The next morning, after finishing her morning exercise and waiting for the three siblings from the eldest branch of the family to return to the old house, Gu Xin went to the old house.
Of the six items presented this time, three were vegetables, three were flowers, and no fruit was included.
The flowers are quite common; there are gardenias, jasmine, and impatiens that can be found in the mountains.
The vegetables included Malabar spinach, Swiss chard, and broad beans.
They already knew that the seeds from Master Zhou's place might not be from all over the world, but might be found locally, so Cai Xiaolian and Gu Nian were not disappointed.
But these balsam flowers reminded Gu Nian that besides making lipstick, she could also make nail polish.
When she was little, she lived in a Taoist temple. The temple was on a mountain, and there was a village at the foot of the mountain. The little girls in the village loved to pick balsam flowers, crush them, and apply them to their fingernails.
For example, wood ear fungus grows in their village.
So, we removed several kinds of flowers, picked the broad beans, and cleared four plots of land, which we then planted.
After Gu Shouxin finished doing all that, he ate breakfast and then went to the old house to borrow hunting tools, saying he was going hunting in the mountains.
Uncle Gu insisted on going along when he heard this.
Uncle Gu also wanted to go, but he remembered that he still had a lot of work to do and needed to help his master make a set of boxes for his second sister-in-law, so he held back.
"Big brother, aren't you afraid of running into a big cat?" Gu Shouxin looked at his enthusiastic Uncle Gu and tried to scare him with the idea of a big cat.
"What are you afraid of? You're here, aren't you? Besides, you and A-Yuan have already taken care of the big cats in the mountains, both male and female. Even if there are any left, they're just small. If we encounter them, we can catch them and play with them, or use them as guard cats!" Uncle Gu said nonchalantly.
"Alright, let's go!" Gu Shouxin was speechless.
Catching a big cat to guard his house—this guy is probably the only one in history to do that!
So the two brothers carried their bows and animal traps and went up the mountain together.
Not long after Gu Shouxin left, Manager Cheng of Zuijianglou arrived in a carriage.
Manager Cheng hesitated for a moment in front of the Gu family's new house before knocking on the door.
Gu Hui opened the door. She recognized Manager Cheng and frowned as she asked, "Who are you looking for?"
“Miss Gu, I’m the manager of Zuijianglou. I even helped you catch wild boar at your place last time. I’m looking for your second uncle and aunt. Are they home?” Manager Cheng recognized Gu Hui and smiled.
"Wait a minute!" Gu Hui slammed the door shut without any politeness.
She knew that the manager of Zuijianglou was a relative of Magistrate Cheng, and she really disliked the Cheng family.
"Manager Cheng is here? Hmm, please have a seat first, I'll take him to the old house to talk," Cai Xiaolian said after thinking for a moment.
Gu Shouxin wasn't home. Although this era was more tolerant of women than the ancient times she knew, she still didn't plan to talk to Manager Cheng herself.
Cai Xiaolian untied her apron, washed her hands at the sink, and then opened the door, smiling as she said, "Manager Cheng, is there something you need?"
Manager Cheng gave a wry smile: "Madam Cai, I'm here at the master's request to discuss compensation with you."
Cai Xiaolian was taken aback and asked, "Compensation? Compensation for what?"
Ha, what a show of politeness! They kicked him out, yet they still pretend to try and shut them up with money. What hypocrites!
Manager Cheng shook his head and said helplessly, "Madam Cai, I've heard about the misunderstanding between you and the boss. Under these circumstances, cooperation is impossible. We should all make money together! If the two sides can't be harmonious, then it's better for each to compromise."
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