't pay me afterwards."
Kang He and Fan Jing spread out their hands: "Give me the money."
Fan Jing kicked Kang He and said, "Are you worth that money?"
"Why am I not worth it? Didn't you enjoy it? Even if you didn't enjoy it, you still kept doing it for half the night. You know how to live your life."
Kang He narrowed his eyes and said, "Do you know what that's called? That's called freeloading!"
"Freebie?"
Fan Jing was silent for a moment. This sounded new to him. "Then report me to the police and have them arrest me."
Kang He snorted, "I think you're becoming more and more of a scoundrel. I have to teach you a lesson."
After saying that, Kang He pressed Fan Jing under him and started touching him.
Fan Jing couldn't stand his teasing. This man was good at martial arts. They used to live in an old house, which was small and had many people living in it. They both restrained themselves and didn't want to make too much noise.
And he often sleeps with Dafu, so the chances of the two of them sleeping alone are not many.
Kang He complained more than once or twice, saying that he wanted to go to the mountains.
If they were to live in the mountains, what difference would that make from just telling the family that they were going to the mountains to do that?
Since the new house was completed, it was very spacious. No matter how noisy they made, no one would be able to hear what was happening inside unless they passed by the door.
The two of them tossed and turned for an hour or so, then went back to the bathroom to clean up. When they came back and lay down on the bed, they felt satisfied but a little tired.
Kang He touched Fan Jing's ears, which were still flushed and said, "It would be great if we had another child."
Fan Jing said: "Then give birth to another one."
Kang He kissed Fan Jing happily, as happy as if she was already pregnant. When he heard Fan Jing say this and saw his attitude, he felt happy in his heart.
Fan Jingxu pushed Kang He who was leaning against him and told him what happened in He Xiaoqiu's shop today.
If it were an ordinary person, Fan Jing would not hesitate to take care of such a small matter, but since that person was He Xiaoqiu, he always paid more attention to him.
"Brother He has been alone for many years, so he wouldn't be surprised if a man gave him a pot of flowers. He was just embarrassed to hide it."
Fan Jing said, "I don't know what kind of men he usually hangs out with. Who would dig orchids for him from the mountains?"
Kang He's eyes moved when he heard this: "You mean..."
Fan Jing remained silent.
Kang He sat up suddenly. "I was wondering why Zhang Shili suddenly became so fond of cleanliness. I don't remember when it started, but when he came to the shop, he not only wore clean clothes, but also shaved, washed his face, and tied his hair tightly."
"At first glance, he looked ten years younger, and I even praised him for being such a handsome man. I thought to myself, after so many times of telling him, he finally listened and figured out how to behave himself."
"A while ago, he came down the mountain, and I asked him to treat me to some donkey meat, but he refused because it was too expensive. He used to be such a generous person, and I've never heard him say the word 'expensive' before."
"I thought it was hard to catch live animals in the mountains these days, so I gave him ten pounds of pork when I returned."
Kang He suddenly understood and slapped his thigh, feeling that he had been tricked by this guy.
Although Fan Jing and Zhang Shili also had contact, they were not as close as Kang He and him.
Listening to him talk about all the wrong things Zhang Shili did, I remembered some things.
Once, Zhang Shili injured his leg while hunting and came to the county to receive medical treatment for a few days.
Kang He thought that living outside would cost a lot of money, so he asked him to sleep in the back room of the shop. During those days, Fan Jing saw that He Xiaoqiu looked listless, and when asked, he just said that he had caught a heat stroke and was not feeling well.
Fan Jing didn't think much about it, as the weather was indeed hot during the summer months.
Later, Zhang Shili recovered his leg and went back to the mountains. When he left, he and Kang He felt strange that this man had obviously been injured and lying in bed for some time, but he didn't lose weight but looked stronger instead.
Now that I think about it, these two people have probably been in contact for a long time.
It was also because they had been busy with the farmland and livestock business in the past two or three years and had not been always in the shop, so they did not notice when the two men became like this.
If they could really get along, Kang He would be happy for them, but he still had some doubts: "If they are both interested, why are they still dragging their feet and not making anything happen? I'm afraid we're thinking in the wrong direction."
Fan Jing said, "Let's wait and see. If anything happens to them, we'll know sooner or later."
He wanted the best for He Xiaoqiu, but he also didn't want something like what happened to Fan Xin to happen again.
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