Seeing that Chen Laosi and the others had finished eating, Miss Bai said, "Young Master Chen, I heard that the flowers in the mountains of your village are very beautiful. May I go and see them sometime? I wonder if your family would welcome me?"
Chen Laosi said, "Of course you're welcome! Miss Bai must come visit us sometime!" As for whether his family would welcome him or not, he didn't know. The important thing now was to get the packed food in his hands.
After saying goodbye to Miss Bai, Chen Laosi and his group took the packed food and prepared to go home.
They needed to retrieve their belongings from the stall next door, and on the way they passed a seed shop.
Chen Kai, having finished preparing the land at home, pulled his fourth brother into the seed shop and asked, "Boss, do you have any new seeds in stock?"
The shopkeeper said, "We just received two new types of seeds a few days ago. I heard they are bok choy and carrot seeds. One or two kinds cost 20 coins, but I don't know what they will look like when they grow. Do you want some?"
Bok choy, a vegetable with a tender and crisp texture, is frequently eaten in modern times and tastes delicious with simple cooking. Bok choy also aids digestion and promotes bowel movement, and it grows very quickly, generally ready for harvest about a month after planting.
Carrots are rich in nutrients and have a strong growth habit. They usually sprout successfully in about 10 days. Once they have developed a lot of leaves, you can thin them out slightly to ensure healthy growth. If you have cake fertilizer, applying some will make the carrots grow stronger and tastier.
Carrots also help protect eyesight. After growing them, children in the family can eat more of them to prevent them from becoming nearsighted. In ancient times, if someone became nearsighted, there was nowhere to get glasses and they couldn't get treatment.
Chen Kai thought for a moment, and although he felt it was a bit expensive, he still said, "Boss, weigh out five ounces of each of these two kinds of seeds and wrap them up for me. I'll take a look at the other seeds later."
Chen Kai looked around the shop, hoping to find some seasoning seeds that he could grow to improve his family's meals, but after looking for a while, he didn't see any seasoning seeds.
So Chen Kai asked, "Boss, do you have any spice seeds?"
The shopkeeper asked in confusion, "What seasoning? Spices, right? Spices are only sold in the biggest shop on the next street, he doesn't have them here."
Chen Kai heard from his boss that these seeds were only available in other shops, so he planned to go check them out later. Chen Kai then pointed to several vegetable seeds that he didn't have at home and asked, "How much are these seeds?"
The shopkeeper looked at them and said, "These seeds aren't expensive, five coins per ounce. How many do you want to buy?"
Chen Kai said with a smile, "Boss, give me a pound of each first!"
"Alright! That'll be 450 coins in total." The shopkeeper happily instructed his assistant to weigh out one pound of each type of seed and then pack them up.
Xiao Tian then took out his money, counted it out, and was about to hand it to the shopkeeper. Da Ya quickly stopped him, saying, "Shopkeeper, we've sold so many seeds, do you have any free gifts?"
The boss smiled and said, "I can give you half a portion more seeds, but that's all I can give you."
Finally, after much pleading and cajoling, the shop owner gave her an extra ounce or two of common vegetable seeds, and only then did she let Xiaotian hand over the money to the owner.
Seeing that Chen Kai and his companions wanted to buy spices, the shopkeeper advised them, "The spices there are very expensive, and the seeds are probably even more expensive!"
Chen Kai smiled and said, "I'll just go take a look, buy a few seeds, and see if I can grow them."
After leaving the seed shop, Chen Laosi and his group headed towards the place where the spice shop owner had told them to go.
As they reached the shop entrance, Daya exclaimed, "This place is huge! I've never seen spices before!"
"Let's go in!" Xiao Tian said, and went in first.
As soon as they entered the shop, a shop assistant came over and asked, "What would you like to buy, gentlemen?" The shop assistant did not look down on the farmers who entered the shop. Sure enough, there was a reason why their shop could be so big.
Chen Kai smiled and said, "We'd like to buy some spice seeds. How much are your seeds?"
"Well, this place isn't really suitable for growing spices. Basically, no one buys the seeds to grow them, and spice seeds are very expensive, costing 500 coins for one or two seeds," the waiter said.
Chen Kai said, "Can I take a look at what seeds are available first?"
"Sure!" the shopkeeper said, leading Chen Kai and the others toward where the seeds were placed.
The shop assistant stopped at a corner and said to Chen Kai and the others, "Because not many people usually come to buy seeds, we only have these few kinds left in the shop. Take a look and see if you still want them."
Chen Kai glanced at the seeds of pepper, fennel, and star anise, and said to the waiter, "I'll take these seeds! Give me half an ounce of each."
"Alright! That'll be 750 coins in total," the waiter said after weighing the seeds.
Chen Kai and his group didn't have enough money, so they asked Chen Laosi, who was in charge of collecting money today, to pay for it.
After Chen Laosi and his group left the spice shop, Da Ya complained, "It's so expensive! Just a little bit of seeds cost so much! We could buy so many steamed buns with that money. That shopkeeper even said it's hard to grow. Uncle, can you grow it?"
Chen Kai smiled and said, "Spices aren't very common, so of course they're expensive! As for whether they can be grown, I've never grown them before. You'll find out in a while."
After Chen Laosi and the others got home, they took out the packed food. Da Ya shouted, "Everyone come out quickly, there's something delicious!"
When the children saw that they had brought back so much delicious food, they excitedly asked, "Can we eat now?"
Before they could even speak, Old Man Chen snapped, "What are you eating for? All you ever think about is eating!"
Old Man Chen turned around and lifted Chen Kai out of the car, saying, "My good son, so much food, meat and white rice, where did you get it?"
Xiao Tian said, "Dad, someone else treated us to this. She was trying to trick us into telling her how we make dried flowers and where we buy our dyes."
Zhou immediately asked worriedly, "You didn't tell anyone, did you?"
"We didn't tell anyone, and we even spent her money to bring back so much food," Xiao Tian said.
Mrs. Zhou said happily, "You've done a great job. Everyone must remember not to tell anyone, or our family won't be able to make any money."
As Zhou spoke, she told everyone to unload the things from the oxcart, then took a chicken and said, "Let's eat this now, and we'll eat the rest tonight."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com