Chapter 60
Many trees in the forest have begun to turn yellow and red, and are slowly showing signs of withering, but there are also many evergreen large and small trees, such as the mountain banyan, boxwood, cypress, etc.
Therefore, the forests of Lantau Island still appear to be dominated by green, dotted with yellow or red deciduous trees, making them look more beautiful than ever.
As the temperature drops, the island forest becomes safer than usual.
First, mosquitoes and flies have disappeared. Second, poisonous insects and snakes have gradually become less numerous. Third, some large animals that hibernate have also reduced their activities.
Most importantly, miasma is at its most abundant in spring and summer, and is also at its scarcest.
While enjoying the beautiful scenery alone, Gu Ran walked in the forest according to his hunting route as usual, picking a lot of wild fruits and vegetables that had just appeared at this time, and also harvested three rabbits, two pheasants, and another mountain deer.
However, the biggest gain from this trip into the mountains was that she finally discovered three tea trees.
Although she didn't know what kind it was, the tea grown in this kind of forest was probably of good quality. Besides, she was only using it for herself, so as long as she liked the taste, it was fine.
I just don't know whether this tea tree produces spring tea or autumn tea.
But tea leaves are like fairy grass. If you use the raw leaves directly to make tea, they will have a strong fresh taste - that is, a grassy taste, and sometimes even a bitter taste, which is not tasty. Therefore, after picking them, they must go through a series of processing processes to finally remove the grassy taste and bitterness and obtain tea leaves that can be used to brew sweet tea.
Therefore, I felt regretful before I discovered the tea tree, and I felt even more regretful after I discovered it.
Even if I wanted to make some money from tea, I didn't have the skills to do so.
Gu Ran felt that he should take some time to ask someone who knew how to make tea, and ask for advice on how to pick tea leaves correctly. If he learned it, could he pick the tea leaves himself and give them to the tea maker to roast, earning some travel expenses and a bag or two of tea?
Of course, we must first determine whether this tea is worth preparing.
So Gu Ran picked the leaves from the three tea trees and planned to go to the tea shop another day to ask what kind of tea it was.
While Gu Ran was wandering in the mountains, she didn't know that Pei Liu came to Xiaxi Village to look for her that day. He even hired a donkey cart and brought two baskets of oranges, but was turned away.
Pei Liu was brought here by a father and son.
He settled in Qinghuai Village and rented a house from the Liu family, where the father and son lived.
Unlike Gu Ran, who wanted to settle down and buy a house as soon as he arrived in Xiaxi Village, Pei Liu felt that he would not live here for long, so he just rented a room so that he could leave at any time.
"Sixth Lady, this family isn't here!" As he helped lift the two baskets of oranges off the donkey cart, Liu Silang looked at Pei Liu and asked worriedly, "What are you going to do?"
"I'll just wait a while." Pei Liu nodded to Liu*'s father and son, indicating that they could leave.
"Then, what if she goes out today and doesn't come back?"
"No, Gu Er...my sister told me that she would be back by dusk at the latest." Pei Liu said.
"Well, fine, let's go then!" Father Liu said, shouting at Liu Silang, "Old Si, hurry up! We have to get back to the village before dark!"
Liu Silang was helpless and glanced at Pei Liuniang again, "Well, Liuniang, you are alone outside, so you must be careful!"
Pei Liu suppressed his impatience and nodded.
Only then did Liu Silang reluctantly climb onto the donkey cart and slowly drove away.
Pei Liu turned around and moved two baskets of oranges to the gate of the yard, then sat down at the stone table under the golden osmanthus tree and waited.
I waited until the sky was filled with sunset glow.
As it was getting dark and Gu Ran still hadn't appeared, Pei Liuniang, who had been waiting patiently, began to feel uneasy.
It was Lin Ersao who heard the servants working in the fields behind the Shen family say that a woman with antennae was looking for the lady from the Marquis's Mansion. She guessed it was Pei Liuniang and came to the cottage excitedly. When she saw Pei Liu, her eyes lit up: "It's Liuniang, are you here to see Gu Er?"
Pei Liu never thought that he would meet Lin Ersao. He had an average impression of her because this woman always liked to stick to Gu Erniang in a familiar manner, and her eyes were always moving around his face.
He was very proud of his perfect disguise because she completely misunderstood him as her wife, but at the same time he couldn't stand her treating him as her wife. It was very contradictory.
"You have..." Just as she was about to ask her what she came to see Gu Er Niang for, she saw two large baskets full of oranges in front of the courtyard gate. Lin Er Sao was both envious and jealous.
Pei Liuniang is so nice to Gu Er. She also wants to have such a caring and beautiful sister!
"You're here to give Gu Er some oranges! But, Gu Er might not be at home these days!"
Not here?
"So where did she go?"
"I guess he went to the county town to make a living, or..." Mrs. Lin looked back at the dark Dayu Lin worriedly.
Pei Liuniang followed Lin Ersao's gaze and also saw the miasma forest, and was stunned.
Did Gu Er go into the woods?
Isn’t it said that this miasma forest is very dangerous?
"I don't know if Gu Er will come back tomorrow, but it seems that he won't be able to come back today." Mrs. Lin Er took the initiative and then felt on the stone block that was used as a stool and took out the key to the door that Gu Ran left.
When Gu Ran asked her to sew clothes a few days ago, he left her a key.
Later, because he was worried that when he went into the mountains or to the county town, there would be things drying at home and he would not be able to collect them in time, and in order to feed Daju, he asked her to come over from time to time to check on him, and when necessary, to help collect the things drying outside and feed Daju.
Mrs. Lin agreed.
Pei Liu felt quite unhappy when he saw Mrs. Lin Er taking out the key to the cottage and opening the door skillfully.
"Come on, you probably don't have a place to stay tonight, come in and stay overnight."
"But, Gu Er..." is not here, so it is not allowed, right?
Pei Liu was hesitating whether to stay overnight at Gu Erniang's cottage when Lin Ersao confidently explained, "You were delayed because you wanted to bring her some oranges. Even if Gu Erniang were here, she would definitely let you stay overnight. She wouldn't blame me for taking the initiative."
"Didn't she also let you stay for two nights the other day? You've already stayed there, so just do as you please. If she gets angry when she comes back, I'll go and apologize to her myself."
Pei Liu looked at the dark patio after opening the door, and heard a meow from inside, which made his heart skip a beat.
"Come in quickly! Ouch, why are these oranges so heavy?" Lin Ersao shouted as she wanted to carry in a basket of oranges.
"I'll do it."
Pei Liu held a basket in each hand and easily moved the oranges in.
Mrs. Lin's eyes widened. How could Pei Liuniang be so strong? Was she weak or were there not enough oranges?
The lights in the cottage were lit up one by one, and the small courtyard was filled with warm orange light.
"Pei Liuniang, you haven't had dinner yet, right? How about coming to my house for dinner?"
"Need not."
Pei Liu thanked Lin Ersao for her kindness, took the key she gave him, and after seeing her off, he closed the door and locked it.
Standing in the patio, I thought of the orange tree in the patio and walked over to it.
The tangerine tree was still small, only about one meter tall, but it had lush side branches and was bearing many fruits.
Pei Liu reached out and stroked the leaves. While he was in a daze, the big orange dog standing under the eaves corridor meowed at him loudly.
Pei Liu lowered his head and looked at the raccoon under the light.
Perhaps it didn't like the smell of the orange tree. Although the cat looked at him with its bright cat eyes and wagged its tail happily, it still stayed away from the orange tree.
He recalled the last two nights he spent there and the scene of Gu Er Niang playing with the cat. He left the orange tree and slowly walked to the big orange tree.
Meow~ Seeing him approaching, the big orange cat meowed eagerly and wagged its tail even more happily.
Pei Liu slowly squatted down, tried to stretch out his hand, and put it on Daju's head, rubbing it like Gu Erniang. Seeing that Daju did not resist and even squinted his eyes to enjoy it, he rubbed it more vigorously. When he heard a humming sound from the scratching, he subconsciously worked harder.
The comfortable big orange cat collapsed on the ground unconsciously. When he stroked the furry cat belly, the smoothness and softness of the touch finally made him understand why Gu Er Niang liked to tease the cat slave so much.
The feel is very good!
Pei Liu's calm expression gradually relaxed, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up, and he was immersed in the world of petting cats and couldn't extricate himself.
In the mountains, Gu Ran, who had spent a night in the workshop, had no idea that an uninvited guest had come to her house and was secretly teasing her big orange dog, who was still wandering around in the mountains.
It was rare that Dayu Forest was peaceful now, and she didn't have to be on high alert like before. Naturally, she wanted to take a good look at the scenery in the forest.
When she left the forest reluctantly and caught a few bamboo rats in the bamboo forest before returning, it was already afternoon on the second day since Pei Liu arrived in Xiaxi Village.
Pushing open the unlocked courtyard door, Gu Ran thought it was Lin Ersao who came to help her look after the cottage, and she paid no attention to it. Until she entered the courtyard and saw that it was Pei Liuniang who was drying the dried goods, she thought she was seeing things, but when she saw it clearly, she was shocked and pulled off the mask on her face: "Are you, Pei Liuniang?"
Pei Liuniang put the bamboo dustpan in her hand away and then stood up. She looked at Gu Erniang's strange attire and the heavy bamboo basket on her back. After a slight nod, she asked, "Did you enter the miasma forest?"
"What are you doing..." Gu Erniang nodded, and then she caught sight of the two full baskets of oranges in the main hall. She immediately understood what was going on. Without even unloading the baskets, she walked in and took a look at the oranges. She said happily, "Are you here to bring me some oranges?"
Pei Liuniang followed and stood outside the main hall. Seeing Gu Erniang's happiness, she also pursed her lips slightly and asked, "Is that enough?"
"Enough." Gu Ran nodded vigorously. "How did you buy so many oranges? How much did you pay for them? I'll give it back to you."
The newly launched oranges are few and expensive, but they are also very popular and are all bought up by traveling merchants like Xu Sanlang.
It must not be easy for Pei Liuniang to buy so many oranges.
Gu Ran didn't pursue the matter of her coming to his house uninvited.
"No need, just consider it as the cost of my overnight stay!"
"How can I feel comfortable with that?" Gu Ran said with a smile.
"If you want to buy oranges again in the future, just come to Qinghuai Village and find me."
"If you can find such good oranges in the future, remember to save them for me." Gu Ran nodded. "By the way, I was lucky enough to catch two wild rabbits in the mountains. Let me cook them for you today!"
Gu Ran was very generous after getting two baskets of oranges.
"Didn't you say that the miasma forest is dangerous?"
"The miasma forest in winter is not particularly dangerous." Gu Ran thought that Pei Liuniang must have gotten the key she left behind to be able to enter her own house, and Lin Ersao was the only one in the village who knew where she kept the key.
It was probably Lin Ersao who opened the door for Pei Liuniang to come in.
In this case, she must have heard that I often go in and out of the miasma forest, so she did not hide it and admitted it honestly.
"Besides, I have a secret method passed down from my ancestors that can help me deal with the miasma. It's okay to go into the woods occasionally." Gu Ran said, and walked out of the main hall. Seeing Pei Liuniang helping to dry her own food, he smiled and said, "Then, Liuniang, could you please continue to help me dry the ingredients? I'll go to the kitchen to cook."
Pei Liu nodded.
But when he saw the large and small leathers drying in the shade in the corner of the patio, the corner of his mouth twitched, and then he turned around to look towards the kitchen.
Occasionally?
Is it possible to hunt so many wild animals and make tanned leather occasionally?
He reached out and pinched the fur, remembering a time when she caught a wild rabbit and shared it with everyone, saying that she was lucky to have found it, and that she didn't know how to deal with rabbit fur!
Oh!
This woman doesn't even speak a word of truth!
Quite clever.
Pei Liufu raised the corner of his mouth again.
Gu Ran in the kitchen was completely unaware that the details of her life had betrayed her. After putting the things in the bamboo basket in the kitchen, she took out a wild rabbit and skillfully skinned and deboned it. While peeling, she thought of the skin she had been hanging outside to dry, and she sighed.
never mind.
It's exposed even if it's not exposed, and it's quite tiring to keep hiding it.
Gu Ran planned to make a dish of braised rabbit and a dish of garlic-flavored Persian vegetables (spinach) for lunch. After Persian vegetables were introduced to Fujian, they were divided into spring vegetables and autumn vegetables, which are vegetables of two seasons.
Just take out a bowl of soup from the space grid.
After processing the rabbit meat, cut it into pieces and soak it in water. Then pick the Persian vegetables and wash them clean. Also prepare the ginger, onion, garlic and other seasonings. Then pick up the rabbit meat that has been soaked in blood, wash it twice and drain the water.
Boil water in a pot, add ginger slices and lemon slices, and boil them together with the rabbit meat. Then, remove the rabbit meat from the water and drain the water.
After stir-frying the chopped lard to release the oil, add sugar, shredded ginger, chopped green onions, cinnamon, bay leaves, etc., stir-fry until fragrant, then add pesto and oyster sauce, and then pour in the rabbit meat and stir-fry until the rabbit meat becomes yellow and crispy. Then add water to cover the meat, add one or two drops of cooking wine, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for half an hour.
While the rabbit is stewing, you can cook rice on the other side.
Once the rice is cooked, the rabbit meat is basically done.
Then quickly stir-fry the spinach that is already prepared.
When the aroma of meat and rice slowly wafted out of the kitchen, Pei Liuniang had already hung up the dried goods outside to dry. Smelling the aroma, she slowly walked towards the kitchen, poked her head inside, and happened to see Gu Ran stir-frying garlic spinach.
Seeing Gu Ran busy, Pei Liu watched silently for a long time, with an unconcealable joy on his face.
How nice! She was cooking specially for him!
It smells so good, it must be delicious, just like the two meals I had before.
Thinking of the crucian carp papaya soup he had last time drinking a few days ago, Pei Liu'er's face suddenly turned slightly red.
I just hope that soup tastes normal!
When the soup was finally served, Gu Er Niang said it was Gastrodia elata and dragon bone soup, and she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
"I cooked a lot, Liu Niang, remember to eat more."
Pei Liuniang looked at the steaming food on the table and listened to these words. In an instant, a certain part of her heart seemed to be hit by something and suddenly softened.
The hand holding the chopsticks trembled slightly, and after secretly clenching them, he tried his best to remain calm. He looked at Gu Erniang, took the bowl of hot soup she handed over, and said softly, "Okay."
The lunch was very enjoyable for both the host and the guests.
Later, when Gu Ran sent Pei Liuniang to take a donkey cart going the same way back to Qinghuai Village, Pei Liuniang felt extremely reluctant to leave.
That small house, that courtyard, that orange tree, and that cat.
And the meals were full of the flavor of fireworks.
And, people who make food.
Gu Erniang.
When he realized it, Pei Liu was suddenly shocked. He tried his best to calm down and rationalize his disordered mind.
When did he become so weak?
no.
He has not yet found the purpose of his visit to Fujian, and he must not be shaken by others.
Pei Liu took a deep breath, gathered all his extra thoughts, and buried them deep in his heart.
"Sixth Lady, come and visit more often when you have time!"
Gu Ran was already certain that Pei Liu no longer had any murderous intentions towards her, otherwise why would he have specially sent two baskets of oranges all the way from Qinghuai Village to her?
So I said goodbye to her with a smile.
Mrs. Lin was right. It would be really pleasing to the eyes to have such a pretty young lady around.
Pei Liu's calmness, which he had managed to maintain with great difficulty, almost broke again. He quickly lowered his head and didn't dare to look at Gu Er Niang again.
Gu Ran did not return to his own house, but went to the home of Village Chief Wu and asked her to help find craftsmen to start building the windmill.
Village Chief Wu looked at the tall windmill tower that Gu Ran had drawn, and was puzzled. He pointed at the tall windmill and asked, "How can this object dispel the miasma that has drifted into the village?"
"It can rotate and change the direction of the wind." Gu Ran pointed to the big windmill and then to the small windmill lane under the tall tower.
She originally planned to use the kinetic energy of the windmill to blow away the miasma that drifted towards the cottage, but then she thought that dispersing the miasma in the village could only be done after the rain stopped or when the miasma drifted over at other times. She also didn't know if there would be enough wind to turn the windmill and then drive the fan when the miasma needed to be dispersed. So she asked Master Huang to install a wooden device that manually pulled the gears to make the windmill turn.
Master Huang understands things immediately and learns them as soon as he explains them.
"I know this thing. It's similar to a fan car, right?"
He also pushed a fan cart to Gu Ran for him to look at.
A fan wheel, also known as a fan cart, is an agricultural tool that is used to winnow out impurities, chaff and empty grains in the rice after it is collected, dried and threshed before being husked. Another name for it is a windmill.
Master Huang understood what Gu Ran meant, which was to enlarge the main part of the windmill and then install it at a high place. The ordinary windmill was used to blow grain, while Gu Ran wanted to make a large windmill fan to blow away miasma.
The difference is that the windmill that blows away the grain can only be operated manually, while the windmill that blows away the miasma is not only manual, but can also use the power of the large windmill above to independently drive the small windmill below to rotate.
Gu Ran expressed his admiration for Master Huang's clear explanation.
Those who can be carpenters are all smart people!
By then the windmill house will be completed. There will be a windmill outside the high part of the house, and a small windmill in the middle of the house. Stairs will be built in the house leading up to the top, and a small platform will be set up inside the house where the small windmill is located for people to manually turn the large and small windmills.
Gu Ran also thought that since the windmill was not needed to dispel the miasma, when it was idle, it would be better to connect an extra power line to the bottom layer, and then design a set of gears to turn the millstone.
That way, you can not only grind beans, but also grind flour, and even grind oranges to make juice. It's so nice.
"Is this feasible?"
"If you don't try it, how will you know if it works?"
"What if it collapses?"
"Village Chief Wu, this tall house isn't inhabited, so it shouldn't collapse that easily, right?" Gu Ran asked. "If it collapses, if it falls on the front, where there's no house, it'll probably just fall on my fields. If it falls on the back, it won't damage my little house either, so I'll just lose money."
Village chief Wu was finally persuaded.
The most important thing is that it can dispel miasma, which is so tempting.
"Okay, I'll find someone for you. But it'll take a few days. The late rice is ripe these days, and it's time to harvest it. Once the rice is harvested, there will be more people available in the village. How much do you plan to pay per day?"
"Thirty cents a day, and food is included for everyone."
Worried that the craftsmen would be reluctant to help due to insufficient money, Gu Ran raised the daily wages and said, "It would be best to find a master bricklayer. I will pay him five taels of silver and ask him to find good wood and bricks."
"Okay, your uncle Wu San's family is a bricklayer. I'll ask him to find some people to help you."
It’s certainly much better now that Village Chief Wu has stepped in to handle the bricklayer’s matter!
Gu Ran felt relieved and gave several blueprints to Village Chief Wu. Before the construction of the windmill house officially started, he went to the county town again and first delivered some roasted grass jelly to Aunt He and others. Now that taro balls and roasted grass jelly have opened up the market, more and more diners like to eat them. They have to make a lot of money before relaxing at the dock, so they asked Gu Ran for more roasted grass jelly.
Gu Ran could only take two wooden barrels at a time by boat. He filled half of them before arriving at the county town, and when he was almost at the dock, he secretly poured the other half into the barrels from the space compartment, and then asked Aunt He to remember to help carry them back to the porridge stall.
Then he went to Hefeng Fur Shop to sell the leather he had tanned so as to save money to hire the craftsmen.
Shopkeeper Zheng accepted Gu Ran's hides, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then asked, "Second Lady Gu, when the weather gets colder, will you go hunting in the mountains later?"
"Whatever Shopkeeper Zheng wants, the hunters who come to the fur trade can sell it to you!"
Gu Ran never dared to bring the big animals he hunted on Lantau Island to Hefeng to sell. The most sold were the skins of bamboo rats and rabbits. He consumed the yellow muntjac and wild boars he harvested later.
In Hefeng, everyone knows that this little hunter is best at catching bamboo rats.
"Hey, it's getting colder, and I want to eat more meat, so I'm thinking about your bamboo rat meat!"
"Bamboo rats, huh? Let me see if I can catch a few more. If I can, I'll sell you two."
"You can sell me a few more." Shopkeeper Zheng quickly placed an order.
Gu Ran said that he had kept it in mind, and the money from selling the leather this time was enough to hire the craftsmen.
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